Finally a video!

Summit chewed through my video camera cords, lap top charger, and cell phone charger a while ago (that is his only weakness when it comes to chewing ) but we got a brand new camera for Christmas!!  Here is a video of some training we did last night:

Summit is still a very perfect puppy with a such a great attitude and temperment, he is just so much fun to train – he even makes circle work fun

It All Goes Back To…..

Bet you thought I was gonna say “foundation”…wrong!  ”relationship”…nope!  ”desire?”…closer.  Wanna know what I believe is the biggest hole in most folks foundation training?  REINFORCEMENT, there you have it, the answer to all your problems.  The biggest most important component of a good foundation is establishing rewards your dog goes crazy for.  Rewards that we trainers can fit in our pockets such as food and toys are the main tools we have as positive dog trainers.  When you bring your new puppy home you will discover there are plenty of things they will value and find reinforcing but likely very few of them will be as easy to control as a game of tug or a morsel of food.  It could be things in the environment, other dogs, people, places or events, our job as dog trainers is to build value for interactive rewards like tug of war and food rewards such as puppy kibble.

When you start to think about all the places that you can go wrong in agility training, all the dogs struggling whether it be with motivational issues, dogs shutting down, dogs who stress over failure, dogs with no start lines, contacts, wide turns, off courses, dogs who are just plain slow or dogs who are distracted while working.  If the tug toy in your pocket where that million dollar reward the only thing that would stand between you and greatness would be timing and criteria.  The trouble comes when we are not patient in building up those reinforcers before moving forward onto the actual agility training.

I would have to say this is the biggest thing I have learned this year with regards to dog training.  To have Summit be able to walk into any environment and give me his 110% focus from 3 months old was not much to do with having a naturally focused puppy, it was the fact that he is so crazy about toys, tugging, fetching, playing, you name it.  I will admit that he has this drive for toys the day I brought him home but we have played and tugged and played and tugged to the point where he would choose tug over just about anything.  This lesson was then re-affirmed at the Greg Derrett seminar I attended last month.  It seemed that when working Preston and Riot all my training issues lead back to the same place…not enough value for the reinforcement.  Preston not driving off the start line fast enough when I am stationary, well I can’t tell you how many recalls I have done trying to build speed while standing stationary, not much has helped.  All my shelties tug and I use it as a reward in agility but they are not CRAZY over the tug the way Summit is.  If Preston was CRAZY about his tug reward he would have more of a reason to get to me quickly.  Then there is Riot who finds chasing and watching the other dogs running far more reinforcing than anything I have to offer her, she still will suck to equipment easily and ignore handling cues because she is not too concerned whether she gets the reward at the end, the chase is enough for her.

If you build lots and lots of value for a toy you will have a good head start with your foundation training and on your way to a good agility dog.  Of course just ask Summit about building value for food We have been working on increasing the value for kibble as food rewards are important for certain behaviors.  Summit has been learning to gobble up a handful of food as fast as he can to star a game of tug.  When Summit is really high and excited such as while being restrained for a recall or in his crate just before being released to run with all the dog I take that as an oppertunity to build value for food.  He now gets that the faster he eats the food reward the faster he gets whatever it is that he wants.  I am pretty sure he would swallow a penny if I offered it to him now

So our winter training project for all dogs has been and will be raising the value of tug and food, it is not enough that they just tug or just take food, its gotta be worth a million bucks!

Photos

Some recent shots of Summit

7 months

7 months

6 months

6 months

6 months

Not sure where the time has gone but Summit is not over 6 months old!  We have been very busy doing lots of training, here is a quick update:

Socializing:  Although Summit has shown no fears of new people, dogs or places we continue to try and go to new places a couple times a week.  Whether it is a new park, new arena, pet store or parking lot we try to set 20 minutes aside and work lots of tugging mixed in with some loose leash walking and the odd recall if someone offers to hold.  Summit has been doing lots of flying lately and since this will be a big part of his life I have made an effort to go to the airport early each time and play tug games, socialize and build value for his kennel in that environment.  So far he doesn’t mind air travel one bit.  Summit has had lots of opertunity to socialize with all sorts of dogs and puppies after class and at most seminars I have been at, he is great with the shelties now as long as there is room to run.

Agility Training:  Although Summit and I are addicted to training our training plans have not changed much since I brought him home at 9 weeks.  We are still working on tugging like a mad man everywhere we go with any distraction possible.  PLaying lots of motivational games, recalls, bringing out as much craziness as possible.  Every session we have he blasts out of the kennel and gives %110 speed, attitude, desire, you name it, he is so much fun to train.  We are mostly still working on start line and control positions.  Sit, stand and down with that crazy look in his eye.  We have upped the distraction level to environmental distractions like te sheltie chasing a toy, ringside of an agility trial, children running and screaming, dogs tugging around him.  We have not put the start line in front of an obsticle yet but it’s just about there.  The other thing we have been working on is our flat work, he is a true herding dog and very since he learned to outrun me our flat work has been a major focus in our training.  He is very good now and we have started proofing understanding by decelling and front crossing off toys.  That is about all we have been focussing on for agility training, just perfecting the essentials before moving onto anything else.

Pet Training:  A big portion of our training time is spent working on things like walking on a leash, being quite in the kennel, sharing toys and food with the other four dogs in the house, recalls, control positions at a distance, basically anything to make living with 5 dogs as easy as possible.  Most nights Chase and Bounder get to help me train Summit to be quiet in the kennel, I work and play with the shelties and reward Summit with his kibble for not loosing his mind.  This is a great oppertunity to work start lines after Summit’s eyes have been popping out and he is vibrating with excitement.  Summit’s recall is good enough to run with other dogs and he is good about sitting and downing if I give the cue when he is out playing which is a very helpful skill to have.  Our loose leash walking was going well until we went to california and forgot our gentle leader so we are back to basics for a bit then re-fading the head halter is at the top of our list.

So there you have it, nothing too fancy or exciting just focussing on making tugging with me the most reinforcing thing in his environment, start lines, flat work and everyday pet skills.

At 6 months Summit was 20″ and 34 lbs.

 

Losing Sight of What Matters…

Don’t worry, this is not some rant about how crazy we can be, throwing ourselves and or lives into this crazy sport we call dog agility.  This post is about dog agility training and the importance of keeping in your mind a clear goal or end result for all the time we spend training our dogs.  There are so many different theories, ideas and schools of thought on agility training these days that it is difficult to decide what to train that next puppy and more importantly how to train it.  There is a lot more emphasis put on “foundation training” before obstacles, lots of words like “relationship”, “motivation”, “desire”, “control”, “value” etc.  There are so many skill sets and behaviors you could teach a puppy as part of your “foundation training” that it is easy to lose site of the bigger picture.  Summit is the first puppy I have focussed on training a foundation and a set of skills separate from the equipment, this is mostly due to all the time I have spent at Say Yes learning about the science of animal training and the foundation program they have created.  In my mind what I am aiming for when I am raising Summit is a fast, athletic, agile dog who can get around the course faster than any other dog out there.  Of course I want him to be able to do this safely and easily so that he will be able to run agility and be a normal dog for a long, long time.  I also of course want that good family pet at home so that living with 5 dogs does not drive me over the edge.  Accomplishing this goal may include training fast, independent obstacle performance, a great jumper, and a dog who responds to my body and handling with ease, but most importantly a dog who enjoys playing and chooses to work with me over anything else.  There are always many different ways of obtaining any goal, I am training Summit the best way I know how using what I have learned through the Say Yes program, what my four other dogs have taught me and everything I have learned from teaching classes and instructing seminars to many, many different types of dogs and trainers.

I am assuming for anyone who want to be competitive in the sport their goal for a new puppy would be something similar to mine, the sport is about speed while maintaining accuracy and consistency.  I challenge everyone out there to evaluate all the time they spend training their dogs and ask themselves if the skills they spend time teaching are leading them to their final goal or if you have somehow found yourself stuck on some  useless tangent.  Let me digress, not too long ago I really had a good laugh at myself, I was so proud of Preston’s see saw performance after his first season of trialing.   It was my first time training a nose target for the end behavior and I had trained the many, many layers of understanding to create that all important nose touch at the end of the contact.  It took me about 4 months and then anther 2 months trying to fix issues (foot movement, freezing rather than touching, coming off straight, etc.)  I maintained criteria (almost always) for his first season and although the behavior did change a little I still had it at the end of his first season which is not always an easy feat.  When timing obstacle performance a while back I compared the contact and weave times for all my dogs and lo and behold Preston’s see saw performance with its perfect nose target was the slowest performance of all my dogs!  Yet I was so happy and impressed with all my hard work and dedication, how funny is that!  I got so caught up in the challenge of training this new behavior that I lost sight of what really mattered…speed!

It seems silly and far too simple to screw up but I see it so often when teaching.  Do you really think that spending time training body awareness is that beneficial to a dog that rarely breaks a trot round the course?  Or how about the dogs with the perfect, proofed start lines, I mean you can throw toys, food, run past, leave the room, yet the dog does not care to LEAVE the start line to play the game?  And all those dogs who have zero speed and motivation around the course yet when the handler is done the drill says “get in yer kennel!” and all of a sudden the dog flies back into the crate?  Or how about the dog that has been trained to stay in their crate with the door open for the entirety of a class yet the dog would prefer to never come out?    I think you get what I’m saying.  There are many, many skills that are beneficial for training an agility dog but try not to lose sight of the end goal which generally centers around the word “speed” and in order to gain speed you need “motivation”.  So before you think about training any specific skill to your agility dog, ask yourself what it is that will lead you to the end result you are looking for.

In regards to Preston’s see saw, don’t get me wrong, his lack of speed over the contact has nothing to do with the method itself, rather the way I trained it. Rather then being so concerned with perfection I should have been focusing on desire, fun and speed so that he wanted nothing more than to get to the end of that contact…lesson learned, Preston’s loss is Summit’s gain

Happy Training!

A very busy month!

We have had a busy month, starting with the trip to Austria for the world championships then flying out to Vernon, BC for a week of seminars, then directly to Moncton, NB for another 4 days of teaching and finally back home to starting my very own classes at a new arena.  In the middle of all of that I have been attempting to raise and train my now 4 1/2 month old puppy Summit.

Worlds was fun, I was happy with the way Riot was running and although I wanted to do better over all we had many good moments.  I will definitely need to work more on Riot’s ground speed if we want any chance against all those medium border collies.  Vernon was fun, got to catch up with friends and met lots of nice new people.  Summit got to go swimming at the lake and be a demo dog for the foundation workshops.  Moncton was as always a great trip, this years groups have many great people and lots of talented dogs.  The puppy group was a blast with 13 puppies in the group, it will be tonnes of fun to see each team progress each month.  Although I hate leaving the older dogs at home the trips were great to get Summit into many new environments and meet lots of new people and dogs.

Summit is now 4 1/2 months and yes, he is still perfect  He is such a confident, happy puppy and is always so much fun to work with.  Training him has taught me so much about high drive dogs and motivation.  I have been trying to build more strength in all of my other dogs weaknesses:

-I have put way more effort into building value for tugging and just playing with me before building any new behaviors

-more focus on creating desire and drive in control positions rather than just proofing distractions

-We have made sure we have built equal drive and speed on recalls when I am standing still as when I run

-not barking EVER!

-if we work on shaping any behavior with food I have been very picky about keeping the desire in each behavior I teach him

-lots more jump grids!

We don’t know a whole lot more than what we posted last time, we do know how to swim and have been doing lots of socializing with other people and puppies.  Because I have been so busy we havn’t started too many new things, but we have been building a stronger understanding with all the foundation games:

start line: he can hold a sit, stand and down without any paw movement throughout any distraction – throwing toy behind, running past him, running circles around him, kicking soccer ball, dogs recalled past.  Just need to wok on dogs tugging and retrieving past him, then in front of equipment.

circle work – working on proofing handling manouvers with the toy ahead as a distraction.  We have been running circles around toys and using the table as a distraction.

recalls- calling off people feeding him, tugging with him, while running to a toy, while eating supper, while chasing the shelties, while playing with other puppies…no problem!

Tugging – can tug on a low value toy while I play with and tease with his favorite.  Can tug while shelties run circles around him and retrieve a ball, can tug with cookies practically up his nose, while fast dogs do tunnels, while children are near, while preston is tugging on another toy beside him (thats a tough one!  While I grab the collar, blow in his face, pick him up and shake him upside down

Crate games – have been working on staying in crate while I send Chase and Bounder over equipment

Walking on a leash – gentle leader is being faded, occationally we have to put it back on but he is very good.  We get lots of practice up and down the aisles of the pet store now that the snow is here

Body awarness – I was holding off on too much shaping in order to balance control with more craziness but we know the balance disks, perch faded, lift back legs, bow, yoga…

Sleeping – I have seen him sleep! Just once….

2009 CAT Blog

Since I am not updating my blog much while here, check out team member Tiffany’s blog  http://blog.tntbordercollies.com

And We’re Off!

We are just finishing off our to do list before we leave this Saturday for Austria.  Riot and I have been training hard all week, setting up courses from this years judges and working lots on jump grids and obstacle performance.  I am really happy with the way she has been running lately and am getting very excited about the competition.  This will be my sixth year competing at the FCI world Agility Championships, but my first time with Riot.  The FCI World Championships in my opinion is as good as it gets and it is my absolute favorite event.  Even though it seems crazy to spend all this time, effort and money on travelling half way across the world for only two runs, believe me, when you step onto the carpet and put yourself up against the best of the best, it is so totally worth it!  I think this years Canadian Team is the best it has ever been and we should have a fair shot on the podium.

The team arrives in Austria on Saturday with a chance to settle in.  We have team practice on Monday and Wednesday and a few tours planned on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Thursday is the vet check and check in as well as our team training at the event.  Each country is allotted a short amount of time on the floor to practice on the equipment and get the dogs used to the footing.  The time alloted depends on how many dogs are on your team.  Team Canada will get 18 minutes on the floor for all 13 dogs to train.  In the past we have divided into groups based on jump height and rotate through 3 stations.  This is the first year I have only had one dog on the team so those 18 minutes will seem much more relaxing for me, but for the rest of the team it is a whirlwind

The competition starts on Friday and continue through until Sunday.  All team events will be finished on Saturday and Sunday is left for the final individual agility runs for all heights.  The event always ends with large individual agility as this  is the most exciting and competitive category.  By the last day of the event the stadium is packed leaving standing room only.  Supporters from each country are grouped together in the stands to cheer on their own dog and handler teams.  The final round is run in reverse order and when the top placing dogs begin to run the crowd falls absolutely silent.  When dogs who have potential for final placements make an error the crowd bust into a chorus of rhythmic clapping in support of the attempt.  When the class is coming to a close and the final few dogs make their way to the line countries in contingency prepare for celebration with supporters ready with flags to run onto the floor as the winner makes their way around the ring in victory as the music plays “simply the best” or “we are the champions” .  After celebration the floor is quickly cleared of equipment and  filled with people from all countries who sing and dance to the world championship sound track .  It is quite the event.

Thank you to all the people who have sent me good wishes and to all my friends and students for supporting me.  To all those that bought t-shirts and poop bags, it is greatly appreciated!

Wish us luck!

14 weeks

Well I am back from Sweden ad even though I had a good time I really missed my dogs!!  After 10 days away from Summit we had some training to do.  I am still extremely happy with him and I can’t believe how focussed he is, I still have not found anything he would choose over food and toys, kids come close but he will always choose to work with me which is great.

Our major focus is still on building great attitude and drive for each and every behavior and skill he learns.  It is just so easy to go through the motions teaching and playing all the foundation games while building on mediocre desire.  Susan Garrett has a great Acronym DASH which stands for Desire, Accuracy, Speed, Habitat.  The acronym stresses the important of building desire before accuracy and accuracy before expecting speed then changing your environment.  DASH is a great thing to keep in mind during any training session and throughout the upbringing of your puppy.  The tricky part is defining “desire” .  Does desire mean that the dog likes to work with you, take food and take toys?  Or does it mean that the dog will do anything to work with you and is crazy about taking toy and treats.  I am keeping my “D” criteria as high as possible before building any accuracy.  Where I have seen dogs lacking in the “speed” department it is due to weak desire from the start.

Everything I do with Summit and each training session we have I am re-evaluating his “D” and asking myself if it could be better….of course it can always be better.  So a lot of our sessions are soley to build more desire for work and playing with me.

Of course we have learned many other things along the way We can do perch work, hand targets, roll over, puppy yoga, box games, balance discs, yoga balls, puppy grids, playing on planks and tippy boards and our control positions are really good.  Our major focus this past week has been recalls with distractions and retrieving.  I will post some retrieving video up as soon as I can.

Likely due to working so much on his desire our recalls have been so impressive.  We can now recall off other dogs, other puppies, visiting people and children and even food and toys.  Yesterday I accidentally called him while he was peeing and he came running at me forgetting all about what he was doing  We have been working on throwing cookies then telling him to “get it” then when he is a couple feet from the food I will recall him and reward with a tug toy.  I have yet to call him without that perfect puppy running as fast as he can to get to me.

All the border collie people keep saying “just wait…” but I really will be surprised if he becomes a terror.  Even at agility practise he watches the fast dogs for a second or two then offers me his perfect attention and is ready to work.  The only problem we need to work on is his startline behavior.  We have been building so much desire and drive while holding position that he has made it a habit to vulture and he practically has his chin on the ground

We are off to the mountains this weekend and will bring the camera to get some good photos.  Just two more weeks until we leave for world championships so we have ben hard at work polishing up Riots skills!

Video

Well I caved and finally bought a new computer.  My old computer was about to give out on me so I decided to go for a Mac this time.  I wanted to test out some of the video editing stuff so I took a few quick videos of Summit tonight.  Turns out I have the wrong cable adapter so I just did a quick upload onto the old computer. We have only been working our hand targeting for a few days now and it is coming along so well that I thought I would do a session or two on the stairs…except I don’t have any…an old shoe box did the trick.  Quality is kinda crappy but here it is.

Unfortunately I have to leave Summit for a week while I go teach some workshops in Sweden…I’m sure he will be up to no good with his auntie