huski

She's a Belgian Malinois. Envy is very cute!! Love all the adorable puppy pics in this thread :)

KC I just find it easier overall. Less time consuming to feed them, one less dog to train, walk, worry about, cuddle etc. it's not that I didn't love all my dogs but now that I only have the two to care for I find it easier. My youngest dog is a working line dog and does take up a lot of my time, I don't walk my dogs together even though they are together when I am home I personally prefer to spend walks, training etc as one on one time I think if you had three lower maintenance dogs it would be easier, although it's not so much that three dogs was hard work for me, I just like only having two. I think it's personal preference really! ETA: before I had my youngest dog I was always wanting and planning another dog even when I already had three. Now I have her she requires a higher level of management than my other dogs ever did so it is more work and I would be quite happy having her as an only dog! Not because she's harder work but because I don't need anything else in a dog than what she gives me. It's hard to explain but I think it comes down to what you want another dog for and what you are happy to live with.

To be honest I have gone from having three for years to just two and I love just having two. It is probably more about the type of dogs I own, but I am happy just having two. If I had lower maintenance dogs I might have no issues having two or more, but I am very happy with my two. I only take one out at a time and they don't run together if I go out so for me it isn't about having two at home keeping each other company etc. I personally find it easier. ETA: I am sure at some point when I want another dog I will add one but for the first time ever I can say with confidence I have no intention to get another dog for some time! (Famous last words lol)

BC I have always preferred leather but I am really loving the Syn Tek collars as they can get wet, dirty, muddy etc and just wipe clean. Especially helpful when I have a crazy Malinois tomboy who loves getting filthy and muddy and jumps in my pond every day!

At the moment Wiz wears her Syn Tek flat collar every day to go to work or if we are going bush walking, swimming etc and I put her leather martingale on if I am taking her for a walk or going out somewhere like the markets as its a bit flashier (lol). ETA: plenty of people use martingale as every day collars, it's really personal preference as some people prefer their dogs don't wear collars unless leaving the house.

Good luck........she's a beautiful dog, thanks for sharing......I am a bit of a drive junkie :D She does have plenty of that lol. Makes training her very addictive!

Thank you :) just ANKC obedience. We also train PP.

It's impossible not to when she's so much fun to handle

Thanks GSD that's very nice of you! Still a fair bit of work to do before we compete though, at the very least I don't feel ready yet :laugh: I want to take my time with her and enjoy the journey, no point in rushing it I think. She's still a baby too really.

Teaching a dog how to satisfy its genetic instinct through complying with a command.

For a methodogical perspective when I talk about training in drive I am talking about a specific training program designed by Steve. Other people may have their own version of what TID means or train with their own version of the method, but our method is specific to the program Steve designed. Training in drive in its basic form is about teaching a dog how to achieve drive satisfaction through working with you and utilizing its genetic instincts.

I disagree, there is a huge difference between giving the dog a drive reward and having the dog work in drive. Not if the dog isn't in drive for the reward, then it is just food exchange. If you are suppressing the dogs drive you aren't training in drive. It is definitely easier to train in drive with a dog with extremely high drive, but it isn't a necessity, we train dogs with a range of different drive levels. I think we are talking about different things, we don't aim ever to suppress a dogs drive when TID. When you do try to suppress a dogs drive especially when it is a high drive dog that is when what you are describing above can happen.

He spends a lot of time teaching this to clients all day every day so I am not sure he will be able to indulge you :laugh: No, I mean control of arousal by the dog in order to get drive satisfaction. No, it is difficult for a dog that does not know how to control (compress and release its drive). If a dog doesn't know that then often the handler will "suppress" the dogs drive through pressure. Conflict occurs when the dog believes your trying to withhold the reward from it or your competing with the dog for the reward. Do you still run through the house Corvus? or did you learn self control. When you crept through the house after mum yelled at you, this was suppression, because you didn't feel the walking slow was the best behaviour to display in this level of arousal. Absent your mum, you will still run... Sort of like reverse luring :laugh: Are you speaking from experience here Corvus? Or is this "in theory"? Something I learned from Steve when teaching performance heelwork is that he doesn't teach the dog to be animated, it is a by product or advantage of the arousal (drive). I think it depends on what level of heelwork you are talking and what dog you are talking about training heelwork with. If you relegate everything back to your two dogs then of course that is what you will see, but watching training happening here at K9 Pro daily, there are many considerations to make other than just avoiding letting them get aroused. I do see your point though, if I couldn't handle the drive of a dog then I guess I might avoid it too. How they learn to control and release their drive in various situations. Drive comes into it so that you can maintain animation over a longer duration and through higher distraction. I think until you actually get a true high drive dog to work with you rather than for you it is hard to comprehend. You bought up an example of a dog doing a bark and hold before, not sure if you saw my reply asking what your comment meant?

I am not saying that heelwork is the same as herding, I am saying that the dog still needs to be able to think through its arousal and focus while maintaining a high level of precision. You are asking the dog to work in drive at a high level of arousal, but it needs to compress its drive enough that it can still control itself and maintain precision. There is no conflict there if you don't create it and you understand how to work with a dog in drive. Another example would be training protection work, this is an instance where you are working with the dogs natural instinct and genetic memory, their level of arousal is still very high but the dog has to be able to respond to small and unpredictable changes in the environment and adapt accordingly, have the ability to make decisions but also follow instruction from the handler, and think through arousal clearly enough to make the right decisions etc. When we look at how training in drive works, even when you are teaching something as 'boring' (and not a natural/instinctive behaviour) as heelwork, you are always still working within the dogs genetic capabilities and instinct.

I think it can also depend on how you approach the exercise. In both cases you can have dogs that are highly aroused and driven needing to learn how to compress the drive and instinct to achieve a common goal (assuming you are both working to the same goal). In everything we train including and especially bite work the dog needs to maintain focus and be able to think through arousal while balancing that with its natural instinct. That IMO is what training in drive is all about.

I think this is true of every thing we train though. Heelwork has been used as an example here a lot as a time where we would TID, however heelwork requires a lot of attention, focus and precision and the dog needs to be able to think through arousal and compress its drive to a point where it can achieve the right balance between drive and precision. There's a big difference between suppressing and compressing drive. As for the science talk, whilst it is fascinating it seems to often confuse people trying to learn how to train their own dog. We have to use terms and ways of thinking that the average person can relate to and understand so they can achieve results with their dog.

What do you mean, Corvus?

This is how I feel when we are doing protection work, I think you see the dogs real genetic capabilities come out when they are given the opportunity to do something they are designed to do and have such strong instincts for. I am always in awe of what my dog can just 'do' due to genetic memory.

I don't think there's anything wrong with being "generous" if it's done at the right time! I think it is easier for people rewarding with a tug as its more physical than food, but it definitely seems to be a challenge for some people to let loose and really play with their dogs and enjoy it.

I get frustrated seeing people disengage from their dog when they are rewarding them, half heartedly rewarding the dog, then wondering why the dog doesn't engage enough with them or isn't putting in as much effort as the dog is capable of giving. IMHO we should share in the reward experience with our dogs so it becomes something we share together and enjoy together.

Did anyone else take their dog to work today? Ours come to work every day but we thought we'd take this pic today just for fun :D

I never used throwing treats on the ground with my beagle, there are lots of dynamic ways to reward with food other than just throwing it on the ground. For me rewarding out of position vs giving the dog the reward in position is about creating a reward experience,creating a game of it so it becomes an experience shared with you, making it unpredictable also helps to keep the dogs focus.

Really? I just watched the video in the OP again, and I can't see the dog touching her in a way that would get her pinged for crowding? Some judges definitely take a tough stance on what is considered 'crowding'!

Like LBD said rewarding in position is something that people usually do when using food, in heel work it would mean you feed the dog for being in the correct position as you are heeling or when the dog is at heel in a stationary position. Another example is in stays, you would leave the dog and return and reward the dog whilst it is in the stay position. Even when I use food for drive work I don't reward in position, one thing I see fairly often is that the dog is sometimes inadvertently rewarded for being calm and out of drive. Depending on your goals, this can hinder progress. However like I said many people do it successfully, that's the beauty of training we all have many ways to achieve great results!

I think reward placement can be really important, personally I use rewarding in position rarely for times when I want my dog calmer and then when I want more drive and arousal I release to the reward. I might have a magnet ball on my back or a tug on the ground or a toy i pull out of my pocket or i just have in my hand. Getting OT now! plenty of people only ever reward in position and have nice heelwork, it is cool how we can train it so many different ways! :) Sometimes I hear people saying things like you should only ever reward in position for heelwork and I don't personally think that has to be the case. I love training heelwork but it can be an easy exercise for dogs to find boring. ETA: I also think it comes down to the dogs understanding of the exercise. When I release my dog to the reward in heelwork, she knows that it was the position she was in that was the key that opened the door to getting the reward, so where I reward her after the release word can become irrelevant.