huski

Let us know how you go

I think Daisy is starting to come along with her stays She did a two minute down stay tonight perfectly. She also did a great one minute sit stay especially considering the people playing hockey behind us hit a stray ball right behind me, Daisy saw it roll in front of her, watched the person run out to get it and still didn't break She is also doing great SFEs for me. I can push her bum down quite firmly and she won't budge or sit. I can examine her with food in my hand and jump around and over it and she'll hold the sit. Now just to get it that reliable with everyone. LOL.

I train at obedience club (for distractions not classes) twice a week and I'll do something at home ever day even if it's just for five minutes. We've also been walking down to the local sports oval a fair bit lately to do a bit of training. I need to be careful with Daisy because when she's switched on she can train and wants to train for quite a period of time. It's easy to lose track of time and train her for a bit too long.

Indigirl I understand why people require bark collars but like others I would personally prefer to use a static collar. There are methods you can utilize to help stop the dogs from becoming collar smart too

I would actually want to avoid that if I was using any kind of corrective collar on my dogs especially anti-bark collars - you don't want the dog to become collar smart because if they are clever they will work out they can bark when it's not on. You also don't want the dog to be scared of the actual collar.

I agree and I also worry that the aversive (the smell of citronella) will stay on the dogs coat for some time thus not delivering an effective correction and punishing the dog long after they have barked.

If you are in Browns Plains I highly recommend going to see the team at Animal Options out at Ormeau www.animaloptions.com.au

A lot of DOLers recommend Jane Harper from Dogs on Track, she is fantastic http://www.dogsontrack.com.au/

Daisy stole my sandwich the other day. She had the courtesy of waiting until I left the room first.

Oh I forgot to add we had a bit of a break through on our walk tonight - took Daisy down to train next to football field where some guys were doing rugby practice and she did a two minute down stay in long grass, in a relatively high level of distraction (lots of noise, smells, etc) without breaking, without barking, without me saying a word to her, without any reinforcement during the stay. Small progress but hopefully a sign of more solid stays to come

Here's the link to the 2010 obed trial dates http://www.cccq.org.au/Show/Trial-Dates.aspx There are quite a few on in October

Does this happen to coincide with another QLD trip?? Trials up until the end of November

Daisy is looking good I still have a soft spot for Beagles, even though she was woofing at you (too cute ) Oh I know - especially after we were talking about vocal dogs recently. Ahhhh beagles.

LOL thanks Ness, nevermind the start where she almost pushes me over in the right turn ;)

I know, she was quite enthusiastic about it I didn't even have the donut on me (she thought I did though). Ahhhh LOL.

Regarding that conversation we had a few pages back about our dogs favourite training treat... When we got to training tonight a friend of mine had a donut for Daisy (long story) so I thought I'd see if she'd like some as her reward tonight. OMG She could barely think straight She kept missing her down signal because all she could think about was the donut Hence why I could not keep a straight face in the video from tonight; Oh dear ETA: How much trouble would we be if she barked like that when we were in the ring at an actual trial?

It's ok Beth we all get frustrated and we all have bad nights Daisy had a donut as a reward tonight (long story) and she had so much food drive she kept missing my dodgy down signal. We got asked to do a demo tonight for the intro night people and she was appalling, she missed her down signal because all she could focus on was ZOMG DONUT!!!!1111! And pssst, you know Daisy is way more fun than those boring BCs :rofl:

Although after tonight my totally failed demo dog has put me to shame

You beat me to it Bec. Beth come see me on Monday night and I'll show you how to fix your problem. Cheers Maree Now Beth will have to choose who to go see - we'll see who she likes better come next Monday

Daww Beth you should have asked me at training tonight!! Will you be there next Monday? I will show you what I do with Daisy, who usually has pretty snappy downs

I've never used a mat when I've been using the articles outside, always been on the ground! We just like to go against the grain, Seita I am originally from WA so I wouldn't mind trialling over there NSW and VIC too... really no where I wouldn't go

I think what I am worried about is the length of time we will be in the ring for doing stays, there's time outside the ring when you line up to go in, then when when you go in and everyone gets ready, then there's the one minutes sit, then you come back and set the dog up again and then there's the two minute etc etc and I just worry it's such a long time to do something I know Daisy finds pretty damn boring

Thanks for the suggestions Ness, I do most of that now, it's just duration we seem to have a problem with when it comes to down stays. I know, but our trialling class seems to do them sporadically and often not in trialling style (i.e. they'll leave the dogs wherever they are instead of lining them up, or will put them in a circle etc, which is ok, but I want to practice doing them the 'traditional' way LOL).

Do you mean games in terms of something that makes stays a little more interesting to teach rather than distraction-type stuff? Hmm bit of both probably - we do a lot of distraction training but I would love any ideas on games to play or ways to make them more interesting. Daisy's down stays are just very average and not as reliable as I would like them. ETA: Also for those who are trialling/going to trial - how often do you practice group stays? I am finding it hard to find more than one or two dogs at a time to be able to practice groups with.

Had a fun little training session inside tonight. Daisy's stays are coming along and I am quite confident we won't have a problem with her sit/stays (she has been doing these well out and about too). At least now I can get her doing her two minute down stays inside without barking or getting bored and breaking ;) Does anyone have any fun/different stay games we can play? I really want them to be solid before I enter her in anything. I've also been really lazy with SD, so tonight I thought I'd experiment and use a 'fresh' article instead of the heavily scented one I always use. No problem, she got it instantly every time including when I added in the heavily scented one we always use In fact it was probably the speediest SD she has ever done ;) Tiggy all my vids are recorded on my little digital point and shoot No way to get feedback without a video