What advice would you give?

If this wasn't my dog, what would I say to a client that I'm coaching?

It's been on my mind a lot lately. Some things are coming together nicely ... but others?! Wow. I know how frustrating it feels on my end. It can't feel any better on her's.

I've started to write this post multiple times, and then something would improve so I'd just let it go.

But really, truly, honestly. Things aren't improving that much. She is young and super sensitive, but is she learning the things I want her to learn right now? Is she learning what I want her to learn about trials and the competition ring?! I don't think so.

I strongly believe that when the dog does something "wrong" they're just telling you that they don't understand and you haven't proofed this enough yet. It's a conversation between you and your dog. Well, she's certainly been telling me loudly enough that she can't do this right now for whatever reason. That's on me, not her.

Dragging the dog to Disneyland is just pointless. I can manage to a point, but once that leash comes off and there are no rewards, I don't get to manage anymore. It's all her. I've missed a crucial step along the way somewhere because that connection keeps falling flat.

She'll make me a much better trainer in the long run, and I have the tools I need to work through this, I just need to start and keep the ball rolling. So that's where we're going. Hopefully she'll be in season for the next trial that I have her entered in, because she certainly won't be going into the ring. From there on out, no trialing.

The plan;

1) Relationship building through play
2) Engagement
3) Focus
4) Cookie jar games

Fun matches and training at the barn can continue, but the focus needs to come off of agility behaviors and zero in on the missing link, engagement.

Operant Conditioning and Dog Training

So far I've gotten in 2 training sessions for NoseWork 2.0.

Not NoseWork! Just problem solving with treat puzzles

It's been interesting so far. One of the dogs is VERY quick to catch on with shaping and due to this it is easier to build the skill and duration. The other 2 dogs do not shape well, there was much luring done with their initial training and not much free thinking or problem solving.

Which leads me to think more on operant conditioning and free thinking, such as they are.

You've heard the phrase "Give a man a fish and he can feed himself for a day. Teach a man to fish and he can feed a village for years." (or other variants along those lines.)

Teaching your puppy to think and problem solve is, in my mind, one of the greatest things you can teach them. (Aside from confidence with new and novel situations.)

I think the single greatest thing I've learned from dog training is how to teach the dog how to think and problem solve. It's a skill to be able to break things down so that the dog can understand what I want.

I understand the lure of luring, pun intended. It gets you the behavior now. It also prevents the flailing about and frantic behavior often seen in dogs who are shaped poorly. The dog doesn't understand what the trainer wants and will run through their whole repertoire of "tricks" to try to find what you want. If you're not really careful in how you reward and mark, you build that frantic flinging of behaviors into anything shaped. 

But I digress. That isn't the soap box for today's post. Today is about an operant dog in the most general sense - a dog who cares about what their human thinks and is willing to try something for them for a reward that the human is controlling.

You can have either end of the spectrum.

Baxter is an operant dog who does not think well or problem solve for himself. He will however try what I ask him to do, and if confused by it still "stays in the game" so to speak. He doesn't leave. He just lays down, whines, paws at me because he wants the reward and does not understand how to earn it. He was never taught to "think" - just to try. So the thinking is my job. When he gets something wrong, I need to modify so he can get it right, because he is not going to change what he offers me. He lures very nicely and patterns well, so still very trainable. Just not a thinker.

Spencer is the opposite end of the spectrum from Baxter. He is a thinker. Still an operant dog, however, one who is fearful with some new situations and does not do well with any sort of pressure. He will try, think and problem solve until you apply pressure and then he is gone from the game. He is brilliant at picking up new tricks and behaviors, provided his human has thought this through and has broken the pieces down (splitting) during shaping sessions.

As long as a dog is operant, you can work with that. 

If your dog does not care about the human and the rewards the human controls, now you have a problem. That is my largest challenge. How do you teach that human to create an operant dog? Especially in this culture and age of pet parents and fur babies? 

He/she was abused/had a rough start. We're not home very much. 

Someone could look at Spencer, who I brought home at 8 wks of age and say that he must have been abused. I'm fairly confident he wasn't. He certainly wasn't neglected at 8 wks old. Don't make excuses. Regardless of their background, your dog can still be trained!

Your puppy who has no value in you, their human, does not need to go to the dog park daily. They do not need to run wild and practice ignoring you as an object of absolutely no value in their environment. It's not neglect not to go and it is certainly not mean to prevent access to situations in which you are teaching your puppy to ignore you.

Your dog/puppy should not be overweight or obese. Often that makes using food as a reward hard. 

Control access to fun things. To gain access to the thing they want, the dog needs to cooperate with you. 

Dog wants to go hang out in the yard? Then dog needs to sit and the door and remain sitting while I open it until say they can go. No bolting! Initially, sit for a few seconds, then make it harder.

Good things come from you! Maybe don't have very fun "free toys" in the house. Fun toys only come out when you play with the human. Puppy likes tug on things, like your pant legs? Perfect, teach them to play tug with toys. Tug is an incredibly powerful interactive game to play.

Build value in the human! Put aside 5 minutes every day to PLAY with your puppy/dog. Run around the backyard like a nut. Do puppy push-ups (sit/down/stand) with a handful of their dinner before you feed them. Practice recalls around the house with a handful of their dinner. Teach them self control (not to mob your hand for the food.) 

Start to build a positive relationship with your puppy/dog in which they do something for you and then they get something awesome that they want! Your relationship with your dog, and the ease at which you can teach them new things (even if it is "just" pet manners) will improve so much.

Spectacular!

The only thing better than having a break through training your own dog, is a break through in helping someone else train theirs. So much AWESOME.

Flyin high!

So proud of my students today. And their dogs. AND my Fluff, who runs the "course" after with the young girl who comes with her Mom to train her Basenji to play agility.

Also with myself. For figuring out how to motivate that particular dog. For not giving up and deciding "that's not part of the course" or "not my problem" and for going outside the box to try something else ... not unlike training certain bad little black dogs! Love helping the people. So rewarding!

I love the look of Basenjis. I really like the dog. But they're definitely a challenge. So after class the daughter gets to run Baxter over the last, most challenging sequence and put him through equipment, like weaves and full height teeters etc.

The Basenji isn't going to be an easy dog to play agility with. It's hard when you have a brand new person to agility and a brand new dog, let alone a hard breed. It was her (the daughter's) idea to train their dog in agility, and I really don't want that quashed by the challenge that her dog poses. So Baxter will keep coming to class as long as they do!

Hopefully some day she'll be able to run him as a Jr Handler. It's so cute! I'm super proud of him for running with her. Back in the day we had an agility class where we swapped dogs. I ran a Sheltie but Baxter decided that he wouldn't run for the Sheltie's Mom. I'm very happy with him for running for a stranger now!

I think he'd be an awesome dog for a Jr. Handler. He runs the speed of his handler and pretty much takes the obstacle in front of him. Best part, I get to watch my pretty dog run =)

Giving Thanks

Today I am thankful for my furry little family. I wouldn't trade them for the world.

My journey and life would not be the same without them. Through thick and thin. Despite unexpected detours, dead ends and occasional 4x4ing off the beaten track of normalcy, they've absolutely been worth it and made it all worth it.

Despite their little quirks and oddities. Despite fears and ingrained temperament issues. Despite everything.

It's not about the destination, it's the journey that matters. I might not know where I am going, but it'll be interesting to find out when we get there!

Good dogs <3

Time Flies

Today was Training Troop's Aug Wee Wed Trial. Steeplechase and Master Jumpers. 2 years ago about this time Baxter and I entered our very first AAC agility trial (first dog performance event period) and got his first Q ever in Starters Jumpers.

It would have been nice to have gone to the trial, however, agility (trialing at least) is on a bit of a hiatus at the moment.

It's certainly amazing how time flies. It certainly doesn't feel like I've been playing this game for 2 years!

2 years of learning how play with my best little fluffy buddy in a meaningful way, to teach him, motivate him and to grow my relationship with my dog to where it is now. The changes  and personal growth in the 2 years have been pretty amazing.

I was looking back on old emails, and found the one for our first dog class. 15-Jul-2009 started us on this journey. It's been an amazing 4 years so far and I'm so lucky from a "pet dog" person perspective to have found positive training and gotten onto a better track.

I couldn't have asked for a better partner to learn with either. Thanks Fluff. <3

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.

“Dogs are not our whole life ...

 "Dogs are not our whole life but they make our lives whole.” - Roger Caras

He tries whatever I ask him to and is just a good, steady little dog with a lot of heart.

He's a little different from the chihuahua's, since he grew up as a only dog. A little more people focused. Always in the same room as me, or waiting by the door for me to come home. 

Always up to do something.

I love this fluffy little dog.

*edit - yeah, I changed the post a little from when it was originally posted. I like it better now!

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