finally significant other wants to get involved in training - advice needed

[ayoitzrimz]

Hey everyone,

So here's the deal - we have one dog that I train in SchH.

My girlfriend is finally interested in getting involved in training. Really, she doesn't want to go to the local park anymore and wants to get him more engaged when he's with her.

I'm looking for advice on how to proceed... I don't know if her training him will mess up our training schedule.

He's good on heeling, exercises out of motion, recall, finish, etc

We are currently focused most on working on dumbbell (nice solid hold is there, we are backchaining the pickup [some problems with pouncing]), and the send away (again, he's getting good at believing the toy is always there, as well as the cues leading up to the exercise).

So that's where we are in OB training.

I want to give her some exercises to work with him on. She's not experienced in training dogs nor is she experienced in working with him.

Also, I'm not really looking for her to do schutzhund ob with him but rather just get him more engaged with her and focused.

Any advice? will her training him as well mess things up for me? I know they are very context specific but I'd like to ask just in case. Also, any ideas on fun training things she can work him on would be awesome!

Thanks everyone,

[Cassidy's Mom]

Rather than trying to train him on her own, why doesn't she sign him up for an OB class? Something like rally, or even a fun sport like flyball or agility? Many people cross train and compete in more than one venue, so I don't think it's going to screw up your Schutzhund training.

[ayoitzrimz]

Originally Posted by Cassidy's Mom

Rather than trying to train him on her own, why doesn't she sign him up for an OB class? Something like rally, or even a fun sport like flyball or agility? Many people cross train and compete in more than one venue, so I don't think it's going to screw up your Schutzhund training.

I'd love it if she would - but I really need to ease her into it... A class is a great idea as soon as she's interested enough to commit. Usually, I'm the one who finds new things to work on and commit to them (join a club, training classes, etc) so it would be good if I can give her a little sampling before she signs up somewhere...

[cowboy17]

what about some letting her teach some tricks?
Things like cover eyes, bow, walk backwards, spin....things like this (I call it the fun stuff for my wife).

This way, in my case anyway, my wife gets to interact and the things she does with the dog don't interfere, or "untrain" things that I am working on.

[ayoitzrimz]

Originally Posted by cowboy17

what about some letting her teach some tricks?
Things like cover eyes, bow, walk backwards, spin....things like this (I call it the fun stuff for my wife).

This way, in my case anyway, my wife gets to interact and the things she does with the dog don't interfere, or "untrain" things that I am working on.

That's going to be my plan for now. Some basic touch training for the idea of training simple behaviors, focus and attention (even though he has it well it'll be good for her to work on it), engagement (getting a consistent word for "it's time to train", then following with the idea that the dog should be engaged until the word for "ok we are all done". For me it always starts with "you ready?" and ends with "done"), and then in the house maybe teach him to put all the toys away in a basket (a more complex behavior she'll need to break down).

Then who knows, hopefully she'll be so into it she'll want to do schutzhund with me or something else: agility, flyball, obedience class, etc

[lhczth]

This really depends on your goals for your dog. If your SO eventually would like to get into some type of sport/competing with a dog I would recommend she get her own dog.

[crackem]

There's always a trade off. i don't think it would greatly harm anything, but things will lack some clarity for a bit, so if you're worried about every point in a trial I wouldn't, but if you just have fun and dont' care if you get a 90 or 85, then who really cares.

Once a dog has learned an exercise, it transfers pretty easily. Having two try and teach it, takes longer. Having one have different standards for an exercise compared to the other in training, will result in grey areas, those hurt in a trial.