Kiora and Obedience Class

[Bettawhippet]

I meant to start a thread last week when the class started…but I forgot. I will just write about each week with Kiora in obedience cless for anyone who's interested in tracking her progress..I did this on another forum before with Ananda so i thought it would be cool to do agian.

Week 1.
Kiora is the main attraction in the class. Karen (Trainer) starts off by introdroducing herself...and then me and Kiora. "Basenjis are the most primative breed of dog" she says, "yes they are beautiful but this puppy is nine months old...and this is her third home."I have a good friend who used to breed Basenji's...the day she quit breeding them was the day they ate her washer and dryer....they are not for everyone." everyones curiosity satified class begins. The first excersize we do is heeling in a straight line and the heeling with the about turn. Kiora is distracted but after a couple go's she figures out what we are doing and turns well with me. The next excersize is "sit and stand" sit she knows ...stand she doesn't. She is a little reluctant at first but agian catched on after a few tries. The next excersize is our trouble excersize...the control down...it is NOT an alpha roll. (which i am not down with) it is simply a variation on the down stay where the dog in theory lays on her side next to you calmy until you release her..10 minutes or so. Kiora wants not of it...with my bigger dogs I could gently keep them down with one hand on her shoulder and one on their flank...not so with Kiora she wiggles out of my reach and I put her back on her side and she wiggles out of reach agian. Then homework is handed out and Kiora befriends (yay!) the whippet in the class and then we all go home.

I will do week two after I get back from work....for those of you who are curious it went very well. Details later.
Rachel

[Quercus]

Sounds like she is doing great. And it is good that you have an instructor who understands basenjis! Out of curosity, is this a positive reinforcement based class, using food rewards? If not, what method do they use?

[Bettawhippet]

The class is not positive reiforcement based…but I train using positive rienfrocement. Karen doesn't like to used treat based training because dogs learn from each other with corrections and pack order. She is heavy into praise and physical reward (pet)...she uses verbel corrections for misbehavior and leash corrections for heel work...she does use some treats with her advanced classes. However like I said...I am more of a positive reinforcement type of person....I do want my dog to understand that I am in charge...but I want my dog to want me to be in charge...and I want my dog to want to work with me. I use luring and food rewards when initially teaching a command...then once they understand it wean them off imediatley and continue to reward with food on a random and occasional basis. Once the dog knows the command...if I ask them to do something and they refuse I will use a verbel or leash correction based on what it was I asked them to do. I also place alot of emphasis on keeping training sessions short...fun...and varied, so as not to bore my dog...I do one or two 10-15 minute training sessions daily...and we do each command two or three times. I like karens classes because she understands competitive dog sports, she is very experienced and knowledgable, and she is fun.
Anyways...

Week two.

We arrive early and bring Ananda so that she can play in the park before class. Karen is still finishing up her puppy class so we sniff and run around and play and wear off some of Kiora's extra energy. When class starts Kiora is once agian on edge but settles down within a few minutes. We start out by putting our dogs in control downs and Karen takes the oppertunity to help everyone out with the problems they've experienced during the week. Kiora struggles even more this time because we have been doing it all week and this time she expects it..however 8 or so minutes later she relaxes and does it perfectly for the last two minutes of the down...Yippeee! This week we start adding right and left turns and sits to our heeling. Kiora does nicely on the right turn but we have a little more trouble with the left turns...most of it due to mthe fact that I am having trouble telling such a low to the ground dog where we are going....Any suggestions? She is perfect on her sits...o.k well she sat crooked but it was the first time she had done it. I told her the first time and then every time after that she did it on her own. Good Girl! Next we worked on come..this one she already kinda knows but now we know it officially. She came....AND sat in front...straight....without me asking for it...EVERY SINGLE TIME. I Was/Am SO excited. I still want to mainly do agility. But now I think I have an obedience dog as well....:) After class was over Ananda was riled up...so we did some off lead heeling then a one minute sit stay with drop on recall and a finish right. She was so excited to be at class agian...I think I have to get her into advanced class to sharpen both our skills because we are rusty....then I think we will train for open...Why not? Even though she can't compete she has alot of fun in class...and it helps me be a better trainer too.

In a couple of weeks I am starting Kiora on the PetSmart begginers class as well...mainly for socializaton...also because I work at PetSmart..so its free,lol. PetsMart uses positive rienforcement techniques.

Will have more to tell next week...

[Quercus]

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Interesting. Good luck!

[Bettawhippet]

This week Class got rained out…So nothing until next week.

[Bettawhippet]

Well I am about to go off to this week of class…last week we did alot of review due to missing a week...and we also worked on sit-Stay, and Stand Stay...the stand-stay she did great on, the sit-stay was o.k. ...we'll see how we do today...Also i started a PetsMart Class yesterday...the only thing we workede on was "watch Me" which she did great on. There are only three other dogs in that class...a boxer puppy,and a lady with a pair of Xoloitzcuintli.

[Bettawhippet]

Week four:
This week Karen did her lecture on dog food and so that took up alot of the class…my food is in the clear,lol. Next we did heeling patterns adding the automatic sit in front, and the side command. Kiora did very well, since we have already been doing fronts this was easy for her,towards end of the heeling patterns she got very goofy and wanted to play instead of heel, I think the patterns go just a smidge too long in the clas to keep her attention.Next we worked on come, adding the automatic sits to that as well, agfian she did well as we were doing fronts from the getgo. The nect excersize was the sit stay...which she is O.K on we did it four times with ten second stays, she broke once out of the four. Good Girl! Last we worked on down, we have been working on it some but she is still a bit resistant to it, especially around all those other puppies, still she relaxed a bit and downed three times.:) Yay! Good girl Kiora!!

[carol]

Yes I am retraining a badly abused mix, she is too smart, learns fast, but has a very strong will about some things. GG We are on the sit/stay and etc. from beginning again as they were sick! I do not train when they are sick! Carol

[Duke]

We go for our 7th of 8 training class tonight. Last week, we were shown how to train for: Shake . . . Roll Over . . . Sit Pretty. Has anyone been successful with these tricks? Duke will Shake or rather he actually "Slaps me five!" But the Roll Over - forget it. He is very shakey with the Sit Pretty (Handsome) trick.

Bettawhippet / Carol - How is your training going? I bet it is difficult timewise to reflect on the classes. Are you done? I got motivation here. I need some more. Please?

[DebraDownSouth]

Sayblee does a lot of tricks, but roll over isn't one I have ever tried to teach her.

I am very motivational training oriented, be it food, clicker or simply ignore wrong until they get it right and give praise. I suspect that clicker training works well with most tricks and I did use it for Sayblee for teaching:
give me 5
pet me (strokes repeatedly)
rear
sit
down
say "I want some"

[jessi76]

I clicker trained my dog, and had great success with all of his commands, and a few tricks. we never learned "tricks" in class though, instead we were taught how to break everything down to steps to shape any behavior (commands or tricks).

[Duke]

Thanks for the motivation and encouragement here. I am curious . . . Is clicker training easier/faster to teach Basenji? I am happy we are almost done with our Beginner Obedience class. I think it would be wise to take another right off the bat. Would you suggest clicker or intermediate training? Any advice is appreciated.

[jessi76]

all the classes I took, from beginner to advanced OB were all clicker-based. so I'm not sure what you're asking. are you not using clicker training now? the clicker is to accurately MARK the desired behavior/response. for my dog's first year (starting with puppy socializing at 11wks old) I took classes once a week, only taking time off around the holidays. that first year of training we did, was worth every penny. (and even now, my dog remembers ALL of the things learned, and has even learned new things using the same techniques)

it was easy, and yes, fast, but his true basenji nature did show in class. he was, at times, the "class clown", but with constant positive training, we met all our training goals.

[Duke]

Hhmmm! No, we are not in clicker training now. It is Intro Obedience at Pet Smart. But they do offer Clicker training when there is enough sign-up interest - dates loose and TBD. I may be in the wrong place??? The class I am in is likely more for the general pet dog population. There are puppies and rescued adult dogs. They use positive reinforcement as is recomended here. So I thought it would be a great place to start. It isn't cheap, I know, but if I only had or knew the right resources here in MI, I might spend money more wisely. It is sooo frustrating sometimes figuring everything out. :o I'm beginning feel the Basenji is best suited for clicker training. I want to do right for him because it would be right for our family. Any suggestions as to how I might find good resources for Basenji in Michigan would be appreciated.:)

[ciarasmom]

Hi,
I didn't clicker train my first dog, I used MOSTLY positive reinforcement, but I also "molded" behaivor with her, pushing her to sit, pushing her to down, etc. and now she often only does it when I touch her, that has become her "cue."
Clickers are used to "mark" the behaivor, but the concept also gets the dogs to OFFER behaivors in order to make you click and dispense food. It's this aspect that I think works very well–let the Basenji think he controls the situation, he does something to make you provide food. Doesn't that sound like something a Basenji would like?
www.clickersolutions.com can help you find a clicker trainer. Or read the info on the site and incorporate the concept in your regular class. I do recommend continuing with a class, repeating the one you are in if necessary. I think it's important to keep training, and many of us (myself included) are too lazy to keep up with it on our own. :o)
I have a good Shake, Hi Five, one that will roll over, one that will wave, and instead of a sit pretty, I have one that stands on her hind legs and throws her front paws up over her head "stick 'em up!"

[Duke]

Thank you for this website Brenda. I found a very good resource for clicker training - and - I made arrangements with a gal at the school to meet her today. They happen to be distributors of the Black Dog head collar, so we will likely purchase one too. Looks like a great day to visit a pumpkin patch while we're out and about too. Have a great day!

[ciarasmom]

Oh, neat! Tell us how it goes!