We have been going to the same trainer since the puppy classes.
I found that we had a big problem when i started to do the gold award in which the trainer had bronze, silver and gold all running at the same time. This meant as she breeds BC'S that all her time was spent with these dogs in the bronze class. Us Goldie's had little input and were left to our devices, yet still did well at the training.

I am to be honest not happy with this set up and have been trying to find a trainer who does the Gold award under this scheme on its own, no other classes combined.
I have been told by an accredited trainer who only does up to silver that many clubs don't do gold due to low numbers and also its against KC reg's to run the classes together at the same time.

So if anyone knows how i go about finding another club in my area i would be very grateful. I thought i found one 10 mins away, a friend checked it out and found they run these classes, BUT they are not KC registered trainers.

Thanks

We were 2 weeks away from taking the test, but work shifts meant i missed the last class and the test, so have to go through it again, though i feel it would be beneficial to both of us to start it again.

Whereabouts are you? And what areas are you willing to travel to?

Same Q as LurcherGirl, where are you? Our club does a gold only class, there are usually only a small number of dogs (4 or 5) in it but it is run as it's own class.

We're in Northamptonshire if that's any good toyou.

Claire

Sue lives in East Sussex but am sure would travel to West Sussex.

Thanks Rachel. As above really. Not wanting to travel more than about 1/2 to a club. There has to be more than 1 club in my area which does gold award..

That's daft, how can you run bronze, silver and gold all at once! We have 2 puppy classes, then a bronze class, then 3 pet classes, which more or less cater for silver, gold and above, though we have to go elsewhere to actually take the silver and gold tests. We used to have a competition class which we are trying to persuade the club to bring back...

The trainer basically had a lot of dogs for bronze, a few for silver and a few for gold. I think that she was putting them all together as it would of cost her extra for hire of the hall and she may of lost money. I'm not sure of her reasoning, but i know that a few people were none to happy abut the set up.

She has in the past run silver and gold together, which did work ok, but with bronze as well, there is no chance. She ended up getting all of us doing the same thing, so in effect the bronze were do many of the gold requirements. Lots of off lead work for them. Then when it came for them to do their extra bits we were put to the back of the hall and shown quickly what to do and then to our own devices..

Have you done a thorough Google or tried the APDT website?  It may be a case of needing to hit the telephones to see what's available.

I'm lucky, mine does each course separately and we are part way through Gold now with just 6 dogs (Somerset).   If you have covered the basics and know what is involved in the course, do you think you could travel a bit further afield just to retake the test?  Not ideal but that may be possible as a last resort if you can't find an entire course to attend.

Good luck - I'm currently struggling with stop your dog at a distance, we can't get the hang of this one at all!!

How are you training your 'stop the dog'? We called the dog, shouted 'stop' or 'wait', and if, as is normal at first, the dog does not stop, you walk swiftly towards him so you meet in the middle, then tell him to sit or wait, back away to where you originally were, then go back and praise him. Gradually they realise they should be slowing down or stopping and do so before you reach them. I try to use a different word from the normal recall word as a cheat way of signalling something odd is going to happen, and I usually do a normal recall afterwards just so they don't start stopping in the middle of that one. I also don't insist that my dogs stop in a particular position, though most people at my club say 'down'. I just say 'wait' - 2 stop in the stand and 1 stops in the sit. It doesn't matter to me!

and how useful that stop command is,  today we were road walking round the village and I was swopping hands with the leads just as we were going past the bit where we usually cross the road (you know the bits, everyone has them on their walks where the dogs instincitvely go to cross the road because they know the route) anyway, I accidently dropped Alfs lead just as a bus was coming along I literally screamed STOP and the little Angel froze in mid stride :) I quickly put my foot on his lead and gave him a big hug - such a useful command :)

Thanks Lucydogs

> We called the dog,

> I try to use a different word from the normal recall word as a cheat way of signalling something odd is going to happen, and I usually do a normal recall afterwards just so they don't start stopping in the middle of that one.

I'm anxious not to spoil his recall and I'm also struggling a bit with the set up first - we are asked to put the dog in a sit, ask to wait, back off 10 paces, call the dog, then stop the dog - as it seems too much like our conventional recall.  Last week when I was working with him in the hall we faffed the stay too as he thought I was about to call him forward!!

Finally, having introduced him to ham last week, as a higher value treat, he looked like a toddler on speed and wanted to do everything he'd ever learned, in 3 seconds flat, just to get more... 

Starting tomorrow I'm going to do more practising outside and I'll try and get the stop in a less formal environment and when he is already heading towards me, without a recall.  I'm also going to see if something other than 'down' is more comfortable for him - he isn't keen on 'down' on either a slippy hall floor or in the mud!

in our gold test the stop command was used when the dog was off mooching or doing something else, anything else other than concentrating on me.

> in our gold test the stop command was used when the dog was off mooching or doing something else, anything else other than concentrating on me

Yes, that's what someone else said too - I'll just try and train it a bit differently so as not to confuse him.  Many thanks

We were taught as got this far for the stop.
We sat our dogs, did recall and then halfway of them coming to you throw a treat down, they stop and then you call your command to them and then recall again after the time they have to remain waiting for. It didn't take long for my boy to do this and i worked really hard at home doing it as well.
Not sure i would have full control or if he would do it without a treat. Recall for him is a almost like a running jump at me when he is excited.

The part i found difficult was the send the dog to bed. He doesn't have a bed, never used his and preferred the cold tiles. Has never been into blankets or piece of material i can send him to.. It has been the frustrating part to it.

Gosh Claire, that must have been a bit scarey! It's come close to saving Henry's life or at least stopping serious trouble at least twice too - once when the lead broke in a field of sheep (and he will chase, actually it was most unusual for him to respond to a command in that situation!) and once when a larger dog was menacing him and some other Cavaliers he was out with and my friend who had him told him to wait so he didn't try to face up to it!

Haven't done any of the awards yet too busy and skint with gundog training. However as the season is coming to an end I thought i might have a go at cgc awards. Is there a reason that the KC don't have a list of trainers on their website? Or is it just me not being able to find it? Also could you use a whistle for the stop at a distance its something required of gundogs and they should stop sit and look at you when the whistle is blown. Is there a specification that it has to be a voice command?  

The part i found difficult was the send the dog to bed. He doesn't have a bed, never used his and preferred the cold tiles. Has never been into blankets or piece of material i can send him to.. It has been the frustrating part to it.

It's actually dead easy to teach. :-) I don't use the "bed" word for our dogs either, so just taught the bed thing as a simple send away to a mat! (They are clicker trained).

Vera

I believe they just have to stop on command so a whistle would be fine.

I am a KC approved examiner for bronze, silver and gold.

First of all you do not need to go to any special trainer to train for these awards. they are basic skills which any competent trainer should be able to help you with.

Secondly if you apply to the KC they will send a list of KC registered clubs which train for the KC awards and also a list of KC approved examiners in your area; not everyone WANTS to be publicly listed I think; I know I was asked for permission to use my details for the Gazette etc.

How you stop your dog is entirely up to you, you can use hand, whistle or voice commands (whatever is appropriate) bear in mind that this exercise will be tested outdoors; also it is up to the examiner to decide whether or not the dog should be going away or towards you in this exercise.

If you are struggling with this exercise I would suggest the following to start off with:

Indoors, throw treats away to far end of village hall, the dog will eat it and turn round to come back; throw another one, after a couple of goes the dog will start waiting for you to throw the food rather than coming back.  Use your raised hand to gain attention, throw food, after a few times you can change this to a hand signal then throw; if you want to add a voice and/or whistle cue use these FIRST, wait a second, raise your hand and throw; this will teach the dog that after the whistle/voice the hand signal comes and then the food so will anticipate the food.

You will then have a dog that is trained to stop on voice/whistle and hand signal.

For sending your dog to bed, remember it is irrelevant if your dog has a bed or not, you are just teaching a sendaway to a point.  You can start this by throwing food onto a blanket/piece of carpet etc; teach the down separately.  Then combine the two and give a command "eg go to bed" and voila. 

HTH