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.