Kavik

Agility Dog Club of NSW also trains in Castle Hill. Thursday nights at Castle Hill Showground.

Farewell Garry You were one of the first obedience instructors I had. I always admired how your dogs worked. Even if you did have a grudge against Kelpies You will be missed ;)

Not sure what you mean by teaching lead? Clickers are great - as Luke said they mark the timing of the correct behaviour, you still have to follow up with a reward. Most people use food with clickers, but you can use other rewards too. As for other training aids, it depends on the dog and the discipline you are training for as to what you are going to use.

Maybe you are feeding too much? You could try reducing the size of meals. Not sure if I'm lucky or what but I've never had a picky dog, mine will hoover whatever I put in front of them And my Cocker X was the worst guts and food stealer I've had

There could be a number of factors, I also suggest you get someone in to see what is taking place. I would avoid dog parks until you get it sorted, as others are not likely to be tolerant of her rushing at them, and that is antisocial behaviour in a dog park. I also would NOT pat her while she is carrying on (massage can be interpreted as a pat by a dog) as this will reinforce her behaviour. How is she on a lead with other dogs? Does she carry on from a distance? Does she like to visit other dogs or does she always act up?

I agree that it sounds fear based. I would also suggest getting a behaviourist in. Something for you to think about is that he may not ever be relaxed and friendly around other dogs, he may always be cautious. It is important to be aware of this so that you don't place him in situations where he may become stressed enough to become aggressive towards other dogs. Until you get someone in to help, I would not take him to places where dogs are likely to try to come up to meet him, as he will continue to behave in this manner and the more he does it, the more difficult it will be to fix.

For fun tricks, shaping using a clicker is always good, and can be used to adapt to several useful behaviours later on. I am doing some with mine in this horrid hot weather as I can do it in the house. Nose and paw targets at the moment, going to see if I can free shape one of the dogs picking something up as well. I got them pawing a box yesterday

Make the mat a great place to be You can lure him to his mat, get him to sit or drop, and reward with food (if using food). You can use any word you like, I use 'Place'. Now most of the time my dogs will go to their mat on their own without me having to tell them :rolleyes: For the crate, you can try putting a treat at the back of the crate when the dog is outside or not near crate and then put him in his crate (whatever command you use for that - I use 'Bed') - then it is there for him to find when he goes in the crate. Should make the crate a great place to be, since he knows there will be something good in there :rolleyes: On the obedience front, I would polish up his sits and work on duration (stays) since that seems to be an issue here.

Does he have a mat in the house where he can relax? You can teach him to go to his mat on command instead of jumping on the lounge (or you ) and for jumping on you, have you tried making him sit for a pat or a treat instead? You can have him on a lead if he won't do it otherwise. These both give him something constructive to do rather than having something he is not allowed to do. For helping him to love his crate, do you feed him in there? You can also put treats in there randomly so he will check out if there is anything yummy in there. Or you can look into Crate Games which Susan Garrett does. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ebjBo_spqG0

TOT is about teaching your dog self control and seeing you as the one who controls resources, as you don't release the dog until it is looking at you. I have not perfected the whole training in drive thing myself but am having good fun working on it. Some dogs growl and with some dogs this is not a problem. Only one of my dogs will growl when tugging - she is the oldest and I did not encourage tugging when she was little as I didn't know about drive training then. The others don't growl. Even if you don't want to compete it is a fun and interactive way to train, but it is physically demanding (for you and the dog) and high energy. I would have a read through the training in drive threads in the training forum which will explain what it is and then decide if you like the sound of it.

It depends on what you want. I would agree with Roo and use the prey drive to your advantage with training. Read up on it anyway so you understand what it is and what you are dealing with. Then you can decide whether to use it or not.

I've had the same experience Anita, I let a well known instructor/competitor handle my dog aggressive dog once and it did not go well, she just wanted to get back to me and was not happy. It is important to use what you feel comfortable with. If you have issues you may need to reconsider what you will use but with no issues there is plenty of choice of methods out there.

Things would have changed a lot in 10 years Since I started training my first dog 16 years ago, the club I first trained with went from check chains/martingales not much food rewards to no check chains, lots of food rewards. I don't currently train there as I have moved and they are now too far away (and I like having the option of a check chain if I choose to use one)

I would go to a class without the dog to see what you think, then you can check out their methods There is nothing wrong with check chains, I sometimes use one on Diesel, but what you want to do is to see what sort of training style they have at the club. Ideally they will let you use the type of collar that is suitable for your dog, and will allow martingale and flat collars as well as check chains. Also you want to check what type of reward system they use and whether they use positive reinforcement. As you said, your dog works for food and toys, which is great Check to see whether this club trains using toys and treats, and will allow you to take them into class. So you want to see how the people train, whether the handlers and dogs look happy working, and what they will allow you to use and bring.

Some dogs don't like to toilet in front of people if they have been reprimanded for doing so in the past (eg if toileting in wrong spot or in the house and reprimanded) - not saying this has happened here, but it is a possibility. Doesn't mean reprimanded harshly or anything like that, but any reprimand and it may have associated the reprimand with toileting in presence of person not the place. Some don't like toileting on lead either. Dogs certainly develop toileting preferences, for substrate type (grass, paper, concrete etc) and location (in yard, on walks etc). Two of mine prefer to toilet at home, one on a walk.

Manly is far from me! But yeah that would be good if it was closer!

Any suggestions for Sydney's north? Always keen to test the training

When I lived with my parents the dogs always preferred the water from the fish pond to the clean water in their bowl

Thank you for your well wishes. I have passed them on to the rest of the family. Sox was a good boy.

I'm sure there is another thread on this topic You would have to feed LOTS of rats and mice to fill a dog! Especially mice - they are tiny! Not worth it, much better off feeding other types of meat (besides the whole issue of the illegality of live feeding)

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more pics

Sox - my OH's family's dog, died on 29 December 2008 Sox was a typical Staffy - talkative, biddable, loved all people. Not keen on other dogs, but got along well with their Bull Terrier Sophie and best friends with their Burmese cat Pushka. He would woo woo and sing on command, and enjoyed trips to the family holiday home in Bulahdelah. He loved chasing a ball and of course was a big fan of food. This is what my OH's brother has to say about Sox - his dog After struggling through senility and living in constant silence due to deafness, in the early hours of December 29th Soxxie's heart gave and he passed away. He was due to be euthanized the following day because his body was failing but Sox would have none of that. He departed this world on his own terms and went peacefully in his sleep. I got him as a 10th birthday present and he was the greatest dog I've ever had the pleasure of knowing and I'm pretty sure everyone that knew him well would at least rate him in their top 5. I lost a loyal and great friend who, by the simple act of ramming his head into my lap or just wanting to be in the same room as me, could always bring a smile to my face. Rest in peace Sox. We miss you. Sox - 1994 - 29 December 2008

Why are you putting your hand around her muzzle when she gets on the couch? She has found somewhere comfy to relax. Your job is to show her the appropriate place for her to relax (assuming you don't want her on the couch) . A good way to do this is to have a mat where she can lie down in the room where the couch is, and to teach her to go to her mat on command. There are several ways to do this, I simply lured them onto a mat with food and rewarded, then added a drop in there. You can also clicker train it. Then you can send her to her mat instead of having her jump on the couch. Mine will now happily go their mat when let inside and do not try to get on the couch (unless invited up by us). Meanwhile I would simply have a treat and when she jumps on the couch, tell her 'off' or whatever you want to use, and get her off that way. A lead helps too, you can then prevent her from getting up there in the first place.

I would definitely use toys if she likes them For a start - does she like to tug or to chase a ball? There is a thread on training in drive which may be of some interest. There are a few ways you can train with toys. On food - what treats are you using? Are they really yummy things like cheese, cooked chicken, cabanossi? When are you training in relation to when she is fed? Hungry dogs work better for food. And how much are you feeding her?