Thanks AJL

Is it only 3 days? That's not very long! I had the idea dogs and owners were there for 7 days, not sure where I got that from...


I like to hear that - I forget who said it, but someone said that if you put 3 dog trainers together, the only thing they will agree on is that the other one is wrong

Pugs are great little dogs, aren't they? I've met only a few but never fail to be impressed by how fab their characters are!

My girlfriend arrived early thursday morning - intro the whole thing in the morning, then training for the rest of the day.

Friday morning - early start, short walk, clean the kennel, bite to eat, then training at 8.30am. Last bit of training ends at maybe 4ish, but during the day, the dog is not always being worked. Its as much about training the owner as the dog, and clearly a tired dog wont learn as well.

Saturday is the same ritual, then sunday a little bit of training, but really prepping for the exam.

They certainly try and pack in as much as is possible and is practical. I think maybe the first series was longer? not sure though.

As for it not being long - my head hurt and i only had friday afternoon and all day saturday!!

Agree with your comment on Pugs. Everyone who meets her cant fail but smile at that face!

Wait till you see her jump the height the lab was doing on last nights show though. We worked her up to doing the 3rd bar on their course and she really enjoyed it.

When i arrived, they were in the woods working on retrieves. Bearing in mind the last time i saw her she wouldnt play fetch, Mic treated me to a display of our new dog. Mic hides her a pencil case with treats in a relatively dense bit of woodland (to a pug though, this was practically a forest!). Saffy is let off the lead, and in she darts. Lots of frantic hopping about - she maybe has half a foot of ground clearance remember). Sticks her head in the air, has a sniff, and darts to the tree, grabs the pencil case, and brings it back.

Have never been so impressed before, and gave me a lot of respect for my girlfriend, saffy, and of course Mic. This was after a day and half of training.

Anyone know if Mic Martin is married...I'd have him in an instant...what a dish....he could train me anytime...swoon

I watched this programme when the last series was on and didn't think much about their methods at all. They were harsh and in many cases totally unnecessary. A dog can so easily be turned round with gentle and fair methods. I work as a qualified canine behaviourist and have had several customers with messed up dogs from these "boot camps".

If she is small, the stresses are not so great physically as the jump heights are better in proportion. If she is old enough to do agility [ 12 months + ], thats absolutey fine, though I would be concerned as to how many elements she was expected to learn in a few days under the Borstal Bunch, given how much time should be spent on careful introduction and confidence building to each element.

My beginners courses are done over 6 weeks and that is for introducing the dogs carefully without overloading them with too much too soon, and never too many different elements in close succession.....

Even apparently fearless dogs can be ruined agility-wise by assumption that because they took to the equipment well initially, that they will never be problematic, then something happens like missing a good approach to a see-saw or dogwalk and sliding off, [ and making the see-saw bang for instance ], from which they can be badly spooked.

With many which seem like fearless naturals, its often because they are not self-aware and are excited to be doing something so can be over-confident, which can be worse to deal wth than those with the inner-sense to be cautious, surefooted and take things steady.
My Silk is one such dog, no fear at all, and one speed of her own - rocket fuelled - so I regulate her speeds and approaches for her so that she does`nt develop bad habits and find herself flying off anything and getting hurt or frightened.

There are clubs in your area, but be aware, a *reputable* club will not allow you to use a squirter or other punitive punishment during training. If you came to me for instance, you would have to leave it outside the gate or I would offer my free disposal service

A good club with good trainers should be able to guide you on using good *positive* motivation to keep her occupied and focused generally, outside of agility as well as at training, so that you can throw the squirter in the bin youself

Re. the squirter. I take your point. It was used for the training with mic, and has been used around the flat in the week following it. It now rests collecting dust in our bedroom. A simple 'No' is enough to get her running to us to play with a conveniently place toy!

On the agility course, (apologies for wrong terminology here) we did 2 ramps - one which was flat at the top, and one that just went straight up then down. Mic ensured we supported her at all times, and briefed us on how to handle each piece of equipment in relation to the dog before attempting it. Then it was just jumps.

Im sure that sounds quite tame for the more seasoned owners, but I think (again, correct me if im wrong) it gave a good insight for us as owners that she is not just a toy dog

Whaaaaaat ????
Are you serious ?
A Pug doing full Large jump height ???!!!!!

No, no, no, no, no, no, nooooooooo :smt091

If you are not just kidding, I need to have a serious private face to face `chat` with that `trainer`
:smt075 :smt075 :smt075 :smt075 :smt075

She was doing a jump that was maybe a foot and half high?

3 bars on mics course - maybe the lab did a bigger jump when i wasnt looking?

The jump was maybe as high as saffy is standing on her back legs?