@chiya:
Better late than never right?? LOL
Here is the few short paragraphs I wrote to
try to explain to a new owner how to teach her
pup to free stack. Hope it makes sense to you Saba.
Some tips may have already been mentioned
in previous posts.
As far as free baiting goes,
here is what I do to train my dogs to free bait.
First you need to teach him "stand stay".
A really useful tool to teach a dog to hold a stack is by using
a tool called the "happy legs". Its a training tool that you stack
your dog on the stilts and teach him the commend "stand stay".
Once he understands what stand stay means, you practice
on the ground. Then here is how I teach him to stretch out in a show
dog stance where his front legs and his hocks are perpendicular to
the ground. I do so by using the show lead to guide him and using the
commend "step up". To do that it takes time and patient and lots
of love coz sometimes you just want to ring your dog's neck.
The concept is to teach him to only step up a step or two with his
front feet, and his back feet stay put, you do so by slightly pulling
the lead to your left and slightly knocking him off balance so he
has no choice but to take a little step.
Every time he takes a couple steps by you pulling slightly
on the lead to knock him off balance, you need to incorporate
the commend "step up", then you immediately reward him
with a treat.
http://www.happylegs.com/
This is what happy legs is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WZrFJKWT8Y
OK, dog in video is Denver, he is already trained, the purpose
of this clip is to show his new handler how to show him the
way I have him trained.
But it is to give you an idea what I mean when I talked about
pulling the lead slightly to the left to make him step up a couple
steps while his back feet stay put. Then you tell him to stand
stay while you walk back a few steps away from the dog.
I give a commend to every move I teach my dog.
Teaching them to catch the treat in mid air is another
trick you can do to keep him paying attention to you while
you are in the ring. I use the commend "watch me" as
I am getting ready to throw him some bait to catch, and
of course use the comment "catch" when he is catching.
He will catch on to step-up, stand stay, watch me
and catch quickly!
Pretty soon you will have a dog that can free stack and paying
full attention to you with ears up and showing off wrinkles
at the end of a 4 foot lead!!
Now you know why I like my lead looooooong! 
Anyhoo…..here is my two cents worth!! Hope it makes sense to some.
Hi Chiya,
Thank you soooooooooo much for the reply… I really appreciate the help... I have started Ochre on the free stacking, and Im pleased to say that so far we are making baby steps :). Thanks to a quick response from Kiroja, I was able to start on the training... Sometimes I think she has "got it", then other times she just looks at me with a "What exactly do you want ME to do ???", look on her face :D. She isnt up to doing it in the ring yet, but, at the last show we went to, I did ask her to do it once or twice, outside the ring, and she actually did it, kind of !!! I still have to pull the lead out, just as you explained, use the word, (I use "show"), and unbalance her, to get her to do it, but, we are making progress...
I really enjoyed the youtube vid as well, that really helped to cement it into my brain... It was funny, I watched the vid before I had finished reading your reply, and when you had him up on the table, then got him down, and wound the VERY long lead up, I was thinking to myself, "I wonder why she has a lead that long, I think I will only need my nice, short lead for this :D"...............Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, soon found out why you had it, didnt I ??? I think it looks so professional to be able to have your dog stand away from you, baiting beautifully, without the view of the handler in the background :).
I love the trick of him catching the bait as well, however, I wont be able to do that. Recently, SOME judges and stewards, are cracking down on the use of bait in the ring, altogether, and throwing it, is very much a no-no :rolleyes:. I think in the last 10 or so shows, Ive been told off by the judge for using bait while she is on the table, probably 4-5 times... I very much would like to say, "Go jump...", but, I just smile sweetly, apologize and then, keep my mouth shut... I might add, this has nothing to do with the dog eating a ton of food, or has a mouth filled with mushy bait either, when the judge is about to examine teeth :mad:.
Anyway, Im off to look at the vid, before Ochre and I do some more training... Again, thank you for the info :):):)...
