cattle prod - Page 10

It was not Zdog dear, it was me...

"I am a sports mom shuttling my son to games and practices; I am involved in my religious community; I volunteer at hospital.  I just don't have that kind of time to devote to having to travel hours for IPO or starting a club and all that entails."

With all due respect, are you sure you have enough time left over in your life to train a dog in IPO anyway?  You sound very busy and training a dog to titles is very time consuming even if you don't have to travel great distances to do so.  Nothing is worse than a club members who show up on the weekend without having done any homework or training with their dogs during the week and always expect to get those dogs worked right away because they have to move on to some other engagement.  I know it sounds almost too obvious to even mention but you get to be part of a group by actually being part of that group.

" First question when you step on trial field...where and who did you get your dog from? Who cares?"

Everyone; otherwise we wouldn't be asking.  Genetics is a very important part of the overall picture.

Smiley, that was a great post. You can train at home, hire a helper later, when you find one. But I agree with you...one of the things I have seen at sch clubs is that there is ONE method and ONE method only for "training" dogs. They work the dogs like they are on an assembly line. One so called trainer even works his subjects in rote; produced dogs with conflict and looking like they have a cob up their ass as soon as they step on the field. Try to convince a person with that mentality that each dog is individual and one method does not fit every dog. To most td's at clubs, every dog should be primarily prey oriented or they are rejected as they are not capable of being trained with the only method known to those "trainers".
I built my own wall and hurdle nine years ago, paid helpers to come to my field once a week, twice a week when getting within a month of trial. Took my dogs to club to proof them, but trained them at home myself.
Titled three dogs within a year of starting training, all three within two months, traveling to three different states to trials, and three very different type dogs. Put shc1 on my WLL male first, then one week later, put sch 1 on my female. Three weeks after putting sch 1 on my female, I took her and my GSL male to another trial, put the sch 2 on my female and same day I put the sch 1 on my SL male.

apparently that means you suck in my eyes??? WTF did that come from?  I was sorry you had such a bad experience and giving you an option.  How hard is it to go out and train your dog?  Find one other person, bam, you have a group.  Train and have fun.  That's really all there is too it.  you learn the rest along the way and it's not about the stupid title, it's about all the stuff that happens along the way.

anyway, the rest of us have lives too.  you make and put in the time to do something you want, or you don't.  I've trained with unemployed people that couldn't pass a bh and womenn with 5 or 6 kids that strapped babies to their back and went tracking and titled multiple dogs mostly without a club.  People find a way for what they want.  whatever you choose, I don't care, it's your choice.  Make it, don't make excuses. 

I ask people what kind of dog they have and where they go it, because it's a pretty common ice breaker with dog people.  Some people use it to judge, some are just curious and want to start a conversation.  It's like asking people where they are from when you get to college and are meeting everyone for the first time.  Except dog people usually care more about the dogs than you, and since they can't talk to your dogs they have to ask you where they came from :)

How old is your son? Send him here, I'll teach him helper work :) 

Joanro:     WOW!!

What's the reasoning behind not training in protection and AKC OB simultaneously? There are GSD's that do both and are titled in both venues.  Is it a regional thing? As far as asking about the dog's pedigree, I don't agree that is necessary to determine the dog's worthiness. I've often asked to try to break the ice or if I thought the dog looked like another dog I knew. Never to determine its worth to be trained.

I think Joanro did the smart thing - built her own equipment and hired a helper. A friend has titled numerous GSD's to Sch titles that same way.

 

Joanro....second that wow!! Super cool and insiring!!! I thought I was doing well training obedience every day- every chance I get. No, I can't block hours for obedience but I found if I break it up into short 10-15 minutes sessions throughout the day that it adds up. I was tracking 4 times a week before winter hit around lunchtime.  But, I have to go to field once a week to get the protection work.....

Anyways, Joanro...that is very impressive. I am going to try to find some leads for a private helper. Do they bring their own blinds and a-frame. I have a jump I bought for agility. If not, I guess I need to start saving my money. *sigh*

Zdog...it's not always used as an icebreaker.  I was asked about where and who I got my dog from. Later, when the trainer asked that same question about us...I heard a member say.."the dog is sh*t". That was before we had ever stepped on a training field.

But, anyways...I got stuff to do so please all carry on with your cattle prod discussion. The question was asked by OP. The answer: yes, I have seen a cattle prod used on two separate training fields.

oh, ok, I guess all these years i've asked new people about their dogs, It was so I could judge them :)  Have fun

http://tfloydsyouthcamp.com/

 

Zdog, I think you were very kind to offer to train Smiley's son to be a helper. I believe you were very sincere in that offer.  Maybe one day, when you have a lot of time on your hands , you could offer something like T Floyd's Youth Camp linked above. I think you would be a good teacher and would do it the right way.

Without kids, there is absolutely no future for the sport.  Our local OB and owner-handlers group used to prospect  for kids to learn about training,handling, showing dogs in all venues.  We set up at local malls, it  generated a lot of interest; so much that it surprsed us. We did some silly things like doggy fashion shows and selling anything we could get hold of. We had no pride, we did anything to get kids to look and get interested.  Some of those kids actually stuck with it, titled their dogs, bred some good dogs,  one even qualified for Junior Showmanship at Westminster. I'd think that protection training would be a good incentive for kids today.

PS: I don't even like kids very much, but I still had fun.

 

 

Smiley, no, the helpers I hired had their own suit and sleeves...I had to provide a compression sleeve of my own for a helper who would show up and say, oh, I forgot my sleeve. Another one, I had to give a new sleeve cover because his was so raggedy, my dogs were choking on threads falling off it, it was literally in shreds.
Blinds? I MADE by first four blinds out of galvanized pipe and three corner sleeves from a party tent that blew down. I had to add a six or eight inch piece of pipe for the back tripod leg, made the blind out of silver tarp that was laying in the shed. Punched holes in the tarp and tied it around the pipe with orange hay string I pulled off round bales. They weren't pretty, but I taught my dogs to run four blinds with them and the h/b. Then I a bought six Gappy blinds from Hallmark k9, and finished training all my dogs to run six blinds. In fact, by the time I was ready to put the one on them, I trained each of them all the way to three.