Cosmolo

I have had 3 Chihuahua's just in the last few months that were fantastic to train. They aren't the easiest but they can definitely be trained.

Please be super careful if you intend to have him at off lead parks though- they are so small that it takes very little for them to be accidentally injured by another dog.

Unfortunately sometimes even though they make their way to us, they are already on a heart breaking path. We've had large and giant breed dogs with severe issues and they are such a difficult proposition.

We have had 2 in the last month like that Nek.

That is actually a really good suggestion for those that rehome to read the reactive dogs thread.

If you want to frequent some of the dog parks in the area and let your new dog off lead when they are ready i wouldn't recommend an Italan Greyhound. Many of the dog parks are VERY busy all times of the day and you'd need to be particularly mindful of the fragility of a dog built like an Iggy if wanting to frequent these areas.

We could but booked out until next week.

Thanks to everyone for the additional responses. I think it's terribly sad that so many have had such bad experiences with instuctors and uncontrolled dogs at training classes.

Of course i have bias but i do encourage those that have stopped going for those sorts of reasons to try again. It's terribly unfortunate that you may have to look hard to find somewhere safe and suitable but there are places out there in many locations that could be enjoyable.

We are going through the process of rejuvenating our classes at the moment- while most of the things listed here have not been an issue previously, it serves as good reminders and inspiration to make our classes as good as they possibly can be. Meeting the needs of so many different people and dogs is a challenge but i'm sure we can do it!

Just to add- my dogs have done this a few times, moreso since the addition of a small dog pack member. I do refer to mine as brothers too.. Calling them brothers is anthropomorphic but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater and suggest that it's impossible that one dog was not acting in order to protect another.

What greytmate said.

That's what we do Aidan- we have 2 bombproof dogs, one indifferent dog and two assertive type teaching dogs. They all play a different role in teaching clients dogs but NEVER at their expense. They ignore reactivity really well- because they know nothing bad will happen. I'd hate to change that.

Panzer- you can't be that bad at it if he got better and better, well done. :)

It reminds me of a time i was lecturing a group of students and a trainer friend of mine was doing a demonstration of shaping a dumbell retrieve with a novice dog. The dog was just starting to get to the point where it was reliably moving toward the dumbell and we all thought how well he was going and how clever he was.

I had all of my dogs in the room and once the demo was finished i released them to say hello to my trainer friend. 4 of my dogs go to the friend to say hello. And the Jack Russell, who had never at that point done any retrieving or shaping of a retrieve in his life, promptly races over, collects the dumbell perfectly and brings it straight back. He then proceeded to prance around taking it to every student in the room as if to say- you think that dog is smart? Look at me!!

Love it!

I have a couple of 'bombproof' dogs. And there's no way i'd ever subject them to anything like that. Sounds like a great way to completely erode a dogs confidence in you.

I love Cocker Spaniels (and will own one one day) but believe there are other breeds better suited to apartment living. It's not that you couldn't have a happy Cocker in an apartment- but it would require more work than some others. I wouldn't be concerned about rage syndrome.

Hey Snook- the exercise i am referring to doesn't specifcally relate to self control with other dogs as there are a range of other things i'd be likely to use for that including a LAT equivalent- this is a good foundation exercise for most training though.

It's a very simple reward manipulation exercise where the dog learns to control their behaviour in order to access the reward of a food or toy being presented by their owner/ handler, held out of their reach. The criteria can either be the offereing of a sit or simply four paws on the ground- meet the criteria= access reward, don't meet criteria= reward removed. No commands, no verbal or physical corrections. Once the concept is understood, the level of distraction is increased duration of the exercise can increase etc.

No idea what's wrong with my pm's- it says 0 messages.

When we wanted to set up agility classes catering for those who may want to trial our difficulty was finding an instructor especially for weekends (the only venue option) due to instructors other committments etc. I run classes for pet owners requiring no level of formal obedience but it's the lack of an appropriately experienced instructor that prevents us from running trial type classes.

I am trying to get it done in time for classes starting in the coming weeks Megan but having been so sick all week i am a bit behind. I don't think it will be difficult incorporating the new exercises so that should be done but promoting and introducing the different class levels might take me a bit longer.

The dog to dog socialisation doesn't mean any dogs have to 'play' or make contact. I may need to come up with a different term to describe it but unfortunately if i name the exercises we'd do no one would know what the names actually mean. Any alternate words that can easily and generally describe 'working around other dogs' in a controlled manner most welcome.

But do you take into account the number of instructors or is it just about class size? ie- is a class of 12 too big when there are 2 instructors?

What's considered 'too large'? Is there such a thing as too small?

Thanks Megan- much appreciated. I think it's very important for us to re-evaluate classes regularly so that we can make them better- some things we have tried work well, others not so much. At the moment we will be giving notes on Reliable Recalls week one, Motivation (the sheet is called Underworked and Overpaid) Week two and Who's That (LAT) week three. Do you think that reminder sheets of what was worked on should be in addition to or instead of these? Trying not to give so many notes that they don't get read as i know many people don't love notes as much as i do..!

I might as well post my first draft of content for a Novice class going forward. Feedback welcome- much of it is not set in stone as yet.

Problem Solving Games

Self Control Exercise

Sit

Drop

Release and Marker word

Sit Stay

Loose Lead Walking

Recall (Come)

Send to a bed/ blanket

Owner to greet people approaching without dog jumping or lunging

Dog to Dog Socialisation

Trick- Targeting handlers hand

Trick- High Five

Agility Exercise- Short Tunnel

Agility Exercise- Ground Surfaces

Agility Exercise- single jump

Massage

Do you think that that can create the perception of unfairness though? When there is no set criteria and it is just someone's opinion?

One of the problems with providing off leash work in distracting environments within a class is that if participants haven't done any foundation recall work, it becomes too risky and dangerous to take them off lead. For this reason it's very hard to promise that off lead work will be included in classes as it depends on many factors.

How do people feel about having to meet certain criteria to move up to another level? Are assessments or progress reports de-motivating if you don't do very well/ need to put in more work to meet the requirements?

The visitor we had the issue with wasn't a foster- he was a dog we knew- or thought we knew. It was a stark reminder of what dogs are capable of and to never be even a little complacent.

Do you mean Southern Dog Obedience Club Megan?

Problem is its hard enough to get people to sign up for one type of class let alone two sometimes.

I have heard about a number of situations where that has been the result Jules- terrible.