Tone it UP!

This week Roo has been working on his retrieve over the high jump. He's quite fond of his dumbbell and is enjoying it! But, he gave me a really good reminder that the tone of your voice matters. I tend to give verbal cues in a high pitched voice. I dropped my voice down and Roo sat still looking up at me, waiting for his cue. Smart little devil!

Lessons on tone I give my students!

Sounds happy, and act happy. Your dog is more willing to work with you. This means use a higher pitch for verbal cues. Don't forget to SMILE at your dog. I always tell the story of Soda who wanted to run out to the judge after going over the broad jump in open. We had a moment one day as he went towards the judge where he looked back at me. I gave him my biggest smile. He turned and came to front!

When you want your dog to focus on you, keep your voice quiet. Your dog has to really focus on you when you talk softly. When you talk while heeling you should always use your quiet voice. I use the comparison of human kids. When mom or dad yells, magically the kid's ears close up. When you whisper to them, they quiet down and listen intently.

Silence speaks volumes. Turning away from my dog and saying absolutely nothing (no feedback) is often much more powerful than terse words. Recently for a dog who thought it was a fun game to break his stay (because mom would come back....gee Soda doesn't sound like you) I stepped on the leash and had the owner turn, say nothing, and leave the room. You could see the wheels turning in that dog's head when mom didn't play the game any more.

Why Agility Dogs Can Heel So Well

Most often I hear complaints about the difficulties of having a multi-sport dog. Rarely do I hear someone say "I'm so glad my dog also does agility because it helps us in obedience." So, this post is dedicated to all of those agility dogs who bathe off the dirt from the horse arena and show off in obedience!

Greg Derrett inadvertantly helped my dogs with pace changes. My dogs read slow and fast with natural body language. Returning to normal from fast is as easy change for my agility dogs.

My dogs do very well with proofing. Thank's Susan Garrett for It's Yer Choice! This game of impulse control has eliminated sniffing in the ring for my dogs.

Send Your Dog! No problem! My dog was already use to being sent ahead of me to take his line or send ahead with a toy thrown. Running across the obedience ring was no big deal. Going out to retrieve was natural.

Call Your Dog! My dog has been chasing blind cross body line for reward zone. We threadle! My dog already knows to come in to me when my feet face the dog.

Stays with distractions. My dogs already know how to stay on the start line at a show....doing novice and open stays are no big deal! If your dog can be solid when they are waiting to explode off the start line, they can handle the obedience ring.

Just a few reasons why I'm glad my dogs are multi-sport dogs! Agility for obedience!

Fun with Roo!

After mopping the little building I teach in on Wednesday, it was too rainy and cold to go outside and play agility. So, Roo got to have some fun inside. We did 180's, 270's, and some single jump work along with a little obedience. I notice on my video that I need to click for close heeling when off leash. Video is a fantastic way to work on precision in your training. Things you may not notice while you are working are often revealed in video. I find my little FLIP super helpful in our training. A cheap tripod is very useful for this.

Video 1  Roo Playing

Video 2 Roo Playing 2

My Sit Wall

 I teach straight sits in halts by muscle memory and the clicker. The dog gains muscle memory by me ensuring that they have to sit straight. The dog gains an automatic sit in proper position by using the clicker.

I typically hear people recommend training halts against a wall. This forces the dog to sit straight. I've taken this method and tweaked it a little. I make sure my wall is something my dog will not lean against. I notice a lot of dogs leaning into the wall when they sit. Leaning interferes with getting good muscle memory of straight sits. To prevent this, I make one wall of my healing something that will move slightly if my dog leans against it. I typically use a metal exercise pen. I have them handy, and they move and rattle if my dog leans on them. You  can also use ring gates, but I find the stanchions get in the way.

I use the wall for about 1 week, back off and see what I get. I usually use it about 2 weeks consistently and then intermittently as a reminder for my green dogs.

Muscle memory is why I do not teach a halt by physically placing my dog in a sit. When you place the dog, they will automatically give some resistance against you and will not use their own muscles to get to the position you desire. Repetitive placement may work for some, but I don't recommend it.

Why I Disappeared...

Sorry for disappearing off the blog. We've had a rough time lately. In September Soda Pop started with a cough. I took him into the vet. They thought he just had an irritation and sent him home with medications. It improved from the initial cough, but he was still coughing every day. Soda was still running around like a maniac and seemed to feel fine. At an agility trial, Soda turned blue. I pulled him from the trial and went over our local vet's head to take him to the veterinary teaching hospital at Oklahoma State University. Soda was diagnosed with a thoracic collapsing trachea and a hiatal hernia. Based on the internal medicine vet's recommendation, Soda is retired from agility. They encouraged us to continue obedience so long as Soda can remain calm (hahahaha anyone who knows Soda knows what a struggle that is). They want him kept extra skinny, so activities like heeling are essential to his weight-management (I always keep my dogs trim, but they wanted another 1/2 lb off his trim weight).

We tried an obedience show out a couple of weeks ago. I only had Soda entered in rally. The first day we had a bit of a rough start. The second day it seemed to come together. It was hard not doing our normal, excited warm-up. Saturday Soda got a 99/1st place, Sunday 98/1st place. He finished his RA title!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zd0wq8yVkg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQVH_2O9aoQ&feature=related

Roo Bear made his debut in Beginner Novice obedience. I hadn't taught him halts or fronts yet, so I was REALLY pleased with his score of 196/1st place!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o60Ts9vj7P8&feature=related

Onward to Novice for Roo!

Roo is also filling in for the last few agility lessons I had paid for (for Soda). We'll see how that goes.

Note on the dumbbell. Roo is doing great on reaching and holding. Today I started free shaping the hold with him picking it up from the floor. He is reaching and holding at the obedience building as well as retrieving it with restraint.

Positive Dumbbell

Roo's very own dumbbell arrived today. I've toyed with the basics of free shaping a retrieve with one of Soda's dumbbells. But now this one is all about Roo! Roo's dumbbell is bigger and sturdier than Sodie's little toothpick dumbbells. Roo is a bigger dog and harder on his toys. I wanted Roo to have something more substantial than the tiny wooden dumbbells, but lighter and smaller than the big plastic one I have.

So today was the introduction to the hold behavior. The important thing to remember is to allow the dog to take the dumbbell of their own volition. If you are going to commit to a positive retrieve, you will never physically force the dumbbell into the dog's mouth. Before starting the hold, my dog must willingly take the dumbbell off the ground and have that on the a cue. Roo will willingly (quite enthusiastically) take a dead dumbbell (one just laying on the floor) or one that is thrown.

For little dogs I sit on a short stool. For big dogs I sit on the couch or in a chair. You want to sit with your legs open so the dog can sit right in front of you. I ask the dog to sit close to me.

Now I offer the dumbbell. And relax, smile, and wait. Some encouraging words are always helpful. I won't say "take it" until my dog is consistently offering to take it from my hand in this position.

Typically the dog will take it and spit it back out. That's what they've been going with shaping the retrieve. Depending on the dog, you can either wait for the dog to hold onto the dumbbell for a touch longer, or you can gentle help things. My dogs are very use to me petting their head, messing in their mouths, and rubbing their chins. For Roo, I gave a gentle chin rub which encouraged him to hold on for a moment. I do not use the clicker for this because I am usually using both my hands to hold the dumbbell. I use a verbal marker, "yes" followed by "good hold it'. If gentle help such as this is not comfortable for your dog, then do not do it. You do not want to add any displeasure to the dumbbell.

Keep is short. Get 5 or 6 very brief repetitions in. Then leave it be for the day.

Roo spent his entire short session wagging his tail and getting in my face. He had a good time.

The stationary work should include the dog reaching upwards, to each side, and downwards for the take portion. Once I teach a stationary take it, hold, out with me sitting down, then I will combine this with dead and active retrieves.

I tossed the dumbbell a couple of times for Roo after. He had a grand time!

Storm's a Brewin'

We had our first really good storm (hale, tornado watches) here in OK. When Roo was a pup, we desensitized with the sounds CDs. We had lots and lots of storms in TN. Roo was always calm and slept through them. He was fine with storms in VA. Last night, he got nervous. So here are some handy tips to help nervous dogs:

1. Breathe deep, breathe slow. Your dog will cue to your body language. That includes your breathing. Make a conscious effort to take deep, relaxing breaths.

2. Sit down in a comfortable place. Allow your body to relax. Let yourself sink into the couch or cuddle up under the covers in bed. Your body being relaxed will cue your dog to relax. If your dog likes to sit close to you, allow it.

3. Give a massage. Gently rub your dog down. If you are interested in good massage techniques, I recommend looking into T-Touch.

4. Light up the happy spots! When your dog eats, it lights up pleasure centers in his brain. Get some tasty treats and ask your dog for some simple behaviors. This is a good distraction. You can also feed every time there is thunder. In our house, that is called "good dog noise" and a tasty treat comes out when I mark it.

5. If your dog has a hiding place, allow them to go. Some dogs may go under the bed, in the bathtub, in a crate (covering the crate can make it more comfortable for some dogs), under a blanket. That's fine. If your dog can self-soothe, allow it.

Does this leash make me look fat?

Dr. Julie Interview

Check out these video interviews with Dr. Julie. This is an excellent discussion of healthy weights in dogs (and performance dogs) and how to evaluate weight. For us Maltese people, this is best done when the dog is wet so you can see the tuck up and hour glass figure. 

I'd also like to emphasize her mention of diet. The recommendations on bags are almost always too high. I strongly recommend feeding to maintain healthy weight. That usually means measuring your dog's food at every meal. It also means considering how many treats your dog receives. You may need to decrease meal amounts on days you have training sessions. Many people use the meals itself as a training treat (I tend to do this). 

So what type of food is best for your Maltese? Notice I didn't say dog. Breed, dog size, and activity level have a huge influence on what diet is appropriate for your dog. For most Maltese a diet moderate in fat and protein works well. Super-high protein foods are really built for extra-active dogs who need the extra fat. I would stick to a food with less than 30% protein (for dry food) for a Maltese. A diet with some grain or carbohydrate content is usually a good choice (it decreases fat and protein content). 

Something Maltese folks may also gain from this video is the mention of straight angles in the rear influencing genetic luxating patellas. Something you see with these straight dogs is that their rear legs are bowed. This bowing also contributes to the conformation of the knee joint which encourages luxating patellas. 

I hope you enjoyed the videos as much as I did! 

Click!

Of course I used the clicker for choose to heel with Roo...and in the next week will pull it back out to refine his understanding of heel position (he's slightly forging with right turns). But what about those older dogs who know how to heel? Don't forget about your clicker for them.

Soda got to heel with the clicker outside today! We clicked for perfect stationary heel position. We clicked for lovely attention. I decided I should do this more often. I think as a trainer, I've grown somewhat complacent with things my dog "knows". All behaviors will get sloppy if they do not get occasional feedback. I know I've been a bit lazy with Soda, because he "knows". I think our heeling and finishes would be much more crisp if I focused on giving Soda clear feedback more often.

The brilliance of the clicker is the precision of the feedback. No matter how great your voice marker is (and I'm not bad), the click is more distinct for most dogs. Don't forget about that clicker! And more importantly, if you are having a struggle, don't forget to bring your clicker out to help your dog. This is all about providing your dog with information so they can succeed.

Marching Time!

Today we took heeling outside with Roo. He is doing very well with his figure 8/serp/spiral work inside. I thought we'd give left and right turns a go. Roo was definitely ready. He read my left turn cue beautifully from the first time. With a little verbal help he got the right in no time. Some liver biscotti didn't hurt either.

We will work on this for a while.

The last piece of heeling for me is really working fasts and slow. And lastly knit-picking on halts. Roo has been offering pretty good halts, but clearly doesn't have the concept down yet. We will continue to do our stationary work and remember to set him up for success (halting against a wall) when practicing them on the move.

Foundation Reminders

Last week Soda attended his first agility class here in OK. It was a pretty good class! I really appreciated our instructor noting Soda's speed changes. I firmly believe his slowing down with  my front crosses is because I am late. If I do a lead out pivot he flies right through. If I do a rear cross, he blasts away.

The other thing I have been working on is Soda's difficulty going into the weave poles at speed. Someone wisely noted to me that he has to throw his back end to do that and thus misses his next set of poles. I want to set him up and get some video so I can study the difference of pushing him in at speed and letting him ease up and increase his speed in the weaves.

I'm not too focused on Soda's next trial. It is on dirt which is a tough surface for him sometimes. It is also AKC which means we have a lot more time. I am trying to focus on his USDAA trial the end of October. I've been choking a bit on Soda's P2 runs. I want to see us having some Q success and a relaxed mama!

Which brings us to the title of this piece - remembering our foundations work! Namely focus forward. I ran both dogs last week in practice. Both of my dogs take their line. I can do lead out pivots with both dogs. I noticed quite a few dogs in our class didn't have start line skills and definitely did not have focus forward. Anybody doing agility, I highly HIGHLY recommend going through Greg Derrett's Foundation work.

When things come together - heeling concepts

I recently decided to work on some heeling with Roo. I teach heeling in two parts:
1. Choose to heel in motion
2. Stationary heel position
The first part I do both on and off leash (so we set the dog up not to have issues going off leash later). I use the clicker at first. I make sure to only do straight lines or circles - no turns as the dog has not learned the footwork for that yet. As soon as the dog is offering the behavior readily, I get rid of the clicker and use a voice marker. Then I put it on a variable schedule of reinforcement so the dog gets a toy tossed, a treat, or praise. I also add the word heel at this point (right before the dog hits heel position). So, what it turns into is I start walking, the dog heads for heel, "heel", a couple steps, marker, reward. I increase my criteria (number of steps at heel) very quickly.
Stationary heel I either teach with a lure or shape with the clicker. For Roo, I used a lure (Soda was shaped). For my little dogs I teach a flip finish (finish left) first. One of the criteria it is important to take notice of is how long the dog sits in heel until you reward. You have to increase this time quickly - if the dog knows "wait" or a similar command, you can use that at first. It is important the dog learn to sit and wait in that position until otherwise told. I do not teach the other finish until my dog is heeling in motion with auto-sits.

What I love about using these methods, it that the dog quickly combines both pieces of heeling to do automatic sits. I think of that sit like a stationary cue in agility - I stop, the dog should come in to me. Roo is now doing figure 8s and fasts. He has already learned about turns. Next up will be left and right turns. I find the speed up on the outside, slow on the inside of figure 8s and about turns set the dog up for fast, slow, and other turns.

I'm having fun teaching these basics with Roo!

Rusty...

Well, I have to say we are a little out of practice! Soda has only been worked in our house since the move. It is waaaay tooooo hot for him outside here (over 100F pretty much every day). I think I had come to take for granted Soda's generalization of his obedience skills. In reality, he was constantly worked in different places in Virginia - from our home, nana's house, work, obedience class, off to the side at agility class, the pet stores, etc. When I went to work him at our new agility facility's little obedience building, my dog was gone! He was distracted and stressed. Stress is rather unusual to see in Soda. This certainly brought to my attention just how badly we had been slacking off. Unfortunately, there are not many places in town we can do to practice indoors in the air conditioning. Once it cools off, we have TONS of outdoor options. We went to the biggest pet store in town today to do some basic practice. We worked on heeling with lots of feedback. We did some recalls. We practiced his signals.
Good signals at home are relatively new for Soda. He has only recently learned them. Needless to say, it didn't surprise me that this exercise fell apart in a new place. It was important to note Soda's body language. He was not sure. He offered numerous fast tail wags (which equated to "I'm trying, did I get it Mom?"). His body tended to be curled up instead of straight (for example, if he did a down, he was curved on himself instead of a straight sphynx figure). I responded to Soda's body language by helping him. I stood close to him and gave him a few verbals along with his signals. When he succeeded I gave instant verbal feedback to bridge me giving him a foot treat.
Most importantly, Soda continued to try during our session. He worked hard and responded to my feedback.
This is what is commonly called bounce back. It means when the dog fails, they come right back to try again. They do not shut down (melt, stop working, exhibit signs of stress). The fact that Soda can work through this process is huge in and of itself. There are a few games that can help encourage bounce back.
1. It's Yer Choice! The game of impulse control. (check it out on youtube)
2. Hot and Cold. Basically a clicker or verbal marker and a NRM to help the dog figure out what to do in a game.

New Starts!

A few weeks ago I got a crazy thought in my head - Roo is getting a brain (at the ripe age of 3), why don't I enter him in obedience! So I immediately entered him in beginner novice at an upcoming show. Fast forward a few weeks....what in the world was I thinking entering my dog with no formal obedience training?!?! I've decided to insist I just want to know how he is in the ring, and go with that excuse LOL
So we've been doing a little heeling, a little bit of stays, a little bit of recalls. He's a bright dog. Today I pulled out some cones to introduce the figure 8. The little snot was carefully moving his back end around the inside cone in a couple of tries! Maybe I should have a bit more faith in him.

In other news we found a great agility instructor! Soda starts the Advanced Agility class next Saturday morning. Hopefully he'll be back in shape for our October trials. I am going to work Roo, but I haven't decided if I want him in a class yet.

I am also going to start teaching some competition obedience classes. I've had interest in clicker training for competition. I think it will end up being a heeling class and rally novice class for starters. Hopefully we'll get some awesome clicker trained dogs in the ring this spring!

Welcome to Oklahoma!

Well, we're pretty much settled in Oklahoma. The dogs seem to like the house and neighborhood. We're busy looking for places to train (and maybe teach)! So, in the meantime I'm busy job hunting and advertising for private training lessons.

We've planned some fall trials. We'll be at:
Kay-9 AKC Agility trial in Ponca City, OK October 1&2
SSKC Obedience and Rally in Enid, OK October 15&16 - Roo's debut in Beginning Novice!
Happy Dog USDAA Agility in Nashville, TN October 22&23 - Roo's debut in P1!

And here's the latest article I've had published online:
Aggressive Puppy?

Getting ready to move

We finally have our orders and are preparing to move in less than a month! Needless to say, I've been a bit preoccupied.

This week we worked on open stuff. Monday we did a run through. I'm really pleased with the healing we've been working on. He still crabs, but I don't think we can fix that because it is natural for him in that position. I jumped him at 4 inches, and he looked at the broad jump funny but went over with no problem. I guess it wasn't much of a jump for him.

I've really limited our go-out practice. It has had the desired effect of getting rid of some of the sloppy behavior (running and spinning in particular).

We have been working on signals (sit and down) up close (about 10 feet) and in random orders and with variable schedules of reinforcement. For example, he is laying down and has to sit, down, sit then reward. Then down and reward. Etc. This is building his drive and response time for the behavior. I need to get down to business and work on the recall signal more. I've let that one go for a while. I've decided on the signal (open sweep with the left arm), so just need to pair it up with a recall behavior.

I have been holding off on articles. He's been really snotty (allergies), and I don't want him to pattern mouthing each one. He can do it by taste, but I'd rather not practice that. We've played a couple of find it fun games (hide 1 in a room and then have him search).

I need to touch base with our friend Samantha about gloves. She was looking at getting some more significant big gloves to work her Maltese with. I'd like the same for Soda. He's doing nicely with his gloves, but it just seems like he barely has a tiny bit of the glove to hold on to. I have big, thin gloves from our friend Leslie which are a little better, but way too thin.

On the agility front...not much! We've pretty much been rained out. Hopefully we'll make a class Sunday evening. We both need the outlet!

Oh, and I got some orange cones at Target in the dollar bins. Great for practice! We'll see what silly things we can teach Roo to do with them.

Back to moving prep!!!

A Couple of Videos

I had trouble uploading, so excuse the quality.

Soda's first P2 Snooker leg


Rally Advanced B AMA Nationals

We had a lovely week off from training. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will clear up for some agility double box work!

Hmmmm....

So today left me wondering a little...

First run was standard. Too slow.

Second run was snooker. I got a run for the 2nd half of the course and we got our first P2 Snooker Q! Soda did a really good job.

I had high hopes for jumpers...and wow did I have one slow dog. He was panting and had drunk a bunch of water. Silly me, he's been on a high dose of steroid all week for his neck.

So now I'm wondering how much was him feeling off, how much is all of the other issues I talked about yesterday. We'll have to talk it over with Audrey.

Hopefully I'll have a few videos to post (plus rally from nationals) this week.

Left wondering....

Sometimes Less is More, TAG day 1

Sometimes less preparation right before a trial is more.

This past week I took Soda out to the trainer's house to work him a little in her wooded area. I knew Soda had a bit of trouble with the ground before, but I didn't think much of it. Well, not only did he have trouble on the ground, but that meant we practiced being SLOW. I have previously been very persistent about not allowing Soda to run slow in training. We run fast or we he sits out. We have done so well recently. Last trial he had awesome speed. Soda's weaves at the show today were so slow. I caught myself cheer-leading in the course. Luckily I noticed and at the end of the day I ran him like I would anyways and got bursts of speed out of him. At the end of the day I also practiced some shadow handling with just a sit-stay and taking off running. I am going to start out with this tomorrow and stick to my handling (including no cheer-leading) tomorrow. I feel like practicing slow just shot us in the foot.

On the bright side, our very first time in P2 Relay we got a Q and 1st place!
Our P1 Gamblers run finally had everything come together. We made it around with  my planned course and Soda did the gamble! We were just over time because I made a little snafu right before we started the gamble which took up a bit too much time. My fault. I was very happy with our run.
P2 Standard was okay. I had 1 major handling error (I forgot a front cross and chucked a rear in at the last minute so he spun after the jump). Other than being SLOW it was okay. I'm gaining a bit of confidence with the amount of handling in P2. At first at our last show I was overwhelmed...but Soda has shown if I stick with my plan, he does his part.

More agility fun tomorrow!

Maltese Nationals

We finally made it home last night from AMA Nationals. It was a blast as always! This year was the first year we had rally at Nationals. Soda competed in advanced b (first time doing rally in 3 years!). He got a 97/100 and 4th place. I was very proud of him, especially considering he didn't go on until late afternoon and spent the whole day crated. He was a little sloppy but such a good boy. The obedience faction at Nationals seems to be getting bigger and bigger each year. It is wonderful to see. Video to come.

We played with our articles a couple of times at Nationals. Soda is doing well and progressing through the additional numbers of articles quickly each time. I'm still having to give the occasional reminder to "finish working the pile", but overall improvement. I haven't been working on a daily basis, so I can't expect too much.

We have a USDAA trial this weekend. I have to say I had just a little bit of nerves looking at the final confirmation e-mail...five of his six runs are P2! Eeeep! Hopefully we will make it out to Aunt Audrey's after work tomorrow for a quick teeter and weave practice. No flying off the teeter this weekend, please! I have to go out of town Thursday night, so this will be it for agility practice this week (other than some crate games). Luckily this trial is very close to home AND Soda has his "big boy" jump height card so no check-ins.

Crate Games and Its Yer Choice!
I think we showed off the benefits of these 2 training games this weekend at Nationals. Soda was able to pop right out of his crate and work obedience without a long warm up (other people were warming up for 5+ minutes). I did not have to worry much about timing taking him our to our run. We demonstrated the completed on-leash version of Its Yer Choice and "Food on the Soda". I explained the benefits of not needing to proof for every distraction because my dog "knows the game". Our friends were impressed at Soda ignoring a high value flossie chew and walking right over bags of treats even though he was not asked to heel. I think the value of these games to our performance in all venues has been priceless. I think each of these might be a good topic for a blog post.

Hog Dog Trial

We had an awesome time today at the Hog Dog USDAA trial in Millersville, MD! It stormed all night so the grass was still very wet this morning. Soda was a trooper and did not mind at all! His first run was our very first time in P2 standard. I was a little concerned, but Soda did just fine. I didn't hold on to him long enough on the dog walk/tunnel discrimination - but that was my fault. He was awesome otherwise. He launched right off the end of the teeter. Whoopies! Of course, Super Soda was not phased. He kept right on hauling fluff butt around the course. Here are some pictures of his standard run our friend Rubina (Parker's mom) took.

Our next run was P1 pairs relay. We had no partner! Not only that, but the only other P1 dog was a 22 inch German Shepherd. It turns out, the odd couple made a great pair. We had to run with big dog time (a few seconds faster than little dog time). We Q'd and both dogs finished their P1 Relay titles! Here's the odd couple (photo by Rubina again):

The day wasn't over yet! The grass dried up and the sun came out. It was 87 degrees out when I went back to the car after the last run (parked in the shade with the dogs in it). Soda does not do heat well (he has some upper respiratory troubles). I wet him down a bit and off we went for P1 Snooker. We don't call him SUPER Soda for nothing. He had a lovely run, Q, and new title. Here's the video:

P1 Snooker run

We had a lovely day. I was very pleased to say there was not anything I was unsure about handling. Soda was fast, even in the heat. Things seem to be falling into place (thanks Audrey). Now to get packing for Nationals! 

Thanks Rubina for hanging out and taking photos. We miss trialing with you already! 

Jackie & Jami's Carbonated Beverage, CGC, CDX, RN, NA, NAJ, PD1, PS1, PJ1, PK1, PR1

Takin' it Slow

Soda is making progress on slowing down. Last go-around he only grabbed once and worked up to all 12 articles! I'm almost ready to take this show on the road. I'll see if I can get some video up soon.

We have an agility trial on Sunday. Soda is running snooker, relay, and standard. Hopefully we will get a little weave time in this week. The weave polls I have are probably 18 inches and a set of 6. Thank you Auntie Audrey for letting us use them! However, Soda weaves very differently with much wider-spaced weaves (22 and 24). It takes him a time or two through to adjust to the difference. Hopefully we will have a Super Soda Sunday, especially out P2 std debut!

Setting Goals...

by Jim Poor Photography

I figured I should start my training blog just as I would start any of my clients' journeys into dog training - with a goal. For most of my clients, it is a behavior problem they want to resolve. In Soda's case, a goal often begins with a title. Our current goal is to finish all of his P1 titles as well as giving a decent performance in rally at AMA Nationals. Our back-burner goal is to work on our utility skills. Those are very broad goals. The objective of this blog is to follow the training it takes to get to these large achievements with our smaller, day-to-day training plan goals. 

Today's adventure was a problem-solving session for Soda's articles. Soda's articles seemingly broke down with the pressure of a "judge" looming over him. We have been working with people and even the "scary coat and hat over the ring gate." I noted a lack of progress with my systematic addition of people pressure. Today I removed the people and set him up with a couple of scenarios to see what I had. 

1. A relatively tight grouping of all articles. Hesitation on the first send, with 2nd command success. 

2. All of the articles in a pile, so he actually has to sift through the pile to find his article. Success.

3. A looser grouping. Hesitation and he hurriedly grabbed any article to get out of there. 

My conclusion was he is worried about working a spread out grouping of articles because his "timer" goes off. His body language was clearly worry. 

I played a scent game in the house and he was not worried about the game. 

Training goal for articles: Teach Soda to take his time and work the whole pile. Include various distractions and looming people. 

I started with 3 metal articles on a variety of spreads. Soda is less likely to grab a metal article than leather. I used verbal encouragement for the first 2 attempts, but cut it out quickly. I kept the distance of the send short. We worked up to 5 metal and 2 leather. 

Plan for next 2-3 session: Repeat the same, starting with no more than 3 articles, adding 1 more article at the end of each session. Re-evaluate at the end. 

Things to Note!

Watching your dog's body language often clues you in on your problems. 

Removing levels of difficulties 1 by 1 can help determine the problem. When I got the same response despite removing what I thought was Soda's problem (people pressure), I knew I had another underlying issue. 

Failure can build strength in your training. Soda is learning that if he fails with his articles, he must continue to work with me. He can trust that I will help him succeed. This skill has been priceless to us in agility. Yes, you can teach your dog how to fail and come back.