Basic Obedience..

This is a placeholder text
Group text

by Ruger1 on 27 August 2010 - 20:08

I am focusing on teaching basic obedience to my German Shepherd....I am uncertain about the training venue I want to pursue....At this level (basic obedience) does it matter how I teach the basics...??? If you think it does, tell me why.

Ruger1

by Don Corleone on 27 August 2010 - 21:08

Well for you it does. You don't know whether you want to do SchH or akc. If you train for SchH, akc will be easy. For SchH, it does matter how you train the dog. The dog needs to be focused and appear to like doing it.

by jettasmom on 27 August 2010 - 21:08

Just remember that what ever you do the foundation you put on your dog stays for life, good or bad.

Denise

by Ruger1 on 27 August 2010 - 21:08

          Don...In your opinion, if I focus on Sch. then I should be good to go with AKC Obedience trials? Just want to be sure of what you are saying....

       jettasmom....What do you mean by foundation??? Again, I want to be sure I understand what your suggesting...

                                              Thanks...Ruger1

by amysue on 27 August 2010 - 21:08

I like this topic as it relates to something I'm thinking about at the moment. Soon I will be teaching a puppy class (which I've done before). At least one student wants a more attentive, drivey obedience attitude in her pup and admires what I have done with my adults. BUT I find that very hard to train in a multi-dog classroom environment due to all the distractions, unless the dog/pup has CRAZY ball or food drive that overrides everything else going on. So the question I am debating is can you start with reliable control (low-drive) and after you have a good foundation in that start the drive building? Most of my dogs had plenty of time to develop their obedience in a low-distraction area so I built drive first or somewhat did both drive and control simultaneously.

by GSDfan on 27 August 2010 - 21:08

If you plan on doing SchH at all....I wouldn't do any obedience until the foundation is laid in bitework. Dogs who have too much OB are many times difficult to start in bitework

If you only plan on doing the SchH OB phase or AKC I would start how I would start a SchH dog...as Don said if you train like you would SchH, AKC will be easy.

I teach the dog an excersise with motivation...guide the dog in the position desired and reward with food or a toy. Once the dog learns the excersise introduce corrections to make him faster and more compliant and use the toy reward almost exclusively to increase his drive and desire to perform the desired excersise. Whether you choose AKC or SchH OB this will be a good start for either IMO.

Here's a video of me working my female in the phase just before I began using a training collar and applying corrections to clean her up...she had just learned the "platz". She was wearing a parachord collar in the video that sits right behind the ears...I like using it before the pinch collar...not perfect, but I'll share anyway lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlhmSAXmpFYwww.youtube.com/watch

Everyone does things a little differently...find what works for you and your dog.

by Sunsilver on 27 August 2010 - 22:08

I have heard before that a GSD trained in Schutzhund style heeling did not do well in AKC obedience, because the style of heeling is very different. In AKC, the dog must not touch the handler, nor can it have its body in front of the handler, as is often seen in Schutzhund style heeling. The dog's front half is turned in towards the handler rather than being parallel to the handler's body.

I think I read this in a thread on this site, but I don't have time to do a search for it. I remember the handler being very upset that he did not do well in the AKC obedience test..

Edit: these two videos clearly show the difference in the style of heeling:

www.youtube.com/watch

www.youtube.com/watch

by zdog on 27 August 2010 - 22:08

heeling is heeling, position is position. If he didn't do well in akc heeling, he didn't do well in schutzhund heeling either. Front shoulder by the leg, dog parallel, that is the heel position.

by waleed on 27 August 2010 - 22:08

ruger you are fun

by Psycht on 27 August 2010 - 22:08

In schutzhund a correct heeling dog should not be wrapped around the front of the handler as well as touching the handler. As many a top competitor has shown, you can have a dog that is not forging and touching the handler that scores high.

With that said, SchH judges seem more forgiving for these faults. In AKC you are pretty much toast if your dog does these things. I compete in both venues and my advice is this - don't focus on the venue, focus on the work. You want to have a dog that will happily heel in the *correct position* while in drive. If you teach this than you don't have to worry about points being knocked off in either venue. I hesitate to suggest this since mentioning Michael Ellis seems to create debates that go nowhere on this site but I highly recommend not only his seminars if you can get to one but also his video series like focused heeling: http://leerburg.com/223.htm

This video is not the best but this dog would have no problem in heeling exercises in AKC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZDEEvmzIvU

Good luck and remember the most important thing is to make it fun for you and your dog :-)

Contact information Disclaimer Privacy Statement Copyright Information Terms of Service Cookie policy ↑ Back to top

Basic Obedience.. - Page 1

Pedigree Database