Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Novice 200 (and 199)

When you are training it can be useful to see how a perfect performance (the ultimate goal) is suppose to look (in this context a perfect performance is defined by a score of 200).

Below are some videos of dogs earning scores of 200 (and one 199) in Novice. (I apologize they are all Goldens doing Novice but that is what I had on hand).

* OTCH Coppertop Celebration UDX8 OM2 TDX JH WC CCA 
VCX
CanCD
(Dixie)
http://www.coppertop.net/dixie/index.htm
(scroll down until you see the Novice video, Dixie
earned her CD with 3 scores of 200)

* Coopertop Lil' Red Waggin' UDX TDX JH CCA VCX
(Spirit)

http://www.coppertop.net/kids2/spirit/index.htm
(scroll down until you see the Novice video)

* Gaylan's Fire in the Sky CD (Zahra)
(below is video of Zahra, I am not sure if this
is her score 200 performance or another high
scoring performance from that weekend)



Here is the Zahra receiving her 200!
(pretty good deep class of Novice B qualifiers)



* U-CD Tanbark's Number Two Pencil, CD, JH, AX,
OAJ, OF, JS-E, GS-O, RS-O,NAC, WCDex, SRD (Quiz)



Monday, August 24, 2009

Rent Dog Training Videos

I love dog training videos and really see the value of them over say a book or a verbal description of how an exercise is done. There is nothing quiet like actually SEEING it. However dog training videos are often expensive and often you only need to watch them once, either because once is enough to learn everything the video has to offer or because the video does not offer what you were looking for. Sometimes you can manage to borrow a video you want to see from a friend but sometimes your choice is "don't see it" or "buy it". Well not anymore... check out this cool site (see below) where you can RENT dog training videos:

http://smartflix.com/store/category/51/Dog-Training

They don't have everything but I found some videos that I have wanted to see.

Friday, August 21, 2009

SAY YES TRAINING REMINDERS by Susan Garrett

The following is by Susan Garrett the full article can be see at: http://www.clickerdogs.com/trainingreminders.htm.


1. Work=play=work. All play is fun and so all work should be as well. If your dog makes a decision during play (example he grabs his toy without being invited to do so) you are reinforcing his right to make decisions during working with you as well (ahh, maybe I will chase the cat rather then practice A Frames right now!).


2. POSITIVE does not equal PERMISSIVE. This is the guiding principle of Say Yes Dog Training. You must be consistent. If a behaviour is acceptable at home (example the dog choosing not to lie down when told) it is also acceptable during work. Approach training and home life with a patient disposition and a strict application of what is and isn’t acceptable. Training happens 24 hours a day 7 days a week; your dog is always learning regardless if you are actively training or not!


3. Behaviours are shaped by CONSEQUENCES. Be aware of what is reinforcing your dog. Review and alter your list of reinforcers as your dog grows up, especially the “activities that reinforce” section.


4. Use your RECALL, to evaluate your relationship with your dog. Be diligent at making improvements each day in the level of intensity your dog has for working with you. Work at building a better relationship with your dog rather than making excuses for his performance. Work with the dog on the end of your leash -- and turn him into a dog other people wish they had!


5. Be aware of what RESPONSE you are rewarding each time you give out a cookie or toy. What did you click—did you see eyes? Did you want to see eyes when your dog is performing that skill? What did you intend to reinforce? Does the dog know?


6. VIDEO at least one training session every second week. More if possible.If progress isn’t as fast as you think it should be for one particular skill, video three or four consecutive training sessions of that one skill (each video clip should be no longer than 3-7 minutes). Review each video individually upon completion – then view and evaluate the entire series. What did you reinforce? Can you pick out why your session isn’t progressing as fast as you would like? If you can’t critique it yourself, ask a friend to review it with you.


7. THINK, PLAN, DO, REVIEW (Bob Bailey). Plan your work and work your plan. Time your session or count reinforcements so you don’t train your dog to exhaustion. Do not begin to train until you have worked through your mechanical skills and planned where you will deliver your rewards. Keep your training session short! After each session, write in a journal recording your progress and plans for future sessions. Do what will assist you reaching your goals; do not get wrapped up in “finishing as sequence or exercise”. Do what is best for your dog!


8. MIX UP YOUR REINFORCEMENTS so that you are working with toys and food. Only offer a reward you know your dog will want. Once a reward is offered, do not accept your dog not taking it. You can use food to reinforce an attempt to play (or the other way around) but never use food to reinforce a dog that has declined the opportunity to play or decided to stop playing. What would you be rewarding? Of course you would have rewarded your dog for making the decision to NOT play with you (and remember work=play).


9. Whenever frustration sets in remind yourself that “YOUR DOG IS A MIRROR IMAGE OF YOUR ABILITIES AS A TRAINER”. Only when you take ownership of your dog’s shortcomings will you be able to turn them into attributes.


10. CLICK FOR ACTION REWARD FOR POSITION. (Bob Bailey) If your dog barks after each click and you feed them, what are your reinforcing? When initially shaping or re-training skills. it is important to deliver your rewards as soon as possible after the click (1-3 sec) – remember the reward reinforces everything the dog does between the time he hears the click and when receives his reward.


11. Train to IMPROVE YOUR WEAKNESSES. All of us tend to practice what we are good at, or the dog we find easiest to train, it is reinforcing for us. If there were exercises you felt uncomfortable with this weekend it could be a result of a weakness in your current training program. Be sure to work short sessions on the skills you are not as graceful at performing.


12. Bob Bailey attributes training problems to: timing, criteria or rate of reinforcement. Have someone observe your timing with your clicker, alter your criteria so your dog can succeed and keep your rate of reinforcement as close to 70% as possible.


13. Cheap responses once rewarded will always be lurking (Bob Bailey). Be aware of ‘what else’ your dog may be doing when you click him for a desired response (i.e., barking).


14. Are you a double L? (…a lurer & a lumper) Your dog’s lack of progress may be due to your not “splitting” the desired behaviour into small enough responses. Be certain you are returning the hand that delivers the treat back to starting position after each rewarded response. Work to create a “thinking” dog not a dog that needs to be prompted by you before he can begin his work.


15. YOU CAN’T HAVE SPEED WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING. Got D.A.S.H.? If you are working many new environments and you start each session with the maximum amount of “D”, the “S” will come once you have the “A” Do not try to make your dog be fast until he first understands how to be correct without prompts or lurers from you.


16. WHAT IS YOUR CRITERIA? Identify it, learn it, work it live it. Maintain criteria, ALWAYS. The easiest thing to do is to train a behaviour. It is a far, far more difficult thing to do to maintain your criteria for the life time of your dog. That is what makes a great trainer.


17. Don’t ever ignore your dog while training. If you are getting further direction or clarification from an instructor, tug with your dog or, hold his collar & stroke him or put him into a relaxed position or in his crate. What ever you do, do not finish an exercise and turn away from your dog to talk to an instructor; it shows a lack of respect for your canine partner. Your dog should always be recognized for his effort to work with you.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Building Drive by "being" a bad dog trainer by Susan Garrett

I just LOVE this Susan Garrett video. Be warned it WILL make you laugh. I still laugh every time I watch it. Watch how by using the wrong command and than "fussing" the dog (essentially replicating what a bad dog trainer may do) Susan is causing the dog's drive increase, notice how much more motivated Buzz is to play the tugging game at the end of the video than he was in the beginning.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Great Blog by Fanny Gott

I found something ... a great Blog by a professional dog trainer who lives in Norway named Fanny Gott (isn't the Internet great) .
She competes in agility, obedience, does search and rescue, and teaches tricks. Her blog is full of wonderful training tips, beautiful pictures, and fascinating videos.

If you have time check it out at: http://www.fannygott.com/
I suggest going back through the her post achieves and learning about how she is teaching Squid to heel, look especially at her posts from Dec 22 2008 - Dec 24 2008.
I also love the post from Aug 16 2008 that contains a video of Fanny and her dog Missy competing in the Finals of the Norwegian Obedience National Championship (the obedience competitions in Norwegian are held according to FCI rules, for more about FCI see my post from July 2 2009 entitled "FCI obedience").
Finally I suggest Fanny's post: http://www.fannygott.com/how-to-prepare-your-dog-for-obedience-trials.

Enjoy.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

"Great Dog, Shame About the Handler"

Rosco and I ran agility this weekend ... at least we attempted to. Rosco did wonderful BUT my handling could not have been worse. We ran wrong course after wrong course. After NQ-ing multiple runs on Saturday I decided it was a better use of my time to stay home and clean the house on Sunday. Did I mention Rosco did wonderful and at least the house is now spot-less. As Greg Derrett would say "great dog, shame about the handler".

Hopefully you have never had an agility weekend like this, but if you have, know that you are NOT alone. Here is an agility bloopers video from the Agility World Championships in Basel in 2006.



Friday, August 14, 2009

My Dogs Heeling

Rosco

Lola

Gwyneth

Friday, August 7, 2009

Romancing The Cookie by Linda Koutsky

The article below is written by Linda Koutsky and it appeared in Front & Finish July, 1996. I love the title "Romancing the Cookie". Enjoy.

Like many other obedience competitors, I started training my first dog at a local club. The club had a rich tradition, and had been in business for many years. So I joined, and quickly became hooked on dog training. I loved working with my dog, and never missed a training session. The problem was my dog didn't love it. The more we trained, the more she hated it. At the time, I felt that her poor attitude toward training, was because the club didn't approve of food and toys. I now know that was only part of the problem. The real cause of my dog's poor attitude was my own lack of knowledge, a teaching program that focused on physical corrections, a system that lacked balance between positive and negative, and my dog's own soft temperament. In reality, her dislike of obedience had little to do with food and toys. But in my mind, all she needed was positive motivational training. I wanted ears up and eyes bright. I knew in my heart that the positive trainers had the answer...if I was just reinforcing enough, my dog would love to work for me. So for the next four years, I took off my leash, filled my cheeks with food, my pockets with toys, and had a wonderful time teaching my dog.

To obtain my goal, I embarked on a quest for knowledge, that continues today. I attended every motivational seminar, watched every video, read every book, even joined the clicker list on the Internet. My vocabulary expanded, and I learned the difference between a lure and a reward, between positive and negative reinforcement, positive and negative punishment, between primary and secondary reinforcers. I studied schedules of reinforcement, and knew that variable schedules with a variety of reinforcers, produced the best results. I developed both verbal and physical Conditioned Reinforcers for use in the ring. I put my heart and soul into learning as much as I could about learning theory itself. BF Skinner became a household name, and Operant Conditioning was the game. In the back of my mind, I knew Skinner's work included both positive and negative, but I wanted to believe that I could achieve what the marine mammal trainers have achieved. The more I worked with my dog, the more positive my training became. Corrections were a thing of the past. My dog was simply stunning, with ears up and eyes bright. She loved training and so did I. Together we romanced the cookie.

You see, pure positive, or pure motivational training (call it whatever you want), was a "feel good" method, and I felt wonderful. It's a very romantic idea. Imagine actually training your dog without any negatives. Teaching your dog to offer a vast array of behaviors in hopes of reinforcement. Imagine walking into the obedience ring with a dog that displays the utmost in willingness and enjoyment, simply because you positively conditioned it. The creativity in teaching behaviors, via hands off shaping, is a high in itself. Further reinforcement came from our results in the obedience ring. In Novice A, we brought home nothing but Blue ribbons, in Open A we placed on every leg. The move to Open B was a piece of cake. Our first OB trial, and there we were in the front row, along with three OTCh teams. I was hooked, and I was in love with cookie-power. Looking back on those four years, I wonder just how much pure positive had to do with dog training. For me, it may have had more to do with self validation.

Though we never quite achieved the same level of utmost in the ring, that we enjoyed in training, we scored well, and she was basically a happy worker. But there were little nagging problems undermining our journey through Utility. We finished the UD with two firsts, and a second placement, but behaviors had started to break down. We're now working on the UDX, and those little nagging problems that we never really faced, are no longer little problems. Under the pure positive (no physical aversives ever) approach, when behaviors break down it's often thought that the behavior simply isn't reinforcing enough. I still believe that theory is true, but I now know the answer is not always another cookie. Where did the romance go sour for us? I feel that we encountered three major areas of breakdown in teaching performance exercises, using a totally non-corrective approach. My dog learned what behaviors to do, but never learned what not to. I failed to lead with my relationship, and lead with rewards instead. Reinforcement schedules for training and performance were not balanced.

First, because the focus was always on correct behavior, my dog never learned what wasn't an option. Yes, she tends to escalate those behaviors that bring reinforcement. But she still explored other options, and she learned some interesting things from that exploration. She learned that the environment is jam packed with it's own wonderful array of reinforcers. She learned that if she chose not to do the behavior I requested, because something else was more reinforcing, that her choice carried no negative consequence. Sure, I withheld the cookie, but she was reinforced anyway. Besides, she could always earn a cookie later whenever she wanted one. She actually learned that the environment was more reinforcing at times, than I was. Because our training was correction free, we encountered problems in training when she would refuse to do a behavior. I only had two options, one was to abort the exercise, the other was to bribe her through it. Neither are acceptable. I watched her like a hawk, for any sign of stress. Whenever she showed the slightest sign of aversion, I would work around it. I had not taught my dog to deal with stress, to learn that she could be successful when presented with a challenge, I had not given her the confidence that achievement brings.

My next area of breakdown when using a pure positive approach was the lack of developing a meaningful working relationship with my dog. While our relationship in life is incredible, our relationship in training never reached that same level. Reflecting back, I believe that my mistake was in leading with the reinforcer, instead of my relationship. I had both verbal and physical Conditioned Reinforcers. Like many other trainers, I had taught my dog that the word "yes" meant that you did the right behavior, and that you have earned some reward. I did not teach her that her behavior pleased me, or that it was fun for her to do. No, I romanced the cookie, and lead with my reinforcement. Earning the cookie became the focal point in training, and I was the delivery boy. I actually took myself out of the training picture. What happened to verbal and physical praise, the interaction between teammates, the joy in working? I offered it, but in reality it was nothing but a distraction. She was not learning what I thought she was. I thought I was being reinforcing, while she continued to romance the cookie.

My final point of failure in the application of a pure positive approach, occurred as I got better, and better at it. I knew my dog was quite context sensitive, and that she knew cookies wouldn't be falling from the heavens in the ring. So I did what any savvy pure positive trainer would do. I started to mix up my reinforcers. I used various kinds of food, toys, and finally added games to the training picture. I thought I had it all figured out. Well while this plan sounded good, and while my dog was marvelous in training, a strange thing happened. I had made training so wonderful, and stress free, that the AKC ring with it's limited reinforcements, and all of it's formality, could never measure up. I taught my dog, and myself, that the ring was no fun, and that it was a very stressful place.

Today I'm trying a more balanced approach. I'm thankful for the great learning experiences that I have encountered. Through my initial Correct and Praise club experience, I learned to focus on the positive, not the negative. Through my use of pure positive, I've learned to focus on the positive, but include the negative. From my dog, I've learned that she is not a dolphin, that she is my dog and she is the true master of this game. That she has her own needs, abilities and limitations. That my job is to foster an environment where she can learn to be the best she can be. I've learned that she is my friend, my partner, and a very honest creature. I've learned that the AKC ring with it's limited fixed reinforcement schedule, is not Sea World.

I've learned not to base behaviors on types of reinforcement that I can never deliver during performance. I've started to enlighten my dog that all behaviors have a consequence, some are positive, some are not. I'm not avoiding stress issues. I'm working through them. I'm leading with my relationship now. I'm working to become the jackpot. I've learned that correction does not have to be painful, that correction can enhance learning and build confidence. I've learned that corrections should never be made in anger, or used to make up for a trainers lack of knowledge. I've learned that they are a valid teaching tool.

Our goal now, is to interact and play, to gain attention and approval...not to earn a cookie. I'm working to develop ways through sounds and gestures, to actually reinforce my dog in the ring. I don't want to tell her that she will get her reward after the performance is done. I want to reinforce during. I want her to love working, and being with me. We still enjoy our cookies, but now the romance belongs to us.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Reward is defined by the Dog (short story)

The other night I didn't have much time to train. So I decided I would train all three dogs at the same time. Warning: This only works for certain exercises, but it can work well, and can even build a dogs confidence that they are doing an exercise correctly (when dogs around them are doing the same thing) or increase their drive and motivation (if they decide they are competing with the other dogs around them).
We were doing signals. I left all three dogs standing, walked across the room, signaled down, they downed, signaled sit, they all sat, and I released them (my release command is two hands raised in the air often accompanied with a verbal "hurray").
And than something interesting happened . . .

Rosco ran straight to the kitchen and positioned himself in front of the cookie jar.
Lola ran to me for a snuggle and some pets.
and Gwyenth happily jumped around in circles and grabbed a toy off the floor.

I repeated this experiment and the same thing happened.
It was funny watching the dogs running off in three different directions after the release and it was really interesting to see the dogs choose their own Rewards.

Remember that what
constitutes a Reward is defined by your dog, not by you, and also keep in mind what you can and can not bring into the ring with you.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Cooperation by Terri Arnold

The following is an excerpt from an article written by Terri Arnold. The full article is available at: http://terriarnold.com/article_cooperation.html. Enjoy.

I think this article is going to be one of the most helpful articles that I have ever written! I am excited about beginning it, which is a really good sign. I love the title and know that without complete cooperation between you and your dog, all training is going to be a struggle. First, you must be willing to be completely cooperative with your dog. How do you know that you are being completely cooperative with your dog? You must make a decision that you will only train when you have your dog’s complete cooperation. At first this will seem difficult, but I promise you that the results will be well worth the effort!

After many years of successful dog training, I have spent much time trying to understand why I am successful. This has been a long process of self-reflection. I realized that learning to pay attention was the first of a series of steps. This first step is the most difficult and the most important. Not only do you have to pay attention to what you are doing; to what you want to happen, you must learn to pay attention to what is happening as well. To make this even more difficult, you must learn to pay attention to what your dog is thinking, feeling, understanding, and enjoying. Dog training is a challenging sport, both mentally and physically, but I think the biggest challenge is learning to pay attention! To be successful, you must be able to live in the moment. Awareness is the most helpful tool you can develop. Not only self-awareness, but awareness of your dog, your environment, and all the while keeping your perfect mental picture clear in your mind is a task of great magnitude.

I have spent a lot of time, watching my student's struggle with the enormity of the task. I have come to realize that there are no real short cuts to learning to become a successful dog trainer. No matter how much I want my students not to make mistakes, I realize that they will make them. These mistakes come not from a lack of understanding, but more from a lack of being able to pay attention to all of the necessary awareness that are needed. Again, self-awareness, dog-awareness, distraction-awareness, environment-awareness, perfect mental picture-awareness, and in the moment-awareness can be and are overwhelming. When I look back at my growth as a trainer, I realize that I did not develop this ability overnight. It came after years of growing a little better with each dog.

In my heart, I want to help each one of you to not make the same mistakes that I did. I want each of you to achieve your goals as quickly as possible. I want you to become a better trainer so that some day, you may be empowered to help others. But no matter how much I want this process to be quicker, I have come to realize that learning to pay attention is the hardest skill to master. This is because of all the different attentions needed in this sport. I watch my students and I am beginning to really understand the magnitude of this task. I 'll. bet each one of you can identify with the following example. I will use heeling as my example.

How many of you can do your handling a lot better without your dog? How many of you lose your footwork as soon as your dog is with you, as now you are trying to pay attention to your dog? How many of you can heel pretty well by yourself, but lose it when commands are given? How many of you can heel better when there are no boundaries such as ring gates? And finally, how many of you find it hard to put an entire heeling pattern together in a ring and with a judge? I know most of you will be able to answer yes to many of the above question. This is because of the multitude of types of awareness needed.

First question: self-awareness, Second question: dog-awareness, third question: environment-awareness, fourth question: outside distraction-awareness, and last question: perfect mental picture-awareness. When you think about all the skills that are needed, I know you will begin to understand what you are going to master. Take some time to think about how difficult this is and give yourself a pat on the back. You are trying to do what few people are able to do and you are trying to do it well. As I thought about this article, I really came to understand why it might seem as if you are never going to GET IT!

I will continue to do my best to help you get it, and achieve your goals. I think this article will be one more step, on your journey to success! The title of this article is cooperation, and its purpose is to help you develop dog-awareness and to enhance your self-awareness at the same time. To be successful, you must learn to pay attention to your dog and to get complete cooperation from him. I am going to list four behaviors that you must begin to recognize as the behaviors that lead to cooperation. The behaviors are:

1. Attention
2. Movement
3. Speaking
4. Play

Before I train a dog, I must have the four behaviors to cooperation. I will go into detail what these behaviors are, what they mean, why they are important, when to use them and how to get your dog to begin to cooperate. As you can see, these are the same questions you find in my books, what, why, when, and how. Learning to ask these questions and to make sure you are always in a state of cooperation with your dog are the first steps in awareness. I am getting so excited as I write this article because I know it is going to be brilliant!

1. Attention
I know that you have heard me say the golden rule of dog training, is "Never give a command to a dog who is not paying attention." I have realized that many of you do not understand what kind of attention I am talking about. You must have a dog that is actively looking at you. Many dogs look at their handler, but they are doing so passively. The difference is that they are simply either sitting or standing and are looking at you. They are not "with you". The difference between a dog looking at you and a dog being "with you" is enormous. Learning to recognize this difference is important and is the first step in dog-awareness. Refusing to try and train a dog that is not "with you", is the first step in self-awareness, and in perfect mental picture-awareness.

My first assumption here is that each one of you desires to have a happy and willing partner. Personally, I will not show an unhappy dog. Attitude is of utmost importance to me. The way a dog looks at his handler leads to a happy performance. If a dog is passively looking at you, he may be able to respond to a command, but the response will not be brilliant. I can tell how an exercise will be performed, just by observing how the dog is looking at his handler. When a dog is passively attentive, his response to commands is slower; distractions can interfere more easily, the dog may appear disinterested, second commands become necessary, more corrections are needed, and the overall performance becomes less than what is desired.

Many people make a common mistake when they see this happen and I think you know what that mistake is, they get food. And guess what, it seems to work! Suddenly, the dog comes alive and pays better attention and they get instant gratification. His attitude seems to improve and everything gets better. This is such a difficult problem to get beyond, because using food to buy cooperation is the easiest solution. For the most part, we are used to buying almost everything we want. And if we could bring the food into the ring, that would be all that is necessary for success. I do not think anyone would complain, if all they had to do, is remember to bring a couple of hot dogs in the ring with them and they would get a perfect score. I'll bet the hot dog industry would prosper.

The hardest part of dog training is learning to give your attention to your dog. Each of you must learn to give of yourself and make yourself the object of your dog’s desire. This takes energy, understanding, patience, consistency, trust, laughter, acceptance, and love. Handing out a cookie is so much easier. Passively attentive dogs can suddenly become actively attentively dogs, when food becomes part of the training. What you fail to realize is that the dog is paying attention to the food. This suddenly becomes obvious when you walk into the ring without the food. I think a lot of people give up on obedience for this very reason.

Using food when you train gets your dog’s attention for you. This would not be that bad, if we could use it in the ring. I can not stress enough the importance of developing a good relationship with your dog. Ultimately, it is this relationship that you bring into the ring with you. It is this relationship that you show off to the judge and exhibitors the day of the show. I think this is why there is so much pain in your heart, after a bad or "poopy" performance. It is always easier after such a performance to blame your dog, the conditions, the method of training, or a million of other reasons. But the truth is that you must look deep inside yourself and look at your relationship with your dog. I know that 99% of the reason for a "poopy" performance is that you have yet to learn to pay attention to your dog and make sure your dog is paying attention to you. You are still using food to get cooperation from your dog!

When you set out to train, you must learn to put the food away until you get cooperation and then once you have cooperation, you can use food to reward your dog for a job well done. A dog which is cooperative, exhibits the four behaviors I mentioned before; they are actively attentive, quick to move, able to speak loudly, and willing to play. When you have cooperation, it should feel as if your dog is on the verge of anticipation. I know the most difficult part of getting cooperation, is learning how to be cooperative. Think about how many times you continue training, even when you see poop face starting to come out of your dog. Think of how many times you get food out when you start to see poop face, in order to get rid of it. Think of how many times you see your dog sitting backwards in the sit and you still give him a command. Think of how many times you feel that your dog does not want to be working with you.

The following are some of the signs that your dog is not in a cooperative state of mind. Dull or glassy eyes, any motion that is directed away from you, slow unsure motion, unable to speak readily, or frozen still in the sit. Your mental picture of a cooperative dog, should be ears up, eyes bright, happy tail carriage, leaning forward in a sit, and a connection to you, not to food! If you see less than this from your dog, learn to stop training and get rid of poop face by using your own energy and attention. To see the earliest signs of poop face, you must learn to pay attention to your dog! I have been trying to get each one of you to understand how important this is to your success. Beautiful performances in the ring stem from beautiful attention between dog and handler in training.

When I see a dog that is leaning forward in a sit, ready to move, I know that the exercise is going to be done beautifully. There is a connection to the handler. All of the dog’s energy is aimed at his handler. This is active attention. Active attention is necessary for a brilliant performance. Active attention means that the dog is "with the handler". Cooperation is shown by active attention. Ears up and forward exhibit active attention, eyes are bright, all the dog’s motion is directed towards the handler, the dog is quick to speak when asked and may even speak when not asked, and it seems as if he is ready for anything. I know each and every one of you has seen your dog in this state when he wants something. It is of course our part of the teamwork, to get our dogs to want to train with us. Training must be fun for both of you. Training is fun when you have a cooperative dog!

When you go out to train, your goal must be to get and keep active attention. Learn to recognize when your dog is blankly staring at you. So, let’s get started on getting cooperation from your dog; active attention is the first step. When you go out to train, let your dog relieve himself and give him time to get familiar with the surroundings, especially if this is an unfamiliar location. Now, it is time to get active attention from your dog. I want to explain that getting active attention is going to be harder in new locations. Your dog wants to investigate and may not feel like training right away. This is really important to dogs and should be respected. Just think how you feel when you get to a new show site. You want to know where are the bathrooms, rings, food, crating area, and your friends. How would you feel if you walked into the show site and were immediately asked to go into the ring? I know you would be flustered and not give your best performance. We all need a few minutes to settle and get our bearings. It is no different for our dogs.

I have begun to realize that we may be causing a lot of our own problems by forgetting to honor our dog’s needs in new locations. We may even be setting ourselves up for failure, by not letting our dogs get relaxed in new locations before we ask them to work. This may be a huge contributing factor as to why your dog does better at home or in places with which he is familiar. If you try to fight your dog to work for you right away in a new location, you are fighting his very nature. You are making this new location negative. It does not take long for your dog to lose his desire to work and become dull. It is this dullness you see at the show that sends shivers up your spine. Now, you run to get some really special food and try to buy a bright attitude. Most of this would have been avoided by honoring his needs and spending a few minutes letting him settle.

When you go to a new location, let the dog potty, sniff, and investigate. If you have friends with you, remember how important a dog’s greeting ritual is to him. When I get together with my friends, I let my dogs say, "Hi", to the people and dogs that are our friends. I never allow them to go up to strange dogs and just say, "Hi". I am talking about people and dogs that my dogs go for runs with and play with. When all the niceties are over, I put my dogs on a curl drop and let them look all around. I do not let them sniff everything in sight, but I do allow them the freedom of checking things out. Once I see that the original excitement has died down and I have a relaxed dog, I know that I can start to ask them to work for me. I know that I do not want to be correcting them for the joy that they feel, by asking them to do something that they can not do. We must all learn to honor our dogs' needs!
I think we may cause a huge problem when we ask our dogs to work immediately in new locations. By insisting that they ignore their needs, we may be teaching them that new locations are not fun. We may be setting ourselves up for failure. We must never forget that dog shows are always in new locations and we need our dogs confident and relaxed, so that they can turn in the kind of performances we are seeking. Make sure that you are not setting yourself up for failure by making your dog think that here we are and now comes the corrections. Do not ask your dog to work, unless you have the four behaviors of cooperation, attention, movement, speak and play.
I have taught you the moving watch, but I do not think you fully understand what your goal should be with this exercise. The moving watch is one of the most valuable behaviors to cooperation. Without it, all work that you ask of your dog will be done defensively and with poor attitude. Once you feel that you have honored your dog’s needs in a new location, and know it is fair to ask him to give you his complete attention, you must insist that he give you his attention. The first thing you must understand is that your dog may not want to pay attention to you. He has his own mind and desires. He is not wrong or bad because of this. But you are his leader and you have the right to ask him to pay attention to you.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

some more European Agility Courses

Here are some more courses from the European Agility Open, go to http://www.belgians.nl/English.htm and click on "various" at the bottom of the page.

On that same page you will also find many other courses organized under the picture of the judge who designed them.

Many of them have different challenges and traps than the ones we commonly see in the USA. I had a fun time looking through them and deciding how I would handle different sequences.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

European Open Agility 2009

The European Open Agility International Competition was held the last weekend of July (July 25 and 26) in the Sportcomplex Papendal in Arnhem, Netherlands (or Holland).

The European Open is the largest international Agility event in the world.

I have included a link to the course maps from this event. They are VERY difficult. Tight, precise, and did I mention Very difficult.
Usually when I watch top agility teams compete I am amazed at how EASY they make running complex courses look. That was NOT the case at this competition. Below is a link to the video of the winning runs in each height class. The winning runs did NOT look easy at all, which I think is a testament to just how hard these courses were.

The results are available at:
http://www.europeanopen.nl/Resultaten.html

Video of the winning runs can be seen at: (there are also some other interesting videos, for example video of teams practicing. Often there are multiple dogs on course at any one time and it is interesting to see what different teams choose to work on).
http://europeanopen2009.agilityvision.com/winners-individual-european-agility-open-2009

Here is a link to the course maps from that weekend:
http://www.belgians.nl/Parcoursen/2009/072509EO.htm

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Nose Bridge

I saw the Nose Bridge for the first time at a Sylvia Bishop seminar. I was impressed by this behavior, but I missed the true importance of it and the reason for teaching it.

Recently at a Celeste Meade seminar I saw the Nose Bridge presented again. Celeste explained the Nose Bridge as an ACTIVE STATE (a JOB) the dog preforms while in heel position. The Nose Bridge gives the dog something to DO while in heel position rather than just passively watching. I really like this idea, I also really enjoyed how Celeste taught the Nose Bridge.

So now I am re-inspired, and this time I am in the process of teaching the Nose Bridge behavior to my dogs. Celeste has recently posted some training videos on her website. Among them are three videos detailing the various stages of teaching the Nose Bridge. For more information on the Nose Bridge and how to teach it, see:

http://www.americank9country.com/ak9c-tips.html

And if you are likewise inspired, you are welcome to join me in teaching this behavior to your dogs.

Here is a video by Linda Koutsky showing how the nose bridge is used in competition.