Training

[Lois McCullough]

Micawber won his Silver award for obedience last night, however it was not without it's funny side. He was asked to go to his bed and during the long walk down the hall he looked up to see a large heart shaped silver balloon resting on the ceiling he continued the long walk to his bed with his eyes firmly fixed on the balloon. One of the trainers got a chair and a long handled broom to squash it and let the air out whilst it was still on the ceiling. The examiner found 2 more resting on the ceiling which were duly squashed. Having disposed of the ballons the trainer said 'only Micawber would have realised there were balloons on the ceiling'. He now takes his Gold next week and hopefully he will go on to the Good Citizen award.

 

Has anyone else got a funny story to tell while their dog was at training classes?

 

[Sherry Miller]

My Shilo's crawling along behind me on the long down stay......leave your dog!  Shilo did stay down but no way was he letting me leave him behind.  Rest of class would start to giggle and I knew exactly what he was doing....I would turn around and he would stop crawling and give me that "who me? "look but start back up the minute I turned my back and walked away.  Somehow I managed to get Shilo to ONE time only not crawl ( big test day) so he did pass the class.:)  .  Funny as when we practiced out of class he had it down pat........I decided Shilo just liked being the class clown.

[Christine Pullen]

yes funny you should say that Sherry....when Merlin was training for his bronze good citizen he became the class clown as with Shilo, at home he was perfect but when it came to class he was just sooo frustrating and funny, on the down stay for 2mins it didn't matter if I sat him or got him right down, halfway through he would either sink to the floor or rise up in slow motion yawning.......on the recall he would sit and wait but when I called him he still just sat.... and waited.......until eventually with the class in fits he would stroll over and nochalantly sit by me!! However, and this proves how clever they are....on the test day he was perfect....I had decided to have a trial run, convinced he would fail so on the date that the test should have been, having already done the bronze the trainer put us in for the silver where there were some elements he hadn't done but he passed...perfect to every command.......gotta love 'em lol!!!

[Howard Glansfield]

Maggie my late setter excelled at training whilst in the classbut her retrieve left a bit to be desired and it all got too much for when she was asked to retrieve a sausage.All the other dogs did it but Maggie went to the sausage ,headed back to me and ate it before I could take it! Too much for most dogs I think.

[Corinne Wakefield]

During an obedience class Murphy wagged his tail against a fire extinguisher making it sound like a clock ticking, The trainer was so annoyed that the school should put such a loud clock in the hall she promptly went off to complain before I could tell her it was my happy dog’s tail wagging.She did see the funny side when she returned and Murphy was sitting - all was quiet.

[Fran Griffin]

Today DaisyMae Red and White Setter was training for competition obedience, training on working A level exercises.  Brilliant..... however, she kept on remembering that she is not a Border Collie but a gun dog, and kept stopping to go on point because of the squirrels which were running up trees, or leaping from branch to branch..  Talk about Red and White Setters being good all rounders.  Our instructor was very impressed, but said "shame about the having to stop to point though".  Hopefully, we wont have to encounter squirrels at any competitions we decide to enter......

[Lois McCullough]

Some lovely stories it amazes me that they are so different to other dogs and such wonderful characters. I love all dogs but ours really are quite unique. Hamilton aged 7 yrs is also in obedience and takes his bronze next week it has given him a new lease of life and thinks he's a puppy again rushing around playing and really enjoying his new found friends. He's also become very vocal and is genuinely much happier. So we can definetly recommend training even if you're middle aged

[Lois McCullough]

A lovely story Cornelia did she pass the test?

[Christine Pullen]

just remembered an incident with Harry when i took him to obedience classes, he was doing the down stay with the handler out of sight...the trainer put great emphasis on the fact that the dog must not be made to feel abandoned and get agitated as it was the first time of doing this exercise....my husband duly got Harry settled and disappeared.....far from being upset, Harry settled down, rolled over onto his side ready for a nap!! When Graham came back and stood beside him he just peered up as if to say, "oh you're back then" The trainer said he had never had such a relaxed dog doing this exercise!!

[Lois McCullough]

Lovely stories, Micawber takes his gold tonight so I'll be checking the ceiling for balloons before we start

[Cornelia]

How did it go for Micawber and you ...?

[Lois McCullough]

Hi Cornelia sadly Micawber failed on his off leash heel work mind you the other dogs failed on other exercises so he goes back for 4 weeks. Thank you for asking

[Cornelia]

Ah well - never mind - the test situation is always different than a normal training session - enjoy your next four weeks :-)).