Blind/Lining question

[yukonpete2]

My dog is about 7 and recently has been doing some crazy things when training and sending him on a blind.

I will line him up and send him on "back" and he takes off for about 10-15 yards and stops and looks back...I then say no and give him the back signal and he goes about another 50 yards and does it again if he hasn't got the "sit" whistle or doesn't find the dummy. He will keep taking the backs and overs all the way to the dummy, but it is getting kind of frustrating having him stop and look for another cast. Hoping someone else has had this happen and can give me some advice what to try for fixing this problem.

Thanks for any comments.

Nathan

[GulfCoast]

Your dog is "popping." I have been there.

1) Is your dog collar conditioned?
2) Did you do "force to pile" with the dog?

If yes, then "back/nick/back" is usually the conventional answer when the dog starts to pop.

The British/Amish method of dealing with "popping" is usually to run a lot of sight blinds/bucket blinds to build momentum back up, starting short, then getting longer and adding factors. A verbal "Back" correction is given when the dog starts to break down. If that does not work, a walk out/correct/"back" (this is the over simplified version).

[yukonpete2]

Yes, I have collar conditioned him; however, not sure on the "force to pile" method...if this means he will fetch when given the command then I have done it.

If I understand right I set him up, send him on back and when he pops give him the verbal "back", collar nick, then another back as he is taking the cast?

Thanks for your reply

[B3]

Thats assuming he knows what BACK- nick -BACK means. If he went through the standard FF,FTP sequence then he should.

Another option would be doing drills to build confidence in going straight and long. Longer easy to get marks mixed in with long pattern blinds. Try to run drills where you don't stop him on the whistle. I would do this before using the collar but thats just me.

Bill

[Troy Williams]

Thats assuming he knows what BACK- nick -BACK means. If he went through the standard FF,FTP sequence then he should.

Another option would be doing drills to build confidence in going straight and long. Longer easy to get marks mixed in with long pattern blinds. Try to run drills where you don't stop him on the whistle. I would do this before using the collar but thats just me.

Bill

Most dogs will not react to the pressure by driving back at 7 years old. Most older dogs or dogs long out of basics that haven'ty had a yard refresher will most often "sit" when they get the pressure instead of driving. Why? Because that is how most CC'd dogs get corrected indirectly. I shouldn't say most really, but alot will. As in all things it depends on the dog and what it has been going thru.

It could be plain old lack of effort. Something phyisical with the dog making it not want to work. That dog is telling you something you just have to be able to hear it.

Could be something like bad timing of pressure that and the dog is working with a sense of worry. Who knows really......

B3 is right.....Do some things that will allow dog to succeed at distances beyond your normal ones. Run thru a Basics refresher in the yard so you can re-accustom the dog to the correction-or better said-the adding of pressure to force dog to drive & Go AND understand it!

If it were me and there was nothing in his training that told me why this is happening I'd check dogs health first. Bad joints, arthritis, hurt foot, something else.?. I don't know but look hard.

Good luck!

[Meeka]

guessing maybe you have done some correcting, recalling, or whatever your method is while doing handling or blind work.

Stop stopping.

And it wont hurt to increase the length of expected blinds.

You could start at the pile and move back in steps initially. That and other methods, like buckets can increase confidence in the destination.