I was reading the thread titled 'Learning to Think' http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,26851.0.html, I was interested to see that there were some connections between the articles posted there and a dog training focus exercise that I learned.
The gentleman that developed the exercise claimed that it creates a thinking dog that has a lot of self control in the face of triggering distractions. Based on the effect that it had on my dog and a few that I've worked with I tend to agree. He has named the exercise the 'Triangle of Temptation' and he gives it away for free. The full exercise can be found here: http://www.k9pro.com.au/pages.php?pageid=52
You can start a pup on this exercise at 8 weeks of age to gain maximum benefit, however dogs in any age bracket can show improvements. My own dog was around 2yo before I started her on it and she learned more self control and our strike rate at competition trials improved encouragingly.
He did a demonstration with two dogs, both totally ball mad but one had its foundation training based in the focus exercise.
In the demonstration he put the dog without the focus training into a tennis court but left the gate open. He walked to the other side of the tennis court opposite the gate and pulled a ball out and started playing with it. The dog in the tennis court was going nuts trying to get at the ball through the mesh, whining and running up and down the fence.
Then he put the dog with the focus training in the tennis court and went through the same routine. It sat and waited until it got a release command then ran in the opposite direction, out the gate and around the outside of the court to catch the tennis ball.
It's an awesome leadership exercise and can help dogs with behavioural issues.
The gentleman that developed the exercise claimed that it creates a thinking dog that has a lot of self control in the face of triggering distractions. Based on the effect that it had on my dog and a few that I've worked with I tend to agree. He has named the exercise the 'Triangle of Temptation' and he gives it away for free. The full exercise can be found here: http://www.k9pro.com.au/pages.php?pageid=52
You can start a pup on this exercise at 8 weeks of age to gain maximum benefit, however dogs in any age bracket can show improvements. My own dog was around 2yo before I started her on it and she learned more self control and our strike rate at competition trials improved encouragingly.
He did a demonstration with two dogs, both totally ball mad but one had its foundation training based in the focus exercise.
In the demonstration he put the dog without the focus training into a tennis court but left the gate open. He walked to the other side of the tennis court opposite the gate and pulled a ball out and started playing with it. The dog in the tennis court was going nuts trying to get at the ball through the mesh, whining and running up and down the fence.
Then he put the dog with the focus training in the tennis court and went through the same routine. It sat and waited until it got a release command then ran in the opposite direction, out the gate and around the outside of the court to catch the tennis ball.
It's an awesome leadership exercise and can help dogs with behavioural issues.
