Stacking the Deck

There was some interesting, shareable discussion on one of the Fenzi FB groups this weekend. But, if you wanted to share one of the posts, the author requested that both were shared.

These really resonate with me.

Denise Fenzi
Admin · November 12 at 3:43pm

Here is why I don't think anyone can ever tell another person that their dog is, or is not, suited for dog sports or a particular dog sport.
Because no one can know how good of a trainer another person is - or how good they might become.
No one can know how important it is to another person. Commitment and determination are a big deal. That is for the person to decide.
No one can know how happy/unhappy their dog can be before they decide it's time to throw in the towel for ethical reasons - also an individual decision.
No one can know what level of achievement they would need to attain before they can feel it was "worth it". My goals and expectations are mine - yours belong to you.
No one can know, for sure, what the future holds, based on better/different training options, the effects of maturity, changing sports, etc etc etc
So it must always remain up to the person - how far are they willing to go? Is their dog happy enough to keep at it? It's just not my place to make those determinations for another.
The only thing another person can do is tell you what route they would take. From there, the owner decides if/when/how much they can put into it.

Denise Fenzi

Admin · November 12 at 9:50am
A meme here got me thinking. What have my current dogs taught me?
Well, a lot of dog training. But that's not what I want to talk about.
What have I learned from Lyra? I have learned that I don't enjoy training her because she has no passion for working - and that's okay. I didn't do something wrong - she comes with opinions and her own interests, and they don't happen to align with mine. If I stand back and consider the route that I think I would have to take to change that? It's way beyond my level of time, energy and commitment. She is a fantastic pet dog. That's fine. We are both much happier with this lack of expectation. If she indicates a desire to work - we do some stuff. Otherwise, no worries if she is happy to watch. Yeah, I can make her look good but it's a glass house - it would fall apart in the face of serious competition and I don't believe all of the best training in the world could fundamentally change her to the level that I would need to enjoy working with her
And Brito? I have learned that if my training is exceptionally good - we can make progress. That is intriguing to me and keeps me in the game for the sake of understanding, so I like to train him. He likes to work and frequently asks, so we train, and it's all good! He has also pushed me dramatically in a variety of training areas, and as a trainer, I truly value that. But if I had serious competition goals - to the level of expectation that I hold for competition readiness? Not fun then - our progress is way too slow and would be exceedingly frustrating. And that's fine.
I no longer beat my head on the wall trying to figure out what I need to do. I just accept that other beings have opinions. As long as I am entertained and the animal is willing - I will train and see what I can do. And if that changes - I'm not having fun or the dog is opting out - then I'm not going to push through. It's okay. I can move on. I don't believe that great training guarantees anything at all - animals come with innate qualities.
If I ever get serious about dog sports again, which isn't looking too promising at this time, then I will specifically look for a dog that will want to play my games without jumping through million of hoops to get us there. With that dog, I would work to create amazing behavior chains that can hold up under specific stressors and without a high ROR at a very high level of accuracy. I've done that before and that's cool too. But I would start with a dog that was just as eager to master this as I was to teach it.
In the meantime, I got the dogs I needed. Because what they taught me - what I wrote above? I could not have truly internalized that if I hadn't gone through it. I needed to learn about slow/forgetful learners, low drives, high environmental interests and...at the end of the day....why I do dog sports. And what I found is that it only interests me if the dog and I are on the same page. And all of the best training in the world may, or may not, turn any given dog into a highly engaged and willing partner that can compete at the levels that would interest me.
And I guess I had to learn that so that I could better help other people. So that they could accept that maybe they weren't going to get there with their own dogs either and it's not just a matter of learning more or trying harder.
The animal has an opinion too. Great training can maximize a dog's potential, but it's not going to turn them into something that they are not because innate temperament is a real thing. Just like you can't "will" your human child into being a great football player when their heart lies with chess, there is no reason to believe our dogs are any different. There's no reason for guilt or self-doubt simply because the dog you haven't isn't quite right for what you had in mind.

Penny doesn't play dog sports because agility is my sport. I could potentially train her to play something else, but lets be realistic here. She's a Chihuahua with depth perception issues. They're not exactly known for drive, and she specifically doesn't have a lot of drive - except maybe to find another patch of sun, or cuddle on your lap. And that is fine. That is what and who she is. 

Spencer can have fun playing agility, but being around other dogs in a trial environment is incredibly stressful for him. So we play when he wants and train bits and pieces here and there. He's an amazing little dog. He's an awesome little agility partner on the days he feels comfortable, and on the days he doesn't - we don't need to prove anything. He's happiest chasing his frizzee in the field and running like a wild thing, or swimming in the lake retrieving his bumper, or even just hiking with his humans. And that is also fine.

Baxter is my rock. He is my first everything dog. First dog I've owned. First dog I competed in agility with. First dog I put a title on. This weekend we received the "Picture Perfect" veteran dog award at the CAA Remembrance Day Agility Trial for the photo of him I took @ Island Lake. I was pretty emotional. He's going to be 10 years old in a few months and his career is winding down.

He is so full of try. Yes, I wish I had done some things differently when we were starting out, but all in all it's been an amazing journey and he has been an amazing partner on it. We may not be in THE competitive height classes in AAC Agility, but we've done pretty well where we are at. 

Nike is a work in progress and while I won't quit working with her, I'm still working to find that key to unlock the drive to want to play my games with me. She's very smart and super sweet, but also so very soft and so very independent. 

Agility is my game. I wouldn't mind competing in some other sports, like Rally-O, but Agility is my game and I want a dog with the drive to WANT to play my game with me.

Baxter wants to play with me. Spencer wants to play in training. Nike does sometimes. But what could I do with a dog who really wants to work with me? It's a thought in the back of my mind for now, and I won't feel like a failure if my current young dog isn't quite right to be super competitive in the sport - she's got an opinion too. No amount of pressure is going to make that come if it isn't in her temperament, pressure will only suck the fun right out of training and trialing.

But for the next time... Next time I'm stacking the deck in my favor.

13 Weeks

Sitting like a dork, but pretty little ears!

Still growing like a weed. Last weekend the little purple harness fit perfect. This weekend it is almost too small - we'll have to move up to using Spencer's harness!

This weekend we rocked demo doggin the warm up drills for my Saturday agility classes (just flatwork, not really a drill per say.) Usually I'd use a student dog, but since I have a handy dandy untrained dog of my own now, I can demo with her and work on tiny bits of stuff with novel new distractions!

We also did some fun shaping after class. Starting to shape retrieves - or at least rewarding the return of the ball to the human. It makes it a better game when you actually bring the toy to the human instead of running off to chew on it. (At least in the eyes of the human.) We also did some bang game stuff, which was very adorable and precise. Very nice 2 foot "pouncing" on the end of the board and no worries whatsoever. Handy how all the pivot/perch/feet on the thing work has translated into her putting two front feet on everything!

Today we all went to agility practice. The boys were wonderful. Spencer has remembered how to weave again, which is nice. Hopefully that will hold over into competition since our next trial is coming up in March. Baxter reminded me about some of our weaknesses with threadles, at 8 though, there isn't a whole lot of retraining that I'll be doing with him. Mostly I modify my handling to what he'll get right - and that works too. Such a good boy. Love my Fluff.

Nike hung out and didn't scream in her kennel. Then we did some recalls and just chased our human around. Relationship building is still very much a work in progress. Despite being a herding breed and smart, Nike is also very independent. So far training isn't a lot different than training my non standard breeds at this point. Very much a case of convincing her she does want to do this thing with me. Or rather, make it easy to do what I ask and reward heavily for it. 

Super high value human! Hard at times. Actually harder than my boys to be honest, but we're learning together.

Legs, legs more legs and now, lots of tail too!

Learning the ways of the indestructible squeaker ball

No back feet!

Clicker Training

With a new puppy there is always the question, what are you going to do this time? What are you going to do different?

For me especially, I have never trained a "performance puppy" from the get go.

Penny did puppy class, but as the tiny dog in the class didn't get much from the socialization aspect since there were no puppies small enough or gentle enough to socialize with her. She was however taught to hoover the floor for lost bits of treats ...

After the abysmal fail with Penny, I didn't do puppy class at all with Spencer. Maybe it would have made a difference. Maybe not. The first class we took was a Intro to Rally-O @ 6 months. He can left pivot like a pro!

The point is, I have a bunch of puppy raising theory, but no actual plan of "this is what I did, my dog turned out like this, I love what I did!"

So with Nike I've read/watched all the puppy stuff I can get my hands on. Susan Garrett's Puppy Peaks. Justine & Jessica's Puppy Diaries. Silvia Trkman's Puppy Diaries. I think like most people it'll be a somewhat blended approach with bits and pieces from many things based on what they feel is important.

Blurry, but still cute! Learning about toys!

Wobble board does not faze her in the least

We've started with the clicker a la Silvia though. It seems the most fun. Movement based is easier for her right now, and with my focus on agility movement and enthusiasm make sense.We're also starting crate games and some It's Your Choice stuff of don't mug my hand for food, you won't get it.

So far I've discovered that training with kibble isn't going to fly. It doesn't matter how hungry she might be. Also, she is small with tiny little teeth. So eating a kibble takes a bit, lowering the reinforcement rate.

She's magnetized by my other dogs and the cat - great play skills with those and respects Baxter and Spencer so I don't worry so much about them out together while I'm supervising. However, right now they are too much distraction, so we're learning new stuff in the puppy pen before we generalize to working outside of it. Also, none of my dogs will wait their turn for treats, so it's hard to shape the puppy with the others bulldozing in! (maybe I should train that too ...)

Rewards have to be rewarding!

Today, after 4 days we had a break through and it almost seems like Nike has figured out the idea of offering interaction with a object to get clicks and cookies. We had pivoting this morning and then tonight we had 4 in behaviors once I got the objects right.

"I'm surprised they aren't fat"

It's a shame that dog "training" shows on TV send the same, erroneous message. Or at least they did - I'm not sure if they still do, I've stopped watching them.

Using treats as a reward to train a dog does not automatically make the dog fat. Humans are supposed to have the higher functioning brain, use it! If you're using treats to teach your dog and your dog is gaining weight there are many options when it first starts happening.

1) Exercise your dog(s) more. A 10 min walk a day really isn't enough exercise for your hamster, let alone your rescue Shep X. No. I'm serious. Do you know how many miles hamsters put on those wheels at night?!

1b) Putting the dog outside in the yard is not considered exercise. You need to be out there with them DOING something. Just think you and the dog are both more active, it`s like killing 2 birds with 1 stone!

2) Cut down on the food to compensate for feeding more treats. Remember to give more than a passing nod to nutrition though - treats are just that, you want to balance the "junk" with more nutritionally complete foods - or feed better treats.

2b) The recommended amount to feed as stated on the bag of dog food is just that. Some dogs burn more calories than others. If your dog is getting fat on the amount you feed it - regardless what the bag says, modify (<- that means reduce!) the amount you feed. A border collie and a basset hound might weigh roughly the same, but you can bet that the border collie working sheep all day is going to burn more calories than the basset holding down the kitchen mat for 8 hours while you're at work.

3) Train with their meal. No where is it set out that you need to feed your dog it's dinner from a bowl! Make them work for it!

Not fat, and working for it!

After you can't find your dogs ribs anymore even when digging around in that layer of fat so that Fluffy is eyeing you with annoyance and is seriously contemplating snapping your finger off is not a good time to start addressing weight gain.

I'm assuming most of us pet our dogs on a regular basis - you know, like every 10 min or so. Okay, maybe your dogs are less insistent about attention than mine are.

But there is always that nice cuddle on the couch before bed ... or the Thank doG I lasted the day at work, I'm so happy to be home to see you pet and play session. When you're petting your dog, check them out. No strange lumps and bumps? No mats in that pesky ear fur or eye goobies that need wiping?

Can you still find their ribs? Little more padding over their ribs, having to dig a little to find a bone is a good indicator to cut back on the food now rather than in 6 months when you visit the vet for your annual wellness check and get to have that awkward conversation with the vet about Fluffy's weight. No one likes to be told their dog is fat - but that isn't all just fur all the time!

If your dog doesn't have a waist and looks like a rectangle on little sticks, you've got a problem.

Good pet weight!

You really don't even need to weigh them. Seriously. Just pet them, more ribs = maybe up the food intake, or it's a sign you're reaching your target weight. Fewer ribs = reduce the food. I'm honestly not sure what my dogs weigh, but I can feel their ribs easily!

I was working one of my dogs, for about 5 minutes at a family function this weekend. Just simple stuff. Send to mat despite distractions and then speedy recalls. A family member was obliging enough to provide the post title. This wasn't even Baxter who someone could think might be chubby because of his coat and build. This was Spencer, who you'd be able to count some ribs on if his coloring didn't hide them!

Very not fat!

Speedy, and not fat!

Treats don't make dogs fat - their owners do. Do your best friend a favor and make sure you aren't. Reality TV really isn't - you should know that from shows about people, apply that logic to animal/dog shows too! Instead of watching those shows on TV go take your dog for a walk or maybe attend an actual dog training class with a positive reinforcement dog trainer who helps you learn and implement humane dog training theories grounded in science!

Justine Davenport & Jessica Patterson Seminar

This past weekend was the Justine & Jessica Agility Seminar put on by Kim/HyperHounds. 

When it was first announced I dithered, to do or not to do. I just wasn't sure. First I was like, No, thanks. Then maybe. Then I registered but had a few misgivings initially. Lots of thoughts ran through my head "It's all about "international" handling. I don't know that my dogs will work with that kind of handling/that hard of a course, what do I need all of that for?! I don't think it is right for my dogs"

Shake off those preconceived notions and lets get to work!

Let me just say that never have I ever been so glad and grateful  that I did something before! I had a working spot in the morning session and then on Saturday I audited the afternoon advanced session. Having the foundation building blocks and then seeing them put into practice in the afternoon session was a absolute light bulb moment. I think it helped that the afternoon advanced session was a little less advanced than the morning advanced session. But it was absolutely perfect for me.

The explanations from both Jessica and Justine made a whole lot of things in agility make sense, bits and pieces I've picked up from here and there and heard/tried to follow without knowing the whys. It's like a puzzle missing half the pieces and all of a sudden now I can see the final picture. OH, that's what you meant about turn my shoulders!! This handling WILL work with my dogs. It will actually HELP my dogs. I can teach the skills with nearly no equipment in my living room!

I'm so excited for the possibilities and I ended up bouncing out of there after Sunday super excited for the things I need to train instead of plodding out of the seminar with a list of things I need to work on. So awesome!

I worked Spencer (mostly) with Baxter there for backup in the Foundations/Beginner seminar. I've done work with the dogs on some of the skills they teach. We know backsides, we do multiwraps, we're working on tighter turns etc. Other things like how they train threadles and handle threadles are new.

Spencer worked for me. A little hesitant and stressed (the demo dog, Jessica's BC was eyeing him up pretty good from about 10 ft away from where we worked our little drills) but he worked through it. He was awesome! Baxter was awesome as well. I pulled him out for blind cross drills on Sunday and he did amazing. People commented that I must do a lot with him - HAHA - I don't blind cross anything but a tunnel with Baxter! Or rather, I didn't. Makes me rethink some things now, he does actually read them really nicely in the drills. Probably past time to actually put the foundation training in and see how well they might work somewhere else.

Some of the things we were shown, like how to use a blind cross correctly was just amazing. There were 2 jumps set in a 180 about 2 feet apart, we had to pull our dogs through that gap in the middle and every single dog, even the most novice dog who'd never seen agility equipment in his life understood the handling and came through the gap, not even looking at that second jump.

Both Justine and Jessica were SUPER nice and handled/tailored advice to people/dog teams individually and equally. Toy or food, doesn't matter. BC or a slower less motivated dog, doesn't matter. Everyone got advice to help them and no one got brushed off. 

I also loved how a lot of the stuff we were shown in the foundations class has a "Susan Garret/Say Yes Dog Training" feel to it. I've done a bunch of her stuff as well and really like it. Since the group of them worked together and trained together to come up with this handling system, there are parallels to other things I've worked on, which makes me feel a whole lot more comfortable with the whole thing.

It's also super awesome that these talented ladies live about a 3 hour drive from here and not across the country. Now to practice and teach these skills so that when they come back we can play on the hard stuff!

Mish Mash of Goals & Ramblings

Ugh. Winter.

Our least favorite time of the year. The cold, the dark, did I mention the cold?

Winter looks almost pretty here, but it's a lie ...

During the blizzard on Monday/Tuesday this week I had to put pee pads down in the garage because neither of the Chi’s could go out in the crazy wind and potty in the back yard. Poor little naked dogs.

Winter is terrible, she puts coats and boots on me!

Winter isn’t very inspirational for dog training, especially since I like to work on things that are “fun”  (ie lots of motion and excitement – like agility!) However, in the name of being a better dog trainer and having dogs that are a little more well-rounded, this winter is going to be a little different.

Instead of being sad that I really have no where to train in the house (and no where to train outside of the house because it is too freaking cold and snowy) I have re-vamped the carpeted living room that really wasn’t being used for much into an area to use for training. Some of our agility equipment will even fit!

The focus this winter tho, will be going back to the basics with all 3 dogs. Foundation fun! Actually working completely through some of online course material I haven’t and participating in the Puppy Peaks Challenges. It’ll be good practice to work on training the foundations BEFORE I look at getting another puppy – so I can do it right then, or at the very least, more right =P

Last weekend I worked a CGN test put on by Kim & the Flyball Team. I’ve never actually seen one before and being me, didn’t want to enter the dogs in one without having watched one first. Now I’m a little sad that I didn’t at least bring Baxter to see where we are on things – may not have passed, but it would give me a good idea of where he is at, especially with being handled/groomed by a stranger. Ahh well. Having now seen one (and how basic it really is) I would like to work towards getting it – which means I really have to fix loose leash walking (among other things!)

This week we hit the local Pet Planet and worked on loose leash walking/attention and being happy in new/scary places. 

Anyone who has only met Agility Baxter doesn’t realize how uncomfortable he is in some places (like Pet Stores.) Tail down, unresponsive and trying to pull me out the door – seriously.  The reasons why he is stressed don’t particularly matter here, but I had 100% improvement over that  in one session with a clicker. Some good walking and attention. Some good choices in when to pay attention. Oh, and happy boy. So happy, me and treats and a clicker, he’s a happy dog, and he tries. 

(Just a note of interest here- the clicker is integral to a happy Baxter, I’ve tried to counter condition using a verbal marker in the past and treating for the same things I did this time, but he still wants to leave and doesn’t care about the cookies, the clicker seems to override that worry and give him something else to think about ?)

Spencer tried too. He is more uncomfortable in strange spaces and will take more work than Baxter to overcome that. So we’ll work on new environments and trusting me. Different stage of the journey, same path eventually tho! Also need to work on loading value into the clicker - or discontinue it's use with Spencer - he is uncomfortable with it being in my hand.

This weekend also marks the start of Spencer’s “Specials” agility career. We’re in the 2x4 Trial at WetCreek and I’ve got both boys running in 6” Specials. 

If we don't freeze to death in the -30 degree cold it should be a good time.

Children and Dogs

A phrase that strikes fear, or at least a healthy sense of caution, into the hearts of some dog owners - especially when they're not your children! Everyone seems to envision those wonderful heart warming moments; the child with their dog. Timmy with Lassie and so on. But often reality falls a little short of the TV portrayal.

Pretty as a picture: a dog and a kid

Small children are noisy. They behave in a incomprehensible and erratic manner and move very quickly. In short, they are just about every reactive dog's worst nightmare as a trigger. Most interactions with children are not positive for the dog either. Hair gets pulled, the dog gets squashed, gets woken up when sleeping, gets poked or scared or just bothered.

For the most part, segregating dogs from children works nicely - especially if you have dogs, but you don't have children. It eliminates the opportunity for the dog to practice and rehearse those unwanted behaviors with children or for the child to inadvertently do something to hurt/scare the dog. However, it also doesn't address any of the existing issues, such as reducing the dog's fear of children. My dogs aren't particularly children friendly and I'm fine with that. My house isn't children friendly either - it's dog friendly!

I do however have family, who have started their own families. Doing things with family means the dogs are exposed to little children (3 under the age of 3) who have their own dogs - and therein lies the problem. Auntie's dogs are not like their dogs, despite being small like their own dogs. (Auntie's dogs come with a whole LOT of special rules.) Christmas and special occasions are not much of a problem, just don't bring the dogs. The problem lies with things like camping. I want to go camping, I also want to bring my dogs camping. I go camping to spend time in nature with the dogs.

The dogs are not require to like strange children. If I am not engaged and interacting with the dog(s) when the kids are around, the dogs are kept safely away from the kids (this means I'm not watching TV "supervising" them.) I will not let them be put into a situation where they could bite. I do however expect them to behave in a appropriate manner with nieces and nephews, who in turn will behave appropriately with my dogs. To that end we've been working an array of behaviors, mostly with my 3 year old niece.

The standard counter conditioning - look at a kid at a distance, click and treat. Look at the kid from less distance - click and treat. Hang out while kid plays - click and treat. Kid does something noisy/scary - click and treat. Working with one dog at a time, or in a group. See? She's not that scary. Good things happen when she's around. 

More counter conditioning with the kid providing good things once the dogs are no longer reacting to or worried about her presence. Putting the dogs into a sit,  then get her to feed them treats or put dinner bowls on the floor and release them to eat. Oh look! Not only is she not that scary, sometimes she gives you good things! Yummy good things!

Conditioning Err, teaching the kid how to behave with dogs, or at least my dogs. Don't tease them or try to take their things away. Don't chase them. If he looks like that (eye's rolling, lip licking, freezing) you scared him and we should just stand still or be quiet and move away etc. Give them treats like this and so on.

Finally I've been building value IN the kid with the dogs. We'll play ball with them. Penny is still a work in progress, but Baxter and Spencer will play fetch with the devil if he's throwing that ball for them! This kid is great! She will throw that ball for hours. I love the kid, she throws my toy for me!

Might be the devil, but still will throw my toy!

All the dogs were very good with my oldest niece while we were camping in Farragut. (The other 2 aren't walking yet.)

Baxter was just brilliant with her though. He walked very nice with her when we went on walks. Calm, quiet. He walked beside her and didn't try to pull her around - and in turn she didn't yank him all over trying to make him listen. He played fetch with her at the beach. It was adorable, and appropriate!

At agility trials, one of the highlights for me is watching junior handlers with their dogs. It's just adorable. Everyone cheers the kids on and it is just heart warming. Like Timmy and Lassie, but better - because it's real!

I got into agility because I fell in love with the Superdogs when I was a kid. I wish my parents would have gotten me into agility when I was a kid. Watching Baxter with my niece was like watching the dogs play agility with their kids. It made me wonder if maybe one day one of the kids might want to play agility with one of my dogs.

For other excellent reads on dogs & kids try:

http://www.robinkbennett.com/2013/08/19/why-supervising-dogs-and-kids-doesnt-work/

http://www.dogsandbabieslearning.com/

Canada Day Long Weekend - Spencer's Adventure

It's weird doing things without all the dogs - especially day trip type things. I feel naked. And bored. I didn't have my camera either, so no pictures = feeling even more naked!

This weekend some family invited me out to Lake Newell (think Brooks, Alberta) to go to the beach for the day since it was supposed to be crazy hot out. Since we were going to the beach to hang out (they don't allow dogs on the beach) and I was going with family with small kids who weren't bringing any of their dogs I wasn't going to bring any of mine either.

However, busy outdoor location with lots of dogs and people affords some good training opportunities to work on reactivity and the beach also has a boat launch area that dogs are allowed on the beach at (so dogs can swim or at least be tossed in the lake to cool down) - so I decided not to pass up a decent opportunity and I'd bring just one, so I could still relax and chill at the beach if I wanted.

Since Spencer needs positive exposure to situations like that, but is also the quietest and happiest in a kennel he got to come along.

So proud of my baby dog! His behavior was nothing short of phenomenal! Or at least that of a "normal" well behaved dog.

When we got to the campground he was good with my 3 y/o neice running around. He's not 100% with children and he isn't off leash with them, but we've been working on counter-conditioning kids and it's starting to really pay off. Their erratic motion and noises still scare him, but he bounces back looking for cookies.

He was a little worried and quieter than he would normally be without one of the other dogs to back him up, and I would have brought both boys but then poor Penny would be lonely and sad. However, he still was a good little dog and said Hi nicely to my 14 y/o cousin and my Aunt. Didn't bark/freak out at either my cousin or my uncle which I thought he might do. He was also mostly correct in his behavior with their dog (he snarked once when she got near his kennel but otherwise ignored her.)

He was so good in fact that I just leashed him to his soft sided kennel and left him loose in the shade when we went to the beach. (The kennel was tied to a tree in case he tried to take the whole thing for a walk somewhere.) I could see the site from where we were at the beach, but he just laid in his kennel and was quiet - not even barking at or with the dogs in the next site when they started barking.

To break up just laying on the beach we went for a walk and met/ran into a 12 week old great dane puppy. I was talking to the owner from about 10 feet away and Spencer was a little amped up about the puppy but quickly re-focused and sat quietly. It defiantly helped that the puppy was calm, but to not have any outbursts out of Spencer was fantastic behavior for him!

We also tried going swimming again. I'm super happy that it was a success! The last time he tried to swim out in the Pass he had a hard time picking his toy up in the water and scared himself. So I went hunting for a floating toy that would hopefully be easier and found a floating Chuck-It bumper. I just wasn't sure if he'd swim to retrieve something other than a super high value toy like Yellow Ball. Not only was he happily swimming to retrieve the bumper, he was playing tug with it on the beach despite the distractions of strange noises and people near by.

During supper he just voluntarily laid and slept in his kennel again, it was a pretty long day with a lot of action for him. He made me look like a fantastic dog trainer though, especially since my "problem" puppy/dog was behaving better than my aunt's 6 year old dog was. It also makes me happy that what I am doing is working - it's just harder to see results when all of my dogs are together and they are behaving with pack mentality.

The Joys of Training a Fearful Dog

Oh baby dog. What am I going to do with you?!

I love pictures of Spencer. In photos I can capture the intensity and show some of the drive that this little dog has. He can be fun, so much fun. The key word there being CAN.







I want other people to be able to see that as well. I want for him to be able to reach his potential and be a crazy, fun little dog everywhere and not have to worry like he does. However, I also don't want to over face him with something that he just cannot handle just because I want him to do something. It's such a fine line.

Sometimes it's hard to tell what is shutting him down. We struggled at Flyball practice on Sunday. Spencer didn't want to play with a ball. Not Yellow Ball (his best, favorite toy) not one of the little tennis balls he's supposed to be getting from the box. Nothing. Not quite sure why, or what the issue might have been, but it gets frustrating sometimes. Then he'd tug with his hollee/tennis bungee toy, but again, wouldn't retrieve a toy. He's always retrieved but will often not tug in public, why the reversal?!

I'm good at identifying his triggers, and at breaking things down and working through steps with him. It's not his fault at all, I just wish sometimes that it wasn't 1 step forward and then 2 steps back.

Agility class on Monday night was a success though. He was happy and rotten and had good distance on obstacles, letting me layer a sequence.

I'm glad that even if we are struggling with one sport that we can be successful in other areas, be it dog sports or just in life in general.

He is doing better in agility. He's happy at practice in the barn. He was cute and excited at the March Fundraiser trial - one of the highlights of our Standard round was a woman saying what a fun little dog he is. Other competitors have commented on how far he has come. I have to try and focus on that a little bit more. He has come a long way. He is doing very well. Some things just take time, and with a worried, soft dog they take a little longer than they might otherwise. With the longer days and spring hopefully here we'll take the show on the road and practice playing/tugging and focusing in new places.

Patience, it is a virtue.

Sometimes it's just hard to remember that we don't always get the dog we want, but we do get the dog we need!

Failures in Dog Training

You shouldn't blog when you're sick and tired because then you fail just a little bit harder. Especially when you're working out a post about failure and somehow you hit publish prematurely and not save!

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I tend to freeze when something goes "wrong." If I haven't thought a scenario through before, if it occurs, I'm a little lost as to what my course of action in the heat of the moment should be. More so in the realm of behavior modification, than in the realm of teaching a skill/trick etc. That seems to just be the kind of person I am.

Positive ISN'T permissive, but sometimes it's hard to think on the fly as to what your consequence should be, and positive sometimes looks a little permissive to someone who isn't in your head.

Do I ignore the behavior, ask for a different (incompatible) behaviour, 

NRM (non reward marker), time out?! 

A combination of the above? NRM, refocus and perform a easier behavior?

Anyway, my failures as a dog trainer (and they are mine, not the dog's - despite my frustration/feelings about the dog's "bad" behavior) may make things a little more difficult to understand for the dog. 

But do you know what? That's okay. I'm a positive, reward based dog trainer. All the error does is force me to be a little more accurate the next time we work on a particular behavior or skill or whatever.

It may make it take a little longer to teach my dog what I want but it does not damage my dog. There isn't the unintended negative fall out that can occur with correction based or alpha theory approach to training. Moreover, it does not damage my relationship with my dog. They're not afraid of me and they're not afraid of trying for fear of making a mistake and being punished.

Even if my dog is rehearsing a behavior I do not want repeated, it just means that I need to be a little more on the ball next time and work a little harder to prevent that. Or practice a little more management because my dog does not yet have the skills to deal with that situation.

My dogs are a product of my training, both the good and the bad. They might jump up on my lap every time I sit down, because this is the behavior I've allowed and reinforced. They don't jump up because "They don't respect my authority." They jump up because I've allowed it 50 million times and they get pet when they do it. It is a rewarding behavior they have perfected through my reinforcement of that behavior. They wouldn't do it if they didn't get anything for it or find it rewarding in some way.

Constant physical management of your dog also gets you no where except for frustrated with the dog and the situation. You want to teach your dog to make the correct choice. In order for them to do that, as a dog trainer you have to break the behavior down into smaller pieces and set them up for success.

A plan to work on specific training is great - however, sometimes you need to be adaptable. Work with that your dog gives you. If they just don't have the focus for what you wanted to work on, work on the rehearsals of bad behavior that they are offering!

It's okay to fail sometimes. That's a conversation with your dog in which they're telling you what they don't yet understand or know how to deal with.

Train the behavior, build it, grow it, make it reinforcing. Then test it. Do you understand it in this situation, how about that one? It's a game, not a interrogation!

Not everyone is on the same journey or place in their journey that you are. That's okay too, work on yours and don't worry about everyone else.

Addictions in Dog Training

It's not so much the competitions, the trialing, the "winning" or the ribbons and titles that keeps me so interested in dog training. Those are like icing on the cake - they just make it a little sweeter that's all!

The fun is in how you can teach something (with shaping/clicker training and reinforcement) to a dog that wants to learn and work with you, and how absolutely awesome and cool that feels!

Take a step back from what is broadcast on national TV about being "the leader" and physically controlling or confronting the dog.

When you were a kid, did you listen better to your parents when the yelling, ultimatums, punishments and "physical corrections" got tossed around? Or did you listen better and do what they wanted if there was something in it for you? Which did you enjoy more? Was it fun wincing away from your parent if/when they raised a hand and you knew you were gonna get smacked for something? Remember, you at least spoke the same language as your parents and could actually understand what they wanted.

Or work. How many people are going to work hard  for a "good employee" and a pat on the head once when you do good? You're really going to keep working hard and toeing the company line? Even if the job is something that you LOVE I highly doubt it. Heck, even if you would, I sure wouldn't!

Anyway - off  the soapbox.

Once you have something that your dog is motivated for - food, a toy, chasing the broom, your cat (okay, maybe not the cat, but you get the idea.) You use it to reward and reinforce what you want, you don't bribe them with it.That means Fido doesn't see the treat until he does what you want. You're paying him for a job done well, not begging him to do what you ask!

Rewarding a dog for what you want is positive training, it's easier to ask them to do something than to tell them "no." Don't do this, don't do that - they don't know what they're supposed to do! It's your job to show them what you want.

Positive training is not permissive. There are still consequences, they just don't look like what is shown on TV. Chase that cat, and the dog calmly taken and put in a time out in a kennel. Look at the cat calmly, get a treat or maybe grab a toy and play for a few minutes. Pull on the leash and instead of walking your human does a impersonation of a tree until  the leash is loose.

Oh right, soapbox ...

Seriously though. It's amazing what you can teach your dog once you have a reward they'll work for. You don't speak a common language (mostly not anyway, dogs are very good at reading body language and humans can get good at reading the dogs body language with practice, but I digress) However, once you teach them that people are fun and you get awesome things for paying attention to them they're game to try provided you reward them for that effort.

The biggest  (lowest?) low in dog training is when you have something your dog is struggling with. They just do not understand what you want. Or they can't do it, for a variety of reasons. You break it down into little baby steps and teach the dog each step, not perfectly, but roughly what you want. Then slowly chain it back together. Still nothing.

You make it fun! As Susan Garrett says, work is play, and play is work. Other top trainers like Silvia Trkman and Denise Fenzi have slightly different takes on the same things. Building your relationship with your dog, playing with your dog and getting what you want through that.

Sometimes you might come at it from a different angle, with a different plan of attack, but always remember; your dog is doing this because they do not understand. Maybe they're worried and concerned about what you're asking for, maybe they just don't know how to do what you're asking for. Your job is to help them understand what you want, that they don't need to worry or be afraid and that this thing you want them to do is fun.

 Landing and then bouncing back off with all 4 feet on a vertical incline that makes noise and moves was very difficult.

This was an intermediate step toward the end behavior.

The biggest high is that light bulb moment at the end, when they understand what you want and they NAIL it. It's when you feel like a million bucks and it is ABSOLUTELY worth all the hard work =D

Motion Component Games and Teeter Work

We're still here! I may not be blogging (mostly because I have run out of pictures and hate my camera but can't get a new one) but we're still practicing.

It's somewhat un-nerving to be out practicing agility in the "country" (at Wet Noses last night) and have the coyotes start up howling sounding like they're just beyond eyesight in the adjacent field. If it weren't for the fenced agility field we would have been outta there then and there!

Motion component games have been a huge part of Spencer's training. What is a component game? It's making a component of a behavior into a fun game away from your finished behavior so that the dog LOVES to do it. Then, when you chain it all together you get a more enthusiastic response and a better finished behavior since hopefully your dog didn't learn (or more accurately, you didn't teach) anything you didn't want to see as part of the finished behavior.

Take for example the weave poles. If you teach by luring a dog through the poles you build several things you don't want to see into the performance;
1) Your body position is what tells the dog what to do and the dog's job/criteria are very unclear to them.
2) The dog learns to do the weaves very slowly and it is difficult to speed them up as you have built this into the performance.

As well, if the wheels should fall off somewhere down the road, you can work on particular games away from the finished behavior to "fix" it instead of rehearsing that behavior you don't want to see repeated. Bailing off the teeter before the pivot point anyone?!

But, back to Spencer.

He can wobble disc with the best of em, okay, well maybe just the best of thechihuahuas. Both extension (front feet on one disc, back feet on another) and compression (both sets of feet, same disc.) He can even balance on 2 discs stacked on top of each other.

Upping the ante with a travel plank on balance discs also poses no problem. Walk up it, walk down it, turn around in the middle of it. Not a problem!

Small ghetto wobble board, nary a issue. He'll bounce onto it and then spin around to grab his tug toy. I need a larger one though - this one is a little too small.

Confidence running full tilt across a plank, fantastic. I have a hard time beating him across the dog walk - he loves it!

Now for the hard part - the teeter. Last night was all about the teeter. With a high table under each end to reduce the motion, we practiced driving across the pivot point into end position. Super high value food rewards and then break to have a party with yellow ball. He noticed the pivot but didn't bail off of the teeter.

I also made a point of interspersing the teeter work with dog walk and a frame work. The frame to just mix it up, but the dog walk to make a point that it is NOT like the teeter. I've seen a lot of teeter nervous dogs end up with issues on the dog walk since they look similar. Not a problem though!

Since he "noticed" the pivot, the drop was reduced. What I should see before I up the difficulty is no fear across the pivot. Since he noticed, it's back to more extreme wobble board work before we work that particular teeter game again.

Slowly we're working our way through the content of the contact course.

What I'm happy with is how he will still work his way through something, despite being worried or stressed. This is the second time this week he handled stressful situation well and bounced back from the worry to continue working with me - which is huge! I couldn't believe how well he handled crazy barking dogs on Sunday, and being handled/held by a "stranger." He was concerned, but we moved away from the action a little bit and he would offer play and tug if I really worked for it.

Motivation

The dogs and I spent the weekend in Medicine Hat for the last outdoor trial of the season put on by Flashing Canines. It was a great trial and has given me lots of blog fodder! Before I start on the good stuff tho ...

...Irritation is motivation

I think I am sufficiently motivated enough after this past weekend to put a stop to barking at noises.

They look so cute and innocent ...

Rewind a few months. I went to get Spencer measured at a trial, just to practice and get used to it. It went badly, he was terrified and actually growled at the judge - not quite the way I wanted things to go. So we worked on that really hard. I made a little PVC wicket and he got "measured" and "petted" on the back and neck by the wicket every couple of days while he worked for his meals. This weekend he was great for measuring. Although I'm sure it helps that they had thin metal wickets and a female judge instead of huge PVC ones and a male judge.

I'm talking about this why? Because this weekend was the first time I've stayed in a hotel and I was pretty apprehensive about taking all 3 dogs with me. When they're together pack mentality is quite apparent, if one dog reacts to something even if the others individually are fine all 3 turn into little lunatics. Penny is very vocal while Spencer is really high strung, so I usually don't have both Chihuahuas with me - especially in new situations.

I guess it wasn't THAT bad (then again, I wasn't the people in the room next to mine, so who knows?) The 3 hour car ride had the boys pretty out of sorts and Baxter was a bit stressed by being in a strange place. I'm glad I came up the night before instead of making the drive the morning of.

The hotel put us in the very last room in the hall, the one right beside the door to the stairwell that also has a outside door. Instead of having a nice little handle you press it was one of those doors with the bar across it. You know, the ones with the bar you hammer on and smash into the door to open it. It's quite noisy. You can hear it from in the room ...

I had hoped that all the camping and staying in my parents trailer with the dogs would lend itself to a easy hotel stay but between the room location and being in a strange place, none of us got much sleep that night. I even crated and covered the smaller ones together in hopes it would keep them quieter. Didn't quite work.

Saturday night went better maybe because they were falling asleep on their feet from the day at the trail, but again, when people started moving and thunking and bashing around on Sunday morning starting at 5:30 the dogs would get a bark or two in before they would shush.

Ah well. Something to work on.