HI Ponki where have you been ?When I was showing my b's doberman, we took him to a showing/handling class where they "trained" us to train him how to free stack.
If I ever get my potential show poodle... I'll definitely use them again! Handlers were praising us on how easy it was to handle our dobe, so maybe you could find a place where they teach some showing/handling techniques?
I've been a bit busy for the forum, but things have calm down now... so I'm back :biggrin:HI Ponki where have you been ?
I have something for you LOL and its ironic of I got what I have for you if you don't have it already haahha.
anyways I took a class she did not teach of how to free stack really. Enzo does not have straight legs so i do not understand how to train him to stand straight ( hope that makes since) like how would you teach a dog not to stand cow hocked ?????
Pm send ponki
Definitely agree, stay away from "sit". We never taught our boy sit, not for anything. If he wanted food, treats etc. he had to free stack for it :biggrin:and don't teach sit until the stack is solid. I've hd helpful customers (she comes to work) so now she tries to sit instead of stack...so we're stacking for any cookies etc etc again we stack on the line for flyball LOL
Thanks for the link its was really helpful I just trained Enzo to step up with only his front feetYou are most welcome :biggrin:
Well, I have a question. What is the reason for no touching below the elbow?
I agree 100% with what Cbrand says. This is how I trained my Brittany's to self stack, it takes some time, patience and a quiet attitude but it works well and they learn that "step" means to move the foot/feet and straighten themselves into a square stack. Chantel and Alfie are both learning this now and are proceeding well but not all there yet with it.I think free stacking is an attitude thing more than even a conformation thing. I taught Delilah to stop and then step forward with her front feet. It was a process. I think clicker training would be good here.
A balanced dog will typically stop squarish. The next step for me was to gently pull on the lead saying STEP until Delilah stepped forward with one foot. Party! If she tried to step forward with one of the back feet I would say EH and move into her so that she stepped her whole body back. Pretty soon she got the idea to only move the front foot forward. Once she did one foot, I moved on to asking for both front feet to STEP STEP.
Delilah steps into the free stack pretty well now, but we still struggle with having a sparkly attitude and she often loses her tail. I think she thinks it is all too dull. I hope that in a show environment she will get more jazzed up.