We have had dogs now for over 11 years, our first dog was a working lines German Shepherd Dog who presented us with quite a few training challenges. He wasn't a dog to suffer fools gladly and wasn't shy of expressing his opinion. He taught me the value of a non-confrontational approach to handling dogs. Any conforontation just resulted in him fighting back, I quickly learned that it was easier and more productive to think my way round
Soon after came Meg, a Japanese Akita Inu bitch. She is a lovely dog, but not one to put herself out particularly or make the effort if your instructions are unclear. She has really helped my understanding of how dogs think and how to communicate clearly with her as if I didn't she would simply sit down and refuse to do anything until things were explained properly to her. Even then she wouldn't do it unless I could convince her that it was fun and worth the effort. Getting cross or trying to make her do anything simply results in her going on strike. Despite that we managed to win out of Pre-Beginners and Beginners Obedience and have had several places at Novice level. She also used to compete at agility, getting a few clear rounds and a lot of eliminations due to whizzing off and doing her own course. To compete with Akita Inu's you really do need a sense of humour and loads of patience.
I started obedience training in 2002 with Inja and Meg and currently compete with Kiko and Tokaloshi. In 2004 we took up agility training and do the occasional competition and get occasional places and frequent clear rounds. Unfortunately, we aren't quite fast enough to win but we enjoy ourselves.
Soon after came Meg, a Japanese Akita Inu bitch. She is a lovely dog, but not one to put herself out particularly or make the effort if your instructions are unclear. She has really helped my understanding of how dogs think and how to communicate clearly with her as if I didn't she would simply sit down and refuse to do anything until things were explained properly to her. Even then she wouldn't do it unless I could convince her that it was fun and worth the effort. Getting cross or trying to make her do anything simply results in her going on strike. Despite that we managed to win out of Pre-Beginners and Beginners Obedience and have had several places at Novice level. She also used to compete at agility, getting a few clear rounds and a lot of eliminations due to whizzing off and doing her own course. To compete with Akita Inu's you really do need a sense of humour and loads of patience.
I started obedience training in 2002 with Inja and Meg and currently compete with Kiko and Tokaloshi. In 2004 we took up agility training and do the occasional competition and get occasional places and frequent clear rounds. Unfortunately, we aren't quite fast enough to win but we enjoy ourselves.
