Retrieve
Started Mercy on the formal retrieve tonight. Which, there's a story behind this. Somebody shared a truly awful video of a "dog trainer" showing off the training of a young Lab that he's been working for 6 weeks. I won't share that video here, it's heartbreaking. He's using an ecollar, and doing some "retrieve" work, and the dog is so shut down it will barely move. A Lab. He trained a Lab to be afraid to retrieve.
To reaffirm myself in the joy of dog training, as well as to prove a bit of a point, I decided to introduce Mercy to the dumbbell. We did a few minutes with it, I liked what I was getting and quit. Some people wanted to see it though, so despite my messy house, I shot some video:
Facebook post
No actual retrieving yet, of course, just a good grip on the bar, and then reaching for it, since she got the grip right away. She was having a great time, but no need to rush it. She's already about halfway along where that poor terrified Lab is, and there'll be no need to try and coax speed out of her. Speed, we got.
I shared the sad video on my FB, and the discussion got a little heated, which was odd. A person expressed a dislike for the forced retrieve. I hadn't wanted to debate it, but I just said that I couldn't bring myself to use one when a shaped retrieve works so well. Another friend commented that her dog's shaped retrieve was more reliable and happier than many dogs forced retrieve. Still a pretty easy comment, since "many dogs" encompasses some really badly trained ones, so nobody being shamed. And then someone took it personal, and got pretty rude. (rude enough that I eventually deleted a comment, which I rarely do) I told her flat out that I won't tolerate being rude to other commenters on my FB page, and will unfriend if she can't behave. I may not be 100% consistent in that policy, since it's easier to notice rudeness when you disagree with somebody's position (and if someone is provoked, I won't criticize them for snarking back). But I really prefer that people commenting on my FB page treat each other with respect.
I knew somebody was going to comment in favor of the force retrieve, and I didn't want a battle about it, but since I'm not much in favor of it myself, I'm not giving the proponents a lot of leeway. (the horrifying nature of the poor Lab's training wasn't just because of the use of the ecollar, you can have a less shut down dog while still using force, it was just bad training. But I still prefer a shaped retrieve.)
But Mercy... super cute. And apparently going to learn a retrieve before she even starts to learn how to heel.
To reaffirm myself in the joy of dog training, as well as to prove a bit of a point, I decided to introduce Mercy to the dumbbell. We did a few minutes with it, I liked what I was getting and quit. Some people wanted to see it though, so despite my messy house, I shot some video:
Facebook post
No actual retrieving yet, of course, just a good grip on the bar, and then reaching for it, since she got the grip right away. She was having a great time, but no need to rush it. She's already about halfway along where that poor terrified Lab is, and there'll be no need to try and coax speed out of her. Speed, we got.
I shared the sad video on my FB, and the discussion got a little heated, which was odd. A person expressed a dislike for the forced retrieve. I hadn't wanted to debate it, but I just said that I couldn't bring myself to use one when a shaped retrieve works so well. Another friend commented that her dog's shaped retrieve was more reliable and happier than many dogs forced retrieve. Still a pretty easy comment, since "many dogs" encompasses some really badly trained ones, so nobody being shamed. And then someone took it personal, and got pretty rude. (rude enough that I eventually deleted a comment, which I rarely do) I told her flat out that I won't tolerate being rude to other commenters on my FB page, and will unfriend if she can't behave. I may not be 100% consistent in that policy, since it's easier to notice rudeness when you disagree with somebody's position (and if someone is provoked, I won't criticize them for snarking back). But I really prefer that people commenting on my FB page treat each other with respect.
I knew somebody was going to comment in favor of the force retrieve, and I didn't want a battle about it, but since I'm not much in favor of it myself, I'm not giving the proponents a lot of leeway. (the horrifying nature of the poor Lab's training wasn't just because of the use of the ecollar, you can have a less shut down dog while still using force, it was just bad training. But I still prefer a shaped retrieve.)
But Mercy... super cute. And apparently going to learn a retrieve before she even starts to learn how to heel.