"So. How's he been" asked our noble trainer. "Hasn't chased off all fortnight: sprung a hare and sat and watched it away. Had a flustered duck flapping round his face and feet - never moved an inch" said I. "Good" says he. "And" I continued "We've been playing a few ball games to get him watching things and where they go". "Jolly good" says he.
So we spend our hour's 'training' time hunting around strange fields and bogs with lots of rabbits and hare. Gunner is working (cautiously) at 60% normal self - . which we put down to his sensitivity to doing anything wrong in front of the Trainer Man. We try a few retrieves but he's really not at all interested in those in the midst of all the exciting smells around.
Ah well.
We think we may have steadied him to fur; too much so because he's clearly now hesitating in case he finds something that he shouldn't and gets told off. Almost as if, when he smells a rabbit, he backs off.
So our homework?
Encourage more excitement in the hunting: it's OK to hunt rabbit and hare .... as long as you don't chase after them. And we can get a whole lot more excited about retrieving -- lots of throwing things and letting him chase after them and making it all much more interesting. In fact, for the next couple of weeks we're to cut the hunting back to just one or two days a week and make much more of the retrieving side of life...............
This could be fun..................
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