Rocky our working chocolate Labrador has been coming on well but i need to start and make him look a neater!

I’m looking to make his delivery and heel work more controlled.

When i encounter a problem with a dog i’m training i always try to have ideas in mind of how to correct the issue, however you work with what you see and may need to change your reaction to benefit the dog your training to get results.

Remy is a young homebred black Labrador bitch puppy.

Remy was a late bloomer! As a young pup she was showing promise but never really showed us she was ready for formal training.

All dogs mature at different ages and most owners would become disheartened or given up with the lack or progress.

Remy never showed any issues, she wanted to play retrieve, loved being loved but never wanted to piece it all together.

We come back to the same old lesson, patience!

Just remember its better late than never!

From this video you will be able to see the difference in a dog when they know that a command means something but not entirely sure what it means in the situation they are in.

You will see Jessie is unsure if she’s doing right or wrong on the first attempt of getting her to stay for a thrown retrieve, as she is unsure this makes it easier to get success the next time round.

You can also see how dogs start to have a steadier approach to what they are doing when they are being instructed.

At the end of the day nearly all dogs want to please their owners, if given the wrong signals from a handler they will try and run wild and instigate what they want to do!

In these 2 videos im starting to try and show you how we start to integrate the fetch command which is “go back” and the stay command with Jessie.

Up until now iv not really given many commands, the main one i have used is NO.

I have praised her whenever she has done something iv wanted, i do this bt telling her she’s a good girl.

You may remember watching Treacle in training as a youngster, she was always a pleasure to train and always fairly smooth in her approach to life as a gun dog.

I now have plans to train treacle as a peg dog so have started the process of being around the gun before our next shooting season together.

Rocky is settling into advanced work well and im know strating to ask more of him.

I’m starting to place a couple of memory retrieves for him to remember and I’ve also begun his direction work which is going OK.

In these videos I try help iron out individual problems puppies come across in training in there early days.

The first main issue I’v come across is getting Jessie to pivot back to myself with a retrieve instead of taking it away for herself.

This is the first real issue because it comes down to her choice to come back to me and i cant make her come back if she doesn’t want to.

So when you find a problem you set up a course of action to overcome it but always training to the end result that the issue disappears and the results becomes a regular occurrence.

Harry is a homebred male pup, he has a kind gentle nature showing an honest work ethic.

In Harry’s first video you will see that he refuses to collect a retrieve, watch it again. My body language is different when I sent him. Harry picked up on this and refused the retrieve coming back to make sure he was doing the right thing.

If this continues through Harry’s working life he’ll become a dog that never gets you into trouble!

You will see at the end of the first video and in the second video I use a rubber ball, this is to make things more exciting for him.

I sometimes just play with him letting run in for the ball other times I ask him to stay.

We as trainers see no wrong in this as long as the dog listens to commands when asked.

Rocky is coming on well, his work ethic is starting to change and he is becoming very committed to his work, long may it continue!