Steve K9Pro

K9: the answer is in the dogs drive, if the dog has loads of drive I almost immediatly reduce the captures, I want to as soon as possible begin an intermitant reward system which, for the dog, builds an acceptable failure rate into the training & keeps the dog motivated through several movements without needing a reward. If the dog has low drive, more captures, this in itself allows the dog partake in the drive sequence, which is chemically rewarding to the dog, alowing the dog to experience the endorphins produced by the game helps buid drive. With dogs like this it can be a sliding scale between adding enough frustration to buld drive vs allowing the dog to feed on the endorphins....

K9: dogs that meet the goals yes, any sport or working capability really.

K9: I see loads, maybe 40% of the dogs I see, but people do come to me for that type of training so I would expect thats well above average.

K9: When training the "out" there are 100 different ways that will work, in my experience, 60 of those ways will reduce/limit & or extinguish the dogs drive, 39 of those will create competition or "conflict" between the dog & handler. The ways I use is the last out of 100 that builds even more drive & eliminates conflict...

K9: I dont think its the same, I think in the process of developing drive, a degree of possessiveness will occur in all dogs if you are doing it right. I think things can turn south quickly with a lot of dogs if you make errors in this stage... Any dog can become possessive but possessiveness isnt neccessarily dominance, rank drive can be triggered by anything a rank driven dog thinks challenging. I have trained heaps of dominant dogs in drive, without any problems as any time I wanted the toy, the dog wasnt in "conflict" with me.. I would happily train any dog in drive with a tug or thrown ball, if it had enough prey drive, I wouldnt be concerned about dominance at all.

K9: Having said that, there is no more effective training method on the planet than training a dog to achieve drive satisfaction through training.. It produces a faster response than any other style of training. It produces a higher level of reliability than any other style of training. It creates a "thinking on the fly" dog that defies natural preditory responses It creates a perfect pack structure that rarely gets out of sync. WITH THE RIGHT DOG & METHOD..

K9: There isnt anything wrong with it as such, I sometimes think the amount of effort/energy input required by the handler sometimes puts those less dedicated to training, off. There is a certian level of fitness, agility & co ordination required by the handler & not all people fit into this or even want to.. Thats been my experience. There are also alot of dogs without enough drive to make use of training in drive. My most preferred method of training is training in drive, but I know that my wants & needs are not everyones so I dont recommend it to everyone. Some people want a simple solution rather than having to develop themselves & their dogs into something to try cure maybe a simple problem. Its like I think remote training collars are the best tool one can own, I currently recommend them to maybe 5% of my clients, the other 95% dont fit into the categories that need them, they may have a problem that is easy to solve with other tools/methods, some people dont need the level of reliability that an e collar brings nor do they need the cost they attract.. K9: I find more people come to me with these problems possibly because they have played the wrong way... But I do agree that if the training is implemented the right way, rank issues arent common.

K9 Force, i've been reading and practicing your training methods, my puppy is going great but i'm having a couple of small issues which i want to deal with sooner rather than later. 1. She keeps jumping up on people, pets etc etc and i've tried many different ways to stop this but need some professional help. She is a happy dog and there doesn't seem to be anything in her intent beside play. 2. We have a cat and she loves her...so much in fact all she wants to do is jump all over him and lick him to death, she doesn't hurt the cat just seems very excited whenever the cat is around. I believe that the 2 issues are linked so any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Oh yeah my dog is a 17 week old female staffy.

K9: I dont like to advise people with no need for drive to play tug with their dogs, it (if nothing else) develops the dogs jaw strength & that isnt a good thing for a pet. For people who want to train for sport or work though, training in drive (which may include playing tug) is unmatched for getting results. I also dont feel comfortable with the term "win they toy". This suggests that there is competition, & I believe that the true Alpha owns all the rewards, so no need to compete for them.. Knowing how to use the drive item is one of the most important steps in getting dependable, repeatable results whilst training in drive... It alone will not cause aggression, but getting into a "competition" with the wrong dog can inflate the dogs rank drive, which may lead to aggression due to a conflict over the toy....

K9: Training in drive is a great topic & I am sure we will cover the basics...

K9: I am happy to do anything that the attendants want, maybe a workshop with no real heading but various topics would be popular...

K9: we do a Distance Learning Package that might be just what you need... See our website for details...

K9: look at you lot... well done...

K9: yes, expecting a 100% reliable recall from my dogs isnt "working", so I dont require any equipment. If I wanted a "formal" heel or any in depth attack work, then I would use a collar as a trigger... Same like an SAR dog would use a harness/bell etc

K9: no, once the equipment is paired with an activity, specially an activity trained in drive, the equipment becomes a trigger...

K9: Rope is already made, just waiting for the need to use it... K9: Like I said, its for an example, I dont need to make sure it wont come undone, they arent dog aggressive & respond very well to voice commands... K9: Nope, there would have been maybe two or three times since then (2 years ago plus) that I would have had the e collar on that dog, & she responds very well all of the time... K9: & some say the e collar is cheating, those who say that often have very litle training results to speak of though... K9 out...

K9: yes I am sure you are thrilled... K9: Its good policy to demonstrate the use of leashes when tehre are other dogs around, eg if I let my dogs out with no collar on at workshop it is a bad example. Why a prong? Its the easiest collar to fit.. It was probably fitted very loosely (laziness on m part), in private lessons when I have managed to get dogs to regress in aggression, it isnt unusual to have my dogs off leash with others here. When I do lessons with no dogs, just lessons that teach people how to train, again having my dogs loose isnt unusual, including the recent course I ran with the students, Kayne & Kandy were often in the room wit us all, no "gear..." When I demonstrated my dogs recall & heeling pattern to you & your husband I fitted the e collar yes, there are several reasons for this: - My dogs have not been formally trained for years, I just dont have the time.. I may have needed the collar if a mistake was made, but I think she heeled very well & recalled perfectly. As I have trained my dogs for patrol style work (for demonstration purposes), I use the e collar as a trigger that we are beginning work, thats the purpose it plays now. I have no need to wean them off the collar & I cant remember the last time I stimmed any of them for the purpose of correcting a mistake, but having said that, they are just pets now, & my expectations of them are a lot less. Long as I have a perfect, 100% reliable recall under distraction, no leash pulling, drop on the run etc, that will do me these days..

K9: Bitework doesnt really lend itself to a mixed workshop, eg, some comp ob dogs, pets etc dont really mix with bitework.. Training in drive concepts can be easily adapted to bitework, good control in drive is the foundation of bitework anyway so I would think the Training in drive workshop time would greatly benefit you...

K9: one would hope not, given the amount of time you have invested...

K9: Always nice to hear that those I have taught are doing well...

K9: Once we have the date laid down & everything confirmed, I will send out notification to my email lists first. I know how fast these things sell out fast so I will give my email list people first bite.. If anyone has any suggestions for the workshop itinerary, by all means post here. If you have any questions for me in particular, best send them to me on [email protected] If you would like to be on the K9 Force email list, send us an email in [email protected] & just let us know... If you would like a private consult, email me at [email protected] also...

K9: if he gets a lot of requests he just might....

K9: Its the trainers job to get the information accross in a way that the client understands & can implement.. K9: something in your eye? K9: I am sure I have worked with several people from that club, maybe I am wrong... K9: I think your memory fails you, but here are a couple of pointers for you... 1. I am not into Self Promotion, dont need it. 2. I have run similar things for clubs AND you in the past, & the charge was no where near $800.00 3. Its in poor taste to discuss my fee's on an open forum. K9: People who start threads dont have the power of moderation. Most threads end up off topic, thats the beauty of communication.

K9: sorry wasnt it you who wrote this? K9: Its fine, I am sure your doing a bang up job over there, over the months... But if you start a thread, your most likely going to get replies to it. Liking all of those replies isnt something that will happen every time...

K9: I guess if I was working with a dog that was out of my skills to correct I would stop working with that dog, it does the dog nor the owner any good to practice on with a menthod that isnt working...