Hi everybody,

Was wondering if there is anyone out there interested in obedience trialling.  I have two female Staffordshire Bull Terriers and am currently training them for their open obedience title.  I am from Australia so the title names maybe different, but I would love to chat about obedience and your expereince/enjoyment being involved in it.

Cheers

Linda

Hello.
I am in Australia. Well done for getting through Novice with your girls. I entered my Boxer bitch in her first Novice this year. Went well enough until the drop stay. It was a bitterly cold, wet day and she hates dropping on wet grass so no surprise that she sat as I went back to her. She has never done it before, but the surprise was that she dropped at all! I also have a bit of a problem sometimes with the heel free as she does not always focus on me as well as she could. I also have a young male Boxer who is showing a bit of promise. Might do Encouragement with him next year. I found my first trial a bit nerve-wracking so probably transmitted that to the dog as well.

Hi,

Many thanks for your e-mail.  Yeh!! you are right it is incredibly nerve racking, trialing.  I tell myself just have fun and don't bother about the score, but I get so disappointed when I don't do well.  I also have a problem with the heel free, and it is just lack of attention.  I recently got a tape sent over from the USA by a trainer over there, its all about attention and focus. Its pretty basic, really, you just have the dog in the heel position, sitting, hold the motivator (food,toy) in your left hand above the dog's head and command WATCH, start for 15 seconds eventually aiming for 2-3 minutes.  Do not correct at all, you are only teaching, if the dogs looks away, just command watch again. Second stage is similair to the 1st stage, only you have no motivator, only praise.  3rd stage is you command watch, do not look at the dog, have a mirror in front of you so you can see if she looks away, if she does, then a correction is given.  The final stage is proofing, have people call her, pat her, she must not take her eyes of you.  It was fantastic to watch on video, you should have seen the dogs heel, brilliant.  I am still in the first stage...long way to go yet. 

Where about in OZ are you??

Regards
Cheers Linda

I feel quite sad reading that teaching "Watch me" is taught with a toy and/or food, (which is IMHO great) and then the dog is later corrected :(  The exercise is not easy because it does not come naturally......dogs don't like to stare at faces normally (except a few dogs who seem happy to adore  in this way :) )

If the dog is then corrected, it will be even less willing to Watch correctly, as it will instinctively prefer to be more submissive :( which means avoiding the human eye.  I have a good ~Watch taught purely by clicker and no jerking or correction - it was easy on me and the dog. Why make it hard for the dog? And why not accept that apart from anything else, a dog can make a mistake?  There are people out there dong all sorts of dog sports (and winning too!) who dont subscribe to all that leash correcting.

The dog deserves to have fun too - it's surely a partnership after all  :)

Lindsay

Many thanks for your comments. Lindsay.  The dog is actually not asked to stare at the face, just a point on your body, in my case, with small dogs, my left leg.  As for the correction, it is meerly a pop on the lead, my girls do not wear correction collers, only martingale collers. so they would hardly feel a thing.  I agree with you about partnership, when I go in the ring I try to do the best I can, and I expect no less from my dogs.  I love, feed, play and protect my dogs, they are my joy and dog trialing is my hobby.  So I expect them to give me three minutes of their attention in the ring.

So don't feel sad, you should meet my dogs there are happy, lovable dogs who have a owner that cares and spends lots of time with them.

Cheers

I second that Linsay.  If your dog is not paying enough attention to you you are obviously not interesting enough :D.  That is why the key thing in all dog training is motivation otherwise the dog WILL be distracted by things it finds a lot more fun :)

I hate the word "correction" especially when used in this context; it presupposes that the dog fully understands what it is required to do (something that is greatly overestimated in my view and experience) and that it deliberately makes a mistake. 

Anyway, why train heelwork on the lead?  It is not necessary and it is far easier to train heelwork off lead than on so that you can interrupt it with loads of fun, play, food, praise etc.

JMHO :D

I agree :)

Linda. just to clarify, i wasn't commenting on you or your dogs, but on the training you described in the video you saw :)

Lindsay

Hi Linda

I am in Tasmania.

I have no problem getting my dogs to 'watch' if they are stationary. It is when we move off that the distraction sets in!

They are Boxers and, as a breed, work independently so I do not expect the perfection of Borders but a little less of the gazing at the surroundings in case of lurking attackers would be welcome!

Feel free to email me if you would like to continue the Aus. conversation.