"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!

Trial Weekend Review

Feb 16 & 17 was the the Calgary Agility Association's trial. We love this venue! CAA's trials are held at the Fez Dome. It's bright, warm and the footing is packed not loose, deep, dusty dirt. Benching is a little tight, but people tend to sit by their crates instead of hanging out upstairs away from the dogs and I like that better. Especially since Penny came both days to keep the boys company.

This weekend definitely started out a little rough. I blame the week of 10 hour days followed up with a 12 hour Friday for it. Hitting the agility trial with only 5 hours of sleep with a headache brought on by exhaustion is not a recipe for success.

I had such a hard time getting that feeling of connection with Baxter on Saturday. Lots of little things going just slightly wrong. Sloppy front crosses coupled with a dog fully intending to blind cross on you does not lead to pretty looking runs. We did have some lovely moments too though, his weaves were beautiful. I was able to plan good gamble paths to get the points we'd need to qualify if he got the final gamble (unlike the last trial where we got the final and didn't have enough points to Q.)

Baxter ended up with 3/8 Q's which seems to be our usual ratio. We got another Master Gamble on Sunday, which made the whole weekend worth while. He did an awesome job. So much in fact that I had to ad lib some obstacles on to the end of our opening because he finished 13 obstacles and the buzzer still hadn't gone! He was visibly tired (to me anyway) for the final Jumpers run on Sunday and still managed a very quick (for him) 4 yps. Very proud of my fuzzy one.

Spencer had a great weekend as well. He wasn't in for the full weekend, just 3 runs a day. He was looking quite sore the second day of the Jan trial so he won't be running full time in a trial for a while.

First run of the day was Jumpers. He was speedy and happy except for refusing the chute. I can't say that came as a surprise. After all of our work with strange chutes at Dignified Dogs and in class I was hoping would carry over to trialing but that was okay. As "usual" he did it after a refusal.

Our second run was Gamblers. He did awesome and qualified, giving him 2/3 Advanced Gambles, which is crazy - one more and he's in Masters Gamblers while still in Starter Standard! He also qualified in Advanced Snooker. Completing the teeter with the #7 flag sticking up right beside the pivot point which was worrying some dogs in starters and advanced.

Sunday the boys and I just clicked, Baxter got all 3 of his Q's on Sunday. But the shining moment was Spencer's Standard run. He was awesome and wanted to play. I was getting the dog I get at practice (not quite as fast and as unconcerned as when we practice in the yard, but he was actually driving to the obstacles.)

The chute was our first obstacle and he was worried about it. After a refusal he did it, but slowly. By the 3rd obstacle at the DW he was on! No more worries. His table was beautiful. On the way past the DW the second time to a tunnel under it he did flick away to take the DW, so I'll have to work on proofing that. Almost to the end of the run - just a jump left and I rear crossed to send him back into number 1 - the chute again. Not only did he read the cross nice, he hit the chute like he meant it and zipped right through it. We left to have a cookie party for the awesome chute.

I wasn't paying attention to the ring crew or judge at all but apparently they were very confused. He knows the chute, he isn't afraid of it. Rewarding directly after performing the obstacle the way I would like is the only way I can see to reward him for doing that obstacle. Right now ball and food rank higher than more agility obstacles so that's what I'm using! It was really awesome to have a couple of seasoned competitors tell me that doing the chute again and leaving was a great way to end the run.

Oh baby dog

Spencer is so very much the baby dog. I find it cute. He'll get there eventually, but right now I have no expectations of him.

It's odd, I'd think I would? I did with Baxter. Maybe it's that Baxter had been training for a lot longer and I after hearing/deciding that we were ready I expected for us to do really good? Maybe it's just the difference in the boys and the fact I would have never thought that Spencer could do this? Or the fact I did it with Baxter and I'm not worried about it anymore. Who knows. It's a neat place to be though.

Spencer did well for how long we've been practicing. Most of our difficulties are a combination of him being a baby dog and not having the obstacle commitment that I think he should have. I just need to support Spencer a little bit more than I do. He's also learning to "read" what my hands are doing vs what my body is doing, so I need to be aware that lateral distance will likely pull him off of a obstacle regardless of what I am indicating with my hand. This is what makes jumpers challenging for us.

The rest is coming along.

The interesting part though, is the people at the CAA trial. Spencer was so scared I had people give him treats when he first started coming to trials with Baxter and I. What I neglected was to first tell him to go visit to get those treats, so he was the one initiating the visiting. I have said on a few occasions I would rather a dog that wants to go visit people rather than one who is scared of them, and apparently Spencer heard that!

He went visiting ring crew and judges in pretty much every run, or thought about it. In fact, in one of his gamblers once I got his attention over the second jump in the gamble, you can see him notice the timer/scribe right on the other side of the jump and go see them, not even looking at me for any further handling commands.

Oops!

The other thing I need to keep in mind is that this is Spencer, not Baxter and I need to work on tugging in/around the arenas as a reward. He loves it, but since I dropped the ball a little on his early training I get a lot of don't wanna, don't hafta moments. If I want the toy to be rewarding in agility, I need to keep using the toy in agility and not just go with food because it's easier.

In the Nov Whee Wed trial yesterday Spencer ran in his first advanced Gamble and then in Steeplechase for fun.

We've made some headway with running off to visit. He had a really good line to go visit a couple of times but was a good little dog and stuck with me.

I do very much need to work on his distance skills and my distance handling skills. Advanced gambles are a whole lot less easy than the starter ones! Round obstacles are also a focus for the next little bit. He keeps dekeing off of the chute at the last second, but will go through once I send him again, which not quite the chute performance I want to be rehersing. Rear crosses into tunnels and tunnels in general are also going to be a big thing. Most small dogs love tunnels, so we'll work on tunnel love and speed through them.

So many things to do! But he's a fun little dog, it'll be a blast when he really gets it and it's the journey that's fun!

Wheeeeeeee.......

The last Wednesday of every month Training Troop puts on Whee Wed trials. It's a little mini agility trial starting at 7 pm and hopefully not finishing super late. Usually there is one "all levels" dog class, like Steeplechase or Team Relay and then there is 1 starter/1 advanced class or 2 masters classes.

Septembers was Starter/Advanced Jumpers and a Steeplechase. I figured with the recent success of Flashing Canines, I might as well see how Spencer is going to handle a indoor trial at Wet Creek. As that is the venue where most of the trials are held around here.

Spencer has been joining Baxter at trials since last Dec. Just getting used to noises and people and dogs etc. Trying to teach him that they're not a bad place to be and even if it is a little scary, nothing bad will happen. We've practiced maybe 2-3 times out in that arena for drop-in but have mostly trained outside. I had no idea how my little guy was going to do.

I was in fact pretty prepared for scared, shut down dog, especially after the parade of bully breeds doing weight pulling filed in and set off all the reactive agility dogs. Fantastic! Loud, echoing, frantic barking dogs, just what Spencer loves. /face palm.

So, we went into the ring for starter jumpers I was pretty much caught with my proverbial pants down. Spencer exploded off of the start line, blew past me down a straight away, missed the tire jump and was already over the next jump after that before my brain kicked into gear. Ok, no tire, fine, whatever. He missed another jump on the straight away to the finish line, but all in all he did fantastic!

He was *just* a little high/frantic, and when one of the ladies timing or scribing said I could move up closer to the start line he had to take off like a bullet to go wiggle at them. But all in all, he was brilliant. Zoomies were directed at the course more or less and he stayed with me. Enthusiasm - check. Fun - check. Handler wasn't a bone head and didn't make him redo things that are her fault not his - check!

Steeplechase was a little slower, but still he did a good job. Not quite as high. He slipped in the loose dirt on his way into the weaves but stuck the entry and didn't pop. He's still a little odd with tunnels - I can't rear cross them near the tunnel mouth or I'm almost guaranteed to have him spin back out and sometimes if I don't support enough he'll spin out anyway - so I got that once. He was also hitting his A-frame contact really high and it isn't quite independent of handler position yet, so more proofing and work (which I knew) on those specific issues is needed. I'm not sure if the jackpot treats at Flashing Canines contributed to the fantastic attitude at Wet Creek, but I'm not discounting it. So those will continue.

For a baby dog I think he did very well. He is SO different to handle than Baxter. That is going to be a steep learning curve! Sadly, I have no video of these runs. I think I'm just going to bring a tripod next time and have it video me.

As for my big guy, Baxter had a weave bobble when he popped out 2 from the end. Then he also had a bar down. Both in Steeplechase. I didn't really fix the weaves and I should have, but he was still overtime. The shocker was the bar though. Baxter doesn't knock bars (unless we're in class and I am talking to him at the wrong time) but otherwise he is fantastic with that. This was a straight away of 5 jumps at full speed. I didn't think that it would be that challenging, but for a dog running flat out (I was ahead by a tiny bit, but he was moving) I can see that it would be hard to have the same control jumping over multiple jumps. So that's something we'll practice a bit too.

No Q's. But it was a very fun Wednesday!

Toys. Fading rewards and Building ring behaviours.

We had a great time today spending most of the day out at Wet Noses. Spencer and I are starting to click as a team in the face of distraction, which is good, because he's entered in his first trial in 2 weeks!

It will likely be the last outdoor trial of the season and may be a *little* bit early to begin to trial Spencer. However, I want him to have a good experience at his first couple of trials and outdoors is easier for him. Less weird echos, not so crowded. No dogs that attack the front of their crate when you walk by benched right by the entrance to the arena. Outdoors makes things easier when you're a soft, fragile little dog!

Spencer is also comfortable enough (at Wet Noses at least) to full out play tug with me. The kind of toy obsessive tug that I get at home when my little guy isn't worried about his environment.

What I'm working on right now is fading out the toy being on my person or at least visibly on my person. When we run courses or when we work drills, I usually am holding his toy. So he KNOWS it's there. He doesn't track(stare) the toy as he works, which was a nice side effect of training weaves by 2x2's, but he's anticipating earning it. When he can't see it, he's not as sure about working.

Baxter didn't do this, but then he was training for much longer and I primarily used treats with Baxter, only using his cherished ball to teach that burst of speed at the end through the finish line. Treats build value in a behavior, but toys build drive for it. With Baxter I've had to work on re-building his toy drive due to the focus on food rewards. With Spencer I am working on keeping both toy drive and motivation for food intact during training. Not focusing on the "easy" one to the exclusion of the other.

We've done a lot of small handling drills and double box work so he's used to frequent rewards to create enthusiasm and drive for the behaviors. So I'm lengthening the sequences we run before he earns his toy. We're not up to running a full course without a reward yet. If we're not there by the trial, that's fine, I'll just do partial courses and then have a party with him.

I'm also juicing up nose touches as a rewarding behavior. They're already pretty rewarding, but now I randomly jackpot them as well. Why? So in the event my soft little dog shuts down on a agility course, I can ask for a hugely reinforcing, easy behavior that he loves to do.

Yes, it will get us (me) faults for touching the dog, but it can be my "toy" on the course until we can get off of it to get his reward. It will also enable me to positively influence his frame of mind to get one more obstacle done with focus and enthusiasm so we can get outta there and not reward shut down or other stress behaviors by just leaving. As the truism reads, plan for the worst and hope for the best! It's also just plain fun =D

Just passing by

Where'd it go?

Tongues