Gallery
"Rishi" - 10 months old female English Pointer.
"Place" should mean anything, anywhere, any time.
The recall is no doubt the most important command you can teach your dog - "place" is also way up there as far as i am concerned.
You should be able to send your dog to "place" regardless of where your are - and you should have a default behaviour attached to this command.
We prefer to chain "place" with "drop/down" if/when space allows for it - if not, then "sit" is the preferred default behaviour.
Above shows "Rishi" being sent to "place" and into "down/drop" on a bench next to the swimming pool at Riverway on the morning of November 28th 2018.
"Place" training on The Strand.
As I said, "place" should mean anything, anywhere, any time. Above using an art installation on The Strand.
"Rishi" - extended down stay in public.
Finished current training with "Rishi" on December 12th 2018 with a long stay off leash on the Strand here in Townsville.
This really brings a smile to my face considering when I first met this lovely girl only a few short weeks ago, she would not have lasted one second - literally.
What we don't see in this photo is the beach just a few metres to the right, where a number of seagulls were carrying on - and the large, noisy, council mower working up and down in the park to the left.
Add people and dogs walking past - then for good measure, sprinkle with a crazy trainer jumping up and down, clapping his hands and carrying on trying to break "Rishi's" focus when he's not taking pics. ;)
Remember, this is a 10 month old English Pointer - a hunting dog - with prey drive off the chart!
Congratulations to both Sandra and her wonderful girl "Rishi"- all the hard work and dedication has most certainly paid off.
I'm happy to say they also passed the Beginners Pet Dog Training course at the Canine Obedience Club of Townsville Inc. with flying colours - and was upgraded to the Intermediate course. :)
Fast forward to March 7th 2020, and I did a catch-up session with this team.
Video only shows the engagement exercise in Strand Park.
It is important to note that this is the very first time this team has done this, the dog is on a 5mtr loose leash and could choose to take off at any time, e,g, chasing a bird etc, as she has, as all hunting breeds, very high prey drive.
This kind of training would normally start in an area with few distractions, before moving to areas with a bit more distractions and so on, so I pretty much threw these guys into the deep end - and they didn't do a too shabby job if you ask me. :)
These catch-up sessions are part of my service, all clients are entitled to three of these, free of charge, should there be any behavioural issues needing attention down the track.
Support is on going, for as long as it is needed.
"Bear" - 15 months old entire male Rottweiler.
I had the pleasure of helping this dog, "Bear", and his owners back in 2017.
"Bear", an entire male Rottweiler, was 15 months old when I met him - and what a meeting that was....
He was pulling like a freight train, lunging at me and barking, carrying on like there was no tomorrow whilst wearing a Halti.
It was just about impossible to take this dog for a walk - and when they did, only "dad" could handle him - just.
"Mum" didn't dare to walk "Bear" as the dog had literally pulled her over.
We managed to turn "Bear" around using training methods and tools (prong collar) which was appropriate for him, at that particular time.
This enabled us to break through the fog in this brain, and clearly communicate what we expected from him, which in turn enabled him to make good choices.
The changes in his behaviour empowered his owners, and you could tell just by looking at the changes in their body language when walking the dog, how much their confidence had increased.
And, of course, this was detected by "Bear", who responded in kind, as if he thought "oh, you do know what you're doing after all"'.
All in all, this result was achieved after 5 one-on-one, weekly sessions, with some sessions lasting up to 1-1/2 hours, plus homework which the owners stuck to without fail.
The grin on both of these faces says it all. :)
"Scarlet"
Had the great pleasure and privilege to do a little bit of work earlier in 2018 with this gorgeous, young, female Rottweiler named Scarlet.
She was 12 months old at the time, had very little impulse control, and the environment and other dogs held much more value to her than her humans.
We implemented a better structure and put firmer boundaries in place, something the previous training regime had failed to do, as well as improving the handling skills and body language of her handler.
We not only saw a marked improvement in her behaviour in a very short space of time, but also a great improvement in her relationship with her handler.
There is much more to training dogs than just putting a piece of food in front of the animal and thinking that this will fix everything.
More often than not, the human will have to make changes before we can even start on the dog.
"Training dogs, one human at the time." :)
"Baldur" - The Malinois
I feel so privileged having been able to work a little bit with this gorgeous, male, Malinois; "Baldur".
And what a fun dog he his, getting the flirt pole out in front of this guy launches a tornado which has to be seen to be believed. Loved every second of it. :)
His owner, a friend of mine, has done some fantastic work with him, but then she has also evolved into a great trainer herself. :)
Yet again using whatever we find in the environment for "place" exercises.
We thought these two sculptures on the beachfront here in Townsville, North Queensland, were missing something - so we improved them by adding a Rottweiler and a Malinois. :)
Zelic to the left, Baldur to the right.
Good dogs. :)
