I have a 14-week old Cairn terrier pup who I would eventually like to train for obedience competition. If I begin to teach her to do the basics now, like a sit, will it hurt her later for obedience? The precision required for a pup and that of a dog in obedience competition is quite different, so I am not sure how the dog would react to the two different situations. If she's asked to "sit" at home - a sloppy sit is fine. In the ring it would not be - will she know the difference? Should I use different commands for home and eventually for competition training?

Stacey

I dont know if it helps at all ..but I was told that puppies *do* tend to do a sloppy sit and it will improve as they get older. Hudson was a tinker for sitting on one hip but now sits perfectly square on. Positive that someone with obedience experience will answer soon Stacey

:)

Melody

Hi Stacey

My advice would be to find someone who teaches competitive obedience as there are many "tricks" you can use with young pups that will help later and start teaching "competitive" right from th start.

I did not start doing competitive training with Maverick until she was 12 months old and the difference between "pet" and "competitive" is tremendous, but many of the things you can do with an older dog you could not do with a pup

Christine

I'm no great expert at the competitive level, but I made the decision to use different commands for similar things and also have different criteria.

As an examply, i have taught my Terv bitch (she 's 19 months now) 2 recalls: the everyday "Here" which is where she comes back and I take her collar, she may or may not sit for this. I have also taught the "Come" which is where i expect the more competitive style, set her up etc.

Same with heel work, I use a different word "Close" for the swanky stuff, and "Loose lead" for - well, just that out and about :)

For informal retrieve at home i use Bring, for dumbbell work Hold, and for WT's search square "Where is it?"

Just my ideas, for what they are worth. I know of people who swear by using differetn collars and leads for each sport, too.

Lindsay

GREAT IDEA LINDSAY!!!

Thanks everyone. Good ideas Lindsay. I do want her to learn some basics and will try using different terms.

Stacey

Hi, I would contact the club you are going to join and speak to the trainer, I know at my club the comp obed. pups train differently to the ones doing pet obed.training. The pups who are going to train for comp. obed. join the puppy classes from 8 weeks with the others, but learn things slightly differently and also are taken to the obed comp classes. I would advise you to go along to the obed. classes to have a look at which methods they use and speak to the trainers, even if you are just watching to begin with to get a feel for what you will be doing. Its easier to teach than to unteach:). HTH Julie:)

Thanks, I just felt it made stuff much clearer - apart from anything else, my girl was offering me a formal Come all the time and I just didnt want or require that in an everyday situation. Also someone I train with who knows more about this sort of thing heard me saying "Hold" to BAnya and said "i hope yo don't use that word for your WTs stuff" and it got me thinking.

It took me a while to get used to the different words though, 'cos like most people i do have my favourite words for commands. So I felt odd saying "Here" at first, but it's OK now :p :)

Lindsay

Stacey an obedient pup with a basic grasp of the meaning of commands like sit, stay etc... will be an awful lot easier to work with later on than an untrained one. Precision comes with practice and repetition - you can work on that later to the specification you require.
Go for it :)

Hi lara, I didn't meant to not teach at all, I meant it would be a good idea to start at a club asap, to contact the club. Most of the pups learning competition or even pet obedience start at 8 weeks or after their shots, if preferred, so Staceys pup can start right away. I think it is better to start off with the right kind of training if you wish to go on to competition level, which is why I advised to contact the club that she intends to join. You probably know yourself that once you have started - say, a sit, where the dog scoots round to face you and is not at heel position its darn hard to correct:D so if you know how to set up the task beforehand, its a lot easier for the pup to get right, you know stuff like that:D Julie:)

Stacey - have you found a club that you wish to join yet? Julie:)

Hi Julie
Yes your post contains some very constructive advice for Stacey :) My post was just answering the original question. I find the site quite busy and I don't tend to read all the threads and posts (maybe a bad habit!) but it's so time consuming - I do tend to flip through and miss stuff.
Stacey if there is a choice of clubs to attend it's always worth visiting them all. Watch the instructor and how they interact with the dogs and handlers, watch how they handle their own dogs and the standards they achieve. It will give you a good idea of whose club to attend and whose to give a miss. Look for happy body language! Dog training is fun.
Enjoy :)

I agree Lara, look for a club where the dogs and owners are happy and are having fun, some clubs are awful:( I use 'heel' for close heelwork, and 'with me' for loose lead :) Julie:)

I use different commands come for get yourself over here and close for formal recall. I also say stay for stay there until I come back and wait means wait til I tell you what to do next.
Anne

Hi Anne, I agree , the difference between stay and wait commands are really important IMO, and not practising one after the other as well - it leads to confusion. Julie:)

I agree to some extent about the Stay and Wait but really all s/he would really need to sit is a reliable sit, down or stand which the dog remains in until told otherwise. Unfortunately most dogs think sit means putting their b*m on the floor and then doing their own thing rather than keeping it there until told they can move.

One very import thing in training is the difference between praise and a release/end of exercise phrase or word. If a dog is doing a long sit it is often useful just to give a quiet "goood dog" whilst training and for the dog to remain in position and also for the owner to repeat "sit, goood dog" when returning and then releaseing the dog with okay, go play or whatever

Christine

Couldn't agree more Christine
Anne

Thanks again for the advice. I've found a training class which starts at the end of this month (hoping their is room for me) in Chobham. It meets on Friday evening, so the time is right for me. I am going to give it a try and hold off any attempt by me to teach the pooch until I get to class.

Stacey

Hi Stacey

Don't do nothing - if you start now it won't come as such a shock later :)

Christine

A shock to me or the pooch? :-)

I plan to get her used to a short lead (I use a long flexilead on walks) before the first class. She will only be 18 weeks at the start of class and is a very quick learner, so I think I will risk waiting the 3 weeks.