Training And Everyday Life

[The Spotted Devil]

Hey Bub! Remind me of this thread on Saturday...have done retrieving with someone else's Lab so can fill you in on a few things. Too much to type this late at night

[Prydenjoy]

Berri is spoilt rotten, we break many of the "rules" eg he sleeps on our bed at night and is allowed to bludge food while we are eating (so long as he is polite about it and not trying to leap into our bowls), yet when it comes to training he is 110% switched on and really excells. I just find his motivation (in his case he is very food motivated) and he'll work hard for it.

The only thing "different" that I ask people to do when training their dog for obedience is not to free feed (leave kibble out for the dog all day). There are many reasons for this though, and not all are related to obedience.

As far as the technical terms etc go give it some time and you'll know it all yourself and wont even be quite sure when or where you learnt it... You kind of just pick it up.

Have fun!

[MonElite]

I guess my next step is to take her to formal obedience and see if she will work in public with all the other dogs and distractions around. She works in an empty park but who knows! I'll give both of us a chance and see where it leads us and see if I have discipline and commitment to this type of activity!

Well you know where to go and who to see I most likely wont be there this week, talk to Trish. I should come next week tho.

[Staranais]

There are all different levels on how you can treat your sports dog. You could keep it in a run and only let it out for work. No playing with other dogs etc. It is up to each person to decide what they want to do.

I am careful not to devalue commands in every day life. E.G. I don't call the dogs for a bath, they are not going to come as they hate baths and this could devalue the come command. I don't tell them to sit and then go off and leave them without releasing them, that could devalue the stay.

I agree with all of this.

As for what lifestyle adjustments you need to make for competition or work, I agree that it all depends on what level you want to reach. I also think that it depends on what type of dog you have.

For example, I was told by one trainer to crate my dog and deprive her of all toys when I'm not working her since that's how working dogs "should" be kept. However for my dog that is (IMO) completely inappropriate advice as she's so high drive already, I'm concerned she'd end up developing behavioural issues or mutilating herself from lack of stimulation. But for a low drive dog that someone was trying to get more drive out of, perhaps that would be an appropriate thing to try. So it's about the dog, and about what you want to do with them.

I am also careful not to devalue commands. Some commands always get a drive reward. And some commands always get a release command.

[sas]

One thing I've learned about dogs is that if you're taking things too seriously they will knock you off your perch every time ;-)

[Erny]

You don't HAVE to learn all the theory on dogs and dog training - you only need to know enough to be able to raise and keep a well balanced dog. It isn't about all the formal retrieves etc even though you have a gundog, it is about providing sufficient mental stimulation. Keep your dog thinking. Teach him to puzzle things out and for him to learn that he can. I do many odds and sodds of things to keep my boy thinking - it keeps me from getting bored from the same ol' same ol' as well. For example, the other night when it was too dark for me to see in the back yard (spot lot globe keeps blowing ), I showed him how to go find (search) for some of his toys. He knows each of his toys by name, so I didn't need to start with that. Once he's got the searching component down pat (ie when I can hide them in tricky places and he'll keep searching to find it) then I'll start hiding two of his toys, asking him to bring one in particular. Actually, he almost already does that, come to think of it, as I can tell him to go inside and get "xxx". He quits a bit too easy, though, and if he can't find the one I've asked for quickly enough he'll try picking another one instead, for size. But mostly, he will select the one I'm after.

Teach your guy to search - there's the both of you (ie you and your boyfriend) .... that's a fun game.

But yes - the more you teach your dog the more your dog learns to learn and it means they start to pick up on things faster and faster, so it is a bit about being inventive and changing things around some so that you can provide that mental challenge.