Jump to content

Training Talk Thread


Tiggy
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 7.7k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

After a bit of a break from obedience (concentrating on agility/jumping) I went to training tonight and Mr Prancy - Spotted Pony - Pants turned up for his ring run through :confused: He was so much fun - we lost some accuracy but I didn't give a hoot. Fortunately my foot work has improved too although it still needs some work. Tried a retrieve over a (low) jump and Zig looked at me like I was completely nuts the first few times (as in, where is the rest of the course???) but then he was fine. Em did some "find heel", "one step, two steps", a lovely recall and a bit of retrieving. So much fun!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrats Huski :laugh:

A good training night for me too. Poppy did a very enthusiastic run through, lol. Brock managed to do some not bad heeling. Little Amber was very good. She did some baby positions in motion and a pretty faultless change of position. The only real problem I am having with her is she moves when I return on the stand for exam. She is solid in the exam bit. Any ideas? I've tried a wide return, close return, holding food at her head (which sort of works). She is moving her front legs towards me as I walk past her bum. Sort of like she is trying to find heel rather then waiting for me to find heel!

Met Em as well. She is very cute.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Spotted Devil - I can remember you saying but can't remember the answer, do you play tug with Em?

Oh, this is an endless debate I have in my head :) I don't play tug at the moment because she has such a lovely mouth for retrieving and I don't want to risk ruining it. I do know people who do retrieving (very successfully) and tug with their dogs and I do believe dogs can discriminate but she's my first retrieving dog so I'm playing it safe :) The only time I use it is after the occasional dreaded ear drops - nothing makes her forget them more quickly than a game of tug. She tugs like a fiend with Ziggy too!!!

JulesP - Amber is a poppet, even if she doesn't have any coat ;)

Funniest thing tonight....it took me 12 months to get Zig to pick up the dumbbell and a good 2 years to get him to retrieve with his current enthusiasm. Em saw the dumbbell on the ground tonight, shot out, picked it up and brought it straight to me :( I know she's wired to do that but that's a heck of a lot of time I've just saved :laugh:

ETA: JulesP - have you played the steady feet game with Amber much?

Edited by The Spotted Devil
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Spotted Devil - I can remember you saying but can't remember the answer, do you play tug with Em?

Oh, this is an endless debate I have in my head :) I don't play tug at the moment because she has such a lovely mouth for retrieving and I don't want to risk ruining it. I do know people who do retrieving (very successfully) and tug with their dogs and I do believe dogs can discriminate but she's my first retrieving dog so I'm playing it safe :rofl: The only time I use it is after the occasional dreaded ear drops - nothing makes her forget them more quickly than a game of tug. She tugs like a fiend with Ziggy too!!!

JulesP - Amber is a poppet, even if she doesn't have any coat :(

Funniest thing tonight....it took me 12 months to get Zig to pick up the dumbbell and a good 2 years to get him to retrieve with his current enthusiasm. Em saw the dumbbell on the ground tonight, shot out, picked it up and brought it straight to me :) I know she's wired to do that but that's a heck of a lot of time I've just saved :laugh:

ETA: JulesP - have you played the steady feet game with Amber much?

I'm not even close to getting the pup yet and already having the debate! ;) Only retrieving isn't a big goal for me - I am aiming at Utility Gundog test which involves retrieveing but I mainly want an agility/obedience dog performance wise :rofl: I know tug isn't the be and end all but... all the agility propoganda DVD's and books would have me believe otherwise :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Spotted Devil - I can remember you saying but can't remember the answer, do you play tug with Em?

Oh, this is an endless debate I have in my head :) I don't play tug at the moment because she has such a lovely mouth for retrieving and I don't want to risk ruining it. I do know people who do retrieving (very successfully) and tug with their dogs and I do believe dogs can discriminate but she's my first retrieving dog so I'm playing it safe :rofl: The only time I use it is after the occasional dreaded ear drops - nothing makes her forget them more quickly than a game of tug. She tugs like a fiend with Ziggy too!!!

JulesP - Amber is a poppet, even if she doesn't have any coat :(

Funniest thing tonight....it took me 12 months to get Zig to pick up the dumbbell and a good 2 years to get him to retrieve with his current enthusiasm. Em saw the dumbbell on the ground tonight, shot out, picked it up and brought it straight to me ;) I know she's wired to do that but that's a heck of a lot of time I've just saved :laugh:

ETA: JulesP - have you played the steady feet game with Amber much?

I'm not even close to getting the pup yet and already having the debate! :rofl: Only retrieving isn't a big goal for me - I am aiming at Utility Gundog test which involves retrieveing but I mainly want an agility/obedience dog performance wise :( I know tug isn't the be and end all but... all the agility propoganda DVD's and books would have me believe otherwise :(

Yes I know, it's a very tough call. But my Dally is trained 90% with food, 10% with tug and I saw a lovely working ESS competing in novice jumping on Saturday night. As soon as her run was finished, her owner raced over to the grassed area and threw multiple retrieve items for her - she was certainly NOT lacking in drive or focus :) I figure, get started in retrieving first, work on all the obedience and agility skills and introduce tug later if you feel the need when the habit of a soft mouth is strong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure what to suggest, JulesP - the gurus will come along shortly and solve all our problems :laugh:

Yes, tugging is interesting and it's such a fun thing to do with the dog. I agree that running after the tug (food filled in our case) is probably more important but I do notice that Zig is SUPER focussed and wired if I can get him to tug before we go into the agility ring.

ETA: Just thinking about Amber again....can you return to her in a sit?

Edited by The Spotted Devil
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dog is a bit inconsistent on stand for exam.

Give her someone she knows vaguely and likes and she's all good.

Give her someone she adores and she's off to greet them before they get to do the exam.

Give her someone that scares her - or me - and she crouches, squats and then ends up in a sit, as close to the ground as she can get without doing a drop. Eek. Blokes or certain instructors will bring this on. Sigh.

If I'm working on SFE by myself, I do little walks around her and reward for staying paws put, but if she moves I turn her in a circle (reset the dog) and start again.

When working with other people, I've tried catching her as she goes into the squat so she has to stay standing. Hmm dog slung over arms - much? Sometimes I just stand directly in front of her and keep talking to her, and build up from that. Need to practice with various people at the park. Doesn't help that her standard fav people greeting is all paws in the air - gimme belly rub.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrats Huski :laugh:

A good training night for me too. Poppy did a very enthusiastic run through, lol. Brock managed to do some not bad heeling. Little Amber was very good. She did some baby positions in motion and a pretty faultless change of position. The only real problem I am having with her is she moves when I return on the stand for exam. She is solid in the exam bit. Any ideas? I've tried a wide return, close return, holding food at her head (which sort of works). She is moving her front legs towards me as I walk past her bum. Sort of like she is trying to find heel rather then waiting for me to find heel!

Met Em as well. She is very cute.

Yep I agree with TSD - the steady feet game from all different positions should help. I have to admit to having a similar problem with Cider - so I stopped going around the same direction and sometimes I would go straight back to heel, other times I would start to walk around her and Click and treat before I got to her bum end. I then went through a stage of C/T at all different spots and that seemed to do the trick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dog is a bit inconsistent on stand for exam.

Give her someone she knows vaguely and likes and she's all good.

Give her someone she adores and she's off to greet them before they get to do the exam.

Give her someone that scares her - or me - and she crouches, squats and then ends up in a sit, as close to the ground as she can get without doing a drop. Eek. Blokes or certain instructors will bring this on. Sigh.

If I'm working on SFE by myself, I do little walks around her and reward for staying paws put, but if she moves I turn her in a circle (reset the dog) and start again.

When working with other people, I've tried catching her as she goes into the squat so she has to stay standing. Hmm dog slung over arms - much? Sometimes I just stand directly in front of her and keep talking to her, and build up from that. Need to practice with various people at the park. Doesn't help that her standard fav people greeting is all paws in the air - gimme belly rub.

Have you tried clicking and treating as somebody starts to approach - so before they get within 3m (if this is as close as she can cope with especially those people she loves) of her click and reward you should be able to play with this zigzaging how close you let people get before rewarding her - so that as the person approaches the dog will be anticipating the c/t and should be staying steady.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ptolomy

Haven't tried clicking and treating for obedience moves at all. It's not done much at our dog club so not sure how well they'd take to it. This week's instructor would have been fine, I think. The scary one would get a bit fierce.

But it's definitely something I could try at the park.

I've been thinking to get something from a musical instrument shop that works like a clicker but sounds better, cos I hate the click noise. It's too loud and head penetrating for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...