....You have to remember that these sports come from a Military and Police tradition, from a time when training was not very sophisticated. I saw a video of a KNVP competition from the 30's and none of the dogs would have scored very well, or possibly passed by our modern standards. I think it is tradidtion and the fact that it works. Because we breed these dog for that character, we can get away with harsh, even brutal methods that wouldn' work with the average pet. The dog's own qualities are responsible for people not wanting to change... and tradition. I call it 'social inertia", the momentum of 100 years of this type of training make it hard to convince people there are other choices.

The methods weeded out the dogs that couldn't hack it with the dogs that could. But they also tended to think this was an either/or proposition and that you could not change the dog's attitude. We now know that this is not so and almost every breeder/trainers uses 'drive' and confidence building exercises from the moment the dog is born.

Generally people who use physical punishment tend to focus on what THEY DON'T WANT, while I have always focused on WHAT I WANT the dog to do. The example of "I don't want the dog to lick my dish" turns into "I want the dog to lie down"

Wys, did you hear the canine campus podcast on the work of Esther Schalke re E-collars?

I posted the link a week or so back.

it doesn't take a skilled trainer to force a dog to comply with heavy handed methods and painful devices.

Sorry but impossible to force a dog to do exactly what you want him to do.

example the out

You can force a dog to out but he'll try to stay on the decoy as long as possible

or

you can teach the dog to out and when he is to occupied to listen give him a reminder that you want him to out

2 ways off using an e-collar the second gives a cleaner out and thus you gain 2 4 or 6 points on every bite

which would you chose

I forgot to say that for the first long while they just had strangers drop treats and totaly ignore the dog - he choose when he finaly wanted to interact with people - but now he is so happy he is actually doing great at agility and loving all the people watching him

This morning a man walked past as I was chatting to a friend. Boo jumped up and licked his hand - she wanted to investigate him and wasn't in the least bit scared.

This morning she has been to the vet and wasn't scared at all - either being vaccinated or microchipped.

So I must be doing something right

No, I don't think I did, could you put it up again please?

Wys
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