Our introduction to obedience Part 2

I am currently sitting here trying to block out a unsolicited lecture a woman is giving the man next to me. He is struggling with showing his dog, in rally I think, and she is giving some kind of a lecture about establishing his dominance as a pack leader. Seriously? I think a more effective lecture would be for him to praise the dog for something and to actually look at his dog. And how about not wandering all over the venue treating the dog like a piece of furniture. My pet peeve is people insisting on dragging their dog around where ever they go for their own needs, at the usual detriment to the dog's performance. The dog is doing his own thing 99.9% of the time and then they expect him to magically develop attention and focus once he steps over an invisible line into the ring? Unfortunately this lady is so loud I cant tune her out very well. If I look at my screen she wont be able to see me roll my eyes....

Anyhow...back to the results so far.

FRIDAY
Friday was our first day of showing. I experimented with Steel in a couple of different settings. First I set him up where he could see a lot of what was going on. He did not get overly excited by the activity but he watched it ALL closely and with fascination. He never did get to the point where is lost interest for him - it was like a very interesting TV show. I then gave him a period where he was more covered up and couldn't see everything. I worked him for a few minutes after each session and didn't really notice any difference in his level of focus. He was much more focused than he had been Weds and Thurs and gave me some nice heeling in short bursts. Jill pretty much came in the building like she was going to camp. She was content and quiet when kenneled and up and bouncy when she was out. The environment was pretty irrelevant to her, it was still about me and the toy.

After a long day of waiting around, with a few very brief sessions of training,we finally got out chance to show. Jill went first and she was almost perfect. In fact she ended up winning her class! Her heeling could be smoother sometimes but that is a matter of us getting more mileage and learning to work as a team.

Steel was also excellent in the ring. His heeling wasn't bad although not as sharp as usual - we were in the middle ring and there was a lot going on. I guess I was fortunate he could still manage to remember why we were in there! He did great right up until the second to last exercise. He managed to resist the urge to flirt with the figure 8 people, he even managed to keep him feet on the ground during the sit for exam exercise (my biggest concern). He even sat in the middle of the ring and watched me walk all the way around the ring. However when I got close to him on the return the self control was too much for him and he threw himself into my arms. Clearly he was expecting some kind of reward for the amazing amount of restraint he showed letting me get that far away from him. He was like " THAT WAS SO HARD MOM! DID YOU SEE WHAT A GOOD JOB I DID?!"

We then did the matches in the afternoon after the show was over. With Jill I just took her in the ring and did a run through.  After each individual exercise I played with her and threw her ball after releasing her. With Steel I worked more on his heeling and attention in general. He had beautiful heeling in the ring but would start glancing when we got to close to the activity in the other rings. "But mom!! They are throwing dumbbells over there!!"

SATURDAY

Saturday was another similar day of showing. Jill was perfect and AGAIN won her class! She actually looks happier IN the ring than she does outside of it. It was tough heeling pattern, we started halfway across the short side of the ring and did an immediate left turn right after the start. Jill is a long dog and starts off fast so that turn felt a little bit awkward to me. We then had a slow almost immediately after a right turn so it took her about a half a stride too long to go to slow. The rest of the exercises were perfect, she even wagged her tail while waiting for the "exercise finished" following the recall.

Steel managed to keep his wits together enough to qualify without any glaring errors. His attention was not great although he stayed in position for the pattern fine. He sniffed the pantleg on one of the "posts" during the figure 8 and also swung wide on the outside turns so he could gawk at the crowd. He DID however hold his exam and he managed not resist greeting me with enthusiasm after the stay (I could tell he wanted to though). Although I giggle about what a goofy dog he is I also had to point out to his breeder that the list of police patrol dogs who can also compete in AKC obedience is a pretty short! He really is a special dog.

For some reason the show went late Saturday and I was too tired to hang around for the matches. I did some brief work with Steel again working on his focus. I let him watch things and then when he gave me attention asked him for a brief period of heeling (about 3-4 paces) and rewarding him. I am still experimenting with this seeing what works the best - he is easily cued or corrected from being distracted (and by corrected I mean a small movement on his collar, not necessarily a collar correction), the problem is that if I don't cue or correct I don't get the attention I want. I don't necessarily mean to make this sound like a huge problem, he is perfectly manageable but his curiosity about what is going around him prevents him from giving me the performance I know he is capable of. What appears to be working the best is trying to be very black and white about when he can look at "Steel TV" and when he cannot.

So the results so far are 2 qualifying runs for Jill with 2 first places and 1 qualifying run for Crazypants. Given the fact that this is all VERY new to them both, I am very pleased with their work. They each got lots of compliments. Jill and I however did get yelled to for being tardy going back into the ring for the results - she was being visited by a whole family of little girls and I didn't notice we were back in. Rottie PR trumps ribbons everyday though!!

Our introduction to obedience competition....

One of the results of my career change is that my dogs and I are no longer being called out at all hours of the day and night at a moments notice. They still do plenty of work, especially when schools are going on, however they aren't working as hard as they used to in searching and detection. They are however used to being very active and training a lot so I needed to find something else to take up all the copious amounts of spare time we now have on our hands/paws. Sport obedience training at the moment seems to fit pretty well into my schedule, doesn't require a lot of room or logistics to accomplish so I have been fooling around with that with both Steel and Jill for the past couple of months.

Steel, due to his prior training, is a bit ahead of Jill in terms of skill. He is very very flashy and animated and when he is on he is stunning. I get compliments on his work all the time. He is also very interested in EVERYTHING going on around us (ooh look! a squirrel!) and his nickname is "swivelhead".  He is not dog aggressive or unmanageable but he tends to come into a crowded show environment with a swagger as if to say "Anyone else here a police dog? Yea I didn't think so....."  Give a Yngo son a badge and a gun and really, what can you expect??  In addition, all of his prior training has reinforced his being aware of his surrounding and going away from me for reinforcement. So this new training requires A LOT of brain cells on his part! I am still experimenting with what works best management wise for Steel. Does he do better where he can hang out and see what is going on? Is he better somewhere more covered up? Does he need a long warmup or a short one. This is all so different from the way both dogs are used to working (coming out of the car at 100mph with no expectations of self control, just find something as fast as you can even if it takes you hours).

Jill OTOH is Ms. Dependable. She is easy to manage (although she can hear a squeaky toy a mile away).
All she wants is her ball and to make me happy (I am not sure in which order however). She is more business like and serious and her errors are more likely to be bobbles because she is overthinking and worrying about pleasing me perhaps a little bit too much.  She is like me - not being able to practice enough makes her worry. Her work is a little less flashy than Steel's but I would say that she enjoys doing it more, Steel pretty much enjoys what he gets for doing it more.

On a whim I entered them both in obedience trials this weekend. The trials were right here in Jackson so it was easy driving, they offered training matches every night following the shows and they offer a beginner novice class, which is literally the simplest level class there is. So I decided to set the bar very low, give them a shot and see where they were in their training. I also wanted to get them acclimated to the show environment and see how they did.

Here were my goals for the week along with results:

Weds - match only.
Goals: Have fun with both dogs in and out of the rings. Keep things simple. Reward short sessions of attention. Have fun.
Results: Jill was excellent. She was put off by the strange environment for a few minutes (mostly wondering about all the dogs in every direction) and then she worked just like she does at home. She was bouncy and wanted to work for her ball. She had good stamina and didn't get worn out so clearly the environment wasn't getting a lot of her focus. Steel was VERY up initially although he did some nice work in the ring. I had to do a lot of rewarding for his decisions to choose me over the environment and I had to keep the tasks simple and short. Four steps of perfect heeling and treat verse a whole pattern.

Thurs - match only.
Goals: Same as Weds but add more skills to sessions. Run throughs in ring.
Results: Jill was again excellent. Did complete run through with no major issues. The only error was her confusion on if we were doing a sit for exam or a recall because both require me to leave her in a sit and walk away. She still occasionally anticipates the recall and staying so close on the exam prompts her sometimes to start to come to front. I do not correct errors of anticipation, I just don't reward them. It might not matter in sport obedience like it does in my other working venues, but I will not correct a dog who is anticipating what I am going to want, to me that makes no sense at all. Far better to be more clear about what I want, if she were breaking a lot that would be a big clue that I need to back up and lay a better foundation.  Steel was better focuswise than he was Weds night. I did a lot of ringwork with him, just not a runthrough and other than the poodle in the next ring catching his fancy he was wonderful to watch. My biggest concern (huge actually) is whether he can manage the self control to not throw himself at the judge during the exam....

TO BE CONTINUED.....

It's not a drug deal....really

The little female rottweiler puppy looking for a permanent home is on her way to Florida!

Here is how it all worked out, thanks to the power of the internet. I posted her pic on Facebook and Mike, one of my former SAR teammates in Vermont, knew someone in Florida who had just lost her 12 year old rottweiler and she wanted a pup. However she was 13 hours away - too far to drive in one day.

I then posted the dilemma on a private rottweiler discussion forum and Kathy, who had just been in Texas showing her dogs, knew a dog handler headed to Florida. Ashley was leaving this morning from Dallas, headed to Orlando and said she would be happy to pick the pup up on her way through Jackson.

So the pup's "foster mom" delivered her to me this morning and I arranged to meet Ashley south of the city at a Mc Donalds off of the interstate.  I arrived about 20 minutes early and after a few laps of the parking lot (it was also a truck stop) settled in a spot where I could see the exit ramp. I had no idea what kind of vehicle she was driving but I knew it was big enough to hold a lot of dogs - so I was guessing motor home or big van.

I am sitting there with the engine running, watching the interstate, when I notice some activity across the parking lot. Three guys wearing body armour over their civilian (undercover) clothing, firearms in holsters, were walking a handcuffed woman to a nondescript vehicle.

So having been in law enforcement for a while, I got to thinking about my situation....

So you're waiting for a woman to pick up a puppy?
Yes.
Where does she live?
I am not sure....
What is her last name?
I don't know....
What kind of car is she driving?
I am not sure.
Who is getting the puppy?
A woman named Penny who lives in Florida.
Where does Penny live?
Somewhere near Venice....
Have you ever met Penny?
No.
Have you ever met Ashley?
No.
How do you know Ashley?
A woman named Kathy gave me her number.
Have you ever met Kathy?
No.
Is this your puppy?
No. It belongs to a woman I met in a vet hospital parking lot...
Is this your car?
No it's my boss's.

Add that to the scrap of paper with people's first names and random phone numbers on the console and the fact I probably wouldn't be able to find the registration or insurance - I am so stuffed into the back of that camry in handcuffs. I mean seriously, who would believe such a story?? Lucky for me I obviously got there AFTER the undercover surveillance was over....




I am headed to Florida....Lucy is going to jail....



Amber Update

An update and a little bit more about Amber. She is a 2 year old Belgian Malinois. For those that aren't familiar with them, malinois in general are like german shepherds on crack. They are high energy dogs in a fast, athletic body. Amber is the offspring of two outstanding detection dogs. Her momma, Chuna, lives at the training center and is the boss's demo dog for detection classes. Her dad, Chico, used to live here but is now a drug dog for the Hinds County Sheriff's Department.

Momma Chuna - no she is not ignoring that ball,
she is just waiting until it is EXACTLY on the odor source.

Then this happens....

And Daddy Chico in action....

Amber has lived here at the kennels since she was born. Amber is very sweet and inherited all the socialness of both of her parents. However when she was tested she was much more interested in visiting with us rather than showing any interest in tennis balls. So she was not trained as a detection dog. She also is a bit environmentally sensitive - she has not seen a lot of things and often needs to check them out carefully before deciding that they are harmless. It is hard to know how much of that is because she has not been out in the world too much but there is a definite genetic component to that as well.

Since she was deemed as not having enough drive for detection work (we want VERY high drive dogs for that) the plan was to find a home for her. However that has not happened and since I liked her (I almost took her home as a puppy) I decided to take her with me and my dogs on recent training trip to VA and SC. It was good for her to get some socializing and see the world and my hope was that she would meet someone that would fall in love with her and want her.

My master plan (someone falling in love with her) backfired a little in that I really liked her and everyone who met her thought she should stay with me instead.  Amber didn't really do anything to convince them otherwise. She is pretty reserved with strangers - those of us who know her practically end up wearing her but she is barely willing to take food from strangers. She is a fun little dog though and I have been working her through her environmental sensitivity, she is learning a little bit of agility and obedience and has amazed me with how well she has taken to tracking.

She is still looking for a home but in the meantime I am learning what works best with a shy dog - quite the opposite o what I am used to, which is pushy obnoxious dogs who wont leave people alone! In the next post I will give more details on what specifically I am working on with her.

More of what I am used to! The opposite of shy and reserved!



Amazing creativity

I had planned to add another installment with the "critter quiver" in action (for dog training that is, not coyote hunting). However the weather did not cooperate with my plans but I will try to get video soon so you can all see poor Steel's eyes bug out of his head!

Over the weekend I went to a big crafts festival at the fairgrounds. "Crafts" covers a multitude of things, from someone making birdhouses in their garage to people carving beautiful bowls out of wood. This craft festival was a lot of the latter, over 200 amazingly creative people. Lots of jewelry, woodworking, all kinds of pottery and other unique things. It was like being in a museum; especially since most everything was pretty expensive!

However the best exhibit was the artist that created this:

Quite pretty but what is even more impressive is that the whole thing is made of metal, primarily tin and copper and then hand painted. The photos do not do justice to the level of detail in the sculptures. You cant help but touch them and even then it is weird because what you feel in your hand is nothing like you expect. You just can't believe that they aren't real plants.

They were amazing. Here are a few more:

The artist is William Wood, he lives in Clinton Mississippi. Sadly no website otherwise I would post the link.

The timeclock in his head?

Maybe it is the scientist in me but I find one of the most enjoyable things about dog training is is when the dog does something "wrong" and, as a result, shows me that he is smarter than I thought and that he is doing exactly as I have taught him. Take Steel's training session today as a simple example. He is doing very nice attentive heeling, very animated and prancey with great eye contact. Okay he forges a tiny bit (by AKC obedience rules) and I need to work a little on that before it becomes a habit but his animation is often so beautiful to watch (I mean cars sometimes slow down to watch as they are going by) that I hate to mess with it.

Below is Steel heeling without a major distraction nearby. Please note - Although I am posting this I am well aware that he is not yet "perfect", however I guess that would depend on how I personally define perfect. This is training, training is a process, something to be enjoyed in my opinion. Videotaping is an excellent way for me to determine what I want to emphasize and work on. You wouldn't think I would need to say that but apparently I do....

Since he is getting pretty solid with the behavior and has had a lot of rehearsal time, today I decided to add a distraction. The distraction I used is called a "CRITTER QUIVER". It is basically a battery operated stuffed bunny that sits on a spike and has a little seizure in the middle of the training yard. Yea that's right.... I happened to see it as I was wandering through Dick's Sporting Goods. It is for coyote hunting, presumably the coyote thinks it is a real bunny???

"critter quiver"

Steel quickly reminded me that although we have not done much official sport obedience training, he is well used to distraction training in many other contexts. As soon as he spotted that bunny he was ready to go (those of you have met his father will have no trouble picturing this). However he also immediately saw it for what it was. It was A DISTRACTION. So he did not look at it, he just offered me VERY animated heeling. As if to say "how well do I have to heel to get you to release me to go play with that thing?!" After about 20 seconds of heeling his animation would drop just a bit and he would start making motions to go toward the distraction, without losing eye contact.  Why? Because this is what I had taught him. I have played similar games with him since he was a puppy - asking him for a behavior that required him to ignore what he wanted (person, toy, decoy, food) and then, when he is offering me the behavior that I want, releasing him to go to it. This is how all of his narcotics training has been. I show him the reward object, he finds the narcotics, he gets the reward. See the decoy, ignore it, get released to get a bite.That is the way it has always worked. And, like the rest of us, I am a creature of habit and Steel clearly has an idea in his head of just how long to typically offer a behavior before expecting to get what he wants. Everything in his behavior today told me just how well he understood the game according to the rules that I had clearly taught to him.

As an exercise when teaching I often ask my students to picture what the dog would write if he sat down with a piece of paper and a pen and described the exercise.  Steel's answer to the above exercise would go like this (he would write in bold with all caps and exclamation points because that's the kind of dog he is):

"WHEN I SEE SOMETHING I REALLY WANT, I DO THE BEHAVIOR THAT LUCY ASKS FOR  REALLY REALLY WELL FOR 22 SECONDS. THEN SHE RELEASES ME AND I GET TO HAVE IT!!!!"

I am guessing on the exact amount of time but I bet it is that precise. So you can see the points of confusion in this exercise - I was expecting him to hold the behavior indefinitely and I was not releasing him to the bunny. Was this a major problem for the training? No. It did make me laugh while I was training though when I realized just how well Steel understood the game by the rules that I had taught. And also how well the clock in his head worked. He would do about 20 seconds of prancing heeling with a big goofy grin on his face, then make a motion toward the distraction, then offer about another 20 seconds of prancing heeling (like perhaps I had not noticed the first session), then a motion towards the bunny. It was, to be honest, pretty funny to watch.  It also did remind me though how much dogs can teach us when we look at behavior a little bit deeper and don't immediately assume that they are wrong.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science
, the one that heralds new discoveries,
is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'  -Isaac Asimov

Puppy looking for home!

I pulled into the driveway at home/work (they are the same thing) yesterday after doing some training with Jill and Steel. As I got out of the car I noticed this lady walking a little rottweiler puppy over to me. She picks it up and says "Do you know anyone who might want her? I found her on the side of the road." Seriously? I am looking around thinking this has to be a setup. Like I dont have 2 rottweilers, a german shepherd and a malinois in a tiny apartment. She is cute and feisty (but not in a bad way) and certainly seems none the worse for wear in spite of her rocky start. She was found dumped about a month ago (at probably at about 5 weeks old). She has goofy puppy ears and she also has a tail (very similar to Jill's). Here in the south there are no shortage of people wanting rottweilers or pitbulls and males are much more popular than females with those same type of people. In fact the woman fostering her has had several people call wanting the pup, but only if it is a male - which (rightfully so) raised a red flag with her.

Fortunately it is much easier to find a home for a cute rottie puppy than it is for a shy malinois girl so I have a few possibilities that I am working on.