Interesting Articles
Travel season has arrived, and many pet owners are preparing to take their furry friends on their next vacation. However, traveling with pets requires more than just letting Fido hop into the passenger seat. Keeping your pet safe while driving isn’t difficult; with proper supplies, your pet can stay safe while driving and enjoy the […]
When I first started training dogs 55yrs ago, it was considered a cardinal sin to use food as a reward. The most appropriate tool for motivating and positive reinforcement we were told, was verbal praise, in the form of an effective ‘good sound’. It was stressed to us by our instructors, both in the police, […]
As any ethologist or experienced dog trainer, will readily admit, that of all subjects relating to canine behaviour, aggression in dogs is the most difficult, not only to understand, but to correct. This is especially true in the case of relatively mature pooches, for as most experienced trainers know, a dog’s character is developed during […]
USE OF DOGS BY CITIZENS OR NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH ORGANISATIONS. I have lost count of the times where people have approached me with a request for advice regarding the training or use dogs of volunteer residents to assist in the location and apprehension of suspicious individuals who run away when challenged by local citizen patrols. […]
THE DOG’S NOSE KNOWS YOU KNOW John Cox The most amazing thing about a dog is not that it’s brain appears to be about the size of a peanut but that their noses, or perhaps more accurately, their Olfactory Mucous Membranes seem to be about the size of a coconut! During the evolutionary process, […]
SCENT DISSENSION John Cox Of little practical use to a dog owner or indeed a professional handler, the scent discrimination exercise continues to remain a compulsory exercise in the senior Obedience Test. It is also the exercise which strikes fear into the hearts of all concerned. Scent discrimination is an extremely strange choice for […]
PRETORIA SHEPHERD DOG CLUB IS A REGISTERED APPROVED KENNEL UNION OF SOUTHERN AFRICA ESTABLISMENT. COMPULSORY READING PRIOR TO JOINING. (You will have a test on contents). DOG CLUBS: vs OTHER OPTIONS: WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT AND WHAT WE WILL EXPECT OF YOU. What are the options if you want to train your dog? Simply put, […]
DOG DISPLAYS John Cox Most Clubs are involved, at some time or another in dog displays, either on an In-House basis, for members, or for outside organisations. A dog display is an ideal practical way to advertise a club’s existence and activities, but we must not forget, that there is such a thing as a […]
COMPETITION STRATEGY John Cox This is a very controversial subject, so I hasten to add that what is said here, is merely what I, with my own particular temperament, have found to be most practical. I don’t enjoy failing a test and I do enjoy qualifying. I love winning but don’t mind one […]
“C” CLASS SCENT This exercise is, without doubt, the one that causes most debate around the fringes of the ring. By the time the scent exercise begins, many competitors are still in with a chance, only to find it a seemingly insurmountable obstacle in their quest for a qualification. Perhaps the fact that scent is […]
When you first made enquiries about dog training, you may recall that one of the first questions you asked was “how long will it take me to train my dog?” I strongly suspect that the real motive behind the question was not the acquisition of any useful knowledge, but to get an estimate of how […]
THE RETRIEVE: Suggested associated sounds: Fetch or Bring, Carry or Hold. Leave. The most basic description of the “retrieve” is the act of getting a dog to locate, and then fetch, or bring back, upon command and under control, any retrievable object either thrown or hidden, and then present or deliver the article to the […]
TRAINING DOGS BY CORRESPONDENCE.THE PROS and cons After over 50 yrs. of training dogs, the two most common questions I am invariably asked are:-Firstly: What are my current options if I want to train my dog?Simply put, the answer is : Depending on one’s needs, these are:- (1) Pay someone else to train it (2) […]
Training a dog to come when called is often referred to as a “recall.” It is ironic that owners go to great lengths to train their dog NOT to come when called, and then complain about it. They want someone to wave the magic wand and have their dog drop everything it’s doing, including chasing […]
John has been professionally involved with the training of both dogs and handlers for nearly 50 years. He initially acquired his dog training knowledge through the methods used by the Metropolitan Police in London and the British South Africa Police in the mid 60’s. In 1969 John joined the Royal Rhodesian Air Force where, over […]
Its been almost eight years since I have put pen to paper in order to generate some thought on the subject of dog training. It has been just as long since I competed in the obedience ring, but now that I have a new puppy, an Australian Shepherd, I have been visiting several shows, clubs […]
• CHOOSE THE CORRECT BREED FOR YOUR PURPOSE AND CIRCUMSTANCES• BE THE LEADER OF THE PACK! TAKE NO NONSENSE BUT BE A GOOD PACK COMPANION.• PRIMARY COMPULSION/CONDITIONING TOOL ( GUIDANCE, FORCE OR CONTROL WITH THE LEAD HAND (NORMALLY THE RIGHT HAND)• SECONDARY COMPULSION/CONDITIONING TOOL (VOICE, AND BODY POSITION)• POSITIVE REWARDS/REINFORCEMENTS: THE GOOD SOUND AND OFTEN FOOD OR LEFT HAND PLEASURE….STROKING, […]
There is often some confusion, especially in a dog club environment, as to who are handlers, who are the trainers and who are the Instructors? Let us take a quick look at the meanings of these terms as they normally apply in a professional Dog Training Environment such as for example, the Police, Military or […]
The object of a send Away and Redirection Left and Right is, from the onset, to get your dog to go “forward” or “away” from you, with gusto and enthusiasm, in a reasonably straight line, normally to some form of target often at +/-25m or more distance which is sometimes invisible to the dog. Then, […]
There are, we have been informed, many ways to skin a cat!! The same can be said for training pooches. When training a dog, we are often told “this is the best method for teaching the send away” or, “you will get the best results when training a dog to retrieve, if you use this […]
Depending on where one lives, the risk of your best friend being “poisoned” is either boring or alternatively generates a considerable amount of debate. After all, to the pampered pooch in Bond Street London, or the sled dog on the banks of lake Baikal, Siberia, the probability of death due to the premeditated act of […]
ANTHROPOMORPHISM AND INTELLIGENCE Anthropomorphism is a word that is not only difficult to spell, but for the average dog lover, difficult to come to terms with. The dictionary definition available to me at present is: ascription of human characteristics to what is not human. A dog as we know, is not human, yet most of […]
THE THEORY OF DOG TRAINING. PACK INSTINCT: If you have studied the basic psychology of the dog, you will have seen that the primary instinct that we must work with when training our dog, is the pack instinct. The dog becomes a member of the family pack and you become the pack leader. The trainer/handler […]
STAYS………………………………………. By John Robert Cox: 2016 Depending on the requirements of the handler/owner, the “sound” to “staaaaya” can vary on the scale of importance of commands that a dog owner would need in the toolbox. The command to “come” will always, to my mind, be the most important, no matter what an owner wants a […]
Heel Work by John Robert Cox This is the discipline of ensuring that our dog works as close as to our left leg/side as is practicable and whilst on the move, neither surges nor lags, but happily stays with the handler. Certainly, for the average pet owner, having a dog that behaves nicely during “walkies”, […]