Training Diary

02/09/2011

So I started to train Lucy for the first time ‘properly’ today. I have been spoilt with Rusty; he has an amazing food drive which makes him really attentive.

Lucy is basically from scratch, not only that but we rescued her at around two years old from the Northern English Springer Spaniel Rescue; meaning she already had little bad habitats from the previous two years.

I can’t understand why anyone would get a dog, no matter what breed, and not put any time or effort into them, even just a recall. When we first got Lucy she didn’t have much of a recall and clearly hadn’t been anywhere near livestock or even a big open field. After 6 months hard work she works well to the whistle and walks well on the lead.

So far it has been a brilliant experience for me as she asks a lot of me; it’s going to take something completely different to get her drive and her attention which means that I’m learning with her. I found very quickly that she works best in short bursts. Our training consists of jump work for 10minutes, once or twice a day, as all I want is her moving forward and enjoying it.

What you will see from the video is the average clips from the 10minute sessions, as you can see there are times she sniffs on at the floor, but then she recovers and focuses back on me. 

By the second or third time I have her full attention, 

so she’s learning, ‘if I listen to mum, I get lots of food and cuddles, so this game is fun’

Lucy has done all the contact equipment, but what I find is that she loses interest after three or four pieces of equipment; this is why I am doing these sessions. Once I can get her focus and her speed, I will add more jumps in and ask more of her. 

Unlike Rusty, Lucy is going to be little by little.

You will have to excuse my excessive praise, and poor video taking/editing, hopefully I will have the hang of it by the end of the training.