Thread: Dog Training in Drive

Thanks for the new thread Mark! The help available here is just awesome!

Little did I know it, but I have already essentially trained the sit in drive with both my boy and my parent's Dobe as well, completely by accident- no, actually, I meant to do it, I just didn't have a name for my method!

I can get both of them off lead at the local footy oval, undistracted by each other (no mean feat) sitting and intensely focussed.

HOWEVER, my boy focusses only on my eyes, and not the ball, even though the ball is the object of his desire. Is this likely to be a sticking point?

Any further tips and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. How odd to know my completely untrained "intuitive" ideas actually have merit....

That sounds like a good thing, not a bad thing, to me Yellowbird. Sounds like your dog understands that focusing on you is the key to getting the ball. IMO, that is what you want.

That's one of the first steps to having the dog work for you before he's been shown the ball (that's useful, since you might not always have the ball with you when you need him to work). And if you're planning on competing in anything, well you can't do competitive heeling with the ball held under your chin! Your dog needs to learn to focus on you, not directly focus on the ball, in order to earn the ball. Sort of like doggy zen.

I agree that the Ivan Balabanov DVDs are excellent, I really like the way he incorperates marker training with his drive work. I also did a distance learning course with K9 Force that I really enjoyed, it covered similar techniques to those shown in the Balabanov DVDs.

With baby pup's, I like to animate the item and build their Interest/focus and in turn(prey) drive for it.When i have seen the level of desire I want, I then give them a command like stand,sitz,etc.Once they have the understanding of what I require from them and do it,they know once they perform, eventually a bite comes and they get many wins as long as they are earning it and slowly then start to space between the "wins". I will take my item away and only bring it out for training etc So that is for soft tug,rag etc

For Balls I roll it and throw it a distance from me,giving them a chance to chase and then call them to me and bounce it again next to me as a reward for coming back.Basically what's been written,put it up near the face/shoulder area for focus in that general face area then bounce the ball for them once they do what is required again.They get to run about with it then I say "out" and once that is done a pat is given and pup is put to bed or fed or whatever..

Lots of praise is always given.Vocally and physically.Less with age.

I also put food in my mouth for focus and hold it there till the desired behaviour is reached also then spit it for them. Ultimately I am goddess and all the fun starts and ends with me.

As Mark pointed out though this is what I do with a puppy who has the desire to work.

My newest baby has quite a bit of excess energy to blow off b4 a training game starts,she lurrves biting everything, so it's a case of redirecting her bite to an item and then she will show nice focus and after a couple of sitz,stands,heres, a couple of nice bites on her towel after she has seen me offer it firstly as reward for correct behaviour..

Actually similar to the thread about mouthing puppies,she is in the process of learning "when" and what is appropriate. Of course with young puppies teething is an issue so slow and steady with all training which involves items rather then food...

Looking forward to other's thoughts.

Amy