October Update

Hokey ready with a paint brush

It's been a long time since I've gotten a chance to update my blog. October has been a busy-fest for me! Yes, I was on "vacation" for the first two weeks. No, it was not actually a real vacation. I painted in my house for 13 days straight. As you can see from these pictures, I had some help!

Poppy acting as my supervisor

Way too boring. She fell asleep on the job.

Inspecting my work

 After my whirlwind painting extravaganza, I went right into an agility trial mode, with 3 trials, 3 weekends in a row, which I'm still in the midst of. I hadn't trialed since July, so it was fun to be back at it. The BIG news is that Ollie finished another big championship title last Sunday - Performance Dog Champion (PDCH). This will probably be the last big championship title of his career. He also finished his performance snooker bronze title on Sunday. Here we are at the trial posing with his big PDCH ribbon:

PDCH Ollie - Kinetic Dog trial 10/21/12

He is now ADCH-Bronze PDCH C-ATCH Ollie PKCH-Bronze LAA-Bronze
Here he is at home posing with the same ribbon:

SQUIRREL!

Speaking of squirrels, last week at Kinetic Dog, we ran on a PVP team with my friend Ivette White and her awesome little jack, Dasher (AKA The Brown Bullet). We've teamed together before and our long-standing team name is "The Squirrel Assassins" for obvious reasons. Our team placed 4th out of 21 teams overall, despite my total brain meltdown in snooker (Of all things! That's Ollie and my's strongest class). I hadn't been up that early in many, many months, so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! ;-)

But, I digress. Here he is actually posing nice:

 
 A friend of mine, Dave Mueller, surprised me at the Keystone trial a couple of weeks ago by giving me a pin in recognition of Ollie accomplishing his Lifetime Achievement Award back in July. Agility people are the bestest!

In other news, Ollie turned 8 on the 16th (okay, so it's his made up birthday, but for all intents and purposes, he turned 8 that day). He celebrated by going to nosework class that night instead of Poppy and got to start doing vehicle searches. I am planning to switch off which dog, Ollie or Poppy, goes to class every other week from here on out. As we head toward his unofficial retirement from agility at the end of the year, I want to transition Ollie into a second career in nosework and I also need to take him to some kind of class every so often to simply to keep his spirits up. As I've seen during our break from trialing the past few months, he gets depressed seeing the girls leave the house on a regular basis to go to their various classes/lessons while he sits at home. He's been much happier and more playful since we started trialing again a couple of weeks ago and got to go to nosework class.

Hokey is learning to spell her name using the foam tiles I got to start work on her running contacts.

Hokey's training is coming along nicely. We are working on many, many things right now and I hope to have time to write some posts about them soon. We've run into some challenges along the lines of coming up with a way to mark certain behaviors without the ability to use a traditional clicker since some of the behaviors require her to be driving ahead of me and not be looking at me (i.e. situations where the use of my visual hand-flash "clicker" isn't desired). I am still working through the issues and experimenting. Working with a deaf dog definitely requires some out-of-the-box thinking!

Please stop painting and play with The Terrier instead

So that's the update! I hope to get some actual training posts together soon, but I do have agility trials through the first half of November, so we'll see if I can manage to carve out some time.

Playing Crate Games

Let's talk about crate games! Crates are an essential tool for the typical dog household. But this isn't a post about the merits of dog crates - although I will point out that, if introduced correctly, most dogs like the security a crate provides in giving them their own space in the house. Of course, most dogs don't live in a household with Poppy who is a) too smart for anyone's good b) always endeavoring to come up with creative new ways to be naughty and annoying and c) has ZERO concept of anyone's personal space. Much to the dismay of Ollie and I, Poppy suddenly taught herself this handy move a couple of months after I adopted her:

 Yes...that's right...she knows how to unlatch the crate door with her nose and swing it open.

But, back to the topic of crate games. Crate games are about instilling some fundamentals of training and having fun while doing it. Here is Ollie showing three components that I find essential: 1. The send to the crate on command 2. remaining in the crate until 3. the release. All of these steps have applications in agility training and provide a fantastic way to give your dog a great foundation.

The key to crate games is to make the crate an extremely rewarding place for the dog to be. The crate becomes a place where lots of good things happen. When they make the choice to go to the crate and remain there, doing so results in lots of treats and praise. On the other hand, choosing to leave the crate without being told to results in no reward and a door blocking their exit.

I have been working with Hokey on these crate behaviors as part of her foundational training. I will break down each of the 3 components, using her as my demo dog. Note that this is not her usual crate (it is Ollie's). Not only that, but it is moved from its typical spot so that I could produce better shots for the videos. As a result she is not quite as speedy in her responses as she would be with her own crate. However, she DOES respond well even under these circumstances, proving that her training is becoming solid.

First I had to train her to go to her crate on command. Since she's deaf, I had to come up with a hand signal that meant "go to your crate". I chose to form a letter "C" with my left hand. Sometimes I also say "C" while I flash her the signal because it helps me to put a verbal command with it.

I started training this by letting her see me put a few treats in the crate while she was on a sit/stay then releasing her and flashing the "C" signal. Once she got the concept, I no longer needed to place treats inside the crate first. Instead, as soon as she was in the crate, I used my substitute clicker hand-flash and rewarded her with treats through the bars. Here it is again from another angle:

Gradually, I've been able to increase the distance that I send her to the crate. This is good foundational training for sends in agility. As you can see I move both my leg and arm forward, just as I would if I was sending a dog to an obstacle.

Of course, before you add distance, you want to make sure your dog is going to stay in the crate until released after you send them there. In my opinion, this the most important component in crate behavior. For obvious safety reasons, especially when you have your dog crated in a vehicle, you do not want your dog to come flying out of its crate whenever it so pleases. Instead, you want it to remain in the crate until you release it. This step also has a practical application in your foundational agility training - it's setting you up for a solid startline stay. This is a game! A fun one in which the dog makes choices and learns which choices lead to rewards and which lead to a blocked path (i.e. a minor negative consequence resulting from a "bad" choice). When first teaching this, you will want to stay very close to the crate and continuously reward through the sides or back of the crate. Unlatch the crate door without opening it and click and treat generously if the dog does not try to push through the door ("jackpot treating" which means several treats given one-at-a-time in quick succession is a great way to generously reward a dog's desired behavior). If the dog DOES try to push through the door, the door gets relatched and no reward is given. Latch and repeat this step several times. Then unlatch the door and open it just a crack. Stay close so that you can easily swing the door shut if the dog tries to come out of the crate. With some dogs, it may take several times of the door being shut and latched before they catch on that this is the consequence of a poor choice. When the dog makes the good choice to remain in the crate, generously reward by clicking and jackpot treating. Eventually, over several sessions, you will gradually open the crate door a little wider until you are finally able to have the door open wide with the dog making a great choice by remaining in the crate. After that, you can do further proofing by moving a few steps away and rewarding the dog for staying in the crate. In incremental steps, your proofing can include moving around, turning your back, walking away, swinging your arms, jumping up and down, making sounds, etc. Here I am doing some proofing with Hokey by opening both crate doors and moving around:

Once the dog is staying with these kind of distractions you can add more advanced distractions, such as tossing toys or food. Just make sure that every time you introduce a new distraction, you remain close to the crate door so you can close the door before the dogs leaves the crate in case it chooses to self-release. Here I am doing some proofing with Hokey using some treats thrown on the floor in front of the crate doors. She has learned that remaining inside the crate gets her lots of treats whereas choosing to move toward the treats on the floor outside the crate results in her receiving nothing but a door being shut in her face between her and the treats on the ground:

The third component of the crate behavior is a nice release response. This, too, has applications as a foundational agility skill. You want your dog to quickly and enthusiastically respond when released. However, when training this particular behavior, I personally keep my rewards lighter than I do with the first two behaviors discussed because I want to make the "in crate" behavior inherently more valuable than the "leaving the crate" behavior. When first teaching it, I throw a single treat away from the crate door immediately after giving the release command, so that the dog learns to spring forward upon release. Later I may call them to me for a reward. Here are Hokey and Poppy demonstrating the release behavior.

Yes. That's right. Even my wild child Poppy, who has significant separation anxiety and panics if confined anywhere inside the house including a crate (so she never is confined, although I do crate her in my vehicle, which she is fine with) is perfectly capable of learning and adhering to the rules of the game and having fun while doing so. Poppy has a hard time with self-control and keeping a cap on her sky-high energy. However, even when she's rev'd up and squealing and spinning in her crate, she will not actually leave the crate until I give her a release command. Here she is playing the game:

In short, crate games are a fantastic way to train your dog some important fundamental behaviors. Happy training!

Building a Strong Foundation - RTH

I'm working on building a strong foundation with Hokey to eventually make us a better team when we start doing agility in earnest. Part of that foundation is working on the recall to heel (RTH) positions. We've begun working on 3 of them: the Foundation RTH, the Backy-uppy RTH & the Extension RTH. This isn't the "sexy" part of agility; it may seem as exciting as watching paint dry. However, RTH positions are important building blocks that will provide the firm foundation on which our teamwork will later sit.

The RTH positions teach her to respond appropriately with her body in accordance to my signals and position so that she begins to learn extension and collection and learns to face in the correct position so that we are both heading on parallel paths to the next obstacle; she will be able to predict where we're headed next based on learning what each of these positions means. Watching these videos, I am not always happy with the ending position of my legs & feet which should technically be together and pointing forward. This is definitely something I'll need to work on and a good example of why video taping yourself can be so useful when improving your training and handling.

For two of these three positions, I've found it helpful to use a wall or fence to help Hokey learn to keep herself straight in relation to my end position. Here we are working one of the positions (the Backy-Uppy RTH) where she starts by facing me and then turns and finishes next to me facing in the same direction that I am. I want her to hold this, and all, RTH positions until I release her.

Here we are working the same position over a jump.

Here I am working Hokey in another position (Extension RTH) where she is behind me and I call her so that she is in a heel position next to me. Again, I am using the fence as an aid to keep her straight. I also show her doing this over a jump without any aid.

The other position we've been working on is the foundation RTH. In this position you call the dog straight to you and turn so that you are both heading on a parellel path at a 90 degree angle from your dog's original position. If you are call the dog over a jump, this would mean that you would call your dog over the jump and then turn so you and your dog are parallel to the jump you just took. Unlike the previous two positions discussed, a fence or wall cannot be used as an aid to keep your dog straight. Instead, a chair or some other 4-cornered object that you can work the position around may be employed. I found a little plastic patio table worked great for this purpose (not shown here). Here Hokey and I work the foundation RTH using a jump.

There will be more RTH positions to add to our toolbox as our training progresses. Greater distance will be added as well, which will help Hokey to learn extension and collection.

The First Sequence

Curiosity got the better of me the other day and I decided to see how Hokey would handle putting together some short simple sequences using jumps and my tunnel for the very first time. Here is the video:

I was VERY pleased with how well she did!
Now to step back and continue to build that foundation.

Attack of the Alien Jump Standard

As usual, I have several post topics floating around in the conceptual stage. And, as usual, I've had no time to sit down and bring them to fruition. So I thought maybe I'd put up something quick and light.

In my "about me", I say that Poppy does something (usually more than one thing) every day that makes me laugh. Here is a video I took this morning giving a sample of what it's like to experience life with her. I had moved the jumps over to the side of the yard earlier in the morning to open up the yard in case the dogs wanted to chase each other around (as indeed the girls did). One side of a jump standard became separated from its mate and fell over on its side. Hours later, Poppy suddenly noticed this and decided it was strange and that jump standard had evil intentions and by golly, she was going to do something to keep it at bay! She's crazy. But she keeps me laughing. I love her -- even when she slips over the border into insanity.

Also, I finally got around to making up a "name" sign for Hokey. She seems to like what I came up with. Here I am teaching it to her.

And, not to be left out, here's a pretty picture of Ollie with my neighbor's flowers in the background. I don't get to have nice things in my own yard.

Hokey rode a skateboard for the first time at her lesson yesterday. She loved it! I have a skateboard that I bought for Ollie a few years ago. I'll have to get it out and dust it off so they can both ride and I can get some video. Yet another blog post idea that may or may not be actualized.

Trick Training - The Leg Weave

More than anything, I love training my dogs to do tricks. It cements our bond as we engage in a positive & fun activity together. Here is one trick my dogs find particularly fun: Leg Weaving!

You don't need to be involved in agility or have a set of weave poles in order for your dog to strut some fancy moves. How about training your dog to weave in and out of your legs?

Here is Poppy demonstrating:

Here she is again in slo-mo:

And Ollie strutting his stuff:

This isn't a hard trick to train - I train this one completely by luring and working step-by-step over several days time. I've been working on teaching this trick to Hokey for a few days now.

The first step is to have your dog sit & stay in heel position. Hold a treat in the hand on the opposite side from your dog. Step forward on the leg opposite your dog and stand still. Release your dog and, using the hand with the treat, lure them between your two legs. Make sure they end up next to the forward leg. The dog should be pointing forward as if it was going to move on ahead. This is where you want your "reward zone" to be - i.e. the place where you give the treat- do not reward for any other position. Here is Hokey demonstrating this first step:

The next step would be to take another step so that the dog is being rewarded for going in between your legs twice before it gets the reward. Again, make sure your dog is next to the forward leg and oriented so that it is pointing forward before giving the reward. Here is Hokey demonstrating this 2nd step:

As your dog begins to understand the game and is consistently moving into the correct position, you can add steps. Here is Hokey starting to put it all together. I am still luring her with my hands and she is hesitating between each step. As we continue forward in her training, the movement will smooth out and I will be able to fade the luring hands.

As your dog gets more experienced and smoother at this, you can add a turn. Here is Poppy demonstrating what this looks like.

And Ollie demonstrating the leg weave with turn:

And for the lazy trainer - how about just standing still and letting your dog do all the work? Here is Poppy demonstrating a figure-8 leg weave while I stand still.

Training the Sniffer

I recently embarked on a new activity with my dogs. Nosework. I highly recommend it to anyone with a dog. Unlike agility, it doesn't require hours and hours of training. Nor does it require lots of expensive equipment or the need to learn any fancy handling moves. In my experience so far, dogs LOVE this activity. And just about any dog can be trained to do it: young, old, big, small, even so-called special needs dogs - deaf, blind, deaf AND blind, even those in a doggy "wheel chair" - can participate. Nosework is a completely dogcentric activity where you are simply fine tuning your dog's primary sense and learning how to read his body language.

I came to nosework after it was recommended to me as a way to help Poppy build some confidence. She has a lot of issues with stress and anxiety and these are sometimes amplified in agility, particularly in a trial setting where she feels the increased tension in the general atmosphere around the ring and where her sound-sensitivities kick into a high gear. Nosework is a low-pressure and rewarding activity for her. It's also a quiet, one-dog-out-at-a-time activity. Although it is not physically demanding activity, the mental stimulation and focus required helps to burn off the over-abundance of energy contained within Poppy's body even better than agility ever did. She sleeps soundly in her crate on the drive home after every class.

Nosework is an activity completely led by the dog's sniffer

As it stands now, Poppy is the only one of my dogs that actually goes to formal nosework class, but, since it's easy to train at home, Ollie and Hokey are being home-schooled right along side of her. Ollie has been doing this since I started taking Poppy to nosework class. Here is a video I made of Poppy and Ollie doing their nosework homework roughly 3 weeks after I started taking Poppy to class.

 

The primary focus of our level 1 nosework class was merely to build enthusiasm for the game. Building enthusiasm for the game was NOT exactly hard to do in Poppy's case. She gets so rev'd up over it, she starts barking as soon as we pull onto the highway near the veterinary hospital where we go for class and, other than when she's actually doing the search itself, doesn't shut up until I put the vehicle in drive to head home. It's all I can do not to have her launch herself down the stairs to get to the basement where the class is currently held.

 

We started out using ordinary open cardboard boxes where the dogs would search for food (the object of the search is called "the hide" in nosework) and then self-reward when they found it. I would then swoop in with additional treats to throw in the location of where they found the hide to reinforce the behavior. Later searches involved adding objects other than boxes to the search field (e.g. plastic pots, buckets, toys, tunnels - just about anything that was handy) and adding elevation, but no higher than the dog's nose level (e.g. putting the hide on a chair or low shelf). The hide would not always be contained in something, but might lie next to an object. Toward the end of the 6-week session, the dogs were starting to learn to push through minor barriers such as box flaps and carpet remnants to get to the hide.

Currently we are part way through level 2 class. In this class we no longer use boxes. The hides are done in more "real world" settings, such as in various locations around a storage room - on shelves, behind objects, etc. We are varying the rooms in which we work in, gradually working in tighter spaces, which can make locating the scent a little more tricky for the dog since the scent may fill the entire enclosed space. This allows the dog to hone its skill by narrowing the possibilities down to the area of highest scent concentration. The second half of level 2 class will focus on the other extreme; we will start doing searches outside where there is wide open space for the scent to dissipate, surfaces that affect the scent differently than those found indoors, and, of course, different air currents that carry the scent away from the hide. So far Poppy is a superstar in class - she works diligently and fast - and I'm looking forward to seeing how she does when it comes to the outside searches.

Poppy stylin' in the new harness I bought her specifically to do nosework in

Right now the dogs find food rewards, which is very motivating while they are being taught to build enthusiasm for the game. However, nosework titles require dogs to be trained on specific scents. The 3 scents used are sweet birch, anise & clove. When we get to level 3 class, the first of these odors (birch) will be introduced. I will write more about that down the road as we train for it. The National Association of Canine Scent Work  sanctions both odor recognition tests where you dog can be certified in recognition for the scents listed above and nosework trials where the dog can earn titles. Local organizations/clubs may also hold mock trials for the purpose of practicing under trial-like conditions. Each trial has 4 components that a dog must pass: container search, exterior search, interior search and vehicle search. Obviously, my dogs are in the very early stages of training and scent trials are far off in our future yet. However, it's nice to have a good idea of what we're working toward.

Here are videos showing each dog doing nosework. Forgive the somewhat gravelly narration - I've been struggling with a bad case of bronchitis for the past few days.

First up is Hokey. I started her on nosework later than the other two dogs, but she is showing a lot of promise with it. Today was the first time I've ever worked her without any boxes, so she wasn't quite as fast as she can be, but she did an excellent job!

 And Ollie:

And finally, Poppy, my speed demon who needs to be challenged: