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Re: [working-gundog] Autumn is here.
Sonia
wrote:
>>I, too, like
Cesar. What is all the hype about him? There are so many people who
either like him or don't??? Do you know
why?>>>
The hype, for my
personal part, is about the lack of an beginning and an end. It is of course
good to teach folks about how sensible dogs are to body language and how you can
affect and control them with it. I use body language now and then, most every
day indeed, in order to calm down or wind up a dog or for whatever
purpose.
However, to me it is
also important to try to teach a puppy to neglect most of my and other folks
body language. Why? Because we humans usually use more body language than
any "wild and untamed" dog would be able to take. Hence I believe that social
training is very important from a very early age, in fact as soon as the puppy
has got all the inoculations needed for it to be taken out in the society. Now
it can meet new people and new environments and by and by learn than most of our
human peculiar behaviour can be neglected, and at the end, as a young dog when
work training starts, it also can neglect most of my own peculiar behaviour
except in certain situations when I particularly address the
dog!
If I for example
have two dogs, and I have at some occasion to use rough language to get one of
them in order, I do want the other dog to understand that the bashing does not
concern it. In this situation there will still be an element that I can do
nothing about: The dog that is not concerned about the bashing will still see
that I am a dominant leader since I can correct the other dog that powerfully
and it will remember this. Still, since it has learned to neglect some of my
body language, it will not be sorry without guilt!
This work if I have
been very consistent in the training and the dogs are not too soft. If they are
soft I still have to be very cautious when correcting one dog and the other one
is nearby.
Anyway, for me it all
boils down to one single issue: All the hype the shrinks do is about repair work
when puppy training has been neglected. All the hype I do at the obedience
classes is also repair work of a dog that has not been correctly raised from
puppyhood. The difference is that with my classes the aim is to repair this dog
and give the owner an insight that with the next dog he or she must start much
earlier. The aim should be that I will not be needed to bring the next dog into
order!
I am in fact so tired
of all this repair work so I am thinking of stopping to hold "repair classes" of
older dogs and instead start to hold puppy classes. The problem here is that
people seldom go to any classes before the dog has become a problem! In addition
many folks believe in the politically correct message that puppies can not and
should not be corrected in any way.
Dogs not trained to
neglect human body language are a problem. One simple example: I have a few
videos from both the British and Swedish spaniel championships. Very often you
see how fast and anxiously the handlers grab the bird that the dog has
retrieved. They fear that the slightest movement from them will cause the dog to
drop the bird. Had they trained their dog to hold the dummy until told not to
hold it, no matter if they dance rock and roll for a minute or two before
accepting the delivery of the bird to hand, then some of the excitement in
running their dog in trials would be left in the in the past and a lot of sweat
and heartbeats would be saved!
Just have a look at
"Torstis corner" at our website, "The Medicine, second part". See how Briz
offers me the bird, sitting with her head upwards. I don't have to worry, I
don't have to beg for it. She would sit there holding it even if I was so happy
so I had to dance a rain-dance before taking it. This is because she has been
trained to neglect most of my body language!
The way I receive the
bird from Foxy is a completely different matter. I enjoy the old warriors
self-willed and independent way of working so immensely so I go down in a
kneeling position just to entice her to pull my leg even more  )) Don't take a
model of that )
Torsti
Borta Med Vindens Kennel
"Ask not what your dog
can do for you.
Ask what you can do for your dog."
www.rospigan.net
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