There is a doggie day care that just opened in town last year, I have followed their Facebook page as I thought I might be in need of their services a time or two. Earlier in the fall the owner posted about doing a drop in for people who wanted to work on clicker training. Unfortunately that fell through, but I saw yesterday that she is now offering a couple of different classes for December and January: novice Trick Dogging or Beginning Scent Detection. Called her today, the Scent Detection class was full (drat, would have liked to try that!) but still spaces in the other class. So....I think I'm going to give it a go! I've always wanted to do some kind of fun thing with my dogs but I have never had the opportunity, this little town I live in has nothing like that to go to...until now . I However I am a little worried about how Simba will cope in a class environment, the only time he is with other dogs is at the dog park, and it's all play, play, play. I talked with her about this, and she said she occasionally runs drop in agility classes (1 hour) for people to bring their dogs to work on stuff, and that I could bring Simba down to one and see how he does with focus on me while there are other dogs around. She is setting up one of those drop ins on Saturday!! So, it will be interesting...I really hope he can manage it, it would be so fun to take him to classes and learn stuff!! And she is completely clicker-training/positive reinforcement based. Will keep you posted, hopefully it won't be a complete disaster on Saturday and we will be good to go for the course....
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Can't wait to hear about it! I tried some agility with my old Lab/Husky mix and he seemed to love it, whereas my Lab, Molly, was only so-so. (No frisbee, so she saw no point to it at all!). We really have nothing out here except poorly run beginner obedience classes. (I could run a better class than the current young instructor, but I take Daisy for the socializing aspect.) Take pictures, if you can .
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? First step is to get through the Saturday session. I'm not exactly sure what Trick Dogging is (which is what the classes are), she said they learn 15 different tricks with a possible certificate at the end. I don't really care what it is, it's the only game in town, so to speak, so I'm going to go for it if I can. Definitely will take pics if I can....
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? That sounds greeeat!!! With more exposure, the better he will get. So even if session 1 goes a bit awry, try again
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? That is great! If Simba is anything like Charlie (I'm sure he can't be as bad) then you'll just have to work on focus at first. Stick with it though, it'll be worth it!
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Great! Wonderful opportunity for you to make dog contacts too.....or know who to avoid Hope it goes really well.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? [quote author=Lisa link=topic=8823.msg125106#msg125106 date=1416373734] I don't really care what it is, it's the only game in town, so to speak, so I'm going to go for it if I can. Definitely will take pics if I can.... [/quote] I hear you! It might take a few sessions ....remember me last week when I went register for the bronze good citizen award? ....I had a dolphin on a lead!the previous eve at the place dexter is used to he was like an obedience champion ...Let us know how it goes,good on this lady for setting something up x
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? that sounds really interesting! Looking forward to hearing how you get on with Simba.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Sounds good Lisa, hoping that Simba enjoys it , you too, look forward to hearing about it
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Fingers crossed Lisa, might really help you both through the winter months too!
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Sounds really promising. I hope you are planning on detailed reports after each session (Julie has set the bar for this sort of thing ).
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? [quote author=UncleBob link=topic=8823.msg125373#msg125373 date=1416437482] I hope you are planning on detailed reports after each session (Julie has set the bar for this sort of thing ). [/quote] I do try to limit myself to 2000 words a session, you know...it's difficult. I type fast! ;D ;D ;D
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? What a result Lisa, I am sure Simba will love it and I really look forward to reading your report. Good luck!! xx
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? That's great Lisa I'm sure Simba will do well. Will look forward to reading all about it and done worry if he's a bit over excited on Saturday it's to be expected really it's a new experience for him. Good luck and fingers crossed.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? We'll if he can't manage to focus on me, etc at the Saturday drop in then he won't be able to go to the class. So a little bit nervous about it. I'm going to take him to the dog park tonight and see if any other dogs are there and try to get the pooch to go through his sit/stay/leave it etc to see if he can do it. Somehow I doubt anyone will be there. Anyway one step at a time. If we do okay Saturday the classes start Dec. 2.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Good luck! Dig out the best treats ever - I still go to class armed with a few king prawns (I only need a few these days, but started off going through 2 trays a class!). And click for even a microsecond of attention on you. With Charlie I had to do it for hours, really hours, until I had a dog that could work around others. But that's because he'd just come off his awful crate rest. I doubt he'd have been quite so bad otherwise.
Re: Simba - Novice Trick Dog??? Same with Riley although the treats weren't as classy (king prawns - he wishes!). I went places I knew he struggled to focus on me rather than the myriad of smells and asked for the tiniest bits of attention - a glance, a look....then a sit (with a look! not a half arsed effort trying to creep away to sniff something : ) or a hand touch. That was months ago and if we struggle anywhere I still go back to these.....it really seems to get his brain in gear that he's going to be asked to do stuff. Generally his level of engagement with me has increased. I'm a massive fan of having a few really, really simple things to do so that you always have something to reward and always feel like you've achieved something ;D
