Dobermann Puppy obedience

Hi, I have a 16 week old dobermann pup who will be going in the showring. My mum (who is co-owner) would like to do obedience with her too. she has just taken her through her KC puppy foundation assessment and getting the hang of control. She's not had much experience of dogs but is learning now her confidence is growing.

The main problem we have is pulling on the lead, Mum is struggling (health reasons) so I need to get her to heel quickly. She is very food orientated and at times walks perfectly with me, should I be expecting complete heel constantly by now or still expect her to muck about at times? (Not let her muck about but expect it.)

I use the gentle controller on my adult dobe and find Krystal (pup) walks very well on this but I don't know if this would be detrimental to her flat collar training or good for training her to heel properly first.

I have tried the usual ways of stopping her from pulling(turning round just makes me dizzy). I have started to toughen up now she is comfortable on the lead and no, aahh and steady work well.

Would teaching the command 'watch me' be good and help towards obedience training?

I will be enrolling both of them in a proper obedience class as soon as I find one.

Thanks in advance

Karen

sorry no advice but there are Dobie owners on here, which will be able to help.....hope all goes great in the showring for you all.

She is v young so she will still get easily distracted
but if you are consistant she will get it- it does take time
(says me whos dog is hardley ever on the lead and i need a treat glued to his nose to get a heel in class - good heel off the lead tho)

My bitch is 2 and a half years and still can't walk close consistently!! (She is a dalmatian though so mentally she's probably younger than your pup!)

Good luck with it, I only ever do pet obedience but my motto is don't expect too much too soon - no two dogs are the same so it's hard for anyone to tell you what you should be expecting, you just have to go at your dog's pace.

I think you all talk sense. There is just this smart a**e bloke who has a very obedient dog and he was saying that his retreiver was walking to heel at 12 weeks without treats might I add . He makes everyone feel inferior!

It was mainly advice about the gentle controller possibly interfering with flat collar training and if walking to heel is totally different in obedience work to normal training.

You see I have to train the dog and then my mum bless her!

i use headcollars on my dogs when walking on a walk (when not off the lead)

I actually believe it HELPS my competition HW!

I want my competition HW to be the most fun in the world

Clip showing my Pups HW

Opps wrong cluip try this one!!!!

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t=fcd3b225.pbr


Therefore i want to have a real diffrence between normal walking & HW, i under no circumstances want the dog to feel nagged if its pulling or think its ok to walk by myside not looking at me

Mine wear headcollars (so i can easily hold them)& walk slightly infront of me "out" of position (so they dont get confused)

This is flynn, my ticket dog



http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t=3cb52c94.pbr

who i cant really hold on a normal collar & is always walked on a head collar or a flexi.

Where abouts in Somerset are you? i used to live in Minehead.

Theres a very good club at Brentknoll (junc 22 M5) where i used to go

Karen 16 weeks is a bit early to be asking your dobe to be doing a ring craft heel, but you should have a pretty good street heel. That's not to say that he won't want to pull or play because he is still at that very playful age where the slightest thing can and will distract him.

I must admit that I'm not a fan of all this stop and turn about malarkey. The easiest was I have found to regain their attention is to get them to sit as soon as they start to pull, that way you have not only stopped them from pulling, but you have redirected their attention back onto you and away from whatever they saw.

The one thing I would suggest is that you don't walk them together as you have got two dogs at different levels of training and you don’t want the one to influence the other.

I have never used anything other than a flat leather half-choke collar on my lot, as the very sound of the chain links clicking is enough to slow them down if they started to pull, and I have it placed as close to their shoulders as possible as I'm not a fan of using it as a neck restraint, because as you know the weakest point on a dobe is high up on their necks.

Thats a bit too far to travel unfortunately, I live nearer to Taunton. The puppy club she has just finished is in Sparkford and that is bad enough to get to. My dog club has an obedience section that I shall try first but if it's not any good then will try another.

Any other good starter tips?

I think I understand what you mean, when I work my dogs for the ring I only use the show collar and lead. So basically use the gentle leader on normal walks but when practising for obedience use a flat collar. Also does the dog have to be watching you all the time on HW? if so had better teach her to 'watch me' and where exactly should her shoulder be?


Id ONLY be teaching the watch for competition HW if you want to teach it, On comp HW you do want your dog watching all the time, on a walk i really couldnt care less...thats the dogs "free time" to be a dog, to sniff, look around etc. Her shoulder should be level with your leg. Mavs clip shows the watch & shoulder postion (on the slow pace) quite well, though ive got him abit far back (as a reactuion to flynn being abit forward!!)

Hi Colin, it's not the ring craft heel, just a normal heel and the difference with obedience.

I can't walk them together anyway hon, she is only on one walk a day for about 15 -20 mins and then only if she hasn't got ringcraft or socialisation in the evening. I have seen many dogs ruined by over exercise as I'm sure you have.

I have found the gentle leader to be amazing for Khan even though he is virtually bomb proof, I am in 100% control if there was a problem, especially when I had the baby and took them both out together. I do use a half choke for the ring and when he done his good citizen award. How right you are about their weakest point, it never ceases to amaze me how people try to use a harness on a dobe.

I haven't tried the sit one yet that will be the next weapon in my arsenal Thanks Colin nice to hear from you again.