Kavik

I also work on getting Diesel to find heel position. Obviously from the front, but also if I turn around or take steps forward, backward or sideways. He is good at this and thinks it is a fun game

superminty Retrieves are great for accidental training aren't they When trying to shape Diesel's hold, somehow he got it into his head that he was supposed to throw the dumbell once he had it!

Hi gemibabe I think there is usually a time gap between the stims in an anti-barking collar, it is not continuous. I think they allow for other vocalisations, but not barking (but not sure if this is all collars or if they differ). Some anti-barking collars start on the lowest level and only increase the level if the dog continues to bark, I think they even stop after a certain amount of time. If the dog stops barking, it goes back to the lowest level. Others you can set the level. You cannot use a clicker to distract the same way you would use an ecollar. A clicker is used as a marker for the dog when it has done the right thing - like a camera capturing a moment. You use it as the dog is doing the action you want. Great tool, I love it for teaching tricks. If you clicked when the dog was distracted, you would reward for whatever the dog was doing at the time, which if it was distracted is not what you want. An ecollar is used before any command is given, to get the dog's attention to let it know that a command is coming. So it is like a tap on the shoulder if you are about to move off and the person is facing the other way or engaged in a conversation.

That is one determined dog!

That would be funny to watch The funny thing is Zoe doesn't usually pick stuff up. She will retrieve and I have taught her to pick something up and put it in the bin, but she does not normally carry toys or tug.

OK so I decided to teach Zoe a send away to a food target like I have taught Kaos. She is very food motivated even at nearly 9 yrs so I thought I had a good chance. Once she got the idea she loved it and was fast! Recently she has started bringing the target (blue plastic lid) back with her She is a goose! She is so excited and enjoying it and I just have to laugh! Since it's just for fun not anything serious I haven't tried to stop her. Anyone else have a good story of funny things their dogs decided to do in training?

I do two things that have helped heaps with attention heeling. One is spitting food - I got that idea from Leerburg's Training the Competition Heeling Dog, and using a sort of modified TOT with the treat bag on the ground (to work on attention if I don't have rewards on my body). The hard thing is take it slowly and have patience! At first I worked with the food spitting in the front position, kneeling down so he took it out of my mouth and slowly stood up til he had to catch it (sorry if that is TMI ). Once he got the hang of catching it (and me spitting it), I moved to having him in heel position, and rewarded for attention. Then added a few steps and reward. He can (when in the right mood) do this really well, but is still not as consistent as I would like.

I also taught this by luring (was hard, Zoe kept trying to drop! I had to have my foot under her tummy so she didn't drop). I faded the lure and could do it on voice only before I did any distance. I think your hand signal/lure is the problem, that is where Jedi thinks he will be rewarded, so he is going there.

Monelite, can I make a guess? :D In the first video, before a drop when you are close to the camera, quite late in the video. That's the only time I can see a pause that looks like it might be an ecollar

No reason other than why have any length longer than you have to :rolleyes: - I would have thought, as long as you are using appropriate equipment for your dog, the rest is personal choice and who cares? I guess he was promoting the equipment they sell at the club. He also picked on someone choosing to do the right post first in a figure 8, when you are allowed to go around either post first in a trial I know they are a trialling club, which is what I want, and it is fine if they comment on things that would get you pinged in a trial, but the rest was unnecessary, especially when he starts off with "You have committed a cardinal sin" Still deciding whether to go back there . . . I have had a different instructor each time so not sure if I would get this one again.

What still needs to be done? I don't remember if I sent you anything :rolleyes:

I use a 1.5m lead for walking, 1.2 thin leather for obedience. I was at an obedience club yesterday and the instructor picked on me for having this length leather lead, said I should be using 70cm cotton lead like made several comments. Not just preference but that I shouldn't be using a leather lead or such a long one - picked on me all class for every tiny thing Not my usual club, have started at a different one til I am able to get to the other one again. He said 70cm was shortest permissible for trialling. Oh well, at least he didn't pick on me for using a check chain or spitting food I guess (though he did comment)

Pretty much. The positive and negative at the front DOES NOT refer to whether the method is positive or negative, but rather whether the stimulus is added or taken away. there is positive reinforcement (eg treat for complying with command) positive punishment (eg correction for not complying with command) negative reinforcement (eg recall eg above with ecollar) negative punishment (eg sin binning, or removal of reward etc) If you want to know how I personally would stop my dogs from chasing rabbits and birds, I would do one of two things Either 1) Keep the dog on lead OR 2) Have a rock solid drop at a distance and/or recall under heavy distraction. I train this with rewards, you could use an ecollar if you wanted. BUT I don't live on acreage/bush or have hunting dogs or anything, this is to do with my pet/competition dogs in suburbia, most they would see is the odd bird or rabbit at the park.

Lets use a recall example, since that is about the extent of my knowledge of ecollars OK positive punishment would be if your dog already knows how to come, you call the dog, the dog doesn't respond and you correct the dog for not complying with your command (whether by leash, ecollar etc) Negative reinforcement is the ecollar stim is turned on, you call the dog, the stim is turned off when the dog comes to you. I don't know much about crittering (using ecollars to stop chasing animals) so can't answer your question there.

Turn off the computer for a bit and look what happens flip I was using behaviour terminology. Positive punishment is when something is added with the aim of decreasing behaviour (correction), negative reinforcement is when something is taken away with the aim of increasing behaviour. I am not comfortable using negative reinforcement, so don't use an ecollar. I don't use a force retrieve either (though goodness knows Diesel's retrieve could use some improvement )

flip ecollars are not always used to 'shock the dog into submission'. In your example of running off, while you could use positive punishment to correct the dog with an ecollar for not coming when called, you could also teach the recall with the ecollar using the working level (level dog just perceives) using negative reinforcement where the dog learns how to turn the stim off by complying with the command. You would use a lower level for this work than for correcting the dog, and is the first exercise most teach with the ecollar.

I was making my own, not buying any premade. Chicken just happens to be the easiest and cheapest thing to find. Having tried many different foods, honestly have not seen a difference in feeding fish/low allergen diets as compared to chicken. He is getting fish oil and evening primrose oil.

I CHOOSE not to use an ecollar, but I understand how they work and why, and it doesn't bother me if other people choose to use them. I am not entirely comfortable using the negative reinforcement method with my dogs. But as long as people are getting good instruction on how to set the working level and their use, I have no problem with them. There is a bit involved in their use, as with any training tool. It is not as easy as pressing a button

Where are you guys doing the Sydney block training out of interest? I have contacted NDTF - I did the course in 2000 when it was called the Professional Dog Trainers Course and am trying to figure out how to get this changed/upgraded to Cert III.

From what I know - there are 3 general types of electronic dog collars In order of intensity (low to high) remote trainers bark collars containment systems It is a bark collar shown in the video. Remote trainers are most often used in the way Cosmolo described. At working level where the dog can just perceive it. Bark collars are used to stop nuisance barking, some have set levels you can decide, some start on the lowest level and only increase if the dog continues to bark. Most often used without human interaction. I'm not so familiar with containment systems, where the dog gets pinged if it ignores the warning beep for getting too close to the perimeter fence.

Thanks guys! We are doing it again next weekend Maybe we can nail the lead out jumps this time!

Here is the video, many thanks to smisch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcMElnFfO-U

Hi sas I was also wondering if some temperament changes had come about due to the cortisone. Hadn't thought about growth (Diesel is also small)

Although I'm sure you will have no shortage of dog volunteers I have a nearly 9 yr old dog aggro but people friendly one that you are welcome to use Loves food, has drive but won't tug (my fault through suppression - didn't know about drive training then! Will work great if you have a mouse or rat though :p )

I made it from scratch - pulped my own veggies, the lot. Was NOT cheaper and I had problems keeping condition on and was VERY time consuming. I don't have that time atm with a baby, prefer to spend the little time I do have training the dogs rather than pulping veggies . . . not every food works for every situation. I am happy feeding dry with chicken frames I am glad it worked for you though