Ptolomy

Ok - Challenge #4 - I have posted early to compensate for those that don't retrieve and so can't participate in Challenge #3. The question is.......Is your dog right or left pawed? My kids are all right pawed - in that I will throw a toy and they will race out and pick it up and turn to the right. When I send Scoota to the box he always goes in from the left hand side of the box and turns right. If I ask the dogs to shake hands - they shake with their right hand, if they walk up a step - the first step is with their right paw. So is your dog right or left pawed?

Sorry guys it will teach me for doing it so late at night. # 1 is a signal only # 2 is a signal + unknown verbal word # 3 is a familiar verbal only. Running off to work - will check on progress tonight.

Challenge #3 - the Retrieve Most of our dogs fetch things - but do they respond to a verbal cue or a signal cue? Does it matter what the verbal cue is? For this challenge I want you to use a toy or an object the dog hasn't had access to for a couple of weeks. You will be sending the dog to get this object 3 times. I am not interested how the dog presents, only if it picks the toy up and comes back to you. Leave the dog inside and go and place the toy outside on the ground. Take the dog outside and place the dog in a sit in heel position about 7m from the toy 1. The first time - you will use only a signal to send the dog for the toy (so keep you mouth shut) . Let us know if the dog fetches the toy or not. 2. The second retrieve - place the toy on the ground, set the dog up sitting at heel 7m away from it and this time use a signal and the verbal word "challenge" only. It is a word the dog would have no idea of its meaning. Let us know if the dog fetches the toy. 3. Finally place the toy on the ground, set the dog up at heel 7m away from it and this time use a verbal only fetch command. Once again let us know the results. OOps - edited x 2 because #2 is a signal + a word they don't know # 3 is a verbal only Sorry this challenge excludes dogs that don't retrieve

I use one in Shelley who is terrific and I have sent a lot of people her way. Let me know if you can't find one closer to you.

The sit stay - ARGH - its so frustrating when your dog has put in some great ring work and then either drops or gets up in the sit stay. Since the dog can do the 1 minute sit stay at home - do you think the issue is the different venues, or other dogs? When does the dog get up - as you leave, half way through, as you return? You also say the dog can do the sit stay at home - what happens if you did a down stay first could it do a sit stay afterwards? If you put the dog in a sit stay at home and then went and pulled a few weeds in the garden - would the dog stay? If you rolled a ball or threw some toys would the dog stay - if you left the dog in a stay and then went and sat on the ground, would it stay? Or is it the fact that nothing is going on that causes the problem? One of my kids breaks sit stays when he is sore - but the baby has a few stays issues so I know what you are going through.

I will post a new challenge on Friday - that way we have the weekend to give it a go...... Sorry Sal - will try harder to find one more suited to Ness than Kenzie

WOW - thats a big ask - three trials over 2 days, especially for a novice dog. Good Luck - and remember if things go pearshaped - list all the positives before thinking of what went wrong.

OK - tried it with my 5 UD Blaize came and sat at heel OC Lara came and sat at heel CD Beans came and sat at the 9 o'clock position CCD Lexi came and sat at the 10 o'clock position OC Scoota came and sat in the perfect front Do I keep posting challenges????

Keep these results coming....... I guess the next question is - why is it the dogs seem to be able to come when called but the straight present seems to be the problem.

Luke - don't get disheartened. I am posting challenges that everybody can try - if you don't do as well as you had hoped then you know you have some work to do. My Obedience Champion dog could only manage 15 seconds before he looked away. I would have expected a lot more from him - but hey it wasn't to be. I only did the exercise once with him and perhaps if I had done it a couple of time I may have got a better result. I KNOW if I had used food he would would look at me for days The 2 challenges I have posted have been different to what you would "normally" train - most of us would be using food or a cue word and of course Challenge 2 - the recall we would be facing the dog BUT I have changed the picture to see how well the dog generalises and to see how the dogs reacts. Keep plugging away - I am sure we will help where we can. You have done a great job so far.

Its raining here at the moment - so I will give it a go tomorrow night. I think Blaize will just sit there when called . Scoota will come and will sit in front but it wont be a terrific present Beans I think will come and either stand or sit in heel position Lexi - hmm not sure she will probably come and sit between a front and heel position. I wonder how close in my gestimates I will be.....

OK - I have posted odedience challenge #2 Go have a play.....

OK - here is challenge # 2. No reason for it - just something to try. Most dogs have a good recall by the time the are ready for CCD. However, if you change the picture, will the dog still come on the first call? So I would be interested to hear if you think your dog will come and do a straight present, or if you think it will just sit there - then post and let us know what happened. Leave the dog in a sit stay/wait. Take 15 steps, but do not about turn. Call your dog using a verbal and hand signal as you would in a normal recall and let us know what happens. Be specific if the dog comes and tell us how it presented, whether it sat or stood etc and let us also know what level of training the dog is at. A reminder - no food to be used

Thanks to everybody for giving this a go - maybe I need to post a few more obedience challenges fo us all to have a go at My theory was that a clicker/food trained dog wouldn't do as well with this exercise because they are encouraged to offer behaviours and to have to sit still and pay attention without a cue word would be really hard for them. Looking at the results the dogs who had the longest attention seem to be clicker/food rewarded - which blows my theory out of the water So my new theory is that........ Tollers don't do well sitting paying attention without food or a cue word

See if any of you can con some show people into giving this a go with their show dogs - I would be interested to see if having any obedience training makes a difference on the outcome or not.

I usually play this game early on when I am teaching them focus - have to admit that I haven't done it for a while with lexi BUT - its a bit like when I throw toys and open treat boxes around where I am working and then ask the guys to heel around them - they know they are being set up and don't take their eyes off me. Mel go and get Geordie out and see what he does.

Dogdude - I was specifically looking for eye contact from lexi as that is how she has been taught to heel The weekend before when I was trialling her idea of heel position was anywhere within a 10 m radius of me and she was sooooo very very distracted. Zoe was with me and she has more of a problem with River than what I have - which got us discussing with the guru and the fact that all of the gurus obedience dogs can give her eye contact for at least a minute while sitting at the start peg. I then commented that Lexi has to line up and give me attention before she gets her dinner and she can give me a minute easily, however it appears that the food is her cue to work, so take away the food and the cue words and she really has no idea. So for those who have done the exercise - try it again - but this time let the dog see you grab some food and see if the results improve.

Come on we must have a few more of you out there who can give this a go. I have a theory about dogs being able to sit and pay attention and I need a few more results before I can say I am right or wrong. I went to the oval with my mate Zoe and her toller kids. All her kids are clicker and food trained. Jaffa toller 4 years, needs one more leg for her CDX managed 5 seconds River toller 2 1/2, is now in open at no stage looked at Zoe so 0 seconds Lana toller 1 this week, a long way from trialling managed 19 seconds. My results surprised me..... Lexi toller 2 1/2 years (Rivers sister) needs one more leg for her CD manged 5 seconds Scoota, toller 5 years, OC (which means occassionally clever) managed 15 seconds Beans, toller 3 years, needs one more leg for her CDX, really surprised me and did 26 seconds. Blaize, toller nearly 8 physically ? mentally, has her UD did 27 seconds, but at 22 seconds she stood backed up, but still kept looking at me.

Sexy Lexi had an obedience lesson on Thursday with one of the gurus and we were working on focus. Basically for a trialling dog if you line up at the start post and the dog is not attentive - then really it is all down hill from there. So for this challenge you will need a start post/peg, a watch or stopwatch, a lead and a dog. Put out a start post/peg in a familiar environment eg front lawn, training oval etc Make sure you have no food/toys on you whatsoever Put the dog on lead and walk to the start post (so this is similar to what happens at a trial) Line the dog up (so you can tell it to get in, line up heel etc (but that is the last time you will say anything to your dog) Remove the lead and throw it on the ground behind or next to you (eg the same as giving the lead to a steward) Start timing the moment the dog looks at you after you have thrown the lead away and stop timing the moment the dog looks away. The exercise is now over. You get one shot only and no cheating! Now post your results, your dogs age, breed, any obedience titles and how the dog is trained eg food, clicker etc It is harder than you think!

I had ours done January 2007 and it was close to $800, but then I needed 6 weeks of antibiotics and some shampoos and antihistamines etc etc so I don't think I got a lot of change out of $1000

Well done Glorybea - you should be very proud. Now is this the same dog you are having stay problems with????? Vickie 5 quallies out of 8 runs is brilliant - the 1st placings are the icing on the cake - well done terrific job. PS - Vicki email Cathy and ask about her Jackpot to herself

I should add that the first trip I did with Scoota to Queensland I was soo worried about him, but he got off the flight the other end, bounced out of the crate and if I could have trialled him then and there it would have been a bit of a wild ride because it was like he had new batteries in. If you are thinking about travelling interstate you might want to think about how long before the comp you need to arrive, and also if you are travelling during summer, try and avoid flights during the heat of the day. And while I think of it - if your plane is departing before 7am then the dog only needs to be at the freight place 60 minutes before hand, flights leaving after 7am - they need to be at the airport 90 minutes prior.

I flew Scoota to Melbourne and Adelaide this year, both times with Virgin Blue. The staff at Perth airport are brilliant. I always check with the cabin staff as I board that the dogs are on safely and they are more than willing to make sure for me. Both trips cost me $97.50 one way and yes I had my own Clipper Kennel which I got from All Pets in Perth size 6 and I think from memory it was about $170 because we ordered them in bulk. Unfortunately they only take 2 dogs on each flight - so you will need to check that out when you book.

South Street Pet Supplies has changed hands - the chop has been spiffied up and they now appear to be open on Tuesday as well.

Southern River Club train obedience and beginner agility at the K9 grounds in Southern River on a Monday night. Rockingham train at Bungaree Oval in Rockingham. Agility is mid week and I think obedience is on a Sunday morning (but this changes over summer) Gosnells do agility training on a Friday night and Obedience on a Sunday morning at Lumen Christie College