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!

Caution, High Voltage

Agility trials can be long (sometimes stressed out) days, espeically in the winter when you're spending anywhere from 9 to 12+ hours in a cold barn having gotten up at a unholy hour to be there and may be doing the same thing the next day (or alternatively, have done the same thing the day before.)

This post at The Other End of the Leash  blog was particularly interesting and insightful. It's not just the dogs getting tired and worn out by the long days at a trial, their handlers can be as well. Something that is important to keep in mind.

Trialing with a reactive/scared dog is it's very own unique experience. Spencer is still very much a reactive dog who has some issues with perceived personal space. He absolutely does not care if another dog is near by and is ignoring him completely, but it's when they stare or are interested in him that it is a problem. 

 

It's supposed to be just fun and games!

Since there are generally a significant number of herding breeds that are motion triggered to stare at fast moving things in agility, this can be a recipe for reactivity. He is small, so he mostly only poses a danger to himself, but that doesn't lessen my obligation to other competitors and their dogs to manage MY dog, so that we all have a good time.

Agility is about the fun of playing with your dog. No one needs the stress of a unwanted encounter or your dog getting stressed out and upset by another while waiting to run to overshadow that fun. Especially in a already potentially tense atmosphere. Be kind and courteous to your fellow competitors. Give everyone some space and go have fun with your dog!

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.

Project puppy, but not "broken"

I have to let Spencer's past go. Yes he had some issues when he was a puppy and that was sad. I don't want remembering that to subconsciously change how I treat him and hold him back from what he is capable of. He isn't my "broken baby puppy." What's in the past is in the past. Maybe he's a bit of a project dog, but aren't they all? It might just take a little longer to teach him some things, that's all.

Who, me?

I need to expect more out of him, in respect to just general behavior. He can absolutely do it. The other day at agility class he was wiggling and rolling on the ground for people who were essentially strangers to pet him and rub his tummy. That's huge!

Instead of waffling and dithering about what to do, we are going to go out and do things instead of just thinking about them.

1) Once a week Spencer and I are going somewhere to work on focus for work. Could be a pet store, or a mall parking lot, or something - but if I want him focused, relaxed and not worried about his environment it means I have to teach him to generalize.

If I can get play and tug, that's fantastic. If that is too much to ask initially, then nose touches (he loves them) and eye contact is good enough. Work through shut down if possible and then reward by leaving that environment. And then jackpot with playing fetch. He is crazy obsessed with playing ball, to the point of turning down food.

2) Get serious about his agility training and focus on foundation work. Left, right, switch, go and get out. Working on him reading my handling (double box work.) Contacts. Wait for the teeter for now.

3) Body awareness tricks and games. Teach these, don't just think about them! Perch work. Backing up. Sit pretty. Ladder work. For all 3 dogs not just Spencer.

4) Record keep and stop being a slacker.

5) Do my job and keep him safe from other dogs. He needs to trust me to protect him from them, and I need to not drop the ball this time or ever again.

Meanderings and Appreciation

Last weekend was AAC Regionals in Medicine Hat. We didn't go. On one hand with all the excitement about Regionals I feel kind of sad, since other people also new to the sport went, but on the other I felt that we just weren't ready yet.

We haven't even been trialing for a year yet, and this is my first dog to ever do any dog sport with. I'm still struggling with walking a masters course with the huge crowd of people and figuring out my handling. Baxter isn't a super fast, drivey dog and sometimes it's hard to remember that we "belong" out there on course too. So, next year hopefully if things work out. I'll plan for it anyway, barring any major catastrophes we'll be going and we'll be ready for it!

Instead, I headed out to the Crows Nest Pass (Coleman) with family to spend the weekend camping before my new job switches my shift and I don't get Sat and Sun off anymore. Weather was interesting, but it was a good time and the dogs love it. I also gained a new appreciation for my naughty dogs.

1) Name recognition and value. You call their names and they look. They also come back. You do not spend 10 mins looking for your parents dog that wandered off (because they weren't watching her) and will not come back out from under the neighbors RV.

2) Door manners. Mine have none. They go bonkers saying hi when I walk in the door. BUT they do not bolt out the tiny little ray of freedom offered by the open door, unlike your parents dog. (However, by this time I had been working a little bit on value for the human saying her name, so she did come back once I caught up to her.)

3) Dogs that have value for their humans are fun to play with. The boys had a blast playing ball every time the sun came out. Even Penny joined in the fun playing chase the human (she doesn't do fetch so much.) Dad got in trouble for coming out to play fetch with us instead of attempting to play with their dog who does not play.

Action!

It's not that Sidney's behavior is her fault. It is what she has been taught by her humans. But there is only so much I can do to try to change it when her humans don't want to make time to change it.

Human behavior has a direct impact on dogs.  Your dogs and other people's dogs too.

Please don't complain that reactive Spencer with his issues with strangers loses his mind and is barking his head off when you have to bend over the ex-pen putting your face into biting range and making direct eye contact to "say hi" to dogs that don't know you.

Yes, he is barking. No, I'd rather he not bark either but hey, since you disregarded my "please just ignore them for a minute Uncle, he's not friendly" I don't think you have any right to complain. Especially when I then have to drop all the stuff I am unloading from the car to come rescue my puppy. He would not be so far over threshold that I cannot get his attention back if you had listened in the first place. It's not just his behavior that is an issue here ...

Now that that rant is over! I had planned on getting some really cute, good pictures of the dogs playing in the back yard. That didn't quite happen either. Penny lives to play keep away with Spencer. It's super cute as she whips around obstacles so he can't catch her like he can on straight aways. However, it seems that the video camera is a cue to not do this. Same thing with Baxter. He lays in the shade and rolls on his back to play with his ball, unless I have a camera in my hand, then nada. Alas, I'll have to be happy with these:

Neener

Hah, not fast enough

It's too hot out to be running