Training Tip

Tip of the Day: When teaching your dog a new or old behavior one of the biggest things is to only say your verbal cue once! So when you ask your dog for a "Sit", say it once and then if your dog was taught with a hand signal, follow through with that instead of repeating yourself. You don't want a dog that learns to sit only after you've said "Sit" 6 different times.

If Dogs Could Talk

Working at a vet clinic I often hear "If only they could talk to us!" But here's the thing, if you watch your dog closely you can very easily communicate with them. My question to you is, have you ever really watched your dog? I mean really watched them. Their bodies are constantly communicating with us. By watching them you can find out someone is walking by before you even see them, or a car pulling into your driveway before you've heard it, or even the lost piece of food where you thought you picked up all of the mess.
I am always watching and studying my dog. His body language is strong, his sense of smell, stronger! I read a book called Scent of the Missing which opened my eyes to the dogs sense of smell. I was already aware of the fact that dogs can smell millions of times better than us but when I started looking at when my dog was smelling, nose to the air, I learned so much more about my surroundings. If Scout was laying outside while I was working and he suddenly picks his head up and scents the air, I often gave it a couple of seconds and sure enough my husband would walk around the corner of the house, or I'd look up and see the couple walking down the road. I would find out things that many seconds sooner, Oh! Someone's coming!


Scout's typical relaxed position when out walking the field or retrieving

 Scout was my inspiration for this blog today. We have just returned from a walk around the field and at a particular point in our walk I noticed Scout was quite unsure of something. We walk this area often so it wasn't as though it was a new surrounding. But as we turned the corner in the field his body language changed. He went from being relaxed (tail in a neutral position, wagging as he walks, ears down but not back or alert, head low as he sniffed the ground) state to a bit on edge state. Scout's gait slowed, normally he is trotting out in front of me 20 feet or so, now he stuck my me about 5 feet away, his head was high, ears forward and alert and tail raised only slightly. So I give him the "It's okay, go ahead" but he still sticks close by. I stop and decided to assess the situation and listen and look. Looking I don't see anything different but listening I start hearing the deep voice of a several bullfrogs, which almost sound slightly like a man's voice. That's the ticket. Scout is focused on the direction of which the sounds come from. As he realizes things aren't about to come and attack us he gradually resorts back to his relaxed, neutral state and we continue on our walk just as before.
This isn't the only time Scout has "talked" to me. If we can tune into our dogs body language more they will tell us all kinds of things we need to know, like I'm unsure of that object over there, or person, I'm afraid and don't want to go that way, I'm excited, I don't really care, I like that, I don't like that, keep doing that, don't do that, I"m in the mood, I'm not in the mood. I encourage you to watch your dog closely, learn what they look like when they are relaxed and from there you will start to notice the changes of a dog who is about to bark, or erupt with excitement etc. Check out Turid Rugaas, she established Calming Signals for dogs.


Here is Scout pretty relaxed but alert



And here is Scout just a few seconds later about ready to bark but I distracted him before he did. But you'll notice the change in his face, the wrinkles on his forehead, his mouth is a bit more forward and ears are very alert and forward.



I'm the student!

I have started teaching again on Thursday nights a puppy class. What a roudy bunch of pups! I haven't had to play referree that much during play time in a long time. The bonus to driving 1 1/2 hours is I get to work Scout in the 7pm class, the Canine Good Citizen class. We haven't gone through a class yet together, did I mention he's almost 4? He did so much better than I anticipated. I expected him to be stressed out and far more focused on the dogs and he did wonderfully. We practiced a lot of walking politely on a leash and recalls. It is nice to have the perspective of a student because I think sometimes as a teacher we lose sight of what that is like.

I had a very busy week and so training our "Car" game didn't happen often plus it was pouring all week. But I managed to sneak in a game of it yesterday. I think Scout is really starting to get it down. He waits for my cue and then goes to his target, he doesn't go any other time which is actually okay with me. I am hoping to avoid him going to it seeking out treats. Kind of like when a puppy knows he gets a treat for sitting and just comes up and sits in front of you all the time. So anyway we managed to be successful as far at 15+ feet away from the target. I would give him the verbal cue and he would run to his target and down!! Yay! I think we now need to really strengthen it. I am going to up my value on my treats and then start the distractions maybe....I think we need to practice probably playing first and then having us interupt play to run to his target. We'll see. I am kind of playing it by ear and I want to set him up for success so it will be a little trial and error the next few sessions!

Meanwhile, not dog related so much, I did a semi Trash the Dress session with my sister and myself. It was quite fun but I think photoshopping the pictures will be more fun! Here one of me that she took of me:

And here is one of my sister I took:

A fun Training Day

It is always a good sign when you start a training session off by laughing and end with laughter. After a nine and half hour day at work, which means Scout was hanging out at home, the last thing he probably wanted to do was focus and train. Although we hope training is fun for our dogs they also like the basic dog tasks like fetch or a good jaunt through the field. I did keep our training session brief but more so because Scout told me it was time to put the clicker up and really play!

We jumped right in to today's session with no nonsense. I tossed down his blanket/target, moved about 5-6 feet away and said "Car" and much to my surprise Scout runs to the target and throws himself down on it and looks at me. I laugh, click and treat! He had such enthusiasm and the demeanor of "Hey I know this game!" I tossed him his treat and released him at which time he came back up to me. I decided this training session we were really going to focus more on the word "Car" instead of any distance. So once Scout was back at my side I gave the cue, "Car" and again he runs to the target and flings himself down. Again click and treat! His tail wags and he holds his position waiting eagerly for his release. "Free Dog" and with that Scout leaps up and comes running back to me. We practice a few more repetitions from about 5-6 feet away from the target but in different spots around it. Scout continues to be successful. I decide to incorporate a hand signal at this point since dogs are much more visual than they are auditory as back up for when distractions begin to be added. It would go something like "Car" and then after I've said the word I then pointed to his blanket. Bingo! He runs to the blanket, downs and waits eagerly for his treat.

At this point we have been doing our training for about 5 minutes. I decide to see if I can push the 10 foot mark from the target and have him still respond. There is a bit more confusion but there is success. I was starting to wonder if when I increased my distance if Scout thought that "Car" meant lay down in front of me, not necessarily always on the blanket. And as I suspected he laid down about 3 feet from me when I gave the cue "Car". But because he is quite good with the generic point I was able to point to the blanket, he looked at it, then back at me, stood up, and while still facing me backed up until he was on the target and laid down. Knowing my dog, I had a feeling he was feeling goofy and sure enough the antics began. I had decreased my distance again but Scout was getting bored with our task at hand. When I asked for "Car" he moved back 2 feet, threw himself into a down and proceeded to fling himself on to his back and wiggle. This is his default behavior when he doesn't want to do what you are asking of him, probably because it makes most anyone laugh that sees it. I did my best to contain my laughter and gave a No reward marker, of Oops and turned my back. Lets try again! Oops, he drops onto his back again. This time I say nothing but point to the blanket and wait, I have already said "Car" once so I don't want to repeat myself and wait. Realizing it isn't going to work he gets up, runs to his target, and flings himself into a down partially onto his side. I click and treat and end the session on that note, laughing.

As I finish up typing this he is doing his darnedest to get a reaction out of me by rolling around on his back  just behind me, breathing heavy and freezing to look at me to see if is working. Well I guess it is. Time to go play!!

Wedding Weekend

When not training Scout, I'm taking pictures. This is one of many photos I took from the wedding I went to this weekend.



Training Day 3

Just completed a quick session with Scout. My husband, Brock, and I just got home from a wedding weekend where Brock was a groomsman. So today's training was more or less a review for Scout since we lapsed a couple days without any training and the fact that is was a bit of an exhausting 2 days.

So I put out Scout's target and he immediately ran to it and laid down. A good sign that he has the concept of downing in close proximity to the target. We did about 5 repetitions of walking about 15 feet away from the target and approaching. I would stop at initially at 3 feet from the target and Scout would trot to the blanket and down. Then I increased my distance away from the target to 5 feet and Scout still trotted to the target and downed. Where he was being reliable about his approach to the target I shortened my distance again to about 3-4 feet and as he was moving forward to the target after I had stopped, I said "Car".  My goal eventually will be for us to be about 5 feet away from the target and stationary and on the cue "Car" Scout will trot over and lay down on the target. But short and sweet was our session today, ended on a good note of approaching, giving cue "Car" and clicking and treating.

Scout in Action

Scout and my cousin's dog, Sophie in action last winter! Scout takes foolish action pictures, usually ears or eyes are doing something abnormal.

Training, Day 2

I just finished my second training event with Scout. Like any new behavior I tend to teach my dog I do a quick review session where I don't ask anything we haven't already practiced. So tonight with Scout I started him on leash right next to his target and didn't use any cues but click and treated him for laying down on target. Now you'll remember from Training Day 1 I finished on a positive note and happened to throw the word "Car" out there and have Scout lay down on target with it. This was moving too fast and purely coincidental that he actual downed.
I ideally should have a more specific plan written out, but I don't and I probably won't. However, I am recording every session so I can review and make alterations where needed. Tonights session being a perfect example of having to do that.
So back to the session. I primed Scout with some close proximity targeting of the blanket. He quickly remembered the game we were playing and we were able to move through review with ease. Then I decided I would walk him away from the target to get him standing again. Starting with just a few steps away and moving more to 10-15 feet. As we started approaching again I tried using the verbal "Car" and found, no pun intended, that it back fired. The thing with training is you can't change too many things at once. I hadn't really done enough practice on the approach and target the blanket to also be adding the verbal. I don't believe it was the walking distance but the distance of which I stopped myself from the target that was too much for Scout to process. He hadn't entirely associated the target as his mark as it was to lay down right in front of me. When I positioned myself 3 feet away he was missing his target by about a foot and downing right in front of me. This was an indicator to me that I was moving, what do you know, too fast. So when Scout missed his target I turned and walked a few steps away and he followed. I then stopped at ~ 2 feet from the target (I was about 1 foot away when we started yesterday). Scout would look over his shoulder for the blanket, back up and down. Jackpot! Several treats one right after another! Then I went back to being right on top of the target again. He was dead on and after the jackpot a bit quicker about downing on the blanket. After 3-4 repetitions at about 1 foot distance, I moved back to about 2 feet again from the target. Scout had caught on! He was approaching the target (blanket) and dropping into a down no sooner than his feet touching it. Perfect! This is what I was hoping for. I did about 3-4 more repetitions of us walking out about 10-15 feet and on the approach back I would stop anywhere from 2-3 feet away from the target and wait for him to down. He continued to be quick and we once again quit while we were ahead. I just want to remind you I tried the verbal at the very beginning of the session today and quickly dropped it as it was too early. So at this point Scout is choosing to go to the target with out any cue such as pointing or telling him to down. Baby steps folks but we'll get there!

Training, Day 1

What has prompted my return to the blogger world is the training I'm going to be doing on my dog Scout. He learned the behavior from another dog of chasing down the driveway to greet a car pulling in and then chase it back up the driveway all the while barking. Although I would like the barking to also stop, safety first!

Scout is a 4 (in Nov) year old yellow lab. We have lived in most places where this behavior wasn't really all that much of an issue because we rarely had visitors and the road wasn't visible from our home. Since we have moved to our new house the road is more exposed and my fear is that Scout will chase down the driveway to a car that has pulled over or is driving slowly by and find himself in the road and in danger.

Here is the very general overview!  I am going to train Scout, that when he hears the word "Car" he will run to a designated spot on our lawn and lay down and wait for the car to come to a stop in front of our house at which time on the cue "free dog" may he leave the designated area. This is going to be a slow process and I am probably going to take it slower than is necessary but this is a behavior I want to be solid.

So yesterday was actually my first training day with him. We spent only about 10 minutes working on it. I used a blanket as Scout's target so he has something specific to work towards as opposed to a vast green lawn. I put the blanket down at the corner of our "parking lot" at the end of the driveway where Scout can be safely out of the way. I didn't say a word or point or give any kind of gesture to Scout to indicate I wanted him on the blanket. I shaped the behavior. Shaping is a training technique where you let the dog figure out what it is that is going to get him the reward. We have played the game before so this part did move along quickly. But to break it down, I'm a clicker trainer. I use a clicker to mark the behavior that Scout has done right. So in shaping, I would click him for just turning his head towards the blanket. Once he was reliably looking at the blanket, I upped the expectation and waited for movement towards the blanket and then would click. Once Scout targeted the blanket he quickly caught on that he should lay down on it. Jackpot! Then I started taking 2 steps back so he would have to get up and then I'd wait for him to lay down on the blanket again! Click! He gets his treat. We walked 5 feet away and repeated. Each time I would not point or speak but let him figure out he needs to lay down. We did many repetitions in interval distances of one foot to 10 feet away. We walked about a ten foot loop away from the blanket and as we approached I said "Car"  and Scout downed on the blanket. Now at this point he has no idea that "Car" meant to lay down but with slow steps and repetition he will start to link "Car" with laying on that blanket. We quit while we were ahead and called it a day on the training.