The Spotted Devil

Dalmatian puppy/teen = "defiance"....how do you think I came up with my forum name? Ideally I try to figure out how to increase the motivation to do what I want him to rather than do his own thing. I try to make myself more interesting....MUCH more interesting. An off-leash Zig who doesn't come when he's called gets put back on lead (plus verbal NRM) quietly and without fuss and not permitted to sniff or do anything interesting for a few minutes. Release. Recall. Reward (food) heavily. It's worked a treat for us but it may not work for everyone. Zig has the most delightful, enthusiastic recall now. I use brilliant treats of varying shapes, sizes, flavours and delivery methods. When he was a pup I tried to supervise and prevent and distract and reward and praise and ignore as much as possible. Occasionally I used the water squirt bottle for isolated behaviours. Although at times I really did want to wring his Spotted Neck :D he is an absolute delight now! ETA: My current motto of choice is nicked from Sue Hogben - a dog that doesn't do as it's told is either confused or underpaid.

And smell, eh LL? Nothing like a ripe bird for everyone to keep a polite distance from me at the Easter trials Love chicken mince as a training treat (especially lovely when you're still finding it under your nails the next day ) and tinned tuna....however the latter is ridiculously difficult to handle so I use it in jackpot containers instead.

My first dog was a sensational red ACD called Dolly She belonged to my Dad but he didn't do much with her and she was turning into a right, bored terror at the age of 2 when I decided to do some fun stuff with her. She was seriously hyper, super smart and just a joy to work with. Unfortunately I sucked big time as a trainer Funnily enough, the club I trained with in WA was all about check chains and not much else but I hear they have seen the light I was blessed to have a companion that was a helluva better obedience dog than I was trainer - she trained me to CDX level I didn't take obedience any further because I simply lacked the skills and patience. Dolly was with me for 17 years and, as I travelled a fair bit and had a similarly aged cat, I decided against getting another dog until they both went the way of Rainbow Bridge.

Definitely for the challenge....I like to be able to refine my skills with a not-so-easy dog and have him working well but most importantly really happy to be there. At our last trial the judge was delighted to show me Zig's heeling score but my immediate response was "but did you notice his madly wagging tail???? By the way, where did he loose the points?" I don't see myself as competing against others as much as it's an attempt to improve on our last performance - if I can improve accuracy and motivation then I'm happy I always remind myself that if the dog stuffs up, he's either confused or underpaid. It's not personal

GayleK - that's gorgeous Sorry for going OT, but some of the literature suggests that whisker trimming in mother cats may be caused by anxiety (Lilly had a caesarean). However, I did a very basic straw poll on a cat forum with breeders and there was every scenario of kitten whisker trimming that you could imagine - blew my theory out of the water I can tell you :D

Many show people trim their dogs' whiskers with no apparent issue - I wouldn't worry too much :D Cats rely very heavily on their whiskers, especially getting through small gaps as they are generally in proportion to their body. That said, my Burmese girl, Brontë, had her whiskers chewed down when she was a kitten by her mother, Lilly (who now also resides with us) - it didn't slow her down as a kitten I can tell you!!!

Sounds like you have a very special head to go with a very special result Sensational achievement Congratulations! And yes, I have just arrived home from agility training (and a smidge of obedience) but we will both have another week off as I am going away again - will be good for all involved no doubt! Looking forward to today's results (although how you manage to go in the ring with a sore head is beyond me )

I have no experience with clicker training though. Where do I start? I feel most of his behaviour is borne from a lack of human and dog interaction and anxiety more so than just puppy exuberance. He was only 7 weeks old when he left the litter too I have calculated. The tail chewing and obsession (he apparently grwosl and snaps at his tail if he is given a bone... so he perhaps thinks his tail is ahtreat to him??) started due to anxiety it seems and commenced when the previous owners wnet away and left a family member looking after him and he was left by himself for even longer periods of time. Poor little bugger With regards to the clicker - initially you just click and treat immediately around 10-15 times so he learns that a treat is always forthcoming when you click. It just allows you to precisely mark the behaviour so he knows what he is required to do. Start with a very simple behaviour that you can capture - when he has 4 paws on the ground, click and treat. When he sits, click and treat, when he lays quietly on his bed, click and treat. Extend the amount of time that he has to perform the behaviour before you click and treat. It will probably help you as well as you need to actively LOOK for the behaviours you want rather than just getting annoyed with the behaviours you don't like - it's a trap we all fall into at times I think From there, the sky's the limit - keep him so busy trying to work out how to earn a reward that he hasn't got time to be a pain in the @r$e. Wish I was closer - I'd be happy to show you. I suspect the tail chasing is more his way of coping with the stress of his environment and now it has become a habit. These things can be very difficult to break - one of my cat compulsively over grooms after having a caesarean and losing kittens more than 2 years ago! I have done everything I can think of apart from drugs as they tend not to work long term in cats.

PRS - is it worth giving him something to think about in terms of clicker training etc? My Dally was a really tough puppy - no point telling him off or pushing him down as he thought that was AWESOME fun I made him work for every single scrap of food through training - biscuit by biscuit - he was so mentally exhausted that he was happy to let his adolescent behaviour fall by the wayside Love the idea of a bomb detection pug

I'm a born again newbie Throwing my hat (and perhaps a dog) in the ring tomorrow after a 12 month break due to various reasons.....back injury (mine), lack of development (his), lack of time (mine), focus on obedience (both). Will be interesting to see how he and I go around with very little show training of late!

Heh, heh I have the same problem here but it's the KITTEN hanging off the ear of the dog One of my other cats loves to snuggle on my shoulder and Zig doesn't even blink if I ask him to do heel work with a cat wrapped around my neck

I don't do group training at a club but I am forced to do any off lead training at the dog park......which can be a right pain in the @r$e!!!!!! However, now I just take any distraction (which can involve another dog running over, trying to play, stealing his food etc etc) and treat it as a training opportunity. Depending on how far the strange dog pushes the boundaries, I either continue training OR switch to something like a sit very close by with eye contact (not on cue) and heavily and continually reinforcing the behaviour. It's kind of fun after a while!

How wonderful Congratulations

Simply put and it reflects what I do I'm actively encouraging tug at the moment and any teeth contact with human skin (it's accidental and purely a result of Zig getting a little too enthusiastic) is discouraged by immediately stopping the game. Zig has developed really good bite inhibition and, as a result, comes off much the worse when playing with my crazy foster kitten Kittens and cats are taught similar manners also.

They should attach the same warning to retrieving

The herding people are taking over the world :p Congratulations piper - sensational result

Just so the Group 7 people can plan in advance

It's ok, RS! The whining popped up out of "nowhere" so hopefully it will pop back there with a little more work Yes, alanglen, things are quietening down a bit - we have a Group 7 obedience trial late August which I plan to enter as it's held by the Dally club. I may also consider the state trial but July is very busy for me. There's no rush anyway. Don't get too worried about her breaking her stays - go back to basics and heavily reinforce her and that will help. Plus, I find it's not until Zig actually stuffs something up (often just offering a behaviour) that he really understands what the exercise is Oh, I can't wait to have a shot at tracking! Maybe next year.

I think that's good that she looks at you - personally I would reinforce that behaviour in training - do a stay from a shorter distance and reinforce with food when she looks you in the eye, especially when she looks away at a distraction and then looks back at you. I'm not sure that I'd specifically want to practice with people yelling commands around me - I think I'd put the whole experience down to bad luck (and bad manners!) and keep reinforcing those stays. See you around at the trials!

Well done superminty - what a ripper of a weekend NUP - no bubbles left...they were very yummy and went surprisingly well with osso bucco Good to hear Miss Kenzie is coming along, Ness

It's difficult in the stays when there are reactive, unsteady dogs! It's particularly hard when you have a young dog in the ring - probably one reason I waited until Zig was a bit older before trialling. A GSD approached Zig in one of his trials - Ziggy did everything he could (apart from move) to avoid the dog and was leaning back (and wagging his tail) at the most impossible angle. Eventually the GSD made a leap at him and Zig was forced to jump sideways to get out of the way. I really think someone should have grabbed the dog before it got that far but at least the judge allowed us to re-do our stays. In training last week, a dog tried to play with Zig during the sit stays so it was a wonderful opportunity to be able to race back and stuff his face full of chicken for staying perfectly still and looking to me for direction! To be honest, I will probably skip CCD with my next dog for that reason - some of the dogs in the ring are very under prepared. However, it has been really good to get back into the swing of trialling after such a long absence, practice my ring craft and gain some confidence. I remember your lovely dog, alanglen - do come over and say hello next time....there's not many Mad Spotted Dogs so we won't be too hard to find Where does your girl look when she is doing her stays....at you? ETA: Oops, RS! Zig was a whiner during the stays I think he's conflicted between sitting still but wanting to play with everyone. But I'm working on it very hard and he was so much better this time - a couple of short whines and then he sighed as if resigned to his fate

Was that at the Hastings trial? I didn't see that happen - I was in the first group of stays (of 3) and then went as far away as possible from the ring to give everyone a fair chance. Definitely a case of bad manners - how hard is it to wait a few minutes??? What breed of dog do you have alanglen?

;) He had 2 chicken frames for dinner! The lad isn't interested in getting up this morning either......he did huge zoomies on the oval after the trial had finished and it's all catching up with him now Thanks JulesP, Janba and RS! Hopefully not too far from Novice, RS.....the Dally club is holding a restricted to Group 7 trial at the end of August, which I'd really like to enter. I'll consider the State trial too (early August?) but I am away for half of July in Cairns and Horsham, then moving house, so not much chance for training. Then again, it might just freshen him up! ETA: Sorry, RA - I don't have a video! It's something I really need to do though as I have no idea what's going on in Spotty land in a trial as I just look straight ahead and hope for the best

Thanks - I'm pretty chuffed Have barely stopped since I arrived home so now I think it's time to have that glass of bubbles

Don't tempt me superminty Congratulations A very happy Dally household tonight with Ziggy (Yarrowfell High Society) getting his final CCD pass at Hastings Dog Club today......... 97/100 and FIRST PLACE and TITLE Just put a bottle of bubbles in the fridge for when OH arrives home I was really pleased because the things we worked on since the last trial came off a treat. He lost 2 points in his heeling for a crooked sit/drop and 1 point in his recall for a crooked sit. Guess what we'll be working on now As a Hastings club member we also got the ribbon for highest club CCD score. Onwards and upwards