tlc

Dont lose hope, I never thought one of my girls would do a solid SFE and 2 weeks ago at training with no pracitce, she was perfect, I was so suprised especially as I call her my licky girl, she just cant help herself and has to say hello by a little lick and fully body wag but on this occassion, I gave her the firm command to stay while the trainer did the SFE and she was great, go figure???? Not a fluke eother as she has done it again since. I was a proud doggy mumma, it sure doesnt take much to excite me when it comes to training, I love it when they do good!!

Tully stay is not what I would call rock solid if there is a lot of distraction or exciting situations, In a class situation she is good, but with the ball thing, the minute I throw it she is off. I had this brain wave to hold her collar, give the command and also use my stay hand signal, the thing is I can have my hand just touching the collar and she waits till the ball lands but as soon as there is no pressure off she goes, Anyway I will try your suggestion and go baby steps, start off really short and see if that makes a difference. Now to get my NON retrieving girl to retrieve It is hard when they have Nill interest all together, she is fab at obedience and doing class 4 and 5 stuff but we cant progress because on of the things she has to do is retrieve. It is hard to figure out how dogs trained in the same way can be so different at the end of the day. But it is all good fun teaching them new things. Thats why I thought this topic was interesting and it is great to see people so passionate about how their dogs and how they respond to them!!

Glad Jane is behaving herself today!! Hope it isn't as hot tommorow for training for you guys. I am going to miss it for the next two weeks, Bugger work I know where Id rather be!!

Thanks Tez!! I totally agree.

Twas probly me, I had been up earlier then decided to go up later after tea again, It was such a nice night!! So my lot are all well and truly pooped! @ Bruno funny boy!

Beautiful doggies beautiful photos, happy birthday Texas!!

Sounds like Janes been up to mischief!! Hope she has had a good day!!

Jamie looks great for 12, she does look happy in that shot. Good one Shell, I thought it looked good before but even better now, well done!!

Ok I have a tricky one, All my lot are good at different things. So heres the thing my white girl Tully is a champion retriever especially with a ball, In obedience once we pass this level, she has to sit and wait while I throw the ball then wait for my command to go get it. So she knows sit she knows wait and she knows stay and is pretty solid with her stays but no amount of hand signals or voice commands will get her to stay while I throw that ball, her drive for the ball is just to high, so how do I deal with this any suggestions? Maybe I should have started a new thread but here seemed appropriate I guess since I started this one. The only thing I can think to do is keep reinforcing her stays and practice. Has anyone else had this problem?

Wow Bec, your business sounds great good luck with it!! JS, good luck with your too, it sounds great!! I also think it wouldn't hurt while you are talking to them to casually mention your misfortune with your 40d, cant hurt!! sorry - just couldn't resist - friends again Sure why not.... ;)

Do it Huga, I was like you too but once I started I haven't looked back, I used to worry about converting the files etc but with light room it is all done for you. Also if you import raw files into picassa they are automatically converted and you just have to save them as jpegs when you export them.

Hey I just had a thought, it said "you will be remunerated" maybe you might get a new camera out of it, how cool would that be!! Oh I also meant to ask you and Im just being nosey, so dont tell me if you dont want to. You said you had launched a new business, is it in photography or something else?? Or did I missunderstand and it wasnt your business you were refering to??

Wow that is so awesome!! Congrats, I bet they will use it for sure. In regards to insurance, all my camera gear is covered in and away from the home and each piece of equipment camera body lense etc is all covered seperatley, so if all my gear got stolen and I had and exxy lense on my camera it would cover both and what ever else was in the camera bag as well. None of my gear is listed seperatley on my policy but it is all covered! we are with cgu.

Oh Annie, now you have hurt my feelings!!

glad im not the only one! Hey Bec I agree with RnB, but instead of a 50d, you could always save up for a Nikon....

So sorry for your loss, RIP Tinka, what a grand age you were!! There is a thread in the photo section for older pets maybe you might like to add some photos of Tinker. I can imagine how you feel you have lost your life long friend, it is so hard. take care!!

Oh and I meant to ask, Bec did something happen to your 50mm, must have missed that!

Wow Bec, so many great offers. I have to be honest, Im not sure my camera is something I would even consider lending to anyone, :p maybe Im paranoid, I just figure if it was me and I borrowed something that valuable I know how I would feel if something happened to it. I know they are replacable but still. also I like having it close by as I use it daily To me it would be like someone asking could they lend my dog :D Am I just being selfish, slightly off topic am I the only one who wouldn't consider lending thier camera to someone else? Anyway I really think you should take RJ up on her offer then you could come on a road trip with your cute doggies and of course your georgous husband and we could have a catch up!!

Dogs pick up so many more body cues than we give them credit for. Yes they sure do, and so many people are unaware of a particular thinkg they will do to make the dog respond in a certain way and it isnt until it is pointed out to them that they realize what it is they were doing wrong or right as the case maybe. I dont actually use a release word, in training but out and about I guess my release word at an off leash park would be "off you go" my lot will stick close even off lead at times, and If I say "off you go" they seem to respond to that and run off ahead, I will have to take particular note next time to see if I do any other body language associated with "off you go"

Sometimes I think they respond to the hand signals better especailly if you have tended to over use the words, they seem to turn off. A bit like a kid saying mum over and over again, they become Immune to it. I also use a combo of both, I guess not all hand signals suit every situation and interestingly so far the majority prefer hand signals. I think with my lot they respond better to hand signals. Im trying to remember some thing from my training and I think it went something like for a dog in this order nose, eyes, ears. I could be wrong but if thats the case they will see before they hear?? Please correct me if Im wrong on that one!

This is interesting, similarly I found with my lot teaching stay, if I just said stay in a light voice and even if I give the signal I use for stay they would break thier stay but if i say "STAY" with conviction, they stay and they are rock solid. and I dont meant in a gruff nasty voice, just calm and assertive they really respond to that i think they know I mean it.

Interestingly enough we had a lady in class the other day that was in awe of the hand signals etc as her old dog only knew voice commands and it had gotten harder as he got older as he went deaf and now they cant tell him what to do as he cant hear them. She said oh it would have been so much easier if we taught him using hand signals.

I have been trying a similar game with mine but with all of them together and name recognision (sp) it is interesting that they all know thier own names individually and respond accordingly. that is a good way to put it, we find the pups get so confused and the handlers get frustrated, so no words works so much better for the dog and the handler and it gives them an idea of how the dog can learn with out words. We have a lot of people come to Obedience and wonder why thier dog wont sit and we say ok show us what you do, so they just look at the dog and say the word, Some people dont realize dogs do NOT understand english well they do but like us they still have to be taught it.

Hi Vickie, it is amazing how the dogs pick up every little subtle body movement. We also occasionally do a session of training at obedience with no voice and just signals it is good to see the dogs working to your body language. I have tried the other way around with using voice only and it doesnt catch on As for desperate times, I have a few words that I use in an emergency in a VERY high pitched voice that works a treat, pardon the pun treats is one of the words!! I realized one day that my dogs respond to me saying "this way" just walking through the park and they are way ahead and I change direction and say this way, they just do an about face and change direction too, I guess that is just a learned behaviour to a word as they have turned to see why I have spoken and I have changed direction so after a while it becomes ingrained. it is an interesting topic as we have found a lot of people thnk thier dogs are responding to their voice but they are not, they are responding to thier body signals.

Hi guys, I was wondering what the basic percentage is of dogs that respond better to hand signals that voice commands? At our obedience school we begin puppy handlers with only using hand signals, then down the track adding the word so for example luring the pup into a sit with food so the hand signal becomes the hand from the nose up so the pups but sits. We were finding that so man new handlers were saying sit sit sit or drop drop drop, so we found this a good way for them to learn not to say anything to begin with and for the dog to just respond to hand signals which is great. But it got me thinking and I did a few tests with my lot to test my theory. One of my girls is quite good at obedience but is so much more responsive if I use a hand signal and no words or the two combined, but now I really don't think she hears the words but just follows my hand signals. I gave this a good test the other night at tea time. She sits and waits for tea and her release to eat is a kind of sweeping hand motion towards the food and I say eat up. so she was sitting waiting for the food and i didn't use the hand signal but just said eat up, well she kind of looked at me as if to say "no fair" and she was solid in one spot and didn't move till I did the hand signal. We do a test occasionally at dog school to see which dogs are responding to hand or voice but the handler putting thier dog in to a stay and just turnign thier back on them and saying the word sit to see if the dog will respond or not. So this leads back to my question does your dog respond better to hand signals or voice commands, or will they respond to both. I am not fussed with mine as long as they tow the line to either voice or hand, and I realize the ones who trial etc the dog needs to respond to hand signals for certain things. But I just thought it interesting what others thought about this. Maybe it has been discusssed before??