Creating Drive

Sharon said:
You are correct on Susan Garett being brilliant but so are the Erin Schaefers, Linda Mecklinburgs and the Cranks,Daisy Peels,etc.
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agree, it would be great if more talented handlers had enough business acumen and were gifted teachers to be able to teach people living outside of driving distance to them. I think Linda M books are awesome but I really loved interactive content of SG recallers course and it was worth every penny and then some. It might not be worth as much for experienced trainers but surprisingly enough, lots of people taking the course were dog trainers or agility/ other dog sports serious competitors.
3stars, since you seems training at home I would really suggest getting Crate Games. Some of recallers ended up setting soft crates in front of agility obstacles and train speed this way effectively, plus they got solid start lines in addition.
 
Thanks so much for the suggestions everyone!

Toffee’s Mom - I’m going to take your suggestion, and bring the training down to 5-10 minutes. I’m also going to try using a ball - he likes to tug, but he LOVES his ball, so that might be a good reward for him. I also think you’re right about the confidence - we’re both still learning, and he is still very young (14.5 months).

Hurtseverywhere - thanks for the idea on the training sequence - I’m going to give it a try.

Sheltie Che - Fortunately I’m not looking for “sexy” answers, but unfortunately I’m not a huge fan of Susan Garrett:no:. She has some good ideas - I liked parts of both Crate Games and the 2 x 2 weaves, and adapted other parts to make them work for my dog. I find that a lot of her training methods aren’t really effective for my pup. Different dogs = different training styles :-).

Sharon - Check out Debbie Wheeler as well - I love a lot of her training methods.

Ortegah - I agree, but unfortunately the classes in the area don’t meet either my dog’s or my training needs. I’m hoping that as the weather warms up, I’ll meet more people out at the agility yard and find some partners to train with.

Corginam - I tried only rewarding him for the fast runs, but he quickly became disinterested. I tried to check out your video, but the computer froze so I’ll check it out later. Thanks for attaching the visual!

Lunatic Face - thanks for attaching Silvia Trkman’s homepage - I hadn’t heard of her, but I completely agree with her training statements. I’m definitely going to do some more research on her :smile2:

Phebe*DD - Thanks for attaching the site - I had never heard of bowwowflix! What a great resource!

HopeShelties - Thanks for all of the suggestions - I think your ideas will put us on the right path.

Thanks again everyone - I’ll update soon :-)
 
3Stars said:
Thanks so much for the suggestions everyone!

Toffee’s Mom - I’m going to take your suggestion, and bring the training down to 5-10 minutes. I’m also going to try using a ball - he likes to tug, but he LOVES his ball, so that might be a good reward for him. I also think you’re right about the confidence - we’re both still learning, and he is still very young (14.5 months).

Hurtseverywhere - thanks for the idea on the training sequence - I’m going to give it a try.

Sheltie Che - Fortunately I’m not looking for “sexy” answers, but unfortunately I’m not a huge fan of Susan Garrett:no:. She has some good ideas - I liked parts of both Crate Games and the 2 x 2 weaves, and adapted other parts to make them work for my dog. I find that a lot of her training methods aren’t really effective for my pup. Different dogs = different training styles :-).

Sharon - Check out Debbie Wheeler as well - I love a lot of her training methods.

Ortegah - I agree, but unfortunately the classes in the area don’t meet either my dog’s or my training needs. I’m hoping that as the weather warms up, I’ll meet more people out at the agility yard and find some partners to train with.

Corginam - I tried only rewarding him for the fast runs, but he quickly became disinterested. I tried to check out your video, but the computer froze so I’ll check it out later. Thanks for attaching the visual!

Lunatic Face - thanks for attaching Silvia Trkman’s homepage - I hadn’t heard of her, but I completely agree with her training statements. I’m definitely going to do some more research on her :smile2:

Phebe*DD - Thanks for attaching the site - I had never heard of bowwowflix! What a great resource!

HopeShelties - Thanks for all of the suggestions - I think your ideas will put us on the right path.

Thanks again everyone - I’ll update soon :-)
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pity you live far, keep throwing that ball... I would have loved to compete in agility against you:wink2:
 
Drive

. I would have loved to compete in agility against you:wink2:[/QUOTE]

To bad you did not live close to me I would love to compete against you in agility.:biggrin2:
 
Alright, so here's the update:

Starr has been doing a lot better with drive, and I've been working in a lot of the suggestions that were given to me. We're doing a lot of "sandwiching" (a couple easy exercies, a harder one, a bunch of easy ones). There have been a few more people out at the agility yard, and he doesn't like other dogs on "his" equipment - it definitely gets the competitive juices flowing. I've also stopped using my voice, and started using mainly signals. I wonder if, because I was calling out the cue loudly (and I'm an extremely quiet trainer for all of the other dog sports we're in), he thought I was yelling at him, which would stress him out and slow him down?

In the past few weeks I've noticed he's become a lot more confident, which I love seeing. I've also been challenging him more, which he seems to love - it's so much fun seeing him try to figure out what I want :-). He offers behaviours all of the time - he can't pass by the A-frame without leaping into a 2o2o position.

One thing that helped I discovered by accident - I had been following the lead of almost every other trainer I know, and throwing a tug toy past the last obstacle to keep him straight as I was giving him his reward. One day I forgot his toy (which he loves, by the way), and so I brought my arm down to cue him towards me and rewarded him when he was with me (I didn't want to lose a treat in the shavings, so I didn't toss it). He seemed to like this a TON better, and I'm not sure why it made such a difference in his mind. So now instead of tossing the toy, I finish the last obstacle, cue him toward me, and reward him when he reaches me with either the tug (from a back pocket) or a treat. Over the next few weeks I'm going to start cueing him in and then sending him out multiple times before rewarding him so that he doesn't get the brilliant idea that it would be fun to always run to me when he feels like a treat. I'll let you know how this works. Thanks again for all the suggestions and support - it's really helped!
 
Thanks Ashley! The advice on here really helped - a lot of it was just getting his confidence up and ensuring that I was always moving. I'm thrilled with his progress:biggrin2:
 
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