yogibear

Ok i took Connor out and we did some obedience with his prey toy as a reward he was very foccussed more intense than he is for fofod got super fast sits we only did a couple then stopped with him wanting to keep going i am very happy with this increase in focus and the speed he is responding at yb

Whos the author nat I teach heeling off lead or wth a light line if im somehwre busy i teach attention first as a seperate thing and get good attention at hoome with distraction then heeling with distraction at home i also teach heel position so my dog knows how to find heel and the topography of what i want this is also done at home first then with distraction then at the park If for some reason i lost my dogs attention at the park i would just break of no reward refocus and start again and then hit myself for asking too much which is usually why your dog loses attention either the foundations arent strong enough or you asked too much On a side note i also do a lot of trotting pole and rear end work If youve ever seen a horse doing an extended trot in dressage this is the balance and drive im looking for in heeling when a dog is working like that its hard for them to notice anything they need to really concentrate on what they are doing Loose lead is my normal walking so long as they dont pull they can walk wherever if i ask them to come close that means with one foot in any directin usually because we are passing a dog or about to cross a road

I must be weird because i find i can teach my dogs new things more quickly without a clicker yet people always say its faster But then ive been using a verbal marker for fifteen years so i guess my timing is pretty good i played around with a clicker for awhile with our cocker just to see if i got quicker responses but i didnt but then when they do the test where you droip a ball and have to click before it hits the table i always say yes quicker than i click There is a paper somewhere about how the clicker works triggering the amaglyda part of the brain which means the dog absorbs information quicker as it by passes the usual learning part of the brain but this area is alos the fight flight response like getting a sudden wake up when a techer bangs on the table and many clicker dogs thoug they seem to be rsponding with more enthusiam are actually showing signs of stress and producing hectic behaviour This is just my observations ove the many years yb

itried hangin it round my neck but kept grabbing the wrong end i tried the wrist thing too same problem Im not into gimmicky things and to me the clicker is a gimmick dogs are rats or whales A friend of mine that doe sa lot of TV work using a verbal he sauys for other animals he uses a clicker well he has a sound box with different sounds for each animal but he says he never seen it necessary wehn it comes to dogs yb

Ok so he is seeing the tye out as a trigger to prey satisfaction i need to change that to only seeing drive satifaction as something that will happen under my control im have the prey item i will let him no when he can have it the place has nothing to do with it. Now usually i use the word working to mean we are starting an obedience session should just continue using that If i go out the back and say working he will automatically look to me for something to do usually at this point i will ask for a couple of sits for food then move on to whatever it is i am working on so shll i go out the back tell him we're working then ask for the sit and release to the prey toy

Hi guys This morning i took connor out to do him prey building well he was very excited to the point where his teeth started chattering lol i think hes getting suitably obbsessed with this prey toy idea yb

You could use a verbal marker a wrod i use 'yes' im not good with clickers i lose them funble with them if i have a dog lead food dumbell and clicker im a mess so i use a verbal which regardles of what people tell me works just as well and im quicker with it than a clicker

i hate the corkscrew ones if they are cheap they bend when trying to put them in hard ground at least mine did lol

um both will do lol yb

Hi LL thast an excellent article

Lablover You do a lot of trianing in drive what sorts of things do you do to increase drive focus

should also add thereason im doing this is i compete in obedience want a very animated dog and drive training will get that also connor is a bit of a nervy pup so am wanting to have high drive so he wont be so distracted by the environment

Hi Slim Im following k9's instruction on building drive so basiclly three times a day for three minutes each time i tie connor using a harness or you can use a thick flat collar tying so the lead is at ground level so theres a triagle from dog to tie ground back to dog then i tease him with the prey toy letting him win fairly often and am slowly making him work harder to get it after a week because his prey drive is already getting very strong i untie him ask for a sit then reward using the prey toy i also use a verbal marker yes when he has done something well connor already knows sit so he will comply then we go to down then heel then build the level of distraction taking from the rear to front yard then to the park etc think i covered it anyway thats the basic idea yb

Hi Slim i dont think it will overtake i think the idea is if the prey drive is stronger then it will be easier to keep him there and foccussed on you rather than the scarey thing At least that is my interpretation because you cant change a dogs temp and nerves are part of temp Is that right k9

i also tied him in the manner k9 suggested

Hi Amphalaite Connor did the same the first go he hit the end of the lead and just sat seeing he has been taught not to pull on the lead i changed to a harness and then as soon as he came forward before he hit the end i let him get the toy then i waited till he hit the end and let hin get it now he hangs of the end throws himself into the harness and doesnt quiet yb

Hi Slim I know im finding the same thing my puppy is sticking closer and lying at my feet he is relaxed sleeps there but seems more interested in what im doing yb

YUes nerves are going to be an issue im hoping i can get him high enough in drive to stay there wehn things change but i will take it slow he has very good focus for food but not good enough to overcome nerves and his prey is already higher. at the beach he wants to chase waves will work for me with the waves as a release but no way will he take food yet my sisters bitch wil take food but isnt interested in chasing.

Ok same order cool am looking forward to seeing what we get If i can ill video it in a week to show you the beginnings yb

Lol thast what i figured vets push hard to get desexing done but i cant see the point Now when i start on the obedience phase i was oplanning to work through my training schedule a list of faoundation behaviours for the trial ring as i did wehn i got him and used food. then start heading out the door to the front yard over the road to the park then in various locations as i also did using food .. so i will start at sit and work my way through starting early next week yb

Hi Erny In the states they run days for that purpose you cann correct and feed in the ring ita about ring time not winning we ran a couple ofthem a few years ago had a lot of good feedback but they take a bit of organiising if you want to run them on a bigger scale I find even at club members comps they get their nose ot of joint if you want to use it as a training session rather than be competeing for sashes. yb

Hi Ll I have one of those best tether stake ive had yb

One other thing so i did the right thing not risking losing him to a dig distraction. Also in your opinion does dexeing have an effect on the way a dog works there is a big difference between handlin a stallion to a gelding do you find this with dogs

so for one week Ok the other thing he doing is hanging around in the house lying at my feet to sleep rather than wandering off so its obviously doing more than just building drive yb

Ok have been following your advice for two days and now have Connor racing out to the area where i have tethered him because he has cottoned on what we are going to do He dives and throws himself at the toy in a sock used the sock to make it good for tug games I am using a switch on workd tug time before we start and then telling him that will do when im finished. sister came over today he usually goes nuts for her to say hi but i headed for the backdoor as she came up the drive he raced out the door and ran over to where we have been playing so i guess he was hoping to play the game again i didnt do it though in case his drive wasnt strong enough yet to overcome her being there . Does it sound like im doing it right im certainly happy with the keeness im getting from him yb