leopuppy04

Yeah - Leo has taught me a lot as he will shut down with the slightest change in my temper. I am pretty good now at keeping myself under control, not that i've ever done anything bad. My first dog would put up with anything and in a way that is worse as you don't learn much about controlling your temper/ emotions.

I have to admit, being a relatively new trainer that I have lost my temper before But i've never lost it AT the dog. I feel my temper rising so I call it quits, no matter if we are on a high or not. Usually at home i'll be kicking myself coz i'll realise i've done something really obvious wrong to confuse the dog. I am a lot better now, rarely loose my temper now, just sit back and realise there is something wrong with what i'm trying to communicate to the dog. I DO still get frustrated with the dogs when they behave like pain in the butts in public at times though!!! :D ETA - I think my definitions were wrong. Many are saying they get frustrated, which is really all i've done as i've never completely 'lost it' when training, just got frustrated, realised it isn't going anywhere and stopped the session

Yeah Kate was excellent! Really easy to talk to and get pointers too :D! Yeah - Jezza was excellent. It's really cool to see these 'show ponies' still able to hold down their instinct. I wish Jezza was able to stay for the 2nd round though Jules - can I steal those piccies for cross posting? They are excellent! I love the last one of Tia too!

LOL - it was great to meet Indi too - I'm sure Leo didn't mind being told off . She certianly was very keen to play with the sheepies again!! Yeah - I think it was him being a little tired, and of course, he has done a lot of obedience and stuff too, so since I wasn't telling him what to do he got a tad confused.... we'll see how he goes next time! He was really good the first time (well, by his level!)! It's so good to finally meet DOL people! LOL!

So were you guys pleased with your dogs? Tia was a little trooper and Indi looked great too! I was SO impressed with Kinta - Jules the 'Kelpie lady' came up to me as I was putting K away in the car and told me that I should 'give everything else up and just do herding' .... LOL - she was really impressed :rolleyes: I was a little dissapointed with Leo's second run.... i'm kinda hoping that he still has the instinct, but I was dissapointed with the way he shut down like that..... I dunno what caused it... perhaps he had burnt out from too much playing/ socialising and I did do a bit of obedience with him.... who knows/???

Simple, I would alter between food and toys. Doesn't matter that the food is the same all day every day - you can use other things that can motivate your dog also. Other things you can do is throw the food, get the dog to run to the box with food in it when released, or as I said, use a toy or yourself to motivate the dog. Thats what i'd do.

I have a lot of reservations about putting a bark collar on any dog, but on a 6mth old pup, I don't think that all avenues have been exhausted as others have stated. I would only use a bark collar in extreme cases as I dont' want the dog to believe that it can't bark....... one day may come along where it would be useful for the dog to bark. I may be wrong though...... Provide more stimulation and see if you can find out exactly what the dog is barking at. The only time the dog would be barking at nothing is when they are bored, otherwise there is always something that they are barking at JMHO

Yeah I hope she gets in. Kate said she may only have a spot for one. I'd be interested to see if Leo remembers anything too.... coz i've forgotten it all!

When is the next one Wagalot? I just emailed Kate and it looks like i'm in so I'll be there :rolleyes:! It doesn't say what time it starts!?! ETA - just found out myself - 9am-12pm

I would be going but I forgot it was a long weekend, so thought I was instructing :rolleyes:. We need to get some practice in too!

:rofl: :rofl:

Poor At - doesn't Kaos know that he is recovering still What a tease!

I'm confused lablover - what was this post referring to? The OP?

haha - Leo would look at me as if to say "now why did you do that" and whine coz he can't get the ball

SNAP! I have the same problem, but I know whether or not they are sitting on a pass without looking. Add to that the fact that I can't stand not knowing! LOL! Another question: Has anybody found that their dog has done much better in the higher classes than when they were in the lower classes because they enjoy it more? Dogdude - what breeds do you have? I'd love to meet you!! Videoing does help a lot - especially to see how nervous we really are!!! LOL! I have been able to fix up so much from videoing, but now I have lost my videoing buddy

I am loving all of the responses..... although we are all different, I like to know what everyone else thinks Ness - :D get back to work! Methinks that those 70 papers aren't read yet..... I have rung my people LOL. JulesP - when I mean train above the standard, I don't mean training for open or UD exercises, but rather expecting more.... eg: you want tight, neat UD style heeling rather than CCD heeling and then fixing it up as you go along.... from day 1, I try and get UD standard heeling... or aim for it at least! LOL! Another example would be expecting your dog to hold a full SFE rather than a touch on the back like what is expected for CCD...... longer stays etc,etc..... I always do that. Vickie - I find it interesting that I have different attitudes to Agility and Obedience. Obedience, I won't go in until my dog is really ready, but I don't go in expecting a pass.... In agility I go in when I think my dog is ready (note: think!), but also don't expect a pass.... but if your dog is on the borderline, i'll still enter - I guess coz it is not half so stressful, and even if your dog is ready, mistakes can still be made!

How do you proof them to your feelings - please tell me as i'd love to know!!! Yep - Jesomil... I have a similar theory - I don't enter them until I am certian they are up to 'passing' level... but on the day I have no expectations, as my expectations can add to my stress..... it is only my stress that has caused Leo to fail in the CCD ring.... both times the Judges have said that they were really dissapointed as he was looking great *sigh*. I think it is silly to enter if you are not ready as it can play around with your dog, but how do you *know* when your dog is ready - they can be perfect in training and then because of your stress..... fall apart.... (don't worry, Leo didn't fall apart on me!) put it this way both our passes scored us 2nd place :D

Yet another question, but I didn't want to distract from my original question in the other thread . I have noticed varying degrees of 'training' when it comes to trialling. There are some that will train their dogs up to a superb standard before entering a trial ring so that they can pretty much gain 3 passes straight away and then go onto the next level. Then there are others who enter their dogs in as they are unsure of the level they are at and want to 'see how they will go'. In terms of agility this doesn't bother me, but in obedience it sometimes can, coz i've come across some unruly dogs... So what do you people go in expecting? How do you train for trialling? I try and train to well above the standard required for that level as if your dog mucks up, it won't be the diff between a pass and fail.... ie: my dog IMO stuffs up his heeling in CCD, yet still manages to score 24/30.... I used to go in and want/expect a pass, but that caused me to get too stressed, dog to get to stressed, trials became less fun, so now I am trying to have the 'cest la vie' attitude - whatever happens... we pass, great... we don't.... there's always next time. If you go in expecting nothing, you will almost always come out pleased. I know there are many out there that want to go in and out of classes as quick as possible though so am interested to hear your thoughts

great post jesomil

Yes, THAT is what concerns me Cosmolo - I am sick of hearing from people, particularly 'off the street' owners who say that their dog is 'just a pup' and they will worry about the training later! BUT when the later comes the dog is such an unruly mess it is more difficult to train! Now I KNOW that this is not what everyone here is saying and we all agree that 'social' training (both in socialisation sense and the correct social behaviour) should begin from day 1 - when we tell people not to take training too seriously for the first x mths and just 'let the dog be a pup'.... this is often the case....... Having said that - starting training with Kinta at 6mths and moving slowly has really reaped the rewards as opposed to starting at 10wks. Addmittedly my memory is rusty, I can't remember how quickly Leo picked things up.... quick, but not as quick as Kinta... but I don't know if that is their temperament differences or training differences.... Leo is still super-eager to learn, but perhaps holding him back would have made him more-so.... who knows?

:D :p Ok... now that we are all in the same thread ;) :p I just copied and pasted to start a new thread too!! I think you raise many good points vickie! Yes, even I have been caught out in this because I want to be good at what I do. I sometimes look at others who have dogs with multiple titles at 1-3yrs and think.... but I haven't got *any* yet. What we fail to realise is that maybe that person has far more experience than you (lol - I'm still on my first dog!), or maybe they are not doing it for the fun of the sport but for the ribbons. Once I got my head around that, I tend to cease looking at what others are doing as a 'challenge'. The challenge is between me and the individual dog i'm handling ;) So true, especially if you start out as 99% of us do, at an obedience club. Instructors (particularly volunteers) either don't have the time or the knowledge to set high standards for you and your dog as a team - near enough is good enough.... so it turns out that you have a lot of 'fiddly' bits to fix when the time comes for trialling. Not only that, but the advantages of having multiple motivators for each dog. I like to vary between food, toys and games with me. It may sound obvious, but how many of you actually *do* use it to its full advantage? I know I didn't..... but when you do, the response, I have found is far better.... even if you dog does do *anything* for food (I have a bottomless pit at home!), he can work better for toys most of the time well human nature does saythat we have to be the best at everything :D set small goals and you find you will get there faster - as the dog is always meeting your expectations..... I am sooo guilty of this too ;) Yes, this I agree with. With my boy - I was soo excited about *finally* having a dog to train to competition level, I wanted to go,go,go.... lucky for me, I also had just as much desire to do 'social' things with him too. Now, I have the attitude that the first 12 mths are for *fun* and basic training... once they are mature, then we can get serious.... which is why i'll always like to have a 'competing'' dog.... otherwise my feet will get too itchy!! LOL! So true - which is why we always need to look at 'why' we want the next dog - as a companion or as another training dog..... although I think you can work with both ;) Very much so - even though my dogs LOVE training, I like to give them a break over xmas time... when clubs are shut. It gives them a nice time to relax... as much as wel love our hobby's, we do need a break from them every now and then.... and at the end of the day, they are learning at training..... so their brains do need a chance to revive! Yes, this is true - I have fallen into this unintentionally simply because I 'forget' which dog I have.... I also found that because I got Kinta as an 'older' puppy... I was expecting more, despite the fact she had no formal training..... when I got my head around that, we moved forward in leaps and bounds. I still stand by what I originally said though - if you train correctly and do it at your dog/ puppy's pace, no matter how early you start, they should always be eager to learn and willing to train.

Question for you all: Many of us are saying that if we start training too young that the dog burn out - what do you think causes that? I am asking this as I think that no matter what age we start training, if we don't push them, go at their pace and keep training fun.... why should they burn out? Shouldn't they love to learn all the time? Shouldn't they want to work on the pretense that they *might* get that reward? If we keep teaching them new things throughout their lives in the way of tricks or perhaps extentions on the sit/drop/stands..... wouldn't training always be fun for them no matter what age they started? I'm really curious to the answers as I think that if trained at their own pace, no matter how young you start (and that may mean that some have done more with pups by a certian age) the dog should never burn out - if they do, I think we should re-look at our training techniques and perhaps their reward schedule.... have we made it too 'boring' for them.... or rather have we got bored of training that one particular dog??

Question for you all: many of us are saying that if we start training too young that the dog burn out - what do you think causes that? I am asking this as I think that no matter what age we start training, if we don't push them, go at their pace and keep training fun.... why should they burn out? Shouldn't they love to learn all the time? Shouldn't they want to work on the pretense that they *might* get that reward? If we keep teaching them new things throughout their lives in the way of tricks or perhaps extentions on the sit/drop/stands..... wouldn't training always be fun for them no matter what age they started? I'm really curious to the answers as I think that if trained at their own pace, no matter how young you start (and that may mean that some have done more with pups by a certian age) the dog should never burn out - if they do, I think we should re-look at our training techniques and perhaps their reward schedule.... have we made it too 'boring' for them.... or rather have we got bored of training that one particular dog??

argh! Our computer at home is up and running now but it refuses to let me download real player ?!?!? - i'm trying to do it through Mozilla..... help?!

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