Article Idication Issues

[debbiebrown]

started tracking with Sam early spring this year, been working with the club here..........i started with article tracks seperately.......he is kinda lazy in that he will come to an article and take his time going down on it even though he knows he gets yummie food when he goes down on it........i have worked on this ALOT........he does great on the tracking itself, but when he comes to an article he's like "daaaah" i'm trying to figure out what i need to do to make the article more rewarding...or if i have not given him enough incentive to want to do it..........i still feel that i need to reming him when his nose hits the article to down, but at this point he knows what to do and needs to start doing it without verbal cues...........i also have tried just a light tug on the line without verbal cue and its still inconsistant..........his personality is a bit unsure anyway he's not a quick confident dog, he needs more propmting than most dogs, and i keep thinking i need to make dowing on the article more exciting....................in most confident dogs with drive to work, the food reward is enough, with him i have to figure out how to make it more rewarding..............any ideas?

[hunterisgreat]

Do you feed him on tracking day? The night before? When was his last meal? Outside of tracking does a down command get a fast down?

[debbiebrown]

breakfast on tracking day thats it, maybe skipping might help. he does down on command, but not speedy........so, maybe working on faster downs a seperate Obedience exercise? i just think at this point with all the article training he knows what to do, and should do it without a reminder......but maybe less food on the track and more food on article and having him a bit hungry may work, worth a try.......

[Chris Wild]

You can try to make the articles more rewarding. Less food on the track and more jackpotting of food at the articles may help. If he's not really food motivated, then try other forms of rewards at the article. Just a genuine "good dog" and some petting can mean a whole lot, even more than food, as a reward.

If you're absolutely 100% sure that he knows what he is supposed to do at the articles, but he just isn't doing it or is doing it half heartedly, then it might be time to bring corrections into it. Not just little reminders with the leash that serve more as a request or suggestion than anything else, but an actual correction to make sure he understands that this is is not optional. He must perform the behavior he's been taught at articles and must do it faster and more correct. Then followed of course by lots of praise and reward once he responds appropriately to the correction.

[debbiebrown]

i do feel he knows exactly what is expected of him where the articles are concerned, we have worked daily on seperate article indications for 8 or more months......i have started to correct him when he's on a track and comes to the article and doesn't go down. if he wonders off, or trys to walk over it a tug and a "NO" and he does know what No means. then i bring him back to me make him sit then point to the article and redo. he does down after that but again not real speedy, like "oh well, if i have to" what i am on the wire about is harsh correction since he is a nervy dog, i was going to use a prong collar for corrections, but felt it might back fire and make the article thing even worse.........its a hard situation.........i do agree on the correction, and i guess i am going to have to experiment on just how much of a correction will be effective short of ruining the whole article deal.........he does like food, but he has not the food drive my female has...........my other thought was to set up an article track and make a game out of it, race him to it, make it more exciting, it might take something like that to motivate him...............although again, i don't want to mess things up and make him dependant on me being right there coaching him............its certainly a trouble shooting situation...............