Luke W

poodlefan Saw the comment about barking... I think I agree, but I'm not experienced or knowledgable enough on conditions to say for certain. Putting my dogs barking on cue was the start of my barking problem ...added PS - I've read the struictly speaking "under stimulus control' means the behavior only occurs in the presence of the cue - never any other time. That would mean to have 'sit' under stimulus control - the dog would never sit unless told...hmmm..... ?!?!?!?!?

http://au.youtube.com/results?search_query=dog%20ring%20bell I actually bought my dog a bell before I changed my mind. The bell is one of the one's that sit on the desk at hotels - and you tap the button on the top with your hand. Don't know what I'm going to do with the bell now.

hmm I'm curious - PF - what would you do in that situation and also what do the 'purely positive' trainers recommend?! Never really asked others that one before I've lost my copy of "Don't Shoot The Dog" - Train an incompatible behavior. - Put the behavior on cue There was a couple of others.

I'm a newby to this training caper. You'd need to be Gandhi or Mother Theresa to be purely positive! Off the top of my head - if you wanted to be purely positive in this scenario. While not absolutely accurate the following would give you an idea of the appoach that might be taken. You've got to manage the behaviour so that dog CAN'T follow the child. This means crating, tethering etc. Then you introduce the child with the food at a distance of 20m. The second that dog looks at the child without moving towards the child - Click, treat. Click, treat, click treat, cliack treat, click treat. End session. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Move child to 18m. The second that dog looks at the child without moving towards the child - Click, treat. Click, treat, click treat, cliack treat, click treat. End session. Move child to 15m. Etc, etc In the unlikely event the dog moves toward the child...unlikely. Simply move the child further away and end the session. ???? How does that sound? Another alternative is to train an incompatible behavior. Train the dog that whenever the child appears, the dog runs to it's mat for a treat. Or you could train the dog to run away from the child! ??

11 Oct is good for me (so is 25th).

bwahahah We could spend a couple of hours trying to keep a cocker spaniel's nose off the ground!

Does anyone know how we go about "booking" a small area of KCC or do we just show up and find ourselves a spot. Thanks LukeW - I don't even know how much room that agility trial would take up but I'm assuming it's a fair amount! Would that wipe that Saturday out then??? No idea - just thought I'd mention it.

FYI Double Open Agility & Jumping Trial - Sat 18th October 2008 KCC Park Western Port Hwy Skye

Any Saturday in Oct or Nov is fine with me - except this Saturday 4th Oct. Sooner rather than later. I need all the help I can get.

Unfortunately not...I had obedience training in the morning and stuff on in the afternoon. I'm sorry I missed it.

I'd like to come along to spectate and chat. Maybe learn something. My dog aint quite ready yet I'm flexible too...Anytime except Thu and early Sun mornings.

I'll let others more experience than me discuss the agression/fear issues... The clicker is NOT a reward. The clicker is a signal that says "You did the right thing. A reward is coming". A click should ALWAYS be followed up with a reward. http://www.clickertraining.com/ Then buy the book(s) !

That's what I would have recommended.

How to Train Your Puppy to Ring a Bell to Potty | Karen Pryor Clickertraining http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1171

I'm well on my way then. Mine loves to pick up objects. Socks, underpants, sticks, dropped food

Thanks Everyone. It's fun being there!

Thanks Ness. I plan to compete in both agility and obedience.

Is it better to have the retrieve drive than the tug drive? I would think it's better to have a desire to tug - it's easier to use ity as a reward in competition situations - maybe I'm wrong.

I don't know much about tracking but for some reason I don't find it particularly appealing?!? Maybe because there's not enough handler input? I bet he'd be good at it though. He loves to back track along places we've been walking. Nose down, bum up...

Yeah - that's what I do now. I throw it only a couple of times!! I know you can debark dogs...can you desniff them?

My 6mo lurves tug with a passion and will chase and retrieve a ball about 6 times before he gets bored and gives up... Hand touches are one of his favorite exercises he also loves to sniff the ground (spaniel!) and chew sticks oh, and he loves sliding down the slide

I feed eagle pack. The lawn looks like it's covered in flying saucer landing spots!

I thought about training my dog to ring a bell when he needed to go. I decided against it for a few of reasons: 1. It somewhat discourages the dog to 'hold on' until I'm ready to take him out. 2. It only works when I'm home and the dog will stress, ringing the bell in vain when I'm not home 3. The dog might start ringing the bell to go outside even when it doesn't need to go 4. The ringing of the bell in itself might become a rewarding behavior I take the following approach... I take my dog outside at regular intervals, I know how long he can hold and when he normally goes. I've taught him to go on command. If I take him outside and tell him to go, he goes. That gives me a few hours of security. Our accidents are becoming a rarity. We've had no wee in the house for at least 2 months and only 1 poo in the same time period. And the poo was my fault. He's 6mo old.

After my obedience class, I hang around for an hour or so in view of the agility classes, watching the dogs go past, soaking up the atmosphere, with Barkly on lead by my side. I do a lot of clicking and rewarding for looking at me. I'm hoping this helps me when the time comes for trialling.

This isn't really an answer, but I've just started reading Control Unleashed - which is program to assist with these sorts of issues.