# It's one step forward and two, maybe three, steps back



## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Some days you just have one of those days with your dog. It's as if they forgot, selectively, everything you've been working on for the past 6 months.
Today, was that day! 
Finn just flat out "lost his monkey" this morning. I think he was on a different planet. He was everywhere, but with me mentally today. It could be that at 10 months, he's decided to give me a little test. 
I ended up having to put him back on the leash/check cord, and we started going back over basic ground manners. I think we walked at the heel for a mile or more, working on the, stay, walk and come commands.
He did finally get his brain engaged, and we had a fairly good retrieval session on the river. Continued to work on ground manners on the walk back to the truck, about a mile, and then I let him off the check cord and we walked another 1/2 mile or so through the woods where he could just cut loose and go.
No worries. The morning finished well, and he's curled up on his bed now.
Tomorrow is another day. I can't wait.
I love working with these dogs!


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

oh yeah, going deaf at around 10-14 months.... my boys have only a little over 2 years age difference, so luckily i remembered the second time and reacted just like you. The first one Bende had a harder time making me understand that this is normal, mom was still in training, especially since it happened right after he got his CGC certification. LOL, u learn to love them even more thru these phases. i am sure i will still make mistakes 20 years from now, but hopefully less and less. sure this forum has helped me a lot.


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## joav (Aug 10, 2018)

i feel your pain, it definitely seems that now that george is close to two years old,
his listening has gotten much, much better.

seems like year one was us learning a language,
year two was us learning to communicate...

i've learned that george is a creature of two minds,
one that is highly intelligent, with a long memory and deep vocabulary,
and a second that is laser focused, relentless, and controls all bodily function...

the second only yields cycles to the first when it has nothing to do -
when it's busy, all hope is lost... as long as i can give him commands before
he gives himself commands, his behavior is always spot on.

least when he encounters a mountain biker / hiker / deer / angry steer,
he's learned to pause first, let me interject some guidance in...

your reaction i think sounds perfect, the more emotional i'd get in those situations,
the more he'd shut down, has never served either of us well...

the positive bond however has.
small steps with 99% hit rate has yielded huge results -
am always amazed how intuitve our relationship has gotten,
he has definitely earned the full trust he has everywhere...

has been quite the journey, keep enjoying...


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Yeah, sometimes you just have to look at the situation and take a big step back.
Finn was on his eCollar, whcih he always is, and wasn't even really responding to the eCollar. Two choices, up the stimulation level, which I will not do in an open field hunting type scenario, or stop and find out what is happening. I chose the latter. Which was a good choice, because he did need some leash work. 
There were lots of joggers, fisherman, and other dogs, so it gave me multiple opportunities to work on the "stay" with significant distractions. An unplanned bonus. It was probably the scents of all the different people and dogs that set him off to start with.
At the end we were back to almost normal, and he was doing much better.

Another strong possibility is, that we've been working pretty hard the past month or two, so it may also have been a little bit of mental burnout, and he just needs some time to be 10 months old. If it's cooler tomorrow, I'll cut him loose in the mud flats along the river and just let him blow off some steam, with no agenda


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Nothing wrong with taking a short break from training, and then starting a step or two back from where you finished. I look at it as a mini vacation, followed by a quick refresher course.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

We went out this morning and I think I called out to him twice, in an hour, only to let him know that I had changed direction. I just let him "rip" to do what ever he wanted to do, and go wherever he wanted to stick his nose. 
He's pretty tired right now and it's just 9AM. I'll put him to bed and head to the supermarket before the storms hit late this afternoon.


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