Trainers of multiple dogs

Laurelin

I'm All Ears
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
30,963
Likes
3
Points
0
Age
37
Location
Oklahoma
#1
Question.

Do you notice your dogs have similar strengths/weaknesses? I notice handling both my dogs that despite the two having very different base temperaments that they both run agility extremely similar and react in most training instances very similarly. I thought this was fascinating and it is making me wonder if it is breed or my handling or what?

I would add more but I am on my phone. Have you noticed the same thing?
 

Laurelin

I'm All Ears
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
30,963
Likes
3
Points
0
Age
37
Location
Oklahoma
#3
My nosework trainer upon seeing Summer work for the first time told me that Summer reminded her a lot of Mia. It's interesting considering that they are almost polar opposites in many traits.
 

Shai

& the Muttly Crew
Joined
Dec 14, 2009
Messages
6,215
Likes
0
Points
36
#4
My dogs work very differently, as observed by both me and others.

They have some of the same training holes, things I don't like to train :p, but their basic style is quite different.

But then my household is weird.
 

AdrianneIsabel

Glutton for Crazy
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Messages
8,893
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Portland, Oregon
#6
That is interesting. There are some things, like impulse control issues and cheating, which our dogs get from our handling (we don't have the best follow through sometimes) but mostly they compliment one another nicely.

My boys though, they're both a bit needy, handler obsessive, and while Backups is very mild and Arnolds is extreme they both have some separation anxiety. I think I caused that.
 
Joined
Feb 26, 2011
Messages
6,405
Likes
0
Points
36
Location
Minnesota
#7
Well I don't do all the same activities with them so it's a little hard to say. But overall I think while they have learned some similar things about what to expect from me and how to work that, their core personalities and learning styles are quite different.
 

SaraB

New Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
5,798
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
St. Louis, MO
#8
My dogs work differently and so I train them differently. Handling in agility is completely different for Zuma and Zinga, same with disc.
 

Laurelin

I'm All Ears
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
30,963
Likes
3
Points
0
Age
37
Location
Oklahoma
#9
I'm leaning towards wondering if a lot is just breed then? Im sure things like both being horrible in their crates at class is my doing mostly. I can't say I raised them the same since Summer spent her first four years in a different house.

Mia is totally stranger intolerant while Summer is very stranger friendly. Summer has zero toy drive and Mia has some toy drive. Summer is much more confident and even keeled. In general they approach things very similarly, have very similar biddability although Mia is a little more apt to say screw you. Both are super handler focused/obsessed. Both very exciteable. In day to day life they are very different dogs to own but in a 'working' situation they are very similar.
 

Beanie

Clicker Cult Coordinator
Joined
May 17, 2006
Messages
14,012
Likes
0
Points
36
Age
39
Location
Illinois
#10
Mine are all pretty different, but there's some pretty big differences between them... like Auggie obviously has been here for seven years and I trained MUCH differently with him when he first got here. Payton has been trained just so vastly different than everybody else from day one, the way he thinks is SO different. Georgie has been trained pretty similarly to Pay when I work with her, but she is not really my dog either and a majority of her training has NOT come from me. And Pepper I didn't have until she was four so that's four years of somebody else working with her in a different fashion. She is just... a bit slower than everybody else. She is also kind of special mentally anyway so I don't know how much of that is the training.

Really the only similarity between the three, minus Pepper, is that if I open the treat jar/grab the clicker they immediately want to DO something. Auggie is an annoying Overly Eager Beaver about e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. He doesn't stop moving. ever. and also the barking. Payton immediately thinks "Paws? Paws on this? PIVOT??"

It will be interesting to see if Future Puppy is much like P, but that will be a bit unfair since ideally Future Puppy will be P's kid, so...
 

BostonBanker

Active Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
8,854
Likes
1
Points
36
Location
Vermont
#11
Yes and no.

My dogs handle very, very differently. To the point that I am amazed anyone manages to successfully run more than one dog in agility. Meg is mostly retired from practicing, and just runs a few classes a trial now. And I can't run her to save myself. I particularly pull her off obstacles (her point of commitment is about when her back feet land on the far side of the jump) by cuing at "Gusto timing".

However - they do have a similar set of strengths and weaknesses based off my own strengths and weaknesses in training. Both of my dogs have great rear crosses and phenomenal flips. Both have awful pick ups from front crosses. But that's me and my handling, not really the dogs themselves. Both also are huge contact suckers and not tunnel suckers - because I tend to over-reward contacts and under-reward tunnels.
 
Last edited:

Brattina88

Active Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2004
Messages
12,958
Likes
6
Points
38
Location
OH
#12
It will be interesting to see if Future Puppy is much like P, but that will be a bit unfair since ideally Future Puppy will be P's kid, so...
Where can I get on the waiting list for that litter?!?!?! :p lol



My two are totally different, I always attributed it to their breed-types. I've had Maddie since she was a puppy, and pretty much from 2 years on I clicker trained, but before hand not (but it was positive based). She's a sporting breed and works very much for food. She can be pushy, when I get out the clicker it's TRY EVERYTHING I CAN THINK OF UNTIL I GET IT RIGHT - and then bark if all else fails :rofl1: including slapping me with her paw :cool: ohhh Maddie. She doesn't have very much spatial awareness when it comes to h body, other than her front feet. But we're very in-tune with each other, and I can tell right away if the method I am using is going to "work" or not. She catches on fast, and after 1-2 repetitions of getting it "RIGHT" she's got it from then on out. It's the craziest thing.

Bailey is the herder, she's more handler oriented and works closer to me. But her temperament is soft and she doesn't like to do things wrong, and she'll completely shut down if she gets confused or frustrated. I have clicker trained her from day one, but I got her when she was 2 years old, and her former owners used collar pops, knee in the chest or swatting when jumping, etc so she lacks the confidence Maddie has. But she's very sharp and learns quickly. Bailey does better with shorter sessions, and after the break she does it better than when we left off! :D she's needy and needs to work with me, wants that encouragement whereas Maddie just wants the final reward when she's done ;)

Both are very very food motivated. Bailey will work for toys and loves to tug (not in new environments, though), Maddie's more like meh where's the food. Maddie's very social and loves people, Bailey's not too fond of strangers and is content heeling at my side. I've let Maddie get away with the pulling on a leash and even though she CAN heel, she'll yank my arm off if she gets in the mood. And now that she's loosing her hearing, she'll deliberately NOT look at me so she doesn't have to listen. And that is SO Maddie :rofl1: Bailey would never to that lol she looks up at my with those eyes like :hail: Maddie's more the one to say eh, no thanks this is much more interesting, unless you have a treat :p
 

Flyinsbt

New Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
886
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Portland, OR
#13
Mine have some similarities, mostly in manners-type behavior. ie; all my dogs pull horribly on the leash. I'd like to blame the breed, but I can't even blame the breeding, Tess' daughter, in another home, walks fine on a leash. So, it's clearly me.

Stuff like agility, though, they do tend to handle differently. I have read an article that suggests that the same handler will tend to have dogs that run at about the same speed, because it's more handler/trainer-driven than dog. But I have not found that to be the case. With the 4 agility dogs I've had, all of the same breed, and 3 that are 3 generations of the same family, they have worked at different speeds, and had different strengths.
 

noodlerubyallie

Sprayin' the spiders
Joined
Jul 3, 2008
Messages
1,181
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Iowa
#14
Question.

Do you notice your dogs have similar strengths/weaknesses? I notice handling both my dogs that despite the two having very different base temperaments that they both run agility extremely similar and react in most training instances very similarly. I thought this was fascinating and it is making me wonder if it is breed or my handling or what?

I would add more but I am on my phone. Have you noticed the same thing?
No. Ruby has strength in places that Rocket doesn't; Rocket has strength in certain areas that Ruby can't touch. I have to use different techniques for both, but a lot of what I teach is similar. I think it really depends on the dog.
 

Whisper

Kaleidoscopic Eye
Joined
Jun 9, 2006
Messages
13,749
Likes
1
Points
38
Age
31
#15
Nope, my dogs are polar opposites. For example, I try not to dole out verbal corrections, but when I do, Millie acts like a wilted flower, while Fable gets super excited and tacklehugs me. xD
 

Members online

Top