JulesP Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 I tried to find a 'trialling' club in Melbourne and couldn't. Most clubs seem very geared towards pet owners now. My club does have a ring set up each week and instructors running you through the exercises. There is also a mid-week class that I believe is more formal. The club has moved away from a focus on trialling though and there seem to be less people in the trial class. Mind you to get into the trial class now you have to pass a class that involves doing a retrieve and other stuff that you certainly don't need in ccd. Pup wouldn't take much work to get him to ccd standard but it will take me another year of training before I am eligible to go into the trial class! Lucky I am not in a hurry with this one!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdude Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 Hi JulesP Have you trialled before? If you have a pup or very young dog, why not train through to UD before trialling him? This will give him time to mature. Trialling dogs seem to get a real "air" about their confidence when about 2 years old and it gives them plenty of time to gain proper balance while heeling with their head in the air looking up at you. You should end up with a very high scoring dog! Maybe a trial winner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeak Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 There isnt one student that is interested in trialing.......... That's not quite correct I am a recently joined member of your club and I am very interested in trialling. I am very new and haven't been asked... not that I would expect to be at the level that I'm at. If there is me who is new & interested, perhaps there are also other new people who are interested as well???? Or do you just want people who already have well behaved/trained dogs for this activity??? Sorry, I don't mean to sound harsh, but the feeling that I'm already getting with some clubs (not you) is that trialling is a "elitist" activity... that you need to go through all there other classes first before they consider introducing you to the mystic of trialling Perhaps if it is something that the instructors are interested in doing, they should mention it to all classes to see if they can get enough interest to do something about it - either earlier or later class or on a different day. Yes, I know that you're short of instructors, but surely there has to be a way to work something out??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 Yep have trialled before. Last doggie got her CD at 2yo (and won trials ) but I felt that I rushed her. She was a super nerd though. Was ready for CDX when she hurt her leg and couldn't jump anymore. I've always liked to use the levels to guide me on what to work on and when to teach stuff. Probably because I do dressage as well and you tend to follow a training system in that and don't teach the higher stuff until you have the lower stuff all working well. I guess dogs are a bit different though. Think you can stuff up some exercises though by teaching higher ones too early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheres my rock Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 we have aring every wek and get lots of members come over to ask what we are doing and how to get there its surprising how many epople show an interest in that level for many tough its just to daunting her they have a dog that wont sit and watchign a dog that will drop on a recal at hgh speed many clubs can be a bit clicky and tend to ignore newbies rather than make them welcome whch is a shame as they are the future of trialling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheres my rock Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 hi jules trouble at club is most instructors cant teach past the basic stuff so they dont ad it to the clas criteria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Jones Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 lead me on more - pm is fine so there arent breed specific clubs that train for ROT's?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdude Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 JulesP: There is no good reason to "not teach" a dog through to UD before starting to trial. When a dog is ready to move on to the next level, why worry about a title to proove it? Most clubs have now broken up for Christmas so why waste that time waiting to trial in a couple of months. Some members of this forum have got their UD titles shortly after their dog turned one year old. The trouble with obedience clubs and the reason that they dont usually hold specific trialling classes is because of the lack of numbers interested in trialling, especially newbies who think that they will never own a dog capable until they train one themselves and gain the confidence to have a go. The process is also slowed because the clubs tend to not worry so much on focus and heeling precision needed to have a successful high scoring dog. They then find that to be really successfull, they need to basically retrain their dog to the required level to some extent. They often tell you that you "just need to apply some polish" to get them there but often because some important things have been "overlooked" in the training, the newby trialler ends up "having a go" with a dog that is not ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusky Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 we are in WA but the club has in both obedience and agility newbies to very high level trialists. There is a pre agility class and then the trialists go on another couple of different nights. there are trainers for each level of experience. Recently there is an agility club of WA which is a lot of the same people doing just agility training at a high level. The obedience people are trained on one night but independant working is encouraged on the other nights even if it is an agility night. If they do need any assistance for calling rounds or stays there is always either a trainer or another handler there to help. A few of the trialists are trainers too. We are a large club for WA. Many handlers belong to a few different clubs. The breed specific clubs tend to be for obedience, the equipment is the problem, not many clubs have full sets or even people to set it up. On agility jumping night our club puts up 3 rings or sometimes 4, one is jumping and can be adapted for each level of expertise and speed. Many other clubs use our gear for trials. Are you thinking of starting your own club? the gear is so expensive, so is the maintenance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheres my rock Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 agility well hast another story we have two agility only clubs near us both with huge waiting lists because they just cant take anymore safely. so epople do want to do dog sport and are interested in clubs that specifically cater to their chosen sport Obedience gets a raw deal because its treated as something than you do when youve gone through the classes at a general club not something specialised that has important foundations that need to be set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheres my rock Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 do schutzhund clubs or tracking clubs or agility clubs run basic classes for obedience for the public Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 (edited) Edited December 9, 2006 by FHR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Jones Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 (edited) do schutzhund clubs or tracking clubs or agility clubs run basic classes for obedience for the public some schutzhund clubs have puppy classes, apart from those few clubs with puppy classes all dogs train on the same night, it isnt like obedience classes etc, what ussually happens is each member gets there dog out for individual training by the trainers/other handlers. with schutzhund clubs you can join up and train in selected areas only...obedience, tracking, and "protection" Edited December 9, 2006 by Jeff Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusky Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 sorry I just read the thread you are speaking of. We have gun clubs for retrieve and specific breed clubs also. I had a quick look for NSW. It doesn't look so busy, a few clubs but not so many trials maybe. Here are our WA trial results. All breeds dog clubs such as ours teach retrieve from puppy, to all breeds. It is an excercise to be completed for first graduation at club level. Here is the WA link, just hit the other states to see what ia happening there. The gun club is very active here which has all breeds but as you can see there are breed clubs. Sorry I thought you were speaking of agility and obedience. retrieve WA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted December 9, 2006 Author Share Posted December 9, 2006 There isnt one student that is interested in trialing.......... That's not quite correct I am a recently joined member of your club and I am very interested in trialling. I am very new and haven't been asked... not that I would expect to be at the level that I'm at. :D ;) ;) Are you te lady with the hairy hound that I spoke to weeks ago to? If there is me who is new & interested, perhaps there are also other new people who are interested as well???? Or do you just want people who already have well behaved/trained dogs for this activity??? Have I had you in class? I pretty much ask every student that I get, right from the beginning. Sorry, I don't mean to sound harsh, but the feeling that I'm already getting with some clubs (not you) is that trialling is a "elitist" activity... that you need to go through all there other classes first before they consider introducing you to the mystic of trialling I used to get this feeling as well, even now if I went to a new club Id get this feeling. I guess it comes from few factors. People that are interested in trialling are members of the club for a while and know each other, hence chat after class giving an apperance of the clique. Second - their dogs are usually better behaved than others. Third - the mystic of trialling - if someones dog pulls on lead like mad and they have been shown 3-4 times on how to fix it and 4 months later the dog still pulls that person has a looooong way to go before they can trial, whats the point of introducing the person to a figure of eight and expaling how to lead out of it? Do you know what I mean? Forth - once someone actually knows a bit about some training methods they might start to disagree with methods used by others hence creating some conflicts between people. Perhaps if it is something that the instructors are interested in doing, they should mention it to all classes to see if they can get enough interest to do something about it - either earlier or later class or on a different day. Yes, I know that you're short of instructors, but surely there has to be a way to work something out??? As I said - I personally ask all my students, dont know if other instructors do, half of our instructors arent interested in trialling themselves, so I doubt they ask. We had a young girl with a dally bitch. the dog was fantastic, so was the owner. She did everything I told her (I had her from the start and happend to get her in class every week) and she progressed through classes like no other. I asked her, well I almost begged her to continue, she got to the second last class and stoped coming, told me she is very happy wiht what she has achieved and doesnt want any more. I guess this is one happy cutomer, I just wish she continued as they both had potential to do well. so there arent breed specific clubs that train for ROT's?? you tell me, dobe club certainly doesnt train............ for anything in fact do schutzhund clubs or tracking clubs or agility clubs run basic classes for obedience for the public Schutzhund - no tracking - no idea, never been to one agility - often they are together with an ob club, but when pure agility club I dont think they do basic ob classes for the public. Pls correct me someone if Im wrong, and Im talking about clubs in Sydney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeak Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 (edited) Yep, I'm the one with the hairy hound ;) It's been a little bit hot for both of us lately, so we've only made it a couple of times... that and the number of "off-lead" dogs before training really stresses me out :D Only because it hypes Stormy up so much! And no, I haven't been in your class yet - I've just made it into "white", so no I haven't been asked. And yes, whilst we don't pull like a steam train on the lead (most days!) we do have our "moments" when Stormy totally loses the plot! That doesn't mean that I'm not still interested in learning the foundations. I have found training clubs to be a high stress, high distraction environment, in which she behaves worst. That doesn't meant that there are things that I couldn't learn and practise outside of the club, in a lower distraction environment, with the aim of having her eventually perform the skills in a higher distraction environment. And yes, I understand (and have seen already) what you mean by people understanding (or not) training methods and disagreeing. I have already come across it, but have chosen to hold my tongue.... for the time being.... since I'm the "newbie". Are you te lady with the hairy hound that I spoke to weeks ago to?If there is me who is new & interested, perhaps there are also other new people who are interested as well???? Or do you just want people who already have well behaved/trained dogs for this activity??? Have I had you in class? I pretty much ask every student that I get, right from the beginning. Sorry, I don't mean to sound harsh, but the feeling that I'm already getting with some clubs (not you) is that trialling is a "elitist" activity... that you need to go through all there other classes first before they consider introducing you to the mystic of trialling I used to get this feeling as well, even now if I went to a new club Id get this feeling. I guess it comes from few factors. People that are interested in trialling are members of the club for a while and know each other, hence chat after class giving an apperance of the clique. Second - their dogs are usually better behaved than others. Third - the mystic of trialling - if someones dog pulls on lead like mad and they have been shown 3-4 times on how to fix it and 4 months later the dog still pulls that person has a looooong way to go before they can trial, whats the point of introducing the person to a figure of eight and expaling how to lead out of it? Do you know what I mean? Forth - once someone actually knows a bit about some training methods they might start to disagree with methods used by others hence creating some conflicts between people. As I said - I personally ask all my students, dont know if other instructors do, half of our instructors arent interested in trialling themselves, so I doubt they ask. Edited December 9, 2006 by squeak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Jones Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 i highly doubt any schutzhund club in australia has had the need to have any basic/beginner classes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted December 9, 2006 Author Share Posted December 9, 2006 the number of "off-lead" dogs before training really stresses me out I think Im guilty of being one of the stressors than.......... I usually take white class. On occasion I beg to take the top class If you want Ill meet you in the park during the holidays, pm my your number and occasionally couple of us meet the for some training over the holidays. I can ask Trish to open the shed to get some gear out as well if we will want that as well. And yes, I understand (and have seen already) what you mean by people understanding (or not) training methods and disagreeing. I have already come across it, but have chosen to hold my tongue.... for the time being.... since I'm the "newbie". Dont be shy..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacey and douglas Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Ya western club a go its fun. Great group of guys just having a good time and training. I also went down south for that thing you know, its a good club as well. I've started back about three week or so ago. Nalu is already showing signs of inprovment. Good luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted December 13, 2006 Author Share Posted December 13, 2006 sasjeep - that is great news. Will you continue to go to that club on regular basis? I was actually talking to a friend about taht club last night, how far is it for us to travel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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