lucyandmeg Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Well on his own murphy is doing really well on going down the lane, triggering the box and bringing the ball back and does lovely restrained recalls. However as soon as there is a team the other side it is right out hte window. He dashes down the lane and round the netting to chase the other dog, and then there is one particular collie that he really hates for some reason that he heads for once the dog running has stopped. He doesnt do it for restrained recalls so i presume its because he is not focused enough on the box as although he likes balls hes not that mad on them and loves chasing dogs a little too much. He can also jump the netting easily. Instinct tells me that we've pushed it too far trying to run him with a team in the next lane, but is there anything that we can do to help him become more focused or is it simply a matter of time and practice? We had a collie that used to do a similar thing, but he was more ball focused and has just got better the more he practiced. He is a spaniel with a very strong chasing instinct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gooster Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Do you have 2 lanes running at training? If you do, I'd start off with the lanes quite far apart so that he doesn't notice them as much. Get the boxloader to really shout him and work on him on the way up to the box, and you do the same when he's on the way back. What I'd do is give him a couple of runs without the other lane running for a couple of sessions, just to really switch him on to it and get him more focussed. Then I'd introduce the other lane, but make sure there is a large separation between them, so your boxloader and you can really work on him without a really close distraction. Then over a matter of weeks, move the other lane closer, until it is at the normal distance and he isn't bothered. If he does chase, just pop him on the lead, and stand and let him watch for a bit or pop him in the car and get one of your other dogs out, so that he realises 'hold on, when I chase, I get put away and the fun ends'. When he does it right, give him loads and loads of praise (even if he hasn't been running against another dog), so he knows that when he gets it right, it is really worth it, and a lot better than chasing the other dogs, which is boring. Alternatively, you could try doing some boxwork at the side of the lane he is running in, so that there is a distraction, but there are no dogs to chase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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