Honestly, because they change so fast and I feel not only do I get to know them but they need to get to know me. Each of my dogs has different motivators and different things they truly enjoy. They need to explore their world so grass is no big deal when they hit the rings - by the time they start showing in obedience they know that if a bird has turded, well they will get a bigger reward for not letting their nose go down. Because they have been worked through it and sometimes, gross as it sounds, released for some fun times rolling if it was a hard enough distraction, but they need to do their work/place first. They need to know I will always come back for them before I start leaving them on stays and I need to know when they need calm reassurance rather than walking in when they get anxious.

Because their bodies are changing so fast, it doesn't always make sense to me to start actual heel or obstacle training. For instance, I started training Casey young for the teeter and he did really, really great - until his center of gravity shifted around 8 months old and I did not have a strong tug drive going to get him through the pivot point. Lesson learned for me. To begin teaching heel they would need to look at my knees or calves at 10 weeks, but their focus will be much higher as adults - so I could use a target stick and move it higher as they grow but it seems just as easy to wait until they are almost at full height. Then they watch my hips and shoulders in obedience, agility and field.

I need toy, play, praise & food as rewards and this takes time to build. I need to get to know when they are confused, scared or uncertain versus just 'not doing that - no way no how' so I know how to work through the problem - this takes me time. How much pressure (not neccessarily corrections but if I move towards them, how close before they start fidgeting would be an early indication or their sensitivity to pressure).

And mostly because I love watching them grow and there is just so much to teach them that I feel overwhelmed if I start everything at once. This way they have say the hand touch - which I can use for set ups, heeling - they know targeting which I can use later for contact end behaviour, go-outs, broad jumps etc. They know left & right which I can use later in agility, directed jumping etc. These can all be used as release as stress relief too. They know a collar grab can lead to great fun in addition to just being a restraint.

And I guess one of the final reasons is, although I generally do not like comparing dogs to kids, just as a kid deserves to learn how to love life, play, be happy, where to turn for reassurance, love & safety as well as take constructive cristicism as needed, so does a dog. It is very hard to teach adult dogs to trust and play, but remarkably easy with most pups

ETA: I should also mention that I am happy with scores in the mid 190's; 198 - 198 1/2 has me feeling like a part of a successful team. However, an OTCh is not a goal of mine - I burned out with my first dog and realized the day I left the ring unhappy because we 'only' got a 197 1/2 and no placements that rather than striving for perfection I needed to shift my focus so I could keep the joy if that makes sense. I am a competitive person but obedience is a team sport; in order to continue enjoying my dogs I needed to step down from that goal - so I may not be the person to look to for how to start a competitive puppy out.

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Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

I'd say I'm a lot like Sunrise. I remember I entered Flip in a fun match for three minutes when he was around 12 weeks old, and all we did was a couple of drops, some restrained recalls, treat toss recalls, tugging, and hands on play. That's about all he knew at that point. I hadn't even taught a sit yet.

I spend a lot of time when they are young with play. I want them used to rough play from me - grabbing hunks of skin, poking, slapping. I want them to know that it's all play and not have sensitive hurt feelings later on when I incorporate that into their more formal training. I work on things like teaching them the difference between restraint meant to make them relax versus restraint meant to get them to fight harder.

I train some non-ring tricks so they learn how to learn. Things like spins, back up, run between my legs. I don't like having to retrain something once I've started teaching it, so I like teaching the dog first with things where precision and exact form aren't important. Things that I want done with precision and/or total focus I wait until they have a better sense of their bodies, and a better ability to stay focused longer. I've seen many friends in a rush to train things early, only to have it not be to the standard they want when the dog is older and struggling with reteaching. I find it easier to teach it correctly the first time when the dog isn't in that baby puppy stage still.

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Jodie

AJ's Maiden By the Sea CDX RE (Annabel - retired)
Mud E Paws UDX OM2 RE OBHF (Conner - retired with 28 OTCH points)
Sunfire's Flying Head Over Heels UD BN RA (Flip)
And the odd one of the family - Colby Jack Teeter Smack CDX GO RA (Colby - Lhasa Apso)

Jodie.... when you say drops, do you mean downs? o_O!

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

Yes, from a stand. Drop is the very first formal command I taught Flip. It's fairly easy for a pup to be able to do correctly when luring it - they just fold their body back. I want to teach the drop well before they learn sit because I want to make sure I get that crisp fold back drop, not the sit then go down style. I don't work downs from a sit until much, much later, when the fold back drop is solidly imprinted in their brain.

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Jodie

AJ's Maiden By the Sea CDX RE (Annabel - retired)
Mud E Paws UDX OM2 RE OBHF (Conner - retired with 28 OTCH points)
Sunfire's Flying Head Over Heels UD BN RA (Flip)
And the odd one of the family - Colby Jack Teeter Smack CDX GO RA (Colby - Lhasa Apso)

Was he doing drops from the standard hand signal (hand up) or were you still training them from close up and doing the downward sweep? o_O

I'm doing the sit-down-stand-down-sit training with Bertie. I am training the hand signals (downward sweep for down, upward sweep for sit, hand pointed in front of the nose for stand) right now. But I didn't think of training the "drop" signal....

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

Pics

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/...ml#post1862206

__________________

Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

Thanks Sharon! He is adorable - and growing! And as I said in the other thread - he has his mom's eyes, I think.

*** Just sharing another training video for people to see. As I was bragging about the Bert's straight sits, he had a little crooked-buttness on camera today. Probably my skirt and the fact I'd just got home from work. You see my poor Jacks in the background doing his stays and working VERY HARD for his share of the treads...

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

Heeheee. I told my mom to come watch our kitchen training this evening....

The Bird is doing "Go touch"!!!!!!!!

I did the binder clip on a dish towel and hung it on the stove handle. This was our second training session with these and he immediately was going over and nose touching the clip on command.

Between that and visiting one of my neighbors who just lost her 12 year old golden boy (Bear) - Bertie is a cuddler and I think between his puppy nuzzles and kisses and Jacks brazen face licks, I think both my boys gave her a little much needed smile.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

It is incredibly sad here in CT - everywhere you go people are in tears, lips are trembling and people are looking to the skies. There are an incredible amount of flat bottomed helicopters flying around; some in formation; some not.

I bypassed the Sho n Go this morning since my heart just could not be with so many people .. but ended up bring Brady to Petco while on errands, I decided to get his final Lepto shot there and he also received his MicroChip. He licked away many a tear and throughout our wanderings brought some smiles to sad, sad faces. He would be a really great therapy dog if Delta Society were to ease up on the raw feeding stance and vaccination requirements, but today he was a therapy dog in action - he really eased a lot of people's pain even if just for a few moments - as one person exclaimed, puppies just make you feel better and bring a ray of light to the saddest heart. He sat beautifully when people stopped, I allowed him to jump when people requested it (took some doing since he knows he can jump on me, others not so much) and just embraced people who needed it. Puppy licks gently clearing tears - he truly has a gift.

We are off to rental in a few hours.

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Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

Sunrise, I had the same feeling about not really being interested in the Show N' Go but decided it was better to try to carry on. I thought of you when I heard the people running the novice ring calling for Towhee. There were a good number of Goldens among those who were there. Things didn't go that well for Zoe and me but not a complete disaster. She handled the sits and downs well and the stand for exam was fine. We won't talk about the rest. I'm viewing it as necessary exposure to the ring.

It sounds like Brady really did some good work today. It's wonderful that he could bring some comfort to those who are hurting. I actually was wondering if they're using therapy dogs in Newtown. It's close enough that we could get there if Zoe could help.

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Zoe, Rockwall Nantucket Breeze, BN, CGC, Delta therapy dog
Zeke, our introduction to the world of Golden Retrievers