# Teaching Steadiness



## hunter52 (Dec 16, 2005)

Took my 10 month old lab out the past few days for the first time. She was better than expected, fetched every bird and brought right back to me. Pretty cool.

Anyway, Whenever she sees the birds coming in she bolts, I put a small lead on her and this started to help as I held her. She has a mut hut and stays in it just fine until she sees the birds. The leash will do for the time being but I need to teach her to stay until shots are fired. Any suggestions?


----------



## Flicka (Oct 21, 2005)

Has your dog been started with an e-collar yet?? I just did this the past month. I setup her blind in the yard. I had my two kids helping out, one with a shotgun, the other with a dead goose behind some brush where the dog couldn't see her. I would give the command to get her into the blind. I would then start calling, maybe for a minute or so, making sure she stayed put. If she sat up or moved any, I would give her a light correction. Once I stopped calling, my daughter standing off to the side would fire the shotgun and my other daughter would throw the goose so the dog could see it. I would then give her the command to fetch. After a few times, she got used to the calling and now stays very well in her blind until the gun goes off. I had her out twice this past weekend without problems. This has seemed to work for me. Hope this helps. Good luck.


----------



## gonehuntin' (Jul 27, 2006)

Let her teach herself to be steady. Here's what I mean. Drive a stake in the ground, leash her to it on a 6-7' chain leash. Start by throwing a bumper, not a bird. Command "sit" or "down", whichever you want. Throw the bumper. She'll break, hit the leash and get tipped upside down. Have a 1" collar on her, not a choke chain. Say nothing. Bring her to heel, sit or down her, and throw another one. Keep doing this until she maintains her position. If she does, release her by putting your hand over her nose and calling her name, letting her make the retrieve. Now with her still on chain, sit her and throw the bumper but add a blank pistol. If she breaks and hits the leash, do it again. When she has successfully gone through this, add a clip wing pigeon. Never get mad at her and never punish her. She is punishing herself. When she'll sit through the birds and shots, sit her, walk out, and throw the bird right at her but short of her. If she is steady, go to the next step.

Get rid of the stake and use a 1/4" slip lead through her collar. One end is tied to your waist, hold the other. Go through the whole thing again. Every time she stay steady, put your hand over her nose and send her. Tempt her. Without putting out the hand, call other dog names, jump, stamp your feet. Anything to make her break, but she is never allowed to go without the hand and her name.

Using this system, you are always the good guy, it's that damn chain. You can even console her when she breaks and gets tipped up. Point is, she learns that she controls her own destiny. Now, never again let her break or you'll have to start all over again. A dog can do something 100 times correctly but let them do it incorrectly just once, and they do it incorrectly from then on.


----------



## 95huskers (Oct 11, 2006)

BJ,

Took me two years before Chance was steady to the shot...and you've seen how steady the other rock-head is after his first time out with us. It'll take time, just follow the advice in this post and don't expect too much this early in the ballgame. Don't progress faster than the dog can learn.


----------

