What hand signals do you use?

[311Hemi]

Just curious what hand signals people use??

I have started:

Stay - palm out like stop

Come - vertical drop of my arm to my side

Heel - hand to the left thigh

Sit - not sure

Down - not sure if I even need it but I have just been pointing with the index finger down.

[Mr. B]

I have been using:

Sit - closed fist

Down - hand flat with palm down

Heel - circilar motion with my left arm, arm pointed at the ground

Stay - palm out like a stop sign, but since I can not get Maggie to stay anytime I am not having much luck.

Not having any luck with the next ones.

Back - arm raised straight of my head.

Left and Right - arm extended either left or right

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

I tought left right and back by running that way with hand signal. She does it now fine. I also added the words right for right and over for left. All working now.

[TMan]

Mr. B - not usre if this will help but...

I had luck with using large movements also and Wolters Game Dog techniques for back, left, and right. Gotta make it fun and large and then sooner or later they'll understand that just the arm motion in that direction means get over there....

Start with not many options for them so they begin to get it right. Visualize a baseball diamond and put them on the pitchers mound and have them stay and then you go on home plate. Toss a dummy left, and toss one right. Not too far to begin with. Use a large body motion and arm 90 degrees out to your side to point L or R and use your fetch command, whatever it is. Have the dog bring this back to you and heel. I then set them up on a line to the next one to practice their following a line or direction with the intent of working toward a downed blind retrieve. Do this over and over with L, R, and back, and then move to an area with a little higher grass so they are a little harder to find each time. Add a little pheasant scent to each dummy to help them locate.

That's all I did, am doing, and she gets it.

Hope that helps. I'm no trainer but read some good books and learned a lot here from some of these people.

Tackleman

[Mr. B]

TMan,

Thanks for the advice. To be honest I have not worked with her that much on left or right. I have worked on Back more but really all of those commands are a bit beyond her training level. Not her fault, it is mine. It is really interesting she has trouble with some of the most basic things and other more advanced things she does without training.

To bad Maggie did not have a real trainer for all of her training it would have been interesting to see what she could do if she did. Her lack of finishing is more a reflection of my inexpierence than anything else.

[LABS4ME]

O.K. let's break down the training regimen for hand signals to make it easier for the dog to learn. We are gonna work with an imaginary baseball pattern.

Your dog will always start on the "pitchers mound", you will always be the "catcher". The areas for the dummies will be the three bases. Start out by placing your dog on the pitchers mound, lay 3 dummies at second base (keep them close maybe 20 feet), take a couple of steps back, hit one blast on the whistle to simulate a sit command (assuming the dog has already been taught this), raise your arm up and command back. At first you may have to incorporate a "fetch" command also to instill in the dog what he/she should do upon being given the "back" command. When your dog runs back and picks up the dummy trill on you whistle or command "here" to bring it to you at "home plate" to deliver it. Praise them and immediatley walk them back to the pitchers mound and repeat. Do this for a week straight or until you are sure they fully understand the regimen. Gradually increasing the distance between the dog and dummies and the dog and you. ONLY WORK ON ONE PLATE AT A TIME. DO NOT INCORPORATE OTHER HAND SIGNALS TILL THEY LEARN THE ONE YOU ARE WORKING ON.

After a week or whatever time it takes for the dog to learn "back", begin to work on "over". It is the exact same process except the dummies will be placed at 1st or 3rd base. As your dog begins to master all 3 commands, set out dummies on all 3 bases. Work him randomly to each base. Do this until the dog has each signal/command mastered.

The next step involves "lining". If your dog has not learned to "line" a blind you will have to teach him this first. In essence he will be given a "line" from the "catchers plate" to run towards "second base" over the "pitchers mound". Once at the mound hit the whistle once to sit and look at you and give him the command to which plate you want him to pick a dummy up. After you get to this point, you will have a dog fairly capable to make simple to moderate blind retrieves.

Beyond this the patterns get more complex and advanced. They will involve angled casts, turning left or right based on which arm you raise on the "back" signal, doing double T patterns, working the walking baseball pattern etc. Dogs that haved been force fetched will have better and more immediate success on these drills, but it is not mandatory as long as they understand and desire that they have to complete each retrieve.

A good (but old and maybe harder to find now) book to read on working on handling drills is "Training Retrievers to Handle" by D.L. Walters. It goes into great detail what needs to be done to bring your dog to a very polished level in handling.

This is a longer, more time consuming aspect of training than a lot of what we teach our dogs. Break it down to simple tasks, help the dog master each of these and progressivley make each one a little more challenging. THEN move onto the next step. Several 10 minute sessions of these 3 times a day is better than trying to hammer out one 20-30 minute session.

I have also trained most of my waterfowl dogs the "down" command to lay down and have used it frequently. It is a great command when field hunting ducks and geese to get them to lay down on a retrieve so as not to scare an incoming flock. I also use it to re-inforce when I want them to lay down and be calm around people who are a little apprehensive with dogs.

Remember if you break down training into many small segments and achieve success at each smaller level and continue to build on those, you will have much more success in teaching any given task.

Hope some of this helps and good luck with this portion of your dog's training!

Good Luck!

Ken

[duckbuster]

Once again Labs has hit it pretty darn good.I would add that you would first want to identify the piles. What I mean by this is to sit your dog down at home plate walk to 3rd base place a couple of dummies down and say dead bird. Now go back to your dog, put your hand down and say dead, dead bird and then say back as that is the command that should be used to do a blind retrieve. Get the dog comfortable lining to these piles, 1st base, 2nd base and 3rd base. Once you have established the piles sit him/her down on the pitchers mound and as Labs said and practice giving one cast at a time.

I would also add that when teaching the back commands do both the left hand back command and the right. When the dog is given the left back he/she should turn to there right and dig back to the bird. When giving the right hand cast the dog should turn to his/her left and dig back to the bird. By turning the proper way on the back cast you will start the dog on the new line. In essence you will be correcting the line by doing so.

This takes time, alot of time. Do not get frustrated. I have a dog that does very, very good blind work and I still have trouble getting her thru a 5 handed casting drill without her taking a wrong cast.

GOOD LUCK!!!

[LABS4ME]

Thanks D.B. for helping making it more clear. It's by far easier for me to do it, than type it. I hope a lot of guys work on these skills... they are by far some of the most rewarding aspects of owning a water dog! Nothing sweeter than casting the dog and crisply handling it on a mallard drake that got pricked and sailed across the pond, just doing it one time makes it worth all the time investment!

Good Luck!

Ken

[duckbuster]

I'll tell you what Labs the best memory I have this summer from the trialing season is the water blind she did for me at the St. Cloud trial in the Amateur. I still can't believe she did that blind. Man, I still get goose pumps when I think about how hard that blind was and how many dogs picked up the poison bird and she didn't. She paralelled the land and right down the shore line she went. God that is a great memory!!!

Duckbuster

[LABS4ME]

And that best describes the feelings and emotions you get out of a nice blind being run!

Good Luck!

Ken

[Snag]

I taught my dog stay, over, and back. He pops on back and doesn't drive far enough, but overall, I'm happy. I agree that all the time is worth it when you direct the dog to its first blind.