tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90734547226684439252024-02-21T00:09:09.185-08:00DogScentsLucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.comBlogger135125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-30544024722590272352013-05-23T13:21:00.001-07:002013-06-15T17:02:15.280-07:00Still more on the importance of Reward PlacementSince I teach so much tracking I get a lot of questions about teaching articles. In fact I will be teaching an entire on line class on that topic later this year. However my actual answer about how I teach articles is pretty simple - I reward on the article. Initially the article has food on it but that is faded as quickly as necessary for a given dog (the ability to avoid fireants also plays a factor). The dog will usually hesitate for a second on the article (a clicker helps with this sometimes) and that's all I need. I race up to the article, stand in front of the dog to impede further progress and feed. From my hand but on top of the article. Not two inches above the article but right on top of it. I feed treats in sequence, pulling my hand away in between and watching for the dog to nose touch or sniff the article (they usually will, looking for crumbs) and I give the next piece of food. I do not cue the dog. I don't even wait to see if it will happen (at least not for quite a while). If I do wait and see if it will happen once and it doesn't then I go back to the above process for a while - I have not built the value of the articles high enough.<br />
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The point of the post is not really to teach articles but to remind all of us to take into consideration reward placement. If I only pay the dog in the place where I want him to be, and if he really wants the reward, why would he go anywhere else. I am creating an expectation that he will be rewarded for the articles or position.<br />
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Below is a video clip of an 8 month old malinois pup I am working with. He has never been cued or prompted to down on the articles, I just rewarded him in the manner I described above.<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-44379007092033955862013-05-10T19:05:00.005-07:002013-06-15T17:02:33.122-07:00shameless end zone dance.....<br />
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I am in the process of working on a long post about successive approximation and shaping behavior. However it is taking longer than I had planned. So here is some entertainment in the meantime. </div>
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I have posted clips of superstar tracker Steel tracking. However below is a clip about what happens AFTER the track is over. Honestly Steel.... I have actually said to him when all of that shameless showboating is going on"you weren't THAT great!". He however clearly thinks he is.</div>
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This was taken with a chest mounted go pro camera. I am still working on finding the best mounting location for videotaping dogs racking but in the meantime I apologize for the view but you get the idea.</div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-2783671929140744692013-05-08T19:49:00.001-07:002013-05-08T19:49:16.906-07:00Everything I know about humans I learned from dog training.....In previous blog posts I have explained the connections (at least in my head) to dog training and Dr Phil and Oprah. Does dog training reflect human behavior or does human behavior reflect dog training? Most of the time, in my head it is hard to say where one starts and the other stops? The other day I found myself referring to a person's "default response to stress" (mine is to eat chocolate). I am strongly opposed to automatically assigning human traits and characteristics to dogs. Anthropomorphizing them; to use a fancy word. Unfortunately dogs coexist so well with us that people often do this. If I had a dollar for every time someone insists that their dog "knew what he did" or "had their number".... However the longer I spend working with the beloved four legged animals the more similarities I see between them and humans. So much of what people do is reactive rather than proactive. However I am pretty sure most (normal) people are more prone to drawing parallels from humans to dogs in order to understand certain behaviors. I however usually seem to go in the opposite direction. Perhaps I need to spend a little less time with my dogs...<br />
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Anyway I came across this recently posted on Facebook. Excellent point and it totally applies to dog training. A common lecture I give people when they come to me with (dog) problems of all types is to either accept the behavior (allow it), manage it (stop it) or fix it (reinforce a new behavior). Options two and three actually usually work hand in hand.</div>
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Unfortunately is is so much more straightforward and easier to APPLY to dog training..... In both cases people have a tendency to continue to bemoan the existence of the behavior without applying any of the three options above. I like this quote because it places the burden for dealing with the behavior in the place where it belongs. Upon the person that objects to the behavior. Just like in dogs, oftentimes the behavior is working just fine for the dog. In fact the behavior even makes sense. It is just not something compatible with living with other humans. I was recently discussing dog training with someone and they asked "well how do you train people". My response was - you don't, or at least not adults. People are who they are, the only person I want to be responsible for training is myself..... I am a big enough training challenge for me!</div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-27315863300493983412013-05-03T09:40:00.001-07:002013-05-03T09:40:13.669-07:00Teaching AssistantsOne of the fun things about having my dogs with me while traveling and teaching is getting to see them in their role of teaching assistants. People often assume that they are "demo dogs" but they are more than that and often teach skills that I cannot teach. Calix is particular takes his role of teaching very seriously and is only too willing to take advantage of a handler's weaknesses. He does not do this is a malicious sort of way; just because he can. If the handler is correct then he is perfect, otherwise look out. I swear he comes out of the car rubbing his paws together sometimes....<br />
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Here is a clip of Calix working a series of increasingly complex puzzles at a recent detection trainers course with one of the students/trainers:<br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-50347367913937374362013-05-01T19:37:00.000-07:002013-05-01T19:37:02.137-07:00Dog Update #1 - Amber<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have been so slacking on blogging lately. Lots going on but I will attempt to get back to more timely updates.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>AMBER</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Amber update is long overdue. Those of you who actual follow this blog will remember my posts on the “Accidental Agility Dog”. Due to her lack of early socialization and timid nature it was clear that Amber was not cut out to be a detection dog like her parents. I made one attempt to place her in a pet home and that didn’t work out. She clearly needed a dog savvy person who understood her needs. The problem was that most people who had the dog knowledge that she needed already had plenty of dogs. They were also heavily involved in dog sports and I could not make any guarantees regarding her suitability. So I decided to keep her. She got along great with my dogs, fit into my household and was fun and sweet. Plus </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">the more I worked with her and she traveled with me, the more her comfort in the world developed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In addition, as her comfort in the world developed her natural drive kicked in (both parents are loaded with it) and she showed an obvious aptitude for agility. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With my friend Mary’s advice I began slowly laying an agility foundation for her. I am a relative novice to agility but with Mary’s guidance I just applied the principles of other, more familiar venues of dog training. I also used whatever information I could glean from books, magazine and the internet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fast forward to December. I was going to be in South Carolina and Mary asked if I wanted to do some agility training when I was in town. Following that lesson Mary casually suggested that maybe Amber could go home with her than night and “see how she did”. Of course what really sealed the deal was that Amber and Mary’s Aussie Reddy LOVED each other. Instantly becoming best buddies. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So Amber went home with Mary and a few weeks later became a permanent part of Mary’s family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">People have asked me how I could “get rid of her” but upon seeing how well she has fit in with Mary’s life, how could I not. Although I was no longer actively trying to place her, and indeed had become quite attached to the little munchkin, I could not deny her such a wonderful home. Although I loved her dearly she needed to be someplace where she would be "special". Which she clearly is in Mary’s house. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">She also naturally scary good at agility – her level of natural talent would probably be wasted with me. With my traveling schedule our training was likely to be hit and miss and she deserved the opportunity to do the sport she clearly loved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So the Accidental Agility Dog is not so accidental anymore. After just four short months with Mary she competed in April at her very first agility trial. I will have to double check with Mary on the actual number of Q’s (qualifying runs) she had but suffice it to say she managed a 2<sup>nd</sup> and a 4<sup>th</sup> place. Anyone who could have seen what a total basket case she was just a year ago can understand how immensely happy this makes me. Like in tears happy. My brave little munchkin who was once afraid of the tv, and fire hydrants, and flagpoles, and people, and loud noises is not only able to do agility but she is LOVING it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The best part is that, like any proud mom, I can now brag about her without actually having to do anymore of the work!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am having problems getting this vdeo to embed into the blog but here is the link to one of her first agility runs: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw_aRulPhbE">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw_aRulPhbE</a></span></div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-65020770607257923742013-04-03T18:23:00.002-07:002013-04-04T09:04:07.816-07:00More of Drive StatesOnce again blogging has fallen by the wayside to way too much actual teaching. We just spent the last two months teaching Detection Trainer's Schools to two groups of DC area police K9 trainers. What an awesome experience, the dogs did great and the students worked hard and were a lot of fun. Not much more we could have asked for except maybe some warmer weather. Then I made a brief stop in Roanoke Virginia to teach some tracking and am now back in Mississippi for a brief stay before hitting the road yet again.<br />
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In spite of the lack of blogging I have been very busy teaching and thinking about training. Once again I am juggling teaching, training and talking about a variety of dog training venues. As I commented in my last blog post however, the common theme seems to be maintaining the dog's drive state. This topic is hard to teach because it is more of an art than a science and requires the trainer to develop the skill of being able to read the dog.<br />
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If we think of drive in terms of percentages we want the dog at about 90-95% drive state. Any higher than that and the dog is too crazy to think through their drive. As it drops lower than that level then the dog becomes distracted and starts to notice the environment and other distractions. As people have heard me repeat over and over again - you don't have a distraction problem, you have a drive problem. One of the arts of dog training is learning how to tweak the dog's drive in order to keep him at the correct level. For the high drive, over the top dog we need to let him go close to that too high drive place and then let him diminish to just the point where he can think through his drive. We keep the task challenging but something he can handle and then be patient while he works through that level of drive to get what he wants. We neither correct him through it nor help him (i.e. in the form of solving the puzzle for him). Too often people try to physically bring this type of dog down, through training tools and techniques. Whether these tools and techniques are positive or negative, they often just attempt to suppress the dogs natural drive and the opposite occurs. It is like pushing on a spring - the harder you push the stronger the resistant pressure.<br />
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On the other hand, an even bigger challenge is getting handlers to see when drive state is too low. In this case we want to step in and not correct or direct the dog (which will have the opposite effect) but we need to do something to push up the drive. We can't insert drive into a dog that doesnt have it. However we can manipulate him so that he develops a habit of bringing the most of whatever drive he does have to the work. Like with the over the top driven dog, we manipulate his environment and handling to develop a habit in him of working at a certain state of drive. Obviously there are some inherent problems with working from the low end and trying to push it up. This is why when the work is critical my preference is to start with a too high dog - it is much much easier to dial that dog down just a bit. Usually all that is necessary is to be very clear to the dog what he must do to satisfy his drive.<br />
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I think this concept is a difficult thing for handlers of all dog types (high drive or low drive) to understand. I once heard a quote that "dogs are efficiency experts". They are geniuses at taking the shortest path to what they want. Not because they a clever or manipulative but because they don't have the complication of all the thoughts in their head of doing something in any other way. Yet another life lesson that we can probably take from them.....Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-14400517609778148652013-03-11T18:29:00.000-07:002013-03-11T18:29:04.784-07:00Attitude vs MechanicsIn the course of teaching a lot of different types of dog training course; whether for sport or work, I find myself making the same observations. A big one is that trainers of all types get way to hung up on the mechanics of a task. Take police k9 detection tasks; something that I am teaching at the moment. I could take a clicker and a handful of treats and teach a great many dogs to nose touch an odor and then sit. However I need a dog that will do all of the above in the presence of a massive amount of distraction, when he is tired, when his handler is distracted, when it is in a place where it has never been in training. For that I need a dog that not only understands the correct exercise but also has the right attitude. In the course of my travels lately I have seen a lot of examples of where the trainer or handler was "winning the battle" and getting a certain behavior but "losing the war" by detracting from the dogs enthusiasm or understanding.<br />
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Two more weeks of detection training in the Washington DC area. We have worked with a large group of really fun, highly motivated police k9 trainers. Dogs have been excellent too.<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-34395981221217449722013-03-04T19:50:00.001-08:002013-03-04T19:50:36.925-08:00A New Training ProjectAs if traveling the country helping to teach detection trainer's course and training my own four dogs; including a 6 month old puppy, wasn't enough - I have added a new training project. I was asked to join Denise Fenzi's new project, an online dog sports academy.<div>
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<a href="http://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/" target="_blank">www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com</a></div>
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I am going to offering a variety of on line tracking classes. At first I had some misgivings about teaching tracking in such a format. It is challenging enough as it is. However I gave it some thought and I m looking forward to tackling the challenge. I put together my list of courses last night and it was a challenge to break the skills down into individual courses. I generally try to teach my green/young dogs some of the more advanced skills right from the start. I am careful not to over challenge them but I also want to take advantage of the fact that they don't know that something is an advanced skill yet. They are too new to the task to make assumptions - such as "tracks are always on grass". I will try to do a little of that in the classes but most likely less than I do with my own dogs.<div>
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Six month old malinois learning that he can track on asphalt as well as grass. It isn't pretty yet but I accomplished my training goals of showing him that tracking is tracking; it has nothing to do with what surface the track is on. You can see at first that he thinks this is an attention exercise. As he gains experience the harness will help him determine the difference. I laid the track in my sock feet so as to help him have some extra scent to follow (don't laugh; I laid a big chunk of Steel's VST tracks in my sock feet). I didn't want to lay food on the track but I also wanted to reinforce the track a bit so you can see me tossing food out in front of us. My only goal at this point was to reinforce a behavior of him sticking his nose to the track. He cant help but smell the track while he is getting reinforced. I have a few additional techniques to develop his hard surface tracking but this worked okay for the first time.</div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-64369669611661773492013-02-15T17:10:00.001-08:002013-02-15T17:10:45.217-08:00Where Am ?!We are back to traveling again. So far I have not had any disorienting moments like I had last year when I had a brief moment where I could not remember where I was. As in what state am I in?? Who knew the life of a dog trainer could so closely resemble that of a traveling musician??<br />
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Anyhow, several people have asked me where I am going to be and about my availability for private training and clinics . This seemed to be the easiest way to answer them all in one place. Traveling quite a bit for work with scent detection schools and seminars but I do have some time available for teaching. Training available includes tracking (private or clinics), detection, performance coaching/problem solving (privates) or help working with reactive dogs (privates).<br />
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Those who are interested can contact me at: <a href="mailto:LAN5@SOVER.NET">LAN5@SOVER.NET</a>.<br />
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<u>My current 2013 schedule:</u><br />
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February 4 - 25 Maryland<br />
Detection Trainers Course; law enforcement<br />
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February 24 - March 01 North Carolina & South Carolina<br />
private training classes<br />
March 04 - March 22 eastern Virginia<br />
Detection Trainers Course; law enforcement<br />
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March 25 - March 30 western Virginia<br />
private training classes<br />
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April 08 - 11 St Louis MO<br />
Working Dog Conference<br />
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April 15 - May 03 Indiana<br />
Detection Trainers Course<br />
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Detection Trainers SeminarLucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-78080803899790964562013-02-03T17:39:00.000-08:002013-02-03T17:39:18.004-08:00Signposts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I wrote this post last weekend while at a dog show in LA. Now I am in MD by way of SC.....I am starting to feel like my own "where's waldo" picture....</div>
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I have talked in previous posts about how exceptionally observant our dogs are. This is one of the things that makes them great; they have an outstanding ability to notice things and to mark those behaviors/items/ actions that result in reinforcement. Unfortunately they also notice the things that lead to bad consequences as well as good ones. And once those "signposts" are in place they are hard to eliminate; especially when they tell the dog how he should feel rather than act. When I try to explain what I mean by this I find it effective to use a great experience of my own.<br />
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When I attended the basic training school at the police academy we were required to be at the Academy from Monday morning to Friday afternoon. Our training was military like in its instruction and the first couple of weeks were designed to apply a significant amount of stress on the recruits. There were several reasons for this; one being to weed out the ones who could not function well under stress. Those people were obviously not cut out for law enforcement. Our instructors were very gifted at finding ways to apply stress to almost every aspect of our daily routine and whatever your weakness (be it physical or mental) they were going to find it.<br />
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The road leading to the Academy grounds went through a pair of tall stone pillars and up a long steep hill. Every Monday morning I would drive through the gate and upon passing through the pillars and heading up the hill my stomach would drop and I would feel slightly nauseous. Friday afternoon seemed to be an eternity away. Years later, having long since graduated from the basic class, I would routinely return to the Academy for in service training. This was not at all unpleasant, usually interesting classes and we were treated like the professionals that we were. Then I began returning to the academy for police canine training. Something very enjoyable with no stress involved at all. However every time I passed through those pillars I had a sinking feeling in my stomach and would feel nauseous for a second. There was no current cause of it, it was just a firmly developed signpost in my brain that signified upcoming stress and pressure.<br />
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Transfer this to training a dog for an exercise with potential for confusion. There are so many potential examples but I will use the scent discrimination exercise since I was talking about it in a recent blog post. This exercise involves using a bag of metal and leather obstacles - people usually keep these in a canvas and mesh bag and in order to avoid handling them they are dumped out from the bag. Thus a distinctive metal article rattling sound. This is a relatively simple exercise for the dog; however people sometimes inadvertently create confusion due to the manner that they teach it. I wonder for how many dogs, even ones who have learned the exercise well, is that sound a signpost for potential stress and pressure.<br />
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We need to be very careful in our training to avoid creating signposts to the dog that tell them unpleasant things are likely to happen. I am not talking in this case regarding compulsion or punishment but rather signposts that tell the dog about how the environment is likely to feel. I am at a dog show today so those examples are more obvious but they occur in all aspects of our training, regardless of what we are teaching the dog to do.<br />
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How about this for an example of a signpost with lots of clue to the dog that no reinforcement is going to happen for the dog:</div>
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there are lots of strange dogs around</div>
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there are large square areas with mats and bounded by white gates</div>
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handler is breathing faster</div>
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handler is talking to me less</div>
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handler is focusing on another person nearby</div>
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there is no reward upon completion of an exercise</div>
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(in training no rewards usually means incorrect behavior)</div>
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I could go on but you get my point. People talk about a dog "not liking showing" or about the dog getting "ring sour". When you look at all the signposts above is it any wonder that this can happen? We need to be more aware of the signposts we create in various ways and a) eliminate as many as we can or b) teach the dogs to disregard the ones that cannot be avoided.Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-15314032273945360662013-01-22T18:21:00.000-08:002013-01-23T08:14:23.352-08:00Brag for a friend....<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_50ff3f08a20239673923008" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="userContent"><em>This is "ELY"</em></span></div>
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<span class="userContent">V Rated Multi BISS Am/Can/UKC Ch. ATCH Esmonds Qruzin for a Bruzin <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>CD</b></span> Am/Can RN Ag.N Ag.NJ AD RAMCL TT HIC CGN</span></div>
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<span class="userContent">He is a very sweet boy but just a tad, shall we say, stubborn.....</span></div>
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<span class="userContent">When he was uncertain how to behave in a certain situation he (like many men) would go to his default - "jackass mode"....</span></div>
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<span class="userContent">Ely is big - muscles upon muscles. Him being a jackass is hard to miss...</span></div>
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<span class="userContent">Lucky for him he has an owner who is just as stubborn...</span></div>
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<span class="userContent">She had her ups and downs with him.</span></div>
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<span class="userContent">I think there was some serious consideration of toilet training him and hiding him in the basement.....</span></div>
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<span class="userContent">Most people would have quit. But not Cassie....</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">P.S. Red ribbons are FIRST places in Canada. Weirdos....</td></tr>
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<span class="userContent">I can't say how proud I am of them and how delighted I am to have had a <em>very</em> small part in helping them accomplish great things. It is quite easy to give advice but much harder to take it and put in the time and hard work needed.</span><br />
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<span class="userContent">Cassie's recent Facebook post:</span></div>
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<span class="userContent"><em>Well isn't THIS a happy way to end my week! Just saw the Rottweiler Club of Canada stats for 2011 and it's official that Ely finished #1 OVERALL ROTTWEILER for 2011 (combined obedience and conformation). Ely is my first, home-bred, home-raised, hand-picked puppy. I believed in this little guy from the moment he first landed in my hands. I mean, we had some very big challenges we worked through and<span class="text_exposed_hide">...</span><span class="text_exposed_show"> I had lots of days that ended with me not sure that we would ever continue to work towards our competitive obedience goals. But I stuck with him and we just kept on trucking. The conformation wins were sweet, but his CD was the absolute best title I have ever earned with a dog. His wicked scores made it almost unbelievable for me. Now to see my "naughty boy" at the top of that list, well, it (almost) leaves me speechless. Thank you to all of those who encouraged me over the years to stick with him (Lucy Newton - especially you! John Mairs for letting him disrupt so many of your classes for years!) and huge thank you to Mike and Ann for working so hard with us in 2011 to help my special boy shine the way he did. Wow, what is THIS going to do for his ego?!?</span></em></span></div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-26588976281639610542013-01-15T18:40:00.002-08:002013-01-15T18:44:40.663-08:00Dogs Can Be So Literal…<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I have been following a discussion/activity associated with a facebook group that I belong to. Numerous people are training the scent discrimination exercise with their dogs. Most are training the AKC competition obedience exercise; others are looking towards nosework or other competitions. For those that don’t know the exercise - this involves putting out a series of identical objects, one with the handler’s scent on it. The others are clean/unscented. The dog then must go to the group of items and select the one with his handler’s scent on it and bring it back. This is a simple exercise for the dog. It is the canine equivalent of me telling you to go pick the red crayon out of a pile of other colored crayons. The challenge comes in communicating the specifics of this task to the dog. There are some things that can go wrong in this communication process. In a recent FB post one person was having trouble switching the dog from the articles that they started with (a metal tin) to an actual official, AKC approved metal articles. While the dog was consistently working the exercise on the first item, his proficiency dropped off on the other.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I am stealing this person’s “problem” in order to take an opportunity to comment on something that I see in almost all phases of dog training. And I put the word “problem” in quotes because sometimes it is not really a problem but rather a normal process of learning. Whether or not it is easy or not to fix, it IS a sign of some miscommunication; however temporary. Often the dog and handler are not on the same page with the exercise. When I am teaching I quite often suggest that the trainer think about what would happen if they could ask the dog to write out a description of the task.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the results would be eye opening. I could just see my first cadaver detection dog taking about a hour (and needing to get to get up for extra paper and to sharpen his pencil) to write his essay. He learned the task and had a successful career but I sure didn’t make it easy for him to figure out what I wanted. I am pretty sure my current narcotics detection dog would be able to quickly fit his response onto a 3 X 5 card with room to spare and then run outside to play!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The difference in the two is in my ability to better explain to the dog exactly what the exercise is. The smoother the process is; with as few extraneous pieces of information as possible, the better this works. Making learning faster and less stressful for both of us. However some things are part of the learning process, the dog makes initial assumptions and we quickly let him work through the process and correct his initial assumptions on his own. As a trainer, I find these “wrong behaviors” fascinating because they often show me how much the dog is thinking and quite often the dog flat out amazes me with his thought processes. I have to stop and go “Wow! I DID teach you that didn’t I?!” Then I rethink how I am training and exercise and hopefully become a better trainer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Here is a simple easy example of what I am talking about. Years ago when I was teaching my young future patrol dog to go through the police academy’s obstacle course I left him in a stay and then directed him to go through one of the culvert tunnels. We normally did the course counter clockwise during certification tests so I had started him in that direction. I did this a couple of times, followed by much praise and enthusiasm for his skill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I set him up at the other end of the culvert, again in a stay, and directed him to “tunnel”. He immediately ran to the opposite end, went through the culvert in what he considered the correct direction and blasted out the end, anticipating yet another party. He was also clearly delighted with himself for solving such a complicated exercise! And yes he did get the party he so clearly felt he deserved. Followed by my taking steps to manipulate his environment (putting him closer to the culvert and standing near the entrance) so that he quickly discarded his very brief assumption that he gets rewarded for running through the culvert right to left.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Another more recent observation: my young Rottweiler had passed both his TD and TDX easily and we were prepping for his VST. He worked a very nice section of track across a parking lot and then he came up to an article placed right before the curb at the edge of the parking lot. He stopped, carefully picked up the metal object in his mouth, gently set it down in the nearby grass and then laid down to indicate it. It was my habit to usually place articles in the grass portions of the track. Being strong on articles, I knew he wouldn’t have an issue indicating them on the hard surfaces, but because he is so article driven I had seen signs of him starting to use his eyes to scan for them on hard surfaces. However he clearly showed me on that day how well he understood the whole picture of what I had been rewarding him for – “Momma is very happy when I find articles on the grass. Therefore I must put this here…” When he came up on the article below the curb, seeing nearby grass, he took pains to arrange everything to maximize his chances of being rewarded. In his case the proximity to the grass was a big factor but it was also eye opening to have him show me just how attentive to detail he was capable of being. That they are so attentive is what makes them so amazing. It is also what makes training challenging. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">While some dogs are more “literal” than others they all notice stuff that we can’t even imagine would be important to their understanding of the exercise. Sometimes this is totally unavoidable and a normal process of their learning, likely the case with the dog having trouble transferring from one metal object to another. We just back up our criteria a little bit and let them work through the transition. He learns that we want the scented item, regardless of its shape or material. However many times, in both competition and working venues, we inadvertently allow them to continue to make assumptions that we are totally unaware of. Familiar containers in detection. Or items contaminated or overwhelmed with other scents. Or our body language or other prompts or cuing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see this in all types of work and sports but it is especially common in scent or detection work. All we see is the dog getting it right – if we are not careful in how we train them to do the work they can get it right for reasons that have nothing to do with scenting or using their nose.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVVSmwgc1NQFVWh_D2pesIWadIm9mhDnLMy0jIhH3l_FBgyywcEq7fFyKgrb7EEOJlKxdcNbj-PcoJI_D9GRq6J60nJc4aWKgl7JD52ILdsXC4YjcM4IdXjpKed7q_ABFfUSR6U_esG29p/s1600/STEEL1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" jea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVVSmwgc1NQFVWh_D2pesIWadIm9mhDnLMy0jIhH3l_FBgyywcEq7fFyKgrb7EEOJlKxdcNbj-PcoJI_D9GRq6J60nJc4aWKgl7JD52ILdsXC4YjcM4IdXjpKed7q_ABFfUSR6U_esG29p/s400/STEEL1.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steel demonstrating his understanding of just how close to the source of odor he needs to be in order to get rewarded!</td></tr>
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-70332169302011578442013-01-13T18:57:00.002-08:002013-01-14T08:29:41.741-08:00More on Being Reactive....<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><i>I have been working on this for a while, mostly letting my mind wander while driving long distances, I hope it make sense...</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">My family gave me satellite radio for Christmas. It was an awesome gift as </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I am going to be traveling (i.e. driving) for a very big part of 2013. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Some unavoidable last minute changes in my work schedule forced me to </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">drive home after Christmas from Vermont to Mississippi. During the long </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">drive I had a chance to test it out and quickly found myself flipping </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">between various talk radio stations. They seem to occupy my mind better </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">than music (although the E Street Channel, Bruce Springsteen 24/7 is hard </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to beat). After spending several hours listening to people call in </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">regarding various personal, financial or health problems my mind wandered </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to the similarities to dog training. What a surprise right? And it made me </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">think how often people are reactive vs proactive in all aspects of our </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">People think because I have working dogs or because I am a dog trainer </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">that my dogs should be perfect. However I am like everyone else – I have </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">priorities in what I train and a finite amount of time to dedicate to </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">training. I am much more concerned with functional skills that my dogs </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">perform (detection, tracking, obedience) than things that could be defined</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">as “manners”. For example, I am not concerned with their behavior greeting people at </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">the door (hardly anyone comes to my door). Or how they greet people (they </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">never meet anyone but dog people). This is not to say they have </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">particularly bad manners, just that I do not have a need to put the </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">time into training those specific behaviors. So if they were not good at </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">one of the above examples it wouldn’t be fair for me to be complaining </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">about it. Nor would it be fair to correct them. But I also would not force their bad manners onto other people. For example - Steel who has muscles on top of his muscles and love people can get over excited greeting, especially when he is let out of his car (a cue I shaped to tell him that something exciting is going to happen). If his excited greeting is going to be too much for someone then I just don't allow him to greet. Could I train a calmer behavior? Yes. Do I want to? No. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">There is no natural </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">genetic basis for the dog to understand how to greet a human being </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">politely (and we usually make matters worse in how we handle it). The dog </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">is usually behaving normally – it is up to us to create the behavior we want.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">When I am working with someone who needs help with a training issue it is </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">helpful to talk the owner through their options for the current behavior:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">1.</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Ignore it and let it continue</span></div>
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2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Prevent it from happening by managing the environment</div>
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3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>fix the problem/develop a new behavior</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">If someone has gone so far as to seek help then Option #1 is usually not </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">ideal. However I quite often see quite a few people whose only problem </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">with a behavior is shame because someone else is judging them based on </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">what is considered "proper behavior". I get this apologetic vibe from dog owners quite </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">a bit because they assume that since my dogs are perfect (not) then I am </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">judging their dogs accordingly (again, not). </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">If you are happy and your dog is happy (and healthy and safe) then who cares what I or the rest </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">of the world thinks? For example, I am training a young dog, likely destined for a working </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">home. When I release him from his kennel he comes out and greets me by standing on his hind </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">legs and throwing his paws around, as if to give me a hug of youthful joy and </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">happiness. I am sure lots of people would have all kinds of advice on how </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">to teach him to “greet properly”. My response to his behavior is to give </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">him a big hug, kiss him on the head and tell him how happy I am to see him </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">too!! I want him to wait to be released from his kennel (developing self control) but am totally okay with the other behavior.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Typically however I am working with people who want to resolve the issue, </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">so Option #1 is not ideal. They usually make some attempts at Option #3 </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">but circumstances often make this unsuccessful. The owner lacks the </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">knowledge or the timing to resolve the issue. Various family members </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">offer conflicting opinions or solutions. Life gets in the way and the </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">training lacks the consistency needed. Or people fail to remove the </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">reinforcement for the behavior. Option #2 is quite often a useful solution and one that is usually </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">overlooked. People don't realize how to do it. Or they feel like they are giving up or being lazy by not resolving the problem completely. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">The irony is that as a </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">result they usually end up back at Option #1 – living with a behavior that </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">they would like to get rid of. Option #2 can be a stand alone solution,</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">depending on the behavior. It is also a necessity PRIOR to Option #3. The </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">first thing we need to do is stop allowing the unwanted behavior to occur. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Then we develop an alternative behavior.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Here is a simple example - I am working with a young dog teaching him </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">basic competition obedience skills and a few tricks. He is very food </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">driven and also very agile and tenacious. As a result, if I am holding a </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">high value item like food or a toy he tends to bounce off of me trying to </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">get it. In his head this makes sense. In my head, while I like his </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">enthusiasm and I don’t have a problem with jumping - I find that it is </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">hard to teach him something new while he is airborne. The solution? First I </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">taught him to back up on cue. I held a treat in my hand, ignored the </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">bouncing and walked into him. He automatically took a step back and I </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">quickly gave him the treat. I was careful to reward him in the position </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">that I wanted him in – all four feet on the ground. Then I added a hand </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">motion that was his cue for backing up and I used (and rewarded) that <u>prior</u> to moments </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">when I knew he was thinking about launchng. In this example I was </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">implementing option #2. It was hard to bounce on me if he was walking </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">backward. It got his paws on the ground long enough for me to proceed to </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Step #3 which in this case was to train obedience behaviors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">The biggest problem that I see in dog training (and in the problems </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">presented by most of the people calling talk radio hosts for help with </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">their personal problems) is that we continuously REACT to behaviors that </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">we are almost 100% certain are going to continue to occur. I was about 85% </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">certain that this young dog was going to pounce on me to get what he </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">wanted. So why would I let it continue to repeat itself? And worse would </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">be if I got mad about it. Or hurt. Or embarrassed. This does not apply to </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">just behavior modification either – I see it frequently in sports and even </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">working venues as well. People continue to ask for behaviors that have</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">been proven to have a low likelihood of occurring (start line stay, recall from a decoy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">etc). Then they react when the behavior fails (which was almost 100% </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">predictable). It is the “hope for correct planet alignment” training </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">strategy! A far more effective response would be to find better way to train it in a proactive way; rather than reactive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">And of course it applies to other aspects of our life because what part of </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">dog training does not? With my satellite radio, so many times as I drove along listening to </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">people’s problems on the radio, I was thinking “Seriously? What did you </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">think was going to happen?” And I did not do this in a totally judgmental </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">way (a little bit though, some people were pretty stupid). I can see </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">plenty of places in my own life where I do the same thing. If you are </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">pretty certain that a behavior is going to occur (based on previous </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">history) then why do we just think it is magically going to go away? And </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">why do we continue to react to it? When we are 99% certain something (if </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">it is negative) is going to happen why do we continue to set ourselves up to </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">be effected by it? In dog training (and in life?) being proactive is more effective and lot more fun, than being reactive.</span>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-41907788044871255192013-01-06T05:09:00.000-08:002013-01-06T05:16:08.671-08:00Why Dog Training is like the Holidays....I was tempted to slack off in the hotel room tonight and use "traveling" as an excuse not to do a blog post. However since that excuse could apply to most of 2013 it is probably not a good enough reason to goof off...<br />
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I just spent the past two weeks visiting my family in Vermont. I traveled with 4 dogs. They travel well and are well behaved however in exchange for hanging out quietly in my mom's guest room they expected to be suitably exercised. On one of our many walks around the neighborhood I was discussing with my brother how when we all return home for the holidays we all fall back basically in our old patterns of behavior. Without thinking, we respond to other people's behavior the same way that we always have, no matter how old we are. I was thinking about this similarity to dog training because one of my dogs is a relatively young dog, full of energy. Each time the pup came back into house from outside he proceeded to try to run amuck in the distinctly NOT puppy proofed house. Each time I would attempt to do damage control and stop him from jumping on people, on the dining room table, ravaging the gifts under the tree etc. My training approach was reactive and just made him more determined and frustrated. After a few periods of this I changed my approach to being proactive - by reminding him that I had a treat and was not afraid to use it before we went through the door I was better able to keep his attention and prompt him for focus on me and a sit. After a while I could fade the initial lure and also get him back more easily when he proceeded to try to run amuck. All too often, especially when working on behavioral problems (in dogs of course....), I see people trying to fix a problem with a reactive solution rather than the much more effective proactive solution. So many behaviors (again, in dogs of course) happen repeatedly and are very predictable - yet we respond each time as if the behavior is totally new, with no plan other than to make some feeble attempt to make it stop.<br />
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Eleven years can pass in the blink of an eye..... Be Proactive rather than Reactive....</div>
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-15941371188028315982013-01-02T16:41:00.001-08:002013-01-02T16:41:15.289-08:00The New Year!!!I have always been a thinking forward sort of person so don't really have the mental organization to spend to much time reflecting on 2012. I will say that it did not lack for entertainment and adventure. My hope, since I live such a unique and interesting (at least to me!) life is to be able to do a better job keeping track of 2013 here on my blog. I have some new technology that should (I hope) help me do that, so we shall see. There have also been a small changes in my current pack - with one dog added and another gone to a great and wonderful home. At some point in the near future I need to sit down and determine my current short term goals for me and my pack and then it is on to figuring out what they are planning to teach me this year!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steel celebrating the morning of the New Year with a VERY chilly snowshoe hike!<br />Needless to say, we are not currently in Mississippi!</td></tr>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-13876711786942829292012-12-18T12:18:00.002-08:002012-12-18T12:27:21.408-08:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A friend and I were recently commenting on people who cry while competing with or training dogs. While not prone to crying in public - EVER I guess I can sort of understand where the emotions come from. Dog training is challenging on so many levels. You are attempting to communicate with another species. Sometimes the stakes for success are high. We often invest a lot in our success financially, timewise and emotionally. We put lofty expectations on ourselves and our dogs. We unfairly compare ourselves to others who may or may not have the same challenges. However it seems that many people who participate in dog sports forget the most important part - it’s a “sport”. Something that we do for fun (even if we get paid for it, if you are getting paid and still not having fun then that is whole 'nother conversation). Crying tears of frustration or unhappiness is taking the sport way too seriously, I don’t care what level you are competing at. If a failed start line stay or crooked heeling or a missed weave pole entry are our biggest problems then I think we are fortunate. Fortunate that we have the time, money, health and knowledge to focus on training our dogs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I recently drove to Chicago to compete for Steel’s VST title. Given the low odds of passing the test, making the long drive was a gamble . I am far from well off financially and had to plan my trip carefully (hotels that offer free breakfast are also providing a free lunch whether they know it or not). It would be nice to not have to pinch pennies quite so tightly. However I am also thankful to be well off enough to be able to buy food, put gas in my car and participate in something that I love doing. Having not passed would have made the drive home much longer but it would not have been the end of the world. Winning is nice but certainly not worth tears when it doesn’t happen. Being relatively new to dog sports, I am amazed at how cranky and unhappy people sometimes seem to be. I pretty much always think this but am particularly reminded of it this week. I was going to include one of my favorite movie clips – Tom Hanks screaming “There’s no crying in baseball!!” but thought I would add a few things instead that should make us cry....</span></div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-9660617610838643372012-12-15T18:16:00.000-08:002012-12-15T18:16:12.447-08:00It's not really that complicated....Suddenly having an unexpected new "training project" has resulted in my recently watching some training videos and giving a lot of thought to planning the details of my project. Thanks to the internet there is a vast amount of very useful information - not a lot is new to me at this point but some of the information serves as reminders or hints on how to tweak my own training. Note that I usually only access information from people that have a training philosophy relatively similar to mine. Open mindedness is good in some things but I am comfortable in the choices I have made regarding how I will or will not train. There is a HUGE amount of training information out there. Given human nature it is easy to make things very very complicated; sometimes to astonishing levels.<br />
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I teach dog training to a lot of great people for a living - not pet dog people but police and military dog trainers, search and rescue dog trainers, professional dog trainers etc. People at the top of their game and who usually really want to be in our classes and are passionate about learning to train better detection dogs. That in itself makes my job fun. The other bonus is seeing dogs learn in a clear manner, we don't complicate things but just allow the dog to channel his drive and teach himself how to satisfy that drive. And they continue to impress and amaze us in their ability to do just that - if we dont confuse them by making things complicated. Yes detection work is important. If it fails things blow up, people die, large amounts of drugs get missed etc. However the teaching is very simple - I merely explain through a series of steps that if he gets to the source of the odor then I will give him something that he badly wants. We need to take steps to ensure that the dog does not use other clues besides scent to be successful but otherwise all we need is a dog with the correct drives. We then get out of the way and let him work.<br />
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Below Steel demonstrates this concept. Notice in particular his response to the tennis ball when I start working him. He sees it and immediately starts searching. He knows the fastest and most efficient way to get the fight that the tennis ball symbolizes. He also incidently demonstrates that I am about as relevant in narcotics detection as I am in tracking.... <br />
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-14203804942650090582012-12-13T18:38:00.001-08:002012-12-13T18:38:14.051-08:00"Puzzles"<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have been slacking off at blogging lately. It is ironic that the times when I do the most thinking about dog training are also the times when I am too busy to write about it. I have just finished teaching two great tracking clinics, one in NC and one in SC. In addition we currently have a three week long detection trainers course in session here in Jackson. Really fun group of people and they have made some great progress with the dogs they are learning to train. I also have a few other dog training projects and updates that I will cover in the blog in the near future. While our schedule is not yet completed it is looking very likely that the dogs and I will be “on the road” for the first half of 2013. Should be a fun and interesting year!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the meantime, although he is now an official AKC Champion Tracking, Steel is not about to kick back and let me get away without tracking him. Problem is that although I am not really concerned about “titles” or winning; I am very goal oriented and am sort of struggling with how to keep Steel entertained and happy without a current goal to work toward. I have also been tracking some young dogs so can’t spend as much time aging his tracks right now, at least not the three to five hour old tracks that he was working. To keep him happy I have been setting up tracks with little weird scent pictures for him throughout the track. Stealing a term from detection training, I call them “puzzles”. Our goal is to challenge the dog and expand his skill set by setting up a puzzle. However the dog needs drive for the puzzles to be effective, the more they want to succeed the quicker they will progress through working the puzzles. However we don’t want to overface the dog and create in his mind about whether he can solve the puzzle. We want the dog the enjoy the challenge and to go away from the puzzle having gained knowledge and confidence solving it. Steel is at that point in his tracking and gets a big thrill working through tricky (at least for his current skill set) scent pictures. </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Here is a clip of a short track we did a few mornings ago. For those that are interested I have listed the "narration" below the clip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">0:00 The Start Routine. This is important and something that I really harp on when teaching. It has many purposes. Initially it gives the dog important clues about what is going to happen. It also creates a habitual mental state in the dog - they then have the attention and drive to do the task at hand. Through management and channeling drive in the proper direction I have a dog that comes out of the car, does his business and then charges over to demand to be harnessed and directed toward the start.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">0:33 Starting the track facing the wrong direction and article not exactly at starting point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1:28 Right hand turn was made in a stairstep pattern. If you look carefully you can see Steel do the stairstep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1:52 Isn't this a cool shot??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1:55 road crossing. This is an access road to the marina. Lots of vehicle traffic, people etc. A steep berm on one side, a rock slope and water on the other. Steel successfully crosses and then decides to double check other options, then obviously convinces himself that his choice was right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">2:33 You can see him start to correctly cross the road here. He then loops back and works the area more heavily before crossing. Do I know why? No. I DO however know that the only way to progress is to let him make his own decisions. With both detection work and with tracking I have observed that as the dog gains experience (on his own) the "wasted motion" decreases. That step cannot be rushed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">3:57 track runs to left along edge of ditch. Scent is likely to be pushed down into the low lying area.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">4:23 This part was fun. There are a series of berms that run to the right of the ditch. The track winds through the berms, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right and then sometimes up on top.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">5:30 The End....</span></div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-81075532778118402172012-11-23T17:35:00.004-08:002012-11-23T17:35:45.754-08:00The Accidental Agility Dog - Chapter Four<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am home briefly between seminars – we just completed detection seminars in TN and IN, last weekend I was in NC for a tracking clinic and I have another one in SC next weekend. I have also been busy with another “project” but I can’t talk about him, at least not yet….In the meantime a bit more about Amber....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After taking her into my house and socializing her and spending time with her I have become rather attached to the little space alien. She is not overly outgoing with strangers but she is VERY bonded with those people she knows. However, having three dogs already, I was determined to find a good home for her. A person came along who I thought would work out and took her home for a trial visit. That didn’t work out so well for a variety of reasons so she ended up being returned to me. Sort of like a little boomerang.... she keeps ending up with me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am still looking for a good home for her, provided it is the right one. However I have not been working very hard at finding one. She is a tough dog to place because it is hard to get to see her real personality initially and she needs a LONG time, like weeks, to settle in. I left her with my friend Dawn for three weeks while I went to Australia. I guess initially she was beside herself but Dawn wisely ignored her and let her retreat to her room/kennel whenever she wanted to and after about a week she decided that since I was gone she had better align herself with the new leader!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Without actively seeking a new home for her though the question is – what am I going to do with her? Along the way, although she hasn’t completely overcome her environmental issues, she learned to channel her inner Malinois and discovered she has DRIVE. This development along with her high energy level meant that I needed to do something with her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Since we were teaching a course at the time I took her through one of our detection trainer’s schools and trained her for narcotics detection. Although her role was to be an example of the problems with training improperly selected dogs (environmental confidence is our most important trait when selecting dogs) she didn’t do half bad. She continues to perform very well as we travel around the country teaching detection classes. We have had numerous people attend our detection seminars who are interested in the sport of nosework and I am considering adding those odors to her repertoire and titling her in that venue. W</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">hile teaching tracking clinics I also started her tracking and she quickly picked that up as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Amber detecting narcotics:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However there is one sport that she both LOVES and seems to be naturally adept at and that is agility. So the plan, until a new home comes along, is to train her for agility. It is also a bit of an adventure for me because, although I have trained a lot of obstacles for other reasons, I have never trained agility with the intention of competing in it. So the goal of the "The Accidental Agility Dog" blog posts is to chronicle our journey into the sport of agility. In the next post I will clarify the "rules" of our little adventure and provide a synopsis of where we are so far....</span></div>
Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-59316585474191030632012-11-01T19:39:00.000-07:002012-11-01T19:39:06.771-07:00It's that time of year again!!!We have an annual tradition every year a few weeks after Steel's birthday. The start of this tradition is a long story involving a $14.00 plastic pumpkin, lots of driving in circles, Tylenol with codeine and a tiny little puppy that I had no intention of taking home....That day ended with this pic...I was toast and the puppy went home with me a few weeks later.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmthQ9olWDRBGGH6Eqi5xkZIDt2LkSw8aEVFc-zpwsthuYt6UVRqV8ZAnBF-VaAhu2cFOX7HshqtHcTxaaQiKpMe00YixDoP2CNFv3iO-1ohfEWLLt7CLlyt0gqYArbzbhmpKHiPm11E_/s1600/Steel+photo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" qea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmthQ9olWDRBGGH6Eqi5xkZIDt2LkSw8aEVFc-zpwsthuYt6UVRqV8ZAnBF-VaAhu2cFOX7HshqtHcTxaaQiKpMe00YixDoP2CNFv3iO-1ohfEWLLt7CLlyt0gqYArbzbhmpKHiPm11E_/s320/Steel+photo+1.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
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So it has been an annual tradition to update the original pumpkin picture.<br />This year, in light of our achievements over the weekend I came up with this brilliant idea:</div>
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Steel however, being his father's son, was less than amused.<br />To him this was a waste of a perfectly good pumpkin (and ribbon).<br />Don't you just love the pained look on his face?</div>
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He did hold his stay though and of course I had to reward good behavior<br />(plus take about 200 pictures)</div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-80633962365762377652012-10-31T17:56:00.001-07:002012-10-31T17:56:25.873-07:00"Champion Tracker"<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I will get back to Amber’s story in a day or so but thought it was only fair that Steel got a little bit of “press”. This weekend, after a long drive north, Steel and I participated in an AKC Variable Surface Tracking test in Wheaton IL. Steel passed the test and is now officially “Champion Tracker" Esmonds Will of Steel. For those of you familiar with the sport you know that the VST has a very low passing rate. The odds of actually winning the entry lottery in order to even make the attempt are also low.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My happiness with him passing the test has very little to do with many of the reasons that people compete in dog sports. I did not do it in order to brag about him; although I think I am justifiably pleased with his performance. I did not do it for my own ego. </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My biggest feeling following the test is gratitude to Steel for cheerfully being the perfect “laboratory” and allowing me to experiment with training techniques on him. There is a saying “when the teacher is ready the right student will come along”. This has been so true during my career as a dog trainer and I have been fortunate to have numerous students come along at just the right time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Another saying that has stuck with me was the following "There's are three ways to do something; the wrong way, the proven way and a better way." I have always been dissatisfied with the traditional ways to train dogs to track. Especially for tracks that are aged and/or the scent conditions present challenges to the dog. </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have trained a lot of dogs to track (mostly for search & rescue or police work) and also taught tracking to a lot of handlers. However it is not easy to take chances and stray too far away from traditional methods when working with client dogs. Steel on the other hand, was mine, and also provided the perfect amount of raw material to the endeavour. He was not however a “freebie”. He was willing to become what I wanted but it still required no small amount of effort and planning to get him there. He tolerated my analyzing and over analyzing my training methods; striving to find a better way to teach and train and using him as the guinea pig to do it. I will never forget once making a radical change in handling him and the first day he stopped in mid track and looked over his shoulder at me. Giving me a “what the hell!!??” look and then I am sure he went down the track muttering to himself “there she goes again”….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He also taught me several important lessons along the way which effect not just how I train tracking dogs but training in every venue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We likely could have succeeded without those lessons which makes me even more aware of what a gift they were – almost as if he did it on purpose. Just when I thought I had everything figured out he would open my eyes yet again and show me a better clearer way to train.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This weekend was our second attempt at the VST – we tried at the Rottweiler nationals in May of this year. We drew the alternate position so thus went last in the lineup. By the time we got our turn it was well over 90 degree F. Steel started great and was progressing well but overshot a 90 degree turn on pavement and made the turn on the (much cooler) grass. In no way was I disappointed with his performance although how cool would it have been to pass at the Nationals, with his breeder there and him not being even four years old yet? However he performed the best he could given the conditions and I could not complain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It did mean however that I would have more time to spend training, not knowing how soon I could get into another test. So I had the freedom to look at my training further and experiment with some things. It is quite common for people to refer to this level of training as a “partnership” or requiring “teamwork” on the part of the dog and handler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This goes against how we train our dogs for detection. In that case we do our best to teach the dogs to work independently of the handler. We don’t do this by abandoning them but rather shaping their training so they learn that they can successfully solve problems on their own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So using that premise I looked at my tracking training critically. My goal was to get him to the level of training where I could allow him to run a VST type test basically off leash. This would require him to demonstrate that he had developed the understanding of the unique scent picture “puzzles” that might come up during the test and also have the skills to work through them. So I made some minor but important changes to my training and discovered an amazing thing – my dog knew what he wanted to accomplish and, with me out of the way, was so much better able to self teach himself how to handle weird scent pictures. He has always been a strong and eager tracker. However following that change there was a noticeable change in his demeanour – as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. This was so noticeable that I almost felt like I had to apologize for my previous training. And it not like I was a heavy handed handler in any way! I just </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">over thought things and in my desire to teach him the correct method just got in his way - probably more mentally than physically. Although my intention was to "read" him and handle accordingly, thinking I was being part of this so called "partnership", I was in fact in the way and a distraction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am not able to fully explain the significance of how grateful I am to Steel for putting me in the position to have that (as Oprah would call it) "ah-ha moment". Fortunately for me he doesn’t require such gratitude or explanations. I do however have to thank my good friend Mary Davis for our long, open ended philosophical discussions of dog training. But most of all I thank Steel for being the right student at the right time. Steel just barely turned four years old so we are a long ways done from training and learning and I can only anticipate what else he has to teach me....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p>Below is The Superhero following his successful track. The one where I spent 13 minutes hanging on to the end of the tracking line watching him do his thing. Speaking of that tracking line, I think I could have easily dropped it on the ground and walked with the judges<br />for all the help that Steel needed from me.</o:p></span></div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-64160725232744170872012-10-27T16:49:00.003-07:002012-10-27T16:50:05.567-07:00The Accidental Agility Dog - Chapter Three<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">OK one more post and then I will get to the fun training stuff – at least fun for me and Amber. It might be like watching paint dry for readers…. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">From the start my approach with Amber was that she was allowed to avoid and/or retreat from anything that scared her. I know the logic initially sounds weird but in hindsight it worked. Knowing she had the means to get herself out of an uncomfortable spot gave her the courage to stick around to appease her curiosity. It was not that she didn’t like people - she just didn’t trust them. Conventional wisdom would have suggested that I give lots of people treats and let people feed her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The theory being that this would make them less scary. There were a few problems with that. First she was too nervous to eat from people – if she won’t approach then it is hard to get the treat. Secondly I am not sure how well that actually changes the dog perspective – I suspect their new outlook is that sometimes the scary people dispense food. If they offer food then they might be safe enough to approach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This also gets back to my discussions about reactivity – threshold is very important. If the dog is over threshold then they are overwhelmed by the scary thing and anything that we do is relatively useless. Yes they might be responding to a correction or be eating a treat but their ability to connect either of those events to the trigger (what they are reacting to) is limited. Similarly if they are way under threshold then the “threat” is gone and they don’t learn from the experience. I have some tools that work well with reactivity but in Amber’s case I pretty much allowed her to control her own threshold. Too close and she was free to move away. However what I did not allow her to do was to bolt in a blind panic – if she tried I stopped her. Once she collected herself for even a second we moved away from the fearful thing. We can retreat but we have to do so gracefully….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I also avoided setting her up to have to “deal with” her fearful things. We just went out into the world for travel or training or whatever and if something was spooky then we dealt with it. In a lot of training venues I think people can go crazy with the proofing and I have an issue with it a lot of times. If a dog is reactive (whether it be prey drive,fearfulness etc) how does it help them to teach them that the stimulus that makes them reactive is going to be there each and every time they perform the task? All too often I think proofing goes to a place where the dog feels like he is being setup to fail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyway, getting back to Amber. She has made amazing progress in her ability to cope with the world. She will always be a little environmental “twitchy” I think. She is not crazy about strangers although she can handle them under the right circumstances and on her terms. Like a cat, her first instinct when encountering something suspicious is to retreat to a safe distance and assess the threat level. She also travels like a trooper, going in and out of strange houses, yards and motel rooms willingly. She even spent two weeks hanging out in the van while we were at the FBI Academy. Why was this impressive? Because the van was parked alongside<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>firing ranges – lots and lots of firing ranges. I don’t think there was a caliber of firearm that did not get shot while we were there. She even did some narcotics detection in the yard while that was going on. Pretty impressive for a girl who freaked out when some kids set off firecrackers last new year’s eve near our yard in MS; if she could have got out of the yard I don’ t think I would have seen her again….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The brave little munchkin alerting on narcotics in a big scary warehouse...</span></div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-27581005521486996502012-10-26T19:38:00.000-07:002012-10-26T19:38:09.002-07:00Things that continue to amaze me....Another Amber installment tomorrow, I promise. However I just had to share this clip of Steel tracking. I have watched a lot of dogs track - but it is one of those things that continues to amaze and impress me. I remember doing Steel's TDX track and watching him thinking "wow! look at him go!" Calix's first live finds was two kids that had run away from home in the middle of the night. No one was more surprised than me when we came up over the crest of the hill and there were two eight years olds trudging down the side of the road at 3AM. I understand the whole evolutionary basis for tracking and obviously predator species evolved to be able to determine the direction of travel of their prey. However it is not exactly WHAT they do that amazes me - it is trying to figure HOW they do it.....<br />
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In this clip Steel is approaching a track from the right. The track goes away from the camera, crosses the sidewalk and goes halfway down to the water and then turns right. He is going to come in from the right, hitting the track perpendicularly and then, within inches, determine the direction of travel. And you can see from his behavior , it is cursory check and then he makes his decision without a doubt.<br />
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<br />Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-27722580251435745892012-10-22T17:59:00.002-07:002012-10-22T17:59:48.432-07:00The Accidental Agility Dog - Chapter Two<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In working with people and their dogs “reactivity” is a common problem and one that many people seek help with. My rough working definition of the cause of reactivity is a broad one and encompasses anything that causes an excessive reaction on the part of the dog. I don’t dwell overly much on whether the reaction is “reasonable” or not because it doesn’t change anything; the reactivity is still there and diverts attention from focusing on performance. Likely due to her lack of socialization Amber was reactive to a lot of things. However unlike most of the reactive dogs I work with, her fear response was to panic and run away. If that was not possible she would turn in tight circles , looking for a “rabbit hole” to drop down in. It would be a challenge to list all of the things that made her fearful, uncomfortable or alarmed when I started working with her. However she also possessed a high degree of natural curiosity for many things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I would like to say I had a carefully planned out training approach to her rehabilitation. One based on learning theory and dog behavior etc etc. However I pretty much did what seemed right at the moment. One training concept that has always stuck into my mind over many years was a training concept regarding dogs who were uncomfortable on agility obstacles. Often the way to reduce their discomfort was to first teach them how to get off of the obstacle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This piece of logic has stuck in my head for a long time and I always keep that in mind when working with dogs. It helped me years ago with one of my dogs who was uncomfortable swimming as a young dog. Water was no problem but no way were his paws leaving solid land. Letting him run and play with the big dogs didn't help. Neither did coaxing or throwing coveted toys into the water. Since he was supposed to grow up and be a SAR dog he really needed to know how to swim! I finally determined that with THIS dog I was going to have to teach him to swim. I stood in the water just at the point where his paws would leave the ground and coaxed him to me with food. As soon as he got to me I fed him and while he was eating I gently turned him in a tight circle around my legs (causing his paws to briefly leave the ground) and I pushed him back towards land. I repeated this, gradually moving out into deeper water. In just one session he was comfortable swimming out to me; confident that he had the means to return to land. Once he knew how to save himself he could learn to swim without worrying. A</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">s an adult he loved to swim more than any of my other dogs and it always made me so happy to watch him, knowing that he would have missed out on something he loved.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boy on a mission. Now that he can swim!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Without really thinking about it I applied this basic approach to Amber. The thing that we often fail to realize with behaviors is that there is rarely a lot of thought involved and a lot of emotion. This is true with aggression, fearfulness reactivity; whatever. This is not just true for dogs but that starts to get outside my area of knowledge. These emotions have a physiological, visceral element to them that often does not respond well to reason. Knowing that your fear is not rational does not usually help you get over it! Forcing a dog to "get over it" without giving them coping tools is also relatively ineffective; especially long term. What also helped Amber was that she is my “accessory dog”. She was not a dog I raised from a puppy or paid a lot of money for – I had little invested in her and no big plans for her so that effected how I handled her fearfulness. I even gave her a name that I was relatively ambivalent about; as I was not expecting to keep her. To be honest, this approach probably improved my likelihood of being successful. She could be brave. Or not.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">To Be Continued (again)....</span>Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073454722668443925.post-68949175482717135692012-10-18T09:10:00.000-07:002012-10-18T09:17:05.058-07:00Amber's Story - The Accidental Agility Dog<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"><span style="font-size: small;">Almost three years ago I was visiting my current employer here in MS for a trainer’s course. During the course there was a litter of Belgian Malinois puppies, I think they were about 4 months old. There was a little female that caught my eye and right before the end of the class Randy offered her to me. I then spent several days paralyzed with indecision (people who have gone shopping with me for boots or cars or paint know this state well). However since I had three dogs at the time I decided to forgo adding another dog to my group. Upon returning home I lost Dugan unexpectedly to a brain tumor and I then acquired Jill as his potential replacement.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><em></em> </div>
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<em>Amber and her Siblings...</em></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Fast forward about two years and I returned to MS to work here. The little female malinois was still here. Older but essentially a kennel dog and had hardly been off the kennel property. Although she and her siblings were the offspring of two extremely high drive detection dogs, they themselves appeared to have practically no drive. Amber was the only one even remotely interested in a ball and was a half hearted interest at best. During her evaluation she was much more interested in visiting – but only with the three people she knew and trusted and only in her secure home environment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">So I decide to get her some socialization and find a pet home for her. Last December as I was heading out to a training clinic I threw her in the van with my dogs and took her along for the ride. I’ll never forget that first night when I stopped at a hotel and she was terrified of a fire hydrant. Then she was afraid of the flags blowing in the breeze. Having never left the property she was basically afraid of everything and everyone. The next night we arrived at my friend Dawn’s house in Roanoke which in turn brought on a whole new set of novelties. Turning on the TV caused her to bolt for the kitchen. Her natural curiosity overcame her alarm though. First the pointy little head and ears peered around the doorway like a hand puppet and then she very slowly tiptoed back out into the living room. That may have been partly because of another initially new but much less alarming novelty that she had discovered though....</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dawn's Living Room Couch!!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To Be Continued…..</span></div>
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Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276406317262692760noreply@blogger.com0