I have not been able to do any more formal training with Lucy this week. I have been out of town on business. I did purchase a new training dvd and had the time to review it. The trainer is George Hickox and the training video is called Training Pointing Dogs and it is a four part series.

I really like the training methods in this video and I think I will be following this method for her training.

The only exception is the method used for training your pointer range.

The method on this video teaches a pointer to have a fixed cast off and range distance. I would like to teach Lucy to have flexible cast off and range distance that are command guided. I don't know if there is a way to teach this but I'm sure I will exhaust myself looking for it.

If anyone has any suggestions please contact me through my feedback link below.

In keeping with the training methods of this video I will be getting some live birds for Lucy to play with this weekend. I think this will help build her confidence. Although I do have to say that Lucy has been coming out of her shell quite nicely lately. She has made friends with all my cats, she spends a good deal of her time entertaining herself with stuffed animals. These are really my daughters stuffed animals but Lucy goes upstairs and helps herself to them. My daughter don't seem to mind to much. She has been doing great letting us know when she needs to go out and she goes straight to her kennel when told to do so (reluctantly but she goes).

We are very happy with Lucy and she has integrated into our family very quickly. I might have mentioned this before but we live across the street from an animal hospital so she seems to get a little extra special attention.

She had a checkup last week and I think I made out on the deal. Lucy came back from her appointment with three new toys that probably cost more than the visit did.

Well I guess thats all I can think of for now. I will post another update this week end.

 

 

 Today I took Lucy to fields managed by the Game commission on the perimeter of Raystown Lake. These fields are stocked with pheasant before the first season but are hunted heavily. I was hoping she would stumble onto a straggler. We were not lucky enough to find one but she did seem to get onto some scent now and again.

She was very well behaved, ranged good and checked in often. She did not seem crazy about blazing her own trail through the tall thick grass (contained some brier) and tended to stick to the deer trails. So I spent a lot of time in there myself so she would come in.

We walked the edge of the lake and she has this thing she does in water that I'm not to sure what to make of it. At home she does it in her water bowl and she did it at the lake. she hits the water with her paw. At the lake its no big deal but at home she makes a big mess.

We got home and she was soaked and quiet stinky. I gave her a bath (she was not thrilled but she let me). Now she is lying beside me on the couch (I know she is breaking rule number 1) Snuggled under a blanket sleeping. I guess I wore her out.

I tried to get a picture but I am having camera trouble and have not been able to get anything but black pictures.

I did not work with Lucy last night due to the realization that Lucy and I were getting off to a rough start. Lucy seems to be timid and she is very easily distracted by the unnatural world around her (Example: Cars and trains). It also seems as though she has not made that bond to me yet that drives her to please me. This is very understandable since she has only known me for a few days.

All of this being said I took the night off to do some thinking and to come up with a plan to get to know each other.

Today the 2nd of December I took Lucy to a secluded field and we spent our time just walking around in the fields. I started off in the short grass just walking around and letting her go where ever she wanted. After she got to stretch her legs and goof off she started to range closer to me and every now and then she would check back with me.

After a little while I moved into the tall grass where I could not see her and she could not see me. She was having a blast running full speed through the tall grass. I allowed her the same freedom in the tall grass that she had in the open field except every once in awhile I would hide from her. She would get a little panicked and come looking for me. After a couple of times of me hiding from her she began to range even closer and check back more frequent. I also noticed she seemed happier to see me when she found me. I think this has helped us move a little closer to that bond I am looking for.

I decided that I would try an obedience session prior to leaving the field. If you are reading this for the first time I must tell you that I have had no luck with obedience training in the field. The session went much better than expected. We worked on her sit, stay and come commands. She was allot more focused and when being corrected was more receptive to the corrections. (as opposed to running the complete other direction like she did in the past field sessions).

I did get my e-collar and only had to nick her twice. Once was when we first got to the field she headed toward the road. I called for her and she ignored my command. I felt for her safety when it comes to roads I would not let her go uncorrected. The second time was at the very end of the session (of all times). I called her to get in the truck she refused. I could tell that she knew what I wanted and she was just rebelling. I have read that in these circumstances I can not let her go uncorrected. I nicked her once, restated the command and  she complied with my command. Of course I praised her for her behavior and we called it a day. (a good day).

 This evening I went over Lucys obedience items in the back yard. She responded well to the "come" and "sit" commands.

I wanted to see if this would be the same in the field without a leash. I walked lucy to the local park using the leash and she did ok with the leash. When we reached the park I released her from the leash. This was a big mistake. Lucy was as defiant as a dog could be. She ignored all my commands and ran off twice. Once was toward the main road that passes by.

I know this is supposed to be me training her but it seems like once again I am the only one that learned anything. I will not be taking her off the leash again until I have a shock collar around her neck.

I scalded her real good and she seemed to get the idea that I was mad but that did not stop her from trying to drag me home on the leash.

It worked out ok in the end and she healed nicely for the last couple of blocks returning home so I was able to give her praise and end the session on a good note.

 The first day of training did not go as expected. I did not get home from work until almost 6 PM and it was dark and raining outside. I had stopped at Bass Pro Shop during the day and picked up some training dummies so we could work with the fetch command.

When I came home Lucy was laying in her bed looking worse for the ware. I should mention that I have kids and it looked like they had played her out.

I figured I would work with her a little anyway. I tossed the dummies 3 times in total before she lost interest and went back to her bed to sleep. The good news is that she retrieved the dummy like a pro all three times.

After the rain stopped I relocated her to the yard and we started the fetch command again trying longer distances. This was also going well until my kids made their appearance on the front porch.

I am not sure if Lucy learned anything last night but I certainly did. For future training sessions I will be going to the park where there are no distractions.