We started at our local dog club yesterday evening, preparing for KC silver. This time it's not a set course, just weekly till enough of us are ready to take the test. I don't always agree with what the trainer says (she's into disapproval if your dog gets it wrong) but I like her as a person and simply carry on training in my own way. (It's a club where we just pay £2 a week if we turn up, so all the course leaders are volunteers). I like it as a social occasion and it's useful to have the chance to try exercises with the distraction of other dogs. It will also spur me on to make sure I train regularly between classes - we've slacked off a bit this summer! One of the other owners has a very good 10 month old Vizsla and she was telling me that she's trained by following the kikopup videos on youtube. I've looked at these before but am going to have another browse for tips. Anyway, one of the silver test exercise is 'play with your dog' !! Struck me as a bit strange, but an easy one for us - even with 9 other dogs around her, Molly was completely focused on me during our game of tug. Loose lead walking is also no problem - we didn't practise the walking around town but that should be OK. The 'stay' wasn't so good - Molly moved after just over a minute and we need to manage 2 minutes. 'Leave it' clearly also needs some work (and I thought I had this cracked) as Molly lunged forward and gulped down the sausage in front of her! Recall's fine, including from distractions, which we did as walking off-lead away from the other dogs.
Sounds like quite a good social class. It's good that you can go whenever you want and aren't commited to a specific length of time. I've always taught Harley how I want to, but picked up a lot of tips from different trainers. Sounds like you get quite a bit out if the sessions . Our wait is ok, but we can only go about a minute max! Good luck on getting the silver - I believe you will crack all of the things you need to to pass
I'm sure you'll nail it when the time comes Great that the class is flexible enough so you can use your own approach when you need to. An exercise that involves ignoring a whole sausage - that's tough!!!
LOVE the kikopup videos Sounds like a good class. It's important the instructor respects how you want to train. As for leaving a sausage!!! Blimey that's tough
We did our classes they were great fun. Meg loved the socialisation and I loved that time out with her. We were never totally brilliant nailing all the exercises in class but on the day she was a star. I took her for a long walk that morning and she also did her bronze earlier that day too. I think she was pretty tired and the dreaded 2 minute stay was a breeze. Enjoy your classes and the test will be fine
I think Labradors should be excused the "leave the sausage" exercise. That's one for those fussy, dainty border collie types.....
I hope you will continue to let us know how your class progresses and how you like it. Here in Canada we have a Canine Good Neighbour certificate (it may be a title now, not sure) but you have three different designation levels and I think even your bronze is harder than our CGN.
I'm another big fan of the Kikopup videos. They really are very good. Good luck with the KC Silver. With the Stay, I suspect that if you can manage 1min then it will re relatively easy to build up to 2min. The big difference, of course, when you do it at class compared to home is that there are lots of distractions - this, imo, is where to focus your efforts (pretty sure there is a Kikopup video where she is throwing toys as a distraction).
We are hoping to get our bronze and silver tested soon. He has a good solid wait but it's the leave we needs a lot more practice. He also needs to walk nicely along the road outside - without pulling to the nearest hedge to pee!
I've been thinking about the stay and just looked again at the kikopup video, which has made me think that I need to teach a release cue. When Molly gets up too soon from a stay she doesn't run off (even today in the recreation ground with other dogs around) - she walks towards me. This is what she did in the scout-hut dog class too. In the kiko pup video she says that if you don't train a release cue then when you ask for longer stays so you're ignoring your dog for longer, the dog may start to offer other behaviours. Anyway I think I'll give that a try.
You absolutely need a release cue to train a really reliable stay. It has to be crystal clear to the dog when they can move, and this is what a release cue does. Also, don't use your stay cue in a casual way around the house and fail to release properly - that's the other thing that ruins a good stay. I use the cue "wait" and always release or give another cue. OH and the rest of my family tell him "stay" and then wander off - fine, he has to then decide when he can get up. But on "wait" he never decides, he waits for his release (or another cue).
Good luck , we are also preparing for the silver test on the 26th, the food manners and call away from distractions off lead are the 2 I'm most worried about .....but apparently you can sit the dog facing you, unclip lead and call the dog quickly as a tip from our trainer , Bella will find this a tricky one but I thought we might as well give it a go anyway
