Emily Howard

Toys are good. The "out" is coming along so I might be able to do it.

See this is where I get aprehensive about training clubs. Me and my dog love the way we train we have a ball............literealy I don't want or need to change what we do but would love to add the distraction. And there are things I just will not do with my dog like choker chain, food exchange or anything that may lower her drive. I can just see it now I'll turn up , only having done a few weeks of obedience 12 years ago (It wasn't really for us) and coming across all arrogant refusing to do half of what they tell me. I think I'll go along and watch a couple of nights before I join up. The travel to work is tough, it's not that cold, we have rock pools, maybe not a golf corse but a really nice 7km nature track that actually allows dogs. :D

Also give Aloveen shampoo / conditioner a go. I've found it really good for sensitive skin.

Thanks for the explanation, It all makes sense now. I'll email the club and see what they say about trialing, whether there is much interest there. Another question a bit OT. With obedience clubs, do they have a certain "way" that they train for example: as you know I like to train in drive, would I still be able to do that? I don't want to train in a food exchage situation. I trhink training at the club would be good for distraction. What's stopping you from moving up here anyway????

So that sounds like what they do at the club that is close to me. http://www.sddtc.org/obedience.htm Is this different than just doing obedience training? Do most clubs not do to this level? I was actually thinking of joining the club next year after the xmas break.

This may be a stupid question, but what exactly is trialing?

Yep I got what you meant. My every second day is a good 20 mins with prey item doing drive training. Either at home or out somewhere. I have to, otherwise she becomes loopy la la. I don't try and train every moment I'm with my dogs. I've pretty much reached the goal I wanted to get to and now is maintenance training plus adding new things to keep her mind thinking and happy.

I train Zig roughly every second day. If I don't train her for a few days she gets a bit loopy. I'm not training for any titles or anything I really just do it coz it keeps her happy and me too. If I was to get a puppy I'd love to do schutzhund. ETA: I also use TOT and NILIF but consider that just a part of everyday life rather than training.

I had exactly this just a few weeks ago. My vet didn't do a local but a very light general. He let me stay for the prosedure. It was all over in abut 40 mins and doggy was up and about. She was a bit groggy but not nothing magor we just kept her quite for the day. So It was just a needle to put her to sleep and a needle to wake her up. He did the same when my other dog just needed some stitches. Hope this helps.

So the lure coursing was under too much distraction. Well what worked for me (without freely giving out K9's methods) was. Start with TOT, it might seen really simple but it works very well. Do it exactly as it is written. It's a brilliant focus building excersise. And start some prey drive training in a low distration enviroment. This could be inside or in a garage or back yard on lead. Just as an example my dobe had zero interest 95% of the time in the prey item, but she was full of drive. When I'd open my backdoor she'd zoom out and start doing loops around the yard not really even looking where she was going, head in the air....crazy.....and deaf . Now when I open the back door she runs down the stairs turns around and looks at me and waits. She knows her best chance of drive satisfation is me.

Wow he sounds alot like my dobe was when I got her, also a rescue. What is he like indoors? Will he pay his owners any attention. Definitely start with tot. With my dobe it was a drive thing, high prey drive even though to me it looked like she was chasing nothing she was trying to satisfy her drive. She completely ignored me, drove me nuts. If he is more attentive indoors I'd start training there with huge praise for paying attention. See if he'll get involved with a game of tug. ETA K9 you beat me to it......After approx 1 year of K9 force magic. She is doing very well. Very attentive and affectinate. Still full of drive in a good way though.

I think the biggest down side to the prong is people not using them correctly. And as for them not teaching the dog anything, well after using a prong for awhile I've been able to "down grade" to a martingale and my dobe is lovely on the lead. What it taught her was to pay attention to me when nothing else was getting the message through, without harsh corrections or reducing her drive. Now I don't need it anymore. They are a great piece of training equpment.

Sunny70 I know what you mean. I've had people tell me they were always scared of Dobes........untill they meet my 2 and they change their mind completely.

God she's a big girl. She looks great. You sure have got her drive up. Is that our very own morita's clip with Rojo. Just a few down on the list???

There's no shame in that.

More sadomasochists..... Hey FD maybe you'd like to wear the sleeve. This is right up your alley. Seriously they're some pretty impressive bruises. OOOUUUCCHHH!!

No thanks ...... Sometimes when I'm not quick enough, I cop a bite ...that is enough for me.

Teeth Shot after a hard day Training in Drive :D

F_D Everytime I see those shots of you and myszka playing with Zig it makes me so happy. That really was such a great day. It was the day Zig and I really clicked as far as training goes. Such a great day......

Hmmm not really. I do have a really cool shots of the dogs playing together with teeth bared. I'll upload it tomorrow. I have hardly any shots of me training so I'll have to do something about that. I'm a bit camera-phobic.

Sadomasochist, thats what I was thinking.

Well I know one thing for sure, I'm not doing it again. Fully covered from now on. F_D What is it called when someone likes to inflict pain on themselves...

......When you're wearing shorts. OUCH!! At the end of a training session I give Zig a good tug-a-war and she uses her feet alot. Needless to say, I'm a bit scratched up today. Live and learn....

K9...... When scout was attacked, is it possible that he would have gone into a drive peak (defence I'm guessing) and therefore have no data recording of at least a part of the situation? So as horrific as it would have been, he may not register all of it? HG: I hope it's a speedy recovery for you both.

This sounds like fun. I'll see what I can get over the weekend.