Lablover

Dogs do, whatever works for them. Just like us in a lot of ways. If they are not high desire, with sound nerves, a different approach and a lot of work, is required, as our criteria raises. As many trainers have advised........watch our dogs. Reallly watch them. Not all rewards suit various dogs.

Hi, Country Joe, darling, um..........what is your interpretation of pack drive??? and how is this achieved, bonding when young, brushing, clear fair obedience? Peppa LOL???

I "reckon",once you have a high drive dog, you never want anything else. Sort of, if you have seen it once, you know what you like. More often than not, they are the naughty ones, up to mischief, if not channelled correctly. I call them fun dogs.

No.......yes..........and.............. it depends!!!! Leadership certainly has its merits, no doubt about it. With retrieving trials, the dog is expected to work at long distances, sometimes under control ie a hidden retrieve, others on seen retrieves where handling is frowned upon. Yet another reason, why I think retrieving training and trialling is the most difficult for a dog (and handler).

Last Weekend. Peppa - 2nd in All Age. Country joe-3rd in All Age. Yank, 1st and 2nd in Restricted. Finished an all age also. Oh, what fun. Exhausted, LOL.

Try to keep your hand movements as limited as possible. Our movements stimulate. BTW, the pups that chase anything, loose clothing on my person, my moving body, are the ones I note, positively.

Consistency is the most important part of dog training. Youngsters only have a short attention span, so short frequent "lessons" are best. Mind you, if your dog is allowed freedom, 23 hours per day, while in the backyard, it will find its own rewards. If your dog is a house dog, you, like so many others, can "train" more frequently. We all speak of consistency, but how often, do we ignore unwanted/undesired behaviour in the house.......as we are on the phone, cooking, friends visiting etc etc. We all need to be more consistent, thus teaching our dogs to generalise......after all dogs live (and learn) for the moment.

Yarrowfell, Obviously ???? (correct me if I am wrong) you have allowed your pug to break (sit command???) in the quest of keeping keeness/momentum/enjoyment of retrieve?

No idea, never met the man. Videos and made for TV programs are very limited, and not what is normally applied.

There was a study........5 years ago??? (I can look it up if interested), where a dog knew 50 commands.........abet a very smart dog. More often that not, people speak in sentences to their dogs. One word, commands/cues are best. Not ............darling, foo foo, sit, sit, please sit...........or you will not get the special chicken treat. Please darling.............SIT SIT SIT. Sit............make it simple.

You need to have focus and control. Perform a search in this forum, and there are more than a few discussions. I have to admit, as I train and compete in retrieving trials, where the dog is at long distances away, and the criteria of control is very high, to simply state, how this is achieved, takes more than a few pages of instructions. More often than not, people do not proof their dogs with MULTIPLE distractions. Sometimes, including myself. Nevertheless, may I add, start short, create good habits....not bad, which may be longstanding.

All my best wishes for the day!!!

I have so many books, most are gathering dust, after a quick read. Nevertheless if practical steps are required, depending on your experience the others listed may be suitable. The best short (and cheap) theory based book, IMHO, is Excel-erated learning by Pamela Reid. Compact book which covers topics very well. There is the Steven Lindsay 3 book series for the excellent focused reader. The Bob Bailey DVD is simply awesome!!!!!!!!!!! My husband, who dislikes and becomes bored watching dog training DVDS even sat through most of the 4 set DVDs. I was amazed.

Gee, I am glad I posted the link now. I did pause before I did so, as there are some 'mature audience" words. Bit prudish, but that is me.

Congratulations!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUhZQnECsi8

Geeeeeee, obedience trials in general or in Australia? Australian rules were based on American rules as far as am aware. Copy cats!!! You might like to start with this link, hopefully it will help? http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/activities/obedience.html

How often have we heard, that people's dogs will not attack their owners chickens, but will happily - have fun with the neighbours. Control control control.

(1) But I am consistent at training ( which may last for 15 minutes ). What about the other 23 hours and 45 minutes, or whatever time your dog spends with you/us. And when the dog is alone possibly gaining its own source of fun. (2) But I do train my dog. One hour every day. One hour!!! (3) But my dog works so nicely at home. Distraction training please. (4) My dog won't listen to me. Are you really listening to them? (5) My dog loves training. Really, it that why it looks unmotivated. (6) Too tired, had a stressful day at work, and my dog trained terribly today. No wonder. etc etc etc etc.

So many words we use in every day life, sound similar to vocal cues, we have conditioned to our dogs. I try to keep to one word cues,.........that being said, double vowel vocal cues/words are considered worthwhile, from various canine scientific studies. Dogs learn our body language so well, (after all dogs have their own language) which aids in generalised and location training. I like the side head cockers - who show confusion. In retriever training in Australia, we do not require honors- one dog sitting next to another "working" dog. The working dog is released to retrieve by its name. If the honouring dog moves, they are disqualified. Their names are used in every day life. Good subject.

Here is a good link for starters who may lurk. http://www.vet.purdue.edu/vcs505/Spring%20...ineproblems.pdf As per usual, I am too tired to type.

Come on Lou, you can do better than that. "They TRAINED then conditioned the required behaviour and MANY responses over the course of many weeks." If you have time, could you reply to the above sentence? Since my last post on this thread, I realised I left out TRAINED and MANY.

Yallourn Power Station. I would be scared there. That sucker is big. Have a great time during Tom's visit.

They are cute. Mind you, Yank and I have been known to do all those moves - abet without music- walking to the starting pegs at trials.

Fun topic and replies. My dogs make me proud, if they understand, what I require. Lately they seem to be training great. Had some good news last night also. One of my older males (Stamp), daughters won the NSW championship and is the current leader of Retrieving Dog of the Year. The dam's owner is suffering from incurable cancer, and not expected to live much longer, so it is especially wonderful. I hope that they well at the Australian national. Also with SARDA's River (another Stamp son), being in the paper and a short clip on the news. Cool, I reckon.