huski

She has an insane drive to scent and I think that teaching her SD made her think "She WANTS me to use my nose for something? OMG, yay!" LOL :D I think we are doing the wrong sport with obedience, we should be doing tracking

Tried Daisy on the wood tonight and she took to it immediately :D Ended up putting out a full set of wood and she bought back the right article with total confidence For a laugh I put down the wood and the metal and tried getting her to retrieve both the wood and the metal articles (at different times obviously) with no problems I am feeling quite confident she understands what to do

Sure they can be strong, but any dog who goes into 'peak' aggression automatically has a lowered pain threshold because of the adrenaline coursing through their body - that is not breed specific, that is the same with any dog displaying aggression. Do you really think that bull breeds or mixes have more strength than a big GSD, Dobe or rotty?

Sorry to hear what happened to your puppy :D Personally a dog park is the last place on earth I would take a puppy especially one almost in his fear period, but that is only because my own puppy was attacked in the dog park by a bordie collie, then a boxer, and had run ins with various mixed breeds too. I've also seen dog aggressive GSDs, rotties, SWFs etc. Any dog is capable of aggression, this is an owner issue not a breed issue. It sounds like the dog may have been a crossbreed too or at least you were unable to identify the breed which is even more reason why BSL is useless - you can't ban breeds when you have no idea what made up the one who attacked your dog.

For me the thing that made the biggest difference in heelwork with Daisy was building drive (or for those who don't like that word, finding the right motivation). Everything else fell into place once I had that.

Hmmm yes this is a good point! TBH I haven't really given it any thought before now :D Guess most people who show or trial would need a cheque book?

:D Ella's heel work is fantastic Nic! I don't think I've ever seen her look away from you!

me too! Or at least getting what I aim for consistently

I don't know much about the different styles of heeling but the things I look for and (try to) train in my dog are: total focus, drive - I like to see some desperation, I like her to be as close to my leg as possible (within the rules) and quick, snappy responses to commands. I don't find heelwork where the dog looks like its just going through the motions or is looking straight ahead or doesn't have that 'oomph' (for lack of a better word) particularly appealing.

Thanks guys! Will give wood a go now. And yes Ptolomy it is a good party trick LOL!

That sounds great DagBoy Went to the post office today to get a money order for the seminar. The lady asked me who to make it out to and when I said "dancing with dogs QLD" she gave me a funny look and said "Should I even ask...?"

Big brag! I took the full set of metal articles to training tonight. Daisy only started learning SD on Thursday, and we only started working with more than one or two of the metal articles on Monday. We haven't trained anywhere other than the living room floor, and tonight I had the articles down on the grass with loads of smells, other dogs, noise, people etc around. She was totally on the ball and brought back the right one every time And we must have done it at least a dozen times throughout the night. AND we did it 'properly' a few times with Daisy and I turning around, someone else putting the scented article down, and then turning around and giving her the command. I am so proud of her she has really picked it up quickly Now to train wood and leather Does everyone train them separately? Should my next step be training wood on its own, then leather on its own, and then mixing them up? Should I start scenting different metal articles instead of using the same one each time?

OK so bit a of a brag for me - Daisy seems to have gotten the metal articles She is now reliably bringing me back the same one every time I just tried her on a full set of metal articles and she didn't make a single mistake. I actually thought she had bought me back the wrong one and almost didn't reward her then saw the number on it I am so proud of her, what a little star, I only started training SD less than a week ago Might even take the metal articles to training tonight to see how she goes with distractions around. Not expecting much though as she's never worked them on grass before. I am so proud of her, she really seems to be getting it. She scents the articles as soon as I send her to them and she is quick to find the right one. This is the first time I've ever trained a dog to do SD and so far I am really proud of how she is coming along with it and how she is enjoying it ETA: I even switched treats half way through (went from cat biscuits to luncheon roll) and thought the different smells on my hands might confuse her but it didn't

Ok so second SD training sesh tonit and I do think she is beginning to understand the game. Four articles out and she got it every time except when the scented article rolled straight against a clean article and she got a bit confused. Still very enthusiastic though which is great

Hmmm well we had an interesting SD training session tonight. Daisy started off really well with four articles on the ground, she was sniffing them and bringing me back the right one and she did this at least half a dozen times. But then for some reason started getting confused and kept trying to bring me back article number four a couple of times and I'd take it from her (no reward and no comment) then set her up again for another go. After that she got confused and wouldn't bring back the right article reliably. I realised I picked up the scented article with the tongs and then moved the articles with the same tongs, but I don't know if that would produce enough scent on the other articles to make her confused or if it was something else.

I don't think it is an ANKC title but I could be wrong. If it's the one I am thinking of, it is run by and all the testing is done by Delta; http://www.deltasocietyaustralia.com.au/about.htm Unless my dog was going to become an assistance dog through Delta it's not something I would personally bother with.

Sas, sorry, I didn't mean you specifically when I referred to people getting their knickers in a knot, just people in general. I don't think it was terribly on the ball for people to suggest that whether or not the video was funny is a generational thing. I don't think anyone is wrong in disliking the clip, just as I don't think anyone is wrong for liking it. We all have our own opinions and senses of humour, I don't think it was worth being reported over that's JMO I am sure the OP posted as a joke, not with the intention of offending everyone, just further point that our senses of humour will vary ETA: Actually I would have found animal related images more ironic, seeing as it was from a dog's perspective, again JMO. Actually what I would have found really funny would have been images of things dogs would find disturbing i.e. dog toys being cut up or food being thrown in the bin.

Ermm MM have you seen my videos??? My handling is appalling! Bad handling is no excuse not to post videos

Dog parks are not playgrounds. I can't take my dog in the kids playground, or even within a certain distance of it. I'm not a fan of young kids in dog parks. I don't think there should be a blanket no kids rule, but I do think there should be no kids allowed in unsupervised and nor should parents be allowed to let their kids treat the dog park like a playground. I've seen kids riding bikes in small off leash areas, bloody ridiculous!

It's not the war images that are supposed to be funny. It's the dog having terrible pictures running through it's mind that is supposed to 'gel' with the look on his face. Just because I'm in my 20s does not mean I find those images amusing on their own, and it's obviously not a generational thing because other DOLers who are older found it amusing too. What a ridiculous statement to make - oh yes, young people find horrific war images funny! Obviously everyone has a different sense of humour, no need to get your knickers in a knot over it. As I said earlier I've seen a hell of a lot more offensive things posted on DOL over the years.

Great video Ptolomy - I love her enthusiasm!!

I am well aware the dog wasn't actually showing a traumatized face, I meant that is what it looked like and it (the dog's expression) is what makes the clip funny. I am also well aware that it was the war scenes that flashed up (to represent what was flashing through the dog's mind - no, not literally) is what people found offensive. All I am saying is that I didn't find it particularly offensive myself, certainly not offensive enough for the entire thread to be deleted but hey - each to their own.

Can't wait to see the video Ptolomy! I love watching Daisy learn something new too. I think she really enjoys it

What I found with Daisy tonight is that if the articles are too far apart, she is actually less likely to get the right one. When I put them closer together, she actually started sniffing them to find the one I put down. Not sure if this is right or if it was just good luck, but hopefully we are on the right track!

LOL Ptolomy! So funny you should say that, I went to 3-4 articles tonight just to see how she'd go! She was reliably picking up the right article when there were just two so I decided to make it a bit more difficult to test her. She made a couple more mistakes when I added more articles but by the end she was sniffing them and bringing back the right one. Am sure it is no where near reliable yet though, can't wait for tomorrow's training session!