Drop on recall

[elisabeth_00117]

I would like some advice from those who have perfected this.. lol.

Stark and I have had a handful of perfect drop on recalls, but not enough for me to say that he has "got it" down.

What I do is have him down/sit/stand in one spot, walk out a distance and then have him "heir", when he gets about 20 ft away or so, I tell him to "platz" and what he does is stop and stand there - perfect for stand on recall - not so perfect for drop/sit on recall... LOL.

I have tried a few things:

1. Do an out of motion drop; so heel him, platz him and then continue on and then have him heir into a front

• He did this fine but when I transferred to a drop on recall, same thing happened (he stood there)

2. Do some play/fun exercises where I shimmy back and have him platz for his reward every few times, making the distance between us further and further each time

• I get flashy downs but when I move a good distance away, he does the same thing (stood there)

3. I tried something different today with a friend and had him reinforce the platz command with a leash (no command from him, only me).

• When I tried this, as soon as my friend was close to Stark, he dropped automatically like he knew he was suppose too

Just wondering how everyone else trains this? I am working with a new trainer and so I hope to get some good answers/insights into this. Stark is still kinda blowing me off and we have not done any OB in awhile and I am just starting back up with him.

[Zahnburg]

Elisabeth,

There is no "drop on recall" in schutzhund. ??? So why is this important to you if you are training schutzhund?

[elisabeth_00117]

It's important because I would like him to have one.

That, and because I would like to use it when he is off lead and spots a bunny or tries to go somewhere I don't want him too.

Also, I thought this could translate over to his send out.

[elisabeth_00117]

Found this...

getting started with the send out - YouTube

getting started with the send out - YouTube

Might work on this with Stark.

[Zahnburg]

Originally Posted by elisabeth_00117

It's important because I would like him to have one.

That, and because I would like to use it when he is off lead and spots a bunny or tries to go somewhere I don't want him too.

Also, I thought this could translate over to his send out.

1. It is your dog, so if you want him to do this then go ahead. (though it makes no sense to me in the context of schutzhund)

2. I do not see how chasing a bunny translates into a recall. In this case it is simply "down" not "hier....down"

3. For me a recall should be used to relieve pressure, thus it makes no sense to me to introduce pressure for a down in the recall.

4. As for the send-out, I believe this technique has a larger potential to cause problems in the rest of the routine, far out-weighing any potential benefit in the send-out.

[Catu]

Originally Posted by Zahnburg

4. As for the send-out, I believe this technique has a larger potential to cause problems in the rest of the routine, far out-weighing any potential benefit in the send-out.

4.5 I would worry that it may affect the speed of the recall and, under the stress of a trial he may run to you asking himself if you are going to ask for a drop or not. I teach my dogs a lot of things that have nothing to do with the SchH routine, but that one I would not try.

As far as the bunnies, I thing the down in the context of the send-out is more effective, dog is running TOWARDS what he wants and in drive.

[Packen]

Platz anywhere from any position is an extremely useful exercise to teach whether in SchH or any other discipline. I started with first teaching a very solid platz till release then a random platz anywhere, then changed my position and distance WRT the dog. It takes time and during this practice you need to be ready to touch the dog mentally or physically within 1 second of giving the command.

Once the randomness is perfected, meaning you could be going for a walk and the down (platz) is absolute for the dog, when a bunny jumps from the bush and dog chases, down him. Now the randomness is perfected. Now it does not matter if you down him on the recall or the send out. You just need to mix it up so there is no anticipation and reduction in speed, meaning when practicing routines, do 3-5 without the down and then down on one. This way it will not have any affect on speed/drive.

[cliffson1]

The foundation for your platz is not strong enough yet. When the foundation is adequate, whenever you say platz, he should drop like a stone.JMO The issue isn't the recall, the issue is you gave a platz command and he did not execute it. Not enough foundation in the platz.

[elisabeth_00117]

Thanks everyone.

He will drop when we are anywhere, and I do drop him pretty much everywhere and anywhere, never had an issue.. until now.

I will go back to proofing my platz with him though and see if that helps.

Thanks guys! I will let you know how it goes!