First times for something might be frightening or at least quite thrilling, but usually always result in something great.
How it All Began
One evening ,Mrs. Helsing spotted the event of a Doberman camp, arranged by the national Doberman association. She asked, ‘Should we attend that camp?’ I replied, ‘Sure, why not.’ Then she asked, ‘I mean, should YOU go there with Åsiris?’ I suddenly wasn’t so sure that I’d like to go. My first thought was that “There will be so many people I don’t know!” – I’m not really into getting to know new people. But I have to admit that she had a point there. My relationship with our dog wasn’t the best one. Sure we got along, but I could not be very confident and firm with Åsiris which lead to problems in various situations and also affected how I could (or couldn’t) train him e.g., in obedience.
Off to the Camp
Luckily, I had some company in addition to Åsiris – our 14-year-old son wanted to come along, which was great 😊. After six+ hours drive, we finally arrived at the camp site late Friday evening. I was a bit worried about how Åsiris would manage to get some rest (or let others have any) because there were two other dogs and two strangers sleeping in the same room with us.. Åsiris has also never really liked being in a cage, although he has slept in our soft exhibition cage on some of our hotel trips. I was very positively surprised when Åsiris calmed down quite fast and the night went very well.
More First Times: SAR Training
Our first training session was Search and Rescue (SAR). First couple of hours we spent preparing the area for training. Preparations included e.g. marking the 100x200m area borders and stomping through the whole area. Luckily I had rubber boots, Finnish forest in autumn is usually not dry!
Åsiris was the first dog to try. As this was his first time and all the people there were strangers to him, we started with everyone feeding a lot of treats to him. I was again positively surprised about our dog – he didn’t jump on the people and he didn’t run away after I let go the leash. He did not jump on me either or show mouthiness either. After the “treat ring” we did few easy searches where Åsiris all the time saw people walking to the forest (them showing treats to him while going). After some “loading time” I let Åsiris go and run to get the treats. Needless to say, he liked this training session a lot!
Insights from SAR Training
I learned myself maybe more watching how the other dogs trained. There were dogs with different levels of experience in SAR and it was quite interesting to see how people focused on different aspects of the training with their dogs.
Later afternoon we did another SAR session and this time Åsiris got to also do some searching as people went and hid in the forest, not making it too hard for him to find them though.
Obedience Training: A Learning Experience
Our obedience training session was not very long, but it was quite eye-opening and taught me few very important things. The most important one was about how Åsiris jumps and mouths me quite often when we start obedience training and there are other people close by, especially if they are talking to me. The instructor gave some advice how to be more firm and consistent with the dog. He also gave advice about how to prepare the dog for the training and how to try to affect the dog’s mood so that he is not too excited but not too calm either. Some practical tips about how to better make the dog follow in the right position were likewise golden.
Day Two: The Importance of Play
When we signed up for the camp, we were asked about which things we would like to train during the camp. SAR and obedience training were the two most important ones for us, but there was also training about how to play with the dog. I chose that as well, even though I quite well knew how to play with my dog – pfft, who wouldn’t know how to play with a dog…
How wrong I was. Again.
A New Perspective on Playing with Your Dog
Turned out, that the “How to play with your dog” was the most important and enlightening training of the whole camp. I learned (as did all the other participants as well) that we had played with our dogs in a wrong way all along. Or not necessarily that wrong, but at least in a way where the dog’s frustration might actually increase and definitely in a way where playing with the dog cannot benefit the training in any way.
Unexpected Insights in the Rain
Luckily it started raining so heavily during the playing training, that we had to take cover and just wait. While waiting, we got an extra lecture about behavioural training for dogs. Again, so many golden advice. I wish I could remember even half of them.
It was nice to see and hear that other people had challenges with their dogs as well.
Camp Highlights and Lessons Learned
Attending the camp was really worth it. To finish this post, I’d like to share one more of the many important learnings from the camp: When there are 1:1 training sessions as during the camp, you keep your dog in the car while you discuss with the instructor and agree on what are you going to train and how. Then you go get your dog and get immediately them focused on the training session. After your own part, you take your dog back to the car and watch and listen when others are training. This way you really get the most out of that.