As I said if you want to do it fine, I just dont. You are welcome to visit my unhappy, miserable dogs any time, see how not learning "tricks" has made them.

My pup has been to ringcraft once, ask my boss, she did NOT and does NOT require any form of "trick" training to get her to show well. She free stands by using the word "stay." I can move her legs if I wish and the only thing I say is "stay." When standing on the table, same applies, when moving I simply call her name to start off with and she trots by my side. Youre welcome to come see if you choose to believe life with dogs is all about tricks!

Lol at you Dawn, mine are miserable too!!!!

I'm glad you CAN see it from my perspective, because to me, having spent the last year training and training and training again with a new puppy, a very driven one, who needed so much stimulation it was quite unbelievable, now that she's everything and more than I could ever have wished for in both manners and obedience, it's time to stop all that and have some fun. I'm luckier than a lot of peops, in that I'm always here with them or out with them, and if I do go out, it's never for more than an hour or so in the mornings, so the rest of our day is spent together, whether that be out walking, playing at home in the garden, going down the beach, meeting up with friends with dogs, or crossing over the road to do an agility class it all involves her learning something whatever that be. Jeeeze, we never crossed a main dual carraigeway until 3 weeks ago when we started our agility class, so that was in itself a learning curve having to sit and wait in the middle with lorries, motorbikes the lot whizing past us and thanks to all that previous training all went smoothly, let alone the agility course itself!

Somehow I just can't see my breed prancing around having dancing lessons or spinning in circles, I'll leave that one for the corgi's, coz I still feel, no matter what has been said by others, that I am making a fool out of them, they're not that type of dog, I have the utmost respect for them, same as they do for me, and dance lessons somehow takes the mick! That's just my opinion and the way I feel about this trick training, and for me, personally, I get greater satisfaction (and I'm sure Zena does!) when I'm out with a friend, our dogs are playing together, and I suddenly ask for a down, she stops playing and flattens on the floor staring adoringly at me waiting for her next command, now that's the real thing to me!!!

Helena
I understand all you are saying there
and my dogs get all of that as well - but they also get 5 min of 'trick' training a few times a week.
Spinning in circles and weaving between my legs is something I am lots of agility people do to warm up their muscles
I take offence at you saying that those things are making a fool out of my dog
They splat into a 'down' with the same happy intsnsity that they go round in a circle, I cannot see they treat either of the behaviours as anything different - either both are tricks to the dogs or none of them are

You are free to train or not train your dog in any way you want - but it is out of line to suggest that if people do more than the basics they are making a fool of their dogs, not showing it respect and 'prancing' about

Personaly my two picked up 'sit' and 'down' so quickly and enjoyed it so much I couldnt have just stuck with that

How is weaving between poles, 'prancing' over a dogwalk, taking jumps, walking to heel and lying down so different to weaving tru legs, running round a tree, shaking hands with a nervous child who has always been scared of dogs??

Fair enough that you dont want to teach them - I think you will find people think agility is just as 'bad' and taking the pi$$ out of your dog
But you have seen the joy in your dogs face so you know different

Thats fair enough Helena but I like mine to be able to do that as well. Training tricks doesn't exclude other things.

One of the first things I teach any dog is the instant down trick-----it can be a life saver.

One of the fun things about the multisports is that it covers such a wide spectrum of things.

rune

Well, I certainly didn't mean to cause offence, but I was actually referring to MY dogs not anybody else's in my post???? My dogs are german shepherds, they are not the type of dog IMO who spins around in circles and dances, I'd far rather have the impression in my mind that they are something far from that that's all.

When you say about prancing over a dog walk, when I saw the sheer look of intensity on MY dog's face when zooming across it, it was the furthest thing from "prancing" you could have got imo! Tell me honestly, have you ever seen a german shepherd dancing on a stage? I've seen collies and bitsa's and allsorts, but never a german shepherd, but you are welcome to show me one

I'd much rather have the implant in my own mind of just what these dogs do in life, and dancing and trickery is not one of them IMO! Again, I'm not slating anybody who does this, anybody's dog who does this, it's just NOT for me and it's not for MY dogs. Use their minds, yes, by all means, you can't do enough of that but I like to do it without making a cissy out of them. Perhaps if they could talk they'd tell me differently?

As for my agility classes, I do it for sheer pleasure both mine and Zena's not to get into competition with it, and I do it to expand her mind, use her brain and let her have a bit of an outlet in a different kind of way, which doesn't involve instilling more commands/training into her. She does it for fun, I'm not going to be making her do it RIGHT, it's a fun thing with us!

actually, Daisy loves HTM and agility, and anything else I can think of to keep her brain active. What she likes most is interacting with me (which is Play for her). So she does Rollovers, spins, emergency drop, fetch from water etc. - and feels dead chuffed about doing it.

See that's what we do most of the day "interact" together all the time, she gets my FULL attention (until hubby comes home, well, you know, you have to give them some attention some of the time!!!) When we're out, I don't just walk my dogs or stand there and chat like a lot of dog owners around here do, and chuck the ball with a chuckit, NO, we walk, different place each time, in the woods, I hide stuff, we get lost sometimes, we play all the time,coz I act the fool with them, nobody is about and whoever is knows me well enough to know I'm completely mad, that's stimulation in itself surely? All of that........ except the dancing and trickery!

Zymi loves learning Cava can't be bothered Both very easy to live with.

Bit like Marmite if you like it you can't see why others don't and vice versa.

I'm sure all our dogs have a great life with or without tricks