We always train our females in heat, run them first and make the males work with the scent on the ground. It doesn't have to be a female. A male that just bred a bitch will have the scent on him as well. Some neutered males and spayed females have a "desirable" smell. Our guys learn that the field is for working, not "playing". We also air in the same kennel yard, bitches in heat first, then the rest of the group. All males are expected to behave and not fight. We rarely have even raised hackles with bitches in standing heat. They are kept in the house, there are dogs within a mile radius that aren't kept fenced, we try to keep the scent down to keep from attract ing them.

 

http://boingboing.net/2009/07/30/adult-toy-for-dogs.html


No thumbs is the problem regards


Bubba

 

As others have said, try and get him out and about and training in the company of females that are either in season or just in/out. I often have clients bring their in season females over for lessons, and it's an ideal opportunity to train my own dog to work with that level of different distraction. For me, once we are out training it is work and I expect him to switch into work mode in the face of whatever distraction.

 

Even after a female comes out of heat, the scent can linger on for several weeks. This can be shortened by bathing the dog afterwards. I have first hand experience with this. A female who was honoring on the right side had just recently come out of heat. My male dog, Hudson, working on the left reached the line and tried to hump on the honor dog. His nose was down all the time once I got close to the holding blind.

The way I fixed this was to stake out different females at different times. I would walk Hudson in front of a staked out female. If he moved toward the female he got burned. After a bit he would not even look in their direction and even look away from the female.
This worked for me.

 

Bubba is the forum expert on male sexual frustration. I'd recommend sending him a PM about it.....

/Paul

 

Breeding him will only increase his lack of focus if he scents it again. He'll know what he's missing and want it. Not unlike most of us lol

 

Just because you're at a different HT doesn't mean there isn't a dog coming in, going out or in heat on the grounds.

 

Thanks for the feed back. I did break protocol this weekend and carried a few treats in hopes of keeping his focus on me and away from the ground. It did help a little but I still had to almost choke him out more then once to ensure he did not get his nose on the ground while waiting in the holding blind....

This sucks!! I want my normal (focused) dog back!!!!!!

 

One of the problems w/most amateurs is that they do not train in the most varied settings. A male on a pro truck has to encounter these smells/distractions on the truck/yard and kennel. It becomes doable even for a high prey/drive male. Try to put your male into training situations where female heat scent will be present.Even get scent cloth from an in-heat bitch to deliberately place in a holding blind to correct your dog.I remember one FT where my guy was the 3rd male to follow a bitch who was supposedly heat free by vet inspection but every one of those males acted like they were Niaagra Falls w/foam/saliva and ground sniffing/pounding in each holding blind and on the sending line. Some females are just smelly attractive.

 

I had a male that went from FT to HT and he trailed to line coming out of the holding blind and missed a bird going off in his first master. I do think there is more scent at HT. First of all up your obedience from the holding blind, don't let him get ahead of you and NEVER let him put his nose down in the holding blind and get a nose full. I would train and shoot a pistol coming to line and said mark to bring his head up. Obviously during testing you can't fire a pistol but you can say mark. I used an old trick of making like I was going to cut his nails-bring his foot up so he had his mind on that. I got him out of it before it became a habit. If you let him breed to cure something else it will just make it worse. It sounds like he was obedient before and now he is running you for whatever reason, so you have to work on him with obedience to get back to being a team.

 

Did he leave his mark on you as well?

Edit to post:
I know we humans back then chop wood and I know cold showers help a lot after that.