Every now and again I get this problem with both dogs usually after serious training up for big trials which involve a lot of tight work resulting in corrections. So agree the problem is generally lack of confidence and/or confusion on the part of the dog. Carol Cassidy has an exercise she calls 'swish blinds' which has fixed the problem every time. Easy to do and the dogs love it.
popping on blinds? need alt. methods
I have a 4 year old female that has been a different case since she was a puppy. She has never responed well to pressure and as a result never accepted force very well and shuts down fairly easily. She went through juniors and I thought that was as far as she would go. Using some unconventional methods and alot of confidence building excercises. She now has a Senior title and 1 master pass. She has always had a minor popping problem. As we started running masters I knew we would have to find a way to curb the popping. After going back over alot of training material I decided to revisit the force concept. As I expected the popping has become worse. I am now sure pressure- force is not the answer for this particular dog. So I am on the hunt for ideas for curbing a popping problem without using force. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
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Re the swish blind. I have never used it to teach blinds or for any sort of handling.
I usually put about 5 or 6 bumpers in the one spot and let the dog see me put them all out. Try and use something for them to focus on - eg tree, rock or could be middle of a small pond. Then as already mentioned walk away -not too far for the first one so they go straight to it. Then as already said walk around in a circle getting further and further away. The dogs seem to treat it almost like a game and it does wonders for their confidence. Bonus is that it makes me happy as well!
The exercise could, and probably should, be used to introduce different factors but I just use it on undulating land to improve confidence/momentum only - definitley no handling. I find AA training is so tough it is lovely to do something like this form time to time.
I usually put about 5 or 6 bumpers in the one spot and let the dog see me put them all out. Try and use something for them to focus on - eg tree, rock or could be middle of a small pond. Then as already mentioned walk away -not too far for the first one so they go straight to it. Then as already said walk around in a circle getting further and further away. The dogs seem to treat it almost like a game and it does wonders for their confidence. Bonus is that it makes me happy as well!
The exercise could, and probably should, be used to introduce different factors but I just use it on undulating land to improve confidence/momentum only - definitley no handling. I find AA training is so tough it is lovely to do something like this form time to time.
1 - 2 of 24 Posts
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