Chris and 12 month old GSD Devante have been working with us since this fall. Chris and Devante are training for IPO and I’m sure they’ll be superstars one day. I met them in Ohio in November and we started to work on tugging and some great games that will improve self control and lay a great foundation for retrieving and other exercises.
Just look at how beautifully they master switching between two toys and how Devante is listening to Chris to understand if he’s supposed to run and get the toy on the ground or keep working with the one in the hand. This is a great foundation for IPO and obedience. Games like these also create a dog that is open minded, listening to his handler and engages in whatever his handler tells him to do.
Chris and Devante are participating in our online retrieve month, and I’m very excited to work on a more formal retrieve with a dog that has this great foundation.
I try to find little things that will make my dogs a little happier every day. Especially for Shejpa, who doesn’t get as much training as my other two dogs. This morning, she was pacing the house and looked like she couldn’t find a good enough place to lie. Then I remembered that she loves the folding camping chairs that we bring to trials. I usually end up on the floor or in someone else’s chair, as Shejpa gets very upset if she can’t sleep in mine. So i brought one into the house and she was very happy, didn’t get up for anything <3
What have you done to make your dog a little happier today?
2013 started well for me. We went to Stockholm for an agility trial this weekend and I’m very pleased with the results. Squid won J3 both days, and was close to winning A3 as well (if she hadn’t bounced off my leg at the end of the course). She became Swedish Jumping Champion on Saturday. Shejpa ran 3 out of 4 clean runs and qualified for the Swedish National Championships in June. She placed 2nd and 3rd in standard, which was surprising to me as she often struggles on the carpet and hasn’t been trained at all this winter. Squid ran really well on the carpet. She’s never been on a slippery carpet like that before and we usually train in really soft and heavy dirt, so I didn’t know what to expect. I think she handled it well because she always knows where she’s going and jumps well so that she lands in the direction she’s going next most of the time. Dogs that don’t bend well over the bars and have to turn on the ground (like Shejpa) struggle much more. Squid needs to work on turning better out of tunnels, that’s where she had her wide turns and slipping on the carpet.
Paxa is a 8 month old german wirehaired pointer. She is going to be Thomas new pointing dog and is right now working on some foundations for her retrieve. The text in this video is in Norwegian, but I’m sure you’ll get a good idea of what they’re doing anyway.
If you want to work intensely on retrieving for a month, I recommend that you check our retrieving workshop out. Regardless of if you want to work on retrieving for obedience, hunting, tricks or service dog work, we’ll help you out where you need it.
We’re working on some really cool extra material for this workshop that we haven’t published before. We’re also working on making the workshop easier to follow than the heeling workshop (that was a lot of fun because of all the activity, but sometimes was hard to follow because of it). You don’t want to miss this!
We’ve had a lot of snow and some really cold weather in December (with a record of -25 C, unfortunately when Greg Derrett was here doing a seminar. It was cold…).
But a few days ago, it started thawing and the mild weather seems to stick with us for another week. We’ve been able to train our dogs on sheep for two days now. And look what a difference in the amount of snow on the same field from yesterday from today.
I love this time of year. Even though I rarely publish any goals or resolutions, I take time to reflect on the past year and to make plans for the next. I am very interested in goal setting and change. What makes the difference between doing something for two weeks in January and changing something for good? What kind of goals are most likely to help us accomplish real change in our lives? I will get back to this, but I wanted to ask all of you about your goals and/or New Year’s Resolutions for 2013.
What have you decided to to more of with your dog in 2013?
What have you decided to do differently in 2013?
What did you decide on a year ago? Did it happen? If not – why not?
What do you think can make a resolution a tool for real change?
Please let me know and I’ll get back to you soon with more thoughts.
Epic is dreaming about a year filled with sheep and dogwalks
A lot has been written about all the great benefits of reward based dog training. Using positive reinforcement in training gives us happy dogs that love their work. The learning process accelerates as the dog uses 100% of her capacity to learn – and not trying to stay out of trouble or avoiding corrections.
But are there no negative side effects of positive reinforcement?
Why are some over the top aroused when you’re about to start an activity?
Why do they make noise or show other signs of frustration in some exercises?
When does the dog cross the line from being happy and eager to work to being “stressed”?
The more arousing the activity is, like field trial work, schutzhund work or agility, the more important it becomes to prevent unwanted behaviors and too high levels of arousal. A goal of this training is to train the dog to be “thoughtful in drive” – to stay focused even when motivation is high without going over the top.
Of course dogs have different genetic predispositions for how to cope with high expectations and high levels of arousal. But most of us love our dogs and want to train our dogs to reach their potential. So what can we do apart from buying a new puppy?
Humans are creatures of habit. We tend to reward to reward the same behavior over and over, we feed the dog or take it for a walk at the same hours and follow the same routines when training out dogs. Dogs are fast learners and will soon start to predict what’s coming up next. If we meet the dog’s expectations over and over, the dog will start to “claim” its rewards with increasing intensity.
“If you always do as you have always done – you will always get what you have always got”
or
“The only way to change your dog’s behavior is by changing your own behavior”
These unwanted behaviors and high expectations and arousal can be easily prevented. Here comes a few tips.
Vary your rewards
Vary what kind of rewards you use and how you use them. For example use calm rewards if the dog starts to get pushy about her toy, or use play breaks between sessions with food rewards.
Vary your routines in every day life
Feed the dog at different hours or in different locations. Let the dog sit and wait in situations where she is used to play or chase. Or vary if your puppy is allowed to go and see people or other dogs you meet or if you just walk past them.
Look out for “Yo bitch behavior”
If your dog is claiming attention, any particular type of activity or reward, give her something else to do – or just ignore the behavior. This doesn’t mean that your dog shouldn’t take initiative to any activity, but keep a balance.
Relaxation or calm focus as a criteria
In my opinion it would be crazy to remove all exciting rewards and activities if you have an easily aroused dog. Teach her what to do to start these activities instead.
Preventing too high arousal and the possible unwanted side effects when using high value life rewards are an important part of gun dog foundation training.
Thomas trains spaniels and pointers and has experience with retriever training as well. He will host a Field Trial Foundation Class starting January 21st. He will help you teach she skills needed as well as helping you find the balance between drive, control and relaxation for your gundog. Sign up here.
For the retrieving workshop, we decided to try a system with two different kinds of working spots. The unlimited working spots can submit as many videos as they like, while an ordinary working spot is restricted to four videos (one per week). This is because we see such a difference in the activity between participants – some like to post every day while others only submit a few videos – and we want to have alternatives that suits both learning styles.
We’re having a blast with the new foundation class that started in November. Many of the working teams come from the same group that I saw IRL in Ohio in the beginning of November, and it’s so much fun to follow their progress. It’s a very advanced group for a foundation class! Right now, we’re on a Christmas break from classes, but we’re not relaxing yet. We’ve tried to give the website a new look and I hope that you find it an improvement. We’ve also planned two new online classes that start in January:
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Merry Christmas! We hope to see you online next year.
