Kavik

I'm going to ask lots of questions so we can get a better idea of what your dog and training is like When does he obey? Not obey? - is he good in the yard but not walks etc What have you been using as a reward? Does he like a game of tug or fetch? What treats have you tried? What do you do when he doesn't respond?

+ve training works great if, like most dogs, your dog values something you can work with for its reward - food, toys, pats, praise etc. If your dog is not excited by any of these (and from what I've read LGDs are difficult to motivate this way) I don't know how you are supposed to use it!

You can get spot on applications that kill fleas, some do ticks as well. Diesel my GSD has allergies and is always itchy I hope your problem is only fleas, as that is easily fixed. I use Aloveen shampoo and conditioner on mine. He chews his flanks and tummy. Edit: I didn't notice you already bought Advocate

What about this? http://www.dog-crates.net/

The best thing would be keep a close eye on her when you are at your in-laws and if she looks like she is going to mark (watch for her signals eg sniffing) interrupt her (I would tell her off) and get her attention elsewhere - I would try taking her outside in case she actually has to go. You could keep her on lead if it is easier to keep an eye on her that way. As for outside, I don't bother if mine mark outisde, but if she is on lead, you can just keep walking and interrupt her, not let her mark. Discipline is not evil, it will make for clearer boundaries and let her know what is and is not allowed. An "Ahhh" may be all that is required to let her know it is not on. ETA: I would also take her out to go to the toilet before coming inside, just in case. Do you have a toilet command?

Mine are gutses and would eat until they burst if I left food out! I like to keep them a bit lean and also use treats for training.

I just thought of one. I took Kaos to agility a few weeks ago. While we were waiting our turn I noticed we were next to the table which wasn't being used in our sequence, so I thought I'd start teaching him the table (haven't done it before ever). So I told him table, up he hopped, and then I got him to drop, then release. Then I told him table, and he got up on the table and dropped straight away :rolleyes:

I have instructed before, but don't at the moment. The trialling class at one club I instructed at was earlier, so you could train your trialling dog and then instruct (you had to get to the trialling class before you could instruct). At that time they didn't have an instructor's course with that club (not sure if they do now, I go to a different club now, moved house), but I had done the NDTF course, and had instructed with a club as well as part of the course (was compulsary for the course at the time). When I first started instructing as part of NDTF I was nervous and self conscious, but after a while I became more confident.

Have you tried giving her a toy she can tug or chew instead of chewing on you? If she likes to tug or chase a ball, this can later become motivation and rewards for training

I've been trying the treat bag on the ground and release and run to it with success!

I would book into a good behaviourist who can tell you exactly what is going on and give you a program to deal with it.

Yeah Search and Rescue

So mantrailing is like SAR? I thought mantrailing was still ground scenting? And SAR air scenting. Unless it is just wording.

I'm not sure what the differences are between tracking and mantrailing. Maybe centitout can help - has bloodhounds and does mantrailing with them.

Have you looked at the threads on training in drive? That should give you some ideas. That mainly uses tug. Diesel doesn't have much prey drive, but Kaos does. Even so, Kaos won't tug outside of home, but loves his squeaky toy, so I use that. I've done lots of focus using the squeaky and also use it for agility, handy when you want them to go ahead and you can throw the toy or put the toy at the end and send over jumps. Will he bring back a toy if thrown?

Does your dog really like food or toys? You can use those to teach focus. You can use a clicker or spit food from your mouth or as dogdude said you can use prey drive.

What has been suggested to me and I am going to try is put treat bag on the ground, get focus, then release and run to treat bag to reward, then build up to heeling etc as a way to get rewards off my body.

I have the same problem with Diesel, though I think it is partly my body language and nervousness.

Why do you need to pick her up to put her lead on? What have you tried so far? Does she know how to sit? Will she sit for a treat?

It could be a number of things. Diesel is also an itchy German Shepherd, with him we assume it is a contact allergy as it is on his tummy and flanks. What food are you feeding? We ruled out food allergies with Diesel by giving a special diet for 6 weeks (either a novel protein, or in our case we used Hills Z/D as most novel protein foods have fish in it, which he had been getting already), and it made no difference. He also gets fish oil and evening primrose oil every day and washed in Aloveen oatmeal shampoo.

Well done! Diesel's retrieving has been slow progress. I am working on the mouthing atm and he is getting better but if I send him to get it from any distance he is very slow.

I didn't mention a prong because ANKC affiliated clubs don't allow them

Some individual clubs may only allow certain collars, but for ANKC comps I am pretty sure you can have slip, limited slip or fixed type collars. You cannot trial on a headcollar. Personally I have not seen a club which does not allow martingale collars, although I know some which do not allow check chains. I always check which collars are allowed before I even go to check out a club, and would not go to a club which did not allow at least martingales. I prefer a club which allows a range of equipment (including check chains) so you can pick the one that best suits the dog

You can have flat, martingale or slip collar (check chain etc).

Like this? I started off using a clicker, all paws on the board, then three on the board, then front on ground, rear on board. Then I made it a ramp. Recently I have started using a toy and word marker instead of clicker and food to increase speed of response and because I can use my voice on the course and not a clicker