Sarahstaff Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 :rofl: I was at a dog show this weekend with my Staffies. My Elmo was running agility on Friday- he runs in the highest level of agility. On Saturday and Sunday, he competed in obedience- Utility, which is the most challenging level of obedience. So, I had the little wonder dog out on Friday, and was walking him around. We walked by the food concession, and Elmo, always looking for a handout, tried to pull me over there. The people working there started talking to Elmo, so I let him pull me closer. "You need to put one of those choker chains on him to stop him from pulling," one of these people said. I think I just shrugged, not really wanting to discuss dog training at that moment. "No, really," she went on. "It sounds mean, but when he gets big... have you had one of these before?" "Well, I've had this one for four years," I said. :lol: He qualified in Utility this weekend, too. Yup, better get a choker chain on that out of control dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisysmom Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 There's always somebody around to tell you you're not doing something right :-? Don't ya just love it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_Cassie Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 [quote]So, I had the little wonder dog out on Friday, and was walking him around. We walked by the food concession, and Elmo, always looking for a handout, tried to pull me over there. The people working there started talking to Elmo, so I let him pull me closer. [/quote] First impressions mean every thing. You let the dogs pull you over to the people and the impression they got was you had an out of control dog. Perhaps you thought it was cute that your dog wanted to see these people and look for hand outs. I think it was nice of them to give you some advice, these people probably have not been following your agility career and thought they were giving you helpful advice. :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gooeydog Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 But they were also implying that her dog was still a puppy, and probably also believed he was an APBT, when he's actually an adult staffy. I think maybe the point was that it was ironic that these people were handing out training advice when they don't can't even tell how old a dog is or (in this case not all that surprising) what breed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_Kat Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 people can be so opinionated at times, and advice resorting to a choke chain just isn't training advice in my eyes at all, as I detest training using choke chains and prongs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarahstaff Posted June 28, 2004 Author Share Posted June 28, 2004 [quote name='Cassie'] I think it was nice of them to give you some advice, these people probably have not been following your agility career and thought they were giving you helpful advice. :wink:[/quote] As Gooey mentioned, the funniest part to me was that they thought my grey faced fellow was a puppy. Being that they were at a dog show, it might have been reasonable to guess that the people showing would know a little bit about dog training. I wouldn't go to a car show and tell people how to change their oil! (and no, I wasn't offended, just thought it was funny) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 [quote name='Cassie'][quote]So, I had the little wonder dog out on Friday, and was walking him around. We walked by the food concession, and Elmo, always looking for a handout, tried to pull me over there. The people working there started talking to Elmo, so I let him pull me closer. [/quote] First impressions mean every thing. You let the dogs pull you over to the people and the impression they got was you had an out of control dog. Perhaps you thought it was cute that your dog wanted to see these people and look for hand outs. I think it was nice of them to give you some advice, these people probably have not been following your agility career and thought they were giving you helpful advice. :wink:[/quote] Even if these people had been following Elmo's agility career, titles in agility, or even in obedience, don't necessarily translate to leash manners. In my household, for example, the level of obedience/agility titles a dog has is 100% predictive of how hard s/he pulls on a leash (given what s/he believes to be an incentive to do so,) but the correlation is a negative one. That is, the dog with the highest level of obedience/agility titles is the one I would never hand off to anybody but a dogwise, strong adult. The dog with the next level of titles is the one virtually any adult and many older children could handle. The dog with the lowest set of titles is the one pretty much any older child could handle. And the dog I chose to let a four year old take into the Junior Handling ring at a fun match I went to recently? The foster dog, with no titles at all, just a CGC. But no matter how much he pulls, that is great news and quite an accomplishment that Elmo got two utility legs. Does that finish his title or are you still in the hunt for that third leg? primrose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtnek Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 My Lab pulls. If there's food involved, she pulls even more. That's why I use no-pull harnesses. I have no intention of fighting with her. she just chokes herself in the process. and I dont use choke/check chains. she'd damn well strangle herself. while the advice may have been well intentioned, I would have found it unwelcome. I personally dont like choke chains. :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarahstaff Posted June 29, 2004 Author Share Posted June 29, 2004 [quote]But no matter how much he pulls, that is great news and quite an accomplishment that Elmo got two utility legs. Does that finish his title or are you still in the hunt for that third leg? [/quote] Sorry, I inadvertently lied. I didn't mean to say that he got 2 legs, he only qualified once. We still need the other 2 legs. I was quite pleased with him for getting his first leg on only the 3rd try, though. One of our local obedience judges was quite jealous about that! (uh... I [i]think[/i] he was only pretending to be miffed) And as long as I'm bragging I'll mention that it was his best ever AKC score, 188. (though I think the judge might have been unnecessarily charitable... ie; he only docked Elmo 1/2 point on the directed jumping. The first judge took off 3 points on that exercise, and I didn't think Elmo performed it any better the 2nd day) Kind of funny, when us 3 qualifiers went back in the ring, we all knew what the placements would be. The Terv was sloppy, and the other dog was... well... a Border Collie, so that left 2nd place to Elmo. ;) Elmo was in serious contention for High Terrier in Trial, but the Airedale edged him out. I've seen that Airedale work, so it was no surprise. Anyway, I agree that having a dog trained for competition doesn't mean the dog has decent pet manners, particularly the leash thing. Both my dogs pull terribly, which is of course why I don't walk them on a choke chain... they would literally choke! I'm just too lazy to put forth the serious effort needed to teach my dogs not to pull on the leash when they are excited. It doesn't matter when we're in obedience/agility, because then they aren't [i]on[/i] a leash! I can make them stop pulling for a while if I really get on them, but it's easier to just let them pull as long as they aren't strangling themselves. I can hold them easily enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheekymunkee Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 I wish MY dogs were as "untrained" as yours!! Debby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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