Tips for begining to train your Wei for retrieving

[gerroa]

Hi everyone,

I have no experience at all with retrieving, apart from the usual game of fetch in the backyard with a tennis ball. I went to a "Train the Handler" type day on the weekend which was great and I'd love to get into it. It seems that first i really need to work on a lot of general obedience first though. Heeling and sitting etc off lead. At the moment "off lead" = over the hills and see ya later dad

After that, what should i start to work on next? One of the drills that the instructors were demonstrating, they called the Baseball drill. Where you lay out bumpers or dummies (sorry if thats not right, i'm still trying to get my head around all the jargon) out as if you are laying out a baseball diamond with you at home plate and the dog as the pitcher and work on overs (?) and backs (?) or directionals

Anyway, if anyone could help to point me in the right direction that would be great. I'd say i'm already at a disadvantage as my boys are 16 and 17 months old already. So looks like a lot of hard work ahead.

Thanks
Steve

[Wetdog]

Steve---I like the Koehler books---he has one on field work, called "Open Obedience", which sounds to me like what you are looking for.

Koehler is the classic founder of organized training--and who I learned from 30 years ago. He organized and implemented the first US K9 corps in the US Army during WW2(still going strong today). He also was part of the committee that set up and started performance trials for the AKC in the early 1950's. He also introduced Police K9 work along with his military commander Capt. Jack Haggarty--whose daughter still runs the school in New York.

The books are getting hard to find as they are out of print. I have several copies in good to excellent condition. If you'd like any of them let me know ASAP. I'm in the process of getting rid of everything I own and moving to Europe to live, so I won't have them for long.

Next Saturday, I'm taking the dogs to Chicago to put them on a plane for Warsaw. I'm leaving for Riga, Sept. 2.

[gerroa]

Thanks for the advice Fred. I'll PM you about that asap.

Steve