# Focusing on the Task



## Tatnall (May 20, 2008)

I'd move closer so that all he sees is the pile right in front of him then gradually move back. You seem to be doing this for exercise more than 'pile work' but I would treat it similar to flaring in pile work and move closer then move back.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Jodie -- I had the same issue with Slater going to the backpile and it was cured with force en route with the ecollar. It is a lack of compulsion, the dog is dilly-dallying because he thinks he's on his own time out there. 
Call me an uncreative trainer but I'm not sure how you'd fix it reliably without collar condition/force en route. Even if you did force fetch with ear pinch, to stop him en route and ear pinch is going to be ridiculously confusing for the dog.
But to your end -- if you aren't going to do serious field work with him, it's probably not a battle you need to wage. Do you FF with ear pinch? Your only recourse is to go get him and ear pinch to the pile of bumpers if he wavers off so much that he stops proceeding to the pile. I did this with Fisher way before I ever collar conditioned him and it did help.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

A game we play here that might help.... I do a short toss and have the dog watch, then heel them away from the mark, making them focus on me and not the ball (I use balls a lot, shoot me! LOL). Then I do a turn, make them sit and then send them. Now usually it's two dogs doing this 'game' so they are very driven to get there first. Or, I'll send one and hold the other back, if there's any goofing around I send the other one. It's silly but they don't putz around if they think the other dog might get there first...


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I know > *absolute zero *< about field work, but I did have a question when I saw this earlier... 

How many retrieves are you doing by the time he gets distracted? 

Can you hype him up about the bumper before placing it and then sending him to get it? 

If he's getting distracted, that sounds like he might be bored and not into the PLAY part of retrieving.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

what if you put the pile in a different location in the yard, so that it's not always just running to the same place?


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Anney, I was following your line of thinking exactly. The only reason I haven't used the collar on him for this (he is collar conditioned) is that a few weeks ago he ate the charger to the collar....for the second time...(I know, stupid owner will learn some day to pick up chargers). 

So until I can get another charger I've been setting up some distracting scenarios that makes him actually leave his line, then I verbally mark it and go in and use my ear pinch. That does get his attention back better than before. Not to where I'd like it, but he is just at that annoyingly distracted stage too (please please please tell me it is just a stage)

My problem with just moving the pile, making it easier, making it more fun for him, etc, is that doesn't really address the issue of him needing to pay attention to his job when he's working. Even though I'm mostly sending to the pile for exercise, he doesn't know that, and I want him to know that when he has a job to do he has to focus on doing it the right way.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Well I hope the distracted nature is just a stage. I feel like Scout might be getting better lately and she's only a few months older than Flip....

And I would think for this kind of thing you would need some sort of correction to really fix it. Yeah, you can back up and change things around to avoid it, but only a correction will tell the dog he should stay on task, IMO.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

my trainer *in real life* trains dogs to hunt, not to play hunt games, so he may have a slightly different viewpoint. When Tito is coming back, especially swimming back, with a bird, he does tend to look around. (note, he doesn't do it on the way out, only on the way back) The trainer says to let him do it, as long as it's "within reason" because he's going to have to head out for a memory bird, which he may be looking at, or remember where that diversion bird went down, and if he's not looking around, he's not going to see it. 
Now I have no idea what "within reason" means, I just know that most of the time Tito doesn't get corrected for minor head swinging on the way back.


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## EvanG (Apr 26, 2008)

Loisiana said:


> Because Flip really needs to get some good running in every day, I've been sending him across the yard to a bumper pile daily the past week. My yard is about 200 feet long.
> 
> So how do I best get that across to him?


How old is he, Jodie?

EvanG


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> my trainer *in real life* trains dogs to hunt, not to play hunt games, so he may have a slightly different viewpoint. .............
> Now I have no idea what "within reason" means, I just know that most of the time Tito doesn't get corrected for minor head swinging on the way back.


There is a world of difference between what the dog is doing coming back vs. going to. I don't think there's a trainer out there who would care if the dog looked around coming back with a bird.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

except, of course, if he insists on running back thru the field of goose decoys on the way back :doh::doh: 



K9-Design said:


> There is a world of difference between what the dog is doing coming back vs. going to. I don't think there's a trainer out there who would care if the dog looked around coming back with a bird.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

He's 19 months (as of today!)



EvanG said:


> How old is he, Jodie?
> 
> EvanG


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## EvanG (Apr 26, 2008)

Is he through Basics?

EvanG


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> except, of course, if he insists on running back thru the field of goose decoys on the way back :doh::doh:


Well that's not looking around -- that's ignoring the HERE command to do what he pleases.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

oh yeah.....
That was at our 4th JH test. We were running in pretty tall cover, and just the goose heads and necks showed. The way the mark was set up, if the dogs ran a straight line back they had to pass within about 6 feet of the field of decoys, which was about 20 yards from the line.
He was coming back with the duck, and I could see the head swing and the eyes roll as he caught sight of the goose decoys. I KNEW the bonehead was going to veer off to run thru the decoys, and sure enough, he did. Luckily all he did was run between them, head swinging while he looked at them, and then came back with the duck. 
Hole in training.
edit to add....several others were not so fortunate, their dogs dropped the duck when they ran thru the decoy field and at least a couple wouldn't pick it up again.





K9-Design said:


> Well that's not looking around -- that's ignoring the HERE command to do what he pleases.


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