Irishwhistler
Been spending a lot of time on here!
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- Nov 1, 2018
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Aye Mates,
So our gun dog trainee STORM, upon starting his journey as a sporting dog had an aversion to water. It seems he had a bad experience with regard to an improper introduction to the aquatic environment (cold water submersion at age 8 weeks), NOT GOOD to say the least. The problem having been identified, I went to work in an effort to remedy the damage done, that being an early traumatic experience imprinted on his poor poodle psyche. My approach as his trainer was to slowly build his confidence in the water which included my going in with him whilst I wore a pair o' chest waders. I methodically made the experience more rewarding for him with each session and used high value rewards to motivate the land loving lad.
STORM ~ A standard poodle bred out of field performance bloodlines, STORM was near completely aversive to water whence I first began working with him and he preferred to remain on dry land.
LAUNCHING ~ Move over Michael Phelps. After many hours spent both building STORM'S love for the retrieve on land, whilst simultaneously building his confidence in the water, STORM yielded his fear and placed his trust in me as his trainer. In essence, I fooled him into believing that the water is one o' the most fun places for a dog to go. STORM'S love for the retrieve and for birds were used as high value rewards in motivating him into making this huge leap o' faith.
STORM ON RETRIEVE ~ His owners feared they would never see their lad STORM make a retrieve on the water. I applaud them in having faith in me as their trainer to stay the course in heeding me advice. STORM has come so very far in overcoming his fears and now realizes the joy of doing the water work that we all associated with the retrieving breeds.
THE EMERGENCE ~ STORM is seen here as he is about to exit the water after having made the retrieve of a training bird during a session earlier today. It has really been incredible to see this K9 overcome the terror he once faced in the water, that giving way to the emergence of what has become a true love for making long swims to recover downed birds on murky waters.
STORM'S skill sets continue to grow along with his confidence level. Standard poodles are known to be extremely intelligent dogs and such is the case with STORM. The changes I have witnessed in STORM from our early days spent laying down his foundational obedience, to the present work we are doing in honing his gun dog skills have been an incredible transformation to observe. All said, STORM will be participating in his first AKC Junior Hunter stakes next weekend. As he has placed his trust in meself, I too have placed my confidence in STORM having acquired the skills needed to reliably complete the work required to earn qualifying scores toward an AKC Junior Hunter Title.
I will update this thread with the results of STORM'S first experience as a K9 hunt test athlete later next week.
Cheers,
THE DOG WHISTLER
So our gun dog trainee STORM, upon starting his journey as a sporting dog had an aversion to water. It seems he had a bad experience with regard to an improper introduction to the aquatic environment (cold water submersion at age 8 weeks), NOT GOOD to say the least. The problem having been identified, I went to work in an effort to remedy the damage done, that being an early traumatic experience imprinted on his poor poodle psyche. My approach as his trainer was to slowly build his confidence in the water which included my going in with him whilst I wore a pair o' chest waders. I methodically made the experience more rewarding for him with each session and used high value rewards to motivate the land loving lad.
STORM ~ A standard poodle bred out of field performance bloodlines, STORM was near completely aversive to water whence I first began working with him and he preferred to remain on dry land.
LAUNCHING ~ Move over Michael Phelps. After many hours spent both building STORM'S love for the retrieve on land, whilst simultaneously building his confidence in the water, STORM yielded his fear and placed his trust in me as his trainer. In essence, I fooled him into believing that the water is one o' the most fun places for a dog to go. STORM'S love for the retrieve and for birds were used as high value rewards in motivating him into making this huge leap o' faith.
STORM ON RETRIEVE ~ His owners feared they would never see their lad STORM make a retrieve on the water. I applaud them in having faith in me as their trainer to stay the course in heeding me advice. STORM has come so very far in overcoming his fears and now realizes the joy of doing the water work that we all associated with the retrieving breeds.
THE EMERGENCE ~ STORM is seen here as he is about to exit the water after having made the retrieve of a training bird during a session earlier today. It has really been incredible to see this K9 overcome the terror he once faced in the water, that giving way to the emergence of what has become a true love for making long swims to recover downed birds on murky waters.
STORM'S skill sets continue to grow along with his confidence level. Standard poodles are known to be extremely intelligent dogs and such is the case with STORM. The changes I have witnessed in STORM from our early days spent laying down his foundational obedience, to the present work we are doing in honing his gun dog skills have been an incredible transformation to observe. All said, STORM will be participating in his first AKC Junior Hunter stakes next weekend. As he has placed his trust in meself, I too have placed my confidence in STORM having acquired the skills needed to reliably complete the work required to earn qualifying scores toward an AKC Junior Hunter Title.
I will update this thread with the results of STORM'S first experience as a K9 hunt test athlete later next week.
Cheers,
THE DOG WHISTLER
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/37/37524-6c51828efbc2361f9cfed53f63f28aa2.jpg?1619738130)
