I have been taking Kimba (2yrs) and Kofi (13m) to a gundog trainer once a fortnight for the last 3 months for one on one lessons - not because I want to work them but just because I would like them to take some notice of me when we are out.

Three months on and they are both walking much better on a lead (although Kofi still has some way to go particularly if we are walking on grass!) but I still have great trouble getting eye contact from Kimba if I put him in a wait and his recall although it did improve briefly now seems to have gone back to square one in the last few days (meaning that he take no notice of me if there is anyone/dog/thing else about!)

I do work with them both (normally for about an hour each) every day and I guess I had hoped to make some more progress by now. Am I expecting too much? Any thoughts gratefully received.

no i think your dogs arent givin you enough respect. 15 to 20 mins a day for a few weeks should be plenty long enough to sort of lead problems, although i must admit recall is always ongoing esp if theyve learnt not to listen to u

I wouldn't disagree with you but it is how to get that respect that I seem to have a problem with!

Yes - how do you get respect???? we have problems in respect that Poppy doesn`t show me much at the moment. We have worked really hard over the months on recall etc and its all gone to pot at the moment and trying to get her respect is even on the wane at home garden. I`m at a loss on what`s happened and how to get it back on track.

Amanda

well speaking as someone retraining an untrained 12 month old lab at the minute i can completely sympathise with u. stage one take one dog out at a time. a command is just that so if u are going to give one make sure u can enforce it, no point telling your dog to come if he is far more interested in sniffing grass, all u are teaching him is to ignore your first command. i can heartily reccomend a training manuel if u want to pm me not sure if im allowed to post it on an open forum.

Hi... many thanks .. have PM'd you but I am sure that it is OK to put details on the forum as I have seen many others on here.

I agree with that. The dog must learn that there are disagreeable consequences when he ignores an easy, well-trained command. So I had to show Rhian that SIT means SIT, even if there is something interesting around.

The other thing is practise. To stay with the example of SIT, I practices this indoors a lot, not only in training sessions, but also in between. Then in the garden or in a boring place, on lead as long as she didn't put her bum down instantly. And of course I rewarded her for quick compliance, sometimes with a huge jackpot! Then slowly increase distance and distraction, one at a time.

I still do not give the SIT command if Rhian is chasing a cat at full speed - I know she'd ignore it. If I can catch the moment before she takes off, she'll obey. Criteria are different for every dog, for some a moving twig might be a big distraction, for others it might be a running child or an approaching car....

It takes time is all I can say! 2 years on and we still have off days..I think even the top trainers do..you just have to get back on track and don't take it personally.

Have you spoken to your trainer about this? They should be able to offer you advice.

Agree that you should take one out at a time...if not they just feed off each other and it becomes a nightmare! We went to the river at the weekend with all 4 of them and Conker takes every opportunity to do a runner, you have to have your eye on him all the time!

Every time we have a blip with Conker, we go back to basics ( i get sick of hearing the term but it does work) We go to an area with low scent and then start increasing the scent levels.

well i will give you all some hope!!! we have just come back from a week in the Highhlands, and only once has Molly done a runner and to be fair that was our fault, we should have had her back sooner instead of trying to walk her all the way to the car and expecting her to jump in (just too much that one) the rest of the time she has been coming back on the whistle and sitting when its time to have her lead on, i am so proud of my girl

Well done.. you must be so chuffed!!! I will just carry on working with Kimba and dream that one day he will do the same!