 |
 |
 |
 |
| "Thinking About Obedience Competition With Your Collie?" Our wonderful breed is very intelligent, quick and eager to learn. However, it is my experience that our Collies are also very sensitive to corrections which, if overused, will often result in a slow, unhappy, reluctant partner. We do not see Collies in obedience trials that often and I suspect that the main reason is due to the traditional correction based methods of obedience training found in many training clubs, in particular the use of check chains to teach healwork. There is no quicker way to ruin your potential obedience prospect (and I did this with my first Collie!) than with the use of harsh forceful methods. Once training is associated with anything negative our Collies will quickly shut down, and believe me, they *never* forget a bad experience. They have excellent memories! In recent times there has been a major shift in Obedience Training towards more reward based motivational training and this is ideal for our Collies. I am having great success with Clicker Training my current rough collie, Shannon. Clicker Training is based on the principle of Operant Conditioning which is that "reinforced behaviours are more likely to be repeated behaviours", and we can simply ignore, rather than correct, undesirable behaviours. By using reward based training methods you can start your training as soon as you get your puppy but just be sure to keep lessons very short. I started training Shannon at 8 weeks of age, for both show training and obedience, and of course for all basic good manners that our dogs should have! Contrary to popular belief, there is no reason for you not to train for both the show ring and the obedience ring, our Collies are bright enough to learn the difference between when we ask for gaiting in the show ring vs obedience healwork, or a show stand vs stand-stay. Whether or not you use a clicker, be sure to use lots of food rewards, toys, praise and play as your focus for training anything and you will be repaid with a Collie keen to learn, trying its hardest and being very competitive in the obedience ring. |
| OBEDIENCE CLUBS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA |
| Albany All Breeds Dog Club Bunbury & Districts Dog Club Carnarvon Kennel & Training Club Cloverdale Canine Companions Collie & Shetland Sheepdog Club of WA Eastern Goldfields Kennel Club Geraldton & Districts Kennel Club Gosnells Obedience Dog Club Hedland Canine Club Karratha & Districts Kennel & Training Club Northern Suburbs Training & Obedience Dog Club Perth Training & Obedience Dog Club Rockingham Dog Club Southern River Agility & Obedience Dog Club |
 |
 |
 |
| ARRANBRAE CALLME SHANNON Collie & Shetland Sheepdog Club of WA, 30/3/01, Novice, score 195/200, first place Gundog Club of WA, 1/4/01, Novice, score 194/200, first place Gosnells Obedience Dog Club, 6/5/01, Novice, score 190/200, first place Southern River Agility & Obedience Dog Club, 4/6/01, Novice Competition (for dogs who have gained three passes in Novice but are not in Open class), score 192/200, first place |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AUST. CH. CATHGARRY CAPT KEANE CD UD ET AD |