# Obedience training standard poodle



## LSTETZ (May 20, 2019)

Ok, even though I have trained and taught obedience one breed never have is standard poodle. I have a 6 month old Male and he is going to be trained service, obed and as a demo, maybe someone who has done obed with titles can help me out for starters a friend of mine who is a service dog trainer for 12 years, but has not done obed for competing, does not believe in a choke collar, rather a regular collar or a martingal, another friend makes collars and leads leather, and she makes one with part chain and another without??? Any help would be great. FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING! Oh one thing I did find a site seemed to be a really good one says do not use a obed collar which I have always used.


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

Hi, good question. I just use a flat buckle collar and lead on Asta. Never ever would put him in a choke chair- far too cruel. When he was younger I thought about a martingale or even a harness but he did so well on the flat nylon, I saw no reason to change.


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## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

I realized that you hadn't said competition obedience so my reply is moot


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## EVpoodle (Sep 25, 2018)

I am having to use a pinch collar on Evie. I would try using a flat buckle collar then if that does not work possibly using a full fabric martingale.


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## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

So per you pm you are working towards competition obedience. So I was saying that I use a flat collar for my competition obedience training. Since I use almost entirely positive training there is no need for anything stronger.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I have trained Lily to a CDX RM RAE9 and NA NAJ. We are three triple Qs away from an RM2 and RAE10 on the way to a RACh. Javelin got his rally novice before he turned one, but he will not go into trials until he has finished learning the utility directed retrieve and scent. I occasionally enter him in beginner novice to look at how his trial ring attention looks (not always good). All of our dogs got their CGCs at round their first birthdays.


I teach performance obedience and rally classes as well as doing CGC tests and trick dog evaluations.


I almost always use a pinch collar when training Javelin and occasionally with Lily although she doesn't need it much since she rarely does things she shouldn't. For both of them though I can easily switch back and forth between the pinch and a flat buckle collar. I never use unlimited slip chains.


One thing you can't do with poodles is drill them like border collies or golden retrievers. For exercises the dog knows if I get three good reps I stop and go onto something else. If I am teaching an exercise I may do more repeats so that I can end with a correct performance.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Old school choke collars strangle the dog. "If you disobey, I will cut off your air supply," isn't something I'm comfortable with for any dog. My last SD I used a pinch collar. Noelle's temperament is too soft for a pinch collar. I use a flat buckle collar on Noelle for everything--service dog work, training, and trialing. If I pull on her collar at all, she stops and scratches her neck. Physical corrections make Noelle lose heart, so I don't use them with her. Noelle is clicker trained. I reward each tiny step in the right direction, offering bigger rewards to let her know her last action was closer to what I wanted. I use a lot of backchaining as well.


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

Zoe is beginning both agility and obedience (she has been to the first class for each). I have not given much thought to collars. Her conformation collar was a fine snake chain (a type of chain collar that is less likely to damage the coat). I never used it for correction; in fact, I usually clipped the lead to the dead ring. I like the fact that it is very light weight.


I have used chain collars for almost every dog I have ever had with no issues. While Zoe was in show coat, I used a 3 inch wide silk collar that had a chain inside a grosgrain ribbon in the center of the collar. They are sold by a company named "the quilted hound". Really a great collar.


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## LSTETZ (May 20, 2019)

I would thank those for their input it has been a big help and now that he is 6 months and total relax he has been here I do believe he is total relaxed I can see how he is. So I can start off with one and see how he is and move to another if need be, however even though I was told old school I did change the way I changed in training but n oh w with a standard poodle I can try other ways
Lisa stetz


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Click-N-Treat said:


> Noelle is clicker trained. I reward each tiny step in the right direction, offering bigger rewards to let her know her last action was closer to what I wanted. I use a lot of backchaining as well.


This is how I train also and only use a flat collar. 
Most poodles are so smart they catch on super quickly


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Click is right that you have to train the dog in front of you. Some don't like any physical corrections and some need some level of them. My dogs actually get pretty happy having their pinch collars on since it means they are going out to someplace interesting.


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

One other thought about training a standard poodle: they learn quickly and are quickly bored. A bored poodle can come up with an amazing variety of attention-getting antics!


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Puzzled here about the comment about having to train a dog in front of you. Are we referring to clicker training?

I have clicker trained my dog to do things when he cannot even see me, just hear the click.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

I think she was referring to the dog’s temperament. Noelle is a microwaved marshmallow level of soft. Honey was hard as a boulder. If you use hard dog training techniques on a soft dog you will ruin trust. Soft dog techniques will not get through to a hard dog.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

kontiki said:


> Puzzled here about the comment about having to train a dog in front of you. Are we referring to clicker training?
> 
> I have clicker trained my dog to do things when he cannot even see me, just hear the click.


 Not "a" dog, "the" dog.


Click yes that is essentially what I intended. I meant you have to use the tools and techniques that are correct for positive outcomes for the dog that you are currently working with. Javelin is a lot more hard headed in many ways than Lily. I actually do not use clickers since they are not the right tool for me. I am better with verbal markers as I often have many things inn my hands.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Johanna is right. A bored poodle will also come up with variations on a theme, and that's not a good thing. Sit at heel can become four really solid sits and four increasingly more crooked sits. I like to pick three behaviors to train and rotate through those three for the day. 

Since we're doing rally Master, I'm working on back up three steps and pivot, go to the cone and sit, and moving side steps in front. Repeat each task four times, move on to the next task four times, return to the first task twice, repeat the second task twice, move on to the third task four times, and then quit. Each training session lasts about 10 minutes, but we have several every day. This keeps training from becoming a bore.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Ahh, think I got it! Use the methods that work for the dog you are training....


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