huski

So cute!!!!

Congratulations she's gorgeous! Not the same litter but they are related. The sire of this pups litter is litter brother to Wisdom (Blaze's mum) and the dam is also Wiz's half sister.

Hi WL, I work at K9 Pro but I've been on sick leave the last couple of days as I have lost my voice (so no good answering phones or calling people back!) - if you send me a PM through here I will definitely be able to help you :) (ETA otherwise I will be back in the office on Monday)

World for pets in Vineyard, All pets pantry in north Richmond and there's another one in Shane's park I can't remember the name of.

I don't like to fuss around with treats - keep it simple IMO! I also like to make sure that my dogs will work for a variety of food rewards - obviously some types of food is more practical than others, but I often just grab whatever is convenient to use for training treats. If it takes any more prep than cutting it up (and I will often grab a handful of raw mince to use as food for training lol) then I'm unlikely to use it, LOL

Yep I think all of those things factor into how 'intelligent' a dog may be. Most dogs that people will call intelligent are highly driven or motivated which means they have more desire to earn reward than lower drive dogs who have less desire to try or persist. IMO intelligence is something that is hard to measure in dogs because different breeds are designed for different purposes. And a lot of the time people may refer to a dog as 'dumb' or stubborn, the dog has no interest in working with the owner for a variety of reasons so it's not that the dog lacks ability to learn but lacks motivation to do what the owner wants it to.

IMO intelligence is also something that the owner develops in the dog, I have met dogs from the same litter where one is super smart and learns really quickly and the other who didn't have as much training or development seemed 'dumb' and lacked the same ability to problem solve or work under pressure.

Cooked heart is a great option for treats! I usually just boil cheap cuts of meat, and chop it into treat size pieces :)

Scent work is always our best party trick

The number one requirement when we designed these was that my phone HAD to fit in the front pocket, lol.

My own dogs are taught a recall in drive but there are a number of ways to train recall, different methods work better for different dogs and owners.

There are a lot of things we do that can be a concomitant cue to the dog, like putting your joggers on before you go for a walk. The same principle can apply when training things like heel work or even a recall. If you don't look like the person you usually do when the dog predicts reward is going to happen (i.e. holding your hand a certain way to make it look like you have food) they will likely turn off. We can use these things to our advantage in training, or they can become a disadvantage if we don't recognize what cues the dog is reading as predictors to reward.

Daisy is not a fan of puppies! Blaze doesn't seem to care though, she thinks everyone loves her :laugh:

A couple of the girls who stayed back at the end got to have a cuddle (well, she jumped on them and licked them all over, lol). was really delighted with how she went on our trip down to Canberra, she was so good in the car, perfect in her crate and switched on nicely for me at the workshop :)

If she was pretending to have treats her body language would have been cueing the dog to think that. I don't like to 'lie' to my dogs or try to trick them into thinking I have reward on me when I don't. Dogs aren't silly, and they will realise we are lying to them and this can cause a lot of engagement problems especially in heel work (ETA this is getting OT so may need its own thread! :) )

A little photo update :) Puppy Blaze is now bigger than Daisy! Enjoying a trip to the shops for some socialisation: Uh oh, someone knows what the fridge does :)

The problem is more likely that she believes she needs to see reward, then produce behaviour to get it. My dogs always expect either a food or prey reward for heel work - but they know that their behaviour produces reward, not the other way around. They don't need to see reward, smell it, or know where it is, to believe I will give it to them if they 'make' me by giving me super work.

I think varying factors can impact on the options you have to approach training a recall, but (semantically) that doesn't make it impossible.

I do understand what you're saying - and a professional needs to design a training program suitable to their clients needs. An RT may be a great option for a dog, but if the owner doesn't want to use that method then it's up to the trainer to make another program for them and ensure that regardless of the program set, the owner understands what is required to achieve their goals. When I say training only works if the owners put the time in, I mean they are 1/3 of the team (the dog, the trainer and them). the trainer is responsible for giving them a program they can easily implement, but the owner has to have to have the commitment to see it through. I feel this is getting a bit semantical given that my original post simply said I don't accept that some breeds cannot be trained to recall - I am sure you agree with that as the general statement. As the owner of a sibe and beagle I've heard too many times "oh but it's not possible with my dog because it's xx breed". People said it to me about my own dogs - until I did it... :)

If the owner doesn't want to train a recall for whatever reason, that is their choice and doesn't mean training their dog isn't possible. Obviously training can only take place if the owner is willing and wants to commit to whatever training program is the best option for getting them the results they want. Even if you never intend to let your dog off leash, accidents can happen and I would rather give my dog the best chance at staying out of harms way by training a recall as best I could. That's JMO - people obviously choose to do what they feel is best for them and their dog. But for owners who come to us for training and say "I want to achieve a reliable recall with my dog" there isn't one we would turn away based on breed or fail to get results for if they commit to their training program.

I wouldn't let my dogs off leash in dangerous area either, but accidents can happen so I train recall to the highest level of reliability anyway.

Lol, I'm not being defensive. If I said I had trained 590 greyhounds to recall reliably, you'd still say "but it wouldn't work on my dog". People who are only interested in proving why training wouldn't work will never get results.

obviously the owner has to commit to training, and you've already said you wouldn't so much as try. I'm not interested in arguing with you or anyone who just wants to make excuses for why your dog isn't trainable. It's not a competition to find the most untrainable dog. If I ever find a dog that can't be trained I'll let you know.

You've obviously not had much to do with greyhounds if you're calling rubbish O.o I have and have not yet found one that can't be trained to recall. Well you aint met my Maddie, hell would freeze over before she came back and I know her better than anyone. Out of the hundreds of greyhounds I have met I could probably say I know two with some recall but I still wouldn't say they would be 100% reliable and neither would their owners. I meet a lot of owners who say "my dog would never recall" but again, I've yet to meet a dog we can't train to recall... But of course the owner has to be willing and able to put the work in :)

You've obviously not had much to do with greyhounds if you're calling rubbish O.o I have and have not yet found one that can't be trained to recall.