A bit nervous - well, I am!

[magicflower]

Ruby and I started training classes again on Tuesday. She went to a beginners class when she was about four months old but we didn't really follow things up.

She was assessed by the trainer first and he reckons she's about level 2/3. I think that OK bearing in mind we haven't really been concentrating on her training. OMG, what a bad cocker mum! 

We stayed for the level 2 class that evening and Ruby did very well.  I think I was the problem as I found I got flustered and couldn't remember what I was supposed to be doing. At one point Ruby just looked up at me with a very resigned look upon her face to as if to say "Here we go again!"

I was really pleased with Ruby and hope to eventually start agility with her. The trainer also does the KC Bronze, Silver and Gold awards and I'm very keen to start that!

What is actually involved in doing these awards? The trainer did explain but I just wondered if anyone could kind of let me know from a dog owners point of view.

Rubes and I are raring to go with this. She is so enthusiastic it's scary! Maybe it's the praise and treats she gets along the way! 

[loujo]

Well done to you and Ruby for going back to training!  I'm sure she'll do really well.

Good luck and let us know how you get on with the training and KC bronze, etc.

[Mollycuddles]

Ruby will do well by the sounds of it ...

Here is the info for the K C good citizens awards http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/activities/good_citizen.html

[magicflower]

After todays class I feel really disheartened. We have been practising like mad this week.

Sit, stay, heel, down etc etc. I thought she had really got it! I obviously hadn't.

Then we had todays class!

Ruby spent most of the class more interested in eating rabbit poo and grazing! The classes are conducted outside in the trainers paddock on nice days. She kept getting up and wandering off and looking at me as if she really did not give a monkeys. That's when she could be bothered to even look at me! 

Ruby eventually stated to take notice when we had a quick try out of some agility stuff at the end. She seemed to enjoy the raised catwalk thing and the v shaped up and over thingy (not sure of correct name!).

Apart from that I have come away feeling as if it's not really worth the hassle. The trainer was really understanding and said not to worry to much. He said keep practising but keep it fun and keep praising her.

Hopefully, things will go better for both of us tomorrow when we have another practice. Let's hope so! 

[Cob-Web]

Tracey, don't be downhearted - tbh, a training class environment is the most difficult place to train a dog 

All the good training books I have (especially the Complete Idiots Guide to Positive Dog Training by Pamela Dennison) advice that to start teaching any behaviour, you chose a low distraction environment that the dog is familiar with. Once they have learnt the behaviour in that environment, you move it to a different place, with the same level of distraction, and start again  Once they have "got it" in several low distraction environments, then you can "take it on the road" and begin to introduce distractions........imo, a training class, in a paddock, is right at the end of that journey...and certainly not achievable within a week 

Stick with it - take her training sessions out with you, so you practice in different locations and environments, and slowly, you should begin to notice that Ruby begins to pay attention to you.....but there may always be the odd time that you lose her At this weeks agility class, Molo found something irresistible in the grass and kept going back to it, he was driving me MAD - it turned out to be a family of baby frogs; and no amount of garlic sausage or liver cake could compete with that

[spanielcrazy]

Ruby eventually stated to take notice when we had a quick try out of some agility stuff at the end. She seemed to enjoy the raised catwalk thing and the v shaped up and over thingy (not sure of correct name!).

One thing I have noticed is that bright dogs are easily bored by novice obedience excercises: heel, sit, down, stay etc. It's especially hard in a class setting, as it seems to the dog (and sometimes the owners) to be drills in the same old same old.

When practicing at home, try mixing it up with more advance excercises, such as retrieves or scent discrimination. For example you could put her on a sit stay and throw a bumper, ball or dumbell and have her hold the stay for a couple of seconds, then release her to retrieve it. Or do a quick heel routine then heel her up to a homemade agility thing (A frames are easy to make with a couple of boards)

With my own dogs, boredom was the biggest killer of any interest or enthusiasm for them. If I keep it fast and light and mix in things that give a "point" to all of it they do much better.

Be creative! And talk to your trainer, he may not mind it if you do some of those things between class excercises. Maybe he'll even incorporate it into the class