dogdude

Hi Arya I have found by recently incorporating a verbal marker ("yes"), that my dogs drive has gone up about 3 notches. I find it especially useful when doing ring run throughs, when the instructor asks "are you ready", I of course look at my dog, and say "yes", thus raising his drive to be working at a good level. He loves hearing that word!

Hi Emmala Teaching focus teaches the "on/off switch". See TOT thread pinned. Use a "starting work command" like "ready to work", or other, ask for a focus by luring, mark correct response with a marking word or clicker, followed by a "free" or "ok", then reward. The reward marks the "off switch". This type of training has made a big difference in my dogs drive. When the dog is working well, you can slowly start to mark and reward small sequences rather than each part exercise. Now, if only I could harness all that energy into a reliable down stay under distraction without reverting back to traditional methods

Hi Emmala Just remember that dog school is there for your benefit, to later benefit the dog. It is up to you, and you alone to manage the dogs enthusiasm. As you are the one to fork out your money, you are entitled to leave when you please. This is an understated important part in dog school, if you want to keep their mind fresh. As soon as an exercise is finished during class, I will let my dog at ease, while listening. I do not make my dog sit at heel until the start of an exercise, even if I am a little late to move off when the instructor says to. I found it much easier to develop the "on/off switch" that way, rather to bore them with one long concentration period. At various clubs/schools you will hear the instructor say things like "while your waiting for me to finish talking, treat it like a sit stay". You dont train for an hour at home, so dont try it at dog school. The best way for your dog to learn is by training for very short periods (5 minutes) a few times a day. Dont train through the whole obedience routine, just concentrate on acheiving excelence with one exercise at a time. If you plan to go onto competition, picture the perfect response in your mind, and dont move forward till you have acheived it to the most part. With a pup that age, or any age in fact, make sure that it is kept motivated the whole time, otherwise, call it a day.

Yes, That was us. Maybe see down there on a Wednesday night.

Hi Wagalot I too am in class 5! I was there last Wednesday and also Sunday. On Wednesday, they must have mixed the class with class 4. On Sunday there was only 5 dogs. I was impressed that there were 103 new members last month. There must be a few budding instructors there somewhere. I am taking a break from instructing for a while. My uncle was an instructor there years ago and my father was a member during the late 70s. Both were at the Warringal branch. I will mainly be there on a Wednesday night though due to work.

Thanks Arya! Yes, we will return to the FOO nights, they were great! I'm sure I will catch up with you and Glorybea there. I hear that because they were so successfull, that they were going to start them up around October this time? They raised thousands of dollars for new equipment for KCC this year.

Your better off using a soft, easy to eat type treat, otherwise the time that it takes to eat will interfere with his concentration. The food should be of high value to the dog, so you will need to experiment. They often dont respond to whatever is easy for you to carry around like dried treats. There is very little lactose in cheese. Use low fat type. I use cabana, or small offcuts of fresh meat.

Great news Ness! Good luck for tomorrow!

Hi JulesP Yes, we will be working on our "strays" We done a nice down stray last night , he done a great sit stay first off, then sat up to play with a Rotty during the down. As soon as I moved, he dropped back down. Still, we will finally get the chance to proof him properly now. The rest of his work though was fantastic. I have not seen him hold his drive for so long, especially with all of the new distractions. We have been working on "owning the trigger" (as described by K9) with his food drive. I was over the moon because he trained like he does at home. He would never work with the same amount of drive while out that I could get from him at home. I think that it was night time under lights made a big difference too. KelpieChick: Look forward to meeting you, see you there some time. I cant get there on Sundays because of work. I see on there website that class 5 starts at 11am, and class 6 at 10. Maybe I could get there occasionally when we move up to 6. I think they just done their graduation though. Shoey: There was a nice working little staffy in my class too! I have not met them yet though.

Not a very interesting topic, but I joined a new club tonight (Northern Obedience) and Oscar and I were very excited to meet all the new handlers and instructors. They fit in with our style of training which is always a bonus, and although our class was a little too large (close to 20 dogs), there was some quite sharp dogs in our trialling class, so I assume that the instructors must be very knowledgable. Everyone seemed quite friendly, so its a :D for Northern!

I think you could think of badly behaved dogs from both sides of the fence, but IMO, dogs that are pattern trained in, and for a ring are never usually successfull in either situation. When the pattern is broken, they get lost. If on the other hand that you continue to proof using real everyday situations, your dog will be reliable and well behaved where ever it is. So when training, I will use a trial run through type session to see where we are at, but normal training is not conducted that way.

Hi K9 What damage can you do to your dogs learning of working in drive, by attending a dog obedience club for the typical hour long class, by not atually working in drive while you are there? Am I making sense? In the early learning stages when the dog would not be able to remain in drive for that long, would it be harmfull to still work a dog to get socialisation benefits from the club?

I will be working unfortunately pm, but i'm happy to wait till the next am day. It was great working with you guys to get new ideas, so i'll look forward to the next one. This week, I may end up going down near there to join Northern ODC, coz they train Wednesday nights. I think that they are the only Northern suburb club to train through the week.

I can't say for sure, but I may make an appearance. Not too well ATM.

It sounds like your instructor is very one dimensional from your feedback, and perhaps does not have enough experience to be taking a class. To make an example of your concern in front of the class is ridiculous, and I would have made that quite clear to the club. I would write a letter to the club to let them know about this instructor, as he will only scare off countless other newbys offended by him, and that would be a shame for the dogs. Just remember that he is not "the club", as there could be real gems of mentors to gain knowledge from, either training or other instructors. Beleive it or not, there is one of these types at every club. At the end of the day, they are your dogs, and you can do what ever you like in their management. You are a paid up member. We activley encourage our handlers to leave class whenever they see fit.

I agree with Shoey. You need to realise that the training is for your benefit, to later benefit the dog. You dont need to actively be working your pup the whole time in class. As soon as they show the earliest sign of bordem, put him away and just listen. If you are not learning anything from just listening, then think about getting a refund. Just remember that most clubs have volunteer instructors, so instructing experience varys widely. Far too many instructors are too busy barking commands to stop and talk to the class about the finer points and the reasons for giving all of those commands.

I was wondering how you all went. There is nothing worse than when they are at the top of their form, and your confidence is sky high, and silly little things like that happen. Thats trialli'n! Go get e'm next time Leo! Leopuppy: Did Arya end up competing with her Tess? (novice) I am in the hunt for a club that trains on a Tuesday or Wednesday night now. I have just had a roster change that counts Sundays out for training.

I think alot of this discussion will depend on what the dog has been taught from the beggining, like, am I taking the dog for a walk as opposed to the dog coming for a walk with me. This applys on and off lead. With my first dog, I done lots of work on that, but I have been rather lazy with Oscar, and I am paying the price. With my first dog, I would run and hide etc when he was off lead and not paying attention to me and things like that to enforce sticking closely by me while out. I started doing this with Oscar in Melbourne, and within 10 minutes I was being questioned by police because I was hiding in the bushes , so I gave up on that idea!

Sorry guys, but I cant agree with you at all. I get the impression that you think that proper heel should be only used in a trial? It was never invented with that in mind. Like most other exercises, they originally had a practical purpose, and heeling still does! I'm not a fan of having multiple commands that mean "similar" things other than "lets go" and 'here" for off lead walking. IMO the dog can learn to get sloppy in the command you "really want".

Hi Hopenfox You have posed a tricky question. #Walk on a loose lead & #leave, are the beneficial side effects of correct heeling. The same as taught for trialling. Trialling, is only showcasing it. "Heel" is used as a tool while walking your dog when it is needed, so is very important. The number one problem for the average dog club member has got nothing to do with not wanting to teach all the precision stuff (as often claimed by them), it is laziness. I would say that nearly 80% of members at our club fall into this category. They do not want to put in the consistant work each night, so they end up lingering in the same class for years sometimes, until they eventually convince themselves that they have done something good for their dog and think near enough is good enough. You will notice at your own club, that the ones that do go onto trial are the keen ones who do their homework every night until each exercise is learnt, even if they initially have no interest in trialling. A very low percentage of these types ever drop out and quit after the basics. I am very frank in my class, and make it very obvious to everyone that they are only wasting their time by thinking that way, but some people just want the social part of the club which is fine by me, and I dont pick on them. I have found, that by reminding the class of this regulary, that things are starting to change, and improvements are in the works. I always make a big deal when I can see weekly improvments in the dogs, to put pressure on the ones that dont do homework. More emphasis needs to be put on that area of training IMO.

Hi Leopuppy The trial rules state "A signal should be a single gesture of the hands/and or arms only" There are various opinions in the interpretation of this I have found. Some judges are very harsh on it, where others are not. Not all judges have the same level of experience either. I had a judge in the runthroughs get totally confused because I chose retreive on flat rather than change of position for novice! I have had some good suggestions given by judges at times, i've also had some really lame ones as well. The point is, your dog seems to have great focus, so why do it? Why fix something that isn't broke? I would say that if a judge told me that my hand signals are too flash for CCD, but are giving me the impression that they are ok for higher classes, I would be more than confused too, as it does not make sense! You are essentially teaching UD right from the start! ETA: If your dog is a little unsure of the hand signal sometimes, have a good look to the point where your dog is actually focusing on, and you should find the answer. The dog may be also waiting for your waist bending cue.

Dog looks to be working quite nicely. Work on staying upright during the execution of the down signal. You would'nt want to lose points for something as easy to fix as that.

Hi Shoey ;) Lived in the Northern Suburbs most of my life, dont think I could change, so I will continue driving down your way for the KCC run throughs later this year. I live in a fast developing area, so things will eventually change. There are a number of very large non VCA affiliated clubs around here, and that is half the problem. They have huge membership numbers, but none of them are encouraged to trial.

Yes Jules, but I dont want all the other dogs to be on lead with handlers there. He wont break a stay under those circumstances. I think what I do need to do, is a formal stay with another handler hiding behind him ready to pounce!

Yes Jules, i'm not scared of taking a few backward steps, but I still need the group situation to set him up. I think we were all a little reserved yesterday while we were probing around with everones personality, but we were all fine by the end of the day. It was good to put a faces to names! RoxysMum: I forgot to ask the breed background of your dog? Lightning recall!