Obedience trials are about so much more than just teaching the dog to perform exercises. Teaching the behaviors and exercises is approximately half the job.
The dog also needs to be able to:
Do several exercises in a row with no toy or food rewards in between
Perform at its best on the first try
Perform in a new location
Perform “under pressure” – when the ring steward ask you to, not when the handler feels like
Switch from energetic and fast to calm and focused behaviors (and v.v.)
Cope with distractions such as a judge, a ring steward, and other dog and handler teams
Be “open minded” and switch from one task to another when asked
Obedience Class – Preparing for trials will cover all of these subjects. To enter this class you don’t need to have taught your dog all exercises, in fact it’s an advantage to keep all these subjects in mind right from the start. Then you make the transition from training to trial smoother for your dog, and your dog will not only love to train, but also to trial.
Obedience Class – Preparing for trials starts at December 9th 2013 contains following eight lessons. Every second Monday a new lesson will be out.
As a working participant, you can submit as many videos as you like, and we will comment and give you advice on how to progress. Observers can view all info and all videos, and ask as many questions as you like (except for questions about a specific dog that is not a working participant in the workshop).
Working Spot: 2250 SEK – personal feedback on unlimited questions and videos
Observer: 1000 SEK – unlimited questions, no personal feedback
If you want to update yourself on methods for teaching obedience exercises, you can buy an observer spot on a finished obedience class and read all the lessons and watch student videos and our feedback on them. Class is finished, so there will be no opportunity for asking questions in that class.
Working Spot + Observer Obedience Class March 2013: 2750 SEK
Observer + Observer Obedience Class March 2013: 1500 SEK
Lessons:
1) What is “competition-like training” (The handler’s behavior)
Entries into the ring
2) From behaviors to sequences
How to build behavior chains
3) Switch from energetic and fast to calm and focused behaviors (and v.v.)
To be open minded and able to switch from one task to another, including stimulus control
4) Exercise routines
How to optimize your dog’s performance
5) More on sequencing
Building even longer chains containing different kinds of behaviors
6) Distraction training
The ring steward
Other dogs
Other equipment and distractions in the ring
7) Raise the bar – “overtraining”
How to make trials feel easy
8) Longer chains and putting it all together
