German Shepherd dog

I'm training Zambi for the send outs.

After doing the jumps ( not the A frame) I then start training her for the send outs, which I've just recently started to do. The way I do it is to fuss her to the send out area (near the end of the field) and then sit her. I take out her kong and then walk out approx 20 to 25 paces and wave the kong back and fourth so she'll see it. I place the kong down on the ground and then I walk back to her. I give her the “voraus” command and give her the hand signal. She takes off but she then forgets where the kong is at so now shes in her search drive. I do not discredit her for searching so I don't even say a word to her because I know shes trying.

I was searching for a tool to help her and stumbled onto a site ( http://www.k-9bsd.com/the_device.htm ) that has a device called Behavior Shaping Device. It looks really good and I was impressed by the videos but the tool is too expensive.

I was wondering if anybody knows any other devices thats not expensive to help her for the send outs?

 Brittany,

You are probably starting too far away to begin with. She may or may not see the kong once you leave and begin walking back to her. Or, she might loose concentration. Or, she may simply have a lesser retrieve drive. I don't know your dog.

You are currently not teaching her to go to a spot and that is what you must teach. Start much, much closer to where the kong is. Get some type of pole made in the shape of an "L" or you make it yourself  and place it always in the same spot. The short part of the "L" is up and the long part stuck in the ground. This will get the kong or ball or piece of food or whatever you use as a reward off the ground and help her see it. In other words, you need to be able to hang the treat or kong or ball. Start close to the reward object. Make sure she sees it from a short distance, build her up and talk excitedly about "do you want to get it" or some such, and give her the command and let her go get it. Do this 3-5 times ONLY at any one time and always make it fun and play with her as you finally leave the field. Do not bore her with multiple times doing this at any given time so she gets bored and looses interest or gets tired.

You must do this over and over and over from a near position (but each time only 3-5 times so she does not loose interest). Then gradually, you move back a few feet. You do this over and over and over. What you are teaching is the dog to go to the spot and it must always get a reward for doing so. No platzing, no nothing else. Work on the platz completely separately from this sendout. Only later do you try to put the two together, but that is a long way down the road. It takes months and months and months to teach a good sendout.

Good luck. I hope this helps. If you do not understand, email me privately and perhaps I can send you a short video clip of how this should go. But there should also be someone in your club who can help you.

I have a device that my friend gave me for christmas last  year, it is a post with a clip on it and I can clip my toy to it.. I use a 4" soccer ball that I got at Walmart. or if I forget that, I'll just use my red and white rope ball.

We started using this beccause we want to keep our dogs from searching all over the ground...

Like paulp said, start with bringing your dog to the stand and showing it the toy and then heeling away a very dshort distance. You want to teach your dog to mark a target, which you can actually do inside or anywhere at first... have the dog sitting at heel ..show her a piece of food and toss it a few feet away, hold the collar with your right hand and with your left hand flat aand pointing to the food.. as soon as you see or feel the dog locking on it tell her to go get it!! Call her back and then repeat increasing the distance and the speed back toyou..

Do the same thing on the field starting close to the toy and moving back a little at a time, you must always have the focus on the toy and the dog wanting it really bad!!

I always always always have a toy out there .. I want my dog to always believe the toy is out there!! And only once in a while do I do the actual down on the field. Maybe once a little bit before a trial.....I also work the down with a toy just out playing and the reward for the fast down on the way to the toy is the other toy I have!1

This is a fun exercise and the dog should love it!!! 

I've seen that device.  Way too expensive!  You can teach it without it by all means.

I haven't titled anything yet, but I read that teaching a dog to go to a target is a good way to overcome the instinct to NOT run away from the leader (owner/handler).  I also want to teach a send-away, so what I did was get a white bucket lid, one that fits a 5 gallon bucket, and I taught my dog to touch it with his nose when I say "target."  With clicker training, he picked up on that in one short session.  I would then have him target high, low, on objects, going up onto an object to target, and placing it on the ground and have him target there.  Success all around.  I then had him sit or down next to me after I placed the lid several feet away.  I told him "target," he shot up, ran to it, touched it, I clicked, he came back, and I praised.  I haven't done it in awhile but he can go 10 feet away or so to target it so he is learning that it is okay to run away from me when directed.  He does try to pick up the lid at times but that's no big deal.  Eventually, I plan on dropping the "target" and attaching "voraus" for long send outs, then tossing in a platz in motion before he can even get to the bucket lid, that way the lid can be phased out or just randomly appear.  Of course, I won't know if it has worked until I can send him out a football field's length, but it's a start, and I'll find out soon enough if this works for us.  It's promising.

A clicker REALLY helps.  I know we can do the same thing with our voice but it's a useful tool that improves timing and accuracy.  I don't have a toy out there, but my dog has learned that the bucket lid is fun- if he touches it, he gets praise and food, and shoot, touching a bucket lid's an easy way to earn a paycheck!

there is no need for any devices. a great, fast and reliable way to teach it is.... take your dog down to the place you are doing your sendout. take your toy out, get the dog excited, put the dog in a down, place the toy 5-6 feet away beside it. he knows its there. at this point walk away from the dog, you can start at 10-20 feet but you progress very fast when the dog knows it.

so now you are facing the dog, recall the dog to the front. finish the dog. now the dog is beside you facing the spot he came from.  now point down to where he came from and i whisper "sendout". an experienced dog will know when you whisper send out, where he is going. you may need to do tthe pointing exercise a couple of times, this is the most important part. the dog will only go where he shows you with his eyes. just like a blind search. once the dog is looking, you can just send him from that point, he gets the toy and you call him back to play. as time progresses, you can get the dog to show you. do some heeling, stop, get him to show you.......

beauty of this method, you can go to any field and practice it. the dog will learn to be fast and straight in very little time, and with a good dog you can do the whole field within 10 sendouts.

it improves, your recall, finish, and generally the dogs quite enjoy it

I agree that a dog with good drive may not need a device.  You can do what many say.  Start short and gradually go long.  But for those looking for the hanging devices, just go to any hardware, walmart or where ever they sell those flower basket hanger thingies.  They are metal and easy to push and remove from ground.  Ad a rope and a large clip from officemax and you have a durable stand for a fraction of the cost.  I've seen people make contraptions from pvc too. 

I like to take a minimum amount of gear.  If you can get away from using it, why not?

I like the cone idea.  We've used a little flag to mark the target for my younger dog.  I also started with short distances like 20 feet away.

Hello Brittany,

There are some great tips here.  I'll add mine FWIW.  I do use a "tree"  to hang my kong or ball on the rope.  I prefer this as it is more visible from a distance than just laying it on the ground.  Remember, dogs have excellent place association.  So the toy for the send away is always in the same spot as the recall.  During the trial, you will send your dog towards the recall spot on the send away.  Some larger competitions or trials will be held in stadiums, so using the football goal posts are a natural way to teach place association for the send away.

I seperate all of the exercises when teaching them, I don't do the retrieve and the send away in the same session when the dog is first learning the exercise.  I will take the dog out to a field, and I vary the fields I use and only work the send away when teaching this exercise.  (or any execrise I am teaching) This is a high drive exercise and the dog will get tired after numerous repitions.  Initially, I attach my toy, "a ball on a rope" with a clothes pin on a string hanging from my "tree."  The tree is easily bought from a hardware store or home depot.  I use a flag post they sell for those cute decorative flags, costs about $6.   It looks similar to the link above, but not as sturdy.  Same as what Don C mentioned, only he described it better than I did( I just re-read his comment)

I bring the dog to the tree and attach the ball.  I get the dog excited for the ball and drag him backwards about 10 -15 feet to start.  The dog is excited and I begin to say "do you want to get it"  or any term that amps the dog up.  I hold the dog by the collar and say "voraus" while pointing at the ball, when the dog pulls hard or tries to break free I send him.  He gets the toy and I praise and repeat, gradually increasing the distance.  If I go out further, and the dog seems to be looking for the toy or slowing down I move closer the next time.  I don't add obedience in until the dog understands the game.  I will set the toy up and pull the dog backwards sometimes 50 0r 60 feet, building his drive and frustratiuon the whole way.  I never add the platz or down in at this point.  I train that seperately as well. 

Ok, we've done this for several sessions and the dog understands the game.  I then progress to healing the dog away from the toy, about 60 or 70 yards and send the dog from a sit, sending from a heal at this point causes forging.   I still pump the dog up before I command "Voraus." 

I train the down while playing with the dog during seperate training sessions.  I will play the 2 "hose" or ball game. The dog goes on a long line and intermittantly while running for the toy, I command down and have the long line for reinforcement.  Again this starts out slowly and is worked until the dog clearly understands to down anywhere, anytime I command even from a full sprint.  When I have this down I begin to add it to the send away maybe 1 in 10 times.  The dog never knows when to expect the down command, this keeps the speed up and the dog doesn't anticipate the down.  Some dogs that anticipate the down never really get up to full speed on the send away.  

I then will put it all together witht the obedience routine later on.  When at the club field, I have another club member set the toy on the tree for me so the dog cannot see it and doesn't know it is there.  They do this after the recall, while I'm doing the retrieve.  This way the dog finds the toy in the recall spot and thinks it is always there.   One thing I don't do is a platz at the end of each send away, this is always varied as I

Hey Rez, thanks.  I do agree with the further send away.  I practice it on many different fields.  I have about 6 that I will train at, and I alternate them.  The field at the club I train at is kinda small, and fenced in.  So, you can't go much further than the recall spot.  I do enjoy a fast voraus, when my dog is flying and the judge tells me to down him, I may wait a few seconds for even more speed to develop then platz the dog.  I do like the idea of training much further, at the far end of the field for club trials.  When I practice it away from the club field it is done from a good distance. 

Jim

I too, try to teach the down at a distance away from the send away.  I make a game out of it for the dog. 

Yes, the dual send away was something to see.  They actually went in perfect unison and opposite directions and stopped at the same distance.  Very cool.  To bad it was not on video tape.  Where is GSDFAN and her camera when you need her?

Cheryl