Training Buddies

Written by graydogs Wednesday, 17 June 2009 21:25

Training with another person, or a group of people, is a lot more enjoyable than training alone.  That is one of the main reasons people like to enroll in classes, you get to see how other people work with their dogs and you tend to make friends along the way.  Few of us are motivated enough to train on our own, and even those of us that do can benefit from training with other people.

Read more:

The Importance Of "SET UPs"

Written by graydogs Tuesday, 16 June 2009 14:50

Have you ever stood at the obedience ring and watched a dog and handler team seem to dance in the ring together?  The ones that seem so connected and fluid?  If you have you will have to agree that it is poetry in motion.

Read more:

Training Tips - Toys, Rewards and More

Written by Kathy Molek Sunday, 29 March 2009 09:55

taken from THE COURIER, March - April 1995 issue

Training Tip
Food can be a wonderful motivator. But be careful not to over do. There are plenty of calories in some of the treats used for training so cut back on your dog’s regular meals  while you use food to motivate.

Training Tip
When a dog is toy motivated, use just one special toy for obedience training. Don’t show it to him until the appropriate time in the training session. Either at the end or for a special reward when you have worked through a problem. Training will be play time and the dog will maintain an up attitude. This toy is only used when training.

Read more:

Rhythm Heeling

Written by Jill M. Paige Friday, 16 January 2009 06:49

Rhythm Heeling has 3 components:

• heel position
• attention (which can be thought of a component of heel position)
• smooth rhythm for both dog and handler.

There are no sits, turns, pace changes. I just want us to build teamwork and the ability to maintain the 3 components for minutes at a time. I prefer that my dog trots when we do our normal speed, though I know that isn't possible for all dogs or all handlers. I prefer a heads-up heeling style, but I let the dog's structure help to determine their focal point. I find the higher head carriage (nose up and in) helps to produce a trot in many dogs. I want my dog to focus on whatever part of my body (usually something on my left, whether left shoulder, hip, hand...) that produces the correct heel position.

Read more: