JulesP

Shouldn't have to as she has a strong wait for food.

I remember now!!!!! Cider is obsessed with her small i-squeak ball and she would do the same as Poppy in that she would turn herself around to watch what i was doing. I started putting the i-squeak down in front of her and telling her to leave it and her eyes would not leave the i-squeak and then as i was walking around her I would click and tell her to "get it". Its all coming back now I could try that with a jackpot container. Cool. Ta.

The thread isn't about whether you can train a low drive dog though. Of course you can. It is whether you can train it to compete and win competitions.

Thanks guys. Slowly does it I guess. Think I will work on her being happy about me being behind her as she doesn't seem to like that at all. Got to look at Mum at all times, lol. Poppy is hilarious about returning. The minute the judge says 'return' she swings her head right around to watch me walk up. Lucky she doesn't move her feet. Having super focused dogs seems to bring its own set of problems.

Puppy 4Legs is a great size for treats.

I think the running after the tug is much more important then actually tugging for your agility training. The actual tugging isn't a tool, the ability to send them to the tug is.

Yep and the its your choice game. Fairly sure she is moving into me because she is worried.

Because I met Em-Puppy?, lol

Congrats Huski 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.

That's interesting. I haven't heard of that line of thought before but it sounds reasonable. Rappie - where are you? I'd like to hear another view on it. Not Rappie but I am atopic When my allergies are bad it certainly knocks the stuffing out of me and other things will flair up.

I would never get a fast sprint to the crate from crate games with my dogs. Leaving me is not something they value at all. No treat or food would make them value the crate more then staying with me. I could train them all to go in the crate but they would be trotting into the crate.

except that the stinging nettle has tiny hollow hairs and a toxin , causing pain/burning...not really an allergic response . The wandering dew leaves do NOT have such things... (afaik) It is an irritant plant, as in the majority of dogs will react to it. It does have tiny little hairs, don't know if it is them that cause the problem.

I used chunks of beef once. The little bastards were not at all grateful! I'm a vego so it was a big deal for me to have to hold the meat I came to the conclusion that a good training treat was something they don't normally get. Anything cooked is of course straying from barf/raw but if you don't want to use the commercial stuff then just cook up some meatballs. Have you tried the Happy Paws treats?

If the dog is low on all drives then I would say you are fairly buggered. Let us not forget that pack drive is a drive! Brock has pretty much zero prey drive (food or toys). He does have fairly good pack drive though and wants to please. Actually he has high pack drive as when in a paddock of sheep he goes and chats to all the people watching I could get his CD. He is actually quite fun to work with as he just loves being with you. Pack drive caused some issues with agility as convincing him to leave mummy was hard. He learnt some pretty complex drills though, never knocked bars and didn't go over the wrong obstacles. He went as fast as I went.

From my readings on the subject I found literature that said that steroid cream often had no effect on a skin problem that was caused by food. My neocort cream certainly wasn't helping my dog. So your cream is working so I would think food maybe wasn't an issue. Frontline Plus treats mites. So maybe knock that off the list too. You could try Revolution next time as that also does mites. Your treatment of the other leg worked. So I would use that treatment on this leg. I would also stalk the dog around a bit and see what it gets up to. Were it is sitting, rubbing etc. I am doing a food elimination diet with my dog and fed her something that caused a flair up and she got itchy. She was then going and rubbing her head in ..... wandering jew so that was then causing itching and she wasn't getting better from the food issue. Neocort cream and a wash fixed the wandering jew and we are all clear again. I don't think I would call wandering jew an allergy issue though as I think pretty much all dogs would react like all humans would react to stinging nettle.

I think with mine the issue is always that they are just too damn polite to take something directly from me. They take food obviously (very nicely too) but any object that I offer is a no no. Even a fav toy. I am sure it has something to do with how they herd. They are all very strong holding dogs, they hold the stock until I come and get them. Is that what they are thinking with toys/dumbells? "Mummy has the object so my job is done". I wish they could just tell me what they are thinking

I bring the dumbell out quickly but then I hold it still. Prey drive shouldn't be triggered like that. Rather then building drive I am looking to build value for the object. Worked pretty well with Poppy as she will steal any plastic dumbell she sees on the ground Are you following the Shirley Chong method? The dog isn't required to hold the dumbell until quite a way through the program.

The agility toy throw is not the same as the prey drive training were the object doesn't leave the handler's hand. The agility toy throw works very well with dogs that loveeeee toys. The send away is different again. Corvus is Erik a foodie dog? If he is try sticking a chicken wing/neck in a sock, letting him have a chomp and then chuck that a little distance. Clean Run sell mesh tugs for the purpose.

Oh I've stopped marking mouth on in the hopes that he would start to close his mouth on it properly but he doesn't and then he loses interest because nothing is happening. He's not mouthing when I'm shaping the hold, he just sort of bites at it briefly and sometimes only just touches his teeth briefly to whatever I'm using but doesn't close his mouth on it. lol I meant to write teething not mouthing I would get super excited about the dumbell. Moving it behind my back and back out really quickly. Get some rapid treating for contact going and get him a bit revved up. If the object is still in your hand he doesn't have to hold on to it, you just want mouth on it reliably. Then put it on the ground and start again. Amber moved straight to mouth on the dumbell at this stage and didn't try and nose it.

You see poodles too. Can't think of any breed that is particularly dominating though. Great clip Ptolomy and Caffy Seita I stop clicking for mouth on and start clicking for longer holds. Is he mouthing though? Check his little teeth. Amber is now making the dumbell jump off the ground :D Quite pleased with her progress.

I didn't say we didn't teach walking :D I said it was walking that most people most wanted to learn. Puppies & Basic 1 do loose lead walking. Basic 2 they start heeling. We are only supposed to have the class walking for a couple of mins at a time though.

My club does most of the things people are suggesting. Lots of lifestyle stuff, positive training, tricks taught etc. For me personally I hate the lifestyle stuff. Think it should be up to the individual to decide if they want their dog to wait for its dinner etc. Interestingly people do ark up at the tricks. My beginners have to teach a trick. The last class has been all pet people and they were quite resistant about the tricks, I pretty much told them in the end that they had to teach one to pass. Most of the lifestyle stuff isn't super well received actually. They all mainly want the dogs not to pull on the lead. They do all enjoy the puppy confidence course though. That has tunnels. steps, tires, little walk overs and different surfaces to walk on. I don't agree with my clubs stance on correction collars. I would rather be allowed to teach people proper use of them.

Ptolomy posted the link originally

Don't be scared Get Toby at heel. Move your left leg 1 step forward and ask him to line up at the same time. I bet he does and you have just heeled! Go on - try it. :D

Fairly sure I have seen video of Toby coming to heel very nicely in a stationary position?? If you haven't been saying heel when he is in the right spot I would start with that. So name the behavior now. Do some turns on the spot, asking him to heel. Then go forwards 1 step. Big party. And slowly build your steps up. I had a go using the backwards method with Amber which worked quite well. Method described on Fanny's Clicker dog blog (www.fannygott.com).