Rules Of Dog Training

[Guest cloverfdch]

Don't practise a mistake. If it goes wrong more than twice, you need to put your dog away and work out what the problem is.

There are people at our dog club who continue to train their dogs off lead although the dogs bolt as soon as the leads come off, week after week this happens but they continue to reinforce that running off is fine.

[Vickie]

When it goes wrong it is the handler's fault.

When it goes right the dog gets the credit.

While I agree with the spirit in which I am sure this is written, I cannot agree with it entirely.

Yes, mostly when it goes wrong it is the handlers fault, but it kinda depends on the dog. I think it's possible for some dogs to "blow you off". I know this is a training/relationship issue but a strong willed complicated dog will take so much more effort than a biddable one to perfect the same behaviour.

When things go right, I always give myself a huge pat on the back. And while I will of course praise my dog & give it credit, I have often worked really hard to achieve that moment. I am learning with herding that when you have a truly hard wired dog, the majority of the learning needs to be done by the handler, so you bet, if I find myself in that magical moment where everything is perfect, I'm going to take my share of the credit.

Likewise in agility, I know my dogs are running as fast as they can and trying as hard as they can to read my signals, so when a perfect run or sequence is achieved, I know that I have trained the dog to this level & somehow managed to get my body & timing just right.

After all, if we don't take some credit, where is our motivation to continue?

[mbfcodes]

How do you get your dog interested in obedience training again. Nothing wrong with his enthusiasm for agility, probably has way too much for that. Well, way too much for my limited knowledge and experience

[mbfcodes]

Sorry about the huge picture. Think I'm doing something wrong

[Vickie]

mbfcodes,

I don't know much about formal obed, but that is one awesome looking dog.

Any more pics? I'd love to see a full body shot if you have one.

[Guest cloverfdch]

Oh my mbfcodes your dog is gorgeous .

[sidoney]

I'd also like to see a photo.

To get him interested in obedience is just the same as getting him interested in anything - make it fun and rewarding for him. Since he looks like a dog that would enjoy running, it's going to take more focus on fun and reward from you in obedience than it does in agility.

Too much standard obedience training is based on boring drills. That's a lot of what you get (or used to get, I do agility these days - don't have time for everything) in club based obedience classes. You can pep up the training by putting it into play, by giving high rates of reward, by keeping each session short. When you trial, each performance is broken up into exercises, and each exercise can be broken into many parts. Train them separately, so it's simple and it's not too long. When the dog knows each part thoroughly, you can start to put them together.

I'm out of touch with obedience training clubs so don't know if any train in this way - most club training, being for an hour once a week, is really not conducive to sustained enthusiasm and drive - and that's for any dog sport. The handler has to put in some thought and effort as regards training approach, and keep it short, simple, motivating and fun for the dog (and for the handler too!).

Edited December 16, 2004 by sidoney

[mbfcodes]

Thanks for the advice, but as you mentioned, in formal obedience it's hard to make it too much fun. If I make it up beat Cody get's very very up beat. He likes to bark when he's excited.

Thanks also for the comments on Cody. I'm trying to attach a photo, but having trouble getting it small enough. I'll keep trying though.