Working Gundogs was very pleased to welcome a number of new clients this weekend, who came for training assessments, to decide the most suitable training program for their gundogs needs.
Mr. & Mrs. Bennet with Hungarian Vizsla Marvin having already attended pet obedience classes was still having problems with Marvins behaviour and on the odd occasion has even bitten the owners!
When Marvin arrived he exhibited all the classic behaviour of a confident semi dominant dog warning strangers from the vehicle, wanting to play with other dogs and had very little tolerance for basic obedience. The owners were frustrated having already sought guidance from others, which had not work, and lacked confidence in how to deal with such behaviour.
Our trainer Stewart North spent a great deal of time talking about structure, routines, body language, vocal tone, commands, use of slip lead, it was very clear these owners treat this dog more like a human being than a "dog". Mrs Bennet was too emotionally attached with this dog and is much more a rewarder than an assertive handler?
Although this breed of dog requires a lot of exercise, this has been given without any form of control?
Like most caring owners exercise is very important, but unfetted exercise without control leads to a confident dog who is much more self reliant, and when you come to install some rules afterwards? it will be met by resistance!.
If you are not confident about handling this behaviour then the dominance of the dog will prevail, sometimes having disastrous consequences.
Within 10 minutes our trainer Stewart North had this dog under control, walking too heel, with good sit and stay, but as expected recall still poor as dog was resistant to the new regime change, but after a further 10 minutes of encouragement and considerably perseverance on the trainers part the dog started recalling to command.
When the next client arrived with another Vizsla! (2 in one day) Marvin had stopped barking, still remained inquisitive, but was calm and jump back into his own vehicle without fuss.
Our trainer Stewart North had no problems training Marvin, in fact, it responded very well in the short time available, changing the owners attitude, confidence and skills will take much longer, but then human beings are much harder to train than dogs?
Mrs. Bennet had recently given birth to a new baby, no dog training should ever be undertaken until the handler is fit and well!
Mr. & Mrs. Bennett had previous been put off gundog training, having tried it when Marvin was 3 months of age, "the trainer was too aggressive" so they decide pet obedience training was a better route for their needs.
It turns out that pet obedience training did not suit their needs either!
Although we do not provide socialisation classes, we always encourage dog owners to participate in this activity before they take part in our training programs.
3 months of age is much too young for the majority of gundogs to start a structured training program with a set number of tasks to be completed in a set time span.
This is why at Working Gundogs we only accept dogs over 6 months on our group training programs.
Marvin would be suitable to start G1 Group Training or Personal 1:1 Training.
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