Poor Izzi has a huge weight on her little shoulders at the moment, not only is she being expected to graduate, to grade 2, at the local dog school tomorrow BUT she has to pass the basics course at Scholars In Collars on Wednesday, I've already enrolled Izzi & Pebbles in the beyond basics course. So someone call the RSPCA because I need to be stopped immediately.
Tomorrow we're doing a 30km walk, I warned them all to plenty of rest today , even JC the 10yo will be with us & I doubt she'll have a problem but I can call Bill to come & get her if there is, I'll be carrying 3 ltrs of water for us all , but at least it gets lighter as we go.
Well haven't been on here for ages, thought I'd let you know I'm still around & not .

i think Izzi will love it, well put it this way she can't say she is borad lol. she is going to be one very smart well trained dog but don't forget to give her some breaks as she could go sour on you

I don't wonder, with the amount of exercise you do - if I were you I'd have trouble crawling to the computer after that lol.
So Pebbles has settled in well? and is enjoying all the walking?
And good luck Izzi for Wednesday - sure she'll do brilliantly and have loads of fun in the higher level class.

So how did the dogs cope with the walk? How did it go at the graduation? You sure do keep busy don't you. Good luck on Wednesday too with the beyond basic training.

Hope the walk went well and you've all got your feet up (dogs too). Good luck with the graduation - let us know all the nerve wracking moments!

[quote name='royalla' date='Apr 19 2008, 09:29 PM' post='8873']
. she is going to be one very smart well trained dog but don't forget to give her some breaks as she could go sour on you
Izzi shouldn't, I hope, get sour she spends 23 & 3/4 hours a day eating, sleeping, playing or walking, I only do about 15mins training & even that gets broken up into 5mins at a time. Some times if I'm walking out the door I'll call her, she comes sits in front of me gets patted & thats it. But now for the bad news, I don't think we graduated the local school because Izzi couldn't sit for examination, she rolled over when the instructor went to touch her. BUT she was the only one in class that would do sit stay & not move while I walked away, I even did a little dance at the end & she didn't move a muscle so mostly she's doing grade 2 work but I've just got to get her use to sit & stand for examination. We did our 30km walk yesterday & 15 today, JC never dropped behind once & Pebbles & Izzi loved it & I even found $4 on the road woohoo I'm rich, that's a free cino , sorry I'm so easily amused & very cheap to keep, lucky for Bill LOL. Well I'll let you all know how Wednesday goes.

Was trying to quote but kept getting an error. Sweet little Izzi, rolling over - that's the kind of 'mistake' I like a dog to make, because it says how sweet and soft their personality is.

Congradulation on the walk, what a hike, dogs would have loved it.
All the best for graduation, she is giving a terrific effort and so are you, hope you pass.

i have never been asked to sit my dogs for exam it has always been on a stand and i think spice would do the same as izzi or start licking like mad and we end up with one very wet and soggy instructor lol

Hi Guys
Actually when I teach my new dogs I have always done it on a sit as it's much harder for them to move and when they realized they have to stay there I introduce the stand but I stay next to them and than move to the front and when I return I just go straight to the heel position and not round them. It just helps them stand there
cheers
Dani

Ceejay still has not perfected the stand yet, she stands for a little while then sits or drops. Slowly getting better, Izzy is the champion of the stand. But Ceejay is the champion of the drop, she has the fastest drop in the west (well I am exagerating) but she does go down quick and I don't have to bend down.

Don't worry about your little girl rolling over on her back she will get it, just her saying "love me I am soooo cute". Izzy with her drop does a great dead dog impression, rolls over and lies on her back then looks at you upside down with her TONGUE hanging out.

Ok everyone prepare to be impressed Izzi & Pebbles both passed the basics course & have certificates to prove it, now we start Beyond basics . Pebbles did real well, considering all she knew originally was to come when called, she was so calm & as soon as we got into class she'd lie on the mat & obeyed almost all comands, she's not perfect but so smart & gives 100% . Izzi still has the barking problem but that's just going to take time & work, so I'll just keep tearing my hair out for a bit longer LOL, but she did her best even with all the distractions. One of the tasks was a recall with a distraction, Alexis held the dog I had to go to the end of the classroom, dog couldn't see me, & call but half way down Georgie, the assistant, had a treat to distract our dog, Pebbles & Izzi just ran straight past & didn't even slow down, good girls . Who can answer this one for me, Izzi barks at other dogs BUT if she sees a Whippet she just loves it, we don't have one any where near us & the only time she's seen one is at the dog school's. There are all sorts of dogs at the schools but Whippets are the only ones she doesn't bark at, even if it's one she's never met before, so all you doggie psycologists out there I need some answers . Going by what I've seen at the Scholars in Collars school the Delta society is well worth checking out if your looking for dog, owner, education, I know stop plugging stuff, but I've enjoyed it & Alexis is very good.

It's not that uncommon for dogs to have quite strong preferences for certain types of dogs, and it often seems to be related to the body type and behaviour of the breed they like/don't like.

With changing the physical characteristics of breeds we've also changed the things they can 'say' in dog - so Sibes for eg have a much more complex range of body language than a Cavalier, for eg, but can still use far fewer than the body language signals available to wolves - most of the behaviours that have been lost relate to making threats. This seems to parallel what is going on it their minds (presumably through neotony - ask if you don't know what that is - don't want to bore you if you do) - not only can Cavvy's not physically say the number of (threat) behaviours that a Sibe can, they also typically want to say those things much less often. So...anyway... Whippets not only look very inoffensive/'submissive' (rose ears, tail down between legs, roached back - morphology controls the body language options they have), are small - many dogs are more worried about dogs bigger than themselves - but their manners with other dogs are usually lovely - gentle, easily inhibitable so tend to rapidly reduce the intensity of the interaction when the other dog is unsure - I am convinced that a certain kind of fearfulness enhances dogs' ability to interact with other dogs, and they tend to take the lead from the other dog. I'd say Izzi's got great taste, because I love sighthounds too, although Whippets are a little 'moderate' for my tastes.

And well done to both girls (and you too, of course dogz6) for doing so well.

Hi dogz6 - I read about your barking dog the other day and have been mulling over it! I know you're probably in good hands with your Delta instructor. But questions I'd be asking would be: does she bark only at other dogs when at training or does she do it elsewhere? What is her body posture and ears doing during the barking? Trying to ascertain whether it's fear based, asserting herself, frustration or just excitement. Some dogs are just very vocal about stuff - some dogs bark the whole time they're doing any activity just like we have chatty humans! Based on your answers there's probably more questions to be asked!! But Kooliemum is probably on the right track talking about whippets and their body language message.

Any sugestions are appreciated, Alexis is great but I'm not the only person in the class & can't hog all of her time. Izzi's barking is fear, if we go up to another dog she rolls on her back & has peed. I took her to meet a Staffy last week, I knew the owner & asked if it would be ok, she fliped over & peed until the owner pulled out some treats she sat up & paid no attention to the dog, so she not vicious & I don't want her to get that way. Wish I could tell Izzi every thing wil be ok, I don't pat her but do try to get her attention away with food or I leave if I see a dog coming eg. cross the road or walk around the other side of the car, any other ideas are most welcome. You also mentioned chatty humans, I hadn't realised you'd met me before .

That's the impression I get (obviously on veru limited information). Dogz6, I'd suggest you talk to your instructor - I'm sure she'll be familiar with it - about whether she thinks the stuff in Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevvitt might be helpful for Izzi - especially the way she uses systematic desensitization and counter-conditioning by playing Look at that!! - that has been a relevation for my own training. There is always a risk when we try to do that kind of stuff that we over-whelm the dog with too many challenges, but her way of doing it seems to me to reduce those risks and make it much easier to see whether you're getting it right. And while you are attending a well-structured and managed training class can be a good place to do it.

Thanks Kooliemum Izzi & I are going to school tomorrow so I'll ask while we're there. When I took Izzi to meet the Staffy she only did a small woof then rolled over, she was on her own as well, I left JC & Pebbles in the car. Unfortunately I don't always see another dog coming & of course it's to late to do anything when it's there, all very frustrating but I don't want to leave them home in the cage. Ok enough of the poor pathetic me stuff, Pebbles & Izzi are hooning around the house then flying up onto the bed & having a wrestle, should see the dirty foot prints every where, guess I better pull the vacuume out again, starting to wonder why I love them so much, that's right they're so cute .

How close can you get to other dogs before you notice her starting to stress ie ears flicking back and forth, eyes dilating (though that's a hard one!) or starting to look wide? It's a fine line to judge when she will still pay attention to you and the line to where she is just in so much fear she goes submissive. As suggested speak to Alexis - maybe she can give you some time outside of class or she can give you a private lesson ($$$!!!).
I haven't read the book Kooliemum mentioned but shall now put it on my list! Since doing some prac on the desensitisation/habituation thing and further study on it's something I'm interested in (I have an assessment due on why things go wrong when trying to do desensitisation!).

Dirty footprints!! You should see the mud here!!! Lost count of how much rain we've had but inches of the stuff and Paxy likes mud pies!!!lol At least last two days have been dry!!

It's aimed at ppl with mildly reactive agility dogs (take a *mildly* reactive dog to an agility class and see them turn into a fruitloop). I think she's particularly good at taking concepts that are well-known but often applied incorrectly and making them just 'make sense' - which I guess is the reason they often get misapplied, because ppl don't really understand them. I remember a few yrs ago when the wonderful Sue Sternberg was here for the APDT conference that she made this comment that training clients would not be able to do ds/cc. But I think by teaching ppl Look at that! they should be able to.

G'Day All,
Thought you might like an update photo of both Dogz with newly received certificates and looking proud as punch to boot. I guess it's the WORLD next stop
Bill

Well done girls!!!! Yahoo!!! Congratulations!! Watch out world!!!! Great effort to you on training them!

Lovely photos, 2 such pretty (and smart) girls. http://www.animalwelfare.net.au/arg/kkerswell.html
Just found that someone is doing a PhD on this through the Anthrozoology group.

G'Day to all, This is the latest results... Pebbles has graduated from beginners to Grade 1 in the Local dog club plus completeing Beyond Basics with Alexis and Izzi has gone thru to Grade 2,locally. funny thing was even though she failed from Grade 1 to 2 for lying down at inspection she has been in Grade 2 & 3 classes since because no Grade 1's were there some times and when they said she was put up they thought she WAS is 2 and nearly put her in 3 but Sue corrected them, More than I would have as have had a few words at the head instructor about not spraying with the water bottle Anyway all is Good
B

They always look so sweet and smart and proud sitting there with their certificates. Is Izzi still training with Alexis too?

well done well just look at them so pretty they would have to be smart

So good to sit still with their certificates! Congrats to your smart puppies!!

I just love all the photos, good dogs, not only good lookers but smart as well.
Congrats to you all.

We're still training with Alexis, got together with some friends & their dogs so it's a bit cheaper to bring Alexis to our place for the training sessions. If we could get 6 people it would only be $10 ea so I'm working on people from the local school & maybe then the local trainers will have to change their way of training, no more jerking, well it's worth a shot & I'm sure the dogs will be much happier .