JWhen it comes to training your dogs, thought it would be interesting to know how you all go about it.

l was wondering how much time do you spend on training, where do you do it and do you do it every day?

Do you train more than one dog too?

Do you go to classes or do you think it is better to be done at home with a DVD or book as a guide?

Just interested to know what the views of other owners are?

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Ta Ta For Now xxx Kittysoo

I have 3 Dogue de Bordeaux and a Staffy - they are trained every day - They are all taken out on walks on their own most of the time by myself - if hubby is with me then they go out in pairs - they are trained everyday - while out on walks and in the garden and house - I can spend 4 - 5 hours a day walking and training all of them - 2 of them go to Ring craft twice a week as they are my show girls - I do like to train mine while out on walks - pockets full of poo bags, treats and toys etc We do some on lead training like heal and learning to stop at curbs before crossing a road - chasing balls and recall etc while out in the fields - Dont use a dvd or a book as a guide its all common sense - I have 3 very large dogs so the need for manners is very important to me and those around me - Even my older dogs love the training - they all enjoy what we do - prob b'cos they get treats after LOL
I as a dog owner owe it to them to have a structure - can you imagine my house if they all did as they all please with no training??? I would move out LOL

As a puppy I spent very short periods of time say 5 minutes at a time working on the basics sit, lay, stay and wait, stand, retrieve, heelwork.

Heelwork is constant with the command wait at road junctions everytime we go out for a walk although now I just have to say "close" now and again.

Training is still a big part of our playtime which takes about half an hour at a time. To Duke its cheese time and he will do anything for a morsal of cheese.

We have attended formal training classes, we weren't top of the class but it was great fun and helped with his socialising.

I only know of three dog training clubs in Leeds, Temple Newsam, Tingley, East Keswick.

Sue

i train chiko every day just to keep him going as he gets very bored otherwise i would love to take him training classes but i dont drive and to get him on a bus is just hard work .

No training classes for us,I prefer ringcraft and there aren't any near us,so I train mine myself.
Training is an onging thing for us and we do it everyday

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i think dogs do need training everyday as it keeps a great bond with each other i go to the park early in the morning so i train him there and also do a lot of street walking so he gets his training there too stopped using treats as he was putting on the pounds so i take a ball and use that now lol

I prefer to train mine in practical situations rather than training them one to one at home.

I only do one to one sessions with Jayjay as he is more than likely going to be shown.

I teach them commands such as sit, stand, paw, stay all together, can't see the point in training them to behave on their own as they are always together and around other dogs so they need to learn with distractions.

To be honest they don't need much training, they all fall into line without much effort, they all learnt recall perfectly within a few days and they were walking off lead from the day they were allowed out!

Sitting at curbs, heelwork etc obviously goes on everyday while we are out walking, I don't spend time on it in the garden.

Same with basic house manners they are ongoing on a daily basis. They are allowed through doors first, shock horror, but they know they don't push past people or each other and they are allowed on the sofas but they know to wait to be told to get up if we are already sat on it and know to get down as soon as told.

Thanks all thats really interseting. I have the usual books and DVDs and l find the clicker training one quiet difficult. I know timing is everything. They make it look so easy on the dvds but l have found them to be a fair waste of money.

I trully believe that the forum is the best place to come for proper advice as we are all basically the average dog owner and just need to find the most enjpyable way to train.

I have 2 questions for you all - one is - what is ringcraft? Is it to do with training or is it teaching the dog to walk around for a judge and stand for being checked over for when they go to be showed?

The second question is - is there a correct order for training your dog. Do you start with lead work - a few sits then a few downs etc or do you mix it all up. Do you have a set plan of training that you work to rigidly or just randomly ask different things of the dog as you feel like it.

Also there is a third question - l have just remembered.

Do you use wait and stay? If you do what should you teach first. I always say wait before l let the dogs eat. I also say wait back when l am going through the baby gates first. I don't seem to use stay at all but that is what l heard when l went to my training class with Schmoo when he was 3 months old. Also l did'nt finish the class as my Dad who has dementia had a few physcotic episodes when he moved into his new home and l ended up having to dash over at all hours. I missed 2 sessions out of the 6 and then felt totally depressed as l was finding the training hard. I took the easy option and quit!! This is someone who wanted her dogs to go all the way with good citizenship!!! Muppett

I have been a very lax trainer l can see. I have'nt given them a lot of structure and quite a lot of the time l walk them all together just to save time.

One thing l have always noticed with my old dog Seiger is that he has never sat straight away. I have seen dogs on the tv that sit so fast that they almost bounce off the ground. When l tell my dogs to sit they seem to take a couple of seconds and then do it. - how do l quicken that up.

Hope you can all help here?

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Ta Ta For Now xxx Kittysoo

There's no structure to my training at all, it's not essential to having well behaved, balanced dogs.

I always walk them together often with a few other dogs as well.