Stress in obedience.

18046 Views 85 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Lyn Chen, Jul 29, 2006

Andres Martin

Discussion Starter · Jul 17, 2006

My view is that if you can get a puppy to obey while it is under stress (measured according to the pups ability, not age, and progressing accordingly), you will end up with a stable and very obedient dog.

An excellent example is what you can see in Al Reanto's dogs.

As very significant by products, dogs trained in this fashion are also VERY self-confident, very focused and VERY agile and surefooted.

This "way" is directly opposed to the treats and rewards "way", because in the latter the dog works FOR HIMSELF, and in the former the dog works because of the bond between himself and the handler, and thus FOR THE HANDLER.

This "way" is not for sport dogs; at least not for sport programmes as they are currently configured, as you will not see the artificial "animation" that is so well liked in competition.

What you do see though, is a strong work ethic.

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Lynn Cheffins

· #28 · Jul 17, 2006

"...The dog was so willing to please that training her seemed only a matter of communicating what I wanted her to do. Once she understood that, she would do it instantly and willingly. But in order to ascertain the reliability of her responce it was necessary to command a response in increasingly difficult conditions"
"motivating a dog means making him feel like doing it, Training a dog means teaching a dog to do it when the trainer says to. Training requires insistence at some point in the learning porcess"
(The Speed Mushing Manual - Jim Welch)

Is that kind of the thing you are taliking about Andres and Reiner?
(interesting subject BTW!)

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Lynn Cheffins

· #39 · Jul 17, 2006

I think Andres statement kind of sums it up "the reward for stress in obedience is stress relief doled out by the handler". Connie I think that stress can be applied somewhat in the teaching phase. Eg- If I have a dog that I am teaching to "line out" I am going to keep picking him up and plunking him back into position until he holds that line out even momentarilly. The dog is probably releived that the lesson is over but he's learned to cope with that little bit of stress. Gradually you are going to raise the stakes and introduce more distractions (stress) so let's say by using my example add more dogs behind him(10 screaming loonies jabbing the line behind him) and increasing the length of time he has to do it for. I think by using stress in obedience you teach the dog to deal with stress better and reveals more about the character and stength and weaknesses in the dog.

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Lynn Cheffins

· #61 · Jul 18, 2006

I think what comes to mind as trust by my dogs in me is a couple of really, warm spring days with melting conditions, a trail that the bottom was falling out of, a heavy loaded sled and the clients from hell. You could tell the dogs were hot and tired but they got up and leaned into thier harnesses with a will when I said "Awright guys, let's go".

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