2 problems with obedience

First problem:

About turns, both with the dog on the outside. If I turn while Tamino is on the outside he goes wide, no matter if I go slow or normal. I HAVE tried luring him with a treat to stay close, and he does it nicely with the treat. But the moment I don't have one he goes wide and looses concentration. He is good at heeling, and with the aid of the clicker we are getting good eye contact while heeling. But this about turn is stumping me.

Second problem:

Stays. Tamino will stay sitting while I walk about 15 meters away and will not break till I tell him to come or heel. Even if I go behind a blind, and we are upping the distraction level. But if I leave him in a down he will break and sit/stay after I have gone half the distance. I don't know how I can get him to stay in a down while I walk away.

Thanks!

Right-about turns. When you are training have the dog on a shortened lead. This does not allow him the opportunity to drift out and he will learn that he must stay in close. You can also practice about turns in a corner so that he simply does not have room to drift, again on a lead so that he cannot lag either. Another thing to try is carrying a length if dowel so that you can guide his hindquarters into the correct position. If you use this method be sure to introduce the dog to the dowel first. Stroke him with it so that he is used to it and will not be startled by being touched with it when heeling.

Down-stays. If he is breaking it is because he is lacking confidence. You need to go back to basics. Do not go so far away from him and do not leave him for very long. Better to get short perfect stays than for him to learn that you will return to him as soon as he moves. Walk backwards away from him to start with so that you are ready to drop him immediately if he moves. Watch that you are not making any unconscious signal with your hands. When he is in a down stay and you are in sight do not stare at him.

Hope you can find something there to help

PS If you are training for the ring never, ever, call your dog to you from a Stay. The dog must understand that 'stay' means you stay there until I return to you. It is a good idea to teach both a 'stay' command & signal, and a 'wait' command & signal. The 'wait' means you wait where you are until I tell you to do something else. The dog then understands that the wait is going to be followed by another command, whereas the 'stay' means exactly that.

I wish I could Shadowboxer. But for the type of obedience I'm training for (BH) there are exercises that we MUST call the dog from a stay. For the person group (where the dog must stay in a sit, and then on recall run straight through a group of 4 people not hesitating), and various others.

I do have a "wait " type command which means "just stay there till I come back. But as I use "wait" for wait at the door, before getting into the car, ect., I couldn't use it. So Tamino is trained to stay with the command "warte" (pronounced varta), its the german command for stay.

Thanks for that Shadowboxer. I'll try that with the heeling today, and we'll start working on the down-stay from basics as well.

Is there a site (Enlish language) giving the rules for BH? I would be interested to find out more about it.

If you can't use different verbal commands are you allowed to use different hand signals so that the dog knows whether he is in a stay or a wait?

Good wishes with the stays

Yep, there are some. Only the ones that are in english give the rules for the american version, and I'm in Switzerland where they use the german version. Which is harder and has 3 levels, whereas the american only has the first basic level. That allows the dogs to continue to SchH 1. We are already starting to train for the BH2 (thats the person group), and as of the moment we are working on perfecting the BH1.

Another diference between the american and german testings, is that in the german BH1 you must preform tracking with the dog. I think thats right, or it may be the BH2.

http://www.bigskyschutzhund.com/bh.htm
http://www.danika.com/TOP/BH.htm
http://www.willamettevalleyschutzhundclub.com/bh.htm

Thanks you Kate. I now see the distinction, you are talking about the moving drop with recall. I still think it is a question of going back a few steps and building up from basics. Your dog is smart enough to read your actions/body langauge & know that a drop after a short heel forward, followed by you immediately leaving (NOT on your heeling foot I hope ) will be followed by a recall, and will differentiate between this and the long down with distraction.

Hi there,
I don't know if it's any help but I have always been taught that is you dog goes wide on an about turn then take a side step away from the dog, straight after you turn, this will exagerate the problem. then the dog will soon learn to stay in nice and close. it worked very well with mine.
Good luck
Lynn