Tanya
04-26-2006, 11:57 AM
I have posted a little about this, but not much. Since we got Piper, he would not walk on a leash. He would plant himself and not budge. You could keep walking, but you would literally drag him along. He would not pick up his feet and start to walk. Because of this, he failed beginner’s obedience twice. :sosad:
Since his instructor didn’t see a point in making him take it again, she did us a favor and got him into Beginner Rally Obedience. The thought behind this was that there is only a short distance between stations, so maybe he would be ok with walking. WRONG! :rolleyes:
John was the one training him at the time, and Piper absolutely would not budge the first week of class. John was getting so mad at him, and I could tell the rest of the class was annoyed by it because this was eating into their training time. Keep in mind that all of the dogs in this class had mastered beginner obedience and had also taken novice obedience. Needless to say, Piper had a lot of catching up to do.
The next week came and John admitted he did not have the patience for this, so I took over Piper’s training. It was rough, but he responded a little better to my high pitched “Come on Piper” and walked a little better. However, it was still pretty terrible.
The next week our instructor brought a long stick that had a spoon attached. We put peanut butter on it and I held that out in front of him to entice him to walk. He walked a little better, but still planted himself whenever he felt like it. This did help him, but it was cumbersome to handle him and the spoon.
I continued working with him at home, and all of a sudden the next week he showed dramatic improvement in his walking. So, I ditched the spoon and just focused on keeping him moving. He didn’t do a lot of the commands, but hey, he was at least moving! :banana:
I have continued to work with him, and we have shown improvement each week. We had our last class of the 8 week session last night. Not only did Piper walk the entire course with me, but he also did all of the commands including finishes and a “sit, down, sit” combination. He wasn’t absolutely perfect, but he was pretty good! :appl:
Almost everyone in the class has come up to me and commented how they can’t believe that he is the same dog we brought to class 8 weeks ago. Piper will be moving on to the next class, which will entail even harder commands. Also, our obedience club is hosting a Rally Obedience Trial in August, and the instructor told me I should enter Piper! I was like “Are you serious?” She said if I keep working with him like I have, he will definitely be ready to compete on a level 1 course. I am so excited! Way to go Piper Man! :cheer2: :hearts: :cheer2:
On a side note…for the first time ever, we took Piper on his first real walk a few weeks ago. We had tried before, but it always ended in frustration and John taking him home while I finished the walk with Peaches.
Since his instructor didn’t see a point in making him take it again, she did us a favor and got him into Beginner Rally Obedience. The thought behind this was that there is only a short distance between stations, so maybe he would be ok with walking. WRONG! :rolleyes:
John was the one training him at the time, and Piper absolutely would not budge the first week of class. John was getting so mad at him, and I could tell the rest of the class was annoyed by it because this was eating into their training time. Keep in mind that all of the dogs in this class had mastered beginner obedience and had also taken novice obedience. Needless to say, Piper had a lot of catching up to do.
The next week came and John admitted he did not have the patience for this, so I took over Piper’s training. It was rough, but he responded a little better to my high pitched “Come on Piper” and walked a little better. However, it was still pretty terrible.
The next week our instructor brought a long stick that had a spoon attached. We put peanut butter on it and I held that out in front of him to entice him to walk. He walked a little better, but still planted himself whenever he felt like it. This did help him, but it was cumbersome to handle him and the spoon.
I continued working with him at home, and all of a sudden the next week he showed dramatic improvement in his walking. So, I ditched the spoon and just focused on keeping him moving. He didn’t do a lot of the commands, but hey, he was at least moving! :banana:
I have continued to work with him, and we have shown improvement each week. We had our last class of the 8 week session last night. Not only did Piper walk the entire course with me, but he also did all of the commands including finishes and a “sit, down, sit” combination. He wasn’t absolutely perfect, but he was pretty good! :appl:
Almost everyone in the class has come up to me and commented how they can’t believe that he is the same dog we brought to class 8 weeks ago. Piper will be moving on to the next class, which will entail even harder commands. Also, our obedience club is hosting a Rally Obedience Trial in August, and the instructor told me I should enter Piper! I was like “Are you serious?” She said if I keep working with him like I have, he will definitely be ready to compete on a level 1 course. I am so excited! Way to go Piper Man! :cheer2: :hearts: :cheer2:
On a side note…for the first time ever, we took Piper on his first real walk a few weeks ago. We had tried before, but it always ended in frustration and John taking him home while I finished the walk with Peaches.