training tips on watch me and off leash heeling - Page 3

Biv, attaining an advanced AKC OB title on any dog with perfect scores or scores consistently in the high 190's as Win's imports have done is no easy feat for anyone.

Vixen, Blitzen, Dancer and Prancer......Sorry I thought it was cute. Listen only thing two trainers can aggree on is what the third one is doing wrong. I speak only from training dogs for SchH, police and Personal protection. Yes, AKC obedience is a joke in my opinion, but I cannot condemn a person for at least doing something with their dog rather than leave it in the back yard. And yes several of you are right in the fact when it comes to obedience performance that some of the dogs do perform circus tricks. But with the motivation, food, ball etc. it gets the dogs to where they need be for the win. But when it comes to general obedience and especially police and street work the dog must perform 100%. No balls, no toys etc. and not it's head twisted up looking at the handler. Both of my SchH competition dogs that I competed with at Regional and National level have been trained.... NOT BAITED with food and/or toy as a REWARD AFTER the exercise is finished. They perform very well in competition with their head up focused on me. But when they are off the field they are not expected to look up at me and allowed to walk like a normal dog. They hang out with me off leash and come instantly to me when called, Why? because of food?, toy?.... NO! because they have a strong pack drive and are very bonded with me. Food/toy etc , Corrections, Prong collar, Electric collar, Halti, verbal praise, etc. are all tools available to the trainer to train dogs. But all have a place in training without one thing or another used to the extreme. If you use food as a reward after the exercise, so be it, but use it too often and only food... then the dog expects the food everytime. But use the food only when TEACHING an exercise. It works well to manipulate a puppy into a sit when TEACHING the sit, as opposed to choke chain correction for a young dog. Then combination verbal praise and correction when TRAINING/PROOFING the exercise. Now to touch a bit on BIV1996 comments. Yes many many SchH titled dogs can never do the work of a personal protection dog let alone a police dog. But Schutzhund is a sport and good foundation training for SOME of the dogs that have the drive, nerves, fight drive etc. to go on to police dog training. But the dog still needs the training as a patrol dog. That's why when we need a dog for police work we don't waste time with a SchH dogs, we buy the KNPV dogs. About tracking , again for the sport of SchH and ONLY for the sport the dog must track footstep to footstep, but for real work, police, SAR etc. we ALL know that foot steo to foot step tracking is not realistic and will not find a lost child in the woods. Unless that child is inside of one of the footsteps....hey I made a funny. Uwe

Personally I am for anything that involves a man and his dog being in sync. Be it a stupid AKC trick, agility or bringing down the bad guy, it is all in what you and I enjoy doing with our dogs. Different strokes for different folks.

Hello,To all ,I would like to thank all of you for takeing your time in giveing me tips on the watch me !! ....Al

Hi, I read with interest all these comments on training. I'm reading "Cuture Clash" by Jean Donaldson - about the misconceptions caused by the differences between "ape" behaviors vs. "canine" behaviors. She believes that most dog learning is done through conditioning - whether by positive reinforcement or by avoidance of adversives. Since my dog is both food and ball crazy, I make use of both. Any new behavior I teach her starts with using a lure to guide her through steps of the behavior. Once she gets the idea, I'll use food or ball with praise to reward correct execution. She'll get a "fooey" or a leash pop for errors, when we proof the behavior. Finally, it's praise for correct executions and "fooey" for incorrect executions. I've just started to develop "work time" sessions that I interrupt with "play periods" as the reward. To be honest, my dog is nowhere near 100%. If she spots a rabbit or coyote during an off leash walk, she will give chase for a minute or five. It's my fault. She doesn't know the difference between a walk, where we go looking for rabbits verses a walk in a sanctuary, where we should not chase anything. (So I keep her on a leash.) Slowly, but surely, she is making the connection that "leave it" means to ignor the attraction. (I'm primarily focused on getting her to ignor other dogs - and pay attention to me. She's become a rather "bitchy" teen.) Years and years ago, I used to be one of those "bad" dog owners, who didn't train their dog to do more than sit. I'm no expert now, just a lot better than then and a happier dog owner. Back then I joined an AKC obedience club, because the local schutzhund club didn't have "time" for a newbie. There are some new schutzhund clubs in my area now that actually welcome beginners. Once I can afford the membership, I'll join one. I only have one more comment. If you think a training technique is abusive, don't use it. There are many ways to train a dog; you are more likely to use what makes you comfortable. M**3