Ptolomy

Now this one is directed to you Ness........ Going back to open - have you ever got a gees I just want to bottle it trial round out of Ness? Perhaps this is what you need to concerntrate on first before trying to get a similar UD round. You know my thoughts on what I think Ness is capable of

Not picking on you Ness - I am sure there are other out there wondering if there dogs are ready for CCD or Novice or Open. But the bottom line is - if you dog can't do all the exercises at training then you don't have a hope of passing a trial . If you have low standards at training then you also can't expect a great result at a trial - you know the saying - you get what you train.

Have you ever had a training session where she has got all the exercises right?

So is this a case of her seeing whats on offer, so she decides to pay attention???? Yep I think so!

ARGH another i-squeak convert.......the i-squeak tribe is growing and its not my fault

So no marker word like "Dufus"?????? Anybody else tried videoing some distraction work????? Rubystar maybe we need to video some of Ruby when she first gets out of the car if I am near and how you have managed to get her up to heeling around me??

Anybody elses dog stand like a tripod, so front legs level and under the body and one rear leg stuck out at a funny angle to the side? This should be part of the toller breed standard

Argh the old release word hey What do you do if he moves before the release word? and do you still do this even if he has completed the SFE and you walking around him? With my OC dog (which stands for Occassionally Clever) I have been returning to him and reaching into my pocket for food and he has been moving a foot - so I have been giving a NRM "wrong" and taking my hand out of my pocket and then a few seconds later - trying it again. Am I creating a bad habit or is this going to turn into a mountain further down the track????

My first question would be - can she actually stay focused at the peg without any distractions????? As a matter of interest - have you timed this ?????

Gees you are doing well - my puppy is 5 1/2 months old and stay isn't in her vocab - its actually one of the last things I teach........ As for distraction - life is one big distraction - poor girl Good luck with your future training - do you have a video camera so you can tape some of what she is up to?

Caffy I have just watched Snaz's SFE clip. He did well for a non obedience dog - in fact he did well for a UD dog (says she who wishes her dog would do a SFE that well LOL). Just wondering, when you returned to him - did you tell him to wait or stay before reaching into your pocket for food, or doed he have a release word and he wont move until he hears that?

Handlers often say "my dog is ring wise" - when the dog is beautiful outside of the ring, but struggle when they get into the ring. These are usually the cases where the handlers show the dog food in order to get it to work.

Thanks for this.... Its interesting what you say - a while back I was trying to teach my dog to sit up from a down. I could lure her and yes she would do it and I would reward. Take a step away and she had no idea - so like most people I decided that I would start using her dinner as a reward. I would prepare her dinner and have it sitting on the bench - I would leave her in a down take 1-2-3-4-5 steps away and she would sit every time. Take her outside with her dinner and go through the process and once again she didn't have a problem. Prepare her dinner in the morning and leave it in the fridge and set her up for the same exercise and she had no idea - so the food became the precursa to working....... OOps sorry gone off topic here......

Blaize and Scoota - Probably 90-95% of the time I reward with food - as given the choice between food and a toy they would take food every time. Beans - I would go as high as 99% of the time I reward with food as she has a tendency to anticipate and get messy - so with food I can reward multiple times while she is in position. I have started using the small i-squeak a bit more for her directed jumping. Lexi - her ratio is probably 50% food and 50% the i-squeak so for me its a case of knowing what the dog likes best. Like Deb I also find that I can get more repetitions in, in a shorter time frame by using food and when you have 6 dogs this is important Huski - I am interested to find out more about your ready to work command - do you only use this when you don't have food on you and do you use it in all your training sessions. I guess my ready to work command is line up or heel or are you ready???? but I am not sure if this is the same as what you are referring to

I guess the other thing to add is that we are also not using food to lure through the distractions either. Yes we do have food on us - but most of the time it is not visable as we load our pockets up before getting the dog out of the car.

Ness the dog needs to be able to do the exercise accurately before adding distractions - I think you need to get this before adding a food bowl.......

Good question Ness. In the videos we used very very experience dogs but you will also notice that the dogs did get it wrong, so we were able to help them out and have them be successful. We were also not being picky on presents, finishes and the finer points, but rather rewarding the fact that they were able to work through the distraction. They were all rewarded with multiple pieces of high quality food Now with baby Beans, who has just entered the UD ring - having a person in the ring with her is a major distraction, having the lead and the scent article box next to the start peg is a major distraction, having other dogs working closeby on the oval is a major distraction and having the dog barking in the background is a major distraction. So what I am saying is that you really have to know your dog and whatever distraction you use, you need to set it up so the dog can be successful. Had I taken Beans out and done scent articles with toys in the pack, it would have done her head in and the first thing she would have brought back would have been the monkey, probably minus a head or a leg. So at what stage would I introduce proofing - for me it is when I think my dog knows the exercise I would start with minor distractions. It does make the dogs mentally tougher.

Staff N Toller - you could tell if it was one of mine barking - it would be Beans and she sounds like she is being fed through a wood chipper its so high pitched So sorry not guilty I could lie and say it was a specially imported barking machine we use as a distraction

Talk about a nasty pasty judge Deb and I have had to do a lot of distration work in directed jumping as judges tend to play with the clipboards, grab at their hats as they fly off, stand near the jump, wave their arms around and both our kids went through a stage of moving off when this happened. Hmm I haven't seen a judge crouch down to distract the dog as it goes around to heel YET.......

Well done Sal and Kenzie - I know you are tickled pink with the fact that she coped in new surroundings and the title was the icing on the cake. A nice start to her trialling career and a great way to finish the year - well done No excuses for obedience now

What a great way to finish the year Rivsky Well done Hey - can I pinch Riv for Strat pairs at the Nationals ??????

Under the care of a Dermatologist - I give my 15kg girl 1/4 Capstar (for large dogs) every day during the summer months and no it is not in combination with other flea treatments as she reacts to most of these.

Thank god our dog training skills are marginally better than our computer ones

Deb when I click on the link - it takes me to MY Youtube videos....... so thanks for that as I had lost them LOL

She sure is We just need to rearrange her social calendar to allow her to do a bit more training Oh and help her finish rennovating Once she gets over the SFE hurdle she will get some nice scores on the board