Am I getting lazy?

[Kim M]

I used to work on training my dogs so much in the past and had very well trained dogs! My Poodle (who is 10) still is but I can't take all the credit, Poodles are just easy. My Chihuahua... ummm.. not so well trained but not bad really. My mix is reallly good and easy to train esp since he's only 9 months but still there is so much more I could be working on with him. At the dog park he will come to me no matter what he's doing and no matter how far he is, but it's not my trianing, it's just him. He is an easy, willing to please, easy to train dog. I just wish I would work with him so he'd be even better, like my Akita's used to be (obedient wise, they had other issues).

How much time do you guys spend trianing your dogs? What do they do well? What do you wish you worked on more with them?

 

[MicksMom]

Naa, you're just getting older! :lol-sign: Join the club. I worked with Mick almost every day on obedience. Even when we were in classes, I didn't work Caleb like that. Actually, I think it's more I got out of the routine of training, and haven't gotten back in it.

 

[noodlerubyallie]

20 min a day for each of the big girls and Rocket. Rocket also gets two hours of handling/socialization class a week, and Ruby gets about 2 hours of Obed training at my club.

Noodle doesn't get ANY

All three dogs do something better than the others:

Allie is my best tracker.

Ruby is my best overall Obed dog - heeling is her forte.

Rocket is the best at "stand" and the best at crashing and burning:lol-sign:

I wish I could do more Obed with Allie, but her nose gets in the way. I wish that Ruby would finally pick up what "front" means. Rocket's only 4.5 months old, so I'm waiting until he gets older to really see what he needs to work on.

 

[Tankstar]

Ive slacked alot. But Blaze is very well obidient wise (heels wonderfully offleash, sit, stays, down, come when called no matter what, can be offleash any where and stay beside me, rides beside me wonderfully on bike. ect. I dont do any trick training really. I do everyday needed training.)

what I slack in? Our agility training haha. Im re taking the agility level 1 course at the end of the month. Ive just slacked so much on it, that I dont feel comfortable going to level 2 (although we passed with flying colours). Im in no rush to get to competition, as I really have no plans for it, if we get there, well we get there, if not oh well. he is 6 years old, so I dont expect to much lol.

I really wish I worked on leash training more. He is not a yanker, or a heavy puller, I just dont like how he walks to far ahead of me on leash. Offleash he sticks right to me heal like glue for some reason, but onleash he is opposite, always at the end of his leash with a very slight slack in it. lol

 

[Kim M]

Naa, you're just getting older! :lol-sign: Join the club. I worked with Mick almost every day on obedience. Even when we were in classes, I didn't work Caleb like that. Actually, I think it's more I got out of the routine of training, and haven't gotten back in it.

That is what I think my problem is... just got out of the routine of it and having a hard time getting back into it. Kind of like my workouts!!

 

[Doberluv]

I've gotten super lazy in my old age. lol. I use to be all about training when I had my Doberman. After he died, I really slacked off. When I was laid up for so long with a herniated disc, I further got out of the routine. The Chihuahuas know their basics and maybe a couple tricks and that's about it for them. But they're no spring chickens. They had their training and other than a few regressions now and then (Jose`'s recall) they pretty much retain most things.

 

[Doberluv]

But one thing that's probably important to remember, (just now thought of this) is that training isn't just blocks of time where you go outside and work on heel, stay etc. Everytime practically, that I interact with my dogs, there may be some little lesson to be learned, not only for them, but for me too. There is always a little training going on...a little refreshing on things. If I'm about to give Chulita a piece of left over chicken from my plate when I'm finished, first I ask her to do something brilliant. Then she gets it. So, I am always conscious of working their minds a little bit. And I do like trying new tricks, especially with Chuli. She's fun that way. But I go very slowly and sometimes the trick never gets perfected. LOL. Tokie, for instance plays dead, ("bang, bang") but with her head up a little, smiling and usually a thump or two from her tail. So, she doesn't look very dead. LOL.

 

[Kim M]

Tankstar - Blaze sounds perfect to me! Reno is pretty good but he can't do all that yet (entirely my fault, he's easy to train)

Noodlerubyallie - I wish I could get myself to do 20 mins a day. I have no excuse!

Doberluver - yeah that is what I do, just kind of trian here and there but really want to get myself back into working with him on a more structured schedule. I am thinking about signing up for a class to make myself do it.

 

[lizzybeth727]

When I taught training classes Luna came to work with me and people would constantly ask me what new trick she had learned. So I did have to work with her a lot; though most of the practicing was done at work.

Since I started training dogs full time (versus training people to train dogs), and since Luna can't come to work with me anymore, I've gotten very lazy. We still do agility, but we don't compete much and it's not a high priority for me, it's just for fun. I decided a long time ago that neither she nor I want to do competetive obedience, so we don't really have anything to work for. Every now and then I work on teaching her some things I teach the dogs at work, so that she could demo when we do presentations, but basically it's hard to motivate myself to come home from work and train a dog, when I've just spent he past 8 hours training dogs.

But at this point, she's got all the basic obedience that I feel like she needs; she's good with most other dogs (we've successfully worked through most of her reactivity), and there's not a whole lot that I feel like we NEED to work on. So, at this point, I feel like it's more important to just give her good experiences, like outings and playtime outside and things like that. Last weekend she got to go kayaking for the first time (and swam for the first time, when she accidently fell out of the boat ), so that's the sort of thing that I think is more important at this point than actually training.

 

[BostonBanker]

I personally feel that as long as a dog is trained to the point that you and he can live happily together, you've done well. You've got a dog that you can call off anything at the dog park? Give yourself a huge pat on the back, whether it is just your dog's natural behavior or your training. No need to feel bad about it!

Meg gets less now than ever before, because of my new job. We still get our one hour agility class a week, and probably another hour or so of agility work scattered throughout the week. We do a bit of stuff throughout all our interactions together, like Dober mentioned. When we walk down to the green most nights to play fetch, she gets "training" - working on "wait" when she gets too far ahead, I send her out and flip her around trees before I throw the ball, etc.

I do want to teach her an actual competition heel at some point, just because I think it looks really cool when dogs do it well! But for now, she walks politely on leash, and that's really all my life requires of her in that regard.

 

[Tankstar]

Tankstar - Blaze sounds perfect to me! Reno is pretty good but he can't do all that yet (entirely my fault, he's easy to train)

Thanks, he is perfect for me and what I need him to do. It took years for us to get where we are, Reno is still a pup, he will get there. Blaze is 6, so by age 6 he better have it all down pact, or I did somthing wrong with his training lol

I personally feel that as long as a dog is trained to the point that you and he can live happily together, you've done well. You've got a dog that you can call off anything at the dog park? Give yourself a huge pat on the back, whether it is just your dog's natural behavior or your training. No need to feel bad about it!

I agree. Thats why i have slacked off so to say with Blaze. He does what i want and need him to do perfectly, that well, I dont feel the need to keep training him to do anything.

We do every day things like. He wants a treat? ok no problem "sit" or "laydown" and he does it at the drop of a hat, so he gets a treat. he knows to obey me, so I have nothing left to do. Only cool trick he knows, which pretty much every dog knows is "paw", handshake, high five, what ever you call it lol.

 

[Bigpoodleperson]

I used to spend a LOT of time training Riley in the past! We have been to Tons of classes. I love to see the "click" moment when they just get it (and Riley gets it Very quickly). Lots of heel work, sitting, fronts, downs, come, etc. We would take a walk and do tons of sits, turns, come fronts. Or play and every other toss he would have to do something. I have also taught him hand signals for everything, French and German commands.

At this point, he is a perfect pet!! If i want to do obedience/rally with him then i would put in more effort. The only training we do currenty is for tracking. I also work full time and go to school full time. Which leaves me NO time! I cant wait for a new dog to teach all these things too also! I love the dog Riley has become from all the time we put in together in the begining!

 

[Blue_Dog]

At the very least 10 minutes but I usually work training into play time.

 

[AllieMackie]

I try to do 15-20 minutes at an absolute minimum. Usually we do a session of just word commands we can do anywhere, like sit, stay, down, leave it, etc. and then we'll do some leash training, either in the backyard or on walks. What we really need to work on is thresholds - Finnegan's focus goes out the window at the drop of a hat.

 

[Lizmo]

How much time do you guys spend trianing your dogs? What do they do well? What do you wish you worked on more with them?

I've gotten pretty lazy over the summer in terms of having actual sessions of training. Most of the time I use real-life settings/activities to work with him. Like if we go to the Lake, I work on off leash, recall, focus, commands, etc. If we go to a herding lesson, we work on off leash, listening with distractions, manners around other dogs/people. If we go for a walk, I'm always working on leash manners.

As far as his best command? It would have to be his recall. It's rock solid, thank God. I've pushed pushed and pushed for a rock solid recall since the day he came home.

What do I wish I had worked more on? A focus command of some sort. He'll listen fine, but I was eye contact. I know, I'm pretty picky.

 

[Renee750il]

Well . . . no true Fila will ever win an obedience title, lol, and I doubt any true Fila person would ever want one in the first place. Bimmer is naturally good for the most part, with that little independent wolfy streak thrown in (which I like). Tallulah is a frenetic little Terrierist, but she's gradually learning and would probably be a great deal better in someone else's hands as far as becoming well trained. I'm just not that into it, though, and don't have any desire to have an obedience type dog or one that does tricks.

 

[Kim M]

lizzybeth - what is that saying "the shoe makers kids are barefoot" or something like that lol!

Boston Banker - your're right over all Reno is very good and I am so impressed with how well he resonds when I call him at the dog park. He walks great for me when we go for walks in the woods or at parks but it is my kind of walking.. not a formal heel. I just teach the dogs that when the leash tightens up they can't pull. I don't know how I've done it but all my dogs have learned this. So I use a Flexi lead and let it out as far as I can depending on where we are. If we are in the woods he can have the full lead if no one is around, then if someone comes towards us I push the button to shorten it and he reels right in. He never pulls even if the Flexi is at 4ft or if he has to be at my side for a few mins. However, if I put him on a normal lead (like say to go to Petsmart) he's a mess! I never understood how i got my dogs so well on the Flexi walking but it is not the same on a regular lead.

I broke down and signed him up for Basic Obedience. I am thinking I am going to do agility with him and figured I'd join this dog training club I used to belong to when I showed my Poodles in agility. I could go right to agility I but figured I'd start with Basic Obedience first.

 

[chanda]

i dont spend that much time training my dogs since i dont have that extra time for that kind of stuff... so i just always make sure that i give her enough time.

 

[smkie]

Mary is 17 so she is in retirement. But Victor and Pepper get at least one session a day. I can tell a difference per say if we work on one thing and not the other and then switch back. I like to keep them learning something new all the time.

 

[sprintime]

Don't know if everyone is getting the same hot humid weather we are but that helped set back training for me. Just going out after 7:00 a.m. makes me stick close to the a/c all day and the dogs don't get trained outdoors. I just incorporate everything they do in their daily schedule.