Tag - dog behaviour - Dog Handling - page 3

To content | To menu | To search

Tag - dog behaviour

Entries feed - Comments feed

Sunday, June 14 2015

Good Dog Training Newsletter - June 2015

By Raewyn Saville on Sunday, June 14 2015, 16:26 - Newsletters


TRAINERS REPORT FOR DOG SPORTS ROTORUA AGM 2015


The newsletter editorial for this month is a piece I did to read at the AGM. The AGM was enormously successful and celebrated the success of Dog Sports Rotorua with a presentation of certificates and trophies.

Dog Sports now have a number of people waiting to join Agility Classes which are currently at complete capacity. There will be a new class starting in the spring on Saturday afternoon as an introduction to both Flygility and Agility. It will concentrate on teaching the equipment at speed. It will be run at three levels. Introduction to sendaway and recall, sprinting on the flat, and equipment in a 50 meter sendaway recall. People will move through the system when they are totally able at each level. I am looking for two people to help run this class starting September. This will be a Club class rather than my class. I will oversee it completely.

I think the Motto for this Club should be 'Commitment + Integrity = Excellence' and we have this committee lead by Debbie Trimbach to thank for the last 12 months of prosperity. My life as Club Trainer is inevitably easier when the nuts and bolts of the Club are all working as they should.

My personal thanks and gratitude for the positive attitude and the can do ability of all those who assisted the Committee this year. The people who baked the cakes (don't know who this is do you?) and worked in the kitchen and cleaned the building and mowed the lawns and gave us a lawnmower and built renovated and restored our Agility equipment, painted the sheds, worked as judges and box loaders at tournaments. All of the jobs that clubs need to do to survive and that have to be shared to make it possible to be a Club with a future. This Club is going places and believe me after twelve years of input by me I was beginning to wonder. Now this club truly isn't 'me' it is all of you and that is so so good.

Trainers Report 2015


This time next year we will hopefully be looking at dates to celebrate the 10th birthday of the Club. I think we should celebrate because this is the club that everyone said could not exist.

I believe now as I did right at the beginning that the most a club training people and dogs can do is to at least get its members understanding that their dogs must behave themselves. We have had mixed results over the last ten years. But at least this time has confirmed to me that it is not the dog's fault that he is edgy and jumps at people and other dogs and animals. The answer lies in the management of the dog by its handler.

How does this work? We used to say years ago, if you are in a bad mood don't train your dog. I think this also goes for; if you are feeling insecure and unhappy don't train your dog. If you are in a forgetful and distracted mood don't train your dog either. There are probably a lot more reasons why some of our moods should not be forced onto the poor dog of the household. If your personality is generally unhappy and insecure then your dog will know there is something wrong. Dogs are incredibly sensitive to mood. You can't just pretend that everything is alright - the dog will know you are telling fibs. It is a known fact that dogs can sense cancer in their handler's bodies; they know when their handler is going to have an epileptic seizure. One fascinating thing though is that if you are deeply sad for any reason and you are not usually deeply sad, your dog will do the best he can to cheer you up. So it looks like the best thing to do if you are 'not in the right mood' is to lie down in a quiet place with your dog and let him charm away the worries of the world. If however, you decide you are going to Agility Training or any other training that you do with him when you are in that mood, you will find that he doesn't do what you want, may respond negatively to other dogs and/or people, because you are 'odd' to him.

You need to be in a calm and receptive space to train your dog. You need to be able to keep your concentration on your dog and not let your head go to the place that says 'darn I would have hung the wash if I had known it was going to be this fine', or ‘Gee I hope this will be over soon because I want to take the kids to the lake for a barbie'. If you can train yourself to keep your mind working with your dog for an hour every day, then you may also find that some of your anxiety and stress fades a little bit. At least for the time that you are utterly concentrating on your dog.

When we are doing any training with the dogs I can see people get in tune with their dog for five/ ten seconds and then lose it and have to rekindle it again. That is what it is like when you start to learn to focus on just one thing. I always know when my dog and I are in the same place and both know exactly what we are doing and it takes a while to build it up. I reckon three good years. Some people might do it in less but I doubt it. It is normal to take a few years to build that bond of togetherness with your dog. When a dog dies and it's handler is grieving it is because the handler feels they have lost an integral part of their lives, not just a live cuddly toy or something that was a daily habit, but a living breathing thinking sharing caring part of their lives has gone. Truly that will never happen again in the same way because every dog is so different. But another dog will eventually do amazing things with your mind as well.

If you are standing next to your dog and yacking on to some other person, your dog knows you are not interested in them so you need to go to a place that says, sorry dog I have to yack at this person right now so you have to lie between my feet quietly and I will get back to you real soon. If your dog is just doing its own thing during this yack time, he will lurch on the lead jump at you bark at you or groan loudly because you have not given him a message that says I still love you most just wait and we will do things together again. So having a piece of learned activity such as lying between your feet is a comfort to him right now. When you are working with your dog, don't worry about mistakes, talk nicely to your dog get him moving exactly as you want him to. Look at him in the eye, drop little bits of special food in his mouth, be consistent in your voice and body commands and your dog will start to respond. If ten seconds concentration is all the two of you can cope with at the moment, see if you can get it up to 12 seconds by next week. When you are working with your dog work exclusively with you dog, don't cheat him, by doing it half pai.

Be excited with him when he gets stuff right and play ball and tug as much as you can even if it bores you to tears. Once your dog is focused on you and your commands alone, then there is no distraction. I was over the moon at training recently when Chip was standing beside me and he is only 10 months old, and a couple of dogs decided to have a wrangle, because they had got into each other's space. Chip never flinched or looked at the other dogs or wanted to go there. He was only five meters from the action. I told him good boy. He knew he had got it right. To me that was better than him knowing how to go through a tunnel or how to stand on a contact. He will do all the other stuff because I will ask him to and he will say yep if that's what mum wants that's what she gets.

That is bonding, that is Good Dog Training. The games we play do form a good distraction for some dogs to get their minds off other things. While they are hurdling they do not want to go and wolf someone else. Concentrating on hitting the fly box narrows their focus and helps them to be good, but by and large, you need to have your dog worshipping you before you go there, otherwise a whole raft of bad habits slip in and most times there is no undoing them.

I hope you will all stay with Dog Training and help me to turn around the perception of the public that dogs are a nuisance in society. They have been with us since the beginning of time; they are an important link in our human lives. Look your dog in the eye and tell him how much you need him in your life and he will be there for you.

Thank you for your hard year's training. The Awards handed out tonight show the excellence that can be achieved by those who put their minds to it.

Dogs forever - Raewyn

no trackback

Sunday, May 10 2015

Good Dog Training Newsletter - May 2015

By Raewyn Saville on Sunday, May 10 2015, 18:28 - Newsletters


Walking the talk without reinventing the wheel


As an instructor for Dog Sports Rotorua my job reaches way beyond teaching people how to handle their dog for best outcomes or teaching the dog which is the right side to walk quietly on a loose lead, or indeed teaching a dog how to safely jump a hurdle or run over an A frame. I end up in a place where the dog is overweight and that is impacting upon his ability to have a good quality of life or sometimes the dog is too thin .Occasionally people come to class with unregistered dogs or unvaccinated dogs. Many people do not understand minimum housing standards for dogs outdoors or the level of nutrition that a dog needs to function. The amount of exercise a dog requires to keep fit and well. It is often difficult for people to understand that a working dog needs a four km hike per day and a Chihuahua still needs about one km. The list goes on.

I often assume that people understand how to care for their dog when in fact they are completely unsure. This sounds a bit funny to folk who have had dogs all their lives, but a lot of city dwellers are owning their very first dog, so it is natural that they need good sound advice and a back up person to contact when they are lost.

I run a class called control that deals with most of the above and if I see someone really lost I follow up and make sure they are coping at home. A few years ago the NZ Kennel Club did a wonderful thing. They initiated a program called CANINE GOOD CITIZEN affectionately known as CGC. This is a recognised set of tests for the handler and dog to achieve which sets firm boundaries on behavior and makes the owner/handler learn the rules of dog ownership from the perspective of the law and the welfare of their dog.

I have long wanted to participate in CGC but as I did not belong to an accredited Club (i.e. Dog Sports Rotorua is not affiliated to the NZ Kennel Club) then I have not got started on it. However, some of us are now competing at NZ Kennel Club Agility and have been lucky enough to have membership of WAG, Waikato Agility Group. This allows us to have a serious look at CGC. The CGC manual is 50 pages long. It is quite heavy going unless you are really into Dog Training. A lot of the work could be considered boring and unnecessary by those not as completely besotted by dogs as I am.

The work in the manual is very precise and very organised and very achievable. The first set of tests is called ‘Foundation’. In order to progress you must pass Foundation first. At an Accredited Club there will be advertising that ‘Foundation tests will be done on so and so date'. You then turn up and do the tests which a qualified Assessor will oversee. You must pass every test in order to gain the Foundation qualification....

Here is a list of the work required on the day of the Test. 1. Appearance handling and responsibility (a) responsibility and care(this is a paper attached to CGC manual which requires you to answer questions on ideal weight of the dog, questions around legal obligations from the Local Body Dog By-Laws. At list of dos and don'ts re care of your dog. Like? Providing a bed of its own for the dog, toilet training, responsible decision making around breeding from your dog etc (b) Public cleanliness and identification, (local body registration and removal of dog poo from all public spaces). (c) Examination of the dog by the handler (can you examine your dog's ears, teeth, throat, tongue, feet and the dog is comfortable and calm with this) (d) Grooming and inspection of the dog by the assessor (can someone else examine your dog and handle it to the point of grooming it touching feet etc) 2. Food Manners. Does your dog behave itself when it is two meters from someone eating? Does your dog wait to be told it can take its food from the bowl? Dog is sitting half meter from food in bowl and needs to wait for the command to eat. 3. Accepting a friendly stranger, 4. Accepting being patted by a friendly stranger. 5. Walk on lead through a door/gate in a controlled manner. 6. Return to handler, a recall basically. 7. Walking on a loose lead, 8. Controlled walk through people and distractions (a) Pedestrian traffic (b) Distractions. 9. Being left tied by a lead to an immovable object 10. Meeting a stranger and their dog 11. Supervised separation (the handler gives the on lead dog to someone else to hold and leaves the area so they are out of sight of the dog) Playing with the dog. (This is quite formal, play tug; the dog must stop and start play when you say. The game must be quite small no long retrieves)

So that’s it. Now while this does sound like watching the paint dry, it is not designed to be an entertainment. It is designed so that there is no doubt in the Assessor’s mind that this is a good mannered dog and deserves to pass Foundation. It is a great achievement. Having got through that and had a bit party afterwards to celebrate all your hard work, there is then the Bronze Silver and Gold qualification for you to be challenged by.

Let’s just have a brief glimpse of expectations in the Gold Test. Walking beside the handler without a lead, Send away to a known article (perhaps a piece of the handlers clothing or a piece of dogs bedding), and the Dog must stay with that article. Putting dog into car. Distractions outside the car while the dog is inside, getting dog out of car. Delivering a dropped article to the handler, this is a retrieve of sorts. Another person handling the dog completely with distractions, in a public area etc. Quite hard stuff if you consider it. And along the way you will answer harder questions about the health wellbeing and legal obligations that you have to your dog.

So there you have it. I believe there are probably 8 or 9 people currently at Dog Sports who could work towards their Foundation at this time. I certainly will be one, Deb Trimbach is another and Jenny Williams is also keen. These are the people showing interest at present but I am sure there will be more. The group will need a co coordinator. It does not need a tutor, it needs the group to work through the tests together and help each other to find ways to make the dog compliant where there are problems. Your dog needs to be 12 months old. I can't find an age for handlers but it will probably be 14 years which is the Dog By Law age for responsibility in walking a dog alone in a public space.

Yes I probably could make up a similar set of tests for Dog Sports members and make sure they were compliant but this is the bit about Walking the Talk. If you believe that you can train your dog to do all those things above then you should proudly go out and sit this Test with your dog alongside you and enjoy every moment of the Kudos of the occasion. Dog Sports don't need to reinvent any sort of test system. The Kennel Club have done a stunning job to put this together and it is to be hoped that one day every single dog owner in this country will have to pass a test such as this in order to be able to own a dog at all.

The extension of this that I would like to see is a new dog owner doing a test with a suitable dog and answering the questions at Foundation level before they can register a dog for themselves. If you think that sounds a bit harsh then think of the bad press the poor old dog has had for the last ten years, biting kids, killing stock, chasing post-people. Whose fault is it? Lousy owners that’s whose fault it is. If each owner understood the basic care and responsibility section it would be a miracle. If they understood the degree of training that needs to go into making their dog a Canine Good Citizen, then maybe they might get over the idea of having a dog to neglect and mistreat.

Who wants to join us in this challenge, txt me, Raewyn 0277593005

no trackback

Wednesday, April 15 2015

Good Dog Training Newsletter - April 2015

By Raewyn Saville on Wednesday, April 15 2015, 19:31 - Newsletters

Lets join the club!


A long time ago I joined a Dog Club and started doing Agility and Obedience and Flygility, in fact I would have done any sport that involved dogs having already done a bit of duck and pheasant shooting and some field trial work.

I quite enjoyed the Sport of Agility but I didn't find the Agility Community at that time particularly helpful and caring about the dogs of others. It seemed very hard to say 'what a good run', or ' better luck next time but still a great run'.

If I did express to others that they were magic or amazing I received back a look that said in so many words, 'what would you know anyway'. I slowly started not to enjoy the sport. I moved on to Flygility where sometimes it seemed people and dogs were having a good time, and then again sometimes not. The thing that got me was how disappointed they were about not 'winning' not getting a ribbon. Achievement seemed to be a narrow band of behavior related suppressed emotion. I thought it was weird. If I won a ribbon I was stoked and smiley.

So over a period of time the sports have morphed into the thing where clear round certs count toward getting out of one Jumpers and into another, points can be scored towards titles etc. This spread the feel good thing a bit more generously. Sometimes ribbons to 7th or heaven help me 10th mean that a wider participant achievement is recognised. Now of course we have splits where minis and micros are their own class and Medium and Maxi are a separate class. When I won Novice fifteen years ago with my mini dog, I beat out all the border collies. So the chances of some sort of success have improved over the years.

Anyway for the last 10 years I have concentrated on helping people who owned dogs with apparent behavior problems. Generally proving to me that the dogs were fine but the people who owned them had many issues unresolved not the least of which was that dogs need food and exercise appropriate to their size and location. Dogs all do much the same thing when they receive certain stimulation. Many people do not like that this is the case. For example, the neighbors complain when we are out that the dogs bark all day. What are they barking at? Nobody knows. Half an hour in the back yard and it becomes obvious that as the sparrows land on the roof and the fence and sometimes swoop down onto the lawn, they are winding up the dogs. Of course the dogs shouldn't be wound up by sparrows, but if you are a 50kg guard breed dog in a fenced back yard then that’s what you do to ease the pain of boredom and loneliness. So I have continued to find solutions to the problems people have when they own dogs, and I enjoy that a lot.

However over this period the small club called Dog Sports Rotorua started to lean more and more towards Agility Training. It wasn't planned but after all the behavior aversion (for the owners) and obedience lessons and control lessons for the dogs, we needed to have a focus for the long term club members. Nala was a starting point and from there I have organised four training sessions per week which involve dogs and handlers learning the basics of Agility. Along the way over the last four years some of these people have committed to both the Club and to Dog Training in a way that is extraordinary. Most of these people have not done any form of Dog Handling before, so they have to start by learning which end of the dog to point at the equipment.

It started with Chris Hutchings and Bootz a wee micro that Chris fancied learning to do agility. Now Bootz really did his best and he has competed and won ribbons and gongs but I had to tell her if she was gonna be the manic trainer she would wear this little guy out. Get another dog and she found one free to a good home a Cattle/Collie/Lab who apparently at 4 years old, was not a good stock dog. We did discover as we went along that he can be a wee bit excitable when wound up. However he has gone on to get FD in Flygility and just yesterday got his first AD certificate. You can't fake these qualifications, it isn't just good luck, it is very hard work when you are 70 plus and staying fit requires overlooking the pain of growing older. It is very encouraging when someone such as Chris achieves so much.

The next person to come along and tell me she wanted to do Agility was Debbie Trimbach with Sophie the Border Collie / Heading Dog who was shy and fearful. A beautiful dog and a doting owner. It has taken a couple of years now to really get Sophie going and while she runs very well at Nala and at Club Comp, she doesn't like new places. Today she went to her first Agility Champs and completed all three courses without being spooked by the judge, the equipment or the dogs and people outside the ring. Clear rounds are just around the corner. All this and her handler Debbie has a severe disability. Wow these people are immortal.

I just have to mention Katie who for some years has trundled along to Club with a tiny terrier called Tyson from the Pound. Much though everybody loved Tyson he dawdled around the courses. We tried all manner of motivation but nothing seemed to work to move him. He hated the hurdles, the tunnels the seesaw the dog walk, you name it he hated it. Katie really feels that Agility is her sport for life. At present she works full time, is Partner and mother, has a small acres lifestyle block and time is very precious. Then one day a nice lady from Taupo pitched up at the Club with a Kelpie Border Collie cross going spare, partially trained to do Agility. Hey Katie, I said, here's your dream dog. Not ready to compete yet but what a wonderful mover. Katie is learning all sorts of new handling skills. Yesterday Katie and Meg completed 12 straight weaves. The good news is that having Meg has put a rocket up Tyson’s bum and not to be outdone he is fair barreling around the courses and his weaves are on the up as well.

What do you do when a lovely person tells you she wants to do Agility with a dog who is actually totally unsuitable? You don't tell them and you carry on training them and they get better and better and shock the whole agility world. This is Alex Jones and Shadrock. Shadrock is a Neopolitan Mastiff, American Staff cross, in other words a Pitbull Mastiff. Shaddy has a lovely nature there is no doubt about that but most people think he is going to take them 'out' when they look at him. Nobody has worked harder to bombproof and Agility train a dog than Alex. Today at his first Champs he had a lovely clear round in Jumpers C and Starters 2. Alex is still kicking herself for messing on Shaddy in the Novice ring. This is heroic, believe me there are times when Shadrock looks around and goes Nah not doing this today, this young woman's dedication to motivation has been mind blowing.

Twelve or thirteen months ago a woman turned up at control class with a Poodle, Spaniel, Labradoodle cross. Such a pretty dog as she reminded me today, I always called him 'she' Jesse is now very much a young man. They came to class because he would not come back to her when she called. Apart from the frustration for her as Handler it was also difficult to keep him safe when he ran the other way. I said to her immediately, do you want to do Agility this dog is just perfect. No she said I want him to be a good obedient dog. Today at Champs Show she got her first Champs Ribbon. Third place in Jumpers C. The judge complimented her on the dog's run and another competitor came by to say that she thought she did a lovely run. This partnership will go far. Christine Longton and Jesse definitely haven’t even touched their potential yet.

Gloria and Bear and Macey, Sue and Molly, Sue and Girl, Leonie and Yoyo, Christina and Mia, Linda and Minnie, Renee with Coco and Zulu, Jenni and Bree, Angela and Eddie, Rayne and Gretel, Ann and Gemma are some of our club members working away at their chosen sport with an aim to get good enough to go out and compete in either Fly or Agility and they mean it.

But most of all I want to thank all our club members for their wonderful attitude to one another. They help each other when a dog needs to be held or if there is a problem. They complement each other for doing well and achieving. They take pride in their Club Dog Sports Rotorua and every time one of them adds to the total of placings and clear rounds there is a great yell of excitement. They remember how a particular dog was when he started and how far he has come to becoming a working friend or a competing sports dog. Non competing members come to shows to support their mates. For me this is a great thing to be part of and I really hope that it will continue forever.

Today I attended an Agility Champs Show for the first time in ten or eleven years. The only dog I have to compete with is Becki-boo who is 10 and although she has done a couple of ribbons has never done any Champs shows. She is slower than she used to be but managed three clear rounds from three starts 4th 5th and a 6th placing. Even better I had a bunch of mates with me who all shared lunch under the Club Gazebo and chatted and walked their dogs and competed and enjoyed. That was what was missing 10 years ago when I quit. The companionship of true dog lovers enjoying a day in the sun and the rain. Gives you the warm fuzzies doesn't it. Thank you all again.

no trackback

- page 3 of 13 -

login