morning all,

was sat there thinking last night about all the activities i do with my dogs (mainly sam though), and i do so much with them that maybe i'm doing too much!!! if that makes sense?

i take sam training on mondays (clicker class), tuesday (agility), weds (HTM 2 weds a month, obedience other weds), thursday (night off!), friday (hire agility arena, or agility club comp (once a month). most weekends are either agility comps, clicker workshops etc.

sam is always up for training, as soon as i get my clicker out he's 'what we doing'?. its not as if i have to drag him up!!

on our night off i usually do some free-shaping, or work on behaviours that arent very strong, sometimes we all just chill!

is this too much or is it good that he's mentally and physically challenged most days???

thanks

Hi there,

I think the dangers in "overdoing it " with your dog will become apparent to you by observing the dogs behaviour to the tasks it is being given.

If you are going through a training routine most days, and the dog is keen and alert to what it's doing you should have no real problems , as springers are very intelligent (as we all know) , and if not fully mentally engaged will resort to a variety of annoying activities.

One of mine for instance , will chase shadows , flies , when he has been in the yard all day.

A bored dog (bored with training activites I mean ) will just become "sticky" and will not give it's full attention, and will give a half hearted approach to the job
(just like you or me would do if we were bored with something really).

Your dog sounds as though it's a very keen to please kind of dog so just keep a weather eye out for the tell tale signs of boredom, if you don't see them... carry on as normal....but always remember that everyone needs a day off at least once a week .

Hope that helps,

Regards,
Mark.

It does seem rather a lot to do with one dog all at once.

I think two things could happen here, Sam is just going to switch off because he's confused by all the different disciplines or you'll have a jack of all trades, master of none.

I would pick one, master it and then move on to the next

I've got no idea - other than I'm guilty of not doing enough

The piece of the jigsaw missing with Sam is his outdoor recall and the go it alone adventures – I’d say he finds that very rewarding! If he’s good at all the other stuff, then that would be my challenge – but in very safe places!

that is the jigsaw piece missing isnt it???

we are working on this and have gone back to basics. trouble is finding somewhere that is safe to practise. but i will carry on with this dont worry!!!

With my dogs I think there is such a thing too much training.

Classic example with Conker. A few months ago we were out gun dog training every night thinking it was the right thing to do.

It wasn't going as planned, he had a very short attention span and was a bit bored and wanted to go off doing his own thing, frustration set in and that had a further effect on him so we decided that his gun dog carear was over before it began....only to try it a few weeks later and he was a different dog.

We now just do it twice a week and we are all much happier for it.

All are different though so if its working for you then why not carry on?

thanks for that conkersmum! i'm hoping i dont over-do things with him. we do have alot of chill-out time too, its not all train, train, train and when we are it is 5, 10 mins here and there unless at training class. some weeks we only have 2 classes, so he does get his fair share of chilling and training and fun!

I do know some dogs who have been turned hyper by too much training and activities. Personally I'd say the programme is too much, but of course I don't know your dog. But if I did such a program with Rhian I'm pretty sure she'd go hyper!

he's not hyper at all in fact he's very chilled . i know what you mean though. i'll ask my trainer on monday night see what she says. thanks alot everyone for your input

I think you can do too much training, but I also think your dog will generally tell you. With Murphy he loses all focus, and I know it's time to give him a break from it. I don't miss out any classes (although I don't do as many as you) but I don't do ANYTHING in between. Just fun walks, not even any lead training. A week of that, and he's much better again.