My Rally 'stable'

Joy

Joy

Location
East Sussex
I'm enjoying training Rajah, my friend's Goldie, and I've just started training another dog for Rally, the lovely Tess. (So I'm handling the dog rather than training the owner.) She is nearly a year old and is a Collie cross Poodle, so full of energy. It's fascinating how different Rajah and Tess are from Molly and from each other, and how they each find different exercises easier or more demanding. Tess was really quick to grasp 'come front' (i.e. come from any position to sit facing me) whereas Rajah's strength is his heel position. Molly's strength lies in real-life competition, rather than online, as she is not distracted by crowds or other dogs (because she's not interested in them.) Rajah can get anxious easily and needs lots of encouragement. Tess is a very, very quick mover so I need to be on the ball to mark exactly what I want. I'm going to re-read Hannah Brannigan's book 'Awesome Obedience' as it's in part about adopting different strategies for individual dogs.
Edit: The book I was thinking of is actually 'Train the dog in front of you' by Denise Fenzi
 
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Selina27

Selina27

Location
Herefordshire, UK
Yes, it really is fascinating how different they all are. It's great for you to be able to work with these other dogs as training them is where you interest lies. I imagine you find it more rewarding than teaching other people to train their dogs?
 
Joy

Joy

Location
East Sussex
@Selina27 Yes this is what I enjoy doing, and as no payment is involved I don't feel any pressure to achieve particular results. I did think long and hard about getting a second dog of my own but my OH isn't keen and (more importantly :wink:) I don't think Molly would be happy with another dog as part of the household. This seems a good compromise - I get to do all the fun stuff with no responsibilities!
 
Ashley

Ashley

That sounds fun! From my limited experience with just my own two dogs, it's very interesting to see what they enjoy, learn quickly etc. Have you noticed any difference in food motivated vs finding other rewards (toys/play, verbal etc) in training?
 
Selina27

Selina27

Location
Herefordshire, UK
Ashley said:
That sounds fun! From my limited experience with just my own two dogs, it's very interesting to see what they enjoy, learn quickly etc. Have you noticed any difference in food motivated vs finding other rewards (toys/play, verbal etc) in training?
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It's interesting watching the way Reeva learns and reacts differs to Cassie. She (reeva) is quite food motivated but not like Cassie is, Cassie has no interest in toys outside the garden, whereas Reeva is motivated to play with her toys in the big world. She is naturally focused on my daughter, is really only distracted by squirrels, and even that is lessening now.
 
Joy

Joy

Location
East Sussex
@Ashley Tess finds both playing tug and food rewarding. I can't get Rajah to play with me at all. He is food motivated but also really seems to value praise - he's very keen to 'get it right' and you can see him relaxing and looking happy as he repeats exercises and becomes sure of what I want. Molly is food all the way (though she does love tug with a squeaky toy.)
I'd be interested to hear the differences you find in your two.
 
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Ashley

Ashley

They are both food motivated, but Quinn is extremely ball motivated and the ball is more rewarding than any treat could be. Quinn was more reluctant in repetitive obedience type training (things like down/drop, heel) but really thrived in scent and agility (and those are easier to reward with ball). I don't think I could ever convince her to roll over, even for a ball. She definitely is more engaged in "activity" training and I think if we had gun dog training she would have done well.
Primrose is still a puppy, but is far more food motivated and will easily do anything for that treat (down, roll over, heel). She's proving much harder to get to focus on me than Quinn at a similar age. I can already tell she will be much easier and enjoy obedience/rally type training more than Quinn ever did.
 
Joy

Joy

Location
East Sussex
This morning I worked with Rajah on side-step in front position which is one of the Level 1 bonus exercises. I've tried it on and off before but never with a really thoroughly thought-out training plan. This time I used Hannah Brannigan's two mat method. At first Rajah was really tentative and I was marking very small movements, but because he is happy to do a huge number of repetitions it gradually improved and by the end he was moving from one mat to the other. I could never do this amount of repetitions with Molly but you could see Rajah relaxing and looking happier as we went on - he's a very willing dog who likes to know exactly what you want.

I worked with Tess this morning too and she did some beautiful heel work, including changes of pace. I'm working with her in her own garden so she is off-lead and I love that this means she is choosing to engage with me.

I'm doing very, very short sessions with Molly at the moment focusing just on our 'problems'. So we do 3 downs-from-stand, 3 of any exercise she can do very well already and then 3 left pivots and that's it. But she is improving and this seems to suit her.
 
Joy

Joy

Location
East Sussex
I discovered yesterday that Tess really loves her tennis ball. It still comes as a surprise to me when I meet a dog who finds toys genuinely as reinforcing as food. She was happy to do short Rally exercises, say a few yards of heel and then a sit, with the reward being a throw of her ball.

'Sit' in front position (i.e.dog facing handler) is proving a bit tricky - Tess does it immediately on cue but won't then do anything else without a reward (food or ball-throw). Even if I move away and call her to come she just sits there looking expectant! I haven't tried waiting her out as I don't want her to break her sit without cue or release. Whereas if I ask for sit in heel position she does it promptly but then is also willing to do further exercises, such as heel forward or 'down', with the reward coming at the end of the sequence. Any ideas/ suggestions?
 
Joy

Joy

Location
East Sussex
On Sunday I'm taking Rajah to his first real-life Rally competition over in Kent (a couple of hours from here and we need to be there by 8.15 so a very early start!) I'm leaving Molly at home with my OH. I'm excited to see how he copes with all the distractions. His mum (an old friend) is coming to watch and help take care of him during the day so it should be a fun day however the actual competition turns out.
 
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