Seita

But shoey you shouldn't be getting nervous I hear your dog is awesome!! Steve was raving about him when he was in QLD last month!! I try to get myself nervous and then train with those nerves - this might be in a busy place where lots of people are around or a mock trial... I can't really explain it. When I get to the actual trial I try to ignore the nerves and just concentrate on relaxing body language and giving clear signals and commands. I think over time you get used to it!

At Ella's first show in baby puppy I turned up with out any bait by accident. So I showed her using a peice of grass, worked a treat! But I think Ella is much like Kenzie, if I pick something up it suddenly becomes a potential prey item!

That's awesome Luvsablue! I love seeing the older dogs out still enjoying themselves! We have a lady up here in QLD with a 10 year old border collie who emigrated from Europe so had to start comps again from the start, she got her CD and CDX this year and the dog still loves it!

Hey Ness - I have nerve issues too with Ella, she is incredibly fear aggressive and very reactive but I can work her in the middle of a class full of other dogs and have her not bat an eyelash. She also used to be very very people friendly in that there was no way I would ever get a stand for exam without a foot moving! By building drive and getting her to work in drive she doesn't conciously notice everything and one around her, she switches off all those stimuli in her head and focusses on me the one thing that will give her drive satisfaction (ie in this case her tug). In your case with Kenzie being a bit of a soft dog I would really recommend have a play around with drive work (prey or food) because by having her working in a high state or drive it would mask/hide her nerve issues! Ptolomy you've seen my dog work right? She is in drive the whole way through an obedience run out. It used to be messier than it is, but what it boils down to is you shape the dog to perform what you want and how you want it while in drive - no different to how you would out of drive. The dog simply learns that to achieve drive satisfaction (their toy or food reward) it must do what you want. It's about teaching the dog to focus on what you want and control itself and it's drive to maintain that focus. I still use NRMs in training to let her know that she's not quite got what I want and I use yes to mark the right behaviour. It's gradually getting better and I know the 200 is only just around the corner for us with a dog who works in a very high state of drive. Does that kind of answer your question?

Same outcome as with the signal. She just always stops with one front foot placed back which obviously isn't comfortable for a stay! and her body position??? reasonably straight actually, but I was working inside and wasn't quite at my normal pace. I did play around with hand signals as well so instead of sweeping my hand across in front of her I simple held it out in front on her face, palm facing her and fingers pointing down.... not sure if it made a difference but will play with the idea some more tomorrow. I also played around with footwork to try and correct how she stops and found that a certain type of footwork actually improved the way she stopped, again I will play some more with these ideas. ETA - that's awesome news for you Ness!! Here's hoping that Kenzie turns out to be the competition dog that you were hoping for!!

Same outcome as with the signal. She just always stops with one front foot placed back which obviously isn't comfortable for a stay!

ok thanks Tassie! I now understand the kick back stand when asking the dog to stand from another position as you would in UDX - I have trained this from a sit or a drop. But how does one train this in heelwork when you are moving? Tassie - thanks for the suggestion, my method at the moment is to lure/guide via slow heeling into the correct position and only reward the correct stands. My issue with doing what you suggest is that it sort of forms a double command - I give command, dog stops in wrong position, I cause her to move into the right position and she gets rewarded. I try not do to that sort of thing - it's very similar to what dogdude was saying about the front position in relation to someone else's problem. Ptolomy - my stand signal is left hand across in front of the dogs face - the "traditional" command I guess. I could play with signals to see if that helps the way she stops.

probably not seeing as I'm not sure what this is! I've taught her to stop in a stand beside me with her front in line with my legs.

I get this sometime too... I tend to slow the heel work right down to a very very slow pace and hesitate on every step so the dog really needs to think about where they are in relation to my left leg. I find at this really slow speed Ella adjusts herself and straightens her rear out. I find I get this problem if I'm carrying her tug (which isn't often and obviously never in trials) or if I haven't trained much heel work in a while! Ok I have a problem - sort of! It's with stand stays and stand for exams etc, she tends to stand a bit crooked with her bum behind me rather in a straight line behind me. No matter what footwork I use to stop for the stand she seems to always do this. I've never been penalised for it but I just don't like it, it looks messy!!! My other issue still in relation to the stands is when we come to a stop she nearly ALWAYS stops with one front foot back, I tend to hesitate when the judge tells me to leave the dog before I get her the stay command and sometimes she does bring that foot back up. But most of the time just as I give the stay command or as I leave her she brings that foot up in line with the other front foot - obviously loosing a point! She stays rock solid for the rest of the stay after that!!! I need to teach her to stand square, any suggestions?

K9: Evidence was blurred due to a woo woo wooing!!!! Looks like your hand holding the leash??? Not quite sure how to take these comments???? I think they are just paying out on Steve for being seen with a Poodle... he's normally associated with GSD's and the like! Nothing against Poodles just that they are not normally seen around Steve! No offence intended towards you or your lovely poodle

I don't. I tend to feed the day before the trial and then sometimes after the trial she'll get dinner if I remember. I don't reward with food at all but I find dogs tend to work better if they haven't got a lot of food in their tummies! Kind of like it's hard to go for a run/exercise with too much food in our stomachs.

yep you probably should cos then you will get the dogworld with all the upcoming trial dates!

not released yet sorry Huski.... CCC and the clubs are having some issues with sorting out dates so nothing is confirmed! It's making my job as trial secretary very difficult!!! But I can tell you that from about March there is a trial virtually every weekend!

LOL Erny! Housework? What's that again? I think I started paying someone to do mine around the time I started trialling.... go figure!

I can't think of anything that my girl has trained me in. What can I say I'm a bitch! I have a friend who's dogs have him trained, dinner is right after MASH (when it was on) they would all (8 of them) start whining when the closing credits started to roll! He also had a girl that trained him to give her a treat when she brought him her empty food bowl. She then started demanding a treat for every bowl that she brought back to him - one for each of the dogs! This then progressed to her getting the empty bowls out of the cupboard and bringing them to him one by one, needless to say she didn't get paid for this!!

thanks Steve! Awesome as per usual!!!

that was really lovely Ptolomy! All of my memorable rounds I forgot to video tape or the video-er did something wrong and missed it!! Are your heel patterns in WA usually like that one or was that special cos it was winner of winners?

sorry SL I don't mean to... ok I do but.... no actually I am rubbing it in nah nah :p

Bed? What's that?? Burn Notice is about to start! But that's right it's going to take most of you guys at least 2 hours to get there which means you guys have to leave before I even wake up!!! :p

No need to bring stakes, its all on concrete and you can tether dogs to the poles.

Plans are quite simple - get UD work up to trial standard!

Remember I told you to take the Logan motorway! I am allowing myself 1.5 hours from the start of the logan motorway to CT so that saves you half an hour at least. And I reckon you won't need more than 1.5 hours from toowoomba to the start of the logan motorway! See I just save you an hour of sleep!! LOL

How long is a peice of string? It really depends on the dog, it's age and what it's learning for me. Many of my early training sessions with Ella lasted 30 seconds tops but now (before the tick) a training session can last for up to an hour as long as I keep it moving. I try to end a session when the dog is at it's peak and really really keen to work so I kind of leave them hanging in anticipation of what's next. But it depends on the dog ultimately, some (especially young ones) have short attention spans or lack the stamina for a long lesson so shorter is best for them.

To make you guys all a bit jealous I get to leave at 7:30am which should put me there by 8:30 but I'm giving myself an extra half hour in case of traffic!

No they have not however they are fine being tethered. I've done that with them many times. Kobe should be fine with the crate ... if he isn't then I will tether him too. I just wasn't aware tethering would be an option. YUP... 24 HOURS AND COUNTING !!! :-D I'll bring the extra crate along in case you want to use it. And yes Huski today is going slowly! can't wait!