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shadow_the_staff
Dogsey Senior
shadow_the_staff is offline  
Location: South Wales
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 548
Female 
 
11-01-2006, 10:22 PM

1st obiedience lesson.

Well just got back from shadows first training class. What a shock to the system, I went with my OH's mum, and she took their pet beagle. Big mistake taking two dogs who know each other, they just wanted to play. So we made a point of going to opposite ends of the class. The racket was astounding, 13 dogs all barking at once. Deafening!

Well we were taught the basics of heel, sit, down and look. I had already taught shadow all of these bar heel, so she was quite restless for a lot of it. She was awful at heel, it didnt help that i had her on a chain lead, which kept slipping out of my grip and extending to its full length so then shadow was walking in front of me, which isn't what she was supposed to do! So it was either lose the circulation in my fingers by wrapping the lead around my hand, or have her infront of me. Nightmare.

We moved onto "look" (or watch as he taught everyone else, but I'd already started teaching her that command using "look"), "sit" and "down", both of those she knows really well. At one point the trainer actually said i may move into the next group (the more advanced group) cos shadow already knows "sit" and "down", I was soooooo proud! she's only 9 months and knows a lot more commands that some of the fully grown dogs there. (sorry to blow my own trumpet!)

I am well and truely knackered now though, thankfully this week it only lasted one hour instead of two. I'll be ready to drop at the end of next weeks class!

And shadow hardly did her head thing at all, I explained it to the trainer, and he was fine about it, put my mind at rest. So all in all quite a sucess!
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bluemerle lover
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11-01-2006, 10:30 PM
aww im so glad it went well for you and shadow at training class and be asked to move up group cos shadow new certain commands is brilliant well done
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Wysiwyg
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11-01-2006, 10:34 PM
Sounds as if it went really well
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Shadowboxer
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Location: Shadowland, Australia
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Female  Diamond Supporter 
 
11-01-2006, 10:36 PM
Sounds as though Shadow made a good impression - well done Especially good as it was her first class with lots of unfamiliar dogs and people to provide distractions. As you have discovered, chain leads are not the best idea for training Hope your fingers have recovered!

Are you using treats in class to lure and reward? If so make sure that they are really something special. When heeling always hold the treat in the hand closest to the dog. Let her know that it is there. Give the command 'heel'. Step off on the foot closest to the dog and take just two or three steps, and if she is beside you reward her, another 2-3 steps & reward, and so on. You need to reward very frequently when starting to teach heel so that the dog learns that it is far more rewarding to stay close to you (the provider of good things) than it is to lunge or lag

Again - well done you and Shadow
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shadow_the_staff
Dogsey Senior
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Location: South Wales
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Posts: 548
Female 
 
11-01-2006, 10:46 PM
Originally Posted by Shadowboxer
Sounds as though Shadow made a good impression - well done Especially good as it was her first class with lots of unfamiliar dogs and people to provide distractions. As you have discovered, chain leads are not the best idea for training Hope your fingers have recovered!

Are you using treats in class to lure and reward? If so make sure that they are really something special. When heeling always hold the treat in the hand closest to the dog. Let her know that it is there. Give the command 'heel'. Step off on the foot closest to the dog and take just two or three steps, and if she is beside you reward her, another 2-3 steps & reward, and so on. You need to reward very frequently when starting to teach heel so that the dog learns that it is far more rewarding to stay close to you (the provider of good things) than it is to lunge or lag

Again - well done you and Shadow
we are using treats, i decided to take cheese as shadow loves cheese, again not one of my best ideas, as it was very hot, and went quite mushy! The trainers were using cooked liver, i think i'll try that next week, i might even buy some liver tablets, I had some of those free before and shadow really liked them (pressed liver powder).

I must admit the whole experience was quite a shock, so many dogs in one place, and the noise! hopefully they'll get calmer as each week goes by......I hope!
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Meg
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Location: Dogsey and Worcestershire
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Female  Diamond Supporter 
 
12-01-2006, 01:12 AM
Hi Rachel I am so glad things went well for Shadow and that her little disability caused few problems ...
I make liver treats for training..
..slice and simmer some liver in a little water for about 15 mins,
..next dice the liver and place it on a baking tray,
..then cook in the oven until hard, this takes about 20 mins
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Vicki
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12-01-2006, 06:36 AM
Mini, that's so industrious of you. I'm dead lazy, and buy the mini cocktail sausages, already cooked, and cut them into small pieces and freeze them. Lennon would happily backflip for them
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shadow_the_staff
Dogsey Senior
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Location: South Wales
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Posts: 548
Female 
 
12-01-2006, 08:44 AM
Originally Posted by Minihaha
Hi Rachel I am so glad things went well for Shadow and that her little disability caused few problems ...
I make liver treats for training..
..slice and simmer some liver in a little water for about 15 mins,
..next dice the liver and place it on a baking tray,
..then cook in the oven until hard, this takes about 20 mins
Thats a good tip, Thank you!
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Bodhi
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Location: Wales
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12-01-2006, 12:00 PM
Well Done!!

We still haven't started classes, as I don't think I will be round here long enough - and would rather start and finish at the same place!!

Sounds like it went well
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ALexa
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Location: Oxfordshire
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12-01-2006, 02:50 PM
Well done, it sounds like everything went really well for you
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