Fire is a curious dog. By Curious, I mean thinks "differently". He can learn one thing quickly and take over a year to learn another. Heeling with attention perplexed us for a long time. I tried the lure method, the choose to heel method, and shaping the position and attention. For most of these methods he was simply too strong, too interested, and too much to control! He mauled for the food or looked away from it. He jumped on me. He walked slowly with ears down and tail down. He did everything but respond in the way 98 % of my previous dogs and students dogs respond to these methods! And his responses were unique. They were at a very different level than similar responses from other dogs. Finally in a moment of frustration, I went back to a method I can only describe as restraint. I showed him where to walk using binding (short leash consistent position) and by holding his head up gently. One step at a time he learned he could walk with his head up. And he caught on, FAST! (considering how long we had spent with other methods) Talk to most positive based trainers out there today and they are probably not even familiar with this technique. The idea of forcing a dog into a position is not among their preferences to say the least. However it worked for Fire. It eliminated his frustrations and mine. This isn't a plug for this method of heeling. In fact it's my method of last resort. But it is something to think about. If at first you don't succeed...try try again. This seems to be Fire's favorite theme.
Fire has learned a lot of things fast and some things slow. The slow behaviors include heel, finish, sit up ( a good old fashioned "beg"), and Catch. Recently we had a breakthrough with catching. I was building up his energy with a tennis ball and I decided to bounce it past him. To my amazement he caught it after the bounce. I tried it again, and again he caught it. 8 times out of 10 he caught the ball. We stopped on a good note, with my mind on the fact that he Could learn to catch something. A few weeks went by and every now and then we played bounce/catch with the tennis ball. Then came the snowstorm of 2009...how to entertain a young active dog who had No desire to run outside in two feet of snow! Fire is now a bit large to train around the kitchen table. And so after working the few exercises we could in our living room, I moved to the hall way for fronts/recalls. A few repetions and I was left with a dog who wanted to do more and a handler (Me) who was stumped by what else to work. Then it hit me, teach him to catch food! Back to the living room we went and I futilely threw multiple charlee bear treats at him. They bounced off his nose and he scarfed them up off the floor. Lighting in the living room is poor, so I moved to the hall way. Sit, stand, toss, drop...nothing was clicking. Did I say Click? An idea formed in my head...would clicking "attempts" help to shape the desired behavior? Clicker in hand, I started to shape a catch by clicking (C/T) every time he moved his nose even if it was after the treat fell to the floor. Pretty soon he was moving his muzzle and not just watching the food fall. I upped the ante by clicking only when he moved his nose upwards rather than down). The behavior grew. But he wasn't getting the idea to focus on where the treat was coming (my mouth). And so I took a few minutes to click when he looked up at my face. I then resumed the C/T process for upward nose moves and the focus attached itself to the movement. Now I had a dog looking at me and moving his nose upwards when I spit the treat! Success!
My next goal was an "air snap". He had made a few of them during the course of shaping the upward nose movement. Sure enough in no time he was "air snapping" at every tossed treat. Toss 20 treats, 20 airsnaps occured (and 20 treats were scarfed off the floor)! I had time on my hands and no desire to switch to my default behavior of controlling his range of motion. (Ie: putting the leash on and preventing him from cleaning up the treats...which is proven to help speed up the rate of learning to catch) And so I allowed him to eat the fallen treats and I continued simply to shape the desired response with the clicker. Accidentally one treat was timed that it fell into his mouth as he air snapped. Success (and a jackpot) I gave him a handful of treats. Ten tossses, 1 catch. Ten tosses 2 catches. In aproximate 4 mini "sessions" consisting of tossing about 8 treats each time, the ratio of catches grew to 40 percent. While we are still building/shaping the Catch behavior, in just one session of shaping we moved farther than I had in all of my other "catch" training sessions combined.
What is the purpose of this post? Certainly it's not a plug for compulsion training even though I mention using a form of compulsion successfully. It could be a plug for behavior shaping, my most enjoyable form of teaching my dogs today. In fact though, it's neither of these. It's simply a lesson in listening to your dog, never being afraid to take a different route (method), and teaching is not always a cookie cutter process.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Why do they do what they do? The Fire is out of control!
If I could truly answer the question of "why do dogs do what they do", I would be rich. There are plenty of books on the subject, but for every book and every reason an expert gives, there is a dog who defies that reason! Today Fire is one of them.
Rewind...Fire has become a wonderful house dog. In spite of being a high energy intelligent dog, his house manners at 1 yr of age are nearly impeccable. Rarely steals, never chews anything other than his toys, never has a bathroom mishap, and is quiet in his crate all night. Nearly a week ago, I was basking in the "job well done" feeling of having a young dog who was showing promise of being 100% reliable in the house and readiness to challenge that reliability with even more freedom. (left alone unsupervised) In spite of his energy levels, he has days where he's mellow and content just being a couch potato like most of my Dobermans before him. The other day I couldn't get motivated, I used every excuse to curl up and watch movies. In spite of it being Fires most active time of the day (morning after a long nights sleep), he curled up on his dog bed beside me and slept. He was calm all day, sleeping most of it.
Today, I have a different dog sbeside me. As much as I couldn't explain his extra level of calm the other day, today I can't explain his extra level of energy! But he's been Crazed since the minute he woke up! Counter surfing, running through the house, jumping on my bed, whining when I closed him in the bedroom with me, and the final straw...He Leaped over the couch!Something he's Never done, although when he was younger he did often leap onto the couch to sit beside us. (*he is no longer allowed on the couch) I finally put him in his crate. It's raining out, and I don't have time to put him through some indoor exercise. If I had a new chew toy on hand I might have opted for it. I don't feel crating is an option for manic energy but today it was the only option I could cope with. I'll make up for it later. He's going with me while I run errands, might be watching the football game with me if it's not raining too hard, and then has his private training with me before I teach class tonight. However had this been a day when he would be required to stay home for hours, I would need to address the manic energy now!
As I often hear from dog owners dealing with similar situations, I thought I'd share some options. I do feel that sometimes the dog who runs wildly around without focus, only becomes crazier if allowed to engage in that behavior. This isn't a proven fact that I'm aware of, just an opinion I have based on my own experience. That said, a dog who wants to run (or jump, or bark) is doing so IMO to release pent up Stress. Not Energy, Stress! (same with the dog who chews excessively) My first choice of assistance for these types of behavior is exercise for the body and mind. Lets first release the stress by engaging in an activity similar to how the dog reacts on it's own. Rather than allowing the reaction, the activity is Directed by you and becomes an Action. If the dog jumps wildly on you or over furniture, teach it to jump on command and direct it over some makeshift jumps! If your dog runs in wild circles (my first Doberman did this); Take it jogging, train it to run beside your bike, hire a runner for it, or train it to lunge on a line in circles around you (like horses are trained to do). If your dog likes to bark, teach it to bark on command and tell it to bark! After 10-20 min. of rousing, stress releasing exercise engage the dog in some exercise for it's mind. Obedience commands work well if they've been taught in a positive way. Tricks are a good substite, or hide and seek (toys or food), or anyone of the numerous puzzle toys now on the market. Finally, present the dog with a toy to occupy it and further allow it to release it's stress if it so desires. This is where a chew toy or food toy comes in. Kibble Nibble, Buster Cube, or Kong work well. Natural bones/beef bones are a second option. Compressed Rawhide only if your dog doesn't ingest too much of it. If you've followed through with the stress releasing exercise, the mind engaging exercise, and the additional choice of a chew/food toy and your dog goes back to wild behavior follow through with time outs if you can do them without turning them into a frustrating session of "catch the dog". When the dog is relaxed and calm And entertaining itself it's allowed to remain out with you. If the dog engages in wild behaviour or attention seeking, it's taken to it's time out area (dog proofed room, or crate) until it settles. It is important to allow the dog back in main area with you when it relaxes in order for it to learn to remain relaxed when free in the house with you.
Hopefully the next day Fire decides to be crazy...I'll have time to follow through with this program myself. It does work, and is the reason why Fire in general is free in the house whenever I'm home. But dogs like humans are not perfect and the young ones will have days when you just don't understand their behavior! :-)
Rewind...Fire has become a wonderful house dog. In spite of being a high energy intelligent dog, his house manners at 1 yr of age are nearly impeccable. Rarely steals, never chews anything other than his toys, never has a bathroom mishap, and is quiet in his crate all night. Nearly a week ago, I was basking in the "job well done" feeling of having a young dog who was showing promise of being 100% reliable in the house and readiness to challenge that reliability with even more freedom. (left alone unsupervised) In spite of his energy levels, he has days where he's mellow and content just being a couch potato like most of my Dobermans before him. The other day I couldn't get motivated, I used every excuse to curl up and watch movies. In spite of it being Fires most active time of the day (morning after a long nights sleep), he curled up on his dog bed beside me and slept. He was calm all day, sleeping most of it.
Today, I have a different dog sbeside me. As much as I couldn't explain his extra level of calm the other day, today I can't explain his extra level of energy! But he's been Crazed since the minute he woke up! Counter surfing, running through the house, jumping on my bed, whining when I closed him in the bedroom with me, and the final straw...He Leaped over the couch!Something he's Never done, although when he was younger he did often leap onto the couch to sit beside us. (*he is no longer allowed on the couch) I finally put him in his crate. It's raining out, and I don't have time to put him through some indoor exercise. If I had a new chew toy on hand I might have opted for it. I don't feel crating is an option for manic energy but today it was the only option I could cope with. I'll make up for it later. He's going with me while I run errands, might be watching the football game with me if it's not raining too hard, and then has his private training with me before I teach class tonight. However had this been a day when he would be required to stay home for hours, I would need to address the manic energy now!
As I often hear from dog owners dealing with similar situations, I thought I'd share some options. I do feel that sometimes the dog who runs wildly around without focus, only becomes crazier if allowed to engage in that behavior. This isn't a proven fact that I'm aware of, just an opinion I have based on my own experience. That said, a dog who wants to run (or jump, or bark) is doing so IMO to release pent up Stress. Not Energy, Stress! (same with the dog who chews excessively) My first choice of assistance for these types of behavior is exercise for the body and mind. Lets first release the stress by engaging in an activity similar to how the dog reacts on it's own. Rather than allowing the reaction, the activity is Directed by you and becomes an Action. If the dog jumps wildly on you or over furniture, teach it to jump on command and direct it over some makeshift jumps! If your dog runs in wild circles (my first Doberman did this); Take it jogging, train it to run beside your bike, hire a runner for it, or train it to lunge on a line in circles around you (like horses are trained to do). If your dog likes to bark, teach it to bark on command and tell it to bark! After 10-20 min. of rousing, stress releasing exercise engage the dog in some exercise for it's mind. Obedience commands work well if they've been taught in a positive way. Tricks are a good substite, or hide and seek (toys or food), or anyone of the numerous puzzle toys now on the market. Finally, present the dog with a toy to occupy it and further allow it to release it's stress if it so desires. This is where a chew toy or food toy comes in. Kibble Nibble, Buster Cube, or Kong work well. Natural bones/beef bones are a second option. Compressed Rawhide only if your dog doesn't ingest too much of it. If you've followed through with the stress releasing exercise, the mind engaging exercise, and the additional choice of a chew/food toy and your dog goes back to wild behavior follow through with time outs if you can do them without turning them into a frustrating session of "catch the dog". When the dog is relaxed and calm And entertaining itself it's allowed to remain out with you. If the dog engages in wild behaviour or attention seeking, it's taken to it's time out area (dog proofed room, or crate) until it settles. It is important to allow the dog back in main area with you when it relaxes in order for it to learn to remain relaxed when free in the house with you.
Hopefully the next day Fire decides to be crazy...I'll have time to follow through with this program myself. It does work, and is the reason why Fire in general is free in the house whenever I'm home. But dogs like humans are not perfect and the young ones will have days when you just don't understand their behavior! :-)
Saturday, October 10, 2009
As Fire grows...
Most of the litter went to their new homes by 12 weeks of age. Due to his leg issue,Fire remained by my side. My heart was attached, and my head had accepted that this dog didn't have to achieve anything in his life. He was pet quality, long term soundness was in question. No future goals of a championship, agility titles, or even a CD existed. Fire's only purpose in life was to be my companion.
In spite of this, I made a few attempts to train him. His puppy aptitude test did indicate that he had the highest aptitude for obedience training/work of the entire litter. I was pretty sure the evaluator was wrong though, once I actually tried training him!I would sit in the living room, as I had with Twist, Tuisku, Georgia, and others through the years...clicker in hand and treats on the crate waiting for a behavior to reinforce. Try as I might, I couldn't shape much. We did get a weak hand touch with shaping. But for the most part Fire just looked at me as if he simply wasn't capable of figuring it out. He couldn't even find the treats when I dropped them on the floor! I resorted to lure/reward and taught him sit and down. But even that wasn't great. He did a good old fashioned "rocked sit" rather than the "tucked sit" I now strive for and teach all of my students to develop. His down was perched as if he would spring back up at any minute. Since he still had problems with his right leg, I left it alone. Afterall Fire would never have to step into an obedience ring! I did have a break through when I taught him "spin" and "here", which were partly lured and partly shaped. But in general his learning rate was slow as was his progression. I eventually stopped working him at home. However during this time I was being asked to fill in for Kaye ( kayeames.com ) in her puppy classes quite often and since Fire was always with me, I naturally started using him as my demo dog.
Fast foreward a few months and somewhere along the way Fire changed. He now catches onto behavior shaping super fast! In fact if I'm not quick enough he'll offer additional behaviors or resort to his favorite default behavior Down! (Down used to be difficult for him) I truly have no idea what switch I flipped or if I am even responsible for the change. I just know I stopped caring about the results and simply took him everywhere with me and asked only for good manners. We had no set training times, but simply worked on reinforcing attention and good manners. In class I would ask him to do things, always reminding my class that he "was not trained". And somewhere along the way he became just that..."Trained"! (as trained as I expect a young Doberman to be) Now he amazes me with his uniqueness. I can be working with him one day and he simply isn't "getting it". I'll try it again the next day and the behavior is there as if trained with much effort and focus. It's been an interesting journey with Fire. His learning style and mental capabilities are very different from any other dog I've had the pleasure of working with. The moral of this post, no matter how many dogs you've worked with...the next one may be very different. They are here to teach us if we are open to learning.
In spite of this, I made a few attempts to train him. His puppy aptitude test did indicate that he had the highest aptitude for obedience training/work of the entire litter. I was pretty sure the evaluator was wrong though, once I actually tried training him!
Fast foreward a few months and somewhere along the way Fire changed. He now catches onto behavior shaping super fast! In fact if I'm not quick enough he'll offer additional behaviors or resort to his favorite default behavior Down! (Down used to be difficult for him) I truly have no idea what switch I flipped or if I am even responsible for the change. I just know I stopped caring about the results and simply took him everywhere with me and asked only for good manners. We had no set training times, but simply worked on reinforcing attention and good manners. In class I would ask him to do things, always reminding my class that he "was not trained". And somewhere along the way he became just that..."Trained"! (as trained as I expect a young Doberman to be) Now he amazes me with his uniqueness. I can be working with him one day and he simply isn't "getting it". I'll try it again the next day and the behavior is there as if trained with much effort and focus. It's been an interesting journey with Fire. His learning style and mental capabilities are very different from any other dog I've had the pleasure of working with. The moral of this post, no matter how many dogs you've worked with...the next one may be very different. They are here to teach us if we are open to learning.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Welcome to "Playing with Fire"!
I decided I need a record of my training for accountability and who knows...maybe others can find some inspiration or at least a few good laughs from it!
Fire is now 13 mos. old and training him has been quite the adventure so far. But then his life has been quite the adventure in 13 short months! I'll start this blog at the beginning. For those of you who don't know his story, Fire had a rough start in life. He was the second smallest in his litter and "Not much to look at" when born. I was rather unimpressed with the little scrawny red male and didn't pay him much attention. However a trip to the vets with the little red female for failure to thrive and dehydration on day two also led to the fact that the little red male was suffering the same fate. Subcutaneous fluids began for both as well as supplemental feedings, and I was up round the clock to make sure the three smallest puppies were nursing in addition to the fluids and supplemental feedings. Unfortunately we lost the red female on Day 3. On Day 4 we weren't sure about Fire. I had taken him and his small black sister in to have their tails docked (the rest were done on day 3) and the vet didn't feel Fire was strong enough. On day five he seemed a little better. However, supplemental feedings continued round the clock for the next two weeks and his weight gain was slow. I was still not attached to him. I was pleased however when he was the first to stand and the first to walk. This signaled a turn around in his health to me. Unfortunately I was wrong there! A few days later, a day before their 3 week birthday we heard a loud yelping sound coming from the family room. My son, who was on the computer in that room came running upstairs to report that the little red male was on three legs. We found him unwilling to straighten his front right leg. Upon closer exam I was pretty sure this wasn't something to play around with so off to the emergency clinic! I'm not much of a worrier, but I started to worry about the little red puppy. What was wrong, would he survive? It turns out that his humerous was broken, and although it healed beautifully without surgery ...the wrapping and advice given by the emergency clinic unfortunately set Fire up for months of problems with that leg unrelated to the break. (they wrapped too tight for too long and it caused strictures) The entire tale would fill this blog. But to make a long story short the broken leg resulted in Fire needing to be removed from the litter. I tried to have his dam nurse him seperately but she was uncooperative. Sitting with him in the whelping area while she nursed the entire litter was hard on me and so within a few days I ended up weaning him early @ 3.5 weeks. (some breeders wean at 3-4 weeks...I personally believe in a more natural process which doesn't result in seperation of the dam/puppies till 6-7 weeks)
Fire became my constant companion and went everywhere with me. He slept by my side in a box until he outgrew the box @ 7 weeks of age. I quickly became attached without realizing it. When he wasn't with me, I worried about him constantly. (this was not a healthy attachment!) As puppy homes started to visit, all inquired about the "poor little red male". While initially I wasn't sure I could find him a home (His front leg still not working properly) I soon realized he would be easy to place due to the "pity factor". But each time someone asked who was going to take him I felt my heart collapse. I think I put on a strong front, smiling and confidently saying someone would take him and nothing "bad" would happen to him...but internally I hated the thought of him leaving my home. I had four dogs including our very special Georgia who was only a year old, and my special Border Collie Doodle who desired more of my time than she got. And I had a family who thought four dogs was four too many! The last thing I needed was a fifth dog! But somewhere along the way my husband informed me that he was well aware he couldn't seperate Fire from me (more like seperate me from Fire) and he was ok with my keeping him. Was it a smart move letting my husband name him? At 3.5 weeks of age, as Fire lay in our bed with his leg wrapped my husband tried to think of "fight" names for him. Rocky, Tyson, and finally "Fire Fighter". Ok that was a bit silly, but the Fire part stuck! Later on I paired it with "Money to Burn" for the obvious reason that he was one expensive puppy at that point in time, and so Joyton's Money to Burn Wescot became a permanent fixture here!
Fire is now 13 mos. old and training him has been quite the adventure so far. But then his life has been quite the adventure in 13 short months! I'll start this blog at the beginning. For those of you who don't know his story, Fire had a rough start in life. He was the second smallest in his litter and "Not much to look at" when born. I was rather unimpressed with the little scrawny red male and didn't pay him much attention. However a trip to the vets with the little red female for failure to thrive and dehydration on day two also led to the fact that the little red male was suffering the same fate. Subcutaneous fluids began for both as well as supplemental feedings, and I was up round the clock to make sure the three smallest puppies were nursing in addition to the fluids and supplemental feedings. Unfortunately we lost the red female on Day 3. On Day 4 we weren't sure about Fire. I had taken him and his small black sister in to have their tails docked (the rest were done on day 3) and the vet didn't feel Fire was strong enough. On day five he seemed a little better. However, supplemental feedings continued round the clock for the next two weeks and his weight gain was slow. I was still not attached to him. I was pleased however when he was the first to stand and the first to walk. This signaled a turn around in his health to me. Unfortunately I was wrong there! A few days later, a day before their 3 week birthday we heard a loud yelping sound coming from the family room. My son, who was on the computer in that room came running upstairs to report that the little red male was on three legs. We found him unwilling to straighten his front right leg. Upon closer exam I was pretty sure this wasn't something to play around with so off to the emergency clinic! I'm not much of a worrier, but I started to worry about the little red puppy. What was wrong, would he survive? It turns out that his humerous was broken, and although it healed beautifully without surgery ...the wrapping and advice given by the emergency clinic unfortunately set Fire up for months of problems with that leg unrelated to the break. (they wrapped too tight for too long and it caused strictures) The entire tale would fill this blog. But to make a long story short the broken leg resulted in Fire needing to be removed from the litter. I tried to have his dam nurse him seperately but she was uncooperative. Sitting with him in the whelping area while she nursed the entire litter was hard on me and so within a few days I ended up weaning him early @ 3.5 weeks. (some breeders wean at 3-4 weeks...I personally believe in a more natural process which doesn't result in seperation of the dam/puppies till 6-7 weeks)
Fire became my constant companion and went everywhere with me. He slept by my side in a box until he outgrew the box @ 7 weeks of age. I quickly became attached without realizing it. When he wasn't with me, I worried about him constantly. (this was not a healthy attachment!) As puppy homes started to visit, all inquired about the "poor little red male". While initially I wasn't sure I could find him a home (His front leg still not working properly) I soon realized he would be easy to place due to the "pity factor". But each time someone asked who was going to take him I felt my heart collapse. I think I put on a strong front, smiling and confidently saying someone would take him and nothing "bad" would happen to him...but internally I hated the thought of him leaving my home. I had four dogs including our very special Georgia who was only a year old, and my special Border Collie Doodle who desired more of my time than she got. And I had a family who thought four dogs was four too many! The last thing I needed was a fifth dog! But somewhere along the way my husband informed me that he was well aware he couldn't seperate Fire from me (more like seperate me from Fire) and he was ok with my keeping him. Was it a smart move letting my husband name him? At 3.5 weeks of age, as Fire lay in our bed with his leg wrapped my husband tried to think of "fight" names for him. Rocky, Tyson, and finally "Fire Fighter". Ok that was a bit silly, but the Fire part stuck! Later on I paired it with "Money to Burn" for the obvious reason that he was one expensive puppy at that point in time, and so Joyton's Money to Burn Wescot became a permanent fixture here!
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