Training 2 very different dogs

I typically have a flyball project dog, courtesy of Protege Canine Rescue (http://www.protegerescue.org/) but in the last year I haven't due to training my own 2 young dogs. The project dogs are usually high drive aussies, border collies or terriers all of which need a job and so I train them for flyball & try to find them a flyball home. Past experience has shown that people aren't interested in aussies very much for flyball (a darn shame!), the border collie better be amazing, and the terrier better be short & fast. I started just teaching the basics, but I found that the best thing to do is to teach the dog a good box turn, work on drive to & from the box & then fish for a flyball home for the dog. I want to show proven potential to perform, cause just having "potential" is pretty vague as far as rescue dog advertising goes. Having dealt with many shelters who equate such potential with things like the ability to jump a fence, or being a ball freak, I understand that "potential" isn't much to go on. I look for young dogs, with a big desire to work with humans, good temperaments, good with other dogs, and no outstanding behavioral issues. As it where, a friend asked me to train her cardigan corgi at the same time I got in Squibby, my latest project dog. So I thought hey, I should document the training for her, but also I can work on showing different techniques for working with 2 very different dogs.






Squibby: It's hard to catch him in a still photo!!







Squibby came along from the ARL shelter in Des Moines. He's a 9mo - 1 yr old terrier mix, mix of what, I don't know but I like his build & his attitude. He is one of the shelter's least favorite dogs, very active ones!! They know if they adopt them out they will get returned. Squibby is not a bad dog, he is who he is but he isn't for someone who wants a little lap dog. I've developed a relationship with this shelter and luckily my two favorite ladies who spot dogs for me snagged him up & sent him my way. I've had him since June 18th. He's been to MN, stayed in a hotel, a campground, has been stellar in our house & blended in beautifully with my gang of dogs. He seldom barks at all, except at flyball training!! Squibby is about 14 lbs, and quite the character. He enjoyed throwing toys for himself at the shelter and basically made his own fun in a pretty dull environment. As far as training challenges go, I have pinpointed a few broad topics to work on with him.



1. He plays with toys with his feet.



2. He needs to know that playing with the toy, with the human is the best game, not just taking the toy & playing by himself.



3. He needs to learn how to retrieve toys/balls



4. He likes to tug, but he doesn't know the rules yet or that you need to do something to get the tug.




George: in one of his favorite positions!





George on the other hand is possibly Squibby's polar opposite. Not only is he built totally differently (being a Cardigan Corgi) His owner reports that he's very soft temperament wise, scared of the box, and at 3 yrs old he's not exactly brimming with youthful vigor. He is however, attentive, food motivated, and knows basic obedience so he's familiar with do something, get a treat for it. He's in good shape physically & good with other dogs. For him it's a totally different ball game (so to speak!)




1. Confidence


2. Confidence!



3. Ball retrieval skills



4. Learning to bend his body & get up on the box



5. Learning to love touching the box


So the plan is, to train a nice box turn for box these dogs, and document the training in this blog with video & my blah blah blah commentary on what I'm doing & why I'm doing it. I'm not an expert flyball trainer who can tell you how to get that 3.7 border staffy, but I'm pretty dang good at getting the most you can from the dog off the street (or straight outta the shelter) and fixing dogs with problems. Many flyball clubs have just that, and need the growth that new members can bring, so I'm sharing what I've learned works from years of training dogs, going to seminars from the folks who do create the 3.7 running dogs & teaching flyball classes (to that dog off the street).