Feel a fraud putting this in training as its more just one of my stories ,so popped it in here but I was really chuffed! My nephew has stayed with me this weekend,basically in quarantine as my Sis and the rest of the family are all down with a nasty bug and they all fly to the Uk on Tuesday for the Summer... I digress,days start at 5.30 am round with us...get Dex out for his walk at 6 am...beat the heat ...then from 10 am-4 pm children,animals and adults too if I'm honest are house bound as the temps are in the mid 40s. Dex and George were getting restless around 3..... So I said come on let's play Hide and Seek.This usually bears no similarity to the game you all know ,especially when I have the 2 kids but basically George hides....me and Dex wait and count and then go and find him.i get Dex in sit or lie down and we count ( always been great practice for stays) system usually breaks down when you have got 2 kids giggling and calling him and changing their hiding places at the last minute ....oh and usually fighting....totally distracting to Dexter.However yesterday it was like something just clicked......same haphazard format.....George giving a running commentary on the pros and cons of his hiding places.....calling Dexter then telling him no I'm not ready!!!Me talking back to George,then I looked down at Dex and he was sat totally visually locked onto me,tuning everything else out and just waiting for me to say Find him...... So building on success when we had exhausted H and S ,I said come on let's play Find the Toy....another little chestnut that works perfectly with Dex and I but frequently ends in tears and fights with the 2 kids .... The children don't understand that we are hiding and finding ONE toy,Dexter gets barraged with his whole collection and it all ends up with everyone running round confused and me secretly freaking out as SIT is getting yelled 15 times and ignored and his name is getting roared over and over again and ignored( that's his recall command )anyway same thing ,Whatever George was hiding ie everything and shouting find it...Dexter just sat perfectly looking at me focussing and waiting for me to give him the instruction before going to find the toy he was supposed to find,much to George's chagrin....'he's not listening to me Aunty!'.... This all happened with only one child in the mix....2 might have been the usual bun fight but I was so proud of my handsome one......he's a good boy but it was such a lovely feeling for a novice like me to think....Ive got him!hes listening to ME and tuning all the shenanigans out! That said I love him and the kids all playing rough and tumble together but sometimes with him being our pet it's hard getting the balance right between the obedience side and the all bets are off let's have capers side! Thankyou for your indulgence ,all have a great day x
Re: Unexpected training opportunity GreAt Story! Kids and my hubby ruin Amy's training but at least I have her during the day!
Re: Unexpected training opportunity Sounds great to me! Sit/stay and pay attention with a child running round would be very, very difficult for Charlie and it sounds like a really practical real life skill (this is at the top of my things to work on list). Also know what you mean about the dog having fun and being well behaved. My husband puts fun first all the time - tells me off a bit for being so focused on getting Charlie to behave well all the time. Although he is beginning to think there might be something in this training lark, now he notices that I've got a good recall with Charlie, and don't get my hands and arms nipped during cuddle time.
Re: Unexpected training opportunity I'm glad it's not just me!I feel like the fun police half the time!there was a period before we gave in and got a harness that I thought Chris and I would divorce!im trying to practice heel work and not pulling and then Chris takes him out on one of those free running leads or just off his lead doing what he wants!! We stopped walking together for a while because we were just bickering......I'm chuckling writing this,what a pair of kids!Chris got fed up of my running commentary...make him sit here,change direction,don't chuck the ball again,he's had 5 throws,get his attention before you give him an instruction ;D ;D ;D!like I know anything!We are a lot better now,although I do get the eye roll occasionally.....probably from both of them!I do think you can tell that it's me that does the training though because even if its 'Chris's' walk.....if he gives an instruction Dexter does look at me as if to say,is it ok?should I do it!!!and I LOVE that!
Re: Unexpected training opportunity Oh my goodness! I wrote somewhere about walks with hubby ending in disagreements. He does everything wrong and his answer for misbehaving is to lock her away. :'(. He is always saying the cheaper puppy we first saw would've trained now. ( was trying to give us one at 5 weeks, fake KC documents, wrong food, just wrong wrong .) Anyway, nice to hear other have puppy based arguments! same with kids I guess, daddys are for fun. ( until someone gets over excited and it ends in a grumpy daddy) :
Re: Unexpected training opportunity This is exactly the same as us! EXACTLY! Even down to the bickering and eye rolling! His solution to Charlie pulling on the lead is to run faster than Charlie - I have pointed out that this is only a very short term feasible strategy until Charlie's legs grow a bit more!
Re: Unexpected training opportunity Oh yes, this all sounds very familiar... OH and I never argue about anything... Except about the dog!! ! He adores her though, and they are a great team. She listens to him very well. But they just have a different way of doing things to my methods. While we were in training for the obedience test we did yesterday (did I mention we PASSED!!! ), we could barely go out for walks together, because I was constantly criticizing and trying to get him to do exactly the same as me. 'Keep her shoulder level with your knee when you walk! dont tell her to sit when you stop, she should do that automatically! Make sure she's sitting properly before you throw the dummy! Line her up with your leg!! Don't take it off her so fast!!!' Etc. sometimes ended with him flinging the lead down and telling me to just go ahead and do it myself... Not surprising, in retrospect. Hopefully we can all chill a bit now... Good boy Dexter, isn't it wonderful when you make a breakthrough like that? Once it gets cooler you can start retrieving work with him - you'll both LOVE that!
Re: Unexpected training opportunity Oh man, can I relate to this. Damon took Obi for his Beginners obedience and you could have cut the air with a knife sometimes ;D We had a few terse exchanges most lessons and once an outright argument after class over the inconsistency of his hand signals. Poor guy. I'm sure our instructor thought we were completely dysfunctional. I took Obi for the next level and the one after that (current class), basically for the sake of our relationship, LOL. Damon comes to all lessons though and is usually given our instructor's elderly but sweet Schnauzer, Otto, to handle for the duration. With Dexter.... Dogs like clear communication. He has worked out that you are the one that is most clearly speaking his language. A good team!!
Re: Unexpected training opportunity Oh Karen,you are still on a high and rightly so!bet you have a big beam on your face everytime you think about yesterday x Chris waited 10 years for me to cave and say yes to a dog.....I've had to learn so much( and don't think I will ever stop ) but Ive realised that I have also had to develop my patience skills,both with Dexter and .....Husband !Exactly like you say,Chris is the same,he is delighted with Dexter and loves him to bits and when I see how happy he makes him,I really try and wind my neck in!....and SOMETIMES I succeed!
Re: Unexpected training opportunity Yay for Obi!! Good job - that would be hard to focus in the chaos! I know what u guys are saying about the hubby and differences in training methods but I have to say I am very proud of my hubs as he has said that the more he thinks about it and sees results that he is coming to understand that the reward based training is the way to go with Simba. So I am so glad that we are on the same page with that! ;D
Re: Unexpected training opportunity angela you are doing brilliant, dexter is so lucky i have not got a hubby, i am the same with my son, he says pack it in, when he is doing anything wrong, i just look and say he doesn't know what you mean, every time he opens his mouth with a command i say you're using the wrong words last week jasper ran off with a sock, mark was opening his mouth saying give it to me,i said what are you doing, trying to get the sock...very smugly i had the clicker in my hand turned to him said leave it, hahaha he dropped it straight away i clicked and treated , turned to him with grin on my face and passed him the sock ;D
Re: Unexpected training opportunity when we first got him i used to run after him.....like a fool , just click and treat saves my legs running after him
