Obedience

[Faye413]

Hello everyone! I am looking to do obedience trials with Merle when he is ready, but I am brand new to this world and would love to find some people who have a few extra minutes to answer some questions. If you have done obedience with your Danes and don't mind answering some questions, please pm me. Thanks! :)

[Shamu]

I think it would be better if instead of PM, you ask questions here and people will answer here, so others can read it too :) I think it would be helpful information for others who are thinking about competing in obedience too

[Greenmagick]

Yes! I would love to see answers as I dont know enought to even have questions yet!!!Thumbup

[Faye413]

Sure - I can do that! :) My intial questions were about weaning my dog off of treats when working, because he is highly treat motivated, but does not seem to do as well with praise yet. I was concerned that I was relying too much on treats and wanted some suggestions for how to move away from them. I also wanted to know the ages at which most people (on average) enter their danes into competitions. I would be happy to post the answers that I received via pm as long as the senders are ok with it?

[Sara]

There isn't a single right answer to your questions, as lot depends on how far you intent to go in terms of training. As an example, Hella is two years old this month, but probably won't be entered at all until this fall. She is cross training for obedience, rally & agility.

When to take away treats? I always have my dogs work for treats - sometimes it's food, sometimes toys, sometimes attention - but there is always something in it for them.

How old is related to how each individual dog, and when they're stable on their exercises, and how much effort has been put into their training. Since I have multiple dogs, training gets spread out and it's not as quick, per se, as someone working only one dog.