Aidan

Not many people that I know would frown on that. It works even better if you mark the unwanted response that caused him to be shut out of the room with a consistent signal - "too bad" or "Uh-oh", kind of like you might use a clicker but to mark a response cost. That's the other part of the equation and probably where you need to place the most attention. If you can teach him some highly specific things, things like "sit" then you can use those. The idea is to reinforce the things you would like to see more of, the polite, mannerly behaviours such as sit or drop. Once you have taught him using food, you can then start asking for sits during play, just a very quick sit then reward with more play. This has been termed "doggy zen" - to get what you want, you must first give it up (and do this other thing you've just been asked to do).

Good question, good discussion.

Just a point re rewards - the idea is not to find a reward that will "compete" with whatever is out there (although a good reward will certainly tip the scales in your favour), but to condition a strong recall using the laws of learning. All the resources mentioned will show you ways to do that. I tend to be opportunistic. If the dog is safe, not really likely to run off anywhere and good with other dogs, I will just wait for the right moment to call or otherwise keep my mouth shut. As the dog is becoming conditioned to respond to your call the "right moment" becomes broader and broader until you can call your dog at virtually any moment.

I think you should get in touch with the Working Gundog Club in NSW, sounds like you've got some real potential there and she will love the work. They will give you great instruction in using these drives in training, and as a handler I've found it really good fun also.

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/727

My GSD was attacked by two dogs on Sunday. Why the dogs were off-leash is beyond me, they were in an adjacent park but they left the park to cross a busy road and attack us. Perhaps it was the first time? I don't know. I think they were set-off by two fence-fighting dogs we were passing at the time. I was very proud of Sabella, she briefly defended herself when necessary, but other than that was not fazed at all. I hope she's OK Aidan. Sadly my oldest boy is coping less and less well with these sorts of incidents. Maybe I'll have to stick to walking next to busy roads - only the terminally stupid walk their dogs offlead by those. She's fine, thankfully we were able to frighten one of them off and the other lost confidence just long enough for the owners to catch up.

My GSD was attacked by two dogs on Sunday. Why the dogs were off-leash is beyond me, they were in an adjacent park but they left the park to cross a busy road and attack us. Perhaps it was the first time? I don't know. I think they were set-off by two fence-fighting dogs we were passing at the time. I was very proud of Sabella, she briefly defended herself when necessary, but other than that was not fazed at all.

The major benefit is that you will learn how to teach CONTROL with DISTRACTIONS. For that reason alone it is worth doing, and also the mental and physical outlet that it provides. I've never had a dog fail to learn to ignore bikes by having someone ride a bike at an appropriate distance, then having the owner clicker the hell out of looking at the bike without chasing and walking on a loose leash. Play around with the variables (speed, distance, direction) as the dog is able to succeed.

Some of us do it without corrections, that said you can give a correction using virtually anything. What might be your issue is that your "correction" is actually a "cue" that Kei is conditioned to. The solution is a double-ended leash attached to whatever collar you normally use.

Perhaps try a lighter leash like a Black Dog (still very strong)? You don't want too much slack, but you want a bit - no tension. I reckon if the lead is hanging down you are doing it right!

Get one of those fit balls you see in gyms, and some plastic basket or Jafco muzzles (so they don't pop it). I've noticed an ad on DOL for similar balls with a cover, don't know how much the cover helps but it seems like a good idea.

No, because Spaniels come back :D

I suspect the wagging tail has been bred in, selecting for "happy, willing workers" or something like that. It would be quite a disadvantage in other circumstances. It's probably quite helpful in flushing prey, I don't really know though.

Fair enough :D If you are interested this clip shows spaniels flushing, scenting, retrieving and chasing an injured "runner": Warning, the video does show live game being shot which some may find distressing. About 5min in you can see a dog chase a "runner", I would say his body language is different to the dogs picking up dead game but only because he has to run it down.

A ponderable - what drive do you think a gundog who is running down injured game is in?

Hi spottychick, sorry I'm not able to offer much help but I would call the vet. They are usually pretty helpful. Not knowing anything about his condition, minced meat is usually pretty good because it has a lot of fat. There are a lot of arguments in favour of raw feeding and I feed a lot of raw, but cooked protein is more biologically available - worth keeping in mind. I would definitely cook any eggs you give him, not for infection risks, but to make the protein more bio-available.

There is a lot of debate about what it does to humans too. The short answer is that dogs can deal with a high percentage of fat quite readily. Some people do also. It would appear that a diet which includes a lot of fat (including saturated fat) is actually quite good for me, whereas when I was following a vegetarian diet my cholesterol and blood sugar were elevated.

Agreed, it's usually possible but not always in the time available. Another issue is safety. The majority of my clients are women with large, strong, reactive or aggressive dogs. I think it's essential that these owners are relying on the conditioning and NOT the tool, and they are highly motivated so they do learn how to train the dog. But I still ask them to use a front-attaching harness or head halter in case something goes wrong. It can be attached to a double-ended leash. As a matter of interest and I understand that many trainers have different methods, but why do accomplished K9 trainers who specialise in working breeds, Schutzhund, police dog and security training generally frown upon head halters, harnesses etc for gaining reliable obedience??? There are several reasons, firstly you cannot compete or work with these tools and we aren't talking about pet owners. Anyone who cannot teach a dog to walk to heel on a flat collar or check chain has no place doing this sort of training. I think the level of skill is generally higher and the dogs are more tolerant of correction usually, so where you have a large, strong dog and a small or physically disadvantaged handler a prong collar can be an option. A head collar or front-attaching harness requires very little training on it's own, they can often be quite effective with the most basic training in how to use them. For this reason people tend to use them and then have little motivation to teach the dog how to walk on a flat collar. Some people make their own choice to just keep using the equipment and that's their business, it can back-fire if the dog then learns how to pull into the equipment though. Those who want to come and get help in training their dog can learn to use a flat-collar, martingale or whatever. If they would obviously require leverage in an emergency then I encourage the use of a front-attaching harness and a double-ended leash. That way they can still walk on a flat collar, but if the leverage is required it is immediately accessible. You can't train a dog to be rock-solid reliable under any amount of distraction overnight. You have specifically mentioned "... for gaining reliable obedience" so I'm not entirely sure that I have answered your question because I'm not sure how broadly we are speaking here or the relevance of head halters and harnesses to obedience in a broader sense?

Agreed, it's usually possible but not always in the time available. Another issue is safety. The majority of my clients are women with large, strong, reactive or aggressive dogs. I think it's essential that these owners are relying on the conditioning and NOT the tool, and they are highly motivated so they do learn how to train the dog. But I still ask them to use a front-attaching harness or head halter in case something goes wrong. It can be attached to a double-ended leash.

Good point! It is called "priming" and it works both ways, once you are primed to solve a problem a certain way you might have difficulty solving a problem that requires a different style of thinking.

I have actually thought the opposite is true just from having feral cats I have trapped and quietened to having cats that are domesticated. When teaching them things, through shaping and luring, I found they learned quicker. The ferals were all from the same family though (just different generations). cheers M-J I too wondered about that comment, a client of mine had a Bengal who was freaky clever. They referred to him as their "dog", even though they also had a dog. The comment is still valid though - in the bigger picture. Remembering that feral cats are domestic cats, their time in the wild even if several generations is just a blink of an eye. A few generations of "natural selection" probably just brings out the best of them. The Bengal was mostly domestic cat, the Asian Leopard Cat has very few of the characteristics that made this particular cat so much fun (as far as I know).

Have you read "Reaching the Animal Mind"? Pryor talks about a neuroscientist, Jaak Panksepp and what he has termed the "seeking circuit". Worth a look.

I mentioned previously that one of my cats observed me training one of my dogs to perform a task. The dog had not performed the task, but the cat just wandered over and completed it perfectly, over and over. I have observed this same cat attempting to manipulate a dead-bolt and then jump up and attempt to pull the door handle down. Opening doors and locks is not unusual for dogs though, and dogs frequently succeed due to their physical attributes. I think cats are quite good at the "thumbtacks inside the box" type problems (e.g figuring out how to open a one-way cat door from the locked side), not very suitable for being trained to perform mechanical tasks though. Is the study you are referring to Osborne "The free food (contrafreeloading) phenomenon: a review and analysis"?

Easy....just figure out what the 'little girl's' motivation is......ice cream with chocolate topping and sprinkles as a reward for eating steak Lots of R+ . I remember my mother forcing me to take horrid cod liver oil because "it was good for me" I see where I have been going wrong. I've been offering the ice cream but instead of chocolate topping and sprinkles I've been using cod liver oil. Isn't that what kids like? Who knows these days... the dogs never complain.

Yes! Contra-freeloading, I noticed this in one of my dogs before I knew that it was a studied phenomenon. I actually have an hypothesis that not "earning" your resources contributes to anxiety disorders and mild depression. It is unnatural. Every organism on this planet has evolved to work for food in one way or another. These days we, and many of our dogs, are so far removed from our ancestral patterns of resource acquisition that many of the little boxes in our brain aren't being ticked off.