Puppy Goals (part 1)

Puppy - 6.5 weeks

Dog Blog Post #124: Getting a shiny new puppy is like New Years Eve - a chance to dream up lofty Goals and Resolutions while feeling just a little bit giddy.

This will be my third puppy, and when I think how much I've grown as a puppy parent in the seven years they encompass, I have to admit to feeling pretty proud. I'm also painfully aware of all the mistakes made and the lost opportunities.

Some of those mistakes could not really have been avoided. Life teaches lessons at its own mysterious pace, and all we can do is try to keep up and hope we finish the lesson before the test arrives. And when that doesn't happen, we pray we're smart enough to have learnt the lesson well before the next test hits us.

And that's probably enough said about that.

I will be following Sue Ailsby's new Training Levels - Steps to Success with One-of-Ten, as I feel it is the best at-home skills curriculum available. I actually think it's the best skills curriculum anywhere, and while I haven't been to a huge number of wheres, I've certainly been to enough to have an opinion I'm not afraid to share.

Sue's Homework for Level One is: "List 5 things you hope to accomplish by working the Levels with your dog."

Just five?

My basic needs and wants from when Zachary joined our household have not really changed. We are principally looking for a Family Member to be well-loved and a canine-companion for Zachary.

I would like One-of-Ten to get his Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Certificate. I would also like to do AKC Rally, or something similar. If he has show potential (his parents are both AKC Champions) then that would go on the list as well.

As Training Level's is a skills-based curriculum, today's goals will be so oriented. Hopefully, in the next few days, I'll come up with a list of socialization-based goals as well.

So here we go:

1. Figure out who he is, how he thinks, and what he might like to do when he grows up.
2. Form a positive working relationship/partnership
3. Foster a love of learning
4. Create a solid foundation of skills/knowledge/abilities for Real Life
5. Have fun!

As always, I will be using this venue to stay motivated and (hopefully) on course, assuming the fates don't conspire to change things.

I Taught What???

Dog Blog Post #110: From the files of "I Taught What???"

A few weeks ago, I decided to test Training Levels Five - Come: "The dog does a full Novice Recall - Sit-Stay, 40’, one cue, Front, Finish, appropriate cues."

I didn't actually think Zachary could do it, but I wanted to see where we stood in the process before I began working on it.

It turns out we stood about six feet part, as that was the distance between me and him after I called "Zachary, Here!" and he came roaring up nice and straight then came to a screeching halt...

... six feet away.

Yes, that's feet.

No, not inches, which is the unit we were looking for here, but feet - which made him about 66 inches (167.64 cm) further away than he should have been.

Yeah - really, really, far.

Hardly the "reach out and touch" distance that we were looking for.

Now the correct thing to do would have been to sigh, break out my clicker, and start working on it.

And I did that.

But I also sat down later and tried to figure out how I managed to screw up something as simple as "Here!" And I finally think I did.

Are you ready for this one?

I taught him to back up.

Yup, trick-training bites me in the butt again.

Somewhere between teaching a lovely recall, and testing Level Five Come, I taught the boys to back up. The signal? Hands on my hips (picture me glaring at them, but without the glare.)

What's the signal for recall? Hands at my sides. Now you would think those two signals would be different enough...

... and you would be wrong.

Which meant that as Zachary came roaring up for his recall, he looked up and me, saw me standing with hands kind of at my sides, and came to screeching halt...

... and then backed up.

I am pleased to say we seem to be on the road to Recall Recovery. After a few fits and starts, I finally hit on standing facing a solid object (kitchen cabinet) some 3' away, and calling him to front. This requires him to get nice and close - for which he is heavily rewarded.

This did result in a temporarily crooked sit, but that seems to be straightening itself out now that we are once again practicing "out in the open".

The lesson here?

Never underestimate the ability of a trainer to screw themselves up.

For the curious: Beau trotted up, sat in front, and on my signal did a lovely finish behind my back.

Hold

Dog Post #106: This post annotates a video I made of Beau attempting to learn to hold an object. Yes, captioning would be easier for the viewer, but my software is old and my computer is slow.

Video: If you wish to play along at home, the video is Beau - Quick Flick: TL4 Retrieve (part 2)

Setup: Beau is having a hard time learning to hold an object at the same time as I am holding it.

Equipment: canvas bumper, clicker, treats, Beau

(all times approximate and based on the master video on my hard drive)

• 00:00:20 – Beau had never seen the bumper so he’s treated for showing interest – so he knew today’s game involved the bumper
• 00:00:35 – Per Sue’s suggestion, tried holding the bumper between my knees. Clicked any sort of interaction
• 00:01:00 – Started looking for a double grab or at least a longer or stronger grab
• 00:01:21 – Ooops – didn’t think he would try pawing at it!
• 00:01:24 – Asked him to give it to me (cue = Bring) but he looked confused, as it was already at my feet - how much closer did I need it???
• 00:01:35 – Finally, he picked it up. Since I didn’t want him thinking giving it to me was the point, I clicked before he actually got it into my hand
• 00:02:03 – New idea – since he seemed to grab it from the floor, what if I was holding it at floor level?
• 00:02:13 – Jackpot! He finally gave a noticeably harder tug. It’s the first real tension I’d felt
• 00:02:20 – Added Bring cue while holding it – would that get a harder grab?
• 00:02:27 – Jackpot! He pulled it out of my (very light) foot “grasp”
• 00:02:42 – Switched to between my ankles, but it didn’t work so well.
• 00:02:50 – Back to between my feet, still using Bring cue
• 00:03:00 – Would he grasp more firmly now if I actually held it?
• 00:03:10 – Nope
• (pause to refill cookies)
• 00:03:35 – A break with the real Bring
• 00:03:50 – Back to between my knees with the Bring cue
• 00:04:00 – Jackpot! Again, there was enough tension to dislodge it.
• 00:04:25 – Another real Bring…
• 00:04:35 - … and another good grab
• 00:05:13 – Tried again “in hand”, but still not happening
• 00:05:26 – Ended on a good one

Sit Stay

Dog Blog Post #103: OK, I’ll admit it. I'm totally baffled.

(Yes, that is a picture of a Limpet. No, I have no idea what kind of Limpet. Well, I know it is a Point Lobos Limpet – or at least, the sort of Limpet one finds at Point Lobos – but beyond that, I haven’t a clue.)

You see, after six months of Zachary clearly demonstrating his inability to hold a Sit-Stay for more than 30 seconds, he has suddenly decided to be…

(sorry)

… a Limpet.

It first sank in the other day, when he breezed through his Training Levels Four – Watch (30 seconds) while holding a sit-stay, seemingly without effort. I noticed it again during Find the Squirrel, when he has held his sit-stay during the hiding for the past two days (six successes in a row!)

It defies explanation (hence the bafflement) as I haven’t actually done anything in particular, certainly nothing I haven’t tried before over the past six months, to have caused this sudden change in behavior.

So tonight, feeling emboldened by this auspicious date (Friday the 13th?) I decided to test Training Level Four - Sit-Stay, 2 minutes, 2 distractions….

… and Snug Bug was a Limpet.

Neither tempting cookies nor a friendly Beau dog were enough to pry his little Limpet butt off its brick-path resting place.

Yes, Beau passed too, and I’m proud of him as well. But let’s face it; we all knew Beau would pass. The Big Dog could probably out Limpet a Limpet, if sufficiently motivated.

But Zachary?

Mr. Ten Seconds?

Dancing Zachary?

He just hasn’t been a sitting-there-doing-nothing kind of dog.

At least not until lately.

Perhaps, just perhaps, his Limpet genes have kicked in, and future duration activities will be a breeze!

Or not.

Dream On

Success Revisited

"They can because they think they can." -- Virgil

Beau at the start

Beau 30 seconds later - really!

Tonight, without fuss or fanfare, the boys sailed through their Training Levels Four - Watch test (30 seconds @ 10 feet). I think Zachary only blinked once, when I looked down to check my watch. With Beau I just counted slooooowly in my head, as I figured (and rightly so) that he would sit there looking at me pretty much forever. (Video shows I actually held him there 40 seconds.)

Next stop was Training Levels Four - Go to Mat (2 minutes @ 10 feet) which they also passed with ease. While I did video Zachary, I punted on Beau. Really, two minutes of a dog lying on a mat? It's unlikely even Zachary's video will be uploaded unless I can figure out how to throw out every 3rd or 4th frame to speed it up.

In yesterday's Fear of Success post, I asked: "What does this all mean?"

At the moment, all I can think of is that the Nike people have it right: "Just Do It".

This is really boring...

Fear of Success

There are things on my weekly training to-do list that I fear.

Sometimes, that fear is based on reality, as anything requiring Zachary to "Do Nothing" is iffy at best. I don't call him "Ten Seconds" Zachary for nothing!

Sometimes, that fear is based on past realities, which I know no longer hold true but that I still foolishly cling to. For example, there was a time when Beau was nearly impossible to shape. He's much better now, and I know that, yet that old twinge of uncertainty still remains - will he be better this time?

I don't really see Fear of Failure during training as my goals are oriented around keeping my boys busy and learning, and it's almost impossible to fail at that! I probably have a Fear of Failure when it comes to competing (the few times I've done so) and that no doubt plays into my ring nerves, but that's a post for another day.

But none of those explain the Odd Occurrance of last night.

Nope, to figure that one out required a bit of googling until I hit on this strange beast: Fear of Success.

Huh?

According to eHow.com symptoms include:

1. Procrastination
2. Talk ideas to death instead of doing them
3. Never quite finish a project
4. Read every book on the topic but do not implement or execute the required actions
5. You have already succeeded once, you are an expert, you know what to do, how to do it and you have excelled in the (near or far) past. Still you hesitate to put in the next set of actions.

... or from Suite 101

1. "Partying" the night before the big presentation
2. Procastination
3. All talk, no action
4. Negative, pessimistic thoughts and behaviors

Keeping that in mind, we go back to last night...

There I was, standing in the middle of the Kitchen, staring at the Weekly Worksheet for this week, when my eyes settled on Training Levels 4 - Watch: 10', 30 seconds.

(sigh)

I believe it has been on the list for at least a month, and I have yet to do anything at all with it. Right above that gem was the 2 minute Training Levels 4 - Sit-Stay, another winner, as Zachary remains at 30 seconds with no signs of budging, unless slumping to a down counts. I believe that one has been on and off the list since March.

Yes, that March, now six months past.


(ugh)

Feeling in a list-clearing mood, I thought I'd give ye ol' Watch a try to see just how bad it was. First up: Beau. I didn't really expect any problems there, and I didn't get any. He passed without issue, and I kicked myself for not having set up the camera.

Next up: "Ten Seconds" Zachary. Being a glutton for punishment, I put him in a sit stay, walked 10' away, then turned and looked at him...

... and he looked at me...
... and he looked at me...
... and he looked at me.

Darned if Snug Bug didn't sit there, practically unblinking, for the entire 30 seconds. It was one of the easiest passes I've had, for a skill we haven't touched since he labored through the previous level. Now I was really p*ssed for not having set up the camera!

But wait, there's more.

While I was working with Beau, I decided to give Training Levels Four - Finish a try. (I know, it's not on this weeks list, but hubby has a Mound O' Stuff in our regular "classroom" so I had to improvise.)

Training Level Four - Finish is supposed to be a swing finish (to the left) on voice cues only. I realize that now, because I just looked it up. However, last night I was thinking it was a finish to the right (behind my back).

Beau knows a right finish using a hand signal, but I've never done it on just a vocal cue. Ever. But last night, for grins and giggles, I put him in front of me and said "Finish".

Darned if the Big Dog didn't trot right around me, sit right beside me, and look up at me adoringly.

Had Level Four Finish been a right finish, I could have passed him on the spot.

So, what does this all mean?

1. Procrastination: This stuff should have been taught, tested, and crossed off months ago but I just didn't do it
   
2. All [lists], no action: How long have these things been sitting on my Weekly Worksheets, awaiting attention???
3. Never quite finish (pardon the pun): Really, Level Four should have been signed, sealed, and delivered back in June, but instead I've started on Level Five
4. Negative, pessimistic thoughts and behaviors: I didn't do it because I just knew they would fail.

Quick, someone distract me with a new Training Challenge before I run off to create more lists to help me figure out how to stop making lists and just get down to training!!!

Teamwork

Ready... Set...

I love the picture on the left.

It's a "still" from a video I made for a contest on the Training Levels Group: How quickly can you click/treat 15 treats?

(To see more: Zachary - Quick Flick: Simone's Contest)

You'll note I'm hunched over, clicker in mouth (to free up my hands), mere inches from Zachary so as to reduce delays and/or flicking errors. And while the contest was fun and I learned a lot about speed of delivery, smoothness of flicking, consumability vs. flickability, the tackiness of dog slobber, palm friction, weight  and thickness and bounce height and many other properties of treats I have never considered before, and so forth... the thing I will really take away is much more basic.

As I posted to the Training Level's group, the thing that really made an impression on me was that:

"...there was something very... connecting... about being so close (physically) to Zachary while working on this. There were times our heads were inches apart and I could actually see his focus and concentration.


And when I whispered if he was ready (no need to shout, he was right there) I could almost see him thinking "Yes! We are a team!)


(Beau just drooled more and tried to snuffle the treats out of my hand!)


I guess I hadn't thought in the past about the distance that usually exists between us when we are working. In this case, close was nice. Close fostered teamwork."

Teamwork.

I don't normally think of training like that. I view myself as a teacher, my dogs as my students, and where I lead I kind of expect them to follow (or at least give it the old college try.) Some performance sports (for people as well as dogs) speak of teamwork, but it often looks more like "me glorious leader, you faithful follower" than Merriam-Webster's definition: "each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole."

I realize the picture quality isn't that great, and I'm sure I'm biased because it's my dog and I was there when it was taken, but I think the image above shows teamwork. Zachary is the epitome of concentration. He knows his part of the job (eat treats as fast as possible) and he is waiting patiently for the signal to go.

Note that at that moment he is still. Perfectly still. How often have you seen Zachary perfectly still? He is still because he knows exactly what is going to happen, and what his role will be.

I am also still. I am waiting for the perfect moment, when hands and eyes and mind are all aligned and hopefully will all be working together.

And then we begin, and for 8.3 glorious seconds, Zachary and I are a team...

... and it is awesome.

Now this is the game for me!

Beau and I were never a true team on this exercise as he was always too focused on the treats.

In fact, Beau I were a true team only once, that I can recall, on a Rally course long ago. But for those few dozen seconds, as we wove our way amongst the cones, the world seemed to melt away and there were just the two of us, each focused intently on the other, both moving together as one.

Isn't that what teamwork is all about?

More Contacts

Yes, we are still talking about Contacts. We are still working on Contacts. We are still thinking, dreaming, and obsessing about Contacts.

Tonight was by the far the best practice session yet, both per dog and in total. Beau is pretty nearly there, especially since this is an optional behavior and I’ll never do Agility with him. Zachary is still playing “101 Things to do with a Contact Board”, although after the first dozen or so passes he settles down to something approximating the desired result.

I upped the criteria again and now expect all four paws on the board plus stillness and, not surprisingly, that final paw wasn’t nearly the challenge that lack of motion continues to be.

I brought the mat back out and once again put it at the end of the hall. Beau was a bit hesitant, as it is now a good fifteen feet or more from the Contact Board, but Zachary zoooooomed down the hall and threw himself on the rug, looking more like a Golden Border Collie than a Golden Retriever.

Sometimes I just held them for a few seconds, but on at least one occasion both dogs were held there at least 20 seconds and neither looked like they would break. I thought the change from running the board to lying still would be harder for them, particularly Zachary, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Once again, that which I think should be hard turns out to be easy, and that which should be easy is nigh impossible.

All in all, though, a good nights work from both boys and a nice start to the end of the week.

Editors Note: Well, I finally took the plunge and switched from the old-style Blogger template to one of the new ones. I’ve been considering it for quite some time, as the new styles support additional features, but it was a hard decision as I really loved the previous lighthouse image that seemed to so perfectly represent this Blog’s description: “A Journey Toward Canine Enlightenment.”

Anyway, until I find something that speaks to me equally well, don’t be surprised if the background and look don’t morph a few (dozen) more times.

Boring Stuff

I hate practicing the "boring stuff" - usually defined as duration activities requiring me to stand around patiently waiting for the clock to tick off a certain number of seconds/minutes while one of the dogs remains in roughly the position I left them in.

Yawn

Yes, I know the "boring stuff" can be important. Yes, I know patience is a useful skill. Yes, I realize life can't always be exciting. But I'm old enough to feel I shouldn't have to do something I don't want to in an activity I'm doing just because I want to do it.

Right?

So tonight I tried something different.

Tonight I pulled out my Go To Mat mat and put it at the far end of the hall. Then I pulled out the Contacts board and laid it out in the Living Room. For the remainder of "class time", after every half-dozen runs across the board, I sent the dog to the mat for a few seconds. A click/treat, and back to the board they were sent.

What I'm hoping is that I can get to the point where one dog can lay on the mat while the other works for a few minutes, and then switch them. I figure this way they get their duration practice in and I don't have to stand there and stare at them.

At least, that's the plan.

Will it work? I have no idea, but it's looking good so far.

As for Contacts, I have gone back to pure shaping. The light bulb is starting to flicker on in Beau's head, and he is getting very good about stopping at the end (usually four paws on, but sometimes two on/two off.) Zachary is still in "101 Things to do with a Contact Board" mode, but he is getting better. I'm at the point where I was with Fronts, where I'm mostly looking for still (always a problem with Zachary) plus three paws on the board. Three paws on makes him pointed roughly down the board, which is good.

One Rear Toe On had him side-stepping across the board - cute, but not what I was looking for.

I have this nagging feeling that I made Contacts much too hard by being in a hurry, and had I just stuck with shaping both dogs would be done by now.

(Perhaps there is something to be said for practicing patience after all.)

Sit Happens...

... but apparently not for two minutes...

... at least not at my house.

In fact, had I decided to video all my efforts to capture the elusive Level Four (two minute) Sit-Stay on video, I would have quite the Keystone Cops collection by now.

Now it's not like the boys, if sufficiently (self) motivated, are not capable of the physical act of sitting for two minutes at a time. I'm pretty sure I've seen them sit for five, maybe even ten minutes without twitching a whisker if they thought there was a chance something from the dinner table might find it's way to the floor.

Nope, what we're talking about here is me telling them to sit, me walking away 40 feet, turning around, and waiting for two minutes to elapse.

Today I thought I would try something different. Thinking a change in venue might do the trick, I took Zachary out back, set up the camera, and walked 40 feet way. Zachary did some lovely heads up heeling as we marched down the brick walkway - too bad we weren't working on that.

I let Beau tag along, figuring I could use him as my distraction. Otherwise ignoring the big dog, I pointed to my designated spot, told Zachary to sit-stay, and confidently walked 40' back down the brick walkway to the camera. I have to say I was a bit surprised when I turned around to see Beau sitting there as well.

Ok... synchronized sitting. There went one of my distractions, but I still had a tug toy and a ball at my disposal so I wasn't worried.

And I shouldn't have been, as 30 seconds later Zachary slumps into a down.

Rats.

With the Big Dog still sitting tall, I decided to wait it out to see what would happen. After a minute I tossed the ball.

Nobody moved.

At 1:30 seconds I tossed the tug toy.

Nobody moved...

... for about 10 more seconds...

... then Beau slumped into a down as well.

Off went the camera, and I marched back down the brick walkway. Four big eyeballs stared up at me and nobody moved a muscle. I think somewhere in the back of Zachary's little mind something must of clicked, because as I stood there and glared at them (and no cookies appeared) Zachary sheepishly returned to a sit.

Beau, with more experience, held fast to his down. He no doubt realizes by now that if he wasn't supposed to have laid down, switching to a sit at this point wasn't going to help matters any.

And he would be right.

Enter the Keystone Cops, for as I made my "Thou Shalt Sit (and I really mean it this time!)" hand signal, Zachary took off down the walkway in search of the ball I had thrown earlier. Then Beau took off down the walkway after Zachary, prompting a case of synchronized zoomies.

Joy.

I called Zachary (knowing it would have been pointless to call Beau) and attempted to reset things. I'll spare you the details - suffice it to say it wasn't pretty.

I gave it four more tries (yes, I'm a glutton for punishment) and never made it past the 1:30 mark again. Searching hard for a bright spot (between Zoomies, selective deafness, and dogs dropping and popping back up like Wack-a-Moles) I'd have to say that they did hold firm against all the distractions I tossed (literally) their way.

Now all I need is for them to grow a backbone.

Scrapbook - 101 Things...

The other night I played "101 Things to do with a Box" using a Basket (Training Levels Four - Trick)

(To read about it CLICK HERE and scroll down until you find "Trick".)

I had been dreading this a bit, as Zachary already plays "101 Things..." with everything I set down in front him, which isn't necessarily a great trait as usually you are only interested one particular thing and not the other 100 he throws in, but I felt I owned him a bit of fun after all that Contacts/Rear-Paw-on-board stuff we've been working on (let's see, that would be on YouTube HERE and HERE.)

Anyway, suffice it to say that "101 Things..." is a game right up his alley. If you want see him in all his video glory, CLICK HERE.

Afterwards, I went through that video frame by frame and was appalled a the number of "Clickable Moments" I missed - a half-dozen or more. Times when he clearly did something different and I missed the difference entirely. Sometimes it was subtle, but often it was a paw switch on his part - doing something with a right front and then trying it later with a left front and me not noticing the change.

Anyway, I grabbed images from the video and put them in a few annotated pages. Time runs top to bottom, left to right, as though you are holding up two film strips side by side. The last page is the final shaping session at the end. Given his "artistic" nature, I didn't want to end the session without reminding him how we normally shape to accomplish something.

(As always, click to see larger)

Bumpers

I now officially hate the bumper (see Just a Golden and Just a Golden (update))

Yesterday, I could almost see promise, but today I've decided it was just a mirage. The method of me holding/them holding is just not working. The method of them picking it off the ground might actually work, given enough time, but I'm not sure it is worth the time it appears it will take.

Tonight, after Zachary dropped the bumper on my scantly clad toe for the third time (the same toe - the second toe on the right foot - with the pointy end of the plastic bumper... ouch...) I decided to call it night.

I think it's time to take a step back and figure out where the forest went.

All I really want is for at least one of the dogs to be able to HOLD something, in their mouth, quietly, for long enough for me to take a picture of them. That's all. Really, this shouldn't be this hard to teach.

Ok... anything that requires Zachary doing something quietly is due for a rocky journey, but what's up with Beau??? Mister stoic himself?

The only thing I can think of is that they think it's rude to be holding it while I am holding it at the same time. Now both dogs will happily play tug, so I'm not sure that theory holds much water, but I'm at loss to explain it any other way.

Beau absolutely, positively will not hold the bumper if I'm holding it.

Period.

Zachary will put his mouth on it, and he will now try to grab it from me (I shaped that) but if I offer any resistance he lets go. He'll also pick it up and drop it in my lap (awwww.... sweet, but not what I want.)

Maybe I need to switch to another object. Perhaps I should try a tug toy instead....

Hmm...

At this point, I'm at a total loss.

Just a Golden (update)

Just a quick post (for once)...

I tried a new approach with Beau and his bumper tonight (see yesterday's Just a Golden.)

Tonight I put the bumper on the ground and decided to see if I could shape him holding it. Keep in mind that Beau generally hates shaping - the fact I'm resorting to it showing clearly how desperate I am.

So with a bowl of treats, a clicker, a bumper on the ground, and the big dog staring up at me, we began...

... and it actually went much better than I thought it would (hence me knowing this would be a quick post. Clever, huh?) After a snuffle and a nuzzle he started picking it up, and within a minute or two I was able to click while he was holding it and jackpot "quiet" holds (no chomping or fidgeting).

He's still a work in progress, but I have to say that tonight was the longest, by far, I've ever seen him hold a bumper while not actively retrieving.

After a minute or two of working Zachary the old way (me holding, him sort of holding) I switched the bumper on the ground and he also did very well. He's much easier to shape so I was able to fine-tune it so he was grabbing squarely in the middle. He still fidgets way too much, but he fidgets the other way was well. In fact, he's just plain fidgety when he works.

Anyway, all in all, it was quite satisfying.

I have no idea if I helped or hurt the overall effort, but after so many weeks of going nowhere, at least tonight it felt like we accomplished something.

(I would have tried Wendy's suggestion about Hubby holding the bumper, but Hubby was holed up in the bedroom with the sniffles. Poor Hubby.)

Just a Golden

I'm ashamed to admit it, but it seems I don't own a Golden Retriever after all.

Nope, it turns out I just own a Golden.

You see, we've been working on Level Four Retrieve for, oh, I don't know... forever? The idea is simple enough. You take an object (a plastic bumper, in my case), you hold it, the dog holds it, you hold your breath for a second or two and pray he doesn't let go, if not then you click, treat, and you're done.

Like I said, simplicity itself.

Only it's not, or I wouldn't be writing about it.

It should be noted that Beau is a fine retriever of things that he wants to retrieve. He'll retrieve balls, socks, underwear (sigh), big sticks, little sticks, apples from the tree, peaches... he loves peaches... not a scratch on those peaches, not a tooth mark, not a mark of any kind - and he plucks them soft and ripe straight off the tree himself.

I bet he could retrieve an egg, too, but I'm not curious enough to clean up the mess in case I'm wrong.

But I digress... as I was writing about Level Four Retrieve, Beau, and the bumper. Now Beau likes his bumper, and he'll retrieve that, too, if you throw it. He'll also retrieve it if you walk out, put it on the ground, then walk back, and tell him to Bring.

Darned fine retriever... until we ran into this "you hold, I hold" rule. That has him completely confused. Maybe he's just an either/or kind of dog, but the thought of him holding it while I hold it just isn't sinking in.

He'll sniff it, nuzzle it, and put his mouth around it, but he just won't hold it.

Ever.

Not even for an instant.

We've been working on this for weeks.

Tonight we worked on it again, with the usual lack of luck. After I was finished, I put the bumper on the coffee table and moved on to Go To Mat. He likes Go To Mat. He understands Go To Mat. I figured it would make us both feel better.

Sure enough, after a dozen or so Go To Mat's we were both feeling quite pleased with ourselves, and so I decided to call it night. I put the cookies down and went over to check the camera. When I looked up, there was Beau, over by the Coffee Table. He carefully picked up the bumper, then trotted over and dropped at my feet.

Did I mention that he's a darned fine retriever?

Certificates of Achievement

Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for Awards and Certificates of Achievement.

They don’t have to be fancy… something printed on parchment-like paper will do, with a printed “gold foil” ribbon or star on it. I have every one the dogs have earned (mostly for just showing up in class) and I tuck them into separate plastic sleeves and put them in their Achievements Binder. Every time I add a new one, I flip through the previous ones and smile at how far the boys have traveled.

Soon, I’ll get to add Zachary’s CGC certificate (in the mail as I type.) I can’t wait!

Alas, there are no Certificates of Achievement for Homeschooled dogs. No parchment-like papers, no printed “gold foil” ribbons or stars. No physical reminders that anything happened at all…

(sigh)

But that doesn’t mean I can’t make one.

(Aren’t computers wonderful?)

Below please find the “official” unofficial Certificates of Achievement for Beau and Zachary for completing Training Levels Three.

I sure hope Sue doesn’t mind!

(As always, click to see larger)

Ruts

I know what you're thinking - that I'm going sit here and lecture you on the evils of ruts in your training...

... and you would be wrong.

I have no doubt there are times when ruts are evil, like when the dog is sooooo bored training the same exercises in the same order in the same way that they could practically do them without you.

(actually, I have no experience at all with a dog like that. Both my boys are more than happy to be little repeat-a-bots so long as they understand the job and are getting paid, but I'm sure such dogs exist out there... somewhere.)

No, today I'm thinking that ruts are darn wonderful.

Ruts are what make us do the same thing, over and over, even when we don't want to. Brushing our teeth is a rut. So is flossing. (It takes me 2-3 months of willpower to get in the flossing rut, but once there my day just isn't complete without it. Unfortunately, it only takes me a few days to fall out of the rut, hence my knowing how long it takes to crawl back in it.)

Today I saw the glorious benefit of a training rut. I have been working with Zachary (who wouldn't know a rut if it swallowed him whole) for ages, trying to get Level Two (On The Road) - Loose Leash for Level Four (remember that Level Four requires all Level Two items to be done someplace the dog hasn't been before,)

This isn't Rocket Science, here, this is the dog hanging out with you for a minute without making the leash tight. That's it. Of course, Ten Seconds Zachary doesn't "do" duration events, and therefore working on this has been a major drag.

He'll do it in the house, or around the house, but as Doing Nothing just isn't his thing, Doing Nothing when we're Somewhere is really not his thing.

So, after failing (miserably) for a very long time (don't ask how long) I finally had an idea.

(actually, I had lots of ideas during that very long time, it's just that none of those worked...)

Anyway, I decided that any time I was walking Zachary alone (sans Hubby and Beau) I would stop at every street corner and just stand there. At first, we stood for just a second or two (and even that was painful) but soon we were able to build up to 5, 10, 20, 30... seconds and more.

This is where the rut part came in. No longer was training a 1 minute loose leash some dreadful activity I had to drag myself outside to do. Instead, it was just a natural reaction. Hit a street corner, pause, keep walking. Sometimes I paused just a few seconds, sometimes I paused for much longer, but by making it a rut it seemed... not so bad.

Today, I am very pleased to say that Zachary stood calmly, patiently, for one whole minute with me while six teenage boys where yelling and playing basketball (with not one, but two basketballs) not so very far away.

Zachary was calm.

And so tonight I'm thinking ruts are pretty good. I'm also wishing I had brought my camera to commemorate the moment so I could cross the stupid thing off the list, but alas it wasn't meant to be.

No matter, I'm confident that when I do video this On The Road, Ten Seconds Zachary will have no trouble getting a passing grade.

Footnote: As an easter egg of sorts for those brave souls who made it this far - I have created a web site dedicated to Canine Homeschooling. As it is only a few days old, it is seriously lacking in content (but not intent) so feel free to stop by and take a look. Just remember that I have hopes of expanding it greatly over the next few weeks: http://sites.google.com/site/bzdogs/ There's even a spot for comments at the bottom of the main page.

Compare and Contrast

This actually took place (and was written) quite a few weeks ago, but somehow never made it to the blog. My bad.

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This weekend "I" finally got the "long" board out of the garage in order to work on Contacts. That is, I finally asked my son to get the much-shorter-than-I-remembered "long" board out of the garage.

I'd swear the board used to be be at least 10' long, but it either shrank(?) or a section off the end was re-purposed. In any case, the board is now a mere 6' long, 12" wide, and bears and uncanny resemblance to the 4' long, 8" wide "short" board that I use for Broad Jump.

Undeterred (and lacking any other option) I proceeded to give Contacts a go.

Here's the description: "Dog walks a flat board with a click on or immediately after the down contact. This is an optional behaviour."

For grins and giggles, let's assign each dog a letter (ie: Dog A and Dog B) and see if folks playing along at home can figure out from the descriptions which dog is which.

Dog A:

I put Dog A in a sit-stay, placed the board on the ground, released the dog with a click, and sat down next to the board in anticipation of shaping Dog A to walk the plank.

Dog A raced over to the board, jumped over it one way, and then back.

"Hmmm...", said I.

Dog A pawed at the board (C/T), laid down on the end (C/T), and jumped back and forth a few more times.

"Hmmm...", said I.

Dog A approached one end (click) and I tossed the cookie toward the other end in hopes of getting him to run across the board. Dog A raced around the board to get the treat, ran back, nosed, pawed, and laid down on the board again.

"Hmmm...", said I.

Dog A got up, and laid down cross-wise, hopped back and forth over the board yet a few more times and then ran around it (again) for good measure.

At this point I turned off the camera, and deleted the video.

Dog B:

I put Dog B in a sit-stay, placed the board on the ground, released the dog with a click, and sat down next to the board in anticipation of shaping Dog B to walk the plank.

Dog B trotted over and sniffed at the board (C/T). He put a paw on the end (C/T), then two (click) and I tossed the cookie down the board. He trotted half on and half-off the board to get it. He turned and I tossed the treat the other way and he went around the board.

I waited for him to come back to the board, which he did and then laid down on the end. I stood up and walked beside the board to the other end. He dutifully trotted along the board beside me. (C/T) when he reached the end and a few cookies, which he ate while standing on the board. We repeated a few times back and forth across the board.

He was good with his front paws, not so good with his back, so I stuffed a book under each end plus one in the middle. He jumped on the board, which slid off the books (covers to slippery). Oops. I put rags on the books and tried again. This time he did much better.

A few more tries and I started adding my cue: "Walk It".

Back to Dog A:

(Plank on books with rags between covers and plank). Dog A tries to paw the rag, grab the rag, and then push the plank out of the way to get the rag. Dog A also hops over the board a few more times.

I stopped there.

Back to Dog B:

I move the plank next to a wall, no books, and position chairs beside either end to try to eliminate corner cutting and "keep" Dog B on the board. There is still a 4' unguarded section in the middle.

I stand a few feet back of one end, toss a cookie far away, and as Dog B is trotting back toward me I give my "Walk It" cue. Dog B dutifully enters the right end, trots across the board, and collects the cookie I throw behind me.

Getting him to go the other direction was a bit trickier. I said "Walk it" and he would start down the board then circle back, hopping off between the chairs. I started clicking as soon as he was on the board and tossing the cookie over his head and off the other end of the board. After 4-5 of these he was trotting down the board without issue.

I stopped there.

And that's were we are on Level 3 contacts. For two half-related Goldens, they sure are different!

Any guesses which dog was Beau and which was Zachary?

What's Next?

It’s just so cool.

With Zachary passing his Canine Good Citizen test on Wednesday, I have now, finally, at long last, completed an item on my list of Goals for 2010.

Yup. One.

(wait… wait… give me a moment to savor it… Ahhhh….)

Ok – moment’s past. No time to rest on our laurels - do you realize how far behind I am this year? Training Levels has taken the biggest hit in our quest for the CGC certificate, and Training Levels should be where my focus is. By the end of this year I had resolved to finish Level Three + OTR 1 (On The Road) for both dogs, Level 4 (OTR 2 for Zachary only) and Level 5 (no OTR for either.)

And where are we now (CLICK HERE)?

We are still stuck in Level Three, that’s where we are. And while we have made major inroads into Level Four, there is still much left undone. To make matters worse, at the moment, all the easy stuff is behind us and the more time consuming things (like scenting and retrieve and that !@#$ Sit-Stay…) lie before.

So, what am I going to do about it?

I’m going to start working on Rally!!!

(I never said was the clever one in the family)

You see, the other “undone” on my 2010 goals list is AKC Rally Novice (RN) for Zachary – not the title, just enter a match by the end of the year – and Rally Novice is filled with relatively easy things to work on - things we worked on in earlier Training Levels (sits and downs and such) plus things required but unfinished for Training Levels future (Heeling, Fronts, and Finishes.)

Alas, there are no Rally classes that work with my schedule, so it looks like Zachary and I will have to go it alone. Oh well, no matter. Homeschooling is the name of the game around here!

To that end, I whipped up an Excel spreadsheet last night with all the Rally Novice signs and descriptions, and printed them out on Business Cards (see photo above - click to see larger) with the sign pictured on one side and the exercise description (abridged as necessary) on the back. These will make handy flash cards for re-familiarization, as a few things have changed since Beau got his RN title (pre-2008.)

And then I started thinking about how I was going to set up practice courses in my rather long, narrow, sloping yard. (Short answer? I can’t.)

After much thought, I finally decided I might be able to do a substantial amount of practicing using just 6 cones. Each cone will be 6-8’ from it’s horizontal and vertical neighbors, making the 4 in a row just right for the Serpentine, Weave, and the change of pace exercises, while any 3 in a row would work for the spirals. The idea is to shuffle my cards and go stand by an outside cone (say, ‘F’.) I read the card and then perform whatever it says at cone ‘C’ (except those Serpentine and Weaves) and then move on the logical cone after that. So if I start at ‘F’, pull the Right Turn card, I’ll heel to ‘C’, turn right, and end up at ‘D’. From there I can stop, turn around, and then pull another card. If I want to do longer heeling, I can do so by skipping the center cone for the U-Turn exercises and heel all the way to the furthest cone.

I figure, using this method, I can get a lot of practice in using a pretty small footprint. If I don’t plan on working the Serpentine/Weave I can eliminate cone ‘A’ and need just 16x16 or less, depending on how much space Zachary needs to get turned around in.

(Will it work? I have no idea. I'll let you know once I've tried it.)

As one story ends so another begins. I can’t wait to get started!

Better Idea?

Those playing along at home might remember my "Good Idea" of using a canning ring and peanut butter to attempt to explain to my boys the Joys of Scenting for Training Levels Four.

Reader's Digest version: It wasn't pretty.

Not to be deterred, I gave the issue deep thought, solicited ideas, and settled on the lids of small disposable Tupperware-like containers. Not to drop names, but for the curious, I went with the Glad brand since their locking lids had a handy indent in the middle that I figured I could put the veneer of peanut butter in, thus keeping it safely out of reach of my floor.

The setup was much as before. I had a small ramekin of peanut butter, some extra treats in case the lid was returned, a lid for veneering, and an enthusiastic dog - in this case, Beau.

Right off the bat, I realized that a veneer of peanut butter in the small indent of the lid was not going to work for the Big Dog. Big Dog = Big Tongue, Big Tongue did not fit into small indent in Little Lid, so Big Tongue chased Little Lid all around the Kitchen floor.

D'oh!

On the bright side, the floor stayed clean.

After I pulled the lid out from under the Kitchen table, I switched the peanut butter to the non-indented portion of the bottom of the lid, crossed my fingers, and tried again.

I'd love to say it worked perfectly, but alas, I can't. I can say that it worked much better than the canning ring did. Despite my misgivings, the lid did not flip over and the floor stayed relatively free of peanut butter. The problem now is that the lids are too lightweight for Beau. He is a "firm" licker, and so he still pushed the lid around the floor. He did try holding it down with his paw, which thankfully he decided didn't work (since his giant paw obliterated the peanut butter and no doubt transferred at least a little to floor.) After a half-dozen or so tries, I noticed the lid moving around a lot less, and so I'm guessing he was getting the hang of gentler licking so as to not move the lid.

After 10 or so tries, I dutifully "neglected" to reapply the peanut butter. Just as Sue advertised, Beau went out to the lid, gave it a sniff, and looked at me:

Hey? What gives?

I clicked, treated, and then put peanut butter on the lid. Beau was really picking up on this fast, so I went one step further and carefully pulled a plain, icky-stranger-scented lid out of its protective zip-top bag with a pair of tongs.

I would have bet money that Beau would have been entranced by this lid, since (a) it was scented by a total stranger to him and (b) this truly wonderful person has a menagerie of critters at home (including a dog) and I would have no doubt he could tell that.

Sure enough, he gave that lid a few big sniffs and a single big lick, and never looked at it again. No matter where I put my peanut butter suffused lid in relation to the icky-stranger-scented lid, he never failed to "find" the right lid. Yeah, I know, at this point I could have put out a lid scented by me with the peanut butter suffused lid and he would have picked out the peanut butter suffused lid.

Still, I have to admit it was kinda cool.

Next up was Zachary, and I'll spare you the long story as it went almost exactly like Beau's except (a) Zachary is a much gentler licker and so he didn't have trouble with the lid moving (b) Zachary retrieves the lid as he quickly figured out he can get more peanut butter faster if he doesn't have to wait for me to get up and get the lid myself -and- (c) Zachary showed zero interest in the (fresh) icky-stranger-scented lid.

Summary?

It was way cool!

Good Idea?

The other day I decided to give Training Levels Four - Scenting a go. The concept is simple - smear something gooey on an article, put it down, have the dog lick it off, repeat.

Even I can't screw that one up, right?

Hmm....

I read somewhere that canning lid rings make great articles. They are cheap, easily cleaned, easily stored, identical, and the dogs can pick them up.

Perfect!

So I bought a box of 12, numbered a few of them, sat down on the floor with Beau, a clicker, and a small dish of peanut butter (old-fashioned, of course - nothing but the best for my boys, plus it is sufficiently gooey.)

I dipped a finger in the peanut butter (I now had Beau's undivided attention) and smeared a bit on the (very narrow) ring and put it down.

Beau was instantly on it like, well, like a dog on peanut butter. He chased that flimsy, lightweight ring all over the Hardwood kitchen floor trying to get every last speck with his big wet tongue.

Yum.

I got up, retrieved the ring from under the cabinet, and repeated. Once again, Beau's big wet tongue was more than up to the task and soon the peanut butter smear was only a memory.

On the third try, I noticed two things. One, Beau's tongue was beginning to develop a very unappealing layer of spit mixed with peanut butter, and two, my Hardwood floor was also beginning to develop a similar spit-and-peanut-butter layer.

Yum.

I pulled the ring out from under the kitchen table, smeared some more peanut butter on it, at let Beau have at it. At this point I noticed that Beau's big wet tongue wasn't really doing a such great job of getting the peanut butter out of the little grooves on the side of the ring, nor from the inside of the ring, and that definite smears of spit-laced peanut butter were starting to show on my Hardwood floor.

Yum.

We gave it few more tries, things continued to get messier, and I quit.

In comes Zachary. Zachary also loves peanut butter. Zachary is a very fast worker. Zachary had that (truly disgusting by now) ring all over the kitchen floor.

Lucky me, he soon figured out it was much faster to bring me the ring after he finished than to wait for me to retrieve it. Alas, he is still very animated when he retrieves things and more than once he tossed it in the air, dropped it, and then chased the (rolling, sticky, wet, disgusting) ring wherever it might go.

Did you know a canning ring, if dropped and chased by an average-sized enthusiastic Golden Retriever, will roll a considerable distance across a Hardwood floor?

Yes it can.

So to sum things up: 1. Both dogs give this exercise two enthusiastic (sticky) paws up for entertainment value 2. Canning rings make lousy articles for training Golden Retrievers using peanut butter and 3. Mopping your Hardwood floor at 9pm is not a good way to end your birthday.

I don't suppose anyone else as any good ideas for cheap, easily cleaned, easily stored, identical, articles that dogs can pick up and can be smeared in peanut butter without making a horrible mess on the floor?