Lablover

Sounds like a thread for lablover

Me? Eeeck. Now lets see. I returned home last weekend from my latest trip to the US. I attended the American National Retrieving Championship which was held from 14th to 20th November, Vicksburg, Mississippi. One week of eye candy....observing 97 dogs compete in the biggest game of retrieverdom in the world.

96 labradors, one golden retriever. Apart from 3 (one of who was an retired professional)amateur handlers, all others had been trained by professional trainers.

Rubystar, re Western Australia - my US import came second in the WA retrieving championship, a couple of months ago.

SD, has kindly offered to add her training.

I'm going to try her on a lead next, probably tomorrow morning

Any other ideas?

Friday humour sorry, don't forget an umbrella.

No problem Clyde.

The way I see it, dogs are supposed to enhance our lives and bring us pleasure..... not provide us with a whole new way to spend money or time to suit 1 little dog because it won't listen.

Interesting her mother was similar, until "broken". Can be explain broken in herding training please?

These threads give me a headache. Too much theory for my tiny brain.

PS I have an oversensitive reward system - to food. My dogs too - they are labradors.

Whether I can pull off the training is another question but I'll give it a shot!

You will do fine. You love camping and travelling also. Travelling and travelling and travelling!!!

That said all, you will be surprised how much can be done at a quiet park and with a training program in short amounts of time.

SD, starting walking singles next week with Em! (Gaining confidence/success at a young age is very important)

Has anyone signed up?

If I recall him he'll dump the toy and come running because he is expected to abandon everything and come running when I recall him.

Dump the toy? Do not reward, being the simple answer.

Its easy for me I suppose having natural retrievers. Mind I start-like everyone else...... short with low distractions. They learn how "to play the game".

Trying to find an easy available link.

I figure since I have three dogs, two with plenty of drive, and none of them tug reliably, I must be the problem

What are they like with food? Is focus, motivation and control achieved?

Some dogs simply are not .......................tuggers.

Corvus,

It may be worthwhile concentrating on recalls for a while.

Could someone please explain why some judges ask for dogs to be exhibited (is it called stride tested???, sorry not a show person), while walking on a loose lead not trotting/stridding out?

Thanks Bigdogg for posting a photo, I sent another just in case the front air vents needed to be shown, also the air extractors.

Not finished yet, but can be used, as is. Tested with my husband inside, before dogs allowed. Dear man.

Reversing camera to be organised.

Rubber on draw handles as they rattle (smallest job ha ha).

Electrics, fans, lighting, (2nd battery) in car, and in time shelves in the spare area. Water containers under tray.

Any questions please feel to ask.

Made by a tool box company. Poor people nearly went mad, with our additions. Side windows etc. Every cm. counted. Could have ended up much higher than vehicle.

We have a canopy on our hilux tray which has 5 crates, draws and other storage area (for my remote throwers). Electrics still to be organised, fans, lights etc.

We also have (3) semi permanent crates in our Troop Carrier.

I have photos of both set ups, if someone can Email me, and add to thread. I am hopeless on computers and it would take more forever to add snaps.

tlc, you have four dogs, so many of the other options are not suitable.

Might pay to expand the budget a little. On the other hand, a dog trailer is a relatively cheap option (compared to a canopy with all the extras).

Well we have spent the last couple of hours doing the rounds of the car yards, A bit limited living in a rural area but it give us a good idea of price etc

We test drove a VZ commodore and we keep coming back to the wagon for the size. We also looked at an Astra cdx wagon, I was really suprised by the amount of room in the back, still not as big as the wagon but would be more economical. I liked the Suburu forester, but once again not quite big enough in the back and the guy reckons that they can't be fitted with a cargo barrier. The Mitsubishi outlander was much the same.

I have a 2000 model commodore wagon and I love it. I have looked around at other cars and I'm not really convinced you get as much room in the back as you do with the commodore wagon. I have had my eye on a subaru for a while but I haven't actually got into the back of it and checked out the space. I have a large crate in the back plus shopping bags, a big container of water and coolant and will soon add a pram and I know it will all fit in the wagon comfortably. It is a dilemma but I really feel the commodore wagon might be the biggest boot wise.

After looking today I definatly agree, I would have definatly given the Suburu more consideration had I only had 2 dogs for sure. I do like the fact that the wagon has lots of room for them if they all want to lay down and sleep.

I haven't seen the Caddys, will check them out. Fords are not an option as OH is a die hard Holden lover. I do like the Territorys and OH can get a good discount ($5000) off through his work but he won't let me have a ford Crazy I know!!

Next door neighbour has the Commodore Sportswagon for work. Not as big as the old Commodores but he says roomier than it looks.

A Liberty or Outback with the seats down would be OK. You'd need a roof box for your stuff though. They drive well.

Or email Honda and ask them to import the Honda Element - it even comes in a dog friendly variant but they don't plan to bring it here atm. ;)

We have found the Holden viva on the net and wondering if they are the sports wagons, it is hard to see how big they are from a picture.

if we go away we put our stuff in the rear and the dogs go in the back seat all clipped in. I fashion the back seat so that it is built up behind the front seats so they have more room, worked well on the trip we have just done.

A friend owns a Toyota Hilux twin cab with a full canopy, and with a few blankets thrown in, is ideal for people with multiple dogs. The dogs are comfortable, the owners are also comfortable in the knowledge that the interior of the car will not be made to suffer with dog hair and dirt and of course Toyota is also a reliable car or should I say, ute in this case, mechanically speaking and I have heard this from more than one mechanic's point of view

We looked at one twin cab, little bit out of the price range for the year we want, but is a possibility although I do like the dogs with us.

If you are restricted to one brand of car you don't have much choice do you.

Definatly not restricted to one brand. Only a ford I can't have.

We have a VZ Acclaim Wagon, still a big, rolling lump of Commodore and not particularly fuel efficient but it will fit a large dog crate for the GSD and still leaves plenty of room for the Goldie, about a dozen retrieving dummies, balls, kids scooter and a pair of muddy footy boots.

When I first started riving the one I have now, It took a long time to get used to the size compared to my Rav 4 but I'm used to it now. It is ok on a long trip fuel wise but a bit of a guzzler around town.

I'm in the process of selling my corolla to buy an x-trail. Hopefully it will be here in a couple of weeks *squee*

I found that it was the only thing that was able to fit Zero's crate in the back of it. Plenty of room in the backseat for Zero (and any other dog I would want!) too and I would still be able to carry people in it at the same time

I looked at the new rav 4 plus some others (kluga, CRV, territory, forester, outback, dualis) and the x-trail came out on top for me. I was the most comfortable in it and it handled very well. I was surprised how small the turning circle on it was.

Shell, you will love the xtrail, we didn't see any of them on our travels today at all.

I have a Rav4 - V6 model and i love it. So much room - enough power to tow our big ass dog trailer, and heaps of room for the dogs, show gear/race gear/whatever gear.

Prior to this i had a CRV - the older model, and it was great, but not enough power in the end. But the rav 4 has heaps more room! I love the false floor in it as well!

I really loved my Rav 4 it was brand new when I bought it, it still had the 4 cylinder motor but it was a 2.4 not the 1.8. Just not practical and big enough when I kept accumulating dogs hence the Wagon. Your V6 model sounds awesome, my dream car, now just to win tattslotto.

What is the benifit of the false floor? is it a space to put stuff?

Thanks for all the replys

False floors are to die for. I love love love love love mine. May I repeat I love my false floors which have metal slide out DEEP draws. O I am in heaven, so easy to organise nowadays.

As we have five labradors, we have a Hilux xcab tray 4 x 4 with a custom made canopy with internal crates and draws.

It makes much more sense to me now, as it it would appear to me that the names are really just non emotional/non moral labels as opposed to the implied moral stance of the word positive or negative when used by some people?

I think so.

Overseas I observed FF, which varied, depending on the trainer from excellent to TORTURE.

One of the most enjoyable conversations regarding negative reinforcement I have had was with a famous (horse) dressage trainer and one of his grooms.

I'm not PAX, but Brooklyn is an Australian Shepherd

Why am I not surprised Brooklyn is an Australian Shepherd. That, or a border collie.

Knowing when and how to simplify.

Knowing when and how to complicate.

Knowing (as far as humanly possible) how dogs think.

Buying the most suitable genetics.

No reason. Just curious.

By "aroused" I mean worked up, excited, drivey, revved, that kind of thing. Do you leave them revved or do something to calm them down? Why?

My dogs are intrinsically rewarded by retrieving.......rerevving normally takes little effort. I prefer short multiple training sessions...the dogs may not agree.

I do vocal cue "all gone", but they are still expected to heel back to my vehicle.

Congratulations to all.

PAX, could you add breed of dog for interest?

How do you end training sessions? If your dog is pretty aroused from the sheer joy of training with you, do you do something to bring their arousal down, or do you leave them hanging?

Corvus, not sure if I understand the reason for your question.

Heck, one of my labradors is known to ejaculate before training and trials. Not related to sexual "drive".

That said, I have a sensitive bitch at the moment, who dislikes multiple repetitive blind (hidden retrieve) drills, but is excellent in water and her marking ability is outstanding. With experience I can gauge her as she is loosing interest, so stop training at the first signs and end on a good note.

I like the sound of the clock game - that could be something we could try. Would it be okay to replace the glove I am indicating with a ball or dummy so that when she goes to the correct position(future glove) she gets instant strong reward?

Absolutely, place a whole stack of them, in one place. That said, some dogs pick up one, drop it, pick up another, and drop it......etc etc, not so much a problem if you have a good recall. Start short distances.

Back to practicing about turns with no glove to get straight ahead focus.

As you mentioned retrieving is strong/rewarding, why practice about turns with no reward/glove?

Are you placing all three articles in EXACTLY the same position? What is wind direction? Try raising glove one and three on a stick or whatever helps for your dog to focus. Spread the gloves? Try a Noon, 3 o'clock drill, 6 o'clock, 9 o'oclock drill/game (you in the middle). Shorter distance to gloves may help also, as others have indicated? Making one and three impossible to retrieve/non rewarding (depending on dog).

Number one question: We..ask..ourselves in retrieving circles, do dogs lie...?

When your dog is in EXCELLENT heel position, does she focus on the glove you indicate? Watch the eyes CAREFULLY!! I vocal cue good, when correct and have no hesitation due to training-game history, saying NO.

So many questions sorry. Are all the the gloves the same white or fabric?

Corvus, I am so tired. Visit,- at the moment have 3 entire males (entirely different so called dominant), one speyed female and one "in perfect timing/progestone tested" female. O and one sick husband, with a staph infection.

My life is bliss.

Has he been published and/or peer reviewed?

Nice books all the same. Good coverage.