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Shakes Off On Exit

977 views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  quackerwacker 
#1 ·
My pup has started to shaking off when exiting the water. Sometimes she does it violently enough that she drops the bumper. She is not droping the bumper, then shaking, but rather seems to unintentionally drop the bumper while shaking. She has completed hold training, and is solid as a rock when delivering the bumper while on dry land. The only way I have found to prevent the shaking/droping thing is to meet her at the waters edge. I only have access to water trainning on the weekends, so it is not something that I can work with her on a daily basis. Any suggestions?
 
#2 ·
I get that once in awhile and I fix it by calling 'here-here-here' right as he hits land and walking backwards from the dog to encourage a quicker return to me. After a few of those it seems to correct it.

Basically - not giving him time to stop and shake.
 
#3 ·
What you want to put in place is a shake command.

This does not take a lot of time to train for and is easily done on your water weekend training. Just make sure you meet the dog at the waters edge everytime for the first while.

Start meeting the dog at the water's edge just before it gets out and re-enforce the hold command and back up enough on land to let the dog heel beside you. Anytime the dog goes to shake - say no -- hold --- heel. Once the dog gets to heel then take the bumper and say shake. At the beginning on the "shake" command you may have to be fast to get the command in before the dog shakes --- then "good shake".

You get wet at first because you are close to the dog but what you build up to is --- hold --- heel --- sit ---- stay --- you take the bumper walk away a couple of steps and say shake.

You can also do this in a back yard with a kids pool or spray the dog with water with a squeeze bottle while it is holding the bumper ---- then -- re-enforce --- hold --- only on release of bumper say shake.

Hope this helps

Hugh
 
#6 ·
I took Lucy out to do some water work this morning, and followed Hugh's advice. Things went very well! On her first retrieve, I met her at the water's edge got her into her delivery position, but I reacted too slowly, and she started to shake. I caught her in mid shake, grabbed her by her collar and stopped her from shaking, while I told her "no". I had her pick up the bumper and reinforced the hold command. On the next retrieve she delivered to hand (while sitting) before she started to shake off. I had her do a total of 9 retrieves (7 singles & 1 double) during the session. She delivered to hand, without shaking off, on all but the 1st retrieve. She still seems kind of uncertain about the whole thing, but clearly has started to grasp the idea of not to shake until after the delivery.
As far as shaking off on command, she has not made that connection yet, but she should after enough reps.
Thanks for the help.
 
#8 ·
I agree that incorporating the "shake" command would help to defeat your hurdle. Here is a quick way to teach your dog to shake. Lift his ear and blow in it while saying shake. When you blow in his ear he will naturally shake. Eventually you can get your dog to bring to hand from water, give, and sit and wait for the command. Its kinda funny to watch your dog dripping wet looking at you for the ok to shake off! :rofl:
 
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