Obedience Weekend

Well i have been on a two day course thgis weekend down near Swansea. It was Brill! Kay Raven & lyn Green took it, they both have lovely successful motivated dogs in obedience, & Kay also trains animals for TV & film & was Antons Trainer in Underdogs.
Anyway this was a obedience course, it was brill, I really enjoyed it was it was different to other courses i have been on & they really break down bits ,work alot on Statics, but it is very precise & very techical & very slowly moving on. Very interesting for me (as i usually charge ahead & "see how it goes") just to take things slowly & think!!!!!

Anyway picked up some good tips to try on both dogs.

Though they arent really "clicker" they do adovcate the use of a "marker" word, which was working really well with Mav, & we actually had him a "marker" word for "thats brill keep doing it" & for "thats brill heres your reward"

Anyway! thats my weekend!!!!!!

Ive got two days off work now Holiday, spo i can relax, recover & TRAIN, & walk them too !!!!! (& sleep!! )

Sounds like a great weekend do you have any photos to share?

Sounds fab - have heard of marker words before - although never used them - from memory do you prime it like the clicker?

Think I was given X as an example - but felt it sounded a bit too close to s*x so people might get the wrong idea !

Glad you had a good time! piccies would be great

No no photos!!!!! sorry!!!!

You condition it just like the clicker,

I ended up with 3 words

"lovely" =thats fabulous just keep doing it

"Good" (said in a very punchy way) ='Click' thats exactly what i want & your treat is coming

"get it" get the treat/toy,

I also yes "yes" sometimes , esp with flynn.


Though they do use clickers from time to time, they prefer the marker words as they fine the clicker a little unemotional.
Wheras a Great clicker purist i know likes the clicker because it takes the emotion out of her training! horses for courses!!!!!

the main thing they were helping with Mav, was although he has a high head carriage when working he always drops it on my first step off, so we were working on that, Statically. Worked a treat too, it has also helped his Slow pace too, which i have just started teaching him, as although at Normal & Fast pace when hes driving & trotting his head comes up naturally i think when hes walking at slow he was finding it hard to drive & keep the head up.
But think thats sorted now!

God i love working that dog, hes so bright & hes not really sensitive so i can try new things & if they dont work he dosent worry, (wheras Flynn is a complete worrier & i cant change much once hes learnt it or he falls apart.) hes lovely to teach too, really picks things up!

now that is something I would love to do......do you take your dogs or is it just class room based?

Some people (inc me) took our dogs & some peeps just went as spectators.

You cant really win, if you go just as a spectator you ALWAYS wish you had taken your dog, & if you take your dog you always think that spectators learen much more as they can watch everything. However infact i picked up some good tips from the other people!

To add , what waas REALLY interesting is that there were 4 pups there, aged 7 months, 3 litter sisters & their brother, it was FASCINATING to watch & compare them, their differences & similaritys!

do you know if they are planning any more or if there is a website?