Friday, March 30, 2012

The Other Side of Calix...

Unlike my other dogs, Calix is a tough dog for people to get to really know. All they tend to see is the crazy drive and the need to do something. Combine that with his vocalizations (very often and very loud) and his lack of interest in strangers and, while people admire his working ability, they don't see the other side of him. The side I see. The soft smooshy snuggly side - which occurs for approximately 20 minutes very late in the evening....Photographic evidence. Just don't tell him that you saw these....






Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The environmental picture

Over the weekend I taught a clinic to a great group of beginning tracking students. The dogs were motivated and the students were all fun and supportive of each other. I was much less tired than usual at the end of the class - but that could have been also due to the expert tracklayers who volunteered their services for the weekend!

One of the nice things about doing all this teaching is; in addition to getting to do something so fun, I also get to learn new things all the time. This weekend was no exception. We had a variety of freshly planted wheat fields to use for tracking. However the heavy rain and warm weather resulted in that grass growing more quickly than expected. So it was a bit taller than what I prefer to start dogs in. The first dog struggled going against the rows of planted grass, fortunately she was highly motivated but she struggled more than I wanted to see for a first time tracker.

freshly planted rows of wheat.....

So for the subsequently dogs, many of which were small dogs, we laid tracks with the rows rather than against the rows. This worked perfectly because the grass came together at the top, preventing the dogs from seeing the targets with food. But it did create a smooth pathway through the grass for the dogs to track. The dogs environment, as a result, helped shape the behavior that we wanted the dog to perform. The only initial goal was to have the dog become familiar with the start routine and to be aware that there was food out there, if they made some connection to the track then so much the better. However my main focus was drive and developing the beginnings of muscle memory for the task; accuracy and skill will follow....
 
Laying tracks with the rows of wheat...
 Each novice dog ran two tracks on Saturday and then we moved to a different area. One reason that we moved was because I wanted to find an area with shorter grass. While it did an excellent job helping us accomplish Saturday's goals I also did not want the dogs to get in the habit of just moving down the rows of grass, especially since they didn't know anything else at this point.

The interesting part was watching the dogs do their first tracks on Sunday, working against the rows of thicker, shorter grass. About half of the dogs hit the start article/food and then proceeded to head down a row, tracking with rather than against the row. Since the food and targets went against the rows, they quickly discovered that there was no payoff to going with the rows and reoriented themselves to the correct direction and quickly progressed. During the afternoon tracks each dog tracked through (against) the rows without difficulty.

However I found it truly amazing that TWO sessions of a brand new exercise could be so quickly generalized by all of the dogs and that so many of them had already developed a picture in their heads of tracking in the correct direction as being with the rows of grass. TWO SESSIONS.... Think what would happen if we continued to unknowingly replicate some environmental cue or piece of information to the dog for months or years. And then, still unknowingly, we took it away. Say at a trial or competition......

This happens all the time in every venue of work or sport - at least it can if we are not careful. What made it so noticeable this week I think was because most of the dogs in the class were small. To a small dog the world of tracking with the rows of grass looks like this:
when you are little the track is a forest with a path through the trees...
 That alleyway though the grass was a real path of least resistance to the little dogs. They switched over to working against the rows quickly but it was amazing and enlightening to see how quickly they developed a mental picture of what going in the correct direction looked like.

Everyone in the class was brand new to tracking and probably found me a little bit anal in that I am very insistent that they start their dogs exactly the same way each time. Every time I get my young dogs out of the car I do exactly the same thing - leash on collar, harness in my hand, give them a spot to pee and wait until they are done, go straight to the start, harness the dog a few feet from the start. I then run the leash through my hand and hold the collar with the same hand. Initially Using the other hand I drop a piece of food onto the start article and then later just point the start article out to the dog. All this is to develop that environmental picture that helps them get "dialed in" to the task I want them to do. And as we saw this past weekend, they notice things like this very well - whether we want them to or not.....

Friday, March 16, 2012

Just stop talking....

Yesterday I drove a few hours towards Columbia SC, where I will be teaching a beginner tracking clinic this weekend and then an advanced class next weekend. I drove the rest of the way today and as I was driving through the south (which was beautiful right now, spring is sneaking in but it has not gone crazy yet) I was scanning through channels on the radio looking for something to entertain myself with. I prefer talk radio but tend to avoid crazed political commentators as well as overly zealous religious channels. So that limits my options. However as I was scanning I hit upon someone talking on one of the (I think) religious channels. He was talking about dealing with all the issues with teenagers and how one of his most common lines of advice to parents is to "stop talking so much". I am paraphrasing a bit but he stated that:

"parents are so busy trying to prevent the kid from doing things wrong or make a mistake that it backfires on them and everytime they direct or correct it takes away the kid's opportunity to figure out something and to learn".

What a brilliant statement. And it applies perfectly to dog training. Ironically I was having a conversation earlier in the day with a dog trainer discussing a dog who had never been exposed to a style of training that encouraged him to offer behavoirs or experiment.  Without the input from the trainer or handler, such a dog comes to a stop and cannot function. Dont get me wrong, I am not a "freeshaper" - my goal is to have a dog learn a very specific task. However through maniplating the dog's environment and his reinforcement, I allow him to develop the correct behavior. I do not do so by overly directing him (as if he is too stupid to not need my help) nor by correcting him for making mistake (which just makes him worried about getting something wrong). Once the dog is performing the behavior and has developed muscle memory and skill I will then allow a little bit of room for error so that  he is able to learn the difference between being correct vs incorrect or rather, more likely - the difference between being correct vs almost correct.



Almost correct....

Correct....

Reward....

Thursday, March 15, 2012

What's wrong with this picture??

Yesterday I was running errands doing various things to get ready to leave for South Carolina. I am going to be there for a week teaching a beginners and an advanced tracking clinic. Last night I was walking across the training yard with a collection of odds and ends from the training center that I needed to make sure were in my car for the trip. I looked down at the stuff in my arms and thought "ok this look weird..." My second thought, a little bit later, was that my new phone takes wicked good pictures. But that is besides the point....



I would attempt to explain how all of those items are related to teaching and dog training in some way but then you would probably think I was even weirder than you already do...

And a few random pics off of facebook that were worth keeping. The connection to dog training is obvious with this one:




And this one is just plain true....


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

My obsession with finding the PERFECT tracking areas....

Those who have trained with me know how fussy I am about my tracking fields. In particular for young or inexperienced dogs. Regardless of the dog's skill level I am always careful that the environment helps me, rather than hinders me, in shaping or encouraging the behavior that I want.  I am pretty much constantly scanning the areas around me, analyzing their potential quality as tracking areas. Even when I am far far from home I find myself thinking "Oh that would be an awesome place to track....I should put that on my gps...."

This place is about 15 minutes north of the training center. It is a dead end area of a huge, new shopping center area/development. So far no one has even stopped to ask me what the heck I am doing (altough I have received some strange looks from passing motorists while laying tracks). The last building in the row is a massive furniture store which can't possibly be making enough $$ to stay in business. I think this is the most cars I have ever seen in the parking lot.



Next to that is the big movie theatre. Again not too many cars.....


Both parking lots, complete with grassy/mulch islands and medians make for an excellent place for variable surface tracking.


Next to all of that is a real nice area for working the little munchkin Amber. Perfect grass height for a green dog, not to short (scent can diffuse too far encouraging casting behavior) nor too high (discouraging a deeper nose).


And finally, as if all that weren't enough. The Corner Cafe Deli and Bakery off in the distance! Because we need something to do while the track is being aged!! I highly recommend the American Scrambler - it is healthy plus very tasty!



Monday, March 5, 2012

Phew!!!

Posting has been slow as I just finished teaching an 8 week dog training school. It was the first time teaching the whole curriculum all at once. It was a LOT of fun but I was pretty much mentally done for by the end of the day. The small student:teacher ratio was great but it meant being "on" for 8+ hours a day. One of the advantages of being a student is that you can tune out the instructor when you choose to. The instructor however doesn't get that option EVER! It was a lot of work for both the instructors and especially the students and while it was not always easy, we had a LOT of laughs during the class as well.

Good job Jacki and Mark!!