What About Your Obedience Club?

[Guest Robatife BCs]

Hi all,

I just joined up at my local obedience club the other day and found that so much has changed! I stopped training about 2 years ago and back then we used check chains on our dogs, no food rewards and we used to force our dogs into a sit or drop.

Well now I am told that check chains are old fashioned and food rewards are in The dogs not complaining thats for sure! lol. No more forcing your dog into a command, you encourage them. Clickers have been introduced too.

I cant believe how much has changed, I am going to have to re-train myself, I think the dog will be fine as long as the food rewards keep on coming

Does everyone on here train by using clickers and food rewards, is there anyone else who still uses check chains?

The only thing i dont really like about this way of training is that flat collars are used while training the dogs and there were a number of dogs who were coughing and spluttering because they were pulling and choking themselves.

Daisy

[wheres my rock]

hi daisy which club did you join

its fifty fifty some clubs are still in the dark ages but most have come forwad in leaps and bounds

[Joan of Arc]

I have been a member of our local club for about 3 years and used to train every week. Our club is like the club you have just joined and while it is more passive for all concerned I have stopped going for a few reasons.

There are a few breeds that are not food orientated and so this method is not always successful for them - although I have Labs so its not a problem

Plus I want my dog to do something because he is asked to not becasue he is worried about where his next meal is coming from and this type of triaing is only based on Pavlov's Dogs - its nothing new.

Our boy doesnt enjoy showing an dbecause he had his conformation title I was quite happy not to show him again. But he loves obedience training and had gone to the highest class he could achieve at teh club. So I really wanted to go to the next level and start to learn to trial him but our club went all DELTA on us and nobody is allowed to train off lead no matter how well trained thier dog is. We were supposed to run the course with the dog etc (well I dont need agility work!).

We travelled to Albury one week to see what thier training was like and it was fantastic. It is actually righ up our alley - a combination of both of those methods and it really worked for us.

Actually OH has been promoted and we are moving to Albury in the next couple of weeks adn I see this as one of the biggest positives - great training and facilities. Now maybe we can do some trialling

[Cosmolo]

agree with WMR- but some clubs use a combination which is my preference, you don't have to go completely one way or another.

[Kavik]

The various clubs I have been to have been using food and lots of motivation for at least 7 years (Zoe is 7). You can use a check chain at the club I currently go to (most do actually), the last one I went to they were frowned upon by the newer instructors but a few of the older instructors still used them.

I say go the motivators! Whatever works for your dog. I have no problem with check chains etc, I prefer to use martingales. Clickers are great fun to use.

[BC]

The club I'm at goes either way. They do not allow check chains on pups, but some instructors encourage them when the dogs are a little older and if they feel they need it, but you can train however you want. Either way you get the assitance you need.

I dont use a chain and just use food when I'm training there.

The club I'm at has puppy class, conformation training, agility, obedience (of course), jumping, endurance etc. All of them so everything is there that I need and there is such a choice of how you train your dogs. I love it

[MonElite]

Not much changed at my club, I ahve been there for about 6 years. we used motivators - toys and food when I started.

I guess we now teach more things that people want to know - such as walking on loose lead instead of heeling, more behavioural fixing things instead of large heeling block for no particular reason.

But not that much has changed. We had and continue to have fun with our dogs. Also more people are interested in trialing than couple of years ago.

[Reddii]

I've just joined our obedience club and they use a combination of positioning the dog and positive reinforcement. I've used purely positive methods where you are not allowed to correct the dog and hard core military styled check chain methods (didn't like that), but this is somewhere in the middle and suits me just fine.

Both my dogs are pretty 'soft' so they respond well to the majority of our interaction being positive, but know that when they are in trouble they are not going to get a physical correction because a verbal one is enough.

It's funny though - at the positive reinforcement classes no one ever passed another comment about me correcting my dog after he was solid on a stay with distractions at five months! Must have been a good night because he isn't always that way now at 7 months!

[Staranais]

I also appreciate clubs that let you use both reward and punishment.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that most clubs now encourage the use of food and clickers and toys instead of corrections, especially when the dog is in the "teaching" phase of training. But I don't like it when clubs go too far the other way and ban members from using any form of overt punishment (I say overt as 'haltis' often seem to slip under the radar ).

IMO different dogs respond best to different training methods. I'd rather see a club encourage students to use corrections and correction collars safely, judiciously and fairly, than ban them all together and keep students plugging away with a clicker and halti even when that is clearly not working for their dog. All that happens then is that the student gets discouraged and quits, and the dog is still not reliably trained.

JMO.

[Guest Robatife BCs]

Thank-You all for your replies!!!

I was actually shocked to hear that "check chains are old fashioned and frowned upon here so if you are caught correcting your dog, you will get a slap on the wrist".

I personally use check chains, always have, even on puppies. I am lucky that the dog I am training is food orientated but if I tried this new method of training with my other 2, they wouldnt take at all.

I can see the good points in the new method of training and I like the idea of using a clicker (or a quick short word) my dog is responding well, but I cant stand the idea that all of the dogs must be on a flat collar, I have never agreed with even walking a dog on a flat collar. The other thing is they said then when the instructor gives you a command (sit for example) you can have your dog sitting as close or far away from you as you like, there are no set rules and as long as you are happy with the way the dog sits, then it suits them to. (I am just picturing dogs and handlers all over the place lol)

I will give it a go, just wondered how many other clubs have adapted to this form of training, found it really interesting.

Daisy

[t(AD)pole]

Unfortunately my club still uses the old methods. I sneak in treats and don't use a chocker though.

[weisnjac]

Our club lets you use whatever you wish, within reason. The dont reccomend you use a harness (so many people have tried).

Most use food now days, but some still use a correction chain. It's a case of personal choice and whats works best for the members. All dogs are different.

[Ms James]

Our club allows us to use the best method to motivate for our dog's personality - one is completely food obsessed, the other loooooves her squeaky. I love that they give you guidelines & teach the individual dog, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

[Retriever Girls]

I joined my local club because I really wanted to try agility with my flat coat. She is a star off-lead , it looks like such fun and with her boldness and energy I was really keen.

How-ever, even to start agility (we've done puppy agility), you have to reach Grade 5 (competition level) obedience. OK, we'll do it!

The club theoretically allows flat collars, but no instructors use them, and I kept getting suggestions that I need a slip chain. Most people fail classes (in grade 2 there were 2 classes of 10 dogs each, now in Grade 3 there are only 3 of us).

OK, I really want to try agility, I'll use a chain just so I have a better chance of passing. It makes no difference, I don't pull it, I don't train with it at home.

But they are on to me! My girl scratches on the stays- I explained it was because of the chain- not fleas or allegies- the chief instructor was called up this week and told me I should use a chain at all times.

This is very frustrating, all I want to do is have a go at agility, I think I will go to a club further away, I could be doing agility NOW without these silly rules.

The club is OK with treats/food rewards though. Just the collar thing is annoying.

[sas]

My club is still in the dark ages unfortunately.

I just do my own thing.

Edited June 27, 2007 by sas

[sas]

I joined my local club because I really wanted to try agility with my flat coat. She is a star off-lead , it looks like such fun and with her boldness and energy I was really keen.

How-ever, even to start agility (we've done puppy agility), you have to reach Grade 5 (competition level) obedience. OK, we'll do it!

The club theoretically allows flat collars, but no instructors use them, and I kept getting suggestions that I need a slip chain. Most people fail classes (in grade 2 there were 2 classes of 10 dogs each, now in Grade 3 there are only 3 of us).

OK, I really want to try agility, I'll use a chain just so I have a better chance of passing. It makes no difference, I don't pull it, I don't train with it at home.

But they are on to me! My girl scratches on the stays- I explained it was because of the chain- not fleas or allegies- the chief instructor was called up this week and told me I should use a chain at all times.

This is very frustrating, all I want to do is have a go at agility, I think I will go to a club further away, I could be doing agility NOW without these silly rules.

The club is OK with treats/food rewards though. Just the collar thing is annoying.

That seems odd that you're dog need to be of that high standard in obedience before you start in agility. Many agility clubs only require the basics and will help you from there.

Edited June 27, 2007 by sas

[Guest Robatife BCs]

I joined my local club because I really wanted to try agility with my flat coat. She is a star off-lead , it looks like such fun and with her boldness and energy I was really keen.

How-ever, even to start agility (we've done puppy agility), you have to reach Grade 5 (competition level) obedience. OK, we'll do it!

The club theoretically allows flat collars, but no instructors use them, and I kept getting suggestions that I need a slip chain. Most people fail classes (in grade 2 there were 2 classes of 10 dogs each, now in Grade 3 there are only 3 of us).

OK, I really want to try agility, I'll use a chain just so I have a better chance of passing. It makes no difference, I don't pull it, I don't train with it at home.

But they are on to me! My girl scratches on the stays- I explained it was because of the chain- not fleas or allegies- the chief instructor was called up this week and told me I should use a chain at all times.

This is very frustrating, all I want to do is have a go at agility, I think I will go to a club further away, I could be doing agility NOW without these silly rules.

The club is OK with treats/food rewards though. Just the collar thing is annoying.

I have also done agility but had the same trouble at the start. You had to be in level 3 to even try out the equipment but even then we barely got to have a go at it. So I joined an independent agility club and had a lot of fun! The club I just joined wont let me dog near the agility equipment until she is 18 months old.

[Retriever Girls]

Hey Thanks Sas!

Im really happy you think this. I should go to another club. I didn't want to start my flatty in agility until she was 2 yo. But at this rate (they say most take a year to pass) it will take too long!

I like doing fun things with my dogs. My flatty still thinks obedeince is fun (just!) but it is becoming harder to convince her. When they failed me for the 'stand' in grade 2 because she was wagging her bottom too much and her back feet allegedly lifted I nearly felt like crying!

[Retriever Girls]

OK thanks Robatife BCs I think I will persist with this damn obedience club just to prove I can do it and join the agility club across town to have fun and have a go at agility which is all I wanted to do in the first place.

Thanks for your encouragement.

I think these conservative obedience clubs should be aware that not all newcomers have deliquent dogs nor are they interested in trialling. My club has all the agility equipment and the agility people seem really friendly and they have their own training night BUT you must have grade 5 obedience to join in.

I see people and dogs dropping out all the time because the rules are so strict (eg the "lifting the back legs because of tail wagging" in my previous post)

But, as they say at my club----HAVE FUN WITH YOUR DOGS ??

[Guest Robatife BCs]

OK thanks Robatife BCs I think I will persist with this damn obedience club just to prove I can do it and join the agility club across town to have fun and have a go at agility which is all I wanted to do in the first place.

Thanks for your encouragement.

I think these conservative obedience clubs should be aware that not all newcomers have deliquent dogs nor are they interested in trialling. My club has all the agility equipment and the agility people seem really friendly and they have their own training night BUT you must have grade 5 obedience to join in.

I see people and dogs dropping out all the time because the rules are so strict (eg the "lifting the back legs because of tail wagging" in my previous post)

But, as they say at my club----HAVE FUN WITH YOUR DOGS ??

Well good luck whatever you choose! Do you live in Victoria?? We have an independent agility club here i think it is on Friday nights.

Daisy