Tomorrow we're off to our first dog training class and it's a little daunting! Kipper's 8 months old now and we'd planned to start classes a lot earlier, but due to various kerfuffles of admin this was the first class we've actually managed to sign up for so far. It's a 10 week programme in a local village hall, so we're approaching it with a 'take what's useful, leave the rest' philosophy and it'll hopefully be a good opportunity to meet more doggy friends. I thought I'd keep a log of our experiences to see how we progress (or not!) over the next few weeks - the main challenge will probably be keeping up the updates!
Well, our first session was surprisingly good! It covered sit, lie down, stay, walking to heel and recall. As it happened, my husband took part in the session and I watched from the back, which was fascinating and taught me a lot! Top 3 things were: 1. Kipper has learnt a lot already! We were so proud of his behaviour and how quickly he picked things up in the session, but it also made me realise how much he’s already taken on board from our training at home. 2. Simplicity is key. My husband is far less ‘chatty’ with Kipper than me, and it got good results quickly. 3. The sky’s the limit! And actually some things can be tightened up simply by asking just a little more, e.g. sitting in the right place rather than ‘in the region of’. I knew it’d be a case of training us just as much as Kipper, but so far it’s given me a lot of confidence in my training abilities, as well as reminded me how to give clearer, more helpful directions.
Interesting. It's the opposite for us. I am really chatty with Coco and he responds well to me. OH is a lot less talkative and he does struggle with a few things. Our trainer often reminds the handlers to "talk to your dog" when he feels everyone is plodding about in silence.
That is interesting; I guess it also depends what we're doing, I tend to encourage a lot more so if it's something perhaps a bit more challenging (like searching games) Kipper tends to stick with it with me whereas he loses interest more easily with others. At the training class there was a lot of extra noise going in, so I wondered if my OH's clear simple instructions helped Kipper to focus? We'll have to swap next time and see if we get different results...
In our training classes we were encuoraged NOT to talk but to use your body language and hand signals more.
Yesterday was Kipper's second training session and my husband took him by himself so I could work (endlessly finishing a PhD). It was excellent actually, as he said that he's really keen to keep taking Kipper and build up the training between them, which I'm thrilled about. Apparently they did more walking to heel, sit and stay and recall work and Kipper was consistently very good, focussing well and keeping up concentration whilst some of the other dogs were struggling a bit. Some of the other owners don't seem to bring treats with them, which must make it tricky to keep focus and reward. I thought one exercise sounded particularly interesting; handlers took turns to walk their dogs to the end of the hall, sit them, get them to stay/wait and walk backwards away from the dog. They then called the dog, the first time in a low key, bored voice, and everyone observed the reaction. They then did the whole exercise again but called the dog in an excited, happy voice. It's so simple, but apparently the difference was huge in terms of speed and enthusiasm of response! Kipper also started lying down in between training sessions, which I'm guessing is down to a) it being a bit warmer this week; and b) him being more relaxed. And apparently he tried to eat the rubber matting on the floor of the village hall, so wasn't quite perfectly behaved! (phew!). One thing we're noticing is that he often sits with his legs to one side or the other (what I saw elsewhere on the forum called a "sloppy sit"), so we're going to try and sharpen this up. We have a tiled kitchen floor which he finds very slippery for sitting on and his little legs always slide outwards, I'm a bit worried for his joints so we might try and get a rug. It is a basic class, and we've done a lot of work with him on basics already so I'm not suprised he's doing well, but it's as much about building a training bond and sharpening up the simple stuff. So far, it's paying off in buckets!
This has filled us with some reassurance! We have a near 5 month old pup and haven't enrolled for any training, we are going to start working training at the end of June. I will have a look at some more classes around us now that I have an example that it isn't too late. Good luck with the training and keep us updated
Definitely not too late in my humble opinion at our class there was only one pup younger than Kipper at 8 months and she is 5 months, the rest are all grown ups and there for all sorts of reasons. Good luck with your search, I’d love to hear how you get on! We’re thinking of working classes down the line.
I realised I'm a bit late with last weeks' log, but we've also had useful discussions on the training sessions. Last Wednesday my husband took Kipper to training again, and they did more heel walking and some stay-while-down-on-the-lead and stay-at-a-distance work. Kipper was good walking to heel in the hall, and when the trainer mentioned it my husband said something along the lines of "it's a different story when we're outside!" so the trainer took everyone outside to walk around the next door car park. Kipper was predictably less focussed, but when my husband was getting his attention and then rewarding in position, one of the trainng assistants told him not to treat and instead use his voice and a lead correction. There was some comment from the trainer about not needing treats. The trainer also suggested a slip lead would be beneficial, and the impression was that it was used as a correction aid. Since the first class she's been encouraging everyone not to use harnesses and instead have flat collars and slip leads "because it gives you more control". When my husband was telling me all about the training when he got back, this was starting to ring alarm bells in my head; but I'm also aware that I tend to be overly anxious when it comes to Kipper, so I sat on it for a bit. However, we had a great chat about training last night and my husband has similar qualms about the classes - at the start it was all fun, emphasising the positive, using rewards etc., but now 3 classes in it has increasingly moved towards 'corrections' and being 'firm' with your dog including using the voice in a negative way and using physical pressure get the dog to sit, lie down etc. He said that as Kipper's such a lovely happy dog and we've only ever used positive training methods it feels increasingly wrong to follow the more mixed approach of this trainer. So we're going to stop going, which makes me more relieved than I realised! Eventually I'd like to find another class but will definitely check it out more thoroughly, go and observe a class and talk to other owners before signing up. And if anyone can recommend good classes in Devon do message me, I'd love ideas
@HAH, I sympathise completely, it is so difficult to find a trainer that really provides good up to date methods -- I think the thing is that this Forum is so much to the fore in modern dog training that we quickly become knowledgable ourselves, and once you have adopted +R training then you simply can't accept anything less. I'm not from your part of the world so I can't suggest anyone. Or maybe you could look on the Gundog Club website and see if there is a +R gundog trainer near you?
Thanks @selina27, that's kind; your point about the expertise here is one I hadn't fully recognised, the general ethos is clearly is at the forefront of +R (nice shortcut!) so the bar is that much higher. Which it should be, and that doesn't daunt me at all! But worth recognising so I know what we're asking for. We're keen to do a lot of 'home schooling' but are far from experts so will definitely benefit from specialist advice down the line - the Gundog Club is a great suggestion. In the meantime thank Jiminy for the forum!
Your alarm bells are correct - you are definitely not being over-anxious. Slip leads are for well trained dogs only, not for training heel! We have so few trainers here, I have settled for one that does use correction and harsh words some of the time BUT I do tons of training at home, and attending class is purely for the distractions and the play time. He NEVER gets to use the harsh bits with my dog. Ever. Luckily, the trainer is respectful of my wishes and we do get on well. And Coco does really like our trainer despite his shortcomings
THANK you @edzbird, really appreciate the reassurance (I do lose perspective at times ) Quite understand the challenge with available trainers, hopefully this will ease everywhere over time. You clearly have the strength of character to make the best of your classes and stay firm on what you won't do with Coco, brava for that! I'm a bit compliant when out of my depth, but improving...
I think you’ve made the right decision. ‘Devon Dogs’ are at Okehampton - these are the Absolute Dogs people, definitely reward based. IMDT if you search here https://www.imdt.uk.com/find-a-qualified-imdt-trainer.html you may find someone near enough. Force-free and trainers have to be reassessed every two years to retain membership.
Brilliant, thanks @Joy - I'd completely forgotten that avenue, and we have vouchers for them! What a donkey V useful IMDT link too, thank you.
That's so useful for me too! I see that there are 3 near me, and all this time I didn't know just because I didn't know where to look!
