Kavik

Now that you have done some 2 x 2 and 3 pole, what do you see are the benefits of each? You have shown me the 3 pole (thank you! That is why Kaos can now weave! ). I think 2 x 2 looks interesting but don't quite get a couple of the early steps.

Very nice! Kaos single steps at home where he is confident but doesn't yet have a good rhythm at training (I have stick in the ground poles at home and the ones at training have a base).

Mark Billson at SASH. http://www.sashvets.com/

I go to Asquith Vet, they have been nice and helpful http://www.asquithvet.com.au/Home/ For training - what are you after? There is Northern Suburbs in St Ives - competition obedience and agility http://www.nsdogtraining.org.au/homepg.html Hornsby Dog Training Club When I had a look there it seemed geared more towards pet training with lots of work sitting in circles http://www.hornsbydogtrainingclub.org.au/ Western Suburbs - Homebush - Sat afternoons pet class, Tues evening trialling class http://www.sinch.com.au/wsdtc/

How have you been training the retrieve?

About the bones at home, I would give them their bones separately - in different places. Such as in separate crates or one inside/one outside/laundry etc. With aggression at the park, it is difficult to say what is going on without seeing the dog. I would suggest seeing a trainer/behaviourist. What was Ollie like with other dogs at the park before Penny? Are the altercations when the other dog goes near Penny? Are there similarities in type of dog that he has a problem with? Until you get it sorted out I would avoid taking Ollie to the offleash park as the more he practices this aggression, the more ingrained it will become and the more difficult it will be to stop. Have you tried taking them separately since you got Penny to see if the problem arises when he is on his own now? Maybe some more work separately and then some onlead work together would help.

This is exactly what I want Good boy Kaiser Did you teach him to do this? You have to carefully look at what you want from the dog AND the sort of dog you can handle/how much work you are prepared to put in. If you are only looking for a deterrent and do not have a lot of experience with challenging dogs, I think you probably only need a pet GSD. People are intimidated by the breed, their size, reputation and appearance. They also have a big bark, you could train to bark on command. Anything more serious than that, any type of personal protection training for the dog, is a big committment and requires a dog with a much stronger temperament than you would require of just a pet dog and requires more skill to control and manage.

My guys got into the heartgard once - they were fine. I called the vet though just to make sure. Don't remember how many they got.

I have a goretex one but need a new one as it is getting old and zip not working well anymore - maybe for Christmas!

I agree. Me too

When deciding on how to teach the seesaw, I did several things (none of which related to the quandrants ) * Looked up seesaw performances on Youtube - some people even have diaries or videos demonstrating how they taught it -> so decided what I wanted my final performance to look like * Discussed with other competitiors the best way to teach * Decided how to break the exercise down into separate components and how to train each component (most required shaping) * Decide which component to teach first and which ones can be taught concurrently * Decide how to link the components together and any intermediate steps needed to get to final performance * Look at how to proof performance to get independent performance, understanding and speed

I'd do something really simple that the dog likes and can perform well and finish there

I think most of the descriptions fall on a scale of how comfortable people are using aversives (which often relates to their personality and their experience and what type of dog they tend to deal with and how PC they like to be :rolleyes: ) Not sure what I call myself - I guess "rewards-based" ? Mostly use +R, -P, occasionally some +P, not comfortable with -R I would call Koehler 'Traditional' along with my security guard friends - use compulsion/guide/show/place along with pats and praise "balanced" I would assume means rewards and when necessary the use of corrections

Have you tried putting the dogs on a lead before you go to the door? Then you can prevent them from jumping on the person, and then reward for desired behaviour (sit) and control interactions. It might also be easier if you do this one at a time - so maybe have one dog outside or in a crate or other room and one dog with you when you go to the door to greet the visitor.

I haven't been to Sydney All Breeds, but Western Suburbs Dog Training trains at Bressington Park, Homebush. Tuesday evenings for the trialling class (if you plan to trial) or Saturday afternoons (I think) for pet classes. I went to the trialling class and it is a lovely bunch of people, many of which have been trialling a long time so can give pointers on finer details. http://www.sinch.com.au/wsdtc/

I do both, but understand why some would do one or the other. Since ADAA jump heights are higher and the contact equipment is bigger/higher that makes it difficult for some dogs, especially those who just make it to the next height. The smaller weave distance is also more difficult. Also if you wanted to teach a running A-Frame, the size difference between ANKC and ADAA makes that difficult. I contemplated teaching a running A-Frame with the box method but once I had a good look at both A-Frames and saw the size difference I thought it would be too difficult to maintain criteria on both.

My equipment is ANKC size, though I do compete in ADAA and the clubs I train with have ADAA equipment. At the moment I only have stick in the ground weaves, so have been doing both ANKC and ADAA distances. I am having more of an issue with weave bases I think as my stick in the ground poles don't have a base. I am contemplating getting some bases made up, not sure what distance would be best though

You know Mym I was thinking a Call to Side approach would work here I believe it is an obedience exercise not agility Your signal is likely to be the arm out on the side near the jump you wish your dog to take and your dog is in the box facing you? Sounds more like Call to Side than anything Susan Garrett would do (if you want to approach it like agility :D ) as the dog is facing you (like a recall) and SG trains with dog chasing reinforcement line. Also called Recall to Heel This is doing directed jumping this method How you would start

With Kaos - I think he is not confident tugging in other environments and that he prefers his squeaky toy to his tug so will not tug when he thinks he will get his squeaky. Diesel - I think he may find it confrontational - he is quite soft, but also he has worn his teeth down a lot and I wonder if it hurts his mouth to tug Zoe - used to really enjoy tugging socks and the lead when younger, but I didn't know how useful it could be and I discouraged it (at trainer's advice at the time) so she won't tug anymore. She also has a skittish temperament so unlikely that she would have been comfortable doing it in new environments.

I would like Kaos to tug so I can use it as a reward in agility. It would be useful at trials where there is not always enough room just outside the ring to throw his toy, but enough room to tug (could be used either on its own or as intermediate reward until I could get to somewhere I could throw his toy). He will tug in the back yard but nowhere else. I did an experiment today, to tug and then mark the tug and throw the toy. Problem was, as soon as he saw the other toy, he let go of the tug and would not resume tugging (the toy is his favourite reward). So I tried putting the toy (which squeaks) in a sock. He was confused at first but eventually I got him to play a bit with the toy in sock, and marked when he was doing the best (still need to work on getting it better, first time I tried this) and took toy out of sock and threw it. Any feedback appreciated

What sport is this in relation to? Obedience - check chains, martingales and flat collars allowed Agility - flat collars only (no tags) or you have the option to run them nude with no collar (which is what I do as the other organisations I am with have a no collar rule for competition)

Please be careful with this advice, as I'm sure you probably know chocolate can be toxic to dogs, and different dogs can be more sensitive than others to the effects - so even if you get away with it with one dog, others might not be so lucky. Which is no doubt why I said the dog NEVER had it at any other time and said the dog was bigger than the OP's dog so this probably wasn't a suitable reward for the OP's dog. Incidentally - the rate you have given is actually a fairly large amount of chocolate when given as a reward (as opposed to pinched out of the cupboard). Not sure anyone would give that much of any reward to a dog in a training setting - well I certainly wouldn't But why would you even suggest using something that is toxic for dogs as a reward Dogs generally are not that picky and there is a large range of treats/toys/rewards you can use that they like that are not toxic. (even picky dogs will like SOMETHING). Cheese, cooked chicken (or raw if you are game!), cabanossi, cooked steak, sausages etc are well accepted by most if not all dogs and safer than chocolate.

Teach her to go to the box while you are in a variety of positions and locations

Maybe work on adding more value to getting into the box rather than getting fixated on distance. Very easy to get fixated on distance in agility too. Susan Garrett in her One Jump DVD outlined an exercise they did at a camp. They got into pairs and one person was to try to get as much distance as they could for getting into the box and dropping and the other person was to get into as many positions as possible (sitting, lying down, different positions relative to box etc). At the end she got each partner to show what they had done, and then got the person who taught positions to take their dog to the same distance their partner had gone and then further. She found that those that had built value for the box by teaching as many positions as possible understood the exercise better and found the box rewarding and were able to get more distance and faster responses than those who trained for distance only. So maybe go closer and work on proofing the understanding of the box. Will she go to the box regardless of where you are relative to the box? If you are sitting down? Lying down? Facing the other way? etc.

Yep raising the box was also suggested for the running A-Frame - worked really well too