I'm hoping that we can do this often.
And again, I think it would be cool to let everyone do it, even if they won last time.
I wish we'd have a "pro division" too. I'd like to see some of the really great trainers get their dog to do something odd that I could never train in a million years. Not schutzhund related, just a hard thing to train.
Ram and Ingrid's videos of scent discrimination were great I thought.

I'd like to see some training of "hard to train" dogs too.

Good thoughts, Betty!



Can we get a few more votes on whether this time frame for the next finale works (that is, for the submission of finished entry clips)? Then we could at least get this contest rolling, with rules, statement of entering, etc.:

How do people feel about having the deadline fall during the week of 11/18 to 11/22?

That would give time to vote before Thanksgiving, too.

Thoughts?

Those dates work.

That sounds like a good time to me.

I have no idea! Like last time, we'll wing it. Lots of time for me to figure something out (mad laughter)

 Quote: Kristin Muntz

I have no idea! Like last time, we'll wing it. Lots of time for me to figure something out (mad laughter)

OK, no mad laughter yet!

A few of my thoughts:

The time frame proposed for the next contest seems good. Maybe we can even think about having a spring/summer/fall/winter schedule?

I think previous winners should not be excluded from winning again, even twice in a row. Let each contest start anew.

There seems to be a lot of categories one could choose, such as a behavior modification (fears, reactivity, charging/lunging/pulling, etc.); a training maneuver such as obedience or agility exercises; then all kinds of tricks; plus other categories I'm probably not thinking of right now. Maybe, as this evolves, we will have different contests for different categories, but I'm not suggesting making it more complicated than necessary for now. I think it worked out fine this last time, with each entrant taking a slightly different approach.

I think a before and after video is a good idea. Show us the problem you are trying to correct or, if teaching a new behavior, show us one of your early sessions where we can see that the dog does not know the behavior yet.

The suggested dates sound good to me. It would be interesting if everyone had the same behavior to train. I'd love to see how the different dogs and handlers tackle the same task. Plus I'd have fun with it.

"I think it worked out fine this last time, with each entrant taking a slightly different approach."


So do I!




"I think a before and after video is a good idea. Show us the problem you are trying to correct or, if teaching a new behavior, show us one of your early sessions where we can see that the dog does not know the behavior yet."

Me too! These can (and probably should) be quite brief, but yes, good points!

Also great point that any category of behavior can be chosen ..... just that marker training is the basic protocol.


I'll start a new thread in a couple of weeks, then, where the contestants "sign up," and where they should post a short clip of the behavior problem (or non-knowledge of a command, or whatever will show that the dog doesn't know the desired behavior yet). What I'm thinking of is that we learned from the last contest that showing "before" and "after" really highlights the work that has been done.

So those planning to be a contestant might want to think about making that "before" film clip soon -- or posting a new thread asap with their questions about how to make it.




ETA

QUOTE:
"I picked something psychological, taming Logan's kennel anxiety, whereas I think everyone else picked a new command."


I think that the "before" clips will help iron out this wrinkle .... making it easier to see what needed to be done. Make sense?

Myself, I think this kind of project is very valuable and interesting.

 Quote: Kiersten Lippman

The suggested dates sound good to me. It would be interesting if everyone had the same behavior to train. I'd love to see how the different dogs and handlers tackle the same task. Plus I'd have fun with it.

This sounds fun too! Let's think about this for the next one. It might take a while to come up with something that everyone has the same level of "not trained" with. Even if it was an unusual behavior, it might be hard to ensure that some dogs don't already have components well understood.

Make sense?


But yes, let's see if we can think about this idea for the next one (after the November one).