Hi Folks, been meaning to give you all an update on vivien's dog classes which started 3 weeks ago now, I have to say I was a bit nervous about taking my own mis-behaving hound Ivor but I have to say he's come on leaps and bounds and we're both really enjoying our weekly trips to the class not to mention all the training at home! This is the first training class I've been to and I have to say if you haven't been I'd really reccommend going to one, it's brilliant fun and the dogs really love it!

In Week 1 we learned all about clicker training, there's certaily a knack to this so we were given some simple excersizes to get both dog and owner adjusted to using a clicker, I had tried clicker trainig before after buying a book on the subject but I quickly lost interest, basically I really wasn't teaching myself properly, thanks to Vivien I think I've now got the hang of it!

Week 2 and we learned the 'leave it' command, now Ivor is certainly not one to miss a trick, if you happend to be carrying a biscuit or treat past him you're more than likely to suddenly find a large greyhound with jaws firmly attached round your arm. After a week of clicker training I've got Ivor to the stage where I can put a tasty treat on the floor in front of him and if I tell him to 'leave it' he'll stare longingly at the treat till he gets his 'click' which means he can eat the treat. It's been great fun!

Well, just back from the third class and this week we have to master the 'stay' command and also the 'touch' command, the touch comand is a command for the dog to come to you and gently nudge your hand, sounds like a tough week ahead but to be honest even after just starting off the commands in class he's getting the hang of it already!

Anyways we're really enjoying ourselves, I'll update you all on how we go over the remaining 5 weeks of the class then onto the big test to see if we can get our bronze 'good citizen' award!

cheers

Dave

 

 

OK, thought I'd post about Ivor's progress..

well Week 3 was cetainly the hardest so far, Ivor mastered the 'touch' command right away so no problems there, the 'stay' command was slightly more difficult.....after about 3 days of very slow progress I decided to change the treats I've been using for the training, Ivor was getting small bits of 'smackos' but they just weren't 'high value' enough for him to master the 'stay' so after taking Viviens advice off I went and bought up a huge stock of Hot Dogs. That certainly helped and by the end of the week I had Ivor staying for about 30 seconds (to get the bronze award Ivor will have to stay in one place without moving with me 5 paces away for 1 minute! Anyways off we went to the class and as usual the first thing we did was demonstrate how we'd done that week, well would Ivor stay? No he blooming wouldn't! Too many distractions with the other 4 hounds in the class (atleast that was my excuse)...

So onto week 4, RECALL training, a must for everyone who lets their dog off lead! The idea for this week is for the dog to master recall, once thats done we then combine the last few things we've learned so the idea is for the dog to 'Stay' then be 'Recalled' and on returning to me 'Touch' my hand for a treat. It's actually been great fun, I have of course had to concentrate more on Ivor's stay but I gotta say he's getting really good so I'm full of confidence for the next class this Thursday. As for the recall and the touch, well Ivor is a natural!!.....more later!

 

Hi Dave,

I have to agree with Christine with regard to how well Ivor is training you.

He is a real smart dog, after all he was the one in the car out of the rain, while you and I got soaked to the skin

He deserves a gold award for that.

Greyhounds - don't you just love them.

Dawn

Good luck for tonight, look forward to hearing how Ivor gets on.

He's such a lovely boy, I hope he does well.

Dawn

Was Ivor a good boy then, did he get his hot dog or did he give you the rubber ear?

Christine

Hi Folks, OK next update plus the promised pictures.. Last night was the 7th class, only 1 more left but don't be downheartened Vivien will be taking our group for another session of 8 classes later in May!! So, this week we had the 'FINISH' and the walking backwards...Ivor had a bit of a hard time with all of them to be honest but eventually by Tuesday he'd managed to sus out that if he'd only walk around me he'd get his damn treat! I think on the face of it this has actually been the hardest week for all the dogs, still they all manged to sus it out to varying degrees. I put Ivors lack of progress down to typical Greyhound, all the other excersizes have involved him just pretty much standing and not doing very much, now he has to walk for his 'money'..On the walking backwards front, well again a tough one, Ivor kinda got it but starts to vere of to my left after a couple of backward steps, still thanks to Viv's eagle eye hopefully we've got that one sussed, to get thm to walk backwars we've been walking in front of them giving the command 'BACK' Viv pointed out that I always start this with my right leg, she suggested starting on my left an lo and behold I had a walking backwards greyhound! So final week of training, and it's more of the same, we all need to polish off our 'FINISH' so it looks a bit more graceful. We'll then have to put everything together from stay, to recall, to touch then to finish, just like the brainy collies on Crufts, and who says you couldn't train your hound? We'll I've said this after every week but it's just been a huge amount of fun and the change in Ivor is amazing. Next week will be the last class then after a short break we'll be going onto an 'advanced' class, now thats a word I NEVER thought I'd say in the same sentance as Ivor!.. OK, piccy time, here's the class all doing 'STAY'

and here's SAL and IVOR

and from left to right SPARKY, LARA & TY

Viv has confirmed that she will be starting a second beginners class for Greyhounds and Lurchers only, these will be starting on the 26th of May and run for 8 weeks, you've all seen my posts, I just can't recommend it highly enough. If you are interested in joining the next beginners class in May please email me at david@gal.org.uk and I'll give you the details.. cheers Dave

Hi Folks, well Thursday was the 8th and final class for Ivor and his class mates....

This week has been another great week for Ivor, he managed to master the 'finish' and now shoots round my back on the move of my hand, I was so pleased with him! So with all our lessons in mind at the class we put everything together, no mean feat but we managed and I was SO pleased with him!

From standing with Ivor he gets the 'STAY' command then I walk to the other end of the hall, I hold the stay till Viv gives me the nod then 'RECALL' Ivor, he always comes at a fast trot to a position right in front of me, we hold there for a few seconds then with the 'FINISH' command and a small hand movement Ivor goes round my right hand side, round my back and presents himself at my left had staring longingly into my eyes for that tasty treat he just knows he's going to get.........

It's great to see him do this and even better when I think back to the first class when I tentitively entered the class with 'Angry' Ivor on a short lead and with his muzzle on, 8 weeks ago if I'd let him off lead he'd have gone and gotten up to mischief wth the other dogs nd totally ignored me!!..

We also showed off our 'walking backwards' training, have you tired it with your hound? Not easy but Ivor was a real star again and managed 5 or 6 backwards paces, I was dead pleased again as he'd not been that good with this one in his training during the week.

In 8 very short weeks 'angry' Ivor has really turned a huge corner not only in his behaviour but also in his general attitude, he's just such a happy dog, he just loves his training sessions and gets SO excited when the clicker and treats appear!

So, what's next? Well Viv will be taking our class for another 8 week session (the 'advanced' class!) starting on the 19th of May and I just can't wait. In preperation she left us with some homework to do! TARGET TRAINING...OK so what is target training, well the basic principal is to teach the dog to hit a target (in the shape of a long pointy stick) We started this at the class and with the help of some squeezy cheese to cover the end of Ivors Target Stick he was managing within about 10 minutes to touch the end of the stick with his nose at which point he'd get his reward. Viv says Target Training is really good fun, once Ivor susses out that the end of the sick is a good place to concentrate on and touch we can then start to add more things to this, as Ivor follows the stick we can get him walking to heel real well, walking round in circles and things like that, Viv even reckons I can get him to switch the lights off!!

We'll thats the latest update for a while now till class resumes, I've 4 weeks to get Ivor to master target training, can't wait..I'll post some more updates on his progress once class starts again...

Finally Viv has confirmed that she will be starting a new beginners class for Greyhounds and Lurchers, the class will start on Thursday MAY 26th @ 8pm, I've had a good level of interest but there's still a couple of places left, SO, if you want to turn your own 'Angry' Ivor into a more well rounded and happy dog drop me an email to david@gal.org.uk and I'll give you further information!

cheers

Dave & Ivor 

Ivor, now you've graduated from Training Class with flying colours, you'll go on to do Honours. What a clever boy - and you too Dave of course. Great picture of Ivor - he looks dashing with his eyebrow like Roger Moore's!

Christine

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that she'd be willing to put on a class oot this way. Not heard anything from her yet but we can but hope and wish.....

Hi, Viv - that's a shame. But thanks very much for having a good think about it. There are only so many hours in the day, though. Hope the new class tonight goes well.

Do you have any recommendations for good sighthound classes through here?

Fiona

We would love to do this. Put Blue's name down.

Any idea of dates/location?

Thanks

Manda

Yes please!! I'l bring Eilidh (anytime between 30th June and 10th Aug)

C