I think Mic was more annoyed with the fact she wasnt fully applying herself to the task at hand. Mic puts a lot of effort in and wants to see that reciprocated. A simple bit of reading up in the evening was all that was asked of her, and she didnt bother, so I can understand why he got annoyed.

Yes, it was definitely a different judge this time, and harsh on some, easy on others. How the lab got a distinction i do not know!! The jack had to walk through a crowd of people and performed magnificently for a mere pass. The lab had to be recalled and walk past some food. Ok, easy not to mess up, but at the same time 2 very different tests and i think with the wrong outcome. The owner of the Jack clearly progressed more, and has got more out of the programme, so I guess thats what more important. Just hard not to be competitive!

I think each week has a different judge, and i know the one in a few weeks was really quite nasty and I know one set of owners and trainer have some fond memories of her. Just hope we dont look to nasty!

AJL are you o0n the programme?

I think the new lady is great, can't fault her so far, although the test was tough on the JRT, think it was more the lady that was stressed out though I have to say...

Bit fed up of seeing the one guy using...a rattle bottle AGAIN! Try something new PLEASE!

Mic was rough with the lab.
No need to drag him by the collar.
It was a young dog, full of hormones that made good progress.
Mic sulked again because he had a female lab owner who didn't like him very much and didn't respond well to his methods, from what I could see.
He described a lab as the ferrari of the dog world at one point...sorry to all lab owners out there, but aren't labs pretty easy to train and as such a good dog for a first timer???? Not impressed by Mic at all this week I'm afraid.

"Good dog training and behaviour work is as much about, or more about, , working with people as it is with dogs."

Absolutly agree, but this is the one thing I have to work on, my people skills. My parents made me tactless, and i find it difficult when working with not-so-enlightened owners, to make them see the dog as I see it. Especially if the dog has potential... and is being treated like a dumbo, unfairly.

Alisa,
I agree with you about the ferrari thing, and to be honest what 'small dog' (he mentioned she should have) would not run circles round her, she wasn't very bright, and didn't (from what i saw) apply herself at all. There is so much to learn from those 3 trainers, she didn't seem all that bothered, and in the end still had to use the rattle. For me that is something you use in training, to teach the command (if all else fails mind ) and not something that she should be reliant on everytime she goes out with him, which i suspect it might turn into.
I think the reason they use such *extreme* measures first, (like the rattle bottle and the dragging the lab about) is because they only have one week. I would never try to get a dog to behave immaculate in one week, and for me 9/10 cases is that the dog isn't getting the excerise, so the first priority is recall in a secure garden, and then recall outside so that the dog is able to get off lead. In most of my cases the dog stops the behaviour in the house (chewing, barking, over-excitedness) as they are satisfied (ie. tired). I have 3 labs I am currently training, and it wondered if the breed has gone mad... they are all hyper, but unlike a staffy who might chew the house up, or a collie who might become obsessive, labs just bounce of the walls if not stimulated. Sad to see, esp. as the owners think it's just ''puppy behaviour'' (in a year old HUGE dog) *sigh*

We had a little dog who ran circles round us. We now have a little dog that still has her moments, but she responds to us better and I think as a 'family' we're all getting on as we should be!

We didnt have a rattle bottle, but a water pistol instead. We were using a quick squirt to the body whenever she was doing something wrong (the list was long im afraid to say, because we used to let her get away with murder) and we have had good results. Maybe its not the best method, but I feel better than the bottle, and its certainly worked for us.

But as a previous poster said - there were 3 trainers there which was a great opportunity to learn, and I certainly feel we did and made the most of it.

We also got our dog doing agility - having read some previous threads on this I hope its ok. She absolutely loved it, hands were on her for support only, not to coax up things, and my god can she jump!!

I agree with much of what you've said Jess.
I have to disagree a little with the offlead thing curing a lot.
Our current pup hardly ever gets offlead because he is dog focused...totally!
He does however get a lot of lead walks, i've just got in from one and we were out for an hour and a half. In that time he's done a LOT of obedience work and has been on a bus, met lots of people and been in and out of shops. He is now more exhausted than he would have been had he been to the park, as he's been using his brain as well as his brawn(sp?)
I've found this with all the dogs I've had...they are much more tired after say a training class, than they ever are after offf lead exercise as they are mentally and physically exhausted.
Some people can't let their dogs off lead, some dogs recall may always be totally appalling, but they can exercise their dogs on lead, just as well as offlead, it just takes being a little more inventive that's all.
Did agree with a lot of what you've said though.

are you on the programme AJL ...

have i missed something here

Afraid so! Think we're on soon, not sure. Very worried about it all! Seems to be some negativity towards it all!

Hope its made more fun seeing Mic with our dog - certainly not what he expected!

But thoroughly enjoyed the time there, We feel we have learnt a great deal, but also only scratched the surface on what else there is to learn.

We're hoping to get Saffy (our dog) into some more formal training session and also some agility to further what Mic taught us.

Have to share this with you. Saffy was milling around by my feet chewing her toy as we watched Mic with Dave the rotty. When Mic shouted "NO" at Dave, Saffy instantly stopped chewing the toy, sat down, and stared intently at the TV at Mic!!! Think she misses him!

do you have a date when you will be on ?

sorry i thought you were a trainer not a dog owner who has been on the show

appologies

wow AJL, how interesting! Please tell us what dog you have, and if it is anything like it appears on tv. I bet it's so much nicer and they are only portraying all the bad bits! What was Mic really like with your dog, and what was your dog's 'problem' before you trained. Was it really so 'military' like, or was it more about getting you to understand how your dog's mind works?!

Alisa,
it's braun ( )

absolutely, using the brain is tiring! I agree, but I start with simple recall, and letting the dog off the lead. It is amazing how they associate a good romp about at the park with me (making me look good *angel*) lol, and they grew to really like me very quickly, making it easy for me to start training. Some of them have never worked for reward before and find it daunting.
Aside from that, there is my old thing, about loving to see dogs play off lead. I don't know why it affects me so much, it's clear not everyone feels the same way, but I hate to hear of dogs never getting of lead, or being kennelled for a long while without a good play. But again, just me!

Isn't it exciting we have someone from the show on here, that's so cool....

Not sure whether to tell you what dog it is just yet! Still very very worried about the slating some of the people have recieved (even though i agree with some of it!)

Suffice to say, Mic was very very surprised!

I think we had the usual issues that most bad owners have - very bad recall, chewing, grabbing anything she can reach and chewing. Just things we had let her get away with and failed to get on top of early. Alot of the work with mic was on the 'No' command with positive reinforcement, so treats when they respond well. Although also using a water pistol when she wasnt paying any attention - I apologise now if people think this isn't right, but its a technique we have been taught, and we have found it to work. She is now wont go near things on the floor when we walk, such as mushrooms, whereas before she would eat them. A life saver really!

With mic, there is a lot of structure to how he teaches, and he is only tough on you if you mess up or dont try. I guess his argument is if you are willing to squirt water/shake stones at your dog when it messes up, why should you be allowed to make mistakes unpunished? Certainly worked for me - had to do 10 press ups so soon learnt! I have a great deal of respect for him, and the image you see on TV is just one side of him. He has a deep understanding of all types of dogs, and hopefully our show will show a lighter side to him. Bet he hates it!

He got us doing agility, recalls, searches, retrieves. Showed as that we shouldnt just take her for a walk. So we now try and make her work on her walks, hiding her toys and making her work on her searching, always practicing our recall, and just generally letting her be a dog!

My girlfriend has a dog that she can let off the lead on walks with minimal worry (still never near main roads - just dont want to find out the hard way she likes cars) and I have a dog that can play fetch!

All in all, the show worked wonders for us. I appreciate we could have got the same results in a number of different ways, but the opportunity was presented to us in this way, so I hope you understand why we took it.

As for when its on - maybe episode 5 or 6, not too sure.