A New UD

I showed Ty and Joker in Utility B today at the Fulton Co KC trial held at the Toledo KC's building. Ty earned her 2nd leg there in February. Today, the duct tape holding the sheet covering the mirror in the right back corner of the ring attracted her attention, causing some big point losses, but she got herself back on track enough to earn her 3rd leg and her UD. We started with articles, and she dashed out past the pile to go check out the duct tape (I thought she was trying to do a go out), so went out probably 10-15 feet from the end, off to the right, then dashed back to the pile and got to work. She came out of the pile well to my left, and made zero effort to straighten herself. On the bright side, she DID hold the article very nicely until I took it, something that has been a large challenge for her. The out-of-the-way approach cost us 3 points. Ouch! She went somewhat past again on the 2nd approach, losing another 1/2 point. Funny how those things about which you say "but she's never done that before!"** often happen right away again.
   We had glove #1 (same as last month), which she did a fine job on.
   Earlier this week, I decided to try heeling with my left hand hanging down (and, I HOPE, swinging reasonably evenly with my right one) instead of up at my waist. I do think she forged less than usual, so I will definitely continue to experiment with this hand position. In the past few weeks, her signals have gotten tenuous again. They had come together nicely back in February before and during TKC, when I made a change to my sit signal. It was almost like she finally figured the signals out. But then I was away for 10 days, and she was back to insecurity, especially on her sit signal. Fortunately for me, when I was training at TKC on Wednesday, someone pointed out that I wasn't moving my shoulder at all when giving the sit signal. By making sure I open my shoulder up with the hand signal, she has been responding consistently. It's a subtle difference, and it may not last, but she did it today.
   Her Moving Stand was perfect, yeah Ty!
   On her 1st go out, she veered some to the right, again eyeballing the duct tape. Fortunately, the bar on the right was the first jump. Okay, I admit it, I haven't done all that much proofing of her jumping from the opposite side of the ring. Guess what we'll be working on this week? I made much more of an effort to get her marking the center, and her 2nd go out was right on the money. So she finished out the class with a 190 and a new UD.
   Back in 2002, on the day Java finished his UD, Mike MacDonald was there, and he said "I don't care how many UDs you earn, they are each special." That is very true.
   Joker inexplicably failed both articles, but the rest of his class was really solid. I was especially thrilled with his go-outs after retrieving glove #1. In training on Wednesday, I had him retrieve each corner gloves, then did go-outs. He kept wanting to veer to the left corner. I worked on it at home on Thursday, where he was fine, but I figured we'd be lucky to get anything approaching a straight go-out. He only lost 1 point on the exercise, what a good boy! He also needs to work jumping from the opposite corners.
   Ty and I go back tomorrow to show in both Open B and Utility B. Joker gets to stay home watching basketball with my husband.

**This is a quote from the back of my book, The Art of Proofing. Yup, happens to me, too.

Java
OTCh. U-CDX Riversides Magen’s Starbucks UDX2 RE AX AXJ; Can CD; RL3
March 2, 1997 - January 30, 2011

I realize this is long. It is a vital part of the way I grieve for my dogs, writing up their life in this way. It is something I will go back to at some future date to reflect on Java's life. Java was a wonderful part of my life for nearly 14 years. He lived with great gusto right up to the end. Isn't that what we all wish for ourselves and our loved ones?

I first heard about Java's litter sometime in early 1997. I think the puppies (2 boys) were a couple of weeks old. I was still reeling from the sudden death of my beloved Australian Terrier, Rio, the previous Halloween of acute kidney failure (he was only 8.5 years old). My 1st dog, Australian terrier Casey was slowing dying of kidney disease. I told the breeder that I could not consider a new puppy while Casey was still alive - she required a fair bit of extra care, and I didn't feel it would be fair to either her or a new puppy or my family or me.

I first met Java when he was 6 weeks old. Jim Ham, long-time Border Terrier owner and AKC obedience judge, happened to attend the same AKC Judging seminar as I did at the Ann Arbor DTC, and he was willing to take a look at the puppies on his way home. Java's breeder, Genie Dethloff conveniently lived in east Ann Arbor. One of the two boy puppies wandered off and played by himself under the table, but the other one ended up curled up in my lap near the end of our visit. I think that is the one whose head Jim complimented.

Time passed. Genie kept nudging me. We put Casey down on Good Friday, right before a vacation trip. I continued to resist the thought of a new puppy. I wasn't emotionally ready. More time passed. But my family was ready, and our one remaining dog, Flat-Coated Retriever Treasure, was lonely. She had grown up with 3 older dogs, and she really didn't like being an only dog.

Finally in June, I reluctantly relented and went back to see him. His brother had gone to his new home. I figured I would have to ask Genie to leave the kitchen so the puppy would be interested in me. Much to my surprise, he immediately ran to me, jumped into my lap, and started licking my face enthusiastically. So he came home on trial. By the next day, as he lay curled up in my lap snuggling, I realized something very important. If we never stepped into a ring to compete in anything, I wanted him to stay. He was already helping to fill the gaping hole left in my heart when Rio died so suddenly.

So stay he did. He was 12 weeks old when I brought him home. Genie had done a fabulous job raising him to that point. He knew what a crate was for and what grass was for. I think he slept through the night from the beginning. He already had a marvelous fast sit and was quickly attentive to me.

One of the characteristics I had noted in the BTs I had met before getting Java is that as a breed, they tend to be smart. Sometimes, unfortunately, smarter than the owners :-). He was no exception. In fact, he was the smartest dog I've ever owned. He typically learned something very quickly, but would also test my level of commitment to the meaning of a command on a regular basis.

Training Java was pretty easy. He learned things fast and loved the opportunities for cookies. He earned his AKC novice agility titles zippety quick in the fall of 1999, and eventually earned his AX/AXJ. We showed in CKC Novice first in the fall of 1999, and he had a splendid first weekend out, earning his CKC CD, including a 199.5 High in Trial in the 4th trial under judge Chuck Bush. What a thrill! And he also qualified just in time to attend the Classic tournament. He had seven 1st places in seven Novice B classes in AKC, earning two HIT and three more ties for HIT. We attended the Classic and placed 3rd in the Novice division. Another huge thrill. The following summer, he placed 3rd again in the Novice division of the Detroit-Windsor World Series obedience tournament.

He earned his CDX in the fall of 2000, and his UD in just 6 tries, earning the 3rd leg in January 2002. He earned his 1st UDX leg on 2/23/02 @ Sportsmen's and his 10th leg on 2/23/03 also @ Sportsmen's. Along the way, he earned a HIT out of Open B and a couple of High Combined awards. His OTCh point total mostly crept up slowly, a few points at a time. On one memorable weekend at Cleveland All-Breed, he earned a 2nd in Open B the 1st day and then won both Open B & Utility B the next day, netting him 27 OTCh points in one weekend. I am pretty sure that was the only time any of my dogs won both Open B and Utility B at the same trial.

In January 2004, he worked a fantastic Utility B class. I found out later that we had 1st place wrapped up until Bridget Carlson and her NOC Golden Soupy, the last team to show, walked in the ring. We earned a 2nd place with a 198, good for 5 points (on the same day that young Gryffin earned a 5-point major in conformation).

Going into the Toledo KC trials in February 2004, he still needed 24 points, so finishing his OTCh wasn't a huge stressor, because I didn't expect it to happen in the immediate future. On Saturday, he got 2nd in UB for 4 points. The next day, he again had a fabulous performance, earned 1st place, netting him exactly 20 points, which finished his OTCh. None of my other dogs finished that unexpectedly, nor with exactly 100 points. While there have been other OTCH Border terriers before him, it had been 10 years since the one before him.

We continued to show, and he ended up halfway to his UDX3 before he told me he was ready for retirement. He had more qualifying scores in AKC obedience than any of my other dogs (60 in Open B, 44 in Utility B. I love AKC reports!), and is my only UDX2 and AX/AXJ title earner to date.

We attended 2 AKC NOI tournaments in Tampa, FL. The 1st year, 2005, we failed the 2nd Signal Exercise because of an unlucky sneeze that caused him to miss my stand signal. The 2nd year, he missed an article, but was fabulous on everything else, and earned a placement in the Terrier group, which got us into the Sunday rounds. We won our 1st round, but a failed glove in the 2nd round dropped us. During our final heeling in that ring, I remember thinking that I didn't want it to end - his heeling was brilliant that weekend, and his scores reflected it. He lost fewer points on the heeling exercises than all but the highest placing dogs (just call me a statistics geek).

Java loved to demo obedience exercises with me - cookies were usually on offer - and he was very willing to heel with anyone who tried. It was a great way for someone new to obedience to experience first hand what it felt like to heel with a well trained and very responsive dog.

I often said that Java taught me several things that I wished I hadn't had to learn. I had to be very careful in how I used food with him. Getting him to put forth effort at the start of a class was one of our biggest challenges. He was the first dog I campaigned under the 6 possible orders in Open B & Utility B, so it wasn't a particular exercise that challenged him, but where it fell in a particular order. Directed Jumping was probably his most-often failed exercise, especially when it was early in the class. He would often heel nearly perfectly when it fell near or at the end of a class.

Java was a great swimmer and did not want to be left behind if we went out in a canoe when at our Canadian cabin on a lake. He pursued me one last time last summer at 13+ when I tried to paddle off without him. I had to circle back to pull him on board. He loved to wait at the water's edge, poised to steal whatever the swimming Flat-Coat was returning with, whether Treasure, Gryffin, or Ty. He also loved to chase and retrieve tennis balls when he was younger. As he aged, he much preferred going out to the big fenced yard to sniff the good smells, every now and then stealing a tennis ball for a while from the big black dogs. He frequently chased them with a ball in his mouth, barking more quietly through that muffler. He also loved to go out to the parking area by the training building, hunting for snacks, and would often squeeze his way out under one of the gates to do so. He got quite deaf in the past year, but could still outrun me easily, so I finally got smart and kept him on leash when outside of the dog yard.

Java loved running with Fritz more than anything in the world, and would fuss ecstatically (and annoyingly) whenever Fritz appeared in what Java saw as The Running Uniform. Java would get all of the other dogs wound up tight, dashing about, carrying on, clamoring to go run with Dad. I learned after only a couple of attempts that trying to do any obedience with him when he thought a run was imminent was futile. They took their final run together just a week before Java's sudden death.

Java was easy as pie to teach tricks to, and he knew more than any other dog I've trained. It was hard to be uptight when he would do his oh-so-cute wave, so it was something I used before stepping in the obedience ring to help calm my nerves.

When he was a young dog, before Joker the BT joined our family in 2001, our boys nicknamed Java 'Funny' because he did so many funny things. His nickname as he got older was The Curmudgeon because he his expression was so serious much of the time.

He was a very healthy boy, except for having some never-resolved issue that caused him to drink a lot and pee a lot, and not concentrate his urine. This went on well over half his life. About 6-8 weeks ago, he suddenly started drinking a lot more than usual again, and having to go outside much more frequently, with several frustrating accidents. While I consulted his vet, I didn't pursue a solution, since it just seemed to be the old problem returned.

We've been doing a lot of trips out the building to walk and exercise Gryff, and Java was loving the chance to dash about the building, chasing the other dogs and hunting for treats. I took a lot of pleasure in watching the old boy zooming about, obviously enjoying himself.

When I returned with the other 3 dogs from a recent trip to Pennsylvania where I taught a seminar, when I walked in the door, he snatched up a nylabone and proceeded to gleefully play his favorite game of keep away for several minutes. On this past Saturday night, he went out to the building with the rest of the dogs and ran and played while I finished setting up for the fun match scheduled for the next day. Sunday morning, he was doing his whine/moan fussing because he wanted to go out with me. He was fine when I fed them at noon. When I finally came in at 5 PM, I knew immediately that something wasn't right. I checked his gums. I've never seen such pale gums. I took his temp. 95.6. Never seen such a low temp. We trotted off to the emergency clinic. After some consultation, he was admitted for diagnostics. When I heard back from them a couple hours later, the news was not good. He had an orange-sized mass in his abdomen - this in a 19 lb dog - along with fluid. One option was exploratory surgery to see if the mass could be removed, but he was so unstable because of the abdominal bleeding, chances were low that he would survive the surgery. The other choice was euthanasia. And I had to decide fast. After a brief and tearful consultation with my dear friend Helen Szostak I made that awful choice. Fritz, Ryan, and I drove back to the clinic and hugged and petted him for a short time, saying goodbye. He went very peacefully in my arms.

I've never had a dog live past 12.5 years, so every day Java lived was a new record for us. As wrenching as such a sudden death can be, I am grateful that he lived life to the fullest to the very end. Isn't that what we all want to be able to do? Java filled a gaping hole when he came home in 1997, and he leaves one behind with his departure.

When my friend Jan's dog Sadie died, someone sent her this, which I just love:

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life, gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are" (Author unknown)

Rest well, Java Man. You were a blessing in our lives, and I'm so much richer for having known and loved you.

A Shocker in Ann Arbor

About 10 minutes before going in the ring with Ty today in our first attempt at Utility, I suddenly thought, "Oh drat... Every one of my dogs has gotten a Q their 1st time in the Utility ring. My streak is bound to end today." (Joker was also going in Utility for the 1st time.) Then I remembered that Tramp (my 2nd dog, 1st OTCh.) did NQ her 1st try at Utility, earning her 1st leg the next day. Okay, just never mind. And besides, who else REALLY CARES???

Ty did show in Grad Open in June at the Specialty, which meant we were training regularly leading up to it, just not quite ready distance-wise on Signals and Go-outs. Joker hadn't had regular training since... March? April? Before? Both had done some Util matches last winter/spring, but VERY crudely. Then I spent all summer doing field work with Ty & Gryffin, with nearly zero obedience practice.

When Gryff cut his hock in September 19, it slammed our field season to a halt. I immediately jumped into obedience training, concentrating on Utility with Joker and Ty. We did two consecutive Friday matches @ NDT, with a productive week of training in between. I made a quick 3-day trip to California two weeks ago, so no training Thu-Sat, and was in Florida last weekend and missed 4 days of training.

On Wednesday this past week, Ty could NOT do her signals - and it wasn't just one of them. She was failing them every which way - on my drop signal, she might down, or sit, or stand and wag. On her sit signal, she might lie there, or sit, or stand up. I was SO frustrated. I'm very glad my friend Belinda was there, because I think her presence helped keep me from completely losing my cool. After that session, I was sure we couldn't pass signals. Okay, so we'd see if she could do the rest of the class. I was pretty confident with the other exercises. Then she decided that immediately after the Moving Stand exam, she needed to just return on her own. EEK! I practiced with a toy behind her to which I'd release her after an exam. Yesterday, on the last try, she started breaking to the toy instead of to me. Progress!

How to solve the signal problem??? I thought back to our meltdown on Signals in March, when she wasn't staying on the stand and was having drop problems. I pulled out a clicker and worked on those two things (stay put and don't anticipate, but DO drop when signaled). On Thursday when I went out to train, I had my temper well under control, and got out a clicker and worked on back chaining - I did several signal recalls from a sit for a click and treat. Then left her in a down, sit, click, toss a treat. We worked our way back to the drop. Her training ended on a definite up note from Wednesday.

Joker has been getting steadily better at the overall class exercises but he is just SO green. I thought he could probably do the signal exercise - he's been MUCH more reliable than Ty, and articles have been solid. The corner gloves are dicey, his moving stand is poorly understood (stop is good, return usually okay, but the exam... OH the exam... "Oh, you are coming to pet me? Let me come closer so you can do it sooner!"). My biggest concern, though, has been Directed Jumping. Three weeks ago, he was failing the exercise in multiple ways - not leaving me on my send command; not waiting long enough after the sit; and taking the same jump twice. My husband Fritz even came out one evening and called commands for me, which caused both dogs to make mistakes.

I finished up feeling SO good about everyone's training that day. Gryff had his first really full training session - during my California trip, he'd injured himself and was on three legs again. I hired my son Ryan to leash walk him while I was gone in Florida. Gryff was absolutely fabulous training Thursday. He was entered in both Open and Utility both days. I decided to give all the dogs a brief run in the agility yard. And Gryff ended up on 3 legs again :-(. Can we say dumb owner? We ended up at our local rehab vet Friday morning. She feels the injury is in his lower back, and suggests we see a chiropractor. Given that that couldn't happen until next week, I opted to have her do an acupuncture session. I've never seen one before, and it was fascinating. The needles that were in the muscle on the right side of his spine (the sore side) were twitching and dancing and bobbing. Once done, he did trot out (vs. the hopping he was doing on the way in). It wasn't a totally sound trot, but definite improvement. I was instructed to apply heat, massage, and ice a couple times a day. He is totally acting like his regular crazy self, which is a bit frustrating, but it does make me think that he can't be hurting TOO much.

We had order I in Utility today, which meant Signals first. I was in with Ty first (I did not show Gryff today), so figured we'd be able to relax after a prompt NQ. She had a significant lag on the fast and then didn't sit on the halt, but the rest of her heeling was fine. And she DID HER SIGNALS! I told the judge, "Well, that was unexpected!" Her articles and glove (#2) were all fine. Okay, would my bandaid hold for the Moving Stand? Her stop was quite good, and OMG, she stayed still when the judge stepped back! Decent finish for another passed exercise. Her 1st go-out and jump were fabulous. As the judge passed in front of us to switch sides for the 2nd half, she asked if my heart was pounding. Oh, yeah :-). Great 2nd half, and our first leg!

Joker was in Exc. B rally, and earned his 2nd leg with a 1st place 99. We went into the Utility ring about a 1/2 hour later. When we were ready to start Signals, oh, drat, he was looking forward, and when I started, he didn't. I immediately gave him a verbal command to heel. It's an expensive error, but not an NQ (it cost us 5 points). The rest of his heeling was quite nice (well, for Joker :-)), and he also did his signals. Good boy! He plugged away through articles, the glove retrieve (dangling it by a finger, but holding without dropping), and the Moving Stand. OMG, could we have another Q? He looked out well, and dashed off on my go-out cues. Oops, he pulled up shorter than I like, and I gave him a fast sit command. Jump was fine. Second go-out, same pulling up short. Not 10 feet past the jump short, but still far from where I'd like to see him. He waited for my command, I took my time, and then... he took the correct jump, came in and ... another Q for my team!

Ty ended up with a 190, 4 off the Signals, and then crooked turns, fronts, finishes on most everything else. Joker had my first ever score in the 170's :-) - a 178. He lost 9 on the Signal Exercise (ouch!), which would have been -4 had he started with me as he usually does. He lost 8 on DJ (another ouch) - I didn't ask the judge how she deducted, but I'm betting 3 points per go-out, plus fronts and finishes.

I am still in shock... even though we have been cramming for this for the past month, there are just so many things that could go wrong. I wasn't that convinced when I sent in my entries that either was likely to pass, but how can I pass up this once-a-year opportunity to show in my building? And yes, we have a HUGE home-court advantage. They aren't ready to go elsewhere yet, but this gives me a good read on where they are.

And oh my gosh, they each have a Utility leg!

Tennis ball time

I am admittedly inconsistent about keeping my dogs fit. I haven't taken them for walks or runs down our rural road in quite a long time. I've been really sick for over a week, which means I haven't had the energy to train. But I have had enough to run them with our trusty Chuck-It tennis ball thrower. I didn't have the Chuck-it recently, and I was embarrassed at how short my throws were without it.

As we headed out to the large fenced field (we still call it the agility yard in my family) on the front of our 4 acres to give them a run this morning, I started musing about the rules of The Game. First of all, I'd better have at least 3 balls along, or it just won't work. Ty is a tennis ball hog - if possible, she gets two of them and plays keep away with them. Then Gryffin stands there and barks loudly and uselessly. She does not take pity on him. Often, as Gryff races off in pursuit of a ball, Ty pursues him while still carrying her two. Sometimes, she drops them both and wants me to chuck them. She's remarkably adept at grabbing one ball in her mouth and then capturing a second with her front paws, and then gathering it into her mouth somehow. She's often just as happy racing big circles as persuing a Chucked ball.

My goal is to get out the agility yard to start The Game with as little barking and fussing as possible. Gryffin and Java are the noisy ones, and they wind each other to ever higher levels of noise. Not something I cope with gracefully. It helps if I can get the black dogs out the door before the terriers catch on.

Gryff and Ty returning...

Bologna Tongue is what we call this look.


Ty with her pair of balls.


The terriers mostly just run around, sniffing good smells, eating grass, and peeing on stuff. Sometimes, Java will steal a ball or chase and bark, but mostly, these days, he sniffs. Joker sometimes stalks the Flat-Coats - stares and I supposed points them. He jumps at them as the sprint past after a ball. It never appears that they notice his subtle attacks. He often gets sent flying. Why does he keep doing it? It's just part of The Game.

Wisconsin Seminar

You can ignore this: QGT45ZZTXWQ7 It's there to let Technorati know I am the author of this blog.



I spent this past weekend in Menomenee Falls, Wisconsin, presenting my Balancing Act seminar for the K9 Obedience Training Club of Menomenee Falls. There were a record number of terriers in attendance - nine counting Joker, who went along with me and the Flat-Coats to demonstrate. There were Borders, a Cairn, a Scottie, an Australian, and a terrier mix. I do love the terriers :-).


We started Saturday with a brief overview of my training philosophy, then jumped into playing Karen Pryor's Training Game to get trainers to practice their shaping skills.

The rest of the morning was spent reviewing attention and position changes, which led to an explanation of how I advance the beginning down work into the open drop on recall exercise, with floor time for all of the different exercises.

After lunch, we jumped into heel position maneuvers, a few of my other foundation exercises, beginning heeling (Find Heel and Rhythm Heeling), then closed out the afternoon with retrieving work, including how to get started with shaping the dumbbell and some problem solving.

Something I've done for years is to have participants vote on what we should work on on Sunday. As we are finishing up Saturday, I pass around a list of possible Sunday exercises. Working spot people get 5 votes and auditors get 3. The exercises are ranked, from the most votes to the least, and we work our way through as many as we can on Sunday. This makes every seminar I do a bit different, and helps to customize the work to the audience. I don't attempt to cover everything. I would rather spend in-depth time on what the group considers important. Interestingly enough, I rarely talk about the broad jump or directed retrieve.

Sunday morning started with work on dumbbell holds, including proofing for more advanced dogs. Next, I demoed the many different exercises I used to progressively teach fronts, with floor time for everyone.

Go-outs are typically high on the list of popular topics for Sunday. I asked the group to say how they have taught go-outs and there were about 10 different methods mentioned, which just goes to show you: there is no one perfect way. I described and demoed the 3 components I use to teach go-outs - the mark, target touch for the go-out portion, and a cookie-toss sit for the sit at the end. Then participants came out to practice.

After lunch, we had a discussion on ring stress, with some group exercises I like to do to help alleviate some ring stress. One is my Numbers Set-up game and the second is an Enter the Ring game. Then we talked about Scent Discrimination and finished up the afternoon with work on the Signal Exercise.

The weekend was a lot of fun and I received many appreciative comments. I continue to be grateful that I get to spend my weekends teaching something I love. What could be better than that?

Joker & Ty Utility Training Update

As field training has been winding down, I've been managing more obedience work, particularly articles with both Ty and Joker.

I start my dogs off with Janice DeMello's 'Around the Clock Scent Discrimination', because I like the enthusiastic attitude it helps to produce. However, I've had a few of my own dogs and several students who were flummoxed the week the cheese goes from a microscopic dot to none. Joker was one of these confused critters. He would go out, pick up an article at random, and then turn and sit facing me. I finally got around to setting up a tie-down mat and I'm happy to report he seems to be grasping the idea. After 2-3 sessions with the articles tied tightly, he seemed to get over his anxiety about the whole thing, and is dashing out to the pile and back to me with a wagging tail. He's made enough progress that I loosened the ties on about half of them. I do 4 retrieves each time we do it, 2 of each type. I'm using a platform for the front to try to subtly work the front without having to work it. He's only occasionally tugging a tied one. I'm lengthening our distance from the pile, and need to have more and different people scenting them, but I'm hoping we're over the worst of his confusion.

He's got a pretty decent idea of directed jumping, the moving stand, and the directed retrieve. He is showing me what a nuisance it is to train a dog for Utility without a solid foundation of heel position - his pivots have been pretty ghastly, which make getting to the correct glove harder. I do see improvement on the pivots, though. I'm not looking for perfection, but I do want him close enough to heel position that he has a decent chance of following my mark signal. He dashes out and back to the glove, and mostly doesn't drop the glove on my foot anymore .

I now think signals are his least understood exercise. He's had the down and sit concept up close for most of his 8 years, but I only taught him the signal stand about a year ago. Somewhat to my surprise, he seems able to stand at a distance. I started counting steps when I leave him, and he doesn't really get signals, at least not the sit, much beyond 8 steps. Given that it was only 5 steps in mid-November, I'm happy with his progress.

I finally had Ty spayed last month, so her progress has been slowed because of that. I have her articles tied together in 2 sets of 4 articles. After using a tennis ball to reward a good delivery, she started working with a great deal of speed, but still mostly accurately. At home gloves have been mostly a no-brainer. Her biggest training lack is her signal stand stay. I put a small barrier out (same kind we used for drop on recall training) and stood her behind it and was dismayed to see how far across it she stepped as I walked away. We've spent a lot of time this past week working on 'stand still'. I put her on a 6-foot leash to reduce her sometimes wild leaping about that she offers. I do know where this lack of clarity comes from - I've used her for a year or so to demo clicker training the first night of my Fundamentals class, and one of the strongly reinforced behaviors is 'lie down and cross your front paws'. In the process, she also offers 'lie down and roll onto a hip'; 'lie down and put chin on the floor'; 'leap backwards out of the down', and probably others I'm forgetting about. So in trying to get her to simply stand still, she would start going through her repetoire. The use of the leash and clicking her for quite short stand stays has helped her make progress. While she does a decent signal down (a bit too much butt shift to my left, but not overwhelming), she also almost always immediately does her pop-up sit on her own. So I have also been clicking and treating her for holding her down longer, especially with her chin on the floor.

Both dogs do very nice full-length go-outs to a visible target here at home. I've done some work with Joker moving to targetting on a stanchion. Given the generous size of my training building, they've both done go-outs to several different backgrounds. All of Ty's field training blinds have given her a very strong response to my 'look' command (I want her to focus straight out when I say the command, and maintain that look). She just doesn't always wait for me to say 'go' :-). Joker's response isn't as strong, but he's getting there, too. He was showing a LOT of right arcing on go outs earlier in the week at a park, so I think I need to use center guides for him for a while.

Both need reminding via a side step on the first jumps we do each session, but are jumping full height confidently. I haven't started jumping them from off center (for corner go-out disaster recovery, something I'm a strong proponent of).

Both dogs have a reasonably good stop on the moving stand, though I've not done much having other people exam either one. Both can do a decent call to heel.

It's fun to be teaching/solidifying some new stuff that isn't Open :-).

Seminar Musings

I got home Sunday night from a quick trip to Florida for 3 days of obedience lessons/seminar presenting in Lakeland. I had very little voice left, in spite of a great sound system. I had chorus rehearsal Monday morning. Having a 6 note range that kept changing didn't make for particularly great sounds. (I'm in a local women's chorus, and our concert is only a few weeks away.)

I have honestly enjoyed every seminar I've presented over the past 6 months. How lucky can I be that I'm getting to meet all these new dog friends and their nifty dogs all over the country, and getting to help them with their dogs?

On Saturday afternoon, I showed everyone how I start to shape a retrieve, and got a young (about a year old, recently neutered male) Brittany with no prior experience with the dumbbell taking it in 10 or so minutes. His owner reported Sunday morning that he was taking it every time she presented it. I think that most of the people at the seminar have never seen the db introduced this way, and have started their dogs right out with the ear pinch. The cool thing with this dog was his gnat-like attention span when we started. He was actually standing very still and thinking hard about what he needed to do as we got further along with the process. I asked his owner if he'd ever been that still in his life :-).

After working with several other dogs with hold issues, someone came out with her metal article and her Border terrier. He had learned Scent Discrimination just fine, but then started refusing the metal article a while back, and even with a fair bit of correction, still wouldn't take it. So I had her start with some nose touches, get several of those, then wait for a few, then to use a treat by the bar to start taking it. In probably 5-10 minutes time, he was taking it on his own. She was so thrilled (as was I)! On Friday, during her lesson, I'd suggested that she have her dog work for his meals, with the goal being to build some "want to" into him, since he was lacking a lot in the enthusiasm-for-obedience department. No work? No meal, or at least a significant delay in its arrival. Saturday morning, she greeted me with excitement. On Friday, we had worked on just doing an efficient set up, including head-up attention. The first time she asked for the set-up, I think she said he just sat wherever. So she said, "Oh, too bad, no meal," and walked away. She said the look on his face was hilarious. I think he did a decent set up 10 minutes later and got his meal. The next morning, he set up promptly, did a pivot as asked, and got his meal. For his dinner Saturday night, he had to take the metal article, and for Sunday's breakfast, she had him take it a couple of times, and then retrieve it, which he did. So late Sunday afternoon, as I talked about how I teach Scent Discrimination (Janice DeMello's Around the Clock), I walked her through the process with her dog. I knew it was a gamble - after all, he'd just started retrieving it again that morning, but he did great and was retrieving the right one each time with very little extra help. It was so incredibly satisfying!

Also, she said when she arrived at the building today, he was eager to get out of her vehicle, and he came in and ran and greeted several people enthusiastically, which is unusual for him. He was also awake and watching in his crate much more than usual.

There were several Border terrier owners there this weekend and they loved the fact that I've trained a bunch of terriers. I also got expressions of appreciation because I talk candidly about my failures as well as my successes (heck, I show terriers - it's part of the territory!). Last weekend, with my 3 Open B NQs, was a prime example ;-). I asked my host if any of her other seminar givers ever talk about failures, and she said no, absolutely not!

It was another exhilarating trip, and I am so lucky to get to do this with so many fun people.

What to do between exercises in the obedience ring

I was in Gonzales, Louisiana last weekend to teach a "Balancing Act" seminar. Because I flew there, I didn't have any of my dogs there, so I prepared the following video to take along to show the variety of ways in which I release and interact with my dogs between exercises in the obedience ring. You can tell from the video that all of the dogs enjoy my touch, which makes it easier to reinforce them in the ring. In how many different prop-less ways (i.e., no food and no toy) do you release your dog? There is one particularly looooong stretch - a full minute - between finishing the UKC Open Figure 8 and starting the Drop on Recall. The judge had to wait for the Honor dog's handler to return, and then she had to give instructions to a steward. What would you do for that length of time in the ring? Practice and find out!

The Art of Praise

In last month’s wonderful, new, glossy-paper issue of Front & Finish magazine, there were several articles discussing how to avoid the trap that using food to train your dog can create. It’s not that training with food is bad. It’s what some trainers do with food that is the problem, such as failing to wean away from excessive food; depending on the food to get the performance that they like and want from their dog; handing out a treat for a really lousy effort on the part of the dog; failing to build a solid relationship with the dog that is separate from treats; etc. Here were all of these articles in the same issue, addressing a topic near and dear to my heart. This got me thinking about and paying attention to how much food I was using while training the three dogs I’m currently working. They are Gryffin, my 5 year old neutered male Flat-Coated Retriever, who as of this past weekend has 4 UDX legs and 51 OTCh. points; Ty, my 3 year old intact female Flat-Coated Retriever, who just finished her CD; and Joker, a 7 year old neutered male Border Terrier who was purchased as a pet for our son when said son was 12. Since said son is off at college and his dog loves to train, Joker gets to play some, too. I’m looking for Open legs on him. Our four recent attempts netted no legs, with the biggest issue going down on his sit stay.

The Flat-Coats are both fanatical retrievers, so I use toys a fair amount in my training in addition to food. Flat-Coated Retrievers are supposed to have a wagging tail; the breed standard says so :-). Having a tail-wagging FCR isn’t such a surprise. But Gryff wags when he sits in front. He wags on his finishes. Almost anytime he sits, his tail is sweeping the floor. If it’s still, I can usually get it moving with some praise.

Joker the Border Terrier loves treats – I have yet to meet a BT that doesn’t – but he also seems to be overjoyed at the chance to Do Something and get attention and petting. He loves to leap in the air to touch his nose to my palm. When I praise him and pet him, his tail wags, his body wiggles, his facial expression seems to say, “This is just the best!” It is sure reinforcing to me when he responds this way and it makes our training time together fun.

One of the topics I encourage my beginning students to explore is how their dog likes to be praised and/or petted. I think it is important to find out through trial and error what works to calm your dog and what excites him. This is ideally something you do without involving lots of cookies. Some dogs are calmed by a stroke on their head. Others get excited by this. When I was showing my BT Java in Novice, I got in the habit of bending down and patting him gently on his left side before the start of the Heel Free (off-leash heeling) exercise. If I do that with Ty, she immediately releases herself and wiggles all over. She quickly taught me that patting her is just plain dumb right before the start of an exercise. Instead, I use some quiet praise to let her know I liked the setup she just did.

About the closest thing to cuddling Gryffin can do is when he’s sitting in heel position. I reach down and quietly stroke him on the top of his head or scratch him around his left ear. It helps to calm him some. He likes to walk through my legs front to rear and have me scratch him in front of his tail, on the top of his rear end. I can do this very rapidly in the ring, especially Utility when articles or gloves are being picked up, and then proceed promptly to the next exercise. Some dogs enjoy it if you pinch their butt. Others hate it. Some like to have you play-grab at their feet. Others are offended by this. Try a variety of what I call “pushy-shovey” games to find out what works with your dog and what doesn’t. Some dogs are fickle enough to like something one day and be irritated by it the next. Java was like that. He forced me to try something new frequently.

I’d also suggest that you simply stand with your hands off your dog and praise him. How does he react? Does he wag his tail? Do his eyes brighten? Or does he ignore you and wander away? Obviously, different dogs and different breeds will react in a variety of way to praise. Our two BT’s react differently from each other. Java has always been the most serious of our dogs. It takes more effort on my part to get him to cut loose and really wag his tail. Joker definitely lives up to his name and is generally sillier than Java.

Years ago, I was working with someone in a private lesson. When she released her dog, she would grab at the dog’s face. Based on how the dog reacted – backing away and trying to avoid the grabbing – the dog found this unpleasant. I took the dog to experiment some with different types of releasing. When I gently pinched and prodded the dog in the ribs, she bounced back in an upbeat sort of way. The rib prodding energized her. The head grabbing did not. When the dog’s owner changed how she released and played with her dog, her dog responded by bouncing back and interacting instead of avoiding her owner.

In my essay Musings on Entering the Ring, I talked about the Setup Game, where you practice moving around the training area/ring, working towards getting your dog to sit in heel position promptly and correctly. Mix this game together with praising and releasing. Practice the two together. After a smartly done set up, praise with enthusiasm, give your dog a little push away from you (or a big one, if he likes it), and dash off to the next set up spot. If your dog likes to spin, cue him to do so, and race away and get him to chase you.

It always strikes me as oxymoronish to say, “Work at playing with your dog,” but sometimes that’s what it takes. Keep experimenting. If you’ve tried something for a while and you aren’t seeing an improved response from your dog, try something else. Have fun and eventually, so will your dog.

Until next time, happy training!