Obedience IS fun!!!

Life is what you make it...  a commonly heard truth.

It is also true that dog obedience is what you make it!

I have always loved training dog obedience.  I've also been lucky to have had inspirational instructors from the very beginning who never made it boring, helped break down each behavior/exercise into its pieces, never taught with corrections and never ever bored me with heeling around a room in circles.  And yes I learned obedience in 1990.  So there were inspirational trainers and instructors 20 years ago.  

While I am laid up yet again with another knee injury I am having fun training my dogs in obedience.  It is helping me think about different training problems to solve.  I love problem solving.  I love watching lightbulbs go on with my dogs.  My dogs know how to do agility and while there are some fine tuning of things we could do in agility and improving some skills here and there it is not as challenging for me as training for competing in open and utility. Just like in agility for me I get bored if I only trial in one organization because I like the training and handling challenges posed by different organizations the same is true of obedience.  The challenges in the different obedience organization pose interesting problems for me to solve.  I also have three very different dogs I am training.

So many people have negative feelings toward obedience and that is unfortunate.  Obedience is really a series of tricks chained together.  It can be just as fun to train those tricks as roll over, walking on hind legs, bowing etc.  It took almost a year to teach two of my dogs to retrieve.  I went slowly and always made it fun.  Now both dogs are nuts for their dumbbells and I have some of the same issues as people have with labs who want to play with their dumbbell rather than retrieve it.  It is a wonderful problem to have and one that I'm learning a lot as I problem solve it.  If I had force trained it I would not have this problem but I also would not have dogs who are so excited to go and train obedience and dogs who actually like the dumbbell so much I can use it as a reward for other behaviors.  I have dogs who do fast retrieves.  Just like in agility, speed can not be forced.  It has to be nurtured and rewarded and right now I'm working through the sloppiness that comes with happy fast retrieves.  Again a good problem to have.

To prepare for competition there is proofing to be done which helps build confidence in the dogs and helps the dogs solve problems too.  Dogs who have been trained using shaping are great problem solvers so it is not stressful for them.   Obedience requires a lot of independent and confident thinking and problem solving on the part of the dogs.  Dogs who love challenges will love proofing.  My dogs get so happy and silly when they work through a proofing situation or when they figure out what I wanted.  They are not stressed by the challenge because I try never to over face them.  We add distractions when we know a dog understands what we want in order to build their focus.  Obedience competition requires a lot of thinking and focus for a rather long period of time compared to agility.  To help build that focus and concentration we add distractions in training so the dog learns to stay focused on task.  Often the distraction becomes the reward which in turn can make it more distracting.  Dogs often work faster and more accurately when they learn to focus this way and they exude self confidence.

It is when we take on the responsibility for the dog for their performance that stress occurs because now the dog is heavily dependent on us to do something instead of having the self confidence to do it on their own.   I try to encourage my dogs to be independent thinkers and I relish it when they are creative thinkers.  I never expect perfection when learning new things. While we think we are helping a dog to succeed by showing them what we want or by using training aids/props too long or by using our body language to make a dog do what we want, what we are actually doing is enabling the dog to become a co-dependent.  In agility I see this a lot with weave poles.  Handlers use their body language such as hands or hip checks to help the dog stay in the weave poles and this keeps the dog from learning how to do the obstacle on their own.  I also see this when gates or wires or off sets or 2 x 2s are used too long.  It is ok for the dog to make mistakes when it is learning.  It helps the learning process.  Again I don't expect perfection.  Helping the dog be right becomes an unhealthy and stressful situation for the dog in the long run.  The problem is that if we train them to be dependent on us then we have to behave exactly the same way in training and competition for the dog to perform.  That is not realistic for us and then the dog becomes stressed because our behavior is different at a trial than in training.  Hence all of the body and verbal cues we have inadvertently taught the dog in training need to be present in the trial setting for the dog to perform.  When this happens handlers think their dogs understand the required behavior but in fact the dogs understand it only in the context of the handler aids.  So now we have a stressed dog in a trial setting because the handler aids are gone.

In obedience because of the requirements of the sport we have to remove the handler aids well before trialing.  This means that training has to really be done to encourage independent thinking and clear focus and we have to be careful how we train the dogs.  Agility is more lenient in terms of what handlers are allowed to do but obedience is not.  I do like this in terms of making training for obedience a challenge.  I like challenges.

For those who find AKC obedience trial settings stressful there are other organizations such as CDSP - Companion Dog Sports Program -www.companiondogsportsprogram.com which are more laid back.  There are more options now than 20 years ago and that is good.  Obedience and Rally are good options for those of us who are not able to run in agility whether temporarily or permanently.

I participated in my second CDSP trial last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it.  My dogs liked it too.  The exercises are a bit different, praise is allowed and treats at the end of an exercise are allowed.  This goes a long way to relieving handler and dog stress when trialing.  

While my friends are at the agility trials this summer I will be doing obedience and having fun!

Attitude is Everything!

Today was a very fun day showing my three girls in obedience and rally!  I have spent months of not being able to do agility due to my sore knee and then eventually recovering from a total knee replacement.  I did a lot of obedience training (except heeling) with my three of my girls: Carmine, Sinco and Feisty.  I have watched others run my dogs in training and in trials in agility and today for the first time in months I was able to get out there with my dogs and have fun!

Yes I am an obedience geek and always have been.  But I was lucky enough to have awesome trainers when I started obedience in the early 1990s and I learned to train it very positively and to have fun with it.  I have never found it boring but then again I get creative in my training.  That is where positive proofing comes in and where it really paid off in spades today.

I love to do proofing exercises which build confidence, encourage problem solving and independent thinking and usually in the end builds speed and accuracy.  One exercise I did a lot of these last few months is "find the dumbbell".  I hid it in many hard places for both Feisty who is very experienced at retrieving the dumbbell and for Sinco who is just starting out.  They love the game.  When at the school I would hide it behind ring gates, on bottom shelves, under shelves, on top of low lying objects and sometimes even inside low lying objects.  Feisty especially loved the game and she would not give up until she found it.  We also "hid" the dumbbell at people's feet which could be very hard for her too.  

Today in Open A at the trial I threw the dumbbell for the retrieve on the flat and the small white thing landed right near the white leg of a ring gate and two thirds of the way between me and the far edge of the ring.  Feisty went charging out and past it and then proceeded to hunt for it - she scanned the far edge, she stuck her head under the ring gate and looked and thought she saw it but it was another foot for a ring gate and she looked and looked.  She started to give up and run back and as she came back she saw it in the corner of her eye and whipped around and proudly picked it up and brought it to me.  I could not have been prouder and happier for her problem solving and her confidence to keep looking.  She never shut down and ultimately she never gave up!  The crowd gasped with amazement when she retrieved it and I know Feisty had to have felt that positive energy toward her.  Her confidence enabled her to pass the exercise.  If we had not ever played those games there is a good chance she would not have had the confidence to keep looking for it when it blended it with the ring gates.  This is the kind of thing "positive proofing" does for dogs and I just love it.

While in the ring with both Sinco and Feisty today I was so happy - the teamwork we had was great.  Even when Sinco came on my right side in the on leash heeling exercise and was so happy heeling on my right (because we do practice it on both sides and she just missed the cue for which side she should be on when we did an about turn) I kept smiling at her and when we did another about turn I used my leash handling skills from doing Rally and we did an opposite left about turn and she got on the correct side and was fine.  Her off leash heeling was great.   Sinco never knew there was a mistake and there was no need for her to know.  She was so happy out in the ring with me and that was all that mattered - she was trying so hard and having fun at the same time.

In Feisty's run I was beaming the whole time and she was there with me focused and having fun.  Because my attitude was so positive in and out of the ring someone said to me that it looked like a "First place run" and I really believe that is because we had the attitude out there that made it look like we were having fun and therefore things must be going perfectly!  It was actually an NQ run but Feisty did not need to know that and I never let her know that and in fact people were confused by my positive attitude that they double checked with me about whether we Q'd or not.  Ironically the judge's score book even said we had Q'd and I had to go to the judge to have her double check the results because I knew we had NQ'd (and I knew AKC would see it too that we had NQ'd).  I said I would take that positive attitude of our run any day Q or NQ - it was so much fun to have Feisty trying her best in public.  Today was a HUGE PQ run for Feisty and me.  I will be able to review that run in my mind for weeks and months to come even if the video didn't turn out for it.  The problem solving she did there was phenomenal - it was also right along the edge of the ring by the crowd which is more impressive for her.

Carmine made her debut in Rally Novice.  I entered her to see how she would do in an obedience environment.  When she is "on" she is so intense but if she is not she can be so easily distracted.  I was not sure if I could turn her "on" in this setting but I did.  Once we were alone in the ring she never lost focus and I could feel her tight turns and moving her rear on the inside turns and I just kept smiling.  I only had to cue her to "get it in" for the many inside turns and she did everything perfectly.  I was so happy with her and we celebrated outside the ring and a number of people came up to me asking about her - she showed once again that in a competitive environment she can step up to the plate and turn it "on".  Another huge "personal Q" for us!

Very often in agility people think I Q more than I do because I will often come off a course just as happy with an NQ run because it was a PQ - "personal Q" run. I want the same feeling in obedience and today I felt like I had it.  It was the most fun I have had showing obedience in years - in part because I have not been able to do anything competitive with my dogs, in part because I have done a lot of positive proofing exercises with them to build their confidence and in part because I had a positive attitude with each one of them and I felt confident with each one of them.  Attitude is Everything!!!!

What is agility?

So a few days ago I found out that the video of Sinco and me from NADAC Championships 2011 Extreme Games World Challenge was being posted on Facebook as a means to criticize what NADAC is doing in the form of agility.

According to the online definition from Merriam Webster agility is:

the quality or state of being agile : nimbleness, dexterity
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agility

I don't see anything in there that includes obstacles.  Now I know I am being facetious here but really isn't dog agility called that because the dogs are being nimble and agile in performing the sport?  I really think if you look at any Extreme Games Challenge run you will see nimbleness and dexterity in its finest - even more so than on traditional agility courses.

I understand everyone has their favorite agility organization and their legitimate reasons for liking that organization.  I understand very often new and different things are easy to criticize.  I also know that I am the kind of person that likes to try new things.  I played my first EGC games without having seen so much as a photo or video of it beforehand.  It was being offered on Friday night before a trial I was attending.  I had first thought I would watch but I saw it laid out and just had to "try it".  I never ask my dogs to do more than I think they can and I knew I could go and help or bail as needed.  My dogs loved it so much and got faster and faster with each run that I was absolutely hooked.  It was pure adrenaline and about handling and distance training and timing.

I love training and handling challenges even if I am not successful always at executing them.  I also went to the 2012 AKC World Team Tryouts.  That is about as opposite of the spectrum as NADAC Championships gets.  I went with the same dog.  We were not as successful at the Tryouts in part because my dog really did not enjoy those tight challenging courses.  I enjoy the mental challenge but she was not the right dog for that challenge even though we had spent months training and preparing for it.  I didn't take into account that an entire weekend of courses like that would take its toll on her mentally like it did.  I tried to make it fun and keep her up and happy as much as possible and I didn't care how we did.  Now I know that is not the place for her.  Sinco does fine in AKC and USDAA and even a little UKI but I know I won't ask her to do too much tight collected courses.  Now her daughter on the other hand was born to do tight challenging courses and can turn on a dime and stay barking for joy as she does it.  She will be the dog I do more international courses and training with in the future.

I am fortunate to be able to have multiple dogs and I can choose what organizations to do with each of them.  I do not need to make everyone one of my dogs do all of them.  Feisty is retired from doing AKC low tables and being in that environment.  She is entered at nationals because sometimes she gets into the crowd and sometimes not.  Feisty is in training for bonus lines in NADAC because she loves to work distances.  We are not often accurate as she gets "high" working at a distance.  But she is having fun so then I am having fun.  It is a training challenge to work that level of distance.

Tay has had two biceps tendon surgeries so I do not want her jumping her full height 16/20 so she is doing organizations where she can jump 12 and she is 7 in April.  She has had a lot of stress issues in the ring partly due to the amount of pain she endured while we were trying to figure out a diagnosis.  Pain would come and go for her and adrenaline would block a lot of it.  She loves agility in training and more and more she is loving it again at trials.  She can be very fast when she feels good.  

Carmine is Sinco's daughter and her initial training has been for tighter and technical courses which is her strong suit.  She does not respond to pressure well and I am working on that through Amanda Nelson's online course.  She is young and has lots of potential for any sport.

All of my dogs have done EGC and all of them seem to love it.  They love to just all out run and turn on the ground and I have a hard time handling them sometimes.  It is very rewarding to have a clean run in this game.

All of the organizations have their niche, they offer different things for different people.  Few dog and handler teams can actually do all of the organizations at all of the levels of each organization.  It is alright to have your favorite organization but please do not berate another organization and certainly do not do it when you have not even tried it.  You can say what you like or do not like about an organization but when it crosses the line of making fun of it and belittling those who participate in it then it becomes akin to bullying.  Each organization has its issues - there is no perfect agility organization out there just as there are no perfect agility dog and handler teams and no perfect dog agility trainers.  We are all flawed but none deserve to be bullied, belittled or berated.  It is all agility - the state of being agile and nimble.  

More on less is more...

Seems a fitting topic after the holidays when we tend to overindulge ourselves with food, drink, socializing, family etc.  It is our human nature to do things to excess very often.  Well very often I find the same is true of dog training.  

Less really is more in the case of dog training and trialing.

There is a fine balance and where the science of dog training can become an art - of balancing the need to build/teach new skills and the need to break things into small pieces and keep training sessions short.  

The other mantra that applies to dog training as well as to many other areas of life - quality is much more important than quantity.  A few well timed, well rewarded exercises will be far more valuable than many repetitions with no reward or late rewards.  This is why experienced trainers can often attain more with a specific dog in a much shorter amount of time than a novice trainer can.

Areas where I really see the "less is more" lesson needing to be applied are the following:

Open ring time/run thrus...  Very often I see sessions go on too long, beyond a dog's ability to comprehend mentally, go on too long past a dog's desire and enthusiasm,  and/or too long for dog's stress level.  When I go to open ring time/run thrus I go with a specific goal in mind for that dog.  We all have things we would like to see our dog and ourselves do better.  Open ring time is a chance to work on something specific that is often not addressed in a group class setting.  Things like speeding up contacts or weaves, tighter turns, proofing contacts or weaves, executing front or rear crosses in specific ways.  Three minutes is generally enough time to address one or two specific things.  

"Lumping" is a term referred to in shaping/learning theory when too many pieces of a particular skilled are included together as one behavior and rewarded and it is too much for the body and brain to absorb.  Running an entire course in training and rewarding only the end of the course is a really good example of "lumping."  You run 20 obstacles, in that course of 20 obstacles you dog did three perfect contacts (fast and accurate), 1 perfect set of 12 weaves (fast and accurate), executed 3 tight turns, kept all the bars up, stayed at the start line and ran fast from beginning of the course to the end of the course.  You are happy and play with your dog at the end of the run.  Think about what your dog has learned?  What does your dog think it has been rewarded for doing?  Keeping in mind that the last obstacle/behavior before the reward is most likely what will be associated with the reward.

Now picture this - running 20 obstacles, your dog releases before you release them and you go on and then the dog did one perfect contact (fast and accurate), one less than perfect (fast but inaccurate), one less than perfect (slow but accurate), 12 weaves but missed the entrance and had to restart and then finished, kept all but one bar up, did one tight turn and two wide turns and you are happy and play with your dog at the end of the run much like in the first example.  Now think about what your dog has learned?  What does your dog think it is being rewarded for doing?  

Both of these scenarios happen all the time every weekend at a trial and all too often in run thrus and open ring time.

Now picture this - a course of 20 obstacles is laid out there.  A dog is left at the start line, handler leads out, dog releases when the handler released it and runs fast and clean over two jumps, does a fast and accurate contact and releases from the two on two off and does one more jump and the handler plays with the dog.  Now what does the dog think it has been rewarded for doing?   This scenario can be broken down even further to isolate even more precisely what the dog is learning.

Now picture this - a course of 20 obstacles is laid out there.  A dog is left at the start line, handler does a difficult lateral lead out, dog releases when the handler released it and dog does the obstacles in the lateral lead out and comes in to a nice tight turn and the handler rewards the dog.  What has the dog learned here?

So I am giving you these scenarios to help you think about your training of dog more analytically.  You will get more of what you want from your dog if you isolate and reward what you want from your dog.  

Rewards...  I run very high drive dogs and very high energy but moderate drive dogs and moderate energy, moderate drive dogs.  No matter which dog I am running, no matter how much I think they love doing agility obstacles I have instilled in them that the best rewards will come directly from me.  The only time that going on to the next obstacle will be a reward is at a trial because if things go downhill at a trial I will usually leave early.  In training I never use the next obstacle as a reward - what if that next obstacle turns into a missed contact, knocked bar, run by etc.?  I want my dogs running agility because they enjoy doing it as a team with me.  There are a small percentage (less than 1%) of dogs who will literally run agility without a handler because they have become obsessed with it.  I have only ever seen 2 dogs like this in the 20 plus years of being in this sport.  These dogs are at the other end of the spectrum of difficult to train and handle.  I do not ever want my dogs to value agility obstacles, livestock, obedience dumbbells - whatever it is - more than the working relationship with me.  99% of dogs out there are really doing agility because we have made it fun for them to do it and they want to please us so we need to value that and acknowledge it with rewarding their efforts to do what we want them to do.  Some dogs intrinsically love doing it more than others.  It is important to know where you dog is on that spectrum.

Distractions... Proofing  This is something that really needs to be done and open ring time/run thrus is such a good time to do it.  Having people unfamiliar to your dog standing or sitting about the ring like judges and ring stewards is so good for dogs.  I watch a lot of novice agility runs at trials of all organizations.  I see 50-60% of young/green dogs having stress issues in a novice class - sniffing, stopping and looking around, barking at things/people, zooming around and/or jumping on ring stewards or leaving the ring all together.  You can have the strongest set of agility skills but without the proofing piece they tend to fall apart in a trial for about 75% of the dogs out there.  Yes I think it is that high.  Proofing includes all kinds of distractions - people, dogs, food, toys, noises, lights, etc.  We can do some of it in a class setting but the dogs get to know those people and they can learn "it is a set-up here" so it really needs to be done at open ring time/run thrus/matches or even at a friend's house or at a busy park or be creative...  The more environmentally sensitive your dog is the more proofing you will need to do.  The vast majority of dogs need this level of proofing in order to do well right from the beginning.

I have personally trained and handled close to 20 dogs now and I will say I have had 3 dogs of my own who really did not care about the trial environment at all.  Those dogs were/are hard wired to love competing in front of people, they were/are quite sure everyone wants to see them and they are also so self confident that they think 99% of the mistakes are the handler's and not theirs.  Carmine is one of those dogs.  This is something that is hard wired.  It is a combination of self confidence and a love of being in front of a crowd that is hard wired combined with solid foundation training.  These dogs make good dogs for the breed ring because they exude that air that they are the best.  These dogs come with a price though - because these dogs also tend to be pushy, tend to need black and white rules enforced 24/7 and so need very consistent training to reach their full potential.  They need experienced trainers/handlers with impeccable timing and clear criteria.  

I am mentioning this because dogs like Carmine can make trialing a young dog look so easy and yet they have their own set of challenges.  Most dogs fall into the middle of the spectrum where being in front of a crowd creates a level of stress.  Some dogs work through that faster than others.  There is a wide range on the spectrum but one needs to plan for having a dog who WILL be distracted the first few times they trial and WILL need proofing exercises to build self confidence.  Some dogs will need  a few sessions and some will need MANY. 

I took Feisty not to one but two group classes in two very different environments for 4-5 months when she was just getting ready to trial for express purpose of working on proofing her for environmental distractions - one class was in a dirt horse arena and one was indoors on mats.  I anticipated that the environment would be hard for her.  I didn't go to the class for training help but for distraction work and I asked instructors to be like judges and asked classmates to be like ring crew and rewarded her a lot anytime she did something brilliant under environmental pressure whether or not it bothered her.  I don't wait for it to bother her - I reward her FIRST!  So if she ignores someone I reward it.  I don't wait for it to be a problem and then work through it - IF I can help it. Sometimes I am caught off guard and I have to be reactive.  But try to be PROactive in your training and one or two steps ahead of your dog.

Anyway these are things to think about when training on your own in open ring time/run thrus or even in your regular class time!

Phobias in dogs

Feisty, my Pyrenean Shepherd, developed an unexplained fear of camera clicks about two and a half years ago.  I first realized it about a two years ago.  When I realized what was causing her to completely freeze and tremble I did some brainstorming.  Something I just now learned Patricia McConnell recommends.  I wrote down everything I could think of that might have contributed to the fear.  I worked it back to the litter of puppies I had raised six months earlier and the flash photos I took of them when they were really little and their eyes were not open.  I then speculated that the flash of the camera looked like lightning and Feisty's fear of lightning that was tied to thunder, now had been classically conditioned to camera clicks.  Since I didn't realize it was happening at the time and it was about six months later before I put it all together I was not able to do an immediate intervention.

I've begun to ponder this again and look up my old resources from my days of studying psychology because today I discovered that the phobia has spread to include the sound of the "i-click" clicker - the softer clicker noise.  I have at times noticed that some people's mouth clicks stress her slightly.  I had hoped it would not spread to the clicker which is used a lot at our training school and where she spends most of her days with me.

I think back to a seminar with Suzanne Clothier many years ago where she talks about phobias in dogs and how difficult these pathological fears can be to overcome.  In re-reading psychological literature written for humans it becomes clear why it is so hard.  In humans classical conditioning is often used to desensitize humans to a fear of something.  Humans can visualize what they are afraid of - they can start mentally at a very low level of fear/arousal.  It is much harder with dogs to get to that low level.  I have tried using a CD that has camera clicks on it and turning the volume down as low as it goes.  The problem is that in her mind it goes from 0 to 100 in intensity no matter how gradually I try to increase the volume.  There is almost no in between state in terms of volume.  She can hear a camera click at 100 plus feet - the length of an agility ring with background noise around her.  

I have a phobia too, I have a fear of heights.  I can recreate some level of fear just by visualizing being at the edge of cliff, or watching a movie at the edge of a cliff or even looking at a picture from the edge of a cliff.  Pictures from hang gliding are the worst for me.  Yet I can sit in an airplane and look out the window and I just love that.  But when I'm even in a low level of fear no amount of my favorite food paired with that image will change my association.  No amount of verbal rationalization can change my perception.  So I can understand why this approach does not work well with Feisty either.

It would not be such a problem except that there are now photographers around every agility ring at every trial, especially national events.  Only if the background noise is really loud and intense or it is really windy can she function.  I often will yell cues loudly and talk loudly to her when we go past a photographer when we are running.  I often try to ask them to not take pictures of her but I can't always arrange that.  If she freezes I just pick her up and carry her.  If she keeps running past them and doing agility I don't fix anything and just let her keep running.

Now that her fear has spread to the sound of a soft clicker it can make things even more complicated.  It is hard for others who do not have a dog like this to appreciate how debilitating these fears can be.  Unless you have lived with a dog like this and tried to work through it you really have no idea how difficult it is.  I have tried essential oils and rescue remedy and herbal calming tablets.    My next recourse would be to give her anti-anxiety medications however those produce drowsiness and can interfere with safe functioning while running agility courses.  If it were a fear of thunder and we are at home trying to sleep through a late night storm then drugs would be perfect.  But in the case of this kind of phobia it comes up at agility trials and training.  I could switch activities but there are photographers present at almost every sport including more and more at obedience which is her other favorite activity.  I could opt to not trial her and that is always an option.  However when she is not afraid she runs like the wind and she truly looks like she loves it.

On the positive side, she is not as bothered by the flash from the camera on my phone which I can totally silence.  I don't take it for granted and we have a huge happy party anytime it is on and I take a picture with her around.  Usually I try to put her away so she doesn't have to deal with it.  So I am now contemplating what is next for her.  I have downloaded the music from Through a Dog's Ear that I learned about from Patricia McConnell and may try that with her for some calming background music.

It is never a dull moment when you own a Pyr shep!

Intuition

Wow, it has been a long time since I've blogged!  I've had a lot of posts in my mind over the months.  Now on this wintry day where I'm house-bound it seems like a good time to catch up!

I have had a lot to reflect on during the last week.  Many hopes and dreams have dried up this past week.  After spending almost every weekend from Jan - June trialing in AKC to keep Sinco and Feisty in the top 5 for their breeds so we could go do the AKC Agility Invitational next weekend, it seems like it was not meant to be.  First my knee got progressively worse with all of the trialing and there were many decisions about when and what surgery to have.  A surgery in July to remove torn meniscus only revealed how bad the bone on bone is on the inside half of my knee.  It seems to have been trauma related because the outside half of my knee is in great shape and my other knee is fine.   I was a passenger in a car accident in my 20s where my knee hit the dashboard and swelled up immediately.  I decided to withdraw from the NADAC Championships that were at the end of September because I felt like I was not well enough to run that many long courses with two dogs over a week's time.  I had gotten out of shape with the knee surgery and inability to fully use my knee.  This was a big disappointment to me.

Now I had to decide about the AKC Invitational in December.  I felt that may be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.  I went back and forth about whether to have surgery for knee replacement before or after the Invitational.  I opted for after and opted for hyaluronic acid injections beforehand to help provide some cushion and reduce the pain.  They helped more than I realized for awhile.  I started those at the end of August.   On Labor Day I sprained my left ankle badly rolling it off a curb while carrying metal crates.  I have never sprained an ankle like that before.  Fortunately the ligament went back into place on its own the next day but the pain and swelling persisted.  I was lacking stability now on both legs.  In October I started physical therapy for both my knee and ankle I needed strengthening if I was going to run in December and to help my recover after my surgery.  It helped a lot, I am able to straighten my legs, I have better balance and have been able to build back muscle I was losing. I also started weekly chiropractic adjustments to help keep me aligned which has helped a lot too.  I use the Medi-pro red light on my left ankle and foot quite a bit.  My surgery was scheduled for Dec. 20th just two days after returning from the Invitational.  I want to be able to run at AKC Nationals in March.
On Nov. 20 I felt my knee twinge while herding.  The hyaluronic acid injections that had helped suddenly wore off and fluid filled my calf within hours and then was gone.  The pain doubled in intensity in my knee almost immediately. 

Also in mid-November Sinco hurt her wrist and toes presumably while killing a large rabbit in the backyard.  Tuesday this week, after a month of having her take it easy and lots of laser and medi-pro red light on the front feet we tried to do a little agility.  She seemed full of energy and really ready to go, no sign of soreness when her feet were palpated and she was running in the yard with no sign of pain.  However she held up her right front foot almost immediately after doing a pinwheel of jumps.  She showed more pain there than she had the whole month before. That was it, the decision was made to not go to the Invitational.  I was heart broken and yet I had been feeling signs over the last six months that we were not meant to go.  Since Tuesday we have not been able to find pain in her toes.  She will start wearing a boot on that foot and having a healing magnet on that foot when she is resting.  I have also started her on a course of Doxy in case it is a case of Lyme's.  She has never tested positive for it but I have had enough dogs with tick borne illnesses to know that the symptoms come in many forms.  Doxy is a pretty safe antibiotic and I always have a lot on hand from past experience.  Trying to cover all the bases.  The boot should arrive Monday and I can see if she will acclimate to it and be able to resume normal activity with it.  She and I will rehab together it seems.  Fortunately I won't be able to do much so if we have to rehab her it is better when I'm rehabbing also.

I had early on chosen not to enter Feisty in the Invitational even though she had qualified.  I had heard there would be a lot of photographers - more than even at a nationals.  Feisty's fear of camera clicks would paralyze her there if that is the case. That would stress her out too much.  She loves to run in front of a crowd if they are far away in a stadium/coliseum type setting like when she ran at NADAC Championships in Springfield IL.  But this would be much closer quarters and would be much more stressful for her. So I did not enter her.  It turns out that was a good choice because yesterday she ruptured an anal gland and had to have emergency surgery.  She cannot do agility for 10-14 days.  I am not sure whether the Universe didn't get the message that she was not entered at the Invitational...

Not being able to go doesn't take anything away from both dogs being #3 for their breed from 2011-2012.  I'm very proud of our accomplishments.  It was hard work, especially to be there with an Australian Shepherd.  While I was looking forward to seeing a variety of breeds and the best agility dogs of those breeds compete and to be with friends and students who were also going, I must admit I am a bit relieved.  I was worried how well I would be able to run and whether Pam would have to run her for me.  I think the universe has been trying to tell me that we are not where we need to be to do this now and I try hard to listen to my intuition and to what the universe tells me.  Sometimes the universe has to get out a 2 x 4 and hit me over the head but I do try to avoid those kind of lessons.

My intuition has served me well over the years with business decisions as well as personal decisions.  Whenever I procrastinate on something there is almost always a really good reason for doing so.  Other times when I rush into something it is almost always the right time to rush into it.  There are times when overcoming obstacles is the right thing to do and I find I can do that with patience and planning if I am meant to overcome them.  Sometimes I am meant to go around them and sometimes I am meant to go in a different direction.  When I am faced with large obstacles I do stop and take my time to see what feels like the right path to take.  

I have also learned that I need to stop and take time for myself.  This is a hard one.  I am fortunate to be able to do work I truly love.  I love helping people have more fun with their dogs, helping them learn more about a sport to do with their dogs and seeing them achieve their goals.  Whether they want to compete or not, if my students really want to learn and try hard that is what is rewarding for me.  

But I know that I need to do things for me to help me recharge my batteries and do other things I enjoy.  Being able to go on a cruise to Alaska this fall and to be able to take hundreds of photographs was truly a fun escape for me.  I got to rediscover my favorite non-dog hobby of photography.  I am now trying to find my winter boots so I can see about taking some photos of the winter wonderland.

I have not had a day like today where it is just me and the dogs and I don't have to be anywhere all day long in a very long time.  Trialing every weekend to make a goal was fun to a degree but it was a lot of time away from home and family and a lot of time on the road because I had to travel to Chicago, Omaha, Des Moines and other places where I could be sure I would get into the trial and where the running surface was good for all of us.  It was fun to see people I haven't seen in years and to watch teams I rarely get to see.  We won't be able to go next year because I have hardly trialed at all in AKC this year, hardly trialed at all period and I have knee replacement surgery coming up.  But maybe the year after that and maybe with Carmine or maybe not.  We will see.  I will let my intuition guide me.

Training in the ring - using it effectively

Having just been to a couple of NADAC trials in the last couple of weeks, I have had a number of students ask me at the trial "what should I do if _____ (dog's name) does _____ (misses contact, misses weaves, doesn't stay  - fill in the blank)?"  I found my answer is almost always the same:  "what have you tried already in a trial setting and how did that work?" 


I always want to know what if anything has been tried and how it worked.  Often I do know the answer but I like to hear my student articulate it.  In classes when students are getting ready to trial we often talk about training in the ring options with NADAC, ASCA and UKI.  So often "training in the ring" is associated only with punitive consequences for dogs who do not perform the desired criteria.  However I encourage a lot of training in the ring for positive motivational purposes.


To use training in the ring effectively you want to have a plan before you step to the start line for the "what if _____" scenario.  My long time students know this and will often discuss this with me before their runs.  I think this can be invaluable.  I encourage students to keep a log of some sort so they can track their progress.


Now there are almost as many possible plans available as there are dogs and handlers.  When discussing a training in the ring strategy for a situation with a dog who may break a start line, miss a contact or miss a weave entrance,  I will ask my students "what is the lowest level of correction you can give your dog and still be effective?"  Usually I know the dogs pretty well by this point and have some thoughts.  While some will tell you that you want to make a punishment strong enough so it never has to be given again I will argue that in a trial setting there is a level of stress on the dog already.  I will never start at the highest level of correction (which is a time-out) but start at a lower level.  We are not perfect and sometimes I still have started at too high level (like Oops!") was too much under stress for some dogs.  Other dogs that is of no consequence to them.  


My favorite personal story of training in the ring was when Sinco was just starting out.  She launched an aframe contact at an ASCA trial.  I marked it and made her come back and repeated the sequence before it and asked for it.   She stopped perfectly.  I praised her and then made a big loop of obstacles out to the exit (didn't attempt the rest of the course).  As she saw us approaching the exit she took off away from me and ran over to the aframe (at least 50 feet away) and ran up and stopped in a perfect two on two off.  She was trying so hard to convince me that she knew what I wanted and she really could do it.  I was so proud of her and if I had tried to stop her at that moment I would have shut her down.  She never ran off like that before so I knew she had something on her mind.  I want my dogs thinking out on the course.  I learned too at that moment that she would never need much of a correction and she has very rarely made a mistake like that since then.  


While I have a lot of individual variation with how to execute training in the ring, I do have a few hard and fast rules about training in the ring (and in class).  This applies to NADAC, ASCA and UKI.


1.  I never ever let my dogs get on the down ramp and put themselves in to the two on two off.  That is not a correction (the dog is doing what they know how to do and have been doing since they were puppies - I no longer want that behavior by the time we are trialing). I redo the entire obstacle.
2.  If I can repeat the sequence before the contact with speed I want to do it - it is usually the speed that "kills" the behavior.  I know my dogs can do it from a standstill.  The test is can you do with speed in a trial setting.  
3.  With weave entrances it is crucial to get the speed and angle when training in the ring.  Doing just one obstacle before it will not generate the same speed as you had when the dog missed it.  Even if I have to create my own set of obstacles in to it for flow and speed I will.  i know my dog can weave from a standstill - but that is not how they need to weave at a trial.  They need to weave with full speed heading into them. 
4.  I NEVER mark in any way shape or form a missed weave entrance if the dog is in the act of weaving.  I have learned over the years that this can be the single biggest cause of weave pole stress in dogs.  Our timing will never be perfect enough to mark the missed entrance and a negative marker when a dog is weaving can set you back a lot.
5.  I try never to pull a dog out of the poles when weaving - missed entrance or not.  I want them to learn to always go to the end of the poles.  We can go back to the beginning.  If we don't Q because of it I don't care - It is too easy to shake a dog's confidence on the weave poles.  
6.  When working through some behavior that I've had to use some form of correction in a trial setting I will use positive verbal markers when they do it right like "yes!" Very often if they do something right the first time in a trial and it has been a struggle to get there I will leave the ring to a "party" - high value reward of whatever the dog likes.
7.  ONLY train ONE behavior per run.  I never try to train more than one obstacle or behavior in a trial run.  It is too confusing to the dog.  I also make sure if I'm training it that I get the desired behavior before leaving the ring or that the dog knows that didn't happen when we leave the ring.  This is why I try to leave the ring happy and doing easy obstacles if needed to get out of the ring so I don't set the team up to fail on the way out of the ring when we ended on a good note.  If we are leaving to a time-out then the dog must stay by my side on the way out and not take any obstacles.

The rules that vary by individual dog and handler team are the following:


1.  The level of correction needed.  To some dogs a slight pause in the action and then going on is enough for them to perform great the next time.  Others need a verbal marker, still others need a down before going on, and others need to repeat the sequence and the obstacle, some need to be taken off the course (I save this when the lower level corrections have been used and found to be ineffective in changing behavior).  With young dogs I prefer a low level correction and then repeating the sequence so I have an opportunity to reward.  I try to leave doing some simple obstacles so I don't have to risk another training moment on the same run.
2.  The number of times needed to make a point.  My personal example is that Sinco learned after one broken start line stay that no more action happened.  She didn't break again for many many months.  Her daughter Carmine on the other hand took four times of leaving the ring on a broken stay before she realized she should stay.  Knock on wood she hasn't broken her start line stay since.  Tobie years ago was so predictable that every three months he would break a start line stay - I could almost predict it on the calendar.
3.  How to create a positive motivational run.  It may involve using a dog's favorite obstacles, may involve starting in the middle of the ring, it may involve letting go of specific criteria for a run or two in order to make being out there a fun time and it may involve just stepping across the ring gates and leaving again.  I did this with Leysha for a time or two when she was so stressed at the start line as a young dog.


Sometimes it is harder if a dog who seems sensitive in class suddenly gets really turned on and high at a trial and becomes a completely different animal.  But these cases are very rare.


Then there is the other side of training in the ring - this side is much more difficult to figure out.  I enjoy the problem solving involved with this and it requires a lot more patience.


I use training in the ring for dogs who are stressed by the trial environment and/or stressed by having to perform in a public setting.  For these dogs it is critical to know the signs of stress in your dog.  The way a dog shows stress varies widely.  Videoing these dogs close up when they are running and then viewing it in slow motion can be very helpful.  This is how I learned that one of my dogs was doing a lot of stress licking in the weave poles.  That told me that he was really stressing about the obstacle and I needed to do whatever I could to reduce his stress about it so he would enjoy doing it and stop trying to avoid it.  When dogs avoid obstacles in a trial but not in training most likely they are stressed about how to do that obstacle in that setting.


This gets complicated because a lot of things can cause this.  Ask yourself these questions when you have a dog who performs very differently in a trial versus training.


1.  Has the dog really learned the obstacle thoroughly in training - the three "Ds" come into play here.  Distance, duration and distractions.  Can the dog in training perform the obstacle with all three of these?  I use a lot of crazy distractions in classes with people, with funny looking things in funny places.  I also do distractions like those found at a trial.   I want the dogs to be able to focus with lots of distractions.  The hope is that the dogs will develop strong mental focus such that when they go to a trial they will be able to focus on the tasks at hand and not succumb to the distractions of a trial.  I make distractions in training harder.  I have found that this builds speed and confidence in the dogs.  I don't like to trial a dog until they can show me they can handle distractions in training.

1 a. A subpart to #1 is that the most important thing about training in the ring is CONSISTENCY!  This seems to be so hard for us and so easy for our dogs.  Our dogs figure out routines and patterns and can stick to them amazingly well.  We have a very hard time requiring the same behavior from our dog's more than once.  We can get into habits ourselves very quickly but we also can accept a lot of variation in behaviors from our dogs and call it "good enough."  Well the dogs know this and know there are no rules and will continue to test the parameters of the behavior and also they will FAIL to learn the desired behavior.  We will think they understand it but what they understand is a LOT of variations of that behavior.  Have a clear picture in your mind of what you want your dog to do and do not deviate from it (unless instructed by your coach to do so).  So be sure you have been consistent in the criteria you have with the dog.

2.  Has the dog had enough exposure to performing alone with the handler in a big ring with people all around?  This is hard for both handler and dog.  I recommend new handlers or handlers with stressed dogs start in classes such as jumpers or tunnelers where they don't have to worry about contacts and weaves and just focus on being out there having fun.
3.  Are you the handler stressed out there?  If so then many dogs will also feel your stress and then become stressed themselves.  If that is the case you will need to find ways to reduce your stress - often I find if the handler focuses on reducing the dog's stress then their own stress will diminish.  There are also many mental management programs available to help handlers overcome ring stress.
4.  Is the dog looking for "mental health breaks" out there?  Visiting ring crew, seeking tunnels and aframes from across the ring, leaving the ring, zooming around the ring, sniffing, avoiding obstacles, trotting or walking through the course or being silly with the obstacles (like jumping on top of a tunnel)?  All of these are ways in which dogs will take a break from the mental stress.  This is why often the dogs will come back after one of these breaks and do a couple more things and then take another break.  I recommend when dogs are doing this that the handlers do only short courses with their dogs.  Make up a course of 4-5 obstacles that takes them easily from start to finish line.  When they can do that well then add another one or two obstacles and build from there.  It make take a few trials.  It is better than trying to push the dog too hard.  There is a fine line between having a dog learn to work though it and shutting a dog down with too much pressure.
5.  Is the dog running slower in the trial than in training? Anytime I have a dog who is not running as fast in a trial as they do in training I do short courses in the trial with them.  I have had dogs like this who are very stressed by the environment.  I don't make the courses longer until they can do short ones fast.  The concept here is that they learn to go fast and the reward (in addition to treats/toys) is to get a release from the stressor quickly.  So they learn they find relief.  Along the way they also build up confidence in their own ability to work through it in short bursts.  It is much harder and takes much more time to do this by making them do an entire course.  In fact many sensitive dogs will get slower and slower and shut down when forced to do long courses under stress.  Dogs like this will get faster on the last one third of the course because they know the relief from the pressure is coming - dogs learn to count obstacles or time out there.  Dogs have a great sense of time and distance.  I want my dogs to be just as fast in the beginning as they are in the end.
6.  Is the handler running the dog the same way at the trial as they do in training?  Very often I see handlers moving closer to contacts and weaves in a trial then they do in class.  The dog is not used to that level of pressure from the handler.  While the handler thinks it helps the dog - the reality is that it changes the picture a lot for the dog and causes confusion.  Videoing runs and training can help a lot to illustrate whether this is happening or not.
7.  Is there a particular aspect of the trial environment causing the stress?  Is it male judges, ring crew, photographers, people with hats, loud voices, buzzers, whistles, clapping, cheering, barking dogs, running dogs, or something else?  It can help in some cases to isolate the source of the stress so you can work through it away from the trial setting.  It can be very hard to isolate a source of stress.  Again close analysis of videos of runs can help this as well as having some attentive friends watch the runs.


I recall talking to Silvia Trkman about ring stress and my Pyr Shep and asking her how she worked through it.  She said in Europe it is not such an issue because in most cases they can turn ANY run into a training run.  So her dogs never learn there is a difference between training and trialing.  I really took that to heart.  While here in the US we have rules against training in the ring in some organizations but so far there are no rules about leaving the course early with a smile on your face because you made a short course with your dog in a stressful place.  I have done this and still often do with my Pyr Shep Feisty.  I leave with a smile on my face and say "Thank you!" as I leave.  That kind of positive motivational training can be done anytime.  I use this a lot of the time for various reasons with all of my dogs.  I think a short motivational run will gain me more in the long run that staying out there pushing my dog harder mentally when very little is to be gained by that.  If I need to build mental stamina - again I can do that in short bursts and gradually ask for more over time. 




The bottom line is this:  I can't ask for it all at once or I will lose more than I will gain every time.