Luigi and Me on A Young Kennel Club Training Camp

Hi, sorry i have not posted for awhile but loads has been going on.

This post is about going on a YKC (Young Kennel Club) week training camp.

Ok so it was brilliant, I really enjoyed it, I'm not so sure about Luigi but anyway.

I was really nervous about going, the evening entertainment did not sound like my kind of thing, which was things like talent night, world cup games and treasure hunts.

So when I got there I was in a team (green) and all the evening entertainment you did with your team!

In the morning and after-noon we did training with your dog I was doing Agility, Heel Work to Music (dancing with your

dog) Handling, Good citizen dog scheme - how well behaved is your dog (Luigi got his bronze) and Obedience.

Luigi was well behaved but did not like it that much.

There was always something to do and it was really good.

Our team did well in the team games and won Talent Night (music was

Let Me Entertain You) and World Cup Games (we were Australia)

On the last day There was Team Rallies where there where events which where

1. Agility Cricket: dogs from team jump and other teams dog doing the dog walk (Luigi did not take part)
2. In The Dark: 3 team members from each team are blind-folded and with there dog on a lead walk round a course which the team leader's direct them round, who ever got all 3 members round wins. (Luigi and I did take part in this and our team came second (: )
3. Recall Race: 3 dogs from each team race against different team's dogs race each other fastest wins and goes into next heat (Luigi and did not take part)
4. Temptation Ally: 3 members from each team race against another team and call there dogs through an ally of treats, toys food and other tasty stuff (Luigi and I did this one and to our team won the first heat then Luigi ran out of arena to find mum and we lost):

Most important is to cheer on your team if your watching.

I really hope this make's you come along to camp next year, I will see you there as I'm going to.

Hi to any members from Adam's Almighty Airedale team, and any one who

went to camp to.

To go to the Young Kennel Club's web site click Here.

coton de tulear owners

As a owner of a coton de tulear I can safely say it's a good dog for all.

He is a cute dog, fun to play with (bites a bit though if I wind him up). He is so friendly but does bark at people who do not pat him! We all love him. But he loves to play in the mud - not good when you're white and fluffy.

We took him for a walk in the rain. He got very wet and he is so tiny under all that hair! But he loved it - running through puddles. We were all wet and he was wet but happy. Now he is by the fire sleeping.

Me and Luigi have been doing lots of training. When he comes in all wet from the garden, if there is a towel on the floor he will lie down on it. I am also training him 'jump' where he jumps over my brother or me. His best game is catch me, where he gets a sock and we chase him. He loves it. We don't!

He great dog but does not look like one. He thinks he is the best dog in the world. He loves all people and thinks that all people love him. We do but not every person does - especially when he is wet and muddy and wants to jump at you.

puppy toilet training

When we got Luigi he weeing and pooing on the floor. I had to mop it up too! If you hate your dog for this read on.

Keep the dog in a pen with a floor of newspaper. Take him out for a wee every 5 minutes. Try to work out the time that your dog has a wee. Take the dog out for a wee at the time he has a one. If the dog wees or poos outside give him a treat, and say 'good boy'. You can then let him play outside his pen in the house for a while. If he doesn't go outside, put him back in his pen for another 5 minutes and then try again.

It took us 3 months so be patient. Don't yell at your dog if he has a wee on the floor - just ignore him. It has worked for us. I hope it works for you.

puppy problems

When getting a dog or coton de tulear you must think of the problems, such as a dog will not know right from wrong. Here is a list of problems.

1. Weeing and pooing.
2. Crying at night
3. Grooming
4. Walks
5. Money (vet bills toys food etc. etc.)

Now here is a list of good or great things about having a dog.

1. Training (is a fun thing to do and makes a bond with your dog)
2. Playing
3. Dogs can be great pals
4. Running jumping (agility)
5. Giving them food they love ( dogs do anything for sausage - so does Luigi)

How to make the problems into a list of good things.

1. Weeing and pooing - go and look at puppy toilet training
2. Crying at night - look at puppy seperation anxiety
3. Grooming - bath lots if you do not want to groom your dog, or get a smooth coat one.
4. Walks - you can just play or make walks fun. Let your dog off lead and do come training.
5. Money - don't get a dog. Or put part of your money in a bank to cover the bills.

Thanks for looking at my blog.

my puppy

Luigi is my puppy. He is cute fun and loves all living things. He is hard to have for one thing - we all have to groom him. He does not like being groomed. That is a big problem, but he makes up for that in the way he loves to make you happy.

At the moment I am teaching him BANG. All you do is make a gun with your hands, shoot, say bang, push him over. He is getting better and will now go half way and I push him the rest of the way.

We have started to take him on bikes. We have a small cage on to back of my bike. He rides in that and sometimes we let him to run. He can run 11 miles an hour! Only sometimes do we go at that speed - mostly we go at 5 or 6 miles an hour but its a good walk for Luigi.

coton de tulear pups

Luigi is fun dog but he has his problems - like he loves to play with my dads socks!

He is doing agility which he is not to keen on but is getting very good. He is good and easy to train and we love training time! His best toy is pooh bear - my brothers baby toy. Pooh bear has lost one ear but Luigi still loves him!

We put up a dog rules board and Luigi looked at it for and long time. We think he does not like PLEASE IGNORE LUIGI WHEN YOU COME DOWN STAIRS OR COME BACK INTO THE ROOM. He loves his walks, but if it rains he will lie on his belly and will not move. We all love him and he loves us, but we think he has a blog named http://my-humans.blogspot.com/ where he writes about the funny things we do!

puppy tip training

A fun thing to do with your dog is to get lots of treats and go to a field. ( you need at least two people). Share out the treats, spread out, and call your dog one by one. Its a good way to give your dog exercise and its fun!

coton de tulear tricks

Me and Luigi love to play. I like to teach him new coton de tulear tricks and he loves the treats!
Luigi has learnt lots of tricks but how do you do them?

high five
First get very nice treats. Next call him and make him sit. Hold both your hands up so that he has to jump. As he jumps to get the treat, meet his paws and say 'high five'. Soon you can just hold your hands up - no treats.

paws
First get a lovely treat. Next get him to sit. Hold the treats just above his head. Hold out the other hand next to his paw. Tap the paw gently. He should lift his paw up. Let the paw rest on your hand and say 'paw'. If you keep up the good work your dog will be so well trained.

beg
have a treat and have your dog siting. Lift the treat up and let the dog jump up to get it. As he jumps say 'beg'. When he is begging give him the treat. The longer the he can stay up the better. If he begs and you have not told him to, ignore him and have a dog that does not beg!

I would like you to comment if you try doing these tricks. Please tell me if it worked.

leash training puppy

Our dog does not pull on the lead but your puppy might - if so do this.

Watch the video which has worked for us and Luigi is great now.

Have a slack leash all the time.

Do not look at your dog or pat your dog .

If the video does not work try this - when your dog pulls on the leash kick it very gently but enough to make the dog look at you, and come back to you. When the dog is doing heel, give him treats. Note: make a noise when you kick the dog but make sure you do not use that noise when the dog is good. Later, you will only have to make the noise and the dog will go to heel.

We did both of these things for leash training our puppy, and it worked very well.

puppy tip - training

Is your coton clever? We have been testing Luigi's IQ and we have discovered he isn't the cleverest dog on problems, but he got high points for some other things!


If you want to learn about your dogs IQ then go to Michelle Weltons site and get her e-book. She has a teach your dog a 100 words. We are going to teach Luigi a 100 words if we can. He may not be able to take it all in. My puppy tip is training should be fun and short.

All Luigi loves to do is play!!!

coton de tulear off lead

Luigi is now off lead!

His first time off lead was on the beach. We all said he will run around us and keep an eye on us, and when we let him off it was as if we had said 'heel'. He had the best time he had had in a long time.

He met two dog and he liked the dogs so much he tried to follow them, but he came when we said come. Luigi loves his walks and he really really likes walks off lead.

Never ever let your dog off lead near a road for if your dog sees a dog or person he might go across the road. Luigi loves people so much he will whine if we don't go near them.

puppy obedience training

I have been doing some puppy obedience training with my coton de tulear puppy.

SIT

To train sit you need to get a treat. Then hold the treat so he sees it above him, so he sits. As he sits, say "sit". Do it lots and then without the treat.

COME

Training your dog to come is the best and easiest to train. Get a treat and go and sit down and say "come" and hold the treat so the dog can see it. The dog will come - give the dog the treat. Do it until the dog comes without the treat.

STAND

To train stand you need to have a treat. Get your dog to sit and hold the treat in front of your dog so he has to stand to get it. As your dog stands say "stand". Do it lots and your dog will do it without a treat.

Down

Training down was difficult, for Luigi is small. He did not have to lie down to get the treat. But when he was 3 months old he did have to lie down to get the treat so he is learning down now. Get a treat and tell your dog to sit. When he is siting, show him the treat and put it in front of him. As he bends to get it move it forward so it is easier for him to get when lying down. As he goes down say "down." You can use the word lie or down, but we said 'down' when he was jumping up so we agreed we would use 'lie' - but we forget !!! So we now use 'off' not 'down' and 'down' is 'lie down'.

Give

Give is a word we have not taught Luigi. You need a toy you can throw and lots of treats. Now play fetch but when your dog comes with the toy, instead of playing tug of war, give the dog the treat. As he lets go of the toy so he can have the treat, say 'give'. Do it in small bursts so he is not bewildered.

coton de tulear books

These are the coton de tulear books that we got when we got Luigi.

Coton de Tulear
This kennel club book tells about the coton de tulear. It is a good book on cotons and has grooming and feeding and lots of useful stuff.

The Dog Listener by Jan Fennell

This book is a training book. It is full of good advice.