GeorginaMay wrote:

"... thats ok  he is a very different dog to anything else here."

I love that!! Not many people get this and think that we husky owners are just slackers or something! While it's not an excuse to raise brat-dogs (of course, you are not, since you care enough to formally train him), it sure does make that training very challenging at times!

I would love to hear more Orion stories.

Our first girl was a FFFRRRuitcake in obedience class! The sit-stay might have been the worst... That became her "dart from mom and play with the huge English Sheepdog who does not really like me" time. She did, however, get the Most Improved Award; for which we were very surprised and proud! Being a little bit of an over-achiever, I saw myself failing obedience school and, I must say, it was just a little stressful...

Fun times!

Hahaha! That's a pretty funny story. I'm not laughing at you, huskies just make me giggle.

Don't feel bad though. We took Kodi to Obedience classes, it was an 8 week course, 1 day a week. From day 1 Kodi was so hhhyyyppeerrr. We eventually learned that in order to get him to really pay attention we had to run him hard an hour before class started. This actually helped a lot since he was less inclined to want to play with the other puppies. On Kodi's final day of class we were learning how to stay at doors. We were using our vet's office after hours and there were lots of puppies there that day. Kodi was doing so well, so amazing, on target, on point. I had him at the threshold and he's waiting for his treat. I toss it in, he goes for it and pees along the way.

Poor Kodi forgot to let us know he had to potty. hahahaha. So much for impressing the trainer on the last day of class.

That's so cute she howls with the other dogs in class. I would love to see blazer do that with another. I'm thinking of obedience class for him I have that as a prerequisite if I want to get him into agility classes. I think he would love doing agility. As for the obedience part I'm not getting my hopes up.ive read up on these dogs enough on some habits you can't break and I need to do things differently .

Week number three for Orion at Obedience and yes he is firmly established in his role as "that" dog!

So I made sure we were there nice and early complete with his harness and long line and I started to run... an hour later the tutor arrived to set up the class so I swapped the sprinting for walking to slowly start settling him, 15 minutes later I swapped him onto his collar and short lead sat him by a cone (he didn't eat it this week!) and we waited while others arrived.

Everything was going to plan to start with, everyone lined up and the tutor started a run down of what we were doing for the night - then a Saint Bernard opposite us barked at Orion... He immediately bolted to the end of his leash (my first lot of rope burn for the night  ) I gathered him back and told him off so he dropped to my feet and proceeded to loudly voice his displeasure for the next 10 minutes while the poor tutor attempted to drown him out.

We worked on recall which actually went better than I expected, I put Orion back on a long line (no was was he going off leash!) and I made sure we were totally separate to the rest of the dogs so he focused surprisingly well :)His relatively good behaviour continued through the majority of the class and he performed well with loose leash walking, sit and down.

Orion once again was singled out in class tonight (he seems to be teaching the other owners a lot   ) there was one owner who mentioned her dog had useless recall but she often lets him off leash figuring he would get better at it the more he did it  
The tutor quite calmly explained that some dogs are just not cut out for off leash and it depends on the dog just as much as the training "take Orion for example Olivia knows that as a sibe he is born to run and that doesn't mean run back to her, run on a leash is as far as he will get. It is not denying him his freedom it is saving his fluffy butt"  needless to say this lady was given research homework on researching the breeds that make up her dog

Three quarters of the way through the class I started to relax (big mistake I know!) I really thought that maybe his earlier antics were it for the night, then the tutor said those terrible words..."lets see how your dogs do with an agility tunnel for a bit of fun"
So we set the tunnel up and people started to coax their dogs through, Orion stood and watched his head going from side to side as he figured out what was going on then all of a sudden he decided it must be his turn and he started wooing for all he's worth trying to get to the tunnel. I made him sit nicely and wait for his turn then up to the tunnel we went - "I'll hold Orion you go to the other end" said the tutor so I handed him over and ran to the the other end then started calling him, well he bolted in got to half way and stopped. Just stopped.
He had his front down, his butt in the air and the craziest look on his face as he's staring at me like "look mum I got me a tunnel!"
I called and called and he wouldn't budge, the tutor called and he would just twirl in a circle and bark - he had officially claimed the tunnel.
Eventually we had to squish the tunnel up to be able to grab him, everyone thought it was hysterical  

I really wish that had been the end of the night and I had just put him in the car and left but no. I was standing talking to the tutor when one of the other owners and their dog started to approach. Now the other dog is a jack russell x bichon and Orion does not do particularly well with small dogs (he is not vicious he just does not know his size and is overly enthusiastic so I am afraid he will inadvertently hurt a wee fluffy by mistake), so I dropped to a crouch holding Orion by the collar and was using his gentle command keeping him settled as the little dog approached. About a foot away from Orion's face the little dog bared it's teeth snarled and lunged - I grabbed it by the scruff of it's neck mid leap and threw it backwards then stood and marched Orion quickstep to the car before he had a chance to go for the little dog. Once I had him safely locked in the car I went back to speak to the lady who owned the little dog and wow did that not go well! Long story short the tutor backed me up and the little dog now has to wear a ribbon at class labeling him as not other dog friendly

All in all another fun filled night at obedience!

Great trainer! I love reading these Orion stories!

Ya'll are having some things go on at obedience class! It makes for great reading, I tell you that. And good for you about that little dog. I probably wouldn't have handled that situation any better. Glad the trainer backed you up on that!

I could not possibly love these stories more than I do.

I was cracking up at the tunnel part! He sounds like such a fun dog. He and Pippa seem to have a lot in common.

That trainer sounds fantastic! Not often do you find someone who really understands the breed.

Keep us updated for sure!

Well tonight was the last night of obedience class and... ORION PASSED!!!!!!

I cannot believe it I am so proud of my baby he has come such a long way, from disrupting the class, stealing the props and attempting to eat the smaller participants to scoring 97 out of 100 - yup that's right we got top marks!

Next step... Beginner Agility and a Tricks class - gotta keep that boys mind stimulated! Let the games begin...

Yay! Congrats, on a job well done!

That's so great!!! GO ORION!!! And it sounds like you have an awesome trainer on your hands too!

Great job! I need to get us signed up for a class like that. Sounds like he did great!

GeorginaMay wrote:

So I have just got home from obedience class with Orion and wow was that an experience! Obedience class is held at our local A&P Show Ground which is just a field essentially and since it is winter here it was pitch black and foggy when we arrived which wasn't a great start. We left the dogs in the car for 10 mins did a quick intro and run down of the class then were told to grab our dogs and lets go. So I went and got Orion, well everyone else's dog toodles out nicely on a leash and Orion... well Orion leaps and lunges and starts wooing for all he's worth, cue everyone staring at me:oops: 

I finally get him settled and we line up - the instructor says now one by one walk your dogs down the line and introduce yourselves and your dogs, of course the first person to go does wonderfully every dog is lovely and polite then there Orion and I at the end and what happens? He tries to eat the damn mini poodle!  

Next was "Loose leash walking" with a sibe? you kidding?!" Everyone just walk around the cones one at a time so we can see how your dogs walk." Now Orion can loose leash walk but he was so hyped at that stage I didn't stand a chance! He trotted nicely up to the first cone looked up at me then dived on the cone snatched it up and proceeded to shake the shit out of it making growly noises (everyone took another step back) I took it away and he dropped to the ground going completely limp and dead weight refusing to move! I had to pick him up and carry him off.

We moved onto commands and once I had his attention he was fine he executed everything flawlessly (one time where his intensity comes in handy!) but that first half hour was awful! The tutor actually had a word to the class about him at the end lol "now I'm sure you've all noticed Olivia's dog's behaviour tonight, Sibes are notoriously vocal and difficult so give her space, also their natural stance is similar to an aggressive stance in other dogs so you would have noticed that your dogs don't seem to like him, thats ok  he is a very different dog to anything else here."
Have to admit I'm glad she doesn't just think I'm a terrible person with a brat of a dog but it certainly doesn't look like Orion will get any new friends out of it no one will come near us!

Please someone tell me their dog is just as spastic?!

As I am reading this tears are rolling down my face as I am laughing so hard. I have had trainers told me that if a Sibe doesn't want to be trained, forget about it. You have described Juno in detail with you story. We have just given up and accepted her for who she is--a beautiful girl who loves her live--imperfections and all. 

Browsing the forum and I can across this thread I started when my boy was a baby... godamn he was a character! I get the feeling I might have some more fun times to share soon - I am bringing home a red baby girl tomorrow who is Orion's niece! This winter will be spent back in puppy classes lol let the good times roll

Can't wait to see pictures!

Great thread catch up...
Vlad was That dog this weekend but he napped before class.He kept trying to play with the hound next to him ALL class. Lots of little woos and warbles out of him trying to instigate something. However he did nail the lay down when we tried even thought outside of class he never had done it even though I tried. He was even used as example dog.

Most time the trainer says wow he is laid back for a husky and I have to remind her that he gets up with Bourbon at 8 am and plays the whole time until 1130 class. The wrestle none stop.

In our Puppy class way back when, The trainer tried to use Gabby as the Example dog and she bit him so we were also "that" dog for the rest of the class.

Cora has always been good at tricks, (except bow) so she was always the first to get the trick but loose leash walking was a joke (she is pretty good now ) and she would always make a lot of noise too. I always got dirty looks in the class :,)

Oh goodness now I'm remembering Mylo's puppy class days lol
My main purpose for going to these classes was to get Mylo socialized with other pups his age.
That went great cause me and a few other participants would get to the location a little earlier so our dogs could play on the play area. The actual class went generally well BUT when it came to things involving no leash…Mylo would immediately wonder off sniffing around for treats.
(sometimes there would be crumbs around from a previous class). Out of sit, down, rollover, stay, and leave it..rollover was the most challenging. Mylo would wonder off sniffing away halfway through off leash walking lol.

This is a great thread! So many funny stories I can relate to! I'd love to share my own experiences with Suka in his puppy classes. We had the third class on Tuesday evening.

Suka has been really popular in his puppy class. Everyone admires him and says how gorgeous he is, and of course, all the other puppies just want to play, play, play! Suka is the same, so he's made a lot of new friends.

On the first day, the dog trainer used Suka for a few demonstrations, but he wouldn't listen to her. I'd already been working on basic obedience with Suka, but he wasn't at a place where he'd listen to anyone else but me. When the trainer wanted Suka to do something, he decided to fall on his side instead and show his belly to get rubs. He was acting like a clown and everyone was laughing at him! The trainer decided to try with another dog and gave Suka back to me, and after she demonstrated what she wanted us to work on, she made a comment about how our puppies might act silly and be playful, so it's important to have a lot of patience and just keep at it. When she released us to work on the new command, Suka did it flawlessly for me.

While I'm in class, I use the training methods they show us, but when I'm at home, I use my own training method with Suka. It's really starting to show that he's a lot further along in his training than the other puppies. This past Tuesday, the trainer used Suka to demonstrate new commands three times, and he did it flawlessly each time. The final command of the night was a sit/stay, which is difficult for puppies to do. The trainer turned around and said she'd like to use Suka to demonstrate it because he was an "advanced puppy." I smiled as I handed over the leash because this is something I'd worked on with Suka a few times, and as I expected, he did it flawlessly for the trainer. If it weren't for how silly our training sessions were at home, I would think someone switched his brain with a Border Collie!

He acts like a spastic goofball in most of our training sessions, but he learns very quickly. So to keep him in the right frame of mind when we're in puppy classes, I take him for a mile and a half run using my bike about 40 minutes before we leave. If I feed him before class, I do it two to three hours beforehand so he's interested in the training treats the whole time we're there. I think the most important thing is the exercise, though.

My goal is to get Suka his CD title, and I know it's typically difficult to get on a Siberian. I welcomed the challenge, and it's going pretty much the way I expected it would.