dogdude

Congrats Shoey and Molly!!

Congrats Leopuppy04!

My advice is that if money is no object, then private training is the best option. There are some good professional trainers in Sydney that will travel to your area.

Not sure what you are asking? Do you want to calm the dog down for training purposes? Or just in general? For training purposes, get the food reward away from the dog, to a distance where he is slightly less excited (i.e a target bag). The further away the reward is, the more energy will be put into focus. Also..... lose the clicker and replace with a marker word. If the dog can't focus on you in a group class, its because everything else around him is more interesting than you. Only you can change that. It sounds like drive training may suit your dog. You would probably have more luck competing for his attention by fighting fire with fire (i.e a prey item). You won't need to wear your dog out if you choose the right method (one that teaches the dog self control)

Unfortunately no Schutz clubs in W.A, but there are a number of other sports you can get into, and most are suitable for all breeds. There are quite a number of top obedience and agility competitors over there. Best person to ask would be Ptolomy. If you are really keen on dog sports, I would be looking at a working line GSD.

My advice is to get the owners partner or someone to just sit on the sidelines with the dog, and have the owner sit in on the class. Like the others say, get them to concentrate on focus both at home and at the club. Maybe teach the down stay too, to use as a behavioral modification while at class. They will just have to be patient with a dog like that.

What people don't seem to realise is that most answers to these behavioral posts end with "consult a behaviorist". No real behavior problem can be acurately diagnosed over the net. This title of this forum does not include the words "Behavioral modification", and was intended for "Fred won his second obedience trial"

Great meeting you too Gamby! I would't take anything on face value from that trial other than the positives. To describe the conditions as testing, would be an understatment!! Not only the wind......but the flying objects (chairs, stewards notes, and of course loose dogs doing zoomies into the rings etc), and to make matters worse, the rings set up all in a row downwind of each other, all copping the same flying objects. I also noticed a dog finding and eating food in a ring during the trial. Things were blowing about all over the place. I was having a fantastic trial up until the last exercise. I had lost only 4 points up until the distance control, which Oscar found a new way to bom it! I was still quite pleased though as we have managed to get his drive back, and he was really impressive up until the point of brainfade. He sat as I walked off and left him in a stand. No idea why?. Still, I feel a win just around the corner! I did see a couple of Dolers there. Well done to Superminty for the ring win in the other Open ring!!

Well done Superminty! Extreme conditions!!!!!!!!!!! Great score!

dogwise.com has some. Leerburg.com.

My advice is to go along to your local obedience club to learn all of the methods. All dogs respond to food. You just need to know how to use it the right way. Some dogs respond better to working with toys. Again....you just need to know how to use them the right way. Whatever you teach them, it has to be practiced daily until they are 100% solid of its understanding. Learned exercises also extinguish over time if not practiced every now and again.

Congrats BL!!! Sounds like the trialling bug has claimed another victim!

Hi Seita Try hanging a white towel or sheet over the two bars. She may be focusing on the dumbell through the jump, and she is getting caught in two minds. Make the jump her primary focus. The same could be happening on the return.

There are many reasons.......Working weekends one of them. I found it frustrating concerning club structures etc. Each instructor has their own beliefs on training, and when you see all of your hard work being undone by the next instructor, it's disappointing to see students lose interest and leave the club etc. There is no thanks from the club itself, only the students. I would like to go back to it after I get rid of the trialling bug again.....but with two young dogs, it won't be anytime soon. It would also be in the role of a trialling instructor, as I get more out of teaching people with a passion for trialling. In the mean time I will gain more experience in the higher ranks of trialling, and hopefully pass that on in the future.

I am no longer an instructor, but when I was, I was asked to step up and fill in one day. I had quite a fear of public speaking, but got over it after a few lessons. The confidence in my own ability as an instructor came after seeing most of my students get fast results. There are many pro's and cons to being and instructor. Giving up you Weekends for nix isnt everyones cup of tea, and not getting the time to train your trialling dog was the biggest put off for me. I did get alot of sastisfaction from my students though, even after they left my class. There is a lot of competition between instructors at various clubs unfortunately, and the more popular you are with the students, the more unpopular you will become with the other instructors. Way too much politics goes on behind the scenes at many clubs. ETA The thing that makes an good instructor is the ability to make the handler feel comfortable and get them to focus more on themselves than their dogs.

I agree with Ptolomy. Start rewarding with left hand..........do lots of left hand circles both big and small to help bring the back end back in. I would also move towards sending the dog to a target bag so the focus is not on "where the food is hiding".

Yes, if you get hold of the Balabanov dvds, it shows you how to get the focus off your dogs prey item, and onto you, by making sure the dog understands that you own the item, and in order to get the item, focus needs to be on you.

The motivation is only feuled by the interest in the actual training. (think I speak on behalf of most), not to compete. The motivation is all in the anticipation of doing things better than what has been acheived in the past, and the new learning curve taken with every new dog you train. Trialling is just to prove the fact to yourself I think, and to have fun on the weekends with like minded people, and to show off if your good enough.

Well done LP!! Hah.........didn't even know my club had an agility trial on!

I fully agree. The more I learn about using prey drive, the less I like working with food. IMO the dog is always trying to second guess you, thus affecting concentration to some extent, and also creates a false focus for obedience work. I also find that training my food driven dog often requires frequent rewarding to keep up a level of drive that is good enough for the obedience ring. With my prey driven dog, the rewards don't need to be as frequent, because the drive created is so much more powerful, and the dog finds it easier to focus for longer.

Anything by Ivan Balabanov (drive training and comp obedience)

Yes clickers will work without food. Just not by themselves. They will work with whatever motivates your dog. Their just for capturing the exact moment the dog makes the right choice. I don't use them.

I don't free shape as such, but I do feel that marking non compliance is also a cue for the dog to try again, and if used in the right way, will not do damage to the dogs learning...infact accelerate it. Its also usefull later on when a dog sometimes gets confused between exercises (advanced) I'm not saying that clickers can't be usefull. I do think that sometimes they are unnecessary.

I find I need to use both markers continually throughout training, even advanced. When I use the words "marking non compliance", i'm not talking about correction, just giving the dog feedback to let him know the chance of reward evaporated at that very instant of making the wrong choice. My point is that marking non compliance is one of the reasons I choose not to train with a clicker. I think there are pro's and cons regarding them.

Hi Tess32 So you mark non compliance verbally? Not at all?