We have been making progress and here is a video of a force to pile session we had today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DntJzW8JavM

We are having fun now!  The begins of running blinds!

Collar Fetch

Transitioned over to collar fetch today.  She understood the pressure and was all about getting the bumper in her moth to turn the pressure off.  We are moving right along.  Want be long now until we are at walking fetch.

Turning the corner.............

I think we may have turned the corner yesterday with Sadie.  She was much more aggressive at trying to get to the bumper.  The next few days should be fun and we progress to the ground with FF.

He spirits are still good and is always wagging her tail!

Marks today.............

Got out and ran some short marks today.  Sadie learned how to mark off of the winger.  We will start extending the marking distance in low cover once a week while still going through FF just to keep her spirits up.

Turning it up a notch..................

turned it up a notch today and she still did great.  She knows what I want and she is getting faster.  We are looking for her to quickly grab the bumper in her month when commanded to "fetch".  She goes for it but its pretty slow.  It will get better as I start holding her to tighter standards.

Then as a treat this afternoon, we threw a few marks with pigeons!  That really got her fired up.  We will do this from time to time to keep her attitude fired up!

Slow Going.......................

but we know that going into it.  Force Fetch never has a time line.  Some dogs are quicker than others.  The fact that it takes longer ensures that the dog understands what is wanted.  Force Fetch being the basis of everything else we will do from here on out, it doesnt matter how long it takes.  We have still only been at this less than a week so no worries.  She is still bugging but when she is ready she slowly reaching for the bumper.

Thanksgiving Break...........almost

we did get in a quick session on Wednesday morning before we left for Thanksgiving in South Ga.

We will be back at it hard and heavy tomorrow!

Reaching..............

Tuesday Nov 20th 2012

 After two morning sessions, Sadie is still bugging but knows how to turn the pressure off.  She has started reaching for the roller now and knows that as soon as its in her mouth the pressure goes away.  She has done a good job of holding the roller once its in her mouth.  Has only dropped it a few times.  We are really rewarding her with praise as she is holding the roller.

We will do two more FF sessions this afternoon.

Gave her stinkin butt a bath today, my she stank to high heaven!  LOL

Starting Force Fetch..............

Monday November 19, 2012

I've had Sadie about two weeks and we have really started to work this week.  When I got her she was fresh and had no formal training.  Her owner had done as I had instructed and only thrown marks for her on land and in water.  Sadie is 7mths old and ready to go to work.  The first week I had her we collar conditioned her to "here"  She picked this up very well and handled the pressure as well as any dog I have ever seen.  We only worked on this for two days and I am very happy with the results.  She got a few days off because of work and we started back at it on Sunday.  Sunday was the first day that we worked on hold.  I started with my hand in her mouth, which she accepted pretty easily and then we went on to the paint roller and after a few tries she understood what I was asking for.  Monday we started on Force Fetch.  We had 4 short sessions and by the last session she was reaching for the bumper.  I was very pleased and look forward to see just how far we can take Sadie.

She has shut down her retrieving for the time being.  She is still eager, but runs to the bumper and then remembers that this is the object that she associates with pain on her ear.  Not unusual at this point.

( He attitude is very good and if I see that the attitude is good, I will throw a fun bumper or two while going through the process of FF, some trainers refrain from any retrieves at all during this process.)