a box, a clicker and a Dutch Shepherd

A new narcotics detection class started on Monday.  I may be the only police dog trainer who includes lectures on Operant Conditioning, use of rewards and verbal markers and Learning Theory in a police dog class, but I consider it critical to understanding why the dog does what he does.  The training is more than simply having a handler who yanks the dog around or does what the trainer instructs without understanding  how the pieces fit together.  That type of handler will never be able to problem solve in later training because he can only mimic what he was taught.  Thinking outside the box needs to be built and encouraged with the humans, just as with the canines.

Today we discussed the importance of self-discovery and how lessons will have a greater impact on the dog when he makes his own discover of the behavior connections than if he is made to perform a function using compulsion.   From there, the conversation moved to behavior shaping.  Enter Chica!


In training we had already discussed the importance of timing, markers and rewards.  The clicker was a new addition and I explained how it is used, and the limitations.  I like to use a clicker with puppies, when I am teaching a new behavior and with dogs who have negative association with commands and voice inflection.  Chica has been exposed to the clicker before.  I "charged it" using click, then treat, click, then treat. 


Chica is a Dutch Shepherd and she understands markers, knows how to go to a place/perch and move around it and loves to play learning games, but she had never done what I asked of her. I placed a cardboard box on the floor. The box was deep, but not very tall so that she could not enter without crouching. The criteria was going to be that she put her head in the box, using shaping. It wasn't truly free shaping because I restricted her on a flexi-leash from going entirely away from me since we were in a large building and we weren't going to wait for hours.

Because I had introduced something novel to the environment, Chica immediately began to interact with it.  She looked at it and I clicked and treated.  She touched her nose to the top edge and I clicked and treated.  She touched it with her nose again and looked at me.  Is this what you want? I withheld the reward because I knew if I reinforced that single behavior too many times she would get stuck there and not try other options. She laid down. How about this?   She sat. Her tail was wagging and she was trying to figure out what in the heck this box had to do with her. Back to the nose touch and then she lowered her head to the opening.  Click/treat.  It took all of a couple minutes to accomplish that.  She would place her head in the opening, and I would click and bring the reward to the source of the behavior, just was we do with the detection dogs.  Being able to watch the exercise helped to bring clarity to the lectures. 

Then the criteria went up.  Now I wanted her to not only put her head in, but to enter the box. She wasn't too sure about that because she couldn't just walk in.  Tiny steps.  Head in. Click.  Head in again. Click. Waited for more but she backed out and threw behaviors outside the box. Sit, down, stand... how about this?  So back to short rewards for attention to the box again. It took a little longer for her to actually enter the box, but ultimately she did. 

Karen Pryor, well known for her clicker training, writes about the "101 things to do with a box" games on her web site:   http://www.clickertraining.com/node/167

Chica was not fond of the close quarters of the box, but she was willing to try and she was rewarded for her efforts.  I then took out a smaller box, open at the top and just shaped having her stick her head in the box.  Easy, quick and successful!  I use an adaptation of this when teaching the article indication and the head down position on command, as opposed to the method I was first exposed to  where the dog is smacked on the head and commanded "such platz!!"

But the biggest success is exposing a new handler to a different way of thinking.  Thinking outside the box took us inside the box.

 

 



Flexi Flubs

You are familiar with flexi-leads, those expandable leashes on a plastic hand grip that conceals the coils and stops them..... or not?  When I lived in the city, these were the gadgets that allowed people to visit my bushes, trees and lawn and claim they were "leashed".  Encountering one on the sidewalk was a risky act because suddenly you and your own dog, walking nicely in heel position at your side, would find yourself in the path of a dog expanding territory rapidly at the end of such a leash.  It seems having an extra 10 feet causes people to think that their dog has the right to every one of those, even if it is no longer in a public place or is encroaching on someone else's space.  No doubt one of them has even uttered the words "it's my right."  They would be wrong.

Your dog does not have right to come in contact with me or my dog simply because you can.  And of course, if a fight occurs you will hear "he never did that before" and depending on the breed, it may be labeled your fault.  He does not have the right to walk in my yard and water my bushes. 

At this point, you may have the opinion that I dislike flexi-leads.  I do not.  I dislike some of the idiots they are attached to, but the tool itself is not at fault.  I use them myself in certain training exercises.  I use them when I am working with a new dog and want to build a recall/attention but cannot do it safely off leash.  I use it for building speed in retrieves.  The tape type device is what is commonly sold now, but some people may still have the string version.  The string version isn't sold now because dogs were injured by having the string wrap around their legs, so do be careful.
Flexi leashes are wonderful tools when used correctly.

I had an appointment at the vet today.  Cooper, my IPO3, Type 1/CE USAR dog was there to have his elbows Xrayed to pave the way for a potential romantic tryst with another pretty little brindle Dutch Shepherd.  He sat next to me and waited our turn to check in.  The woman to our left who was in the act of checking in, had two small terriers on flexi leashes.  One of the dogs decided to approach Cooper and had the line pulled out approximately 8 feet when I coughed and said, "hey, your little doggie is over here."  She didn't say anything.  No apology, no commands.  She retracted the leash as the other dog wrapped it around her legs a few times.  She dragged the two beasties away (as people seem to do when they own small dogs and can physically move them instead of simply training them) and went about her visit.

This isn't the first time I have encountered behavior like this in a veterinarian office.  People view it as a dog park and want to sit next to you, critical if you ask them to stay farther away.  In case you are one of those, allow me to point out a few reasons why you may wish to reconsider.

1. Not all dogs love other dogs and vet offices not only are a more confined space, but your dog may be overwhelmed with the odors of other fearful dogs.  Do not create a fight or bite that does not need to occur.
2. Understand that when your dog pulls toward another dog, and you pull him back you are actually creating more drive toward the thing he was deprived of.  If he has already gotten too close to the other dog, the result may be a snap.
3. The dog you are allowing your dog to go visit may be sick.  It may be contagious or infected.  After all, this is a vet office.  Some may be there for routine check ups but many are there because there is something wrong.  Many dog illnesses are transmitted through a lick.  Let your dog give a doggy kiss to the sick dog, and you just brought home something to your other dogs.  I have been in a vet office when a puppy was diagnosed with parvo.  Believe me, your heart skips a beat.  Now imagine if you had signed the death warrant for your own dog by allowing it to come in contact with that puppy.
4. That nice dog your dog is about to jump on may be friendly in other circumstances but today he is suffering from cancer, or arthritis, or recovering from surgery.  And you are about to cause him pain.  Don't do it.

For the sake of the safety of your dog and those around you, consider using a regular leash with a strong clasp and sturdy handle and not allowing your dog to make bad decisions. Be a good citizen and a good customer at the office of your vet. And please, leave the flexi leash at home.

Puppy Lessons

In the past several weeks, I've started lessons with two new puppies and a 9 month old. Every one of them starts at the same place; learning to work for food.   The first session that female GSD, Dahlia, arrived for was very short. She had eaten a meal earlier, was being fed more than she needed, and saw no reason to pay attention to her owner.  Her world changed radically, and one week later I saw a very different puppy before me!  This one was driving strongly into the owner's hand, eager to work with him.  Her positions are being shaped with the food at this point; moving backwards, sit, down, spins. Even the beginning of moving from a front position to heel by a flip to backing. Of course, she doesn't know this is all foundation for her schutzhund career, she just knows she is having fun and earning food.  Her owner is diligent in his homework, too, and in just several sessions she is doing all that in addition to learning to go to a perch/place and begin rear end awareness and in the last session we introduced her to a revier.  By the time club training resumes in February what this 4 month old pup knows will rival some young adults.

The difference is in building the desire to work through a relationship with food.  Another puppy that had a first lesson this week is meant to be a well-mannered pet, not a competition dog. Tucker is a nice looking 4 month old male German Shepherd, who entered the training building not caring about the other end of the leash.  Despite calls of "Tucker, Tucker, Tucker".... he went where he wanted and was contained only because he was on leash.  He didn't respond to his name.  Fortunately, the owners listened to my instructions and Tucker was hungry. I guarantee that between that lesson and the next, Tucker is now earning his meals by recalls, hide and seek and with sit and down.  In his first session, there was an immediate change from the pup who first entered the building to the one who left.  The best part is watching the owners see that change.

The third dog is one I have in to evaluate for training and titling. Bella is a 9 month old female German Shepherd.  If a dog does not have the same foundation, it can take a few days until they come to understand that there is no free lunch. Food is offered in my hand (her kibble, or sometimes a treat) and if she elects to go elsewhere, the session is over and too bad for her!  The choice is hers, whether she eats or not.  Sometimes this occurs when a dog has not had to work in hand, and is used to being fed in a dish that is put down with no rules, sometimes when they learn they can cruise the ground and pick up food for free instead, if a handler is not good with the food delivery.  For the past few days, the attention has been hit and miss but tonight things clicked!  She drove nicely-- even a little strongly!!-- into my hand and would follow the food for spins, sit and down and here.  She did not fall out of attention for the entire session.  I have introduced her to the between the legs position of training heel, ala Knut Fuchs, and she is not yet comfortable with that so for now I am leading her slightly forward in that position until she is good with the leg pressure and I can adjust her head position.  We ended the session with the beginning of her vorhaus, or send-away, by sending her to the remainder of the food in her dish after the session.  Next session will begin to introduce the perch/place.  The break-through occurred on the fourth day since I got her.  So, it takes some amount of patience and willingness to offer the food and let the dog make the decision instead of breaking out the correction collar and forcing it.  In the end, you will have a much better working relationship.  If the only reason your dog stays with you is because it is attached to a leash (leather OR electronic)  you need to examine your methods.  Also, from the first moment you start training, have a vision of what you want to accomplish and make sure the small steps along the way are building blocks toward that, and not in conflict.

Until next time, good training!

Time Flies

I can't believe how much time has passed since I last wrote. So many things have happened, both happy and sad and it seems the year ran away with me. My mother was in poor health, in and out of the hospital, and I made many trips to their home in Northern Wisconsin. When I last wrote, I was preparing for trial in June with Buzz and Cooper. A glitch in the flight arrangements for the judge and poor entries for the conformation show resulted in a cancellation of the event; as it turns out, that was fortuitous as I was needed back home. 

In the meantime, our club struggled with replacing helpers who had moved or moved on.  Much of my technical work was done using a jolly ball.  Necessity is indeed the mother of invention!  Transport, escape, call backs... all trained with the jolly ball.  This may be something for a future post.

Mom fell during during dialysis and entered a rehab facility. More trips up north. Uncle Ray Johnson passed away on July 17th at age 84.



On July 28, my Aunt Elsie wood, my Dad's older sister, passed away at age 92.  On my way home from her funeral, I stopped to visit with my Mom.  We had a really great visit with lots of laughter and love, and I kissed her and said "Love you, Mumser".  It was to be the last time I would do that in this life.  She passed away on August 10, 2012 at age 79.

Our trial had been rescheduled to August.  The day before I had to pick up Judge Mike Caputo, my dear Mother passed away. She had always been supportive of my dog endeavors and asked about them. Mike was so wonderful and caring, and I opted to soldier through the trial for the sake of the people who were counting on me, knowing I had an angel on my shoulder. Buzz and Cooper both earned their IPO1 titles, and Cooper was High in Trial.  The most difficult moment was when I walked off the field, and the first thing I thought was " I need to call Mom and tell her..." only to realize, I couldn't do that any longer.  We packed up and left to join the family.

Then it was back to work.  On August 26th I trialed Buzz and Cooper for their IPO2 titles at O.G. Inselstadt under UScA Judge Al Govednik, but on that day, Buzz just was off on his tracking and did not pass.  He is an excellent tracker and so it was a puzzle as to what was going on with him. Cooper earned his IPO2, and was High IPO2.  Cooper made another appearance at that level at the North Central Region Championship, under UScA Judge Johannes Grewe and again passed and was the Regional IPO2 Champion.



 I had entered Buzz in a trial in MN for his IPO2, and drove 5 hours over to the site, practiced, checked in the hotel and was there 2 hours when I received a call advising the trial was canceled as there was bad weather and the judge could not fly out!  So, I turned around and drove 5 hours back home again that night and Buzz went back to his owner, who finished the IPO2 with him herself.  Go, Team Buzz!!! Buzz was such a pleasure to work with.  Tom loved having him here, too, and jokingly threatened to steal him he was such a love!  Buzz will earn his IPO3 in the 2013 trial season.


We lost our sweet house dog, and Cooper's dam, Roya vom Foxtal, on September 27th to bone cancer.  There is an empty spot on the bed. All in all, it was a pretty rough year for losses.

The one thing that keeps me putting one foot in front of the other on many days, is my dogs.  The dogs still need time, attention, training and love no matter what else is going on.  Being with them is a comfort, and training takes my mind off other things.  For some people, training is a means to and end; something to get through.  For me, the process is what I find rewarding and energizing.  A new client dog joined the household.  This time, a new one for me-- a dobe!!  I am fortunate that I do not have to take on clients to support myself, but do it because I enjoy it so I can be selective.  This young guy came to me at 7 months and by the time he left at 9 months, weighed over 90 lbs.  Boss is a BIG boy, and very social and enthusiastic.  He went home for the holidays and will be back in the spring to continue training for his IPO titles.

The last trial of our season was at Greater Chicago under UScA Judge Al Govednik, where Cooper earned his IPO3 and High in Trial. Somewhere along the line, possibly in practice the day before, Cooper pulled a muscle in his rear leg which showed itself in his reluctance/refusal to sit during the trial but he continued to work.  Since then we have been visiting Dr. Strickfaden for bicom treatments and doing our off-season rehab. This week we were invited to join IL-TF1, an US&R team.  Cooper and I will be visiting them later this month and are excited to become a part of that team. I am also keeping an eye on the IRO trial scheduled for August in New Hampshire.

I traveled--- dog-less--- to Nashville, TN in November to attend the UScA German Shepherd Dog Championship, as a delegate for our schutzhund club.  I  was proudly elected to a position as Director at Large.  It is always exciting to see old friends in the sport, and to see how improvements in training perform in the stadium.

As the year closed, and the daylight ours shortened I hit a bit of a slump. Perhaps because I finally had time to sit down and actually consider all that had happened, and facing a first Christmas without my Mom.  Not to be on a soapbox here, but what keeps the light in front of me is knowing that I will see my loved ones in Heaven, and that this life is not all there is.  There were some low points, and many challenges, but I have a wonderful husband, friends, family and the dogs I adore.  We make of life what we choose, and I choose to be excited about tomorrow!

So now I am out the other side.  Fox Valley Police & Schutzhund Club held their annual meeting today, and despite my pleading, I am still President! :) I'm excited about 2013.  We have new club dogs, including a nice little black female GS and everyone is excited to get back to work. I took Marco out the other day to demonstrate how to "drive" and shape positions and he was spot on-- made me very excited to title him this year, too!  Boss will be coming back, and will be joined by a young GSD female for IPO training. My pack will be joined by another (yes, ANOTHER) German Shepherd puppy this spring, if all goes well, a half sister to Buzz. Big plans for her! And I hope to have breaking news soon regarding a litter sired by Cooper vom FoxTal, CGC, RH-1,IPO3, Type1/CE!!

I'm back.  I hope you are, too!

Cross-wise

54 degrees and a wind of 21 mph and I thought "tracking!!"  When the wind is blowing, I get going, so to speak.  In tracking, the best attitude is to greet distractions and seeming difficulties as opportunities to learn.




 Especially when I am teaching the fundamentals of staying at the source of the odor, I like to make long legs cross-wise to the wind direction.  There is no reward where there is no human scent, and the dog learns to get themselves back to the source of the odor. In these windy day tracks the cross-wise legs are baited at random but quite heavily so that if the dog does leave the track there is reward when he returns.


Today we were doubly "blessed" by vehicle tracks across the area. If you have ruts, grain-cuts from lawn mowing, trails or other,  laying your track "cross-wise" to those is also helpful.  The dog is not rewarded for following those areas of heavy disturbance that do not contain the scent that he was started on, and he learns to negotiate those unrelated scent profiles.  I do not bait through those, leading the dog with food; I bait before and after the distraction.  If the dog is drawn off onto the rut/tire impression or whatnot, he very quickly recognizes there is no human scent there, and moves back to the track... where he finds reward.  

 I should note here that this is not a trailing exercise. By the time tracks such as this are run, the dog understands the scent circle exercise and knows that where there is no human scent there is no reward, and if he makes one step outside that area, knows to return to the area of human scent.  He has likely seen serpentine tracks as well as had unrelated people walking near the track layer when the tracks were laid.  He is beginning to understand that anything that does not contain the scent of the tracklayer is unimportant.  I stay close to the dog and if he does step off the track to explore another scent, I say nothing.  I do not physically or verbally correct him.  It is up to the dog to find the track and be successful.  However, he does not have 30 feet or even 10 feet to run around and air scent.  As I said, I stay close on the line and give him one or two steps before he feels back pressure on the line.  He needs to convince me that his direction is correct.  He pulls against the pressure to get back to the track... and the reward.  


On the track, I also start to give some gentle back-pressure on the line as the dog moves to a piece of food, building the same "convince me" pull. Just as soon as he gives me resistance, I release the pressure, he finds reward and I say soothingly "good."


In the photo below, taken with my cell phone as I was tracking with Buzz, you can see the track at an angle to the vehicle tracks, moving right. You can see it just at Buzz's right shoulder.

Any time you track, be grateful for distractions and challenges.  Just be sure to provide an opportunity for reward equal to the difficulty.  Once the dog understands articles, you can also alternate legs with bait, and legs with articles and use the articles to reward a successful movement through difficulty.  Create confidence for yourself and your dog and have fun with tracking!

Sophie and Cooper-- the No Labels Tour

Not long ago, I taught a seminar for people who work with the foster dogs in rescue, preparing them for their forever homes.  I told them that, although the seminar was billed as "Clicking to Calm and Challenge" if there was a sub-title it would be "The No-Labels Tour."

Almost all my private lesson clients these days are rescue dogs.  There are many opportunities for the well-balanced, nicely behaved dogs but where do the rest go? Their owners try the local obedience classes, because that's what they've always done before.  Only this time, with this dog, the stimulation is too much.  Sometimes they shut down and mentally flee. Sometimes they lash out at people or other dogs.  In the worst case scenario, unskilled trainers advise the owner to put a prong collar on the dog and force it to march around in endless, yanking circles. Or they suggest the owner step in front of the fearful dog to block it's view or a host of other useless parlor tricks.

Without ever teaching the dog what our desired behavior is, it is patently unfair to correct it.  Don't tell me that your dog is "leash reactive!"  How can it be anything but reactive if it never learned how to sit or heel properly? Additionally, if your dog is fearful you must take him out of that environment in order to learn.  Group classes are not helpful to these dogs until they have the skill set to be able to perform alternate behaviors.

Enter Sophie.  I can't give you a full appraisal of what Sophie has been through in her training except that she attended *special* classes.  Her handler, Matt, started attending my schutzhund club training and showed him how to work with some of my dogs on basic obedience.  Matt is a quick study and grasped the concept of using verbal markers and the clicker.  Instead of maintaining her original label, Matt chose to teach her basic obedience using the same methods. He showed me the work he had done and demonstrated beautiful and correct heel position.  It was time to bring her into a group environment.  In order to make that transition, we first begin by pairing Sophie with a calm, obedient dog who is not going to make strong eye contact or threaten her.  The dog must first learn that it is safe working near another dog before you can ask it to hold things together with an disobedient dog. This is why group classes, filled with dogs that do not know how to sit and behave or heel, is a recipe for disaster for the dog that believes its life is in danger.

If the dog cannot sit in the face of stimulus or distraction, begin there.  Don't label the dog or make excuses, address the behavior in front of you.  With the many rescue dogs I work with, I seek to challenge them and their owners as we develop their confidence.  So here are some photos of a recent session with Sophie.  She worked opposite two different male dogs that day, Quinn and Cooper. We take the behaviors she knows and work them in the presence of different dogs; we do not ask her to learn new behaviors then, we merely change one thing in the environment to reinforce to her that she is safe and capable.  The photos below are of her session opposite Cooper:

The first photo does not show the attentive obedience Sophie is capable of, but she is not lunging, she is using calming signals by attempting to sniff the ground.  She discovered that Cooper was nothing important in her world, and turned her attention back to Matt.

If you are working a dog that responds aggressively toward another dog, the best place for you to be is on the RIGHT.  That is because any correction you give moves the dog to your right and away from the other dog.  It also requires the dog to look at the handler fully.  In this photo, I have just crossed in front of Sophie and Matt is about to make an about turn.

Both dogs sitting and giving their handler's attention.  Sophie is at a stage where Matt is using lures in the presence of another dog, so that there is ample reward for good behavior but you can see her posture is relaxed and open and she isn't worried about the dog nearby.  Since this was Sophie's first time working opposite another dog like this, we were also careful not to encroach on her parameters where she would begin to worry.

Pretty darned close, and no concern. The most difficult position for a worried dog is the down.  Not only is it a submissive position, but it does not allow for the dog to run for it's life quickly if circumstances require it!  If you have a dog who barks, the dog is the least helpful position for making calm because you do not have a means of enforcing quiet.  The sit position is a dog handler's best friend.  Sit= quiet.  You do not need to add an unnecessary command, it only serves to bring your own emotional state into play.  Simply teach and reinforce that no barking is allowed in the sit position.  Teach attention to the handler.  While I can address more about this in the future, that does not translate to the cutesy trick of having the dog sit in front of you as you wave treats.  Attention is not relative to the dog looking at your face because as you heel your face will be forward, and if the dog thinks it is only rewarded for being in front/looking at your face, you will struggle to keep it in proper heel position.

With Sophie obviously relaxed, we had some fun doing synchronized obedience!  We would count 1-2-3 and then.... spin... or down... sit... or touch!  Both dogs know the finger touch on command, which is also a very helpful tool.  As you can see, Sophie is totally into it.  Again, not a new behavior, simply taking something she already knows and putting it in a new environment.


1-2-3  SPIN

1-2-3   TOUCH!!

NOT THE END.  

THIS IS THE BEGINNING!

On the Cheap

In a lesson this week, we used a section of decorative fence, an end table and two bales of hay with a board for an impromptu agility course.  The decorative fence had slates, which, when laid on the ground were elevated slightly to create a walkway.  The end table because a "pause table" for positions.  The hay bales and board were a raised dog walk.


Not long ago, when I was teaching the foundation of the blind search I used a large plastic garbage can and a chair.  The moral of the story is that you don't need to pay ridiculous sums of money for specialized equipment in order to get good training done.  A couple pieces of PVC or stakes and plastic bags can create blinds and jumps.  An end table found on the curb can become a nice pause table.  You won't feel badly when you cut a few inches off the legs, either! 


 In USAR we love our "junk agility" and teaching the dogs to walk on unsteady surfaces.  This is good for  building confidence in any dog.  Got some old chain link, snow fence and some wood pallets?  Make certain you don't have sharp edges or places the dog can get stuck, and you have a nifty little environmental challenge course.  I think most everyone has a ladder at home.  Place the ladder on the ground, resting on a couple concrete blocks and you can teach your dog rear-end awareness which the cheapest cavaletti on earth. Fiber glass poles and hula hoops can create interesting weaves and guides.  And while we're at it-- if you want realistic tracking articles, visit your local Goodwill and pick up some small toys, old wallets, etc.


You can still drool over the catalogs, and bend the pages of the equipment you would love to have, but don't put off your training because you can't afford a thousand dollars worth of pretty plastic. Look in your garage, and do it on the cheap.