Bob Scott

This is often discussed as one of the harder things to teach a dog, because you are teaching the dog to run AWAY from you. It shouldn't be.
In the begining, you need to keep the \"spot\" the dog goes to, very consistant. I used a light pole at the end of the field, behind my house.
With a dog that has very good ball/food drive, I put it on a sit, about 10ft from the pole. I let the dog see the toy, I walk to the \"spot\" and set the toy on the ground. Then I return to the dog at heel position, and give a verous/run/whatever command. Any dog that has good drive will then run to the \"spot\". PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE! Thunder will then return to me for a game of tug. It's then a matter of slooooly extending the distance FROM the \"spot\". If the dog starts hesitating, you've probably created distance to fast, OR you aren't using the same \"spot\". The reason for ALWAYS using the same \"spot\" in the beginning, is simply the dog knows what to expect when it gets there. At our field, I put Thunder's toy out before I go on for obedience training. Throughout the training, I heel toward the field \"spot\". He's got wise to this and started forging when I faced that way. He's now learned that he wont be sent till he has eye contact with me. Not until he was super solid in understanding what I wanted, do I start putting the toy in a different \"spot\". Starting close again, it doesn't take more then a few times till he realizes a toy will be out in the straight line I've sent him on.
I train the down completely separate from the sendout, and mayby one in 20 training days do I require a \"Platz\" with the sendout. Asking for the \"Platz\" to often, will slow the dog down, in anticipation.
Obviously, you need a fast, solid \"platz\" before you want to put the two together.
I started the sendout with Thunder as a 14wk old pup. By one year, he had no problem running the lenght of our training field (soccer field) at a dead run.
Keep em happy!