I've been trying to show train my cavalier pup who is now 5 months old.  He gets so excited everytime he sees the lead, he just cannot stop pulling at it and ends up crabbing diagonally while he moves forward.  I don't want this to turn into a habit which may eventually ruin his gait ... any ideas on how to improve this?

Cav gal

Are you training him at ringcraft classes, or just at home? If at classes, perhaps you could try talking for walks round the block on his showlead, so he starts to get 'calmer' associations with it. But don't try to get him behaving like a calm, mature dog when he's so young - all dogs do better in the ring if they're enthusiastic!
:)

Thanks so much for your advice, this little fellow can tug on the lead the whole way when we go for our 3 mile walk, so I opted for a route that has no cars in order to let him walk off leash.  I would love to take him to ringcraft classes, but these only occur once a month around here :( so for now, all I can do is get him associated with the lead and standing a bit for 10-15 mins every day.  He is so exuberant I don't think I can ever use the word calm to describe him ... although I do hope that eventually when he matures he can tone down a bit... since he does tend to loose all his manners when excited.... can't imagine what'll happen if he jumps up on the judge ................

Good judges are used to it, especially with puppies! My breed's judge at Crufts the other year had the carnation in her buttonhole eaten by one pup when she was going over him! :D

But I do think you ought to concentrate on basic lead-training for him, if only so that you can get himout and about in the town to get him socialised with crowds, so that he's not overwhelmed and scared when it comes to shows. It would be a shame if he threw away his chances.
:)

Good judges are used to it, especially with puppies! My breed's judge at Crufts the other year had the carnation in her buttonhole eaten by one pup when she was going over him!

LOL! :)

Yes, I really hope that he will come to enjoy his little sessions on the lead with me, and come to realise when we're out there in the ring, we're a team, when we're at home, we're family :)

I'm new here to this forum and I'm enjoying it very much since people here are really helpful~ thanks a bunch.

:) being kissed by cavalier puppies is the norm for Cavalier judges my 4 year old boy sometimes still does this is he likes the judge

As to teaching your dog to walk on lead for the ring you do need to practise at home if possible if you can't get to a club & he will need to to go to a club as well(even an obedience club can help I take my puppies to obedience classes & when everyone else sits their dogs I stand my puppies(I do tell the trainers what I am going to do as a courtesy)& one thing you can try is holding a treat or toy in front of him so he has something to focus on 10-15 mins a day spread over two sessions is enough training for a young puppy.

You also need him to free stand four square on the floor as stacking is a big no no in cavaliers & he needs to be happy & wag his tail as well

Table training him to stand fairly still for the judge to go over. I use titbits to train my dogs & to show them on & holding a piece in your hand so the puppy can lick the food but not eat it is a good way of getting him used to being stood on the table.

You also need to do basic heelwork training so that he will walk nicely for ordinary walks. I don't do any of my basic obdeience training on lead so by the time my boys go out on a lead they walk nicely as they have never learnt to pull into a collar & walk with me because they want to. It is harder training a dog off lead at first but the reward is no pulling on the lead

yes!! its universal for cavaliers to kiss, they can't help it, and i cant resist it.

i think ive made a huge mistake teaching him the sit as one of his first commands, (i have looked back at old postings and seen that up to 6 months its always the "stand" only ...) but he dosent really want to sit anyway whenever he sees me with tibits... hes too busy nudging my hands and smelling them to see if im holding any ... luckily though i am able to get his attention as he would do anything for food...

the off leash heel work, is there anywhere where i can get more information on how it's done? i have a few training books but its not in there, i would certainly love this little guy to walk nicely next to me rather than romp around the path, creating potential danger for himself... he can't resist joggers! :(

MM, since you're a cavalier owner, i was wondering if you know when cavies loose their puppy coat and grow that nice silky long coat with the fluffy feathering? I've posted this in general but thought who better to ask than another cavalier owner

thanks heaps :)

I don't think you will find any books on training dogs without a lead What I do basically is take my puppies into the garden on their own with lots of titbits & a squeaky toy. & keep the puppies attention using them & my silly puppy voice. I start as soon as I get my puppies with a couple of minutes a day(I do this with my obedience dogs as well) to get the puppy to walk further out than they would for obedience by holding a titbit above their heads in roughly the same position as I would hold the lead when moving them in the ring(it helps to keep the head up as well). Getting the puppy to walk off lead probably takes longer that using a lead but the result is that the puppy walks with you because it wants to & not because it is compelled because it is on a lead

You can use this technique with the puppy o a lead but I have always had a problem juggling the titbits & lead in my left hand together & the first dog I trained had a fear of leads due to repeatedly being hit by a"dog breaker"with a lead so I had to work out a way of training her without one

My dogs wear collars 24/7 except when they are in the showring so when I do put a lead onto the collar I use a very light show lead & on the whole they never even notice

As for them losing their puppy coat none of mine have ever had a fluffy coat as such & never seem to have gone out of coat as such I think they are from lines that tend not to have fluffy puppy coats. I have seen other people's dogs lose their puppy coat from anywhere between 5 & 12 months. My dogs are grooming throughly daily whilst they are puppies to get them used to being groomed. I must add there are some dogs that have fluffy coats when adult a breed fault which can & is disguised when the dogs are in the ring I was shocked to see a dog with a very fluffy coat an hour after it had been placed 3rd in a limit class-obviously whatever they used had either been brushed out or stopped working. I do use Quistel shampoo & lotion as well as Doreen Paige's Peach shampoo.

My dogs are all blenheims BTW

MM, thanx a lot for all that info, I'm defintely gonna try it out and let you know how we get on at a later stage.  I've put his collar back on now and at first he looked puzzled since the collar always meant a walk so he was a bit excited and scratched at it once or twice, but now hes asleep and everythings fine.

The fluffy coat that you mentioned, I can only match it to the coat around his chest, which is softer and a bit curlier but the coat on the rest of his body is very straight, and feathering on ears are very fine with small waves.  Does it mean that the pup is not purebred if his adult coat turns out to be fluffy?  Quite curious about that since I have seen one similar to what you have described, what breed would it have been crossed with? An American Cocker Spaniel? Also, at what stage should I supplement with biotin? He is currently on Burns minibites, at first he lost a lot of weight when he first started on this diet, since before he was on proplan, but now i am mixing half of Burns canine extra into his minibites for him so the weight prob is under control.

best, Cav gal

>when we go for our 3 mile walk

isnt three miles too far for a 5 month old pup ?

hi blondebird, sorry i meant to type 3 km, got my units wrong :)

The fluffy coat is only a show fault if its in an adult & all over the body They should have longer coat on the chest but they don't tend to have a full coat until they are older. It doesn't mean they are not cavaliers. Some bloodlines do carry more coat than others

You don't need to add biotin to his food unless he does lose his coat, the boys do tend to keep their coats better that the girls

What colour is he as the whole colours & tris seem to have more coat that the blenheims as a whole, One of my boys has a Ricksbury G father & he does have a lot of coat for a blenheim & looks more mature that my 4 year old

I use Quistel & Doreen Paige Peach shampoos & lots of conditioner , I also use the Quistel Lotion inbetween shampoos which helsp keep them in coat

Yo will need to get him used to having the hair under his feet being trinmed(not the "slippers"tho') I do it when I bath the dogs & they are still wet as its easier to make sure you do not cut the slippers, I also do this on my grooming table(a small Cavalier sized one)so it helps to get the dogs used to being handled on a table. I use a grooming arm & noose(that sounds awful doesn't it)as I like my dogs to stand whilst I dry their body coat & legs I do cheat tho' as I put them in a towelling dog bag while I do their ears as it keeps them from moving around !

Hi MM~ Landon is a 5 month old Blenheim (i keep forgetting to mention this earlier) I have tried your suggestion out and its working great! the path we walk along is next to a river with a 1 metre wall between the river and the path, on our way up the river i would let him off leash and get his attention with tibits and his favourite snoopy toy, then on our way back down i would put him back on the leash and walk slowly with him against the wall.  We've done this for three consecutive days and already I can increase my walking speed and he dosent have the crabbing problem anymore. 

"I use Quistel & Doreen Paige Peach shampoos & lots of conditioner , I also use the Quistel Lotion inbetween shampoos which helsp keep them in coat"

is there anywhere where i can purchase this product online? since we're no int the UK.  i have noticed some dandruff on him these few days as spring is quite late to come around this year and the weather is still quite dry.  I have been giving him Solid Gold flaxseed oil though, the coat is great but the skin hasnt improved.

btw I have joined the CKCS forum, its great! hope to see you in there some time.

Try the quistel netherlands site they should be able to put you in touch with your nearest source

This is Doreen's E mail if you want to ask her for your nearest stockist of her products doreenpaige@tinyonline.co.uk