Mini adventure with Sonic

Sonic and I are spending the night at the Comfort Inn in Plainwell, MI. I judged rally today For the Kalamazoo KC and will judge it again tomorrow morning, so here we are.

I'm happy to report that today's teams were far better prepared than the last time I judged in this area. I only saw one perfect score - and it was a lovely performance - but several other very nice displays of teamwork.

Sonic spent her morning and until I finished judging at 3:00 in her crate in the , with a few brief potty breaks. She hasn't been on too many trips without at least one of the older dogs along too often, so it seemed like a good opportunity. After I finished judging, I got her out to potty, then took her into the nearly empty building for some training. I had her on my rolled leather choke collar, which doesn't provide as much control as the pinch collar, but more than her buckle collar. We worked some attention - it was not particularly stellar, some maneuvers, and some brief stays. Phew, we have lots of work ahead of us.

After settling into our hotel room, we did articles. It is the first time I randomized the placement of the articles vs. having them in the regimented rows that is Around the Clock. She has been searching from a pile of 10 unscented plus my scented one. I took out one pair, since the pile looked different. It went smoothly, and included sends from about 15 feet away - the length of the hotel room. Except for not staying a couple of times while I placed my scented article, she did a spot-on job.

While waiting for my dinner order at Applebee's to be ready, we did another 10 minutes of work near the parking lot. I decided to see how she would do with my '20 treat exercise'**. It took her between 4 and 5 minutes to voluntarily look at me 20 times. Hmmm, there is something we need some more work on. The weather is back to being normal spring weather, i.e., COLD. 10 minutes was all my bare hands could manage.

After I finished eating dinner, we headed out behind the hotel to give her a run. We discovered a lovely flat grassy field, fenced on two sides, with small hills/mounds on the other two sides, with no one around. She had a lovely romp chasing bumpers and working on various field related skills, including delivering to hand to each side, which is much improved, I'm happy to say, staying while I throw a bumper, and doing simple double retrieves (I throw two bumpers about 90* apart, she retrieves one, then retrieves the other). This was all mixed in with fun retrieves without a stay.

That saying "A tired puppy is a good puppy"? Very true. She is sacked out on the bed nearby.

I hope to take her in the building again tomorrow for some more attention work after I finish judging.

** The 20-treat exercise is explained in The Art of Proofing.

ATC Articles Week 7

When I wrote last Friday, I was debating whether to eliminate cheese and/or wires before moving on to Week 7. I did indeed move on to Week 7 Saturday. Sonic did days 1-3 without error, so last night, after we finished doing them, I decided to just take off all the wires in preparation for today's work. Since I've been able to hear her sniffing, I was reasonably confident that she was using her nose vs. her eyes. I figured if it fell apart, I could put the wires back on and eliminate them more gradually.

The gamble paid off. She was 4 for 4 this evening. I almost stopped her on the last one, because I spaced out which was the right one (bad trainer!). But she knew. I think I'll do one more day like what we did today, then start to follow my advice I always give to my students:

• Lengthen the distance to pile out to the 20 or so feet required in the ring.
• Randomize the appearance of the article pile, vs. the regimented set up I use when teaching the articles with Around the Clock.
• Add a turn before the send. I have never taught a 'send direct', where the dog turns with you and goes directly to the pile, because I like the control the 'after a sit' method gives me.
• Add other people scenting the extra articles.
• Take the show on the road. Given that she did them in multiple different places early on, I am not as concerned about this as if I had done all seven weeks in the same place.
• Stop using the pair of articles I taught her with.

That ought to keep us busy for a while. I may or may not pursue all of that at this point. My main point in starting this whole project at 6 months was so she had the concept of how to use her nose when she arrives at an article pile. I do believe we have achieved that goal. If I've counted right, today is the 30th day in a row we have done scent articles. 

Week 6 Day 6

From my training log notes from Friday's article session:

"Start with cheesed leather. (I wrote this on Thursday. Normally, the 1st article in ATC is a scented metal.)
Put out articles in correct pattern, but without regard to which type was where. Started with whiff of cheese on leather. Also whiff of cheese on 5th article @ position C, also a leather (this was an extra-curricular one. Normally, there are just 4 retrieves each session of week 6.)She was 5 for 5. Some nice confident pickups and trotting back.

The question is, do I move on to week 7 with wires, or first eliminate the cheese and the wires? I'm thinking the former..."

As I've thought about this more today, I continue to concur that I'll move on to Week 7 tomorrow. I can always backtrack.

Article update

Today was the 5th day I've done Week 6 of Around the Clock scent articles with Sonic. It it the week when you are supposed to stop putting cheese on the scented article, and it is the week that can be problematic. I did week 5 five times, and on the final day had only the tiniest smear of cheese on the scented one.

As I've come to expect, going from that teeny tiny little bit of cheese to none has caused her to make mistakes. Since she'd made zero mistakes before, I hadn't had any reason to correct anything. Sonic has erred in slightly different ways each time, but it seems to be more of a problem with the scented leather than the scented metal. Yesterday, she did both metals fine, but the 1st leather wrong. I decided after that to go back to the teensy little bit of cheese on the correct leather one.

At the end of yesterday's session, I pulled out my bag of article wires which I made a few months ago from some leftover garden fencing. One of my students got the idea from another local trainer as an alternative to tying the incorrect ones to a mat.

I put the wires on each of the unscented leather articles at the end of yesterday's session. Sonic did pick up one leather by the top wire that was sticking up, but after that, she seemed appropriately deterred by the wire, and kept searching for the one without. I did put a tiny bit of cheese on the 1st leather, but not after that.

I plan to continue to do the Week 6 sequences until she gets them right several sessions in a row, then move on to Week 7.

When is it time to quit?

I showed my 1st dog, Australian Terrier Casey, in conformation in 1985. That was my first attempt at competing with a dog. We earned her CD in November 1986. I've been in the ring in several venues a lot since then with my 8 dogs and had a lot of successes, along with my share of NQs. One thing I've been incredibly fortunate to do with all of my dogs is to earn the titles I set out to earn. However, during the years I have been teaching obedience, I've sometimes had to have the difficult discussion with a student about having to give up on a long-sought title.

This question started rolling about in my head this morning during my morning bike ride with the dogs today.

How do you know when it's time to quit and give up on that dream?

Sometimes, the answer jumps up and slaps you in the face: your dog gets injured and you just can't get him sound enough to trial. Sometimes, the dog simply gets too unsound because of age or structure problems, and even with the low jump heights we now have in AKC obedience, can't jump comfortably. 

Sometimes, your dog is so fearful during stays because of a bad incident in his past that he can't help but come to you. Or your dog just isn't cut out for the rigors of the requirements needed for certain advanced titles. 

I am asking myself this question about Ty right now. She currently has Ch UD OM1 RE SH WCX. She has qualified for the Flat-Coated Retriever Society of America Hall of Fame. She just finished her OM1 last month. She has 4 UDX legs and 19 OTCh points, including an Open B 1st place. She finished her UD a year ago this weekend. I do feel like I have finally figured out a better way to train her. I'm not sure I've found the best way, but at least we are both having more fun. She has been quite a puzzle for our whole time together (I got her at 16 months). Last summer, when we got back to field training, I had a big Ah-ha moment. I wasn't training with any test in mind, just trying to improve her skills. With less pressure from me, she was much happier and having more success. Most of her Senior Hunter legs the year before were shaky - some moments of brilliance mixed in with quite a few ugly moments. While she was much improved at the end of field season in the fall, I still can't imagine her ever getting all the pieces solid enough to pass 1 Master test, let alone 5 to earn a Master title. 

Her age is another issue. She turned 7 in December, which shouldn't seem old, but in Flat-Coat years, it can be. Sadly, two of her litter mates died of cancer recently. While I may still have years left with her, I have no way of knowing. Given how frustrated I can get with the mysteries of her responses, I'm not sure I want to subject either of us to those frustrations in whatever time we have left, whether short or long. During my trip south, she had a couple of brilliant days training in the water, much to my surprise. The 3rd day, when I ignorantly asked her to do something much harder (I'm still enough of a novice at the field game not to recognize when something is dramatically more difficult - thankfully the person I was training with pointed it out to me!), she had a bit of a meltdown. That evening, when we got to Lakeland and trained some obedience, she was positively radiant. She was fast, she was fun, she had confidence. She knew her job. Another Ah-ha moment for me.

Another issue is time. I enjoy training and running Gryffin much more in the field than Ty. It's not that he never frustrates me, but he is simply better at it. And I have my baby girl Sonic coming up. I really like having 2 dogs to train in the field (and in obedience, for that matter). Three gets unwieldy. 

Another issue is money. How much money are you spending on entry fees that result in another NQ? How about class fees? My first dog took 21 trials to earn her UD, but she earned a leg our first time in the ring. Her 2nd leg came 6 months later, and the 3rd a year after that. I did have a baby between legs 2 and 3, so that held me up a bit. But not much. It never occurred to me that we wouldn't finish the UD. In the years and dogs since, I just keep plugging away and eventually get there.

If you have been pondering this question, here are a few more questions to ask yourself:

• Are you enjoying your training time?
• Are you enjoying your trial time, even without passing very often?
• Is your dog enjoying the training time?
• Is your dog enjoying the trials?
• Is your dog still physically sound enough to be doing what you are asking him to do?
• Do you have a promising young dog you've put on the back burner because of the time needed for the older dog?
• Is there another activity that you can do with your dog to keep her busy but doesn't take as much time and/or money?

My plan with Ty, at least for now, is to work towards her OM2 - I've never had one - and then see where she is on her UDX and OTCh points. I'll play with her in the field on days there is time and she has the desire, but not with any pressure. Gryff will do field work as long as his body allows him to, and Sonic will get to do everything I can throw at her.

It should be fun!

Sonic at 7 months

In the past month, my primary obedience-related focus with Sonic has been her hold for retrieving, getting her picking up a dumbbell and articles, and getting her started on Around the Clock Scent Discrimination. As I've written about several times recently, we started the Around the Clock process the day we left on our 15-day trip in late February, and have worked on them every day since. I don't think I've ever managed to be this consistent. My goal is to have her understanding that she should use her nose when presented with a collection of scent articles, not just grab the first one she gets to. I am teaching her this now because when I start her working on a bumper pile for field, I do want her to grab the first one she gets to, at least ideally. Because of the importance of scent articles for Utility, I will be more forgiving of potential 'shopping' in a bumper pile than field trainers who aren't doing scent work, but I am hopeful that she can understand the difference. Here she is doing Week 5 Day 2 today here at home:

We have continued to work Rhythm Heeling fairly regularly, though hardly at all during our trip.

The other big milestone was her first swims in real ponds. I am so glad I spent the time (and $'s) to teach her to swim in the local therapy pool. She is a very good swimmer, and was in fact difficult to keep out of the water. Here is her Florida swimming video:

She is really getting the idea of the field game. She had several marks thrown by other people during our trip, both land and water, and this morning, she did the land marks that everyone else did, though hers were shorter than Gryff's. Still, I think she is approaching the 100 yard mark, which thrills me. She only visited a gunner once today - that definitely needs more work! She is holding pretty steady in her sit stay until I release her, races out, is learning to hunt well, and usually racing back to me. I am not demanding a delivery to heel position. That is something we are working on 'in the yard.' 

I have been working on field obedience with her every day since the Friday of the Mike Lardy seminar, after I was reminded by watching him what I should be working on. I do plan to have her able to work off both sides. I am very awkward with her on my right, but she is coping pretty well. We are doing walking on both sides, sits when I stop, sit stays, recalls, and finishes to both sides. I have introduced her to a heeling stick (kind of like a riding crop), the beginnings of collar conditioning, and just today, the beginnings of force fetch.

We will be showing in a supported entry in conformation next month, so I'm also doing a bit of work on stacking and gaiting. My son and I took several pictures of her today in honor of her reaching 7 months of age.

She's made some excellent progress in the past month. It will be fun to see where we are when she is 8 months old.

2012 Southern Odyssey Days 13-15

Thing I highlighted in my notes from the 3.5 day Mike Lardy seminar:

• Always have a holding blind set up so it is routine. (it is very easy to be lazy and not do it)
• Mike uses MARK when the dog is already looking in the right direction vs. using it to get the dog to look where you want.
• He writes down what to do in the next training session at the end of the current one.
• The "dead bird" cue is introduced on Pattern Blinds, not on pile work.
• "We push dogs a lot, but not with a lot of pressure, and not daily."
• Yard work - review previous steps, get to the heart of the lesson, and end with something simple.
• The dog needs to learn to be able to keep working through pressure instead of quitting.
• Don't enter a test if you are having to correct something frequently.
• He gets rid of white bumpers in the water ASAP. He uses them initially to stretch out distances, but then goes to black and whites, and then solid blacks.
• To increase success, have the gunner who is throwing remain standing. Sitting down after the throw is harder.
• When forcing on remote send, be sure to wait for the dog to complete the turn before applying force.
• "The style you force on is the style you force in," i.e., if your dog working slowly when you add force, he will probably continue to work that way.
• Force has to be aversive without being overwhelming.
• "You don't gain much from perfect." - he wants to have the dog make mistakes at certain stages, so he can learn. This was something Mike said when demonstrating the "No-no Drill", which is essentially like a retrieve over the high jump in obedience, just at much longer distances. If the dog goes around on the way to the pile, he is called back after being told NO! I love this succinct way of putting this. I think when I teach Directed Jumping for Utility, this will be a very useful quote to remember.
• You are done with force to pile when you don't get escape behaviors from the dog in response to the force.
• Skipping steps is detrimental to the steps that follow!
• Dogs need to be confident hunters. Start with white bumpers, but move to dark ones quickly and put them in cover early.
• Standards are important.

I would say just about all of the 10 working teams made excellent progress on their training during the seminar. There were some great problem-solving segments that were very interesting to watch. Mike would talk about the process and why he was making some of the choices he was making in the attempts to solve the problems the dogs were having with different aspects of the program. I found myself saying "Good dog!" a lot, sometimes rather loudly, when the dog was doing better :-).

I took notes throughout the seminar on my iPad Noteshelf app (if you have an iPad and DON'T have Noteshelf, get it. It's my favorite app). A lot of people noticed and asked me questions. Jennifer, who was helping Mike with equipment logistics, saw it and said, "You've got to show Mike!" so I did. Somewhat to my surprise, when he was talking about record keeping on Sunday morning, he asked me to get up and describe how I use it to keep training records. Sure is a good thing I'm used to speaking in front of big groups of dog trainers. After I sat down, I realized I could have been terrified. But I wasn't. Pretty funny that what I got noticed for was my geeky side.

We got on the road about 1 PM and stayed Sunday night in Knoxville, TN at yet another Red Rood Inn. Considering their website says "Pets stay free," I was disappointed when they told me that 1 pet stays free, and subsequent ones are $10 each. I said it would be awfully nice if the website didn't lie and say Pets stay free. I hope that doesn't get to be a trend at more Red Roof Inns :-(.

I love to pull out Google Maps on my iPad to try to find empty fields in which to do some training. There was one right around the corner from the motel, so I got packed up and went over to it and gave all the dogs about 10 minutes of training each. I did my direction changing drill with Gryff and Ty - 3 stakes set up with 4-5 bumpers at each, with some lining to a pile, but more stopping and casting to a different destination. I devised this drill for Ty last summer because she was so poor at changing directions. When I was doing it regularly, she really loved it, and would run harder and more confidently as the drill progressed. I saw that again this morning. I did some field obedience with Sonic, then did some Traffic Cop marks (Bill Hillman's name). Then we hit the road about 9:30 and got back home about 6:30 PM. 

We are all glad to be home. We put over 2700 miles on the Burb in the past 15 days. Sonic was very happy to have a romp with her buddy Joker, who had stayed home. I can't wait to continue building on Sonic's field foundation. The seminar was perfectly timed to remind me of the many steps to come, and fire up my enthusiasm to keep progressing.

We did Week 4 Day 4 of Around the Clock articles before dinner. 15th day in a row. Very pleased with her progress.