Do You Train Your Dogs Equally?

[Bubitty]

Just curious as to whether everyone trains all their dogs equally or some more than others?

I must confess that Bitty is my “training” dog. I just find her so easy to train and she acts like it’s the best thing on earth so she’s my training buddy.

Bubby on the other hand is my snugglebum. He’s as good as gold in terms of everyday life but I must admit I find him harder to teach tricks to than Bitty so we’ve never gone beyond the general good manners commands and a few basic tricks.

I have been told that if I were to try and train Bubby to Bitty’s level I would learn a lot more and its more rewarding to train and motivate a dog like Bubby. It would challenge my thinking.

So I’m curious, do you train all your dogs equally?

[MonElite]

No is the short answer.

I train Furia most, she is my training buddy these days and loves it.

Divani on occasion and I think of it every day as I want to enter her in another trial and need to remind her what obedience is about, I should train her but dont, I guess its lazyness.

She is good at tracking and I need to improve it with her, but who on earth would want to get up every day to do it

Rex - well he is old, he never puts the foot wrong and I dont need to do anything with him. So he just is. But when I do TOT when I feed, I dont ask him to sit, he just does as I ask the girls and he always does any command issued even if its not for him

When I go to the club I take Furia, and on a very odd occasion Divani. But Im thinking about joining Agility club with just Divani so it will be "our" time together. She loves the obsticles so should enjoy the training there.

[Agility Dogs]

I have been told that if I were to try and train Bubby to Bitty’s level I would learn a lot more and its more rewarding to train and motivate a dog like Bubby. It would challenge my thinking.

Whoever told you that is right and I would encourage you to give it a go.

Xena is a complete nutter - the type of BC that people warn you about. She is confident, verging on pushy, LOVES to work, no matter what the job is and picks up most things VERY quickly. She is great in the competition ring and generally makes me look a lot better than I am.

CK is my snugglebum. He is a beautiful boy, both in looks and temperament. VERY soft and would be happy to lounge on the couch just about all day every day (in a BC kind of way, which probably makes him a fairly active dog for most people! ) He lacks confidence (compared to Xena), and takes a LOT of work to get him confident in a new task, but once he does he is AWESOME. To the point where we went to the World Dog Games for frisbee - a game he understands.

The thing is that while Xena is certainly a buzz on an agility course or to teach tricks to because she is so quick and so drivey I haven't learned all that much from training her. If she gets something wrong you just tell her and get her to try it again. When she barks at you you back off and think of another way to get the message across because you have pushed her too far. No damage done, no need to walk away.

With CK you have to be VERY careful not to switch him off by making him think he's made a mistake. You have to break exercises down into incredibly small pieces for him to learn each one and become confident. He has made me a better trainer and my training with Xena has benefited from what he has taught me.In the process CK is getting more and more excited about training all the time. (He is almost a border collie now......)

I spend more time training Xena because I can and I know I won't/can't break her. I spend more time thinking about how to train CK and implementing it in shorter sessions that yield more per minute so to speak than I get from the time I spend with Xena. (Too busy having fun with Xena!)

I often say though, CK is the dog you want to live with. Xena is the dog you want to lock in a cupboard and put the batteries in 3 or 4 days a week when you go out to train or go to a trial.

That said, I will be hunting for another Xena when it comes time to take another puppy into our home.

[Aidan]

Not even close, if I looked at total "clicks" I would say about 25:1 in favour of my GSD. The GSD is the more challenging dog.

[Bubitty]

Hehe your post makes me feel less guilty Monelite!

I will admit Agility Dogs I am lazy when it comes to training Bubby. Actually I am not even sure where to start to teach him some if Bitty’s tricks! He’s very……………….mellow.

For me it’s very hard to walk away from the fun dog who’s like “Wheeeeeeee!!!! What we doing next Ma?????? TEACH ME!!!!!” to work with the dog who’s half asleep 90% of the time!

[Kavik]

For me it’s very hard to walk away from the fun dog who’s like “Wheeeeeeee!!!! What we doing next Ma?????? TEACH ME!!!!!” to work with the dog who’s half asleep 90% of the time!

Completely agree! Kaos as my only competing dog gets the most training, but I do some training with both Zoe and Diesel. Kaos is the only one I take to a club. Zoe is 10 yrs but still fairly active and driven, Diesel is fairly quiet so a challenge to motivate. I practice stuff like shaping on Zoe and Diesel so that I am better at it with Kaos and for the next dog!

[JulesP]

If Bubby is a good citizen and isn't looking for things to do then you really don't need to train him. I could easily never train one of my border collies again. He is super obedient and a joy to have around, a bit of NILF and he stays in control. The younger girl looks for things to do so I would continue training her. All the training I do is for the dog's sake, not mine. I have a breed that needs to be doing stuff so I do stuff with them.

[huski]

Micha is a bit like Bubby. He is so well mannered and easy going, he does not need as much mental stimulation as Daisy who is much more difficult and no where near as well mannered

He has pretty decent food and prey drive, and if it wasn't for his fear aggression and had I known more about dog sports when I got him, I would have loved to done agility and/or obedience with him.

I totally admit I spend more time with Daisy because we are going to trial quite soon () and I do feel guilty I don't spend as much time with Micha. Although he is such a good dog, he really does enjoy training, and I wish I had more time to do some with him.

Actually this year I would really like to spend more time with him on training, just for fun. Hopefully I will find the time between trialling and training Daisy. I don't know how those people with multiple competition dogs do it!

ETA: I feel I should add that the only thing Cherry knows how to do is sit

Edited January 6, 2010 by huski

[Tiggy]

I train Banjo more because I hope to trial with him so we're training for competition obedience and he's such a joy to train because all his training was positive and he was well paid so he loves it and this is a very laid back Stafford who is happy to spend the day on the couch but as soon as I say 'ready to work' he's a different dog. In saying that training is five to ten minutes max for the competition stuff where as every day is an oppotunity to reward all three dogs for great recalls, loose lead walking etc.

[Bjelkier]

No I don't

Lestat is easy to teach but very lazy, he has very good manners anyway so I leave him be most of the time.

We do a little refreash every now, maybe a new trick or two and then but thats about it.

Mistral and Alchemy need a lot more work as they do more ie: shows and obediance and they are a different breed which requires a firmer hand.

Mist and Allie get about the same training each day.

[TerraNik]

Nope, definitely unequal.

I spend most of the time training with Jedi and I'm sad to admit it, but I am a bit slack in terms of Ahsoka. I am conscious of it now and am putting in a lot more effort with her. Soaks should be ready to hit the ring by now if it weren't for my laziness!! Better crack that whip!

[J...]

Pretty much equal.

They get trained with different stuff, depending on what I'm doing. So with Zee (7 months) I'm doing plenty of simple play as well as some agility foundation work and some life skills (i.e recalls, and not being a lunatic in public!). With Darcy, I'm doing some heeling work for obedience, back to contact foundation for agility and a few other agility/obedience skills plus plenty of play.

They both get worked the same amount - I'll let them have a brief run around, then put Darcy in a drop and work Zee for a few mins. Swap and work Darcy for a few mins, back to Zee and then Darcy again. So they each get about 10 mins total of training outside a day, and then some general free running and more play. Quite often they'll get another session after tea as well - that's when Zee probably gets more training than Darcy but Darce still gets a few minutes minimum.

Edited January 6, 2010 by Jess.

[huski]

Ok, I take back what I said about Micha. He's no where near as keen to train as Daisy all he wanted to do when we went to the park this afternoon was walk around and then we sat together on the grass and he just wanted to chill out Maybe he's getting older (he turned seven last year)

[corvus]

Kivi is a lot like Bubby. I didn't train much with him because he was just so freaking easy to live with as he was. Since I got Erik, though, I would say I train them about equally. Mostly because if I train with one the other one wants some as well. Erik probably gets a little more training because he needs more structure in his life. Or more to the point, I need more structure in his life. He can be really inventive if not given enough direction.

The more I train with my two the more I appreciate the differences between them and how that affects the way I should interact with them for the best results. Motivating Kivi is a little harder, shaping is even harder, and free-shaping can be quite difficult. But Kivi gives me beautiful focus and teaches me how to micro-shape. Erik is just a joy to train and has made me realise why people love biddable breeds so much.

[Guest Clover]

Nope mine don't get equal training time. Harri is my pet project at the moment, so i am doing quite a few short formal obedience sessions with him a day. Everything but the stays are going great so far .

The Border Collies (& Harri) get Flyball training when we can make it there, but that is mainly training for teams the dogs know what to do. I do a little obedience with Elvis, mainly just to remind him what it is (he did PPS, Puppy Class & 2 years of formal classes). Tinny gets no Obedience training, i probably should though she has the potential to be good at it.

Clover gets a run through of obedience a couple of times a week, just for old times sake. I have not taught her anything new in years.

ETA: I like training Harri, he is a bit of a challenge and a totally different dog to work with than Clover or the BCs. He has me thinking, because what may work for the others might not with him & vice versa .

Edited January 7, 2010 by Clover

[Casima]

Uneven training here too,

Anna gets the most, she is so much fun to train she is super at shaping and so keen to turn herself inside out earning whatever treats I have and also as the youngest who is still learning all her agility skills.

Raffy gets some training, mostly just keeping his agility skills fresh as he is pretty hard to teach anything to (getting better tho) so he only gets a turn at non agility stuff when I am feeling super patient.

Benny was my broken dog, too much badly done obedience training when he was younger made him rather dislike working except for shaping, however I think many years of good training is undoing the bad start we had and he is really enjoying working now, so much so I have entered him in his first ever agility trial at the end of the month! I also have been considering re trying him with obedience to see if we can finish off that CD we started 5 years ago he has one qually! I took him through a heel routine earlier and he remembers it pretty well and was so keen :D maybe an obedience trial is in his future too

[Kavik]

Go Benny! :D

While I would love to get some sort of title on Diesel (or at least trial him, a pass would have been nice) so that all my effort on him isn't 'wasted', unfortunately I don't think that is going to happen.

[Zug Zug]

Totally uneven here.

Zamba (poodle x) - quick to learn, loves to train, easy to teach when i know what I'm doing (I am the weak link here I'm afraid). She gets HEAPS more training. Mind you, she needs it more. Get bored easily without it.

Mozart (bichon) - well they're the same age but he's much slower and feeling his age more. Losing his hearing, losing his eyesight. And anyway he's always been soooo good anyway. I train him tricks and fun stuff sometimes because he enjoys it, but nowhere near as much.

But Mozart is the dog you want on your bed when you're sick. He's the soft, loving one, she's the sporty one. Both good - just very different.

[Kaffy Magee]

Nope. My dobe is much more fun to train. More enthusiasm, quicker to move, quicker to understand what I want, more reliable. My 2 young bullmastiff girls who have just turned 2 dont even know how to sit or stay or drop/lay down They can "stand", "wait", come when called(most of the time) and understand "ah ah" They walk on a loose lead, but dont heel as such. We get by just fine but its a bit embarrassing when people come visit and try and make my BMs sit and they wont. I guess it probably comes down to laziness on my part, but they are such a lazy breed, they dont go bouncing off the walls if they dont get the mental or physical stimulation that many breeds need, like dobes. So they tend to take a back seat to the dobes training. My older girl on the other hand I put more training into and she does all that and the sit, heel, drop and stay.

Ive been thinking of going to obedience this year and tracking with one of my BM girls,Kalais, shes the one that is a pleaser and will do anything for food. We'll see how we go. I think she has great potential to get a few titles on her which would be great for the breed as you dont see it very often with the BMs.

Edited January 17, 2010 by Kaffy Magee

[Pointees]

Uneven.

One dog doesn't get trained due to not being mine and being a showdog, so trained not to sit...

One is a couch potato and knows what he needs to know, sit, drop, stay, walk off lead, sits at roads, comes when called and does a trick called 'Army'.

One is an idiot and just wants to run in circles and isn't interested in food. It was hard, but she knows sit, drop, stay, come, heel, spin, beg, touch, watch and leave.

The last one is my training boy. I've had him two weeks and he now knows sit, drop and stay in both sit and drop positions, and we are working on heel. Oh! He knows to sit at all the roads we are about to cross without me having to say sit. He's good for a 10 month old pup. Considering when I train him, the other three dogs are running around the backyard or out walking with us. ;)