I bought a Staffordshire Bull Terrier about a month ago and I'm doing quite well in training him in the basics, ie come, sit, down, stay, heel, beg etc. I would like to try and get on to some more advanced training like agility training or flyball sports later on. Has anyone trained dogs in this and did you do it at home or is it best to go to a school to do this? Does anyone know of any good books to read for learning this? Also my dog is not a pedigree dog, is this usually an issue for comps or sports?
our dogs barely manage sit or heel, let alone anything fancier, one of them will only ever sit if he knows you've got a treat in your hand for him lol . . . that and they think they're cats . . . I'm pretty sure flat coated retrievers aren't supposed to be lap dogs . . . I've a friend that does quite well in agility comps with her dog, pretty sure pedigree doesn't come in to it at that kind of competition, thats just the how pretty is your dog style comps i think (could be wrong) If its your first time training a dog fancy things I imagine you'll be better off at a school to learn how to best go about it =/
Jane Killion's When Pig's Fly! Training Success With Impossible Dogs is quite a good book. She's trained bull terriers to do agility, which is considered an impossible task. I'd take the dog to a school as they will have a lot of techniques and that they can show you. One thing is try and find people who train bull breeds or have experience with the dogs. Different breeds were bred for different purposes and therefore need to be trained slightly differently to get the best results. If you take the dog to any old trainer, you'll do ok, but maybe not get as far as you want. Try and get in with the local Staffie community. They can help you with training issues and any health issues that come up and will have a lot of knowledge specific to the breed. I dunno if they have Staffie walks where you are, but if they do it might be worth showing up.
I'll have a look for that book then. I live in a small town so no Staffie community here that I'm aware of, or breed specific walk. I'll take him to the training school when I'm ready to start more extensive training.
There's a ton of books, that's just the one we used. It's kinda more principles than specific techniques...if that makes sense (I'm a terrible writer). Killion has a site and you can ask to join some on line community thing. It seems quite strictly controlled (see comment below*). http://www.whenpigsflydogtraining.com Of course there's a lot of sites, but I don't know which are good for Staffies. But worth looking around. *But be warned - if you think MAs are bad for in-fighting and stupid politics, you've seen nothing until you enter the world of dog ownership. It's disturbing. But going back to the schools. I know a lot of people who do agility and they usually join some group or team or something so they train together. I am not a fan of Cesar Milan asn some of his methods, but his basic principle of exercise, discipline and affection...in that order...is quite good. Tons of exercise, strict boundaries and rules and a lot of praise and hugs.
I've had a look around some purebred dog sites when my sister was looking for a new german shepherd, its very disturbing how obsessed they are about pedigree and what lines are best. Then you have the working dog lines who despise the show dog lines (tho in alot of cases I agree with that as so many show dog lines have destroyed what a dog should be). I agree with you on the basics of Cesar Milan being good, especially his ideas about setting puppies boundries from the start and not letting them do what ever they want. There is a dog training school here so I might take him there. They should have any equipment that I will need for these sports.
Teaching a dog to jump things is really easy (but only do so when the dog is physically mature enough to avoid joint damage...after it's a year old or so I'd say). Jump something low and then encourage the dog over it. Time saying "jump" or "over" (or whatever you want to say) as he jumps it. Keep doing that. Then start pointing at the thing and saying "jump". Try throwing a toy over the thing so he's keen to jump it. Eventually you can just point at something and say jump and over he'll go. It's a great command for getting into cars, over ditches and such.
Boards - How did it work out? Did you go to an agility course. My girlfriend has just signed up our mini-bull terrier to do a course...It's gonna be disastrous!!! Quite long but...might be interesting. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjbZqwAJ3w4"]Staffies at Crufts - Agility[/ame]
In order to do the agility course I have to do the general obedience certifica tea first so I am working my way through them at the moment. He is picking it up quite well. Hope your dog goes well on his course.
Great vid. Love the fawn and white dog falling off the walkway and then just getting up and carrying on "not bothered!". And the piebald dog that follows that. Awesome little pocket rocket.
Interesting. Don't have to do stuff like that here. Some of the agility courses here run tests first to see if your dog is obedient enough and maybe to check their potential. We were lucky as we just found a course with a good instructor (one of the best in the country maybe) that would just take on small groups of new dogs. I didn't like the idea of a test...a bullie vs. a whole bunch of collies. I found myself going, "weeeee" every time the dogs jumped over the fences.
Some things depend on the type of dog, I reckon. We had a Border Collie cross when I was growing up, and he was very easy to trian to do most things, but if you threw a stick or a ball then he just looked at you like you were a bit daft. Whereas a labrador will chase a stick happily for hours.
Not at all like martial arts politics there, TMA vs MMA etc... My sister trains and works security dogs, as well as dogs for film & tv work. I think they go to flyball, but that's just for fun. She just seems to have a knack for getting dogs to do what they're told - so much so, that the scary looking woman with the shoulder pads from Dragons Den asked my sister to train her dogs for her.. [/pointless post]
I'm surprised your BC didn't want to fetch balls and sticks. Every one I have met would wear its paws off chasing balls, same with Kelpies, Blue/Red Heelers etc (any herding dog really). But yeah, certain dogs are going to be better at learning certain things. My friends kelpie picked up cattle herding as soon as it got on a farm, my staffy on the other hand paced about staring at them in disbelief. And I'd be shocked if a Golden Retriever has ever been trained in personal protection.
