inexperienced trainer, NEED HELP! -

Hi,

I have a black lab named Nelli that is about a year and three months old. She is a very smart dog as most are and I have been working with her since she was about six months old. However, my inexperience and lack of knowledge created some bad habits.

Nelli is one of the most energetic and athletic dogs I have ever seen. She marks perfectly, has to be in the water, and will retrieve anything ON HER NAME. I can also shoot around her without any problems.

Here are her/my problems.
-She retrieves, but when returning will run circles around me before returning to my side (like its a game). Also, if there is water near, on dry retrieves she makes a point to jump into the water before returning. How can I fix this??
-She is very anxious and just wants to go go go!! How do I calm her down without taking away from her desire??
-"HERE" is my command for her to sit by my left leg, which she does well, however she jumps and turns way up in the air in the process.. How do I fix that?

This may sound like a bunch of hooplah, I just do not know where to start!! Please Help!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by loganbh

She marks perfectly......

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I'll start the bidding at $10,000.

It's really too soon to worry a great deal. This is pretty typical. Keep her on a check cord or lightweight rope to assure that she comes when called on retrieve. Separately from retrieving you should be doing obedience work fairly passively. Treat training works very well to establish fundamental commands prior to getting more formal. In a month or so you can e-collar condition to Here, and that will help in all ways.

At about 6 months of age assess her maturity to begin formal Basics.

The components of Basics in order

1) “Here”
2) “Heel & Sit”
3) “Hold”; automatically evolves to Walking “Hold, Heel, Sit”
4) “Fetch”; ear pinch, which evolves into Walking “Fetch” & “Fetch-no-fetch”, e-collar conditioning to “Fetch”
5) Pile work, including Mini-pile, Nine bumper pile; AKA Force to pile
6) 3-handed casting; teaching the 3 basic casts – “Back” and both “Over’s”, including 2-hands “Back”
7) Mini tee; includes collar conditioning to all basic commands, transferring to the go, stop, cast functions in micro dimension as preparation for the Single tee. Also includes De-bolting
8) Single tee
9) Double tee
10) Water force, Water tee with Swim-by

Are you familiar with these processes?

Evan

Evan, Nelli is about a year and three months old.

Pay attention.

Well guess the first question myself and others here on the forum are gonna ask, would be which training materials have used, if any? Sounds like some time on a checkcord would fix many of these problem.

You need experienced help.

This would be a good place to start looking. http://www.crrcinc.org/

"Also, if there is water near, on dry retrieves she makes a point to jump into the water before returning. How can I fix this?? "

Dont run land marks near water.
I ,myself would not "fix" a dog that wants to be in the water...that's a good thing.

You can stop a dog from going in the water by pointing them at it and saying "back".

Sounds as if most of your issues relate to obedience. If I were you, I'd pick a program. Smartworks, Lardy, Fowl Dawgs, Duck Dog Basics are all good ones. Don't panic about her age. I didn't start formal training with my first dog until after her 1st birthday, a year later she had her HRCH, so don't feel rushed.

I have used a sport dog e- collar and her obedience when the collar is on is stellar!! maybe the transmitter isn't working right as it doesn't seem to reach a long distance. therefore, at times a command may be "HERE, nick, HERE" she doesn't respond as well if far away. I used a check cord when she was six months old but found it to be a pain and by guiding her back to me she found it to be more of a tug of war game so I resorted to over praising when she came back to me. I have a few bumpers and a few ducks made by Dokken. I also use a super pro dummy launcher by DT systems.