shoemonster Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I have realised over the last few months that my BIGGEST problem is being inconsistent with training, and not being clear enough with the dogs I think part of it is because I am unsure of what I am doing, and the other part is a by product of that, as in different places and with other trainers I am not confidenet enough to use what I think is right all the time, I find myself doing what I think others are expecting me to do with them I have a feeling I know that people will say "who cares what others think, they are your dogs, you train them how you want" but for someone who is pretty self consious (not the word I want but will have to do for the moment) I find it hard Any tips of becoming more confident with what I am doing, and the ways in which I want my dogs to be trained I see instructors and they are so certain of what they are doing, I have my ideas now of what will work, I just need to stand up for them (btw thanks to Cosmolo, as speaking to her I realised alot of these things - and where my biggest weakness is) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 (edited) Hmm Shoey, Can I suggest a 3 week trip to do some dog training over in Western Australia with the top gurus over there - well it worked for Ness and I. And then all you need to maintain it is the threat that they will come over and confiscate your dog if you don't . Edited March 22, 2007 by ness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoemonster Posted March 22, 2007 Author Share Posted March 22, 2007 Ness thats sounds perfect! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidoney Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 (edited) Write yourself up a training approach and plan. Once you commit it to paper, it will be more clear and more real to you. Go into each training session with very clear ideas of what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it. Edited March 22, 2007 by sidoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoemonster Posted March 22, 2007 Author Share Posted March 22, 2007 What do you suggest writing? Like a list of things we are doing in that particular session? So for eg 1. - Focus work - left turns 2. - right turns - stays Or be more detailed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 (edited) Yep Shoey, Totally agree with sidoney. That is precisely what I am now doing. Along with making notes (or in my case sending emails back to people) with the outcome and then making modifications to what I am training. Easier when you have somebody to help you and suggest what you need to do. Especially when you don't really know what you need to do in order to achieve the final goal which in our case is now a UD title. Edited March 22, 2007 by ness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopuppy04 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 nup no advice for you!!!!! I have the same problem so am interested to hear responses. I am 100% confident with pet dog stuff but not with trialling stuff - and I feel I should considering I instruct at my local club My training in 'private' is upbeat and fun coz no-one is watching. At club I tend to be a lot less animated and as a result my dogs are never doing as well...... I know what the problem is and i've tried to fix it, but every now and then it crops up again This week Leo's and my agility training was hopeless. I have been a little tired and perhaps he picked up on it but he was slow and non-comittal . He is not usually like that - not to mention I found what we were doing hard coz it was new and a little out of my comfort zone. This tends to switch Leo off coz i'm so nervous/ concentrating on the course. Are you the same Shoey? The only advice that I can offer is to try and just concentrate on what is best for you and the dog. It is hard to do, especially when you know someone is watching and critiquing!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 (edited) MUCH more specific. You need to have worked out: - what level the dog is currently at - what you are wanting to train - how many repetitions you want to train (and what you want to achieve in each of those repetitions) - how you are going to train it - what you are going to reinforce (or correct if you want to take that path) - method of reinforcement (or correction - same again if you want to use that in training) - what are you going to do if your training isn't going the way you want (in other words if the session goes pear-shaped) Edited March 22, 2007 by ness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidoney Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 (edited) More detailed. Simple phrases say nothing. WHAT you want to do - clear goals, so for example, Focus work: dog can focus for ten seconds under moderate distraction. And how you will do it, for example: Achieved by: click and reward ten second focus at mild distraction, build up distraction level. Ten repetitions at each level. Be flexible enough to realise you may not get to that goal in that training session, but if that is the goal you have set, achieve the goal before moving to the next level of that part of the training programme. Or something like that. If you feel that you need to be on a distinct path for training, mark out what your distinct path will be. Edited March 22, 2007 by sidoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 (edited) One more thing which is highly recommended is to at least video one training session every now and then (one a week would be ideal but that presumes you are training every day or nearly every day and have access to somebody to film them that often). Filming should be more frequent if your not having as much success in training what you want to train or things keep falling apart or your not making forward progress. At the moment I have been able to film about 1 session every month and its so much easier to pick up on stuff when you can sit down and watch it afterwards. Subtle things that you don't even know you are doing. Its also a great record to see how far you have come when you look back on it. Edited March 22, 2007 by ness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopuppy04 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 One more thing which is highly recommended is to at least video one training session every now and then (one a week would be ideal but that presumes you are training every day or nearly every day and have access to somebody to film them that often). Filming should be more frequent if your not having as much success in training what you want to train or things keep falling apart or your not making forward progress. At the moment I have been able to film about 1 session every month and its so much easier to pick up on stuff when you can sit down and watch it afterwards. Subtle things that you don't even know you are doing. Its also a great record to see how far you have come when you look back on it. ooh yes - this is true! And have a training partner where you are going for similar goals! I had a great one only she left to move to NZ Ness - wanna move to Mel???? It is much easier when you are able to help each other - but then my training partner was waaay ahead of me so I still felt a bit self concious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Nah I already said suggested you move to Adelaide didn't I . We are having our own little training group. Agility/Obedience with a bit of canine freestyle thrown in for good measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoemonster Posted March 22, 2007 Author Share Posted March 22, 2007 Yeah I am the same LP, I am very different when training at home than I am on video or at club Ok, very detailed, I will work on doing that, thanks Can be my work goals, and I can email it home for the training lol I need a training partner, I don't really have anyone at the moment who is as interested in training as you guys are! Makes it harder I think I used to train a bit with WMR but she's having a bit of a break (which is fine!) just I miss having someone to bounce off Filming is fairly easy as I can use a tripod, or get OH to do it, I like filming the dogs, shows me all the evil things I'm doing I guess alot of it is me being alot more formal with training sessions, I've been a bit too relaxed I think, and the dogs don't have a firm enough idea of when we are working and when we're not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdude Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Hi Shoey Find yourself a mentor with similar ideas to your own, who is very successfull. Dont use methods your not sure about. Confidence is everything in dog training. Have you ever noticed at club when an instructor takes control of a newby as an example, and the dog is instantly transfrormed? Train less at dog clubs, and more with your mentors privately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopuppy04 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I need a training partner, I don't really have anyone at the moment who is as interested in training as you guys are! Makes it harder I think Well then, Darn you for living so far away and darn me for no longer having Fridays free! LOL - I need a training partner too! If you are really interested, maybe we could set up a date once a month for training on weekends or something???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I am not sure that I agree with the plan thing, or should I say that you need to be aware of the dog on the day and immediately forget the plan if something else is going on! For instance last night I wanted to work on stands. Pup had lost his instant sits so I had to work on that first. Or even being aware that neither you or the dog is in the mood and just stopping the session. No point doing crap training just to have done it! You get this alot with horse training too - lots of experts! You need to listen to the advice, decide if you agree and learn to discard if it doesn't fit with your approach. You kind-of need to be a bit arrogant to do this! With dog training there are lots of paths, you need to find your own path! Otherwise you do find yourself trying this, trying that and ended up getting you and doggie very muddled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopuppy04 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I am not sure that I agree with the plan thing, or should I say that you need to be aware of the dog on the day and immediately forget the plan if something else is going on! For instance last night I wanted to work on stands. Pup had lost his instant sits so I had to work on that first. Or even being aware that neither you or the dog is in the mood and just stopping the session. No point doing crap training just to have done it! Soo true! For example, I started Novice training with Leo this week and was planning on really only working on getting his distance signals/ dumbell work up to scratch. But then, I found that: 1. since i've been doing so much work on 'parking' for distance, he now drops out of heel position when heeling 2. His heeling is atrocious by my standards 3. He thinks he doesn't need to hold a d/b any more! 4. goodness knows how our 'finishes' are going! That just goes to show what drops out when you don't train/ don't train for certian things. so make sure that your goals are flexible. It won't take us long to get back onto task, but it showed me I needed a LOT of brushing up to do!! Also - work with what is working for the training session. If you are making progress in one area - work with that, even if that means you won't complete everything you planned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidoney Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 (edited) Plans can be flexible, but always better to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. End goal and intermediate goals. For a training partner, why don't you choose a like minded member on the forum (make sure your methods are aligned) and share videos between you? Edited March 22, 2007 by sidoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoemonster Posted March 22, 2007 Author Share Posted March 22, 2007 LP, I would love to Where do you normally train and when? I work through the week full time, but am up for nights or weekends depending on how busy we both are! Will pm you anyway! lol With the plan, I guess it's really just used as a guide, and you could have a few different ones, depening on the day or what else was happening, or if it was just an off day, not do it at all I have been told for ages not to train if it's just not happening, or if I'm too emotional, but it's only recently that I've been able to understand it, and experience this myself and not push too hard and have found myself stopping sessions, which is a step upward for me I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoemonster Posted March 22, 2007 Author Share Posted March 22, 2007 Good idea about sharing vids with people as well I decided on my way home last night that I needed to do something proactive and this thread was my start (as I felt if I put it on a forum I couldn't back out of it!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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