training the send away

[sonterra]

Hi all,

How does everyone teach the send away??

[rosamburg]

Start a short distance away with multiple tugs/bumpers and move back as that is secure. After they seem to get that then we introduce the down at any time. We start with the long line and as the dog "gets it" move onto the e-collar.

Some people train the down always at the end of the field. The problem with that can be that some dogs will then always run to the end even though they have been commanded to down earlier.

Once the down is secured before reaching the destination it is continually mixed up so the dog is less likely to anticipate anything. Just the way we do it in a nut shell.

In addiiton we do it in different parts of the field. I hear some trainers always do it at the same place on the club grounds. This could create a problem if a judge changes things up.

[dobermanman]

I bought a bunch of plant hangers at the Dollar Tree that work great as tug hangers. I try to mix it up.
I use the plant hangers, I stick tugs in chain link fence, I put tugs on the ground. I do multiple tugs with recalls. I down the dog some of the time. I end most send out sessions with a final send out to
no tug AND a whistle recall (like a Mondio Ring send out) and a tug reward on a run by for speed.

[rafensoda]

We teach the dog with a target. During OB training I'll get the dog used to going to a target (usually start with a small overturned rubber feed tub) and putting two feet on it. Once they're comfortable with being sent to it from a short distance, I'll start increasing the distance. To increase speed you could use higher value rewards (for instance, for my dog Rafe, I'd use a cloth frisbee as his reward rather than food or a tug, as a frisbee is like cocaine to him). So the faster he gets to the target the sooner he gets his reward.

I train an extremely reliable down, so most of that training is not related to the send out, but is proofed in other exercises (down while chasing after a tug, etc.). I'd only pair the send out with the down a couple of times so you don't interfere with the speed.

[sonterra]

THanks for the ideas all!