Saturday, February 20, 2010
Cooper lives another day!
You are probably wondering if Cooper survived training today: he did! In fact, I used him to demonstrate positions and he totally showed off! The hard head of yesterday was not in evidence today. What is nice about that is that it demonstrates that Cooper does not hold grudges or sulk. Yesterday was yesterday and he was all about doing what he needed to do to earn reward today. And that is a wonderful temperament to work with !
Some basic differences between schutzhund and AKC obedience
When we have potential new members visit our schutzhund club, or when people come to me for private lessons, I often end up explaining some of the differences between AKC and schutzhund obedience. The differences are important if you plan to compete in either one. Naturally, understanding the rules is critical, but here are a few of the differences:
I frequently see the dog's name being applied like a nagging tap on the shoulder, as if to say "hey! hey! prepare to pay attention to me!" Used too often, it truly is that nagging tap and it will be ignored. When you are working, your dog should already be paying attention and waiting for you to direct the next move with enthusiasm. When you watch someone who always uses the dog's name first, pay particular attention to whether the dog was watching them to begin with ,or whether the name is the "hey, you!"
In schutzhund the dog is required to down from a stationary sitting position and also down from a walking position. It cannot sit first and then slide down. It must drop immediately upon command, or lose points. Some schutzhund trainers do teach their dog to make a sliding forward down, and these can be quite dynamic, but the dogs do not sit first, and are not taught that way. We teach the fold-back down, or sphinx position. After watching handler after handler have to re-set their dogs for the escape bite at the Nationals (and other events) and lose points as the dogs threw themselves forward and over the marked start position, my opinion of this has been reinforced. I prefer to teach the dog to bring the rear end underneath to sit, rather than rocking back and to move the hind legs back into the down position. The front legs remain stationary, no matter whether the dog is moving into a sit, down or stand.
If you have the opportunity, start training a puppy in the proper behaviors to your sport as soon as you can. It is not fair to your dog to train it improperly and then six months down the road, change the rules on it and make corrections. Sometimes it can't be helped because owners were unaware of the training opportunties, but sometimes they make a conscious decision to take a couple pet dog classes and "teach the dog obedience" before joining the schutzhund club. It takes less time and effort to do something right the first time, than to change a behavior later.
- in schutzhund you cannot use the dog's name to preface a command
I frequently see the dog's name being applied like a nagging tap on the shoulder, as if to say "hey! hey! prepare to pay attention to me!" Used too often, it truly is that nagging tap and it will be ignored. When you are working, your dog should already be paying attention and waiting for you to direct the next move with enthusiasm. When you watch someone who always uses the dog's name first, pay particular attention to whether the dog was watching them to begin with ,or whether the name is the "hey, you!"
- in schutzhund there is no "stay" command
- don't get stuck in the parlor trick front sit for attention!
- In AKC obedience classes, the dog is taught to sit first, and then lured into the down. In schutzhund the dog must know how to down from a standing position.
In schutzhund the dog is required to down from a stationary sitting position and also down from a walking position. It cannot sit first and then slide down. It must drop immediately upon command, or lose points. Some schutzhund trainers do teach their dog to make a sliding forward down, and these can be quite dynamic, but the dogs do not sit first, and are not taught that way. We teach the fold-back down, or sphinx position. After watching handler after handler have to re-set their dogs for the escape bite at the Nationals (and other events) and lose points as the dogs threw themselves forward and over the marked start position, my opinion of this has been reinforced. I prefer to teach the dog to bring the rear end underneath to sit, rather than rocking back and to move the hind legs back into the down position. The front legs remain stationary, no matter whether the dog is moving into a sit, down or stand.
- in schutzhund the long down is performed while another dog is performing the obedience routine, including retrieves and recalls.
- In schutzhund obedience the hands must move naturally at your sides. In AKC obedience the left arm is commonly held stiffly across the body, as if in a horizontal sling.
If you have the opportunity, start training a puppy in the proper behaviors to your sport as soon as you can. It is not fair to your dog to train it improperly and then six months down the road, change the rules on it and make corrections. Sometimes it can't be helped because owners were unaware of the training opportunties, but sometimes they make a conscious decision to take a couple pet dog classes and "teach the dog obedience" before joining the schutzhund club. It takes less time and effort to do something right the first time, than to change a behavior later.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Quinn trains Little Wood
One exercise Quinn needs to learn for MR2 is something called "Little Wood." Short pieces of wood dowel are used in the search and the dog must locate and retrieve the one with the handler's scent on it. This is similar to the Utility obedience exercise. At first, I wasn't sure I wanted to even work on the exercise until he had his MR1 since I also have the goal of earning our FH this summer. In schutzhund tracking the dog must lay down to indicate articles with human scent on the track. Quinn also does an area search for any article with human scent on it and will down at that article, as well. The purpose of this is so that he does not disturb articles of evidence by putting them in his mouth. An example of this is a search for an expelled shell casing that we did several years ago at the scene of a hunting fatality.
I was worred that asking him to retrieve an article with scent might be confusing. And would it be confusing for his retrieve? The first thing I had to do was break down the exercises and requirements and determine where conflicts might be.
Exercise Command Behavior
1)Area Search for articles veloren (lost) search for articles on ground with human
scent
not specific to one scent. air scenting.
2) Indication of article on track tracking= such to down straight in direction of track with article containing tracklayer's scent located between his front feet, without molesting the article Dog is following ground disturbance to locate the article.
3) Area search for human search air scenting. bark and hold on still subject.
revier if sent to one location
4) retrieve bring go out, pick and return with any thrown
article
So I had to first consider what the command would be. I decided to keep it consistent to his training language and use Finden. I have seen small pieces of how people train the exercise using a board on which the dowels are secured with flex ties except for the one with the handler's scent, so that no incorrect choices can be made. Sometimes they will cover the board with grass or other material, and carry it into other environments but ultimately the board has to be phased out.
The funny part here, telling of how I am thinking of how I want to teach the exercise, is that my friend, Sam, is constantly coming up with new ideas for training and often I laugh at them as adding too many layers. I am very much about keeping things simple and without unnecessary tools or tricks. There is possibly someone reading this who thinks I am being crazy, and also possibly recognizes that I am setting myself up for a problem. But since I have already decided I didn't want to do it the traditional way since he already knows how to search, I will just see how it goes.
I used the rounded wooden dowel, similar to what they use in the MR exercise. I held his mouth shut the same was how we do to pre-scent the dogs to find a particular scent, and held my palm in front of his nose with the dowel there. I said "good finden". Then I left him on a sit and first put the dowel in a corner of the building, but in the open. At the start of my introduction exercises, he is seeing the article being hidden, which is not true in MR. He ran right to the dowel and I encouraged him to bring it back to me and to hold it until I marked and released. He did it super well!
Next, I hid it behind some tubs against the wall. Again he saw the set up, went directly to it and retrieved it. Good boy! Time to up the ante. I hid it in an area with chairs, tables,bookshelves, and dog crates and he searched and quickly found it. His change of behavior in scent is very obvious. I watched a dog recently who struggled to work in to the source of the odor and I know from training police and detection dogs, how critical that is. Quinn is quite good at it.
I then hid the dowel in the kitchen, where there are many interesting odors. The dowel was hidden between an island and the garbage can and I watched him work up in the air in the area. He was moving so quickly, by the time his brain recognized the odor he had passed out of the scent cone. I did not speak and he did not quit. He kept working, and that perserverance in the hunt is something I love to see. I hate a dog that quits and asks the handler to do his job. Or even worse, the handler who is actually doing the job but not realizing it by cueing the dog with "show me, show me!" ugh! pet peeve!
This is where it got interesting. My training partner asked why I didn't just tell him "such" to put his nose down. Just like a good trainer should, I knew the answer to that one. I couldn't tell him to such (pronounced zook) because that is his tracking command and tells him to put his nose down and find the track. And if he would find the article, thinking "track" the proper behavior would be to lay down to indicate. I told her that if he layed down I would have to correct him, and that would only serve to confuse him in TWO disciplines! Even more importantly, I wanted Quinn to learn on his own how to work to the source of that odor. And he did!
The last search we did was back in the crate/table/chair area. This time additional articles were place in the area, placed by my training partner. Being the good sport she is, she emptied her pockets for the sake of training, even though she said she hoped Quinn didn't munch her cell phone! I think we had keys, a cell phone, a knife and something else. The keys were placed where the dowel had been previously and the dowel was placed in between a dog crate and a bookself on the exterior wall. Remember in training placements, where your scent cone is going to be affected by other items around it or hot/cold walls or fans. This time Quinn picked up the keys, but after several "uh-uh's" and repeating "finden" again, he went back to the search and located the dowel. It was interesting that he did not bother at all with the other articles and retrieved the keys because they were in the same place the dowel had been previously. In this, he is trying to define the perameters of the search. Is it this thing, or is it the location of the thing?
So, my Quinnster did very well! We did some whistle-backs to his place between my legs and he is really picking this up well, too Next week I am registered to attend a 3 day seminar with Michael Ellis, and it is my goal not to be too far behind in our prep from those dogs who regularly and solely train in ringsports. Rock On, Quinnster!
I was worred that asking him to retrieve an article with scent might be confusing. And would it be confusing for his retrieve? The first thing I had to do was break down the exercises and requirements and determine where conflicts might be.
Exercise Command Behavior
1)Area Search for articles veloren (lost) search for articles on ground with human
scent
not specific to one scent. air scenting.
2) Indication of article on track tracking= such to down straight in direction of track with article containing tracklayer's scent located between his front feet, without molesting the article Dog is following ground disturbance to locate the article.
3) Area search for human search air scenting. bark and hold on still subject.
revier if sent to one location
4) retrieve bring go out, pick and return with any thrown
article
So I had to first consider what the command would be. I decided to keep it consistent to his training language and use Finden. I have seen small pieces of how people train the exercise using a board on which the dowels are secured with flex ties except for the one with the handler's scent, so that no incorrect choices can be made. Sometimes they will cover the board with grass or other material, and carry it into other environments but ultimately the board has to be phased out.
The funny part here, telling of how I am thinking of how I want to teach the exercise, is that my friend, Sam, is constantly coming up with new ideas for training and often I laugh at them as adding too many layers. I am very much about keeping things simple and without unnecessary tools or tricks. There is possibly someone reading this who thinks I am being crazy, and also possibly recognizes that I am setting myself up for a problem. But since I have already decided I didn't want to do it the traditional way since he already knows how to search, I will just see how it goes.
I used the rounded wooden dowel, similar to what they use in the MR exercise. I held his mouth shut the same was how we do to pre-scent the dogs to find a particular scent, and held my palm in front of his nose with the dowel there. I said "good finden". Then I left him on a sit and first put the dowel in a corner of the building, but in the open. At the start of my introduction exercises, he is seeing the article being hidden, which is not true in MR. He ran right to the dowel and I encouraged him to bring it back to me and to hold it until I marked and released. He did it super well!
Next, I hid it behind some tubs against the wall. Again he saw the set up, went directly to it and retrieved it. Good boy! Time to up the ante. I hid it in an area with chairs, tables,bookshelves, and dog crates and he searched and quickly found it. His change of behavior in scent is very obvious. I watched a dog recently who struggled to work in to the source of the odor and I know from training police and detection dogs, how critical that is. Quinn is quite good at it.
I then hid the dowel in the kitchen, where there are many interesting odors. The dowel was hidden between an island and the garbage can and I watched him work up in the air in the area. He was moving so quickly, by the time his brain recognized the odor he had passed out of the scent cone. I did not speak and he did not quit. He kept working, and that perserverance in the hunt is something I love to see. I hate a dog that quits and asks the handler to do his job. Or even worse, the handler who is actually doing the job but not realizing it by cueing the dog with "show me, show me!" ugh! pet peeve!
This is where it got interesting. My training partner asked why I didn't just tell him "such" to put his nose down. Just like a good trainer should, I knew the answer to that one. I couldn't tell him to such (pronounced zook) because that is his tracking command and tells him to put his nose down and find the track. And if he would find the article, thinking "track" the proper behavior would be to lay down to indicate. I told her that if he layed down I would have to correct him, and that would only serve to confuse him in TWO disciplines! Even more importantly, I wanted Quinn to learn on his own how to work to the source of that odor. And he did!
The last search we did was back in the crate/table/chair area. This time additional articles were place in the area, placed by my training partner. Being the good sport she is, she emptied her pockets for the sake of training, even though she said she hoped Quinn didn't munch her cell phone! I think we had keys, a cell phone, a knife and something else. The keys were placed where the dowel had been previously and the dowel was placed in between a dog crate and a bookself on the exterior wall. Remember in training placements, where your scent cone is going to be affected by other items around it or hot/cold walls or fans. This time Quinn picked up the keys, but after several "uh-uh's" and repeating "finden" again, he went back to the search and located the dowel. It was interesting that he did not bother at all with the other articles and retrieved the keys because they were in the same place the dowel had been previously. In this, he is trying to define the perameters of the search. Is it this thing, or is it the location of the thing?
So, my Quinnster did very well! We did some whistle-backs to his place between my legs and he is really picking this up well, too Next week I am registered to attend a 3 day seminar with Michael Ellis, and it is my goal not to be too far behind in our prep from those dogs who regularly and solely train in ringsports. Rock On, Quinnster!
Free to Good Home
Did I get your attention with this title? I actually do not have any dogs offered "free to a good home" but if i did, today would be Cooper's day!! Many a good dog is purchased after a competition when the owner is stung with disappointment over a performance. I understand that feeling entirely. Distance in time provides a better perspective.
Today Cooper decided that the "down" command (couche', in french) did not apply to him. We actually had a good training session prior to this, and then things just fell apart. The good part was his heeling and the fact that his stand is looking very good. He is freezing in motion, and steady for exam. This is tremendous progress from where we began. He was solid and happy. Another exercise I like to use is having the dog heel, then move to a front position, then move backwards and either finish (right side) or return to heeling(left side). To do this the dog must understand each piece and the last part for Cooper involved teaching him to back straight and remain centered no matter which direction I move. I ended with a little side-pass work, with his butt to the wall at first. That was abit stickier but he never stopped taking food for reward, even under stress.
We did a few toy tosses and all was well; I thought it was a good ending to a good session. And then things went to shit....
I decided to ask him to down at the door. We had practiced some downs, and that is his slowest position. I know i have to work to speed it up. But I didn't think it was such a big deal to ask him to do it in order to exit, which is something he wanted to do. How simple is that? His reward would be for me to open the door for him. But noooooo..... he refused. Again, and again, and again.
If I made a physical correction he would lay down reluctantly. If not, he just stood and started at me. Not a malicious, "I dare you" stare. Just staring. I am not going to do this. I wanted him to self discover that the down was rewarding, so I left him. He remained standing at the door and did not move, but did not lay down, either.
My training partner and I vaccummed the building and locked the doors. Several times he did lay down and I marked it "yes" and rewarded him but when I would take him back to the door and ask for it, he would refuse yet again. I can't tell you how angry this was making me. I knew I could physically force him to do it, but all that proved was that I could physically force him to do it. Bah.
Time was running out. At some point we were going to have to leave!! I carried my gear bag out to the van and still he did not lay down. I gave one last command and I could see the little wheels turning. He started to dip his head and I helped him out by encouraging him with "good boy". He layed down. I said "yes" and opened the door. Oh Lord, I couldn't leave well enough alone and this could have gone five ways to ugly, too, but at the van I got water for him and could tell he was very, very thirsty. So guess what? I let his tongue barely touch the water and then withheld it. Once again, I asked him to lay down. He danced on his front legs. You could almost envision the thought bubble over his head "what to do? what to do?" and yippee, he layed down!! Cooper got his water and I made sure not to make any more requests that I didn't have the time or patience to back up!
This is not an uncommon occurrence in dog training, particularly with pet dogs. What happens? The owner lets the dog out before work and is in a hurry. Dog refuses to come, sit or whatever and owner does not have the time to deal with it, so dog learns a command has a finite time limit. Ask what you have the time and tools to reinforce.
Stay tuned for the results of Cooper's "down" lesson for Saturday!
Today Cooper decided that the "down" command (couche', in french) did not apply to him. We actually had a good training session prior to this, and then things just fell apart. The good part was his heeling and the fact that his stand is looking very good. He is freezing in motion, and steady for exam. This is tremendous progress from where we began. He was solid and happy. Another exercise I like to use is having the dog heel, then move to a front position, then move backwards and either finish (right side) or return to heeling(left side). To do this the dog must understand each piece and the last part for Cooper involved teaching him to back straight and remain centered no matter which direction I move. I ended with a little side-pass work, with his butt to the wall at first. That was abit stickier but he never stopped taking food for reward, even under stress.
We did a few toy tosses and all was well; I thought it was a good ending to a good session. And then things went to shit....
I decided to ask him to down at the door. We had practiced some downs, and that is his slowest position. I know i have to work to speed it up. But I didn't think it was such a big deal to ask him to do it in order to exit, which is something he wanted to do. How simple is that? His reward would be for me to open the door for him. But noooooo..... he refused. Again, and again, and again.
If I made a physical correction he would lay down reluctantly. If not, he just stood and started at me. Not a malicious, "I dare you" stare. Just staring. I am not going to do this. I wanted him to self discover that the down was rewarding, so I left him. He remained standing at the door and did not move, but did not lay down, either.
My training partner and I vaccummed the building and locked the doors. Several times he did lay down and I marked it "yes" and rewarded him but when I would take him back to the door and ask for it, he would refuse yet again. I can't tell you how angry this was making me. I knew I could physically force him to do it, but all that proved was that I could physically force him to do it. Bah.
Time was running out. At some point we were going to have to leave!! I carried my gear bag out to the van and still he did not lay down. I gave one last command and I could see the little wheels turning. He started to dip his head and I helped him out by encouraging him with "good boy". He layed down. I said "yes" and opened the door. Oh Lord, I couldn't leave well enough alone and this could have gone five ways to ugly, too, but at the van I got water for him and could tell he was very, very thirsty. So guess what? I let his tongue barely touch the water and then withheld it. Once again, I asked him to lay down. He danced on his front legs. You could almost envision the thought bubble over his head "what to do? what to do?" and yippee, he layed down!! Cooper got his water and I made sure not to make any more requests that I didn't have the time or patience to back up!
This is not an uncommon occurrence in dog training, particularly with pet dogs. What happens? The owner lets the dog out before work and is in a hurry. Dog refuses to come, sit or whatever and owner does not have the time to deal with it, so dog learns a command has a finite time limit. Ask what you have the time and tools to reinforce.
Stay tuned for the results of Cooper's "down" lesson for Saturday!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Live Like you are .... LIVING!!!
You know the Tim McGraw song that advises to "live like you are dying?" I want to change that perspective. My girl, Jinx, is not living like she is dying; she is living like there is no change of dying!
We had one of our regular biocom treatments today and it showed no cancer response. I don't dare believe the cancer is gone, although that is my ultimate dream. I think this just means that it isn't the overwhelming response of her aura at this time. She was given a different Chinese herbal medication, one of the first types we were given, so her needs are changing. She no longer gets Deramaxx, unless she appears to be in pain. We had initially given her 1/2 Deramaxx per day for pain, then cut it down to 1/4 tablet and it did not seem to have an impact so unless she needs it, she will be D-free. Dr. Strickfaden pronounced that Jinx is doing excellently, and appears to be in great health.
If it wasn't for the atrophied front leg, you would not know Jinx is sick. Her coat is shiny, her eyes bright. She insists on being part of Tom's daily kennel routine, running to the door when she sees him change into those clothes. Putting her paws on his legs and insisting he move faster when he dawdles! She accompanies him to the kennel, running through the snow on her three good legs and once there, she gets to practice her protection routines. She returns to the house, tired and grinning.
I got to thinking that this is critical to her attitude and potential recovery. We don't treat her as if she is dying; we treat her as if she will continue to live. She still has to obey commands, and follow the house rules. She gets to bite and play, though I am protective of letting her get bumped around by other dogs. Dogs don't have good-byes to make, or wills to write. I don't know if they have such a thing as a bucket list. That might be difficult, since they have to rely on us to drive them places and would have to enlist help, but I think there are probably things that they desire to do, or to eat. New butts to smell. Sometimes we simply go for a car ride. I grab a cup of coffee and we take a drive around the countryside. She loves to be included. To leave her home would signal there is something different about her, or her value to us.
If a child was dying of cancer, wouldn't you engage him or her in the process of LIVING? Jinx's eyes are bright because we have stopped waiting for her to die. And that makes my eyes bright as well.
We had one of our regular biocom treatments today and it showed no cancer response. I don't dare believe the cancer is gone, although that is my ultimate dream. I think this just means that it isn't the overwhelming response of her aura at this time. She was given a different Chinese herbal medication, one of the first types we were given, so her needs are changing. She no longer gets Deramaxx, unless she appears to be in pain. We had initially given her 1/2 Deramaxx per day for pain, then cut it down to 1/4 tablet and it did not seem to have an impact so unless she needs it, she will be D-free. Dr. Strickfaden pronounced that Jinx is doing excellently, and appears to be in great health.
If it wasn't for the atrophied front leg, you would not know Jinx is sick. Her coat is shiny, her eyes bright. She insists on being part of Tom's daily kennel routine, running to the door when she sees him change into those clothes. Putting her paws on his legs and insisting he move faster when he dawdles! She accompanies him to the kennel, running through the snow on her three good legs and once there, she gets to practice her protection routines. She returns to the house, tired and grinning.
I got to thinking that this is critical to her attitude and potential recovery. We don't treat her as if she is dying; we treat her as if she will continue to live. She still has to obey commands, and follow the house rules. She gets to bite and play, though I am protective of letting her get bumped around by other dogs. Dogs don't have good-byes to make, or wills to write. I don't know if they have such a thing as a bucket list. That might be difficult, since they have to rely on us to drive them places and would have to enlist help, but I think there are probably things that they desire to do, or to eat. New butts to smell. Sometimes we simply go for a car ride. I grab a cup of coffee and we take a drive around the countryside. She loves to be included. To leave her home would signal there is something different about her, or her value to us.
If a child was dying of cancer, wouldn't you engage him or her in the process of LIVING? Jinx's eyes are bright because we have stopped waiting for her to die. And that makes my eyes bright as well.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Your One Hundred Percent
Are you asking your dog to give more than his 100%? Are you giving your 100%?
The first time I heard the concept in terms of what your dog has to give you, was at a seminar instructed by USA Judge Al Govednik. It has been etched in my memory ever since. He said that every dog has their 100% effort and that you need to recognize and respect that. It is like students in a class. One student works as hard as he can, studies hard and at his best effort, 100%, only gets a B. But another student breezes through the work, barely cracking a book and scores an A by giving only a 70% effort.
Dogs are like that. One dog might give you his 100% and only be capable of scoring 90 points on his best day. Another might be a podium dog, capable of 100 points, who just doesn't exert himself and routinely scores a 92. Which is the better dog? You cannot fault the dog that tries his best. You should not be angry at that dog who works as hard as he can but yet does not achieve the perfect score. When Al talked about treating such a dog as the champion he is, who gave it his best, it really struck home with me.
Sometimes the dog is limited by their training and the opportunities were are able to present to them. Sometimes they are limited by physical issues. I have a dog who is very upright in the rear and when he runs as fast as he can, it is not the same speed as the dog with more angulation who can stretch out. For a period of time, we struggled with obtaining a fast, straight finish, which was a training issue; when we achieved that, even though he hadn't made V scores, I knew he gave it his all. To me, he was a winner and it literally brought tears to my eyes.
I think sometimes when we are disappointed with our dog's performance, it is a displacement behavior. The person we are really disappointed with is ourselves. Why? Because we expect 100% effort from our dogs that we are unwilling to give ourselves. I have to admit I do not give my 100% consistently. I'm back to the Olympics again, as you can tell, but watching those athletes and what they go through to puruse their dreams makes it so clear to me that I don't give my 100%. And if I don't, how can I honestly expect that my dog can or should give his?
So in the future, I hope to have the wisdom to realize what my dog's 100% effort is, to reward it and take pride in it and to give him the same respect.
The first time I heard the concept in terms of what your dog has to give you, was at a seminar instructed by USA Judge Al Govednik. It has been etched in my memory ever since. He said that every dog has their 100% effort and that you need to recognize and respect that. It is like students in a class. One student works as hard as he can, studies hard and at his best effort, 100%, only gets a B. But another student breezes through the work, barely cracking a book and scores an A by giving only a 70% effort.
Dogs are like that. One dog might give you his 100% and only be capable of scoring 90 points on his best day. Another might be a podium dog, capable of 100 points, who just doesn't exert himself and routinely scores a 92. Which is the better dog? You cannot fault the dog that tries his best. You should not be angry at that dog who works as hard as he can but yet does not achieve the perfect score. When Al talked about treating such a dog as the champion he is, who gave it his best, it really struck home with me.
Sometimes the dog is limited by their training and the opportunities were are able to present to them. Sometimes they are limited by physical issues. I have a dog who is very upright in the rear and when he runs as fast as he can, it is not the same speed as the dog with more angulation who can stretch out. For a period of time, we struggled with obtaining a fast, straight finish, which was a training issue; when we achieved that, even though he hadn't made V scores, I knew he gave it his all. To me, he was a winner and it literally brought tears to my eyes.
I think sometimes when we are disappointed with our dog's performance, it is a displacement behavior. The person we are really disappointed with is ourselves. Why? Because we expect 100% effort from our dogs that we are unwilling to give ourselves. I have to admit I do not give my 100% consistently. I'm back to the Olympics again, as you can tell, but watching those athletes and what they go through to puruse their dreams makes it so clear to me that I don't give my 100%. And if I don't, how can I honestly expect that my dog can or should give his?
So in the future, I hope to have the wisdom to realize what my dog's 100% effort is, to reward it and take pride in it and to give him the same respect.
Monday, February 15, 2010
predisposition to grip low on the arm
I was talking to a friend last night and it was mentioned that the instructor at a seminar stated that a particular dog's choice of the first strike being low on the sleeve was genetic. This particular dog would then apparently switch to another grip, more centered. I found this to be an interesting statement. A dog may have a genetic weakness of nerve that causes it to prefer to bite as far away from the center mass (dangerous part) of the man as it can, This can be evidenced in the dog who bites near the wrist, uses the front canines and tugs away, not into, the decoy. In a police dog-- god forbid that dog gets passed through the training!- it is the dog who bites low on the arm, tearing off layers of clothing but never inflicting significant damage.. Pretty soon you have a naked suspect, and a pile of rags that the dog is busily thrashing while the suspect runs away. I'm only half joking on this.
When I select a puppy, I look to the one that has a grip compatible with the type of sport I do. For schutzhund, if my favorite demonstrates a desire to fill its mouth with the rag or toy, to push in and take more, and is calm, I am that much farther ahead. I will not have to spend so much time in the formative stages, teaching and reinforcing the type of grip I want. But I cannot imagine a dog being genetically presdisposed to say, grip in the center of the sleeve. A dog is taught that behavior. A dog is not born with a sleeve in its mouth.
Going back to the basics of behavior, behavior reinforced/rewarded is likely to be repeated. If we do not allow the dog access to the wrong bite locations in training by using a back line, drag line, blocking or simply stopping the game the dog learns what grip and grip location on a sleeve will cause the game to continue and be rewarded.
If we repeatedly give the dog a bad grip initially, whether intentionally or not, and then cause it to move the grip and reward that the dog believes this is the behavior we desire. Bite badly, move, and be rewarded. It is no different than when we unintentionally teach a dog that the return to heel is a 2 step process. Instead of going immediately to heel position, it moves to a crooked position, then is asked to "fix" that, straightens out and is rewarded. Very quickly we will have a dog who never finishes correctly on the first attempt.
It is possible that the instructor, who has vast experience in training and an impressive resume of accomplishments, made a shortcut in explaining what he was seeing. He has likely seen this so many times that going into a lengthy explanation bogs down the seminar. The newcomer may be left without understanding how genetics do influence the grip and gripping style and how a bad grip can also be made, not born , improved upon but never eliminated if it has a genetic component BUT that genetics do not tell a dog where to bite a sleeve. Once you understand that, you can make an educated decision as to your training course. Is the issue nerves/genetics? To what extent will you be able to put bandaids on that problem and how far is that likely to take you? Is it a training issue? Particularly if you see multiple dogs worked by the same helper exhibiting the same problem, you may wish to change helpers/trainers. Are either of these things possible, given your resources? Ultimately, you will find it frustrating to pound that square peg into the round hole unless you make an honest assessment and acknowledge when your dog is giving you HIS 100%.
More about that 100% in an upcoming post....
When I select a puppy, I look to the one that has a grip compatible with the type of sport I do. For schutzhund, if my favorite demonstrates a desire to fill its mouth with the rag or toy, to push in and take more, and is calm, I am that much farther ahead. I will not have to spend so much time in the formative stages, teaching and reinforcing the type of grip I want. But I cannot imagine a dog being genetically presdisposed to say, grip in the center of the sleeve. A dog is taught that behavior. A dog is not born with a sleeve in its mouth.
Going back to the basics of behavior, behavior reinforced/rewarded is likely to be repeated. If we do not allow the dog access to the wrong bite locations in training by using a back line, drag line, blocking or simply stopping the game the dog learns what grip and grip location on a sleeve will cause the game to continue and be rewarded.
If we repeatedly give the dog a bad grip initially, whether intentionally or not, and then cause it to move the grip and reward that the dog believes this is the behavior we desire. Bite badly, move, and be rewarded. It is no different than when we unintentionally teach a dog that the return to heel is a 2 step process. Instead of going immediately to heel position, it moves to a crooked position, then is asked to "fix" that, straightens out and is rewarded. Very quickly we will have a dog who never finishes correctly on the first attempt.
It is possible that the instructor, who has vast experience in training and an impressive resume of accomplishments, made a shortcut in explaining what he was seeing. He has likely seen this so many times that going into a lengthy explanation bogs down the seminar. The newcomer may be left without understanding how genetics do influence the grip and gripping style and how a bad grip can also be made, not born , improved upon but never eliminated if it has a genetic component BUT that genetics do not tell a dog where to bite a sleeve. Once you understand that, you can make an educated decision as to your training course. Is the issue nerves/genetics? To what extent will you be able to put bandaids on that problem and how far is that likely to take you? Is it a training issue? Particularly if you see multiple dogs worked by the same helper exhibiting the same problem, you may wish to change helpers/trainers. Are either of these things possible, given your resources? Ultimately, you will find it frustrating to pound that square peg into the round hole unless you make an honest assessment and acknowledge when your dog is giving you HIS 100%.
More about that 100% in an upcoming post....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)