Encouragement for amateurs and pos. trainers in field trials

[DarrinGreene]

John, I do competition obedience with my dog. I use the clicker. You would be surprised at the speed something can be taught by marking the behavior. It is precise and if done properly the dog learns that it can succeed. And in many cases it can speed up the learning process. As stated earlier I ridiculed it at first. Not now. I might add that I have trained other ways. I have added the clicker to my toolbox.

I just have to add that I have used it for what I call "field obedience". I cleared up many issues. The only one that remains to be cleared up is the misunderstanding my training partners have about my methods. I will be clicking their behavior, too.

You may need the e-collar for your training partners George.

[badbullgator]

Tact is my middle name!

Far too much drivel on RTF these days for me to read 5 pages.

BTW- change your post per page settings and it is only 3 pages long.

[Wingman509]

I am about to jump into field trials this year with my pup or maybe train this year with my puppy while waitng to compete next year. However this is very encouraging for a novice like myself to here of a first time trainers success!

[Jennifer Henion]

Good luck, Wingman!

It's my first time, too and so excited to be attending my first one next week - just to watch and meet people, then to compete in the Derby in April.

RTF is a great place to learn!

[Gun_Dog2002]

So he has never said no to his dog?

/Paul

[awackywabbit]

Good luck, Wingman!

It's my first time, too and so excited to be attending my first one next week - just to watch and meet people, then to compete in the Derby in April.

RTF is a great place to learn!

Jennifer thanks for this thread. I've been reading about Laddie on his blog and am so thankful for his sharing on his training. I trained my first retriever 11 years ago. Never ran the games but used him for hunting. I used all traditional training with him including force fetch and ecollar. I followed Lardy's trt. It worked despite my inexperience but after reading about positive training methods I've wondered for years if that would be a better fit for me and my dog. This board and most others seem to ridicule these methods but I'm seeing that starting to change which is great.

I have a new pup coming to me next week and I've decided to train positively and to hopefully compete in some of the games as well since I now have the time and money to do so. It's great to see and hear of others doing the same thing. I know traditional methods work great but I like the challenge of doing something different that might possibly be better and more comfortable for me and my dog. I look forward to continuing to learn here with you and others! No matter how you choose to train we all share the great love of these amazing dogs and the hunting games.