gsdog2

I agree :D . Hopefully someone with a bit of intelligence will do something about fixing this.

I might have missed it somewhere but has anyone asked Daniel who feeds the dogs? If you want your dogs to love you, you should be the one feeding them. Whoever has the job of feeding a dog always has a special place in their hearts - or should I say "belly" .

What I'd give to go to Steve Austin for classes. He helped me out a couple of years ago with my GSD while up here for an appearance at a store opening. I found Steve very generous with his time and he gave me confidence when I felt I would never have confidence again. He showed me things about my dog I had never seen before. I envy anyone who lives close enough to go to his training.

I agree with the crate. My Golden Retriever has used a crate since we brought him home at 8wks and he's now 16mths. The advantage with the crate is you will eventually be able to move it around as he becomes more confident ie. further into the house. I take it with me when we go on holidays too, so it's something you can use long term. Set it up in the laundry with the door open and let him investigate in his own time. From my own past experience I know you'll get some great advice from DOL'ers, there's a lot of support for you here

I used the garden blower on my 10year old girl the other day. She had a hydro bath in the morning and the hair just kept coming out all day so I tried the garden blower on her and she loved it!!! She kept sticking her bum out and then she'd show me her neck and all the places she wanted me to direct the blower. There was hair going everywhere . She gets a blowdry after her bath anyway but she definately preferred the garden blower, and it got rid of a lot of loose hair. She looked beautiful when I finished too.

Brisbane has been advertised for $40.00 for 3 hours - I thought that was reasonable. I have registered (haven't had to pay yet) and so far no confirmation of registration and neither has anyone else I know who are also registered .

I took my GSD to a park and got him to do a drop/stay while I practiced my footwork. I did the whole thing in slow, normal and fast pace, with drop, sit and stands thrown in while my boy watched from a distance. On completion I looked up to see the drivers from the bus company across the road on a break standing out the front of their shed watching me walking around the park by myself (in all different directions) while my dog lay in the shade watching. I can't imagine what they must have thought of me. By the way I did go back, although I saved my footwork practice for home .

So sorry to hear about your loss. Even though the heartache is still there it's good to see you have had time away to help the healing process.

Fair enough, I guess I already knew that . Thanks for your help, you've certainly given me something to work with .

Ok. It hasn't happened yet , but if he does slump down before I can return to him, do I just pull him (gently) back into a sit, or use hand/voice command "sit" (although I'm worried that's like a second command) and leave him again, or do I return to him and ignore the drop and start again In other words, what I'm trying to say is, what do I do if he does go down? I understand what you're saying about no rewards or good feedback, but exactly how do I handle this. I'm sorry to be such a pain, but your style of training is what I'm looking for so I appreciate any advice you can give

Yes Erny it does make sense. Basically, you don't provide the opportunity for the drop/slump to occur. So the closer we get to that all important 40 second mark the shorter the time increments ie. solid at 40 second, solid at 42 second, solid at 44 second etc.

Crash TestDummy. That's sort of what Erny was saying too, by catching him before he starts to slump (I'll make sure he starts by sitting correctly). And yeah I'm not too worried about drops (I'll only do one now and again). I like your advice about the trial ring too. Especially for a young dog, they only have a fairly short attention span as it is, so the easier I can make it for him the better.

Ok. I'm having a bit of a "blonde" moment. I'll train him at home this afternoon(hopefully no F111's ;) ), and we'll work on sits. At the risk of having another "blonde" moment, did my post to Leopuppy sound right?

Hi Leopuppy, I took him to the park this morning and after some heal work we started on the sit/stay. I followed Erny's instructions and of course there was no dropping, and there really was no opportunity for him. I returned to him giving him food rewards and leaving him for another 10 seconds. I did that a number of times and then "released him". With that we would have a game and play with the ball. We then went back and repeated the process until we were at 15 seconds. He didn't even look like he was going to drop. I decided to try again this afternoon, just in the back yard. Well, you wouldn't believe it, as soon as I left him an F111 (we live near the RAAF base) flew over our house, almost on top of us and my son came home on his trail bike. I decided it probably wasn't a good time and we have abandoned training for today. My trainer did let me do a sit excersise while everyone else was on a drop. And I know what you mean, I've been to trials where it's like a domino effect and they just go down one by one to a drop. It's only funny when your dog is not one of the ones going down, but if your not in that ring you have to admit it look's pretty funny. They look at each other and it's like "well if he's going to lay down I'm not going to be the odd one out" and they slowly go down to a drop ;) Can you let me know how you go tomorrow? I want to try mine with my 2 shepherds (they're very solid in a sit/stay) so maybe we'll compare notes. Goodluck to you too

Sorry I misread your last post. I understand you mean on a normal heal excersise there should be more reward for the sit on command than the drop on command.

Hi Erny, I'm starting with your last comment first - I gather you do a lot of training and you do a great job explaining over the net. No I didn't go to sleep (I had to read it a couple of times though) and I'm going to the park tomorrow to try your advice out. I'm thinking I'll keep the fence post up my sleeve and start with the 15 second stay and work my way up from there. You have explained it clearly and so now I'm feeling really motivated to have another go with a definate direction to work with. When I asked my trainer what to do he just told me to pull my boy back into a sit! Not much help really. I haven't done as many drop/stay excersises because as you can imagine he's pretty solid with that one. So I'll do as you say and maybe give him more of a praise reward instead of a food reward for his drops. Thanks again

I recently had to overcome this very problem with a dog I was working with. I was working on my own, so I had him sit near a fence, next to the fence pole. I threaded the long line over the pole and held the end in my hand. When the dog went to slide to the drop, I was able to prevent it by holding the lead and I then rewarded him for holding the sit. (The dog had no choice - I set him up to "win".) The dog understood and after that (I only had to do it twice) we progressed in leaps and bounds. Hi Erny, That's brilliant, I want to correct the mistake before it happens and I feel by going back to him and returning him to a sit is almost another command. With your idea I am still correcting the same excersise . I am keeping it light because I've seen a few Goldies shut down when it get's too serious ( I would like him to enjoy training). When you say positive feedback I'm assuming you mean talking to him in an "up" tone while he's still sitting? I'm still learning here, and I remember my old trainer was of the opinion you acted casual - looked away, and had no direct eye contact. You're saying I should talk to him and have eye contact?

Yes leopuppy, we use food and his ball as rewards (both of which he loves). I squeak the ball when I think he's starting to go down (that works), and the 10-30 second stays work but as soon as we lengthen the time he goes down - not every time, but most times. We did a ring work-out the other day and everything was great (including stand for exam) until we did groups and he lay down. He seems to do it more when I train him with other dogs (at home or at training) although he will also do it when he's by himself.

Hi there, My 14mth old Goldie is working well (stand for exam. is much improved), but as seems to be the way, we have developed a new problem . I received a lot of advice with the stand for exam problem so I'm hoping for more of the same with this new one. For a 14mth old he's great at "staying" but not keen on "sitting". In CCD he only needs to sit for one minute but apparently that's too long for him and he slowly slumps into a drop after about 40 seconds. I have stayed closer so that I can correct him immediately, I have cut the time down to stop the error occuring, I have made the time longer hoping that when he trials we'll make the minute. But he's still doing it . I don't think it's from pain in the hips, it's more like a lazy "Oh, I think I'll just lay down and wait for mum to come back to me" type of drop. Any idea's or suggestions would really be appreciated.

Slate floors are great if you have GSD's. They're usually the same colour as slate and the texture of slate also helps hide hair too.

Sorry I shouldn't laugh, but I'm picturing all this appening and you've just gotta

From past experience - when the judge asks you "Are you ready" and you're not, tell them you're not. That's why they're asking. So if your dog isn't sitting straight, or isn't concentrating on you, tell the judge you're not ready, do an about turn, and go back to the starting peg. When you're ready the judge will ask you again "Are you ready". Remember the excersise starts as soon as you say "ready", so give yourself and your dog the best chance and start the excersise when you and you're dog are BOTH ready.

I love grooming him and he loves it too, but it just doesn't seem to make much difference. In fact the rest of the family feel it's worse just after I've groomed him :p Never mind, I'm not complaining, he's definately worth the work.

Kavik do it, do it, do it!!!!!! You've got everything going for you - home training ground, and club, and he can do a STAND FOR EXAM. I'm envious :p

Cala I just did a google search and I'm interested. I have found an Australian site http://www.tuxedo.com.au/products/product....&category=rural with this book for sale. I'm just wondering how you found out about "Tellington Touch" and did someone actually show you how it's done. I think all my dogs would benefit from it.