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Jan 2019
8:52am, 24 Jan 2019
14,330 posts
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Sharkie
Those ARE good things, Maz, he's obviously not anxious - he's happy!
And you do love him 
Nutter dogs are fun - if hard work.
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Jan 2019
9:40am, 24 Jan 2019
6,020 posts
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Mazlin
I do love him, the big idiot.
We are doing another ScentWork trial at the weekend. This level has distraction scents in. I have not done much work with him with distraction scents, so it could be ‘interesting’...
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Jan 2019
9:23am, 25 Jan 2019
8,625 posts
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SarahWoo
Look forward to hearing how that goes, Maz. I'm sure he'll have fun (even if you don't! ).
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Jan 2019
10:40am, 25 Jan 2019
6,159 posts
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Helegant
Lots of posts and good advice here, and some encouraging progress. I think my life would be much easier if I had more dog-behaviour understanding.
I've been working with Jet on his 'red-eye guarding' that he developed while I was away walking. If you recall that's how Mr was bitten. We've made faster progress than I expected and last night Jet' 'invitation' to a fight fizzled out quite quickly when I said we weren't going to play that game now. He also gave up his prize with just a little bit of grumbling. It makes me laugh when he settles down again with a 'herrumph' and puts his head on his paws.
I need to do a lot more work on Mr who is now scared of being bitten and thinks Jet will 'go for' the grandchildren. There's been no evidence of any such aggression and I am careful to make sure the children don't put tease or interfere with him, and are never left alone in a room with the dog.
I was complimented yesterday on his behaviour, 'especially for a working cocker' outside the school, by a lady with an impressive agility background. My first thought was 'if only she knew!' But I smiled and said thank you instead. But I'm very aware thatI have a dog not a robot at the end of the lead pulling me home.
Jet is six and a half years old and I keep on training every day. I don't recall ever having to do any work with the dogs I grew up with. Which just shows the difference between being the responsible adult and the rest of the family
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Jan 2019
8:35am, 27 Jan 2019
6,033 posts
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Mazlin
Rory does that 'huffing' thing when he's displeased.
He came third in his Scentwork trial (there were only 5 entrants in that level, lets gloss over that...) Because he's Rory, he got full marks for the two indoor searches (even though he flipped the bag with the scent in over onto his head...), zero for one of the outdoor searches, because there were BIRDS around, and spent the first 4 minutes of the vehicle search pulling me around to get to the hedges behind the cars. Eventually I said to the judge ' I'm not sure it's worth carrying on with him like this', at which point he turned round and correctly alerted on both scents, within the 5 minute time limit. Because of course he'd known where they were all along.
We lost handling marks for that one. Because it's discouraged for your dog to be standing on his hind legs, dangling against his harness, facing away from the area he's supposed to be searching...
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Jan 2019
8:57am, 27 Jan 2019
6,161 posts
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Helegant
Oh Maz, that made me laugh.
Winnifree's blog about the roast chicken was also rather too close to my experience.
And thank you to D2 for the very sensible comments about a dog earning attention rather than demanding it. I've added that to the work I was doing with Jet, applied the idea for almost 24 hours, and have a transformed dog. Long may it last.
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Jan 2019
9:11am, 27 Jan 2019
28,699 posts
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Derby Tup
Dogs earning attention is very interesting
Tuss and other vizslas I’ve met love attention and making him / then earn it sounds sensible
I often make him wait for his food and will sometimes take it back off him before giving it back to him
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Jan 2019
9:48am, 27 Jan 2019
7,465 posts
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BaronessBL
Love the story of your scentwork competition Maz and well done both of you. I need to find something new to do with Wanda and I'm wondering about various things including scentwork. Unfortunately I think whatever I go for will mean leaving our current training centre which I am reluctant to do as they have been brilliant with her and very understanding about which classes she should join (they look at the temperaments/personalities of each dog in a class to ensure there is a good chance that they will all get on with each other, which is very helpful.)
But I don't think her hips are going to let her continue agility (we are off to the vet this week) and the obedience classes we were in before agility are no longer working towards anything such as our KCGC Gold so I want something with a 'purpose' either with the aim of going to a competition or just that we can work on and get better at and the old obedience classes at our current place now focus on tricks which doesn't really appeal. She also loves learning and working at things so I certainly don't want to stop going - plus she is so tired at the end of each class that I get a very peaceful afternoon!
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Jan 2019
11:16am, 27 Jan 2019
6,036 posts
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Mazlin
You should ‘suggest’ they start doing scent classes, BBL They seem really popular where we are - I think they’re currently running at least 5, most of which I think are full. And I don’t think many people in your part of the country are running trials yet. You could get in there...
They promote it as good for reactive dogs or dogs with mobility problems - as long as the dog can walk (however slowly!) that’s all they need to do, and you can manage it so that they don’t meet - we have dogs who wait behind a screen, and search areas with a separate way in and out. Plus apparently 20 minutes sniffing is as good as and hour of physical exercise (or something. I’ve not actually researched how accurate this is, but it’s definitely hard work for them!)
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Jan 2019
11:24am, 27 Jan 2019
7,466 posts
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BaronessBL
Thanks Maz I will. We used to do occasional scentwork with a previous trainer and Wanda enjoyed it. I still do practice at home if we can't walk her for any reason as it really does tire her out too.
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