Hormones can be good for training. Who knew?!

[bigfellasdad]

Good boy

He looks fabulous in flight. One question why would you not want him to fly without a prompt?

 

[chris-md]

It’s a control and safety thing. Principle among the reasons is that we dogsit regularly. Parker is not usually out when we have dogs over. The rare occasion we do let him out is when he is in a calm mood, stays on top, and we know the dogs we have - we plan and make sure we are in the room at all times so he’s doesn’t wander down from up top. If he’s prone to flying unexpectedly, that is how a guest dog is likely to get him.

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

So he doesn’t ever fly unless you call him?

 

[chris-md]

Very rarely. He’s not a fan of flying. When I adopted him he had a well established pattern of only flying when startled. When he did fly, it was always a crash landing, a dangerous prospect for him. So I had to teach him to land, to save his life.

To do that, I had to teach him flight. So I started flight recall training. The small steps taken in the training process to get from simply targeting to flying long distance give him ample opportunity to practice landing fundamentals, while simultaneously teaching him to come on command. It’s a fun and relatively easy process to execute.

We’ve gotten him to a point where he still isn’t crazy about flying but give him the right motivation, a piece of favorite food for example, and he will willingly come when you call. As long as you’re within about 5-6 feet of him. We’re still working on longer distances. He’s still got reservations about longer distance.