That’s a really good point @Naya - Kipper is apparently one of the rare beasts that doesn’t seem to find training particularly tiring (so far!), but this is a full day so I’ll keep an eye out for boredom/fatigue.
Genius dog guaranteed
- Thread starter HAH
- Start date
- Location
- East Sussex
Have a great time.
Genius Dog built (bwahah!)
I thought I’d write up whilst it’s fresh in my mind. This may take some words, but I’ll try to keep it pithy...
Today was the ‘Build a Genius Dog’ day of training with Devon Dogs, and the weather was beautiful - fresh and misty with it starting to burn off as we arrived at 10am.
We worked outside; there were 6 dogs and a few more handlers. First off, we each chose one thing we wanted to address in the day. These were
I won’t go through everything, but it was a full day with lots of boundary work, and lots of either taking it in turns between pairs or putting dogs back in cars and bringing them out one at a time.
We did a great game of scent work in a field - one at a time the dogs we’re brought out, the handler would go and hide a toy in the field then would take the dog and find it with a big reward. This was lovely to watch, and Kipper was a dynamo! Really keen for this and very good - I’ll definitely up the amount we play this, but for short durations as it was clearly tiring for all of them. Michelle (trainer) said scenting uses 41% of a dog’s brainpower. (Of course what this means in practice is arguable, but clearly it did take a lot of energy).
We did some great retrieve games using a boundary (bed) where we’d stand one side of the bed with the dog on it, give the release cue, throw a toy away the other side of the bed and the dog would retrieve the toy back to the bed. We primed this a couple of times with treats first to get the idea, and it worked brilliantly - Kipper was getting the idea really well by the end of it.
We made a ‘confidence path’ (assault course but for slowly moving along) and took it in turns:
And finally we played a recall game across a barrier, where the dog would be held by the trainer, while the handler set off over the barrier calling their dog and being exciting the dog was released and would gallop after the handler where they’d be rewarded. Here’s a clip of us:Running like a loon
I could gas on for ages; the trainer talked about the Matching rule, and barking for different reasons, and premack (sp?) and using boundaries for all sorts - but all in all it was an excellent day, I’m so pleased we went!
I thought I’d write up whilst it’s fresh in my mind. This may take some words, but I’ll try to keep it pithy...
Today was the ‘Build a Genius Dog’ day of training with Devon Dogs, and the weather was beautiful - fresh and misty with it starting to burn off as we arrived at 10am.
We worked outside; there were 6 dogs and a few more handlers. First off, we each chose one thing we wanted to address in the day. These were
- Confidence
- recall from distractions
- Settling in different situations*
- Retrieve
- Heel work
- Barking and whining.
I won’t go through everything, but it was a full day with lots of boundary work, and lots of either taking it in turns between pairs or putting dogs back in cars and bringing them out one at a time.
We did a great game of scent work in a field - one at a time the dogs we’re brought out, the handler would go and hide a toy in the field then would take the dog and find it with a big reward. This was lovely to watch, and Kipper was a dynamo! Really keen for this and very good - I’ll definitely up the amount we play this, but for short durations as it was clearly tiring for all of them. Michelle (trainer) said scenting uses 41% of a dog’s brainpower. (Of course what this means in practice is arguable, but clearly it did take a lot of energy).
We did some great retrieve games using a boundary (bed) where we’d stand one side of the bed with the dog on it, give the release cue, throw a toy away the other side of the bed and the dog would retrieve the toy back to the bed. We primed this a couple of times with treats first to get the idea, and it worked brilliantly - Kipper was getting the idea really well by the end of it.
We made a ‘confidence path’ (assault course but for slowly moving along) and took it in turns:
And finally we played a recall game across a barrier, where the dog would be held by the trainer, while the handler set off over the barrier calling their dog and being exciting
the dog was released and would gallop after the handler where they’d be rewarded. Here’s a clip of us:Running like a loonI could gas on for ages; the trainer talked about the Matching rule, and barking for different reasons, and premack (sp?) and using boundaries for all sorts - but all in all it was an excellent day, I’m so pleased we went!
- Location
- Cornwall , UK
Sounds like a really fun day , informative too , I bet Kipper is shattered now !
- Location
- Buckinghamshire UK
Sounds wonderful. I'm so glad you both enjoyed it. Will you do another one?
- Location
- Herefordshire, UK
Great -- thanks for sharing. Looks like loads of fun, as well as lots of good learning.
- Location
- Wellington, NZ
Look at him racing over that jump! Glad you both had a great day, sounds exhausting!
Yes, I’ll definitely do another. It’s not cheap, but I’ve learnt more about our relationship over that sustained period than in a couple of weeks of training. I was worried beforehand that Kipper might find it overwhelming or over tiring but actually he was happy as a mayfly in the car so that’s a huge relief/learning point.
