Help in obedience

[Katarina]

Hi, my name is Katarina. I fond of obedience. I live in Russia and have two border collies.
Now I train my new border collie for Obedience-1 and want to make all right.
I want to avoid mistakes in training.
So, I have some questions to obedience funs. How do you train "sending in square", "retriving in different derections", and "choosing an object". What were first steps?
Thanks for any help and advice!!!

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

Hi, Katarina. HOpefully we can deal with our language barrier.

Can you describe the exercises you are speaking of in your post a littl emore in detail? I'm not familiar with the exact requirements of them, and this is important when you are trying to develop training methods.

 

[Katarina]

RedyreRottweilers! O'key!
What did I mean "sending in square"?
You stand in front of the single cone. Send your dog to it. Command "stop". Than you send the dog in the centre of four cones and command "lay down". That did I mean

"Retrive in different derections".
We have three apports (wooden...wooden... such wooden things which look like dumbs ). Yes, three dumbs ( the left one, the right and the central).
My young dog just can retrive a dumb. He can chooses: right or left. But he begins to make a lot of mistakes, when I put third (central) dumb. He runs to it and takes. How add central dumb correctly? And one problem als. I make a retrive only by play and clicker-training. So, my dog chewes the dumb, when he retrives it to me. How can I stop this chewing?

"Choosing the object".
I mean choosing the little piece of wood with my small. Do you understand me?
How make it right from the first step?

I hope, if you will write all in simple sentences (such as "take this thing and put it there") , I'll understend all.
I'm a quik-wit girl .
As a matter of fact, the obedience in our country is too, too "young" sport.
In competitions take part only 20 competitors. I teach my dogs by positive reinforcement. It's new for our country too.
Thank you for help and replay!

 

[JennSLK]

Choosing the object".
I mean choosing the little piece of wood with my small. Do you understand me?
How make it right from the first step?

OH!!! I have an answer to this. My dog's trainer said:

Take 3 dumbells. Tie them to the floor so that the do CAN NOT pick them up. Then put the one that smells like you near them. Have this one able to be picked up. Help your dog to pick the right one, by being near them and pointing if nessisary. Keep changing the place of the smelly dumbell. Once you see him working it out add more dumbells that cant move. Eventually you can remove the ties so they all move.

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

well, you are asking for some really complicated and detailed advice.

Let's just deal with the scent exercise.

I teach this with specially made scent articles. They are made similar to the dumb bell, but smaller, and of leather or metal. The dog must have a VERY good and enthusiastic retrieve and pick up of the DUMB BELL.

Once the retrieve is very solid, I teach the hold, pick up, and retrieve with the METAL scent article. You could use whatever object your dog must find in the competition. Just make sure you have trained and reinforced the hold, pick up, and retrieve with this article BEFORE you start with the scent work.

When the dog is very strong in the retrieve of the article you will be using for scent work, take 2 identical objects. One well scented by you, and the other with NONE of your scent on it. Handle the unscented article with tongs to keep any scent from getting on it.

Put out the scented and the unscented articles, side by side, about 12" apart.

Set the dog up in front of the SCENTED article, and send as if for a regular retrieve.

If the dog selects the scented article, immediately CLICK or say your marker word, call the dog to you, and praise and reward.

If the dog selects the INCORRECT unscented article, simply refuse to take it from the dog. Put your hands behind your back, smile, and wait. If you need to help the dog, you may give the retrieve command again, but give the dog some time to work out the problem.

Most dogs, esp those who have been trained positively to shape the retrieve exercise, will quickly go and select the other (correct) dumb bell. CLICK, praise and reward.

If dog has an excellent retrieve, and has been properly reinforced on the scent articles, you can have a dog doing the entire pile of scent articles as they do in the AKC Utility Exercise in a week or two.



I do not ever use the tie down method. I have found this method makes things SO much clearer to the dog, and they learn to really enjoy this exercise.

I used it as a parlor trick all the time with my old bitch. I would have everyone put their car keys in a pile with mine on the bottom and she would go find mine every time.

 

[Katarina]

It were two very intersesting metods. I didn't try the "tie down" metod. I tried last metod. But my border collie is too fast and crazy. He runs to dumbs. His eyes are stared. He fetch right dumb, wrong, right, wrong! And I have no time to make a click. I tried to rub the right dumb by meat and put some pieces of meat in front of dumbs, in oder to make the dog calmer. He ate all meat and then begins the same: right, wrong,right,wrong.

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

Katarina, it makes no difference if he takes the wrong one.

Just ignore it if he takes the wrong one.

Say YES each time he approaches the right one.
EDIT: I'm leaving the above sentence, because this is what you should NOT do. In scent discrimination, you have to wait for the dog to COMMIT to the article before clicking or using your marker word. I'm so happy I accidentally wrote that wrong way down.

IF you indicate to the dog BEFORE he makes a committment to which article he is going to select, the dog will learn to "hover" over articles until you tell him which one to pick up.

I don't bait the dumb bells at all. I only scent the one I want the dog to take with my own scent. Make SURE you are only putting out TWO dumb bells to start with.

 

[Katarina]

I understend. But what must I do if he does not only pick up the wrong dumb, but takes it and runs to me. Must I take it from his mouth and put it on the place"

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

no no.

You must NEVER touch the wrong one. You must wait for him to go get the RIGHT one, and when he does, encourage him and reward him. This early process of training the SD exercise can be nerve wracking. It's hard to stand there and ignore your dog when she is trying to shove a dumb bell into your midsection. LOL But almost all dogs, if they have been positively trained, will eventually go and get the other one. You just have to be patient, silent, and keep your hands behind your back.

 

[Katarina]

Thanks, I uderstand.
You are excellent teacher!!!
Thank you for help and attention!

 

[Katarina]

Hi, RedyreRottweilers!
What about others exercises? I'm impatient! I want to get a lot of knowledge!
And I'm happy to meet you, the person, who can help me with positive reinforcement!!!

 

[Mordy]

Katarina - if you can, get this book:

Clicker Training for Obedience: Shaping Top Performance--Positively
by Morgan Spector. You can find it on Amazon.com if you do a search for ISBN 0962401781. Maybe you can order it at a local book store?

It's the best book on clicker training for competitive obedience I have found so far. It's based mostly on AKC rules (American Kennel Club), but I think a smart person like you will be able to adapt the exercises for your own needs.

 

[Katarina]

Thank you for advice!
Last weekend in Moscow was the seminar of Mary Ray. She helped me with my problems .