Axelan Dog Training
It's worth the trip to Warman!
Positive Methods - Dog Training should be fun!
TRAINING TIPS
Here are a few small training tips to help you out along the way.
I am always adding to these training tips, so keep returning to see what's new...!
DON'T MAKE YOUR OWN PROBLEMS
All too many times I've seen this happen and feel very sad for both the dog and handler.
A dog does something wrong and the handler goes all gung-ho to sort it - not only can they create a problem but they can actually demotivate the dog on that exercise.
Dogs are creatures of habit - I work on the basis that if a dog does it once I ignore it, if it does it twice I monitor it and if it does it 3 times it's a habit/problem and I sort it.
STAY POSITIVE
When you come out of the ring it is important to concentrate on your dog.
Whether your round was good, bad or indifferent, THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING POSITIVE YOU CAN PULL FROM IT. So when people are busy telling you everything that went wrong, you need to say positive things like "yes, but did you see that he actually stayed on his recall which was a HUGE improvement" etc. etc. etc.
That way you stay positive and your dog will pick up from that.
BUILD A GOOD FOUNDATION
A strong foundation for ANYTHING is important.
Your house is built on a foundation. If the builder has cut corners and costs or their workmanship is sloppy when they built your foundation, the odds are that at some point you will start having problems with your house - cracks etc. will start appearing, walls will start moving and everything will start going terribly wrong.
This is the same with your dog. If you don't build a strong training foundation then eventually the cracks will start appearing in your dog's work.
IF YOU FAIL TO TRAIN, YOU TRAIN TO FAIL
All dogs are different. Some need training every day and some not so often. But whatever dog you have, you need to keep topping up your "Pot of Gold".
So consider that everytime you train you put something in your "Pot of Gold". And everytime you work your dog in the ring you are pulling gold from that pot. If you don't keep topping up your pot, it will run out. And that is exactly what happens if you don't keep up the training.
Be realistic in your expectations - if you don't put anything into your dog, don't expect too much out by the way of qualifiers/achievements.
THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR FIRST 3 STEPS IN HEELWORK
Generally people know within the first few steps whether their dog is "working" or not......
If your dog ISN'T in heelwork for those first few steps your confidence will be knocked and you will go into a downward spiral......if your dog IS in heelwork for those first few steps it will feed your confidence and you will go in an upward spiral.
So in training always do the basics of set-up, attention and work on your first 3 steps.
NEVER BE AFRAID TO GO BACK TO BASICS
For some reason, once people have reached a "certain level", they stop doing the basics and will not return to them making statements like "the dog should know what it's doing by now" etc. etc.
Whatever level you are at, don't forget to keep your basics as part of your training programme. Your basics are the building blocks of your foundation and if you keep on top of them, your foundation will stay strong.