by Joanne Hagan » Mon 19 Mar 2007 6:57 pm
Hi Kirsty, have just attended a seminar with Susan Garrett - a Canadian dog trainer who is a positive trainer/high motivational trainer. A similar subject to this came up on day one and her view was that she would adjust the retrieving item to the dog (so a softer item) and would continue the retrieving training. She has some rather interesting views one of which is that YOU determine when the work/fun happens AND ends, not the dog.
So she went on to say that she has never yet had a puppy stop retrieving whilst teething therefore the dog never learns to stop working just because its mouth hurts (she also said, if your dog has the choice on it's own - does it care about it's mouth hurting/teeth falling out/blood if it's playing with another dog?? - most likely not!). She keeps her training sessions with puppies very short (like 30secs to a couple of minutes short!) but makes them fun, fun, fun whilst ensuring she is in control and she says when it ends, not the dog.
Just some food for thought.
Joanne Hagan
FOURJAYS GSPs - for showing, for trialling, for loving!
Canberra, Australia