are you judging your dog?

[SheltieChe]

excellent post on how people tend to shortchange their dogs potential by labeling them " bar knocker" " shut down" " sensitive" I am guilty of doing that...
http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2011/08/4140-stays-cant-be-wrong/
As we been playing Crate Games our stays are getting better and better, someday I will also leave my pup in a chair at a trial for 15 minutes with expectation that he won't move, not today, but soon...
The only complain I have with all the training I am getting is my computer time has tripled since Puppy Peaks started
here is small preview of what is coming and in general what it is all about, great community forums there as well with lots of info
http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2011/08/whats-upcoming-a-sneak-peek-or-is-it-peak/

 

[Justicemom]

I have to admit that I did with Ember. She was a difficult puppy and an even more difficult adolescent. Stubborn, dramatic mule was her label. I thought at one point this dog will be lucky to get her CD let alone anything higher.

Ember once I learned to just accept what she gave me, she started to improve with such blazing speed I don't even know how it happened. My "I just hope I can get a CD on her" dog earned all of her 3 CD in 3 tries, both her CDXs in 3 tries, her AKC UD in 5 tries, her UKC UD in 4 tries and her UDX in 14 trials(need to double Q in 10). She has never NQ so far in rally. 1 Canaian HIT, 1 UKC HIT, 2 AKC High Combines and 1 NOI invitation. She has a similar record with her Novice and Open agility titles with only 1 NQ. She is getting better everyday and I don't doubt she'll get her excellent titles(again something I thought she wasn't capable of doing) as long as she stays healthy.

That dog taught me don't judge a book by its cover truely.

 

[corbinam]

Interesting--and true for the most part.

In agility:

I labeled Bentley slow for a long time. Then, come to find out, I had trained him to wait for me, so we are slowly retraining him to work alone, regardless of where I am. I was so busy "protecting" the sequences (and thus the Q) that I didn't want him to go out and make his own decisions. Now we've lost a bit of control, but I'm okay with that.

I have always labeled Lexi as independent, and almost wanted to give up creating better turns saying "she just turns wide no matter what I do". Turns out I just wasn't trying the right things. Now that my handling is changing (as I learn different approaches) I'm seeing much better turns and more attention.

Both are still a work in progress of course...but each of their shortcomings reflect shortcomings in my knowledge about the sport, and thus shortcomings in their training.

 

[OntarioSheltie]

I think I unfairly label Ginny. I'd describe her as an independent trouble maker, and while that would have been true when she was a pup its certainly not true now.

As a pup I had a hard time bonding with her because she was bossy and tended to only want to play with Sadie. She was difficult to train and house break because she had her own ideas of how things should be, but she eventually came around. In my mind though I still think of her as a trouble maker for some reason, not sure why. I have to watch that I'm not too hard on her because she is an extremely sensitive little girl.

She can still be the bossy fun police with the other dogs but she is VERY obedient with my and my dh. She loves to cuddle and sleep on my chest or on my side when I'm watching tv.

 

[k9kreationz]

Oh yeah. I know I have. But like Ember, Koji was a difficult puppy and adolescent. I also know that because I didn't want him to end up like Miko (who'll ONLY walk on my left side), I didn't do a lot of basic training. So Koji's PITA-ness might be because he had to rules and not enough training.

I once labeled him slow in agility. Slow to learn, slow to run. But I also knew that had more to do with confidence.

He's still a velcro dog, but I'm sure that has to do with me. Because the more I trust him and the more I learn better handling, the more he's going out and away from me. Sometimes taking the wrong obstacle, but like Ashley, I'm good with that.

But, what I HAVE learned is like what Susan said...it's us. It's always us. Now, if someone like her trained my dog, and he still knocked bars, or broke his stays, then I'd blame him. lol. But considering who Koji's trainer is....yeah, I know to look in the mirror and blame that person for all his shortcomings.

Miko was just too easy.