Trained dog?

[95powersmoker]

Hi guys,

I don't post a lot but I need some guidance. I paid to have my dog trained at a training kennel for 10 weeks. She was 6-8 months old during that time. When we picked her up, we weren't super impressed with "all the new things she learned". She was bird crazy but her recall was terrible (still had to be on a check cord), and her hold was less than stellar. I hope I'll get responses that help zero me out because I'm frustrated that I spent good money to have her "trained" and now back in my house for 4 weeks and working with her every day to have made very little progress over the last 3-4 months. I'm about to call the kennel owner and talk to them about what I paid the money for if it wasn't really for training. I know food doesn't cost what I paid and I'm pretty certain my dog wasn't treated like she was at the day spa.

Any words of wisdom is appreciated.

[Old Dog]

I don't know what the trainer offered you, but you can't fully train a bird dog in just 10 weeks.   :twocents

[h2ofowlr]

Your pup might have a good base now.  May require another tune up in 6-8 months.  I have a few friends that drop their dogs off for a month prior to the season each year for a tune up.

I just picked up a new pup in early July.  He now knows to sit, stay, mark, fetch it up, release and no.  Work with him twice a day.

[scottcrb]

Might just be some adjustment time for your puppy to understand you and your commands over the kennel trainer. Pm me I know a training group in your area that meets twice a week.

[Colin]

2.5 months of training isn't much and at that age I'd expect Force Fetch completed. Possibly some Collar Conditioning and some Obedience. What did your trainer say he taught the dog? What were your expectations for the amount of training time?

PM me who the trainer is.

[95powersmoker]

I wasn't expecting a fully finished dog ready to run field trials. I know 10 weeks is a short amount of time. I was expecting 10 weeks would be enough time to get a dog that could go get a bird and bring it back to me. Before she went, she knew sit, stay, down, heel.

I work with her every morning and night for 10-20 minutes or i see she is starting to get bored or hard headed. In the morning, we do obedience and at night, i try working on her holds.

She struggles with holding because she likes to clamp down on the dummy. She also has very little recall control. This morning, I threw her one fun dummy after heel, here, sit, stay work and she took it and ran off and I couldn't recall her for the life of me. I think i just expected that she would have a halfway decent base from the training but I feel as though I am still working on the bird dog 101 and I have a lot less money in my pocket.

Scottcrb, I will PM you now. Would be nice to get some help from somebody who knows how to work through these things.

[jackson7]

She is still a baby. 10 weeks is just an introduction to birds and hunting. She now has a good base to build upon. continue working on manners at home. try to lower your expectations and just get her out a lot this season. You will see improvement each time. Good luck.

[Bluemoon]

As a trainer. I also would like to know who had your dog...please pm.me as well.

[95powersmoker]

Any advice on recall training. Right now, that is the biggest thing that has me up in arms. I have been making her sit and pulling on a long lead and giving her #1 on the collar pressure and saying here and then praising the heck out of her. The next thing would be her clamping down on the dummy. I'm thinking a hard dummy or a frozen bird may stop that? Worth a shot?

[NW-GSP]

I have never understood the idea of sending a dog off to a trainer for a " tune up" if it's for basic obedience. most issues the dog is having is due to the owner otherwise the dog wouldn't be needing a " tune up".
I could understand for pointing dogs and just getting them on birds

[WRL]

Couple of questions:

Retriever or pointer?

What did the trainer tell you would be done in the 10 weeks? (or your understanding of what would be done)

How old is your dog?

WRL

[Happy Gilmore]

never seen a navy seal made in 10 weeks.

[Copperwood]

Like many others have said after 10 weeks your pup is probably  still  rough around the edges. I would say 100% call the kennel and talk to them. They'll have a much better idea of how to get you in the right direction and also, if the dog is lacking in a specific area, it gives the kennel the opportunity to make it right.

[95powersmoker]

never seen a navy seal made in 10 weeks.

Got that, but we are talking dogs, not Seals. Haha

Couple of questions:

Retriever or pointer?

What did the trainer tell you would be done in the 10 weeks? (or your understanding of what would be done)

How old is your dog?

WRL

She's a black lab. When she went off to training, she was 6 1/2 months old. She is now 9 months old. They told me that they would get her through her hold and into a point where she would be delivering back to hand pretty consistently. I figured that would be a dog that could mark and retrieve and bring the bird back to me with little problem. I guess I have 90% of that. The dog is crazy to retrieve. She just needs work on the delivering it back to me. She also needs to be finished on the holding and not chewing on the dummy part. Lastly, she consistently blows off "here" calls which I figured would have been part of that training over a 10 wk period. She was pretty consistent when she left for training. I did a lot of obedience with her before hand, I was figuring they would continue that but I'm not sure that they did really any. Here's the thing, if she was too young or that wasn't enough time, they should have told me that. Instead, they told me they were getting the dog at the perfect time because that's when they are really developing. I understand too that each dog learns at a different pace and my dog may even be a dud. That's fine too. My biggest thing is I got my dog back and have called the trainer and the owner multiple times to find out what to do next, how do I keep working towards a good handling dog? I have received zero help.

I appreciate the opinions of everybody on this board. I have calmed down since i started this thread. It's still frustrating but I think it's ultimately a learning experience for me and her. I don't think I will ever send a dog to a trainer as my dog would be in pretty much the same position that she is now if I hadn't and probably better off because I could have used that large sum of money to buy more training tools for myself. I'll just have to lower my expectations a bit and understand that she is just a pup.

[WRL]

So they did not show you what was done and what was not? Hmmm.....

Well, I don't think those expectations are too out of line so....are they not returning phone calls? Will not communicate with you?

WRL

[95powersmoker]

So they did not show you what was done and what was not? Hmmm.....

Well, I don't think those expectations are too out of line so....are they not returning phone calls? Will not communicate with you?

WRL

Yes, I've called the trainer a few times with no response. I've also called the owner with the "oh i gotta talk to the trainer and get back to you" with no call back.

I appreciate all the guys that have offered to give me some advice on this forum. I will be calling you guys that PM'd me last week.

Thanks.

[REHJWA]

Any advice on recall training. Right now, that is the biggest thing that has me up in arms. I have been making her sit and pulling on a long lead and giving her #1 on the collar pressure and saying here and then praising the heck out of her. The next thing would be her clamping down on the dummy. I'm thinking a hard dummy or a frozen bird may stop that? Worth a shot?

Try a stiff bristle brush to soften up the hold.

[Happy Gilmore]

Tough age for dogs. Some roll on through training quickly and pick up good habits and some need another couple weeks or months. All dogs are different. A lot depends on how the dog was raised in the first 6 months. If the habits you taught the pup don't align with typical training habits, its going to be harder for the trainer to make headway.

I wouldn't expect significant results with a good trainer for any time period of less than three months. It takes time to form solid habits in a structured environment. Go back to square one, the pup needs to be given the habits from 8 weeks to six months preparing for being handed off to someone to get the most out of a professional training situation. If, pup has a lot of habits which need to be fixed prior to the trainer putting hands on him/her, it slows progress. Sometimes, fixing bad habits to form a proper foundation puts a hold on things which you'd like to see put ahead of other issues.

If pup doesn't recall, you have to work on recall before you work on retrieve. Before you work on retriever, you have to work on hold. Before you work on any of that you have to have a pup who is half way obedient. The definitions of these terms usually doesn't line up between trainer and owner.

[95powersmoker]

Definitely good points, Happy. I spoke with the owner of the kennels last night and I think we just chalk it up as an expensive learning experience. I have a lot of work to do with this dog now. So I appreciate the comments. Hopefully I can do this dog right and get her to where she can be a good citizen as well as a good hunting companion.

[REHJWA]

Definitely good points, Happy. I spoke with the owner of the kennels last night and I think we just chalk it up as an expensive learning experience. I have a lot of work to do with this dog now. So I appreciate the comments. Hopefully I can do this dog right and get her to where she can be a good citizen as well as a good hunting companion.

As mentioned before, get with others who are working their dogs. It is amazing how sharing time with other dogs can train us into better dog handlers.

[Thefishguy77]

My black lab is 8 now and I have struggled with him from day 1. Don't get me wrong as a duck dog goes he does his job well. Not great but well. Had him doing 6 positions wheel drills at 20 weeks. He will always bring the duck back and drop it. But with him I have never gotten hand deliveries. I can get him to hold and heal with a bird probably 90% of the time.

This is the first dog I have "struggled" with. Some dogs are just different. You need to constantly work with them. Sometime their quirks need to be worked with and not forced to be different.

Your pup is still young and developing. If you have the time try taking the pup out for a run before the 2nd training session of the day. Doesn't have to be long but getting them in to follow mode and running some of the energy down at the same time may help them be more willing to try it your way.   This advice it worth what you paid for it at best.  I used to think I was fairly good at this till my current dog. That being said I wouldn't trade him for anything.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Stein]

I must have been lucky.  I trained our lab and have no idea what I am doing outside of a few books and videos.  I can recall her 80% of the time and the other 20% result in a quick tick on the vibrating collar and she comes bolting back.  She is steady most of the time her first year and I think she will be near 100% this year on both steady on the shot and recall.

I don't expect perfection or anywhere near it, but if I gave a guy money and that kind of time, I would at least expect some of the basics or an honest conversation about that individual dog.  They are labs, they learn quick, love to please their owners and have an insatiable desire to fetch. 

I would guess there is a mismatch somewhere, either the trainer or your expectations. That is a very uneducated opinion, there are many others with much more experience than I have.