MrsD

Hesa, yes you've mentioned it before a couple of times - but I still had no idea what it was! Completely clueless! Did you see the video of Richard Curtis & Jazz doing Thriller at Crufts in that link that Shoey gave? If you havent, have a look. Absolutely AWESOME!!!!!!! Shoey - so where's the video of you? Come on, dont be mean - I wanna see!!! ;)

OK, Im embarrassed now that my dogs arent spoilt ;) I have 2 soft nylon webbing leads for training & trialling, 1 check chain, a flat padded nylon collar & matching lead (in bright purple, so you cant miss her these are new, cos her collar broke & hubby wanted a new lead to go with it) + combined soft nylon martingale & lead for Jonty. I also have a gold serpentine check chain & very fine nylon lead to go with it for showing (havent actually used it yet though). Apart from those we also have -: 1 dumbell (I've used it for all my GSDs, I guess I will have to buy a new one for Jonty, cos its just a tad too big ) 1 leather tracking harness (Im hoping its in the shed somewhere & that theres a lead to go with it still!) Various toys for Jonty including a small rubber dumbell. Crate & the new soft crate I got a couple of weeks ago (do they count? :D ). Cant think of anything else - I used to have more stuff, but some of it (like a set of SD articles) got lost in a move. Jumps I have always just bodged up stuff & made my own jumps at home.

Im already picking music & thinking up moves & I dont even know how to teach any of them . Gotta go organise dinner cos I have a friend coming over, but you know where my mind will be & what it wil be doing . (BTW, confirmation? showing? what's that? )

Shoey, the Thriller one is FABULOUS!!!! I cant believe this - why have I never seen or heard of this before?!?!?! It is soooooo cool - I sooo want to learn to do this!!! :D

Hesa, Ive been scouring the forums & looking at stuff all day about it :D . That looks like sooooooooo much fun! So when are you starting up classes?

And I felt guilty for having 3 + the combined martingale & lead - for 2 dogs :D .

Just had a look at the video clips - that is sooooooo cool!!!!! I wanna do it!

No - actually I haven't had any problems with them. The leather leads used to slip more then any other lead I have used. Yeah, having had horses for years I know what you mean about the leather, I find it very slippery if it gets wet or if you have sweaty hands - not so good for training in summer or when you are at a trial & nevous as hell .

HG :D :rofl:

Livermol is a livestock supplement (I used to use it on my horses), you would buy it at any produce store.

Ouch, dont those cut your hands to pieces if the dog pulls it through your hand Tilly?

I have always used a 3 or 4 foot soft, flat webbing lead on my GSDs. 4 foot one when starting training, but I usually fairly quickly swap over to the 3 foot one as I find the 4 foot one tends to hang a bit too much once the dog is heeling in the right position. 3 foot lead always for trialling. ATM I am using a soft nylon all in one martingale collar & lead on Jonty for both show & obedience, I havent actually measured it but I guess its about 3 foot as well, the only difference is that he's much smaller, so he cant wander as far away from heel position without it tightening up on him . I have bought a very fine choker & lead for showing, and I am going to have to change to something else for obedience as I will need to leave a collar on him in the ring once I start trialling I guess . ETA - these are what mine are like, not the same, but very similar. Lovely & soft so they never hurt your hands, but the ones I have come in different colours. http://www.prestigepetproducts.com.au/inde...sid=&uhash=

Thats probably a better term with regard to this question than "training methods" & totally agree with you LL. I use a whole variety of methods when I train my dogs, but that's my "training method" - I use whatever I think will work best. If you know your dog well, you usually have a very good chance of picking something that is appropriate & works the first time but if it doesnt work, then Im not afraid to use something different. And just because something worked for your dog, doesnt mean it will work for the next dog . As you say, any trainer who says that their way is the only way, or thinks they know everything & they have nothing to learn, in my book has a big black mark against their name .

Nothing really, Im happy with the way I train my dogs, I get good results, the dogs are happy & work very well, so why change it?

Hesa, my friend is going & asked me if I'd like to come along & watch her, but Ive got other things planned this weekend (including a show on Sunday). Look out for her, she has a GSD called Starr & 2 Malinois Belgian Shepherds called Legend & Jazz .

First 3 dogs were GSDs, 1st one was when I got interested in Obedience (after I got him) , then got the second a couple of years later specifically to trial. Quite a bit of a break before I got our 3rd which is the one we have now (Ebony). Unfortunately I got sick & couldnt train her as actively as I would have liked. She certainly has strong nerves & has strong prey drive (if trying to chase chooks is any indication ) but she has had little play as a puppy to bring it out ie she wont chase a ball or a toy etc. From the small amount of training I have given her (hubby is training her now), yes she is suitable to requirements, but nowhere near as "switched on" if you like, as my first GSD (don't think any dog will ever live up to him for me ). Jonty is turning out to be very good training-wise, he has a strong prey drive &, for a Sheltie, very good nerves. I specifically chose a small breed as I can no longer handle a large dog easily, however he is nowhere near as "hyper" as any of my shepherds have been & I find that I need to use different training methods. I definitely like hyper dogs, working dogs suit me very well. As for your other question, would I buy another GSD? No, because I keep comparing them to my first boy & none even come close. Would I buy another Sheltie? Possibly, but I think Im going to have a similar prolem with shelties as I have had with GSDs - I doubt any future ones will stack up against the one I have now. So the answer has to be a maybe for now ;) .

Shek, is he actually reaching for the dumbell whilst sitting at your side onlead? If he is, continue to train using the method I mentioned above (ie move the dumbell 2 inches down at a time etc until it reaches the floor). If you do that normally by that time it reaches the floor he will be getting up to get it, if not, move it out an inch at a time until he does. This is the time you need to start incorporating the "wait" command as well, so that he has to wait for a moment after you put the dumbell out in front of him before he can reach for it or pick it up. Do it all onlead & once he moves his bum to get it, incorporate his picking it up with a couple of steps backwards by yourself so that he "returns" to you after picking it up. Once hes doing that confidently over & over incorporate you "tossing it" gently in front of you instead of placing it there ie the same distance. If he's not reaching for it whilst sitting beside you ie you need to put it near his teeth still, keep training the hold & give (or whatever you call them) until he does & gradually extend the distance as above. If you want to use a verbal marker then you will know where to use it in each part that he learns. Everything you do, just make it a continuation of what you have already taught him but ask just a little bit more. Two things that I suggest are to make sure you get yourself a proper dumbell as soon as you can, because whilst a piece of dowel is ok, a dumbell will "feel" different because of the weight & he will need to learn not to mouth it the same as he's done with the dowel. The second thing is if you want to proof him in holding the dumbell try doing some very basic heeling with him holding the dumbell but make sure he is very reliable in doing it first as something like that will sort the men out from the boys very very quickly & you dont want to have the situation where he drops it & refuses to pick it back up if you can help it.

Absolute Genius! That's why I love hashing these things out with people, always great perspectives. Ah thank you very much! I will give that a shot tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. Hope it helps, just remember that even if you get him to do it once today, tomorrow you should still start in front of his face again but instead of the next one being 2 inches below, make it 4 inches below ie, shorten the steps to get it onto the ground. It may take a couple of days, but as long as you dont rush it, he should become reliable fairly quickly . (BTW, what I described is exactly how I taught my completely non retrieving dog to retrieve - except that I never used two hands (cos I had already taught him "hold" by putting the dumbell in his mouth) & I just used praise instead of the clicker .

Mornir, if your dog is taking it correctly from your hands in front his face, but not from the floor, why dont you progressivly lower your hands towards the floor getting him to take it correctly all the way down & then put your hands on it on the floor & then take your hands away? (hope that made sense ). So hold both ends in front of face, takes correctly - click. Hold one end at face level, takes it correctly - click. Lower dumbell 2 inches, hold with both hands, takes correctly - click. Hold dumbell with one hand a same height, takes correctly - click. Hold with 2 hands, lower 2 more inches etc etc, down until you have both hands on it on the floor, then one hand & finally take the hands off it altogether. Sounds like you are just going too fast - to the dog, a dumbell on the floor may be a totally different thing to what he takes out of your hands. Just because he will take it from your hands the right way doesnt mean he automatically knows that taking it from the floor should be done the same way. Go back to basics & show him .

I taught both my previous GSDs using this method, one had no prey drive whatsoever, one had some preydrive to start with (but not alot). They both retrieved very happily & extremely reliably once I had taught them. Horses for courses .

If its a larger type of dog try lifting your knee - if you do it at the right time they will bounce off & get a surprise. Either that or the water spray. If its a small dog try the ignoring. Unfortunately the ignoring doesnt always work - puppies rarely just jump once & if you turn your back on them, unless you are up against a wall they will just follow you around & you end up spinning in circles with a jumpy puppy having a great game :p .

I thought it was the other way around - if you raised the bowl the risk of bloat was reduced .

Friends and family will take them off your hands. Everyone loves fresh free-range eggs. When I had chooks I couldn't keep up with people willing to take them. You could probably feed your dogs more eggs but cut out some of their meat so they don't put on weight. Eggs are an extremely bioavailable source of food. We obviously dont have enough friends ;) . When we had chooks at our last house we gave away eggs left right & centre to everyone we knew, hubby even used to *swap* eggs for a coffee with the guys at work ie he gave them a dozen eggs, they bought him a coffee at morning or afternoon tea at the coffee shop . Still had more eggs than we knew what to do with & this time we're planning on having more chooks, only got 6 atm but we want to get some bantams & others . I will introduce them slowly into the dogs diets & see how I go with them .

Yes raw eggs are fine, if your dog's tolerate them. I think most people only give one or two a week. The oils in them would help with a shiny coat. Thanx bloss - 1 or 2 a week I was hoping more 1 or 2 a day, when you get about 40 eggs a week you have to get rid of them somehow . Bugger I will have to look at some other way .

So raw eggs (yolk & white) are ok? We have chooks & they have just started laying & soon I will have a glut of eggs, so I want to give them to the dogs - read somewhere it makes their coats shiny!