I have been going training for a few weeks with bradley my boxer. The problem is he keeps making me laugh, he makes faces at me such as blowing and making his jowls wobble or when he sits of the floor he pushes with his front paws pushing himself backwards whilst making a high pitched noise whilst grinning. So i keep being told off for laughing at him. He is such a clown i can't help it. We practice alot at home which goes ok.
Has anyone got any ideas for me to overcome my natural erge to laugh

Well you could always think of sucking a lemon might take the smile off your face lol :D

Seriously though training classes are for you to learn how to train your dog & for your dog to socialize in a controlled manner JMHO of course

We frequently have laughing sessions at my training club, especially if a certain dog pulls faces at me lol & then there are the handlers who fail to hear the instructions correctly & do something funny too !

Its bad because what he does makes me laugh for days afterwards (my boss thinks i need commiting). I say thing like ok lets go over here and practice and he will flick his head back until his ears are inside out and then grin. Or come on bradley lets focas
he then will stare at the floor intently. He does things purely by coincidence but it is hillarious people sitting with me end up sniggering. Its just i do not want to encourage him

Dear Emma and Bradley

I think you are both wonderful - the world could do with more people (and Dogs) like you in it!!

From the communication between you two I bet you'll have a wonderful relationship for life and Bradley will do what you ask of him because he wants to please you.

I know you want to have a well behaved dog but training should be fun - after all you wouldn't want obedience perfection - a robot in a fur coat, would you?

As Bradley behaves well at training at home maybe that's where you'll get best results and the training class will give you the tools and Bradley socialisation.

Best wishes

dog behaviour thank you for your kind words. You are very right we have a very special relationship and we both seem to take life by the horns and wring all we can out of it. So i suppose when i look a little serious about the task in hand he injects a little humour into the situation. He wags his tail so much when i laugh. He truely is my best friend

Emma

In your last sentence you summed up everything man has ever wanted from dog since time began - he is your best friend. Enjoy.

I must be untrainable as well then as when my young cavalier was still teething he was a pain on the table whilst being judged. He jumpd off the table in to the judges arms at one championship show & reduced me & the whole class of 20 odd exhibitors to laughter-worked though & he got placed lol

Keep enjoying your dogs if you can't laugh with your dog you will never enjoy training them

A friend owned a super obedience Champion(now sadly passed to the rainbow bridge)he was a gorgeous dog both physically & mentally-I tattooed him & he never held it against me either, I judged him once in breed & after he had been examined & placed & took a flying leap at me & we fell into a heap on the floor I had to stop judging for ten minutes for the class my stewards & myself to stop laughing at him He made a good job washing off my make up lololololol

I love it when dogs have that extra special quality about them.
It oftens reminds me of my first Boxer and some of my mums GSD's.
All my dogs have had it, and although sometimes you just think oh my god
how embarrassing :D You have to smile/laugh too.
I often get accused of sending dogs silly - :D Can't think why.
I think it's important that both of you enjoy training.
I've always found I have a really special bond with the ones whom I've worked
together with in the obedience training classes (not competition).
I love a cheeky dog means they have oodles of character :D Boxers certainly are cheeky :D

Enjoy the special relationship you have.

i knew bradley and i would click when he was waiting for his dinner one evening when he was about 8 weeks and he heard his tummy rumble. So he would look down at his tummy and grumble back then look at me a little concerned so i rubbed his tummy and gave him his dinner.
Or more recently we took him to a boxer working day. Where
showing and racing boxers on opposite sides of the field. Bradley wanted to watch both so he would sit and face one then turn and face the other then back again, soon he got fed up of doing that so he face the opposite to both. Sat there and just looked left then right as quick as possible. ah bless

:D :D :D Awwww Emma, that's so sweet!!

Bleeeessssss!!!!!
I second what jeanie just said!
Sam x

Sam,
How are things in your part of the world? Haven't seen to many posting so i imagine things are fairly peachey .

Em,
Yeah, really good. I will email you when i get more time.

Sam x

That's so difficult!! Dogs are very good at making you laugh. My Staffies latest is to snort at me if he doesn't get his own way!! It's soo difficult to be angry with them. Try Moonmaidens idea of the sucking a lemon idea. I can't think of anything else cos I'm just as bad. :D

Sarah.

Hi,

It's nice you are having fun with him, training should be fun. We always have loads of fun in my training classes, I always make sure everyone enjoys themselves.

Keep laughing, it's the best way, Boxers are slow to mature and he will probably still be pulling silly faces and wobbling hos chops when he is about 5 years old. :) :D

Beardies have a great way of making you laugh at them and they love it!!!

manda
x

Oh dear, this thread takes me back!! Our oldest Spinone was like this at training classes and made everybody laugh. This only enouraged him to be even more clownish! Even though he ended up well trained (well, when it suits him to be), once I had stopped laughing at his antics (about 3 classes in!!) it became a bit of a nightmare with me begging people not to encourage him, pppppppplllleeeeeeeeessssssssseeeeeeee! He still has an extensive repetoire, including crossing his paws and sighing loudly and repeatedly when displeased and a fabulous scowl, just like Gromit scowling at Sean the Sheep, which he reserves for what he considers to be gross infringements of his civil liberties.

Seriously though, everyone is quite right, enjoy training your pup Emma, it should be fun as well as having a serious purpose!

Lesley

Emma& Lesley you are not alone! Reading the board today I find Ive made yet another mistake with feeding Morse, his recall is going backwards and I despair of ever geting KCGC. Despite lots of kind advice here and locally, going to classes and reading the books I think Im just not trainable. Being the class clowns is fine for a while but hes nearly 1 and it wont be funny much longer.

Yours in failure

Alison

Hi Allison

It doesn't matter what age Morse is when he gets his KCGC. Although I'd trained mine I didn't come across KCGCDS until he was almost 7 years old - that's when he got Bronze, he got Silver at 7 yrs and Gold at 7.5 yrs.

They all develop at their own rate - remember its not the goal that is important it's the journey along the way.

Thanks for the encouragement :). Our journey may be longer than most, with many wrong turnings and backsliding. After making great progress we are back at being wilfully disobedient off lead when playing with pals, and I could turn him into a handbag with matching gloves. We want to do Working Trials ( no hope of doing gundogs on our income) and need to do the KCGC as a foundation, and the Bronze level makes me weep - walk beside handler, that will be shining bright Im just grateful for a loose lead. Still hes so sweet, begging for toast in the DOWN Im working on now.:D

Hi Alison

The KCGC Bronze isn't a pre-requiste of Working Trials is it? Working Trials is where I started with mine - long before he went in for his Bronze. Have things changed now or is just that working for the Bronze will give you more control over Morse in the first place?

What breed is Morse?

You don't have to have any "pre entry" qualifications to compete in Working Trials; perhaps it is the trainer that requires it? Never seen and English pointer in Working Trials

Hi dog behaviour as tohme says he is an English pointer. I enquired about the WT and found a local trainer who was very encouraging and thought the good citizen would help us work towards it,improving control as you say. she s also offering 121 to get started as most people here train on their own. The jumps come last as hes too young.We're going to see a trial at Longniddry on the 5/6 October.

Have you been to Scotland to compete tohme? Apparently there are pointers doing it here although I dont know what type. What breeds do you most often see at competitions? I saw John Grant on TV with a rottweiler in WT and this got my interest.

No I have not trekked to the wilds of Scotland yet :)

The most common breed is of course the BC/WSD, followed by GSD, Labradors, Weimaraners; There are GWPs competing one is a WT Ch, some GSPs, Large Munsterlanders, cross breeds, BSDs, NSDTD, staffies, poodles. But I have never seen an English Pointer in competition or written up. (Maybe you'll be the first)! :)

John has been very successful with both his Rotties and WSDs.

Well thats variety! :) we'll have a go and have fun anyway. Im sure all the dogs have elements they excel in and weak points too. Our stay is very good, our heel work is okay and we're working on the other bits. Just started teaching to find things by chucking meat chunks into the grass on the football field or in the woods and it helps hold Morses attention. :D

Emma

My girls contunually make me laugh when we are training or playing or anytime really !! That is why I love them as they keep us entertained !!

Stick with the training as I and keep smiling ! ;)

Lucy

Willis used to make me laugh...............................then he grew up and made me cry

Only joking, I wouldn't change him for the world. I'd happily sell him though. :D

MB says she will give you 10p, and half a chewed trainer and a pansy she has dug up today for him :D

Cheap at half the price. I'll post him :D ;)

Hi Chloe, howzit going with the kongs? I meant to ask if there was an official PLan B for the chewing campaign.

The only things are in the Kongs these days are dust bunnies.... they are carelessly discarded in the yard, rolling about aimlessly... (the kongs, not the dogs).

Willis is upstairs, chewing a duplo brick and Phoebe is eating a 2 doot long rawhide bone on the floor and giving blood curdling menacing growls whenever Willis tries to come downstairs.

No change there then!! :D :D

Emma, your lad sounds just like my young one. I've never had so much fun in my life and he makes me smile ever day. As I think everyone knows by now I have 5 SWD's and at the moment looking after my friends, but this young man of mine who's still only 6 months is a delight to own, even when he's dug up the back garden and dives into the holes head first with his front legs going down at the same time. He then looks up at me and gives me a big grin covered head to toe in mud. I wdn't mind so much but he's got markings like a border collie so his white bits aren't white any more!!!

The only problem at the moment and it's my fault is that I call him Ickle man or Icks for short so when he ran off at a show recently looking for me whilst I was at the toilet he wdn't go back to my mum because she was shouting Anton!!:d It just shows, dogs do become as mad as their owners.

mmm my little one has just chewed my only pair of glass's and and put the little pieces in his food bowl for later. aaaahhhhh bless

:D Bet you wish youd gone to the chain offering a spare pair free, Emma! Bradley is some boy to be one boy! Hope he dosent get terrible indigestion.

Hey ho! Get the ladies back for a second opinion or refer them to Watchdog - This Morning versus Watchdog would be most entertaining.:D

Hi Emma
I can really relate to what you are saying about your boxer, as i have two boys Charlie who is 18 months and Harry who is 3 months.
I never take my dog training really seriously, because you can't when you own a boxer as they truly are the clowns of the dog world!!
I could sit and watch my boys all day without getting bored they provide some much entertainment!!
As long as you enjoy training that is the main thing and never mind if people laugh at you!
Everbody laughed at me when i started training, but we had good fun!!