[nagdu] The new GDB

[Tracy Carcione]

Kaye, you're just the sort of person I've been wanting to talk to, someone
who's been to GDB recently, and had GDB dogs before (as have I).
I've been reading a bit about GDB's new approach--less waiting around
during training, and using clicker training.
Did you find your recent class to be significantly different from previous
classes?  Do you use different methods to control or correct your dog than
you did before?  I realize it's very hard to compare dogs.  My Echo was
very different from my Amba, even though they were both black labs from
GDB, and trained with the same methods.  But a correction that would turn
Echo into a quivering jello would barely have gotten Amba's attention.
Also, I went through GDB's 2-week retrain class 4 different times, and
there was still plenty of waiting around, though not nearly as much as for
the first-timers.  On the other hand, it seemed like my dogs were just
getting to the testing stage of things when I was getting ready to go
home, and I needed someone out on follow-up in a month or two to help me
polish up the rough edges.
Anyway, I'd be real interested to hear your thoughts about your recent
training, and if it was really different from before.
Tracy