TwinSpirits

Look Up! Landscape/Streetscape Key Shapes

Glass Collection

Child Dance Food Drama

The official treasure hunt list: home, portrait, vegetable, look up! water, mobile, glass/es, night lights, music, child, old, landscape/streetscape, eyes, mineral, key, best friend, collections, pink, dance, tree, and for those who are wanting to extend the challenge - after you have your first 20, you can tackle these next eight: food, stamp, car, drama, secret, something you leave behind, shapes, shadow Water Tree Car

Eyes

It is my 1:12 scale violin and flute on top of scrapbook paper.

Pink Music Mineral

thanks for the lovely comments Love seeing everyones different views on the subjects. Vegetable Mobile Night Lights

I love everyones photos! I couldnt decide between the two styles today so here are both. Portrait Old Style

I am going to join this, I dont have a dog at the moment but I love taking photos so this sounds like fun and a bit of a challenge. Here is my first one, Home:

Chicken Broccoli and Cheese and some Cafe food Open Chicken Burger Seafood Fettucine Strawberries with Cream and Icecream

I use a Kodak EasyShare Z650, it was bought for photo taking and the videos are ok but we are looking at getting an actual digital video camera so am also interested in what others use.

I did click the links, I missed the contacts, got them now thanks. The workshop was last year.

I have used Google and found nothing in Sydney in regards to classes in Sydney, so I am also curious for future reference where there would be classes. I read on another post that sometimes asking a training school if they will be doing it may help, Im not sure though. Id contact Dogs NSW about the trials.

Im not training Flossie in anything serious yet, just to sit, down leave it and walk nice on a leash. Im not expecting her to leave food alone right now if its on the floor etc I know she is too young for anything serious like that, would just like for her to pay attention to me for a second to get the hand signal for her to know what Im asking. Flossie isnt getting any intense serious training until she is 18 months old and has had her hips and everything checked. I dont train her for a long time, just about 10 minutes at a time and 2 or 3 times a week in public. I dont feel I want to be defending what I do with Flossie's training, which I feel I have had to do a few times already. I know its difficult to understand me at times I have alot of trouble saying what I mean for people to understand. I think the prey drive may work when Im out in public as she chases the ball on my cane and I may be able to use that as a reward somehow. Tristan

ok, thanks again for the replies, I need to explain things clearly. I get Flossie to the point where I know she knows what I want but I cant get her off the food thinking mode. I cant always have food treats available, especially when training at the shops, I have my cane in one hand, her leash in the other and the hand her leash is in does the hand signals. also, I need to teach her to ignore food in all situations as part of the public access test will be a plate of food on the floor in front of her and she will have to ignore the food totally. I have posted questions on the training levels list and not gotten replies so I dont really see it as a good source of information for me, though sues levels is a good goal thing for me to work towards with Flossie. I still in all preference would like her rewards to be non food based. She does like toys and does bring them to me sometimes, but she hasnt made the connection that the toy is the reward. The only other thing I can think that Flossie might find rewarding is jumping around and barking which would probably get complaints in public. She does have a very very high prey drive and if I can incoporate that into her training it would be useful but Im not sure how. I hope this is clearer in some way? Tristan P.S. I hope I didnt seem rude before, reading it again it sounds rude to me and Im sorry if it was.

Hi thanks for your advice. I already know all this, and Im on sue's list already but I havent found it helpful, there are reasons why I want to do away with treats altogether. And I have taught Flossie zen, but it doesnt help with what Im wanting to achieve here. I really dont know how to explain it another way right now, Im sorry if Im not being clear. Tristan

I already clicker train Flossie, but I want to be clicker training her without treats now not later. Tristan

Im going to try to explain this as best I can, I want to train Flossie without using any form of food, I have tried training her with toys but she just isnt interested and I dont know what is more motivating for her, she seems to live eat breathe for food, she is very very food motivated to the point that if she sees or smells food nothing else matters but how to get to the food, this is a bit of a problem going past the cats bowls and out in public because she sometimes happens to have nose to ground pulling on the leash trying to get food off the floor, not behaviour wanted in a service dog. If she cant see or smell treats on me, she just wont do the behaviour I ask of her, I want her to be more focused on me than anything else and I dont know how to get her focused on me and what could be more rewarding than food to her, or if I can make something be more rewarding in some way? also, she searches for ages in the house on the floor for food and Id like that to stop but dont know how, Id like her not to be searching for treats all the time, its not like she isnt fed enough or anything. I hope this made sense. Tristan

I actually would like to know the solution to this because Flossie is 12 weeks and acts the exact same way around dogs generally, but at the dog meet she did settle down after a while when she realized I wasnt going to save her from the big mean dogs lol. I dont want her to be overly jumpy around other people though, just more confident when we approach them. Tristan

Thanks everyone for your replies I do feel alot better. just to answer some questions, not all dogs are allowed in shopping centres because of hygiene laws etc, Flossie is however not a pet but a Guide/Hearing dog in training and has as such access rights to be trained and when fully trained will be able to go wherever I can go, the access essentially is for the person with a disability not the dog, I hope that makes sense. Flossie was in her coat when this happened. Persephone - cant imagine what Id do with a lab in harness doing that lol Flossie is a wonderful dog and I didnt try to react while I was at the centre, just tried to keep her calm and quiet with me until the accident was cleaned up, I did try to ignore others and the person working inside the shop did come out and defend me saying she is just a puppy and she is cute etc, so I was grateful for that. Nat is getting me a little bag of things ready in case it happens again and I am planning on getting her to go on command before and after getting in and out of the car just in case. I do try to be calm in public with her and I have alot of the times overheard people commenting on how well she was trained, and some have said their dog would never do that etc. I know Im on the right track with her training, just a little mishap. Will take her back and keep training as though nothing happened, probably those people will never see me again anyway. On another note, something I havent taught Flossie yet either - when I put her cape on and go outside, she goes to the toilet in her area, and then guides me to the car, if she is walking back to the car from the shops, she guides me straight back to our car. I havent taught her to guide at all yet, just been trying to teach her to be at my side and just to socialize in shops etc, get used to sounds, and we never park in the same spot either. Tristan

Wasnt sure where to write this, but at the moment Im trying to calm down a bit. Went to the shopping center for our usual training with Flossie, I have toilet trained Flossie pretty well for a pup her age, been training her to go on command etc. I took her out toilet before we got into the car and then we went off to the shop to post some parcels and get some medicine. As soon as we got out of the car she was different, not like the way she normally is when I take her to the shops, she seemed to be in a hurry to go everywhere and just wasnt following my hand signals as usual, she still did the signals but very very reluctantly. We went to the shops etc, and were walking back to the car when all of a sudden, she just squats and pees in the shopping centre, I was so stunned I didnt know what to do. Nat went to get a cleaner and I stayed there waiting, but people around me were making it very difficult to stay calm. Im very embarrassed because of the people reaction to what happened. The cleaners were nice about it told Nat that this happens alot with the dogs in Training, but Im very nervous about going back because of the way people reacted. I am unsure why she had to go then, Id made sure she went before we left and everything and we werent that long out, I know she wasnt nervous because Im always checking those signals to see if she is scared or nervous or anything like that and she seemed calm and happy while we are there. Im not sure what to do now, do I restart the toilet training from scratch again and when Im confident she is trained to the level I had her before I take her out again. she still went when we came home as well, even though she did this at the shopping center only 5 minutes before. Im not upset with Flossie at all, she is still a pup and I know there is a reason for this, I just am upset at the way people had to react and embarrass me in the shopping centre. its not the first issue with this particular centre either. Im trying to go through everything in my head and I just cant find a reason for Flossie to go where she did. I guess this is sorta just a vent, Im sure when I calm down and stop being so emotional I can think clearly about it and find a solution to it. She is still otherwise very well trained in public and has never barked or whined or anything while out and has until today, always followed my hand commands. when Im out with Flossie I always feel like people are just waiting for something to go wrong with her, I feel watched and it makes me nervous at times, its like people want an excuse to not allow the dog there you know? maybe Im just paranoid but when Im out at particular places the feeling is very very strong. Tristan

Have to agree with what Tassie said , its what I been doing, just stuff that is natural during the day. Tristan

Flossie has been here a week, I started clicker training (the free shaping way) from day one, she learnt Sit on the first day, she now knows, sit, drop, come, leave it, find daddy, toilet command, and go outside, all with voice and hand signals, I know it sounds like alot, but to me it isnt, she was 8 weeks when I got her and is 9 weeks old now. Its great fun. I recently lost my clicker and had to use a baby food jar lid, those ones that pop, and she still understood it was a click. Tristan

I have Flossie on Supercoat, its the best I can afford, though would have liked to have kept her on Science Diet like she had at the breeders. Tristan