Maggie and Elsa are becoming the best of friends.
Peter - thanks for that. When Maggie was about 5 months I bought the Gundog Training Guide - grade one and it is full of useful information. One of their Golden Rules - think there are nine altogether is 'Never give away your greatest secret'. That secret is that you cannot catch your dog in open country if he does not want you to. So never chase your puppy. Luckily common sense when Maggie was young told me not to do this anyway but I also had to tell my kids not to either.
The three rings is similar to something I read in it also. Having a certain distance where you have control and training to make this distance further away. I know the distance I have control with Maggie and like Elspeth when I lapse and she is out of that ring there is no way I can get her back. If she is in that circle though she will stop even when chasing deer.
The sit/stop at a distance I found difficult too Elspeth. I got advice and Maggie will stop at quite a distance now although not half a mile away. To do this when I asked her to sit I ran towards her to start with at the same time as blowing the whistle shouting stay and using my hand signal so that she knew I was coming to her and I didn't want her to come to me. I had to be quite forceful but she soon got to know that the long whistle meant sit and don't move. Don't think I have ever got her to do a somersault like Peter though! I agree though training obedience is an ongoing thing and with every walk I do with Maggie I always do at least one recall and one stop and also some heal work off lead. To be honest it makes the walk more fun for me and Maggie.
The Gundog club also do a book called The Right Start for puppy training which I have ordered.
