# Bridget Carlsen DVD



## AmberSunrise

Has anyone seen the 'Bridget Carlsen Competition Obedience Training' DVD set?

I saw it is available and am thinking of ordering it.

Thanks


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## Loisiana

I'm guessing from the lack of response that you got that nobody's seen it. I didn't even know it was available until I read you post. And saw that she just filmed it in August, so it must be really really new.

If you order it let us know how you like it!


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## hotel4dogs

No, but I had the pleasure of watching Bridget in the ring this weekend with a couple of her dogs (I had to follow her in both Utility B and Open B, Gak!!!) and she is just an amazing trainer/handler. I love to watch her dogs work!


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## Bogey's Mom

I just saw this. Yes, I've watched it. I borrowed it from a friend of mine who is a very gifted obedience trainer. She has goldens and has done some amazing things with them. She says this is the best video to have come out in awhile. I really enjoyed it too, but it's one of only a handful I have seen.


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## AmberSunrise

All righty - I have started watching this DVD and have to call out Loisiana - she is demoing with a youngish golden(Saucy) who makes Flip look calm - and she's loving it 

So am I LOL


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## Loisiana

Wow you already got it?


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## hotel4dogs

She also just retired a young (4 years old) golden that she simply could NOT control in the ring.....


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## AmberSunrise

Yes, I can see where her methods might be enough to ramp some dogs over the top. She stresses get them very up so they can be motivated in the ring after years of showing. 
Loisiana - yes, it came very quickly


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## Loisiana

well now I want it! Should I splurge now or ask for it for christmas...


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## Titan1

hotel4dogs said:


> She also just retired a young (4 years old) golden that she simply could NOT control in the ring.....


Which dog was that?


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## AmberSunrise

Grins - I think you can probably wait - you and Flip seem to have the Boing factor going already 



Loisiana said:


> well now I want it! Should I splurge now or ask for it for christmas...


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## Loisiana

yeah but my biggest worry is keeping it balanced out. I want to keep the energy, but I need to make sure it is controlled energy. I'm nervous about taking it too far one direction or another.


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## AmberSunrise

I haven't gotten that far yet  She did mention that yeah, her dogs can be obnoxious in the house but she feels she can justify that for their up attitude in the ring.

So far from what I have watched, she seems to attach the ramped up energy with key words (want to eat, want your bitem or maybe tugem - something like that) that she uses - the dogs need to display energy to earn their reward. She also uses jack potting heavily. I probably won't get to watch the remainder until at least the weekend, but she herself does not seem to have that ramped up energy some trainers have - I like that since I am not a ramped up person  

She makes the very valid point that you need to train in a ramped up state if you feel your dog will stress up in the ring, and you need to have cues for the dog who stresses down to get his attitude back up.


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## Maxs Mom

I am signing up for a Bridget Carlsen seminar... I am hoping to take both Teddi and Gabby. When I heard she was coming... I need to send my entry in, and hope there are still working spots available. It isn't until Feb. 

This thread has me totally intrigued. Teddi needs motivation... to work. I hope with Gabby it will be more about controlling it and not losing it. However, not being from the obedience world, I hope I am not biting off more than I can chew.


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## AmberSunrise

Oh, you should love it! She has a non-motivated dog (Norwich Terrier), who she has motivated and kept motivated through an OTCH and agility. And of course her goldens who are motivated 

If she was coming to this area, I would sign up  I just went to a Denise Fenzi seminar that was incredible, and I am thinking one of Bridget Carlsen's would be awesome too.


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## Maxs Mom

Gabby is her "grand dog" too... Hootie is her daddy.


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## Loisiana

Bridget came to Louisiana a few years ago, but I was broke at the time and couldn't go. I heard a lot of mixed reviews about it. Seems you either loved it or hated it.

She is coming to Austin, TX in February but when I first heard about it I was once again broke and now that I might be able to get the money together to go it is filled


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## AmberSunrise

Grins - I think it was Hootie who knows 'Where's your girlfriend' as a phrase that gets him ramped .. 

That would be so exciting to bring a grand dog to her seminar 



Maxs Mom said:


> Gabby is her "grand dog" too... Hootie is her daddy.


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## Loisiana

I remember Debby Quigley telling me when I was first starting out with Conner to be sure I wasn't sacrificing attitude for accuracy. I didn't pay enough attention at the time, thought we still had plenty of attitude. And we got through nine months of showing in novice with LOTS of happy attitude. Always had the judges commenting what a happy boy he was. Pretty much the same in Open for the next year. Then came the combination of the stress of utility plus the monotony of showing in two classes over and over, and we've lost a lot of that attitude. We have lots of accuracy though.

My goal is to have both with Flip, but I'm trying to get it into my head that it's better to start with less accuracy and build that up than start with the accuracy but lose the attitude over time. 

Of course there are the rare few that are gifted enough to start with both and maintain both but I don't know if that should be my aim at this point.


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## AmberSunrise

It is a hard balance I think. You need to know your dog. Accuracy vs Attitude. 

My 2 younger dogs are actually very honest workers, so I am pushing for attitude more that accuracy right now. Accuracy will come.

From the videos I've seen of Flip, I think you could probably start balancing both already  You have a whole lot of dog with a great attitude.


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## Titan1

Loisiana said:


> I remember Debby Quigley telling me when I
> 
> My goal is to have both with Flip, but I'm trying to get it into my head that it's better to start with less accuracy and build that up than start with the accuracy but lose the attitude over time.
> 
> Of course there are the rare few that are gifted enough to start with both and maintain both but I don't know if that should be my aim at this point.


Attitude 1st and accuracy comes with time. I still don't rag Titan for accuracy. I help more than correct. You still need to teach the dog the correct way to do things but no facial expressions or sounds when he does it wrong. We just go back and rework it and I help him to it right. He just thinks we are doing it again..hmmnn (might be why we have not gotten a 200?) I want my dog to have fun and enjoy what we are doing! That is what is important to me. Not everyone feels the same way and that's okay too..


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## hotel4dogs

there's a saying in field work....
never train for 100% compliance, train for 100% confidence.
Wise words.


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## Loisiana

okay, just finished watching the set and thought I'd share my likes and dislikes.

LIKES:
-I like that she often mentioned what she would with a dog that already had a lot of drive and attitude. A lot of times when the subject is attitude and motivation, speakers gear everything towards the lower drive dog.
- like that she admitted her dogs are monsters in the house. Made me feel better about my own :
-I like that she says when you have a dog that is likely to amp up in a trial setting, you want to train in that higher amped up state and learn how to control it rather than trying to calm it down. I've had people watch me train with Flip and wonder why I play crazy games with him when he already has built in drive and that is exactly why.
-I like that she doesn't try to change who the dog is. If the dog has an issue with one way of training, lets just approach it a different way.

Dislikes:
Really my only dislike is that the entire thing is about teaching the dog to expect his paycheck. Conner was trained heavily on jackpots, so it's not that I'm against it, but I am trying to get away from that with Flip. I am trying to see if I can get him to work with the attitude I want just for the fun of working and playing with me, and not because he's waiting to get something out of it. I'm going to try. It may not work out for us and I may have to end up going a different route, but I want to give it a fair shot first.


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## LibertyME

hotel4dogs said:


> there's a saying in field work....
> never train for 100% compliance, train for 100% confidence.
> Wise words.


yep-yep-yep for dogs and people......


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## AmberSunrise

I may not explain this right, but my King was a highly driven dog BUT, he couldn't care less about pleasing me or about food. What he cared very deeply about was working, and being worked. By pleasing me, he got to please himself and continue working, if this makes sense.

This is especially seen with some highly driven field dogs. Flip may have the same motivation and you may not need jackpots etc 




Loisiana said:


> okay, just finished watching the set and thought I'd share my likes and dislikes.
> 
> LIKES:
> -I like that she often mentioned what she would with a dog that already had a lot of drive and attitude. A lot of times when the subject is attitude and motivation, speakers gear everything towards the lower drive dog.
> - like that she admitted her dogs are monsters in the house. Made me feel better about my own :
> -I like that she says when you have a dog that is likely to amp up in a trial setting, you want to train in that higher amped up state and learn how to control it rather than trying to calm it down. I've had people watch me train with Flip and wonder why I play crazy games with him when he already has built in drive and that is exactly why.
> -I like that she doesn't try to change who the dog is. If the dog has an issue with one way of training, lets just approach it a different way.
> 
> Dislikes:
> Really my only dislike is that the entire thing is about teaching the dog to expect his paycheck. Conner was trained heavily on jackpots, so it's not that I'm against it, but I am trying to get away from that with Flip. I am trying to see if I can get him to work with the attitude I want just for the fun of working and playing with me, and not because he's waiting to get something out of it. I'm going to try. It may not work out for us and I may have to end up going a different route, but I want to give it a fair shot first.


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## Bender

Titan1 said:


> Attitude 1st and accuracy comes with time. I still don't rag Titan for accuracy. I help more than correct. You still need to teach the dog the correct way to do things but no facial expressions or sounds when he does it wrong. We just go back and rework it and I help him to it right. He just thinks we are doing it again..hmmnn (might be why we have not gotten a 200?) I want my dog to have fun and enjoy what we are doing! That is what is important to me. Not everyone feels the same way and that's okay too..


I'm the same way. I'd rather loose some points and have a happy working dog. There are enough dogs around with the training and time put into them to get a 200, and usually 2-3 at every show here, so until I have my own training building out back and all the time in the world, we'll settle for having a great time in the ring. When we get there.

And I have a housemonster too. I feel better now.


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## Loisiana

I want to go back and add that when I said my dislike, I wasn't saying it's a bad method. I just meant that it's not a method I'm pursuing right now in my training, so that part wasn't as of much use to me. But I'm not at all sorry I got the DVD and would still recommend it.


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## Loisiana

Sunrise said:


> I may not explain this right, but my King was a highly driven dog BUT, he couldn't care less about pleasing me or about food. What he cared very deeply about was working, and being worked. By pleasing me, he got to please himself and continue working, if this makes sense.


Yes that makes sense because Flip is a lot like that. Except he does like food. A lot. But he doesn't care so much about pleasing me. Not like Conner does. But he always wants to be able to MOVE. Movement is reinforcing to him. I guess that's why he hates stays so much.


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## hotel4dogs

just for the record....Bridget IS a very high energy, high drive person. And one of the nicest, most genuine people you'll meet around the obedience rings!


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## Loisiana

hotel4dogs said:


> just for the record....Bridget IS a very high energy, high drive person.


 
that was the impression I got too. LOL, when I saw Sunrise wrote that Bridget didn't have the ramped up energy like some other trainers I wasn't sure if we were watcing the same video! The thought that crossed my mind is that she's probably one of those people that can eat whatever she wants whenever she wants because she's going to burn it off in the course of the day just being herself.


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