Running the water bank

[rocko]

How do you teach your dog to go straight into the water instead of running along the bank and then diving in? Is there a dvd out there that teaches this?

[3 black dogs]

Ahh a young dog in the water!!! Andrew this is cleaned up during your dogs swim by and decheat. thebest articles around are probably the Mike lardy DVD set well worth the money. www.ybsmediea.com the best thing to do is set any marks you are throwing right now straigt out 90' to the shore. and do not do any set ups that will let your pup cheat.

The swim by and decheat are done after you are through your Collar conditioning and FF and single and double T are solid on land and all your force to pile is done then you transtion it to water generaly our dogs are around 12 to 16 months old when they are ready for this. if you don't get the training DVD,s spend some time with a good sencible trainer who can help you with this.

Good luck

Chris

[rocko]

ha ha, I guess I am pretty far from this step!! Thanks for the info!!

[rleclair]

Just to add to Chris' comments - try not to put your dog in a position where they develop bad habits.

Even if you are throwing "fun" bumpers in the water after training drills it is best to stand at the edge of the water and throw the bumper out at 90-degrees to the shore (as Chris mentioned).

If you stand back from the edge of the water, or throw the bumper parallel to the shore - you give the dog all kinds of choices for entry into the water. Eventually they learn to enter the water wherever THEY feel it is good place and develop all kinds of bad habits.

It is always best to limit the choices when you are starting out and they are learning. Eventually you will add more complexity to the set-up as you move through the various stages of training.

Randy

[Anna Scott]

One of the things we do with young pups is to start very close to the shore line throw directly out in front of the pup and send. Then we back up a step or two and throw the bumper the same distance into the water. pup knows where it is so goes straight in. We continue do this backing up and throwing pup learns to take a straight line into the water. if he starts to deviate at the shore line move up again. Just don't make your throws into the water too long and be sure pup can see the bumper land.