I had a lot of requests for this recipe after serving it up at the Michigan Flyways judging seminar and at the obedience match the next day. The great thing about this recipe is it's flexibility. I would imagine other vegetables would be good. The original recipe didn't call for any grain, but the barley I used recently was a great addition. Though I used it in this recent batch, I usually skip the onion.
Confetti Corn Salad - Originally from the Ann Arbor News
Serves 12
1/2 C apple cider vinegar
1/4 C sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 (16-ounce) can white whole kernel corn
1 (16-ounce) can yellow whole kernel corn
(I have used 4 C of frozen corn instead of the two cans)
1 (14-ounce) can black beans (optional)
1 large red pepper chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1-2 C cooked barley or brown rice (or other grain of your liking)
1. To make dressing, combine the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a jar. Cover and shake until sugar dissolves.
2. To make the salad, combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Toss lightly to mix.
3. Add the dressing to the salad. Toss to mix. Chill, covered, for several hours before serving.
This contains a variety of essays, generally related to dog training of some sort, since that is my profession and my passion, as it's been since 1990. - written by Adele Yunck
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Open Training Concepts
I’d like to explore some of the concepts I typically include when working on maintaining and polishing the Open exercises. They are training ideas that I frequently include when working on a given exercise with one of my dogs.
One overall concept in all of my training is that of varying the time I wait before giving a command. Dogs have such natural internal clocks and are such creatures of habit that if you are too consistent with the timing of your commands, your dog will anticipate the next part of an exercise, not waiting for your command. While most judges use a pretty consistent rhythm, there is variation, with some hesitating longer than others.
This is particularly important on finishes. Most dogs will anticipate their finish at some point. When I was preparing my first two dogs for Open, they both did a lot of finish anticipation, mostly during training, thankfully. Going from one finish in Novice to four in Open makes this a very common problem for the new Open dog. Sometimes I finish my dog after only a brief sit in front. Usually, on the next front, I remain silent, testing whether my dog understands he should wait. After a successful silent interval (my dog waits correctly in his front sit), I might give him a treat or simply release out of the front sit, or I might finish him after this longer-than-usual pause. I always want to be ready to catch him if he starts to finish on his own.
Applying this concept to any of the retrieve exercises, sometimes I release my dog quickly to retrieve. Other times, I pause longer than usual. I might then send my dog; I might release him; or I might give him a treat. I might use some other command than my retrieve command, such as SIT or WAIT to make sure my dog is listening and waiting properly.
On the Drop on Recall, I mix some straight recalls (i.e., no drop) in with ones on which I have my dog drop. I might drop him in the first third of the recall, at the halfway point, or in the last third. I might motivate (i.e., do something fun like a cookie-toss recall or a chase recall) the recall off the sit or off the down. I vary how long I make him wait in the down, which is especially important if you do UKC Open in which a steward walks past your dog while he’s in a down. Sometimes I go give my dog a cookie for a particularly good drop.
On the Retrieve on Flat (ROF), I practice alongside a High Jump regularly, since all of my recent dogs have tried out jumping the jump when they shouldn’t. I’ll practice minimum distance throws (20 feet) and full-ring-length throws. Sometimes I purposely throw off center to make my dog work on finding fronts from different angles.
On the Retrieve over the High Jump (ROHJ), I purposely throw off to the side to proof for dumbbells that take a bad bounce. Given my training building’s rubber flooring, these bad bounces are all too common. I want my dog to understand that when I say JUMP on this exercise, he is to jump both going out and coming back, even if it isn’t the most obvious and straight path. In my opinion, this is the most important proof to work on with this exercise. I will also alternate between a ROF and a ROHJ. I use a different command on each of these two exercises to help clarify my dog’s job (FETCH on the ROF, JUMP on the ROHJ, in case you really want to know :-)). I watch where my dog focuses after picking up his dumbbell: if it’s on me, he’s most likely going to come straight to me; if it’s on the jump, he’s probably going to take the jump.
As I write this, I realize I don’t have a concrete list of concepts for the Broad Jump. I do want to see my dog driving hard enough to the jump that he is clearing it comfortably. I’ll motivate the jump itself or the return.
Since having some stay issues during trials last fall (mostly lying down during the sit stay), my dogs have been doing mostly back-to-back sit stays. They usually get through the first 3 minute sit, and sometimes the 2nd 5 minute sit, but Gryffin has gone down during the 2nd one a few times. If you have a dog who lies down on a sit stay a lot, make sure you are training sit stays frequently, daily if possible. This will help build up his core strength that he needs to have in order to keep himself up in the sit. If you correct your dog for mistakes almost every time he does a sit stay, you build up a lot of stress (been there, done that). If this is happening with your dog, go back to kindergarten: stay close, stay in sight, keep the time short. I build up duration first, then where I am in relation to my dog (not directly across from him), then being out of sight.
When my dog has a good understanding of the exercises, I also add other types of proofing to challenge my dog’s understanding. Simply training around other people working their dogs is a great step. If you increase difficulty gradually, and are fair about your proofing, your dog will be ready for the Open ring in no time.
One overall concept in all of my training is that of varying the time I wait before giving a command. Dogs have such natural internal clocks and are such creatures of habit that if you are too consistent with the timing of your commands, your dog will anticipate the next part of an exercise, not waiting for your command. While most judges use a pretty consistent rhythm, there is variation, with some hesitating longer than others.
This is particularly important on finishes. Most dogs will anticipate their finish at some point. When I was preparing my first two dogs for Open, they both did a lot of finish anticipation, mostly during training, thankfully. Going from one finish in Novice to four in Open makes this a very common problem for the new Open dog. Sometimes I finish my dog after only a brief sit in front. Usually, on the next front, I remain silent, testing whether my dog understands he should wait. After a successful silent interval (my dog waits correctly in his front sit), I might give him a treat or simply release out of the front sit, or I might finish him after this longer-than-usual pause. I always want to be ready to catch him if he starts to finish on his own.
Applying this concept to any of the retrieve exercises, sometimes I release my dog quickly to retrieve. Other times, I pause longer than usual. I might then send my dog; I might release him; or I might give him a treat. I might use some other command than my retrieve command, such as SIT or WAIT to make sure my dog is listening and waiting properly.
On the Drop on Recall, I mix some straight recalls (i.e., no drop) in with ones on which I have my dog drop. I might drop him in the first third of the recall, at the halfway point, or in the last third. I might motivate (i.e., do something fun like a cookie-toss recall or a chase recall) the recall off the sit or off the down. I vary how long I make him wait in the down, which is especially important if you do UKC Open in which a steward walks past your dog while he’s in a down. Sometimes I go give my dog a cookie for a particularly good drop.
On the Retrieve on Flat (ROF), I practice alongside a High Jump regularly, since all of my recent dogs have tried out jumping the jump when they shouldn’t. I’ll practice minimum distance throws (20 feet) and full-ring-length throws. Sometimes I purposely throw off center to make my dog work on finding fronts from different angles.
On the Retrieve over the High Jump (ROHJ), I purposely throw off to the side to proof for dumbbells that take a bad bounce. Given my training building’s rubber flooring, these bad bounces are all too common. I want my dog to understand that when I say JUMP on this exercise, he is to jump both going out and coming back, even if it isn’t the most obvious and straight path. In my opinion, this is the most important proof to work on with this exercise. I will also alternate between a ROF and a ROHJ. I use a different command on each of these two exercises to help clarify my dog’s job (FETCH on the ROF, JUMP on the ROHJ, in case you really want to know :-)). I watch where my dog focuses after picking up his dumbbell: if it’s on me, he’s most likely going to come straight to me; if it’s on the jump, he’s probably going to take the jump.
As I write this, I realize I don’t have a concrete list of concepts for the Broad Jump. I do want to see my dog driving hard enough to the jump that he is clearing it comfortably. I’ll motivate the jump itself or the return.
Since having some stay issues during trials last fall (mostly lying down during the sit stay), my dogs have been doing mostly back-to-back sit stays. They usually get through the first 3 minute sit, and sometimes the 2nd 5 minute sit, but Gryffin has gone down during the 2nd one a few times. If you have a dog who lies down on a sit stay a lot, make sure you are training sit stays frequently, daily if possible. This will help build up his core strength that he needs to have in order to keep himself up in the sit. If you correct your dog for mistakes almost every time he does a sit stay, you build up a lot of stress (been there, done that). If this is happening with your dog, go back to kindergarten: stay close, stay in sight, keep the time short. I build up duration first, then where I am in relation to my dog (not directly across from him), then being out of sight.
When my dog has a good understanding of the exercises, I also add other types of proofing to challenge my dog’s understanding. Simply training around other people working their dogs is a great step. If you increase difficulty gradually, and are fair about your proofing, your dog will be ready for the Open ring in no time.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Training with Limited Space or Time
With the onset of cold and wintery weather here in the north, many people have limited training time because of darkness and bad weather. While I have the luxury of space because I have a training building in my back yard, I don't always have the luxury of a lot of time for training. I'd like to discuss how I spend that limited time to make progress towards my goals with the 3 dogs I'm currently training.
If there is room to do so, I work on heeling. Even if I only have a few minutes, I can work on building my teamwork with my dog by doing what I call Rhythm Heeling - moving with my dog at a consistent and brisk rhythm (I still use a metronome sometimes, set at 124 steps per minute for my male Flat-Coated Retriever, 122 for my female FCR, 119 or so for my terriers), with the dog's attention on me, and maintaining a consistent position at my left side, i.e., heel position. We heel in big flowing circles, just to the right with an inexperienced dog, in either direction for the more experienced dog. When my experienced dog is working well with me - maintaining attention, position, and rhythm, I might add some turns, smaller circles, pace changes, and halts. With the inexperienced dog, I don't put these elements together until my dog can "do" Rhythm Heeling consistently well. I work on the components that will become turns, halts, and pace changes separately. I use the Rhythm Heeling exercise to limber up both me and my dog before we enter the ring at a trial.
When space is also limited, I work on what used to be called doodling. I've referred to doodling as Maneuvers for years, and it's now called rally :-). Doodling consists of pivots to the left and right of varying degrees; side-stepping left and right; backing up; working on fronts in several ways; working on your dog getting himself to heel position (AKA a set up); and finishes. When did you last work finishes with your dog in all sorts of oddball but qualifying locations around you? I am currently working on front position maneuvers with Ty, my youngest dog, with a dumbbell in her mouth. She is showing definite signs of improvement, but she is just beginning to remember to hold the dumbbell without mouthing while she does the small position shifts I ask her to do. She can do this minor shifts beautifully when her mouth is empty. When we add in holding her dumbbell, it is much harder for her.
In a hallway, you can work short recalls, distance position changes (verbal or signal), beginning retrieving work, dumbbell retrieves, glove retrieves with different turns before the retrieve, go-outs, moving stands, stays, scent discrimination, fronts, and finishes. You can teach your dog to touch a target with his nose or a front paw. You can use this later for working on go-outs or the broad jump. You can proof you dumbbell pickup by placing it near a distraction, such as a toy or something that looks like food but isn't. You can also work many of the rally stations.
You can simply practice your shaping skills by playing Karen Pryor's "101 things to do with a box" game, where you put a cardboard box in the center of the room and click and treat your dog for interacting with it in a different way each training session. My Border terrier Java has circled the box, jumped in the box and sat, jumped in and immediately jumped out again, jumped on the upside box, put front paws up on the side of the box, dug in a corner once inside the box...
Do you have a formal dining room that is collecting dust? Move the chairs out of the way and heel rectangles around the table, which will help your dog make tight left turns. Do you have an office chair on wheels? You can do multiple moving chair fronts, like scoot fronts, using your legs to keep your dog straight. When you run out of space, toss a cookie behind your dog, scoot yourself back across the room, and start over.
You can work on various tricks that help to build your dog's strength and flexibility, such as sitting up/begging, waving, doing figure 8's around your legs, rolling over, and spinning to the left and right.
I have been reviewing my goals for my dogs recently and updating what I want to achieve in the coming week and month. Don't forget to do this from time to time.
If your dog is too perfect at home, talk to a friend who also trains, and go train at her house. Invite her over the next time. Sometimes just adding another dog around will cause your dog to be less than perfect at home. Be creative with your limited time and space and have fun with your dog.
Until next time, happy training!
If there is room to do so, I work on heeling. Even if I only have a few minutes, I can work on building my teamwork with my dog by doing what I call Rhythm Heeling - moving with my dog at a consistent and brisk rhythm (I still use a metronome sometimes, set at 124 steps per minute for my male Flat-Coated Retriever, 122 for my female FCR, 119 or so for my terriers), with the dog's attention on me, and maintaining a consistent position at my left side, i.e., heel position. We heel in big flowing circles, just to the right with an inexperienced dog, in either direction for the more experienced dog. When my experienced dog is working well with me - maintaining attention, position, and rhythm, I might add some turns, smaller circles, pace changes, and halts. With the inexperienced dog, I don't put these elements together until my dog can "do" Rhythm Heeling consistently well. I work on the components that will become turns, halts, and pace changes separately. I use the Rhythm Heeling exercise to limber up both me and my dog before we enter the ring at a trial.
When space is also limited, I work on what used to be called doodling. I've referred to doodling as Maneuvers for years, and it's now called rally :-). Doodling consists of pivots to the left and right of varying degrees; side-stepping left and right; backing up; working on fronts in several ways; working on your dog getting himself to heel position (AKA a set up); and finishes. When did you last work finishes with your dog in all sorts of oddball but qualifying locations around you? I am currently working on front position maneuvers with Ty, my youngest dog, with a dumbbell in her mouth. She is showing definite signs of improvement, but she is just beginning to remember to hold the dumbbell without mouthing while she does the small position shifts I ask her to do. She can do this minor shifts beautifully when her mouth is empty. When we add in holding her dumbbell, it is much harder for her.
In a hallway, you can work short recalls, distance position changes (verbal or signal), beginning retrieving work, dumbbell retrieves, glove retrieves with different turns before the retrieve, go-outs, moving stands, stays, scent discrimination, fronts, and finishes. You can teach your dog to touch a target with his nose or a front paw. You can use this later for working on go-outs or the broad jump. You can proof you dumbbell pickup by placing it near a distraction, such as a toy or something that looks like food but isn't. You can also work many of the rally stations.
You can simply practice your shaping skills by playing Karen Pryor's "101 things to do with a box" game, where you put a cardboard box in the center of the room and click and treat your dog for interacting with it in a different way each training session. My Border terrier Java has circled the box, jumped in the box and sat, jumped in and immediately jumped out again, jumped on the upside box, put front paws up on the side of the box, dug in a corner once inside the box...
Do you have a formal dining room that is collecting dust? Move the chairs out of the way and heel rectangles around the table, which will help your dog make tight left turns. Do you have an office chair on wheels? You can do multiple moving chair fronts, like scoot fronts, using your legs to keep your dog straight. When you run out of space, toss a cookie behind your dog, scoot yourself back across the room, and start over.
You can work on various tricks that help to build your dog's strength and flexibility, such as sitting up/begging, waving, doing figure 8's around your legs, rolling over, and spinning to the left and right.
I have been reviewing my goals for my dogs recently and updating what I want to achieve in the coming week and month. Don't forget to do this from time to time.
If your dog is too perfect at home, talk to a friend who also trains, and go train at her house. Invite her over the next time. Sometimes just adding another dog around will cause your dog to be less than perfect at home. Be creative with your limited time and space and have fun with your dog.
Until next time, happy training!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Kay Braddock's Toffee Bar Recipe
We have a ritual at our training school - if you earn a title or something else significant with your dog, you bring treats to class. It doesn't help our waistlines, but we all look forward to it :-). Here's a much requested recipe from Kay Braddock.
Toffee Bars by Kay Braddock
2 sticks butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg yolk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t vanilla extract
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9" X 13" baking pan
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolk; beat well
3. Add flour, mixing well, then stir in vanilla. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake for 25 min.
4. Cover cookie layer with chocolate chips and return to oven 3 or 4 min.
5. Remove from oven and spread melted chocolate evenly. Sprinkle with nuts. (Sometimes I use toffee chips instead of nuts).
Cool completely before cutting. (Sometimes I put these in the refrigerator to firm up the chocolate).
Toffee Bars by Kay Braddock
2 sticks butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg yolk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t vanilla extract
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9" X 13" baking pan
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolk; beat well
3. Add flour, mixing well, then stir in vanilla. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake for 25 min.
4. Cover cookie layer with chocolate chips and return to oven 3 or 4 min.
5. Remove from oven and spread melted chocolate evenly. Sprinkle with nuts. (Sometimes I use toffee chips instead of nuts).
Cool completely before cutting. (Sometimes I put these in the refrigerator to firm up the chocolate).
Ingham Co. Kennel Club 11/30/08
Have you ever heard the term "Bad school, good show?" It's a phrase
that I learned when I showed horses, and it means if the schooling
(aka training) goes badly, the show is likely to go well. Gryffin was
a case in point for that phrase this week.
I hadn't shown since the Marshbanks trials in October, and while I've
been training with some consistency, it still wasn't as much as I was
able to put in in September and October. Gryff's been working slower
than usual without his much more typical enthusiasm, especially when
compared to little rocket Ty. Yesterday with only one other person
around (and she wasn't even doing anything), he couldn't do Signals -
got the old "deer in the headlights" look. I used a toy behind him
some for proofing and then to reward him when he was successful. I
also did some go-outs proofs with the toy and the results weren't
stellar - he was heading for jumps on his go outs, veering off to the
side, etc.. I considered not going to the trial today, but it was my
last trial for the year (boo hoo). Only Gryff was entered, since I
figured it was too busy a place for undertrained Joker, and I'm still
waiting for Ty to come in season... After lugging 3 dogs and their
gear, a single dog was EASY!
We showed first in utility and except for a major struggle on the 1st
article - I think he was literally working the pile for 30 seconds -
all of which cost us 2.5 points, he had a nice class, and got 1st
place of the class of 9 with a 194.5, netting us 6 more OTCh. points.
He now has 57. We left Utility, got to our crate, I gave him a couple
pieces of cheese, grabbed the dumbbell and went into Open. He had a
nice class there, finishing the individuals by 8:45 (!). All 6 dogs in
the group survived stays, hurray! There was a single runoff, which was
for 1st place. They each had a 198 (Dave Tucker and Maddy ran off),
and we got a 197.5, so we were again close to earning that elusive and
needed-for-his-OTCh. Open B 1st. After the way he's been training, I'm
completely thrilled with the results :-). That was his 5th UDX leg,
and for frosting on the cake, we earned High Combined, his 2nd one.
So it was a far finer finish to the 2008 trial season than our 3 NQ
finish last year!
that I learned when I showed horses, and it means if the schooling
(aka training) goes badly, the show is likely to go well. Gryffin was
a case in point for that phrase this week.
I hadn't shown since the Marshbanks trials in October, and while I've
been training with some consistency, it still wasn't as much as I was
able to put in in September and October. Gryff's been working slower
than usual without his much more typical enthusiasm, especially when
compared to little rocket Ty. Yesterday with only one other person
around (and she wasn't even doing anything), he couldn't do Signals -
got the old "deer in the headlights" look. I used a toy behind him
some for proofing and then to reward him when he was successful. I
also did some go-outs proofs with the toy and the results weren't
stellar - he was heading for jumps on his go outs, veering off to the
side, etc.. I considered not going to the trial today, but it was my
last trial for the year (boo hoo). Only Gryff was entered, since I
figured it was too busy a place for undertrained Joker, and I'm still
waiting for Ty to come in season... After lugging 3 dogs and their
gear, a single dog was EASY!
We showed first in utility and except for a major struggle on the 1st
article - I think he was literally working the pile for 30 seconds -
all of which cost us 2.5 points, he had a nice class, and got 1st
place of the class of 9 with a 194.5, netting us 6 more OTCh. points.
He now has 57. We left Utility, got to our crate, I gave him a couple
pieces of cheese, grabbed the dumbbell and went into Open. He had a
nice class there, finishing the individuals by 8:45 (!). All 6 dogs in
the group survived stays, hurray! There was a single runoff, which was
for 1st place. They each had a 198 (Dave Tucker and Maddy ran off),
and we got a 197.5, so we were again close to earning that elusive and
needed-for-his-OTCh. Open B 1st. After the way he's been training, I'm
completely thrilled with the results :-). That was his 5th UDX leg,
and for frosting on the cake, we earned High Combined, his 2nd one.
So it was a far finer finish to the 2008 trial season than our 3 NQ
finish last year!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Getting Consistency on Fronts
To those of us "in" obedience, the term front refers to any time our dog comes and sits directly in front of us, ideally perfectly straight and centered in a square sit. Scoring-wise, any position of the dog within reach of the handler is a passing front. A finish means the dog moves from wherever he is into heel position at the handler's left side, either moving around behind the handler to the right, or swinging to the left. Neither the front nor the finish is a principle part of any exercise, so you won't fail an exercise if your dog fails to do either of them, as long as he gets close enough for you to touch without moving your feet.
In Novice obedience, there is only one front: 3 points out of the possible 200 points available for the whole class. In the grand scheme of a qualifying score in Novice, this single front on the Recall exercise isn't that crucial.
In Open, there are four fronts: one on the drop on recall, two with a dumbbell in the dog's mouth, and one on the broad jump, which requires a 180 degree arc into the front.
In Utility, there are six fronts: one on the Signal exercise, three after a retrieve, and two coming off jumps.
According to the AKC, a totally skipped front is supposed to be 5 points off, because in AKC arithmetic, 3 + 3 = 5 (-3 for no front, -3 for no finish). However, not all judges take off that much. Surely it depends on the exact circumstance. In any case, a dog who totally skips fronts, AKA does automatic finishes, ends up losing a bunch of points that way by the time you are in Open, and it gets even worse in Utility. Having had a dog (my 3rd) who had a lot of problems with auto finishes in Utility, I've been there, done that, and it really wrecks havoc with your score.
In my experience, perfecting fronts and finishes are long-term projects with the majority of dogs, measured in months, if not years. I teach fronts in a long series of steps to my dogs:
Some dogs go right to heel when a judge is close by and moving around behind the dog. For some dogs, this motion isn't an issue. But for many, the pressure the dog feels from the judge is too much if the dog isn't accustomed to someone there. In Novice, the judge is typically at the opposite end of the ring from the handler and where the dog has to front. In Open, judges are often at the opposite end during the retrieves, but some stand at the same end of the ring as the handler to watch for bumping on the front. Once the dog sits in front, the judge will move around behind the dog to check the straightness of the front. This motion might cause your dog to finish early. On the Broad Jump, the judge will be closer due to the nature of the exercise.
In Utility, the judge is typically at a distant on the Signal Exercise finish; moving in on the Scent Discrimination fronts, moving from behind you to behind the dog on the Directed Retrieve front, and moving from somewhere either behind you or off to one side on the Directed Jumping fronts.
A crucial step in dealing with anticipated finishes is to always be prepared to catch your dog anticipating a finish. Do NOT simply stand there and let him complete it! Catch him with a foot or your hand. Turn your body away to prevent completion. You need to recreate an error in order to fix it. With a really severe problem that seems to only crop up in the ring, sacrifice a Q and catch him in the ring. The day after Treasure finished her UDX (she earned legs 6-10 all in a row), she started to go right to heel on the drop on recall, a problem that had cropped up too frequently in the recent past to ignore it. I don't remember exactly how I stopped her, but I did, and that one small correction mostly cured her of doing auto-finishes.
Fronts take a long time to perfect. Adding the hold of a dumbbell, scent article, or glove to the front typically decreases accuracy initially. Think about it from your dog's point of view. He needs to think about not only where to sit, but also about holding onto the item he's carrying as he executes the sit. I can still picture my first Flat-Coat Tramp's early attempts to front while holding a dumbbell. Her nose was to one side, her rear curled around to the same side. She did hold well, though :-). When my younger FCR, Ty, first started to front with a dumbbell, her fronts were very crooked, and she'd hold her nose in the air, chomping away on the dumbbell while swinging her head from side to side. Ack! Not exactly the picture we're aiming for. Her typical rear-to-my-left sit has been decreasing while training for and showing in Novice. It has reappeared as we've been working on her retrieves. She's just not yet able to adjust her front and remember to grip the dumbbell correctly. I still have to help her quite a bit.
Once you have narrowed down when your dog is most likely to skip a front, you should start to proof that exercise more heavily. The following proofs are from The Art of Proofing: Preparing Your Dog For Obedience Trials, my newest book:
Work fronts:
With Rio, I also resorted to tossing a treat or toy as he was coming to me, especially after jumping. You might prefer to have someone else do the tossing for you.
Given enough time and training, most dogs can learn to front with accuracy and consistency. Good luck!
Until next time, happy training!
In Novice obedience, there is only one front: 3 points out of the possible 200 points available for the whole class. In the grand scheme of a qualifying score in Novice, this single front on the Recall exercise isn't that crucial.
In Open, there are four fronts: one on the drop on recall, two with a dumbbell in the dog's mouth, and one on the broad jump, which requires a 180 degree arc into the front.
In Utility, there are six fronts: one on the Signal exercise, three after a retrieve, and two coming off jumps.
According to the AKC, a totally skipped front is supposed to be 5 points off, because in AKC arithmetic, 3 + 3 = 5 (-3 for no front, -3 for no finish). However, not all judges take off that much. Surely it depends on the exact circumstance. In any case, a dog who totally skips fronts, AKA does automatic finishes, ends up losing a bunch of points that way by the time you are in Open, and it gets even worse in Utility. Having had a dog (my 3rd) who had a lot of problems with auto finishes in Utility, I've been there, done that, and it really wrecks havoc with your score.
In my experience, perfecting fronts and finishes are long-term projects with the majority of dogs, measured in months, if not years. I teach fronts in a long series of steps to my dogs:
- Stationary front attention
- Chair fronts
- Moving front attention
- Scoot fronts
- Steering fronts
- Wagon wheel fronts
- Cookie-toss fronts, which include platform fronts and/or chute fronts
- Angled fronts
- Offset fronts
Some dogs go right to heel when a judge is close by and moving around behind the dog. For some dogs, this motion isn't an issue. But for many, the pressure the dog feels from the judge is too much if the dog isn't accustomed to someone there. In Novice, the judge is typically at the opposite end of the ring from the handler and where the dog has to front. In Open, judges are often at the opposite end during the retrieves, but some stand at the same end of the ring as the handler to watch for bumping on the front. Once the dog sits in front, the judge will move around behind the dog to check the straightness of the front. This motion might cause your dog to finish early. On the Broad Jump, the judge will be closer due to the nature of the exercise.
In Utility, the judge is typically at a distant on the Signal Exercise finish; moving in on the Scent Discrimination fronts, moving from behind you to behind the dog on the Directed Retrieve front, and moving from somewhere either behind you or off to one side on the Directed Jumping fronts.
A crucial step in dealing with anticipated finishes is to always be prepared to catch your dog anticipating a finish. Do NOT simply stand there and let him complete it! Catch him with a foot or your hand. Turn your body away to prevent completion. You need to recreate an error in order to fix it. With a really severe problem that seems to only crop up in the ring, sacrifice a Q and catch him in the ring. The day after Treasure finished her UDX (she earned legs 6-10 all in a row), she started to go right to heel on the drop on recall, a problem that had cropped up too frequently in the recent past to ignore it. I don't remember exactly how I stopped her, but I did, and that one small correction mostly cured her of doing auto-finishes.
Fronts take a long time to perfect. Adding the hold of a dumbbell, scent article, or glove to the front typically decreases accuracy initially. Think about it from your dog's point of view. He needs to think about not only where to sit, but also about holding onto the item he's carrying as he executes the sit. I can still picture my first Flat-Coat Tramp's early attempts to front while holding a dumbbell. Her nose was to one side, her rear curled around to the same side. She did hold well, though :-). When my younger FCR, Ty, first started to front with a dumbbell, her fronts were very crooked, and she'd hold her nose in the air, chomping away on the dumbbell while swinging her head from side to side. Ack! Not exactly the picture we're aiming for. Her typical rear-to-my-left sit has been decreasing while training for and showing in Novice. It has reappeared as we've been working on her retrieves. She's just not yet able to adjust her front and remember to grip the dumbbell correctly. I still have to help her quite a bit.
Once you have narrowed down when your dog is most likely to skip a front, you should start to proof that exercise more heavily. The following proofs are from The Art of Proofing: Preparing Your Dog For Obedience Trials, my newest book:
Work fronts:
- Past odds and ends on the floor, such as sticky dots, hair balls, or scraps of paper.
- With a person standing nearby, first behind you, then to one side, then the other.
- With a person walking up behind your dog as he comes into his front. This can happen on any recall. This can cause automatic finishes, which means your dog does a finish without a cue from you. Make sure your dog cannot only front well enough with someone nearby, but can also stay in his front sit until you cue the finish. If he starts to finish without a cue, don't let him complete it-mark the error verbally and turn in place with him or block him with a hand or a foot.
- With someone dropping a toy nearby when your dog is 6-8 feet from you. This can cause your dog to skip his front. You want him to keep his focus on you all the way into his sit in front.
- With a person walking all around you as your dog fronts. A lot of dogs are especially startled by someone walking out from behind their handler, which often happens when a dog is returning to a front from a glove retrieve on the Utility Directed Retrieve, or after jumping during the Utility Directed Jumping.
- With your dog holding a dumbbell, scent article, or glove. A dog's ability to front accurately often deteriorates when he holds something in his mouth.
- While standing off to the side, so that your dog has to "find front." The farther your dog is from straight in-line with you, the harder this becomes. Most dogs are better at straightening their front from one side than the other, so you should spend more of your training time teaching your dog to master his harder side.
- With an object or a person blocking your dog's path. Start 6-8' away from the object at first. When he can adjust himself into a straight front properly, move closer to the distraction.
- With a toy or a cookie-loaded target behind your dog. If he is a thief, you'll need a helper or a leash to prevent him from cheating and stealing the treat early. Instead of stopping in front with his back to the toy or target, your dog might do an automatic finish, going right to heel position so he can see where the toy or target is. When your dog successfully fronts, you can release him to the toy or treat as a reward. This is a great concept to teach young dogs in preparation for later Drop on Recall and Signal training and proofing.
- With your back near a baby gate or a wall.
- Standing at a 45 degree angle to a wall or gate.
- Leave your dog on a sit stay across from another person. Go stand to one side of that person-you are off center from your dog-and call your dog. Does he come to you or the other person? This is particularly important to work on with small dogs, who may not look up as high on your body as larger dogs. This becomes extra challenging if your helper dresses in clothes and shoes that are similar to your own.
- Alternate between a call to heel (like the finish on the Moving Stand from Utility) with a call to front.
With Rio, I also resorted to tossing a treat or toy as he was coming to me, especially after jumping. You might prefer to have someone else do the tossing for you.
Given enough time and training, most dogs can learn to front with accuracy and consistency. Good luck!
Until next time, happy training!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Designing Retriever Training Set-Ups seminar
I attended Mitch White's Designing Retriever Training Set-Ups 2-day workshop in Frazeysburg, Ohio over the past weekend. When I attended his 3-day Advanced Handling workshop in June 2008, one of my favorite exercises was when Mitch had each of us design a mark that we thought would challenge our own dog. We needed to be able to explain why we thought it would challenge our dog. I acknowledge that what I know about designing marks could fill about a 2 page book. At least I know what I don't know. When I heard about this new workshop, I knew I had to sign up.
Helen Szostak (breeder of all of my Flat-Coated Retrievers) and I left Ann Arbor Friday afternoon with Gryffin, Ty, Wrigley (Gryff's sister), Vega (Ty's sister), and puppy Stevie (Ty & Vega's niece) all stuffed into my minivan.
The weather gods smiled upon us. While the mornings were cool, it was bright and sunny most of both days, requiring participants to shed the layers of clothing we all had to start out each day wearing.
The seminar started with a discussion of marking principles. Mitch then broke up the participants into 4 teams of 5 people. Our assignment: design a mark that could be run by different level dogs, with an explanation of what we thought the challenges were and what we thought dogs would do. Our group took some time to come to a consensus but finally did. I got to run my group's mark with Ty, my younger dog. None of the dogs who ran our mark did quite what our group thought they would. Guess that's a big part of why we attended the workshop!
Saturday afternoon started with discussion of "elements" (factors, diversions, or hazards) and how the different types of elements effect a dog's ability to get to a bird, whether for a mark or a blind. Our next assignment was to design a mark and a blind. Our group thought (incorrectly) that the mark and blind would be run as a pair. I discovered that I have a much better sense of how to design a blind than a mark. Only two of our group of five had much experience with blinds, so we kind of took charge :-). Another group designed a blind that was quite similar to ours, and I got to run theirs with Gryffin. He hadn't run a blind since early September. On the whole, I was very happy with the results. He was a bit rusty, but I could see that our summer's worth of training was not in vain. While I still don't think we're ready to run Master in the first half of 2009, I do think both of moved in the right direction. I think I'm more confident in my timing of handling on blinds, and Gryffin isn't fighting with me and trying to take charge nearly as much as he was in the spring.
We finished the afternoon with each group designing one more blind. Gryffin did a nice job on his final blind, which had very few elements until the end. According to that blind's designers, he responded just like they predicted :-).
On Sunday, we met at the Woodbury Wildlife Area near Coshocton (I hope I have the name right). We started with a discussion of the many different Marking Concepts, including converging marks (where both marks are thrown towards each other) and hip pocket marks (both marks thrown in same direction, with one thrown fairly close - "in the hip pocket" - to the other one). Then each of four new groups got a different assignment - to design a pair of marks based on one of the marking concepts. It was interesting to note how much more rapidly we all got down to the work of designing our marks, even though we had new teams. The terrain at Woodbury provided a great number of challenges for the dogs, and very few were immediately successful when the marks were run.
Mitch set up a double and a blind that were both full of challenges. Before he ran one of his master dogs (Charm) on them, he had us describe what we saw as the challenges of both the marks and the blind, and what we expected to happen.
Next, we moved down the road to another location. Our assignment: design a pair of marks (two groups did converging marks, two did hip-pockets) and a blind. The marks had to be <= 100 yds, the blind <= 50 yds. Given the location of the line that Mitch gave us, it didn't leave many options for the blind, so we decided on that first. We had to do a hip-pocket, and made use of one big clump of bushes for the closer gun station, and various smaller bushes for where the marks should land. I got to run Gryffin on my group's marks. His rustiness came through, and he needed help on his memory bird.
I look forward to using my new found knowledge, though I won't be doing too much field training over the coming weeks. I also look forward to working with Mitch more in the future.
If you get a chance to attend one of Mitch's workshops, sign up FAST. You'll be glad you did.
Helen Szostak (breeder of all of my Flat-Coated Retrievers) and I left Ann Arbor Friday afternoon with Gryffin, Ty, Wrigley (Gryff's sister), Vega (Ty's sister), and puppy Stevie (Ty & Vega's niece) all stuffed into my minivan.
The weather gods smiled upon us. While the mornings were cool, it was bright and sunny most of both days, requiring participants to shed the layers of clothing we all had to start out each day wearing.
The seminar started with a discussion of marking principles. Mitch then broke up the participants into 4 teams of 5 people. Our assignment: design a mark that could be run by different level dogs, with an explanation of what we thought the challenges were and what we thought dogs would do. Our group took some time to come to a consensus but finally did. I got to run my group's mark with Ty, my younger dog. None of the dogs who ran our mark did quite what our group thought they would. Guess that's a big part of why we attended the workshop!
Saturday afternoon started with discussion of "elements" (factors, diversions, or hazards) and how the different types of elements effect a dog's ability to get to a bird, whether for a mark or a blind. Our next assignment was to design a mark and a blind. Our group thought (incorrectly) that the mark and blind would be run as a pair. I discovered that I have a much better sense of how to design a blind than a mark. Only two of our group of five had much experience with blinds, so we kind of took charge :-). Another group designed a blind that was quite similar to ours, and I got to run theirs with Gryffin. He hadn't run a blind since early September. On the whole, I was very happy with the results. He was a bit rusty, but I could see that our summer's worth of training was not in vain. While I still don't think we're ready to run Master in the first half of 2009, I do think both of moved in the right direction. I think I'm more confident in my timing of handling on blinds, and Gryffin isn't fighting with me and trying to take charge nearly as much as he was in the spring.
We finished the afternoon with each group designing one more blind. Gryffin did a nice job on his final blind, which had very few elements until the end. According to that blind's designers, he responded just like they predicted :-).
On Sunday, we met at the Woodbury Wildlife Area near Coshocton (I hope I have the name right). We started with a discussion of the many different Marking Concepts, including converging marks (where both marks are thrown towards each other) and hip pocket marks (both marks thrown in same direction, with one thrown fairly close - "in the hip pocket" - to the other one). Then each of four new groups got a different assignment - to design a pair of marks based on one of the marking concepts. It was interesting to note how much more rapidly we all got down to the work of designing our marks, even though we had new teams. The terrain at Woodbury provided a great number of challenges for the dogs, and very few were immediately successful when the marks were run.
Mitch set up a double and a blind that were both full of challenges. Before he ran one of his master dogs (Charm) on them, he had us describe what we saw as the challenges of both the marks and the blind, and what we expected to happen.
Next, we moved down the road to another location. Our assignment: design a pair of marks (two groups did converging marks, two did hip-pockets) and a blind. The marks had to be <= 100 yds, the blind <= 50 yds. Given the location of the line that Mitch gave us, it didn't leave many options for the blind, so we decided on that first. We had to do a hip-pocket, and made use of one big clump of bushes for the closer gun station, and various smaller bushes for where the marks should land. I got to run Gryffin on my group's marks. His rustiness came through, and he needed help on his memory bird.
I look forward to using my new found knowledge, though I won't be doing too much field training over the coming weeks. I also look forward to working with Mitch more in the future.
If you get a chance to attend one of Mitch's workshops, sign up FAST. You'll be glad you did.
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