Back to Work

"... when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Recently, there has been a thread going in Training Levels group about "food motivation". This is a topic I feel strongly about, having spent years struggling to use food to motivate a dog who wasn't interested in being motivated by food (when outside) before finally accepting that it was never going to work.

As usual, I heard that I didn't do it right, that in all their years they had never met such a dog, that if I had done this or that then my dog would be over his "food issue", and even that I might have caused the assumed "food issue".

As usual, I found myself sitting there, wondering why I got sucked up (or caused) the thread to begin with.

I am at peace with my dog. I have nothing to prove. I'm not looking for solutions. I know those sharing their thoughts are well-meaning. And (perhaps most importantly) I know they are wrong about my dog.

So why does it get a rise out of me every time? Why can't I just sit there, shake my head, and pass those threads by?

I think it's because there might be someone, somewhere, with a dog like mine, who has yet to reach the "at peace" stage of accepting the dog they have. Someone sitting there, feeling like a failure, because they are unable to do what "everyone" is telling them is possible to do.

I'm also saddened that there are so many otherwise wonderful clicker-folks out there who can't envision a world where there exists a dog (and perhaps there really is only one) who won't work for food and are willing to be hurtful to another (probably without realizing they are doing so) in order to say so.

Perhaps I'm the same way, just heading in the opposite direction.

Once again, I've probably said too much, too often, too loud and so I'm going to try to just let this thread pass by. Once again, I'm going to hope I stay out of the next thread of a similar nature.

... and yet, what of those poor lost souls, as I once was, who are left to think that if only they tried this, or did that, or... or...

Perhaps the best thing is just to reply by private email - for my opinions to be listened to or not as the recipients see fit. Maybe next time I feel the urge to plunge in I'll think to reread this post and realize that some things just can't be changed and move on.

Oh well, back to training - The Canine Good Citizen test is creeping ever closer and there is still much to be done.

I will now go and love the dogs I have, for the time we have with them is far too short to waste.

CGC Class #3

"You always pass failure on the way to success" -- Mickey Rooney

Last night was Canine Good Citizen Class #3. After two weeks off due to bad weather, the weather gods smiled upon us with clear skies, relatively moderate temperatures, and a pleasant breeze.

The training gods smiled upon us as well by sending three lovely "strangers" our way (I'm dying to know what sort of sacrifice our instructor had to make to conjure them up... hopefully nothing requiring live pigeons or a sheep.)

The Good: (The Awesome?) That time spent at my local Big-Box Hardware store is really paying off. Zachary got up while being petting the very first time, but after that his rump was pretty much glued to the mat. In fact, he was so good, that the instructor upped the ante by having the strangers, upon revisiting, bend over and squeal "Puppy!" while patting their legs.

Any guesses what happened?

Get real, he is a Golden Retriever after all. But after reminding him where his rump was supposed to be (and the strangers toning it down just a smidgeon) he did manage to hold his sit.

His Recall was also pretty good, only failing once after several tries due to the topic you'll find under "Ugly" below. He did recover and was not a repeat offender.

He was also fine for grooming (brushing, ears and paws) and the Reaction to Distraction (clattering noise.)

The Bad: The item I think he is most likely to fail (indeed, I'll be shocked if he passes) is Supervised Separation, and he did struggle with that last night. The interesting thing (in a train-wreck watching sort of way) is that I'm not entirely sure the problem is me being Out of Sight. I think the problem is me Walking out the Gate.

Which leads to an equally interesting question with regards to the test - is the requirement simply being Out of Sight, or is the dog meant to think you are leaving them behind forever (ie: walking out the gate, over to my car, and hiding behind it.)

I'm suspicious that his distress is because I'm leaving the yard THROUGH THE GATE (ie: he thinks it's time to go home) and NOT that I'm not visible. I tried crouching down once behind an obstacle at an equal distance as the gate and he didn't seem nearly as troubled.

Then, for kicks, after we were done, I let him go and he headed straight for that gate! Hmmm....

The other sub-par thing was the Reaction to another dog - he's been better in the past, but he was obviously getting tired at this point and his brain was pretty close to checking out. It wasn't good, it wasn't ugly... more a "work in progress".

The Ugly: Ah, the ugly - just after the separation practicing, and perhaps because his mind was distracted, he fell into the sniffies. He found the mats the dogs lie on to be particularly enticing and wasn't really able to get over it. We'll need to search out "dog smells" this week and work to walk past them.

I consider this to be an ugly because it's just so darn hard to "fix".

Finally, on an observational note, I find it fascinating how people react so differently to Beau vs. Zachary. When the friendly strangers approached, they seemed to treat Zachary as something precious and delicate - soft cooing, a hand under the chin while the other gently stroked his head, all the while Zachary sat with his head turned upward gazing at the strangers (relatively) calmly and definitely adoringly.

Contrast that with a typical Beau greeting, where people don their protective gear and call out "I'm going in!" as they quickly bridge the Danger Zone (where one one swing of his massive head can give you a fat lip) and get close enough for serious ear ruffling, big hugs, and lots of loud pats on his shoulders and sides, all the while Beau is grinning from ear to ear with his tongue lolling out - that is, until he flops over for a vigorous belly rub.

Not really relevant to the topic of this post, but I do find it interesting.

Permission Granted

Today we were back at our local big-box hardware store - the one that won our undying loyalty by supplying us with friendly people to practice Meet-n-Greets with.

Once again, the friendliest person in the store was the young man by the door (I think his job is to answer questions and deal with returns) for as soon as we walked in, he was drawn to Zachary like dogs to bacon.

Once again I trotted out my "He's studying for his his Canine Good Citizen test, so please don't pet him if he moves."

Zachary was very, very good today. His rump never left the floor! The kid was also very good, for as soon as Zachary so much as twitched a whisker, the kid backed up 6 feet!

After a few minutes of this, and because the young man was such a good listener, and because Zachary had been a rock (whiskers excepted), I said "OK" - and let Zachary have a few free moments. The young man ruffled Zachary's ears, and did some gentle "rough-housing" pets and Zachary wiggled his rump off.

All too soon, a customer showed up and that was that.

Zachary and I wandered through the store and I was very impressed. He was calm for visual/audio distractions (frequent happenings a big-box hardware store), was improved with his loose leash walking, was great as people walking past, and was great when little kids begged from strollers for their moms to push them closer to the doggie.

He practiced lying quietly while I glanced at the garden books as shopping carts whizzed past, and got an A+.

Just before we left, I went back to the front and once again took up position to see if I could lure incoming customers to pet him. Once again, the friendly young man was right there. No need to remind him - he stayed 6 feet away while I told Zachary to sit.

And then came the moment of truth - would Zachary stay seated, or remember his boisterous parting with the young man and try to pick up where he left off?

Any guesses?

Zachary was a rock. Even the whiskers were steady! And after a few pets he was rewarded with an "OK" to go and get a "proper" Good-bye.

I just love my big-box hardware store!