Denise Fenzi's Blog, page 29

Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Registration for the June 1st session is currently in full swing at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy (FDSA).  We’ve got about 25 classes gearing up right now; from obedience to rally to nosework to fitness training for sport dogs and the humans that handle them!

Since we have a contest running, I’m adding a link here for anyone who may wish to enter. This contest is for brand new students only.  You can win a free spot for a friend as well, but for that you’ll need a Facebook wall and you’ll need to share this contest there.

You do not have to sign up for the newsletter – if you choose not to, then we’ll never contact you again.

And since free is free and you don’t have to sign up for anything….you really have nothing to lose.

https://gleam.io/FMOKC/brand-new-to-fenzi-academy-this-is-for-you

Bored? Short of time?

Here’s a simple set-up.  I call this “working the clock”.

The basic idea is that you set up a variety of options around the edges of a clock and you stand in the middle.

Here we are working on Utility skills with the addition of cue discrimination (listen to me; don’t follow a pattern!) and proofing (cookie behind go-out marker).

I could have easily substituted a jump for a cone and then done directed jumping.  I could have substituted a glove for the send out marker or the articles.  Or, if I were feeling ambitious, I could have filled many more”spaces” on the clock (up to 12 of them) and put out all of the possibilities that would cover Open and Utility.  And if I really wanted to make it interesting, I could have put out additional proofing options on the clock, likes bowls with food or toys – occasionally sending to those as the reward.  And if you feel the need to heel in every training session, then heel towards or around your obstacles.

If your dog lacks a retrieve, you can substitute cones for gloves.  You can also place a cone behind your high jump and teach the retrieve over jump exercise without a dumbbell. (I’ll show that at some point in the near future with a fun variation.)

Have fun with this!  The goal is to get your dog thinking and to remove the patterns that are the staple of many obedience organizations.

This video is unedited.

 

 

To Own a Dog

Think about this for a minute. What it is to have a dog, another species, for a friend.  A companion who will be there with you, day after day, asking little more than something to eat and a safe place to live.

I can take my dog’s leash off and know that she’ll return to me. She will chase critters, smell good smells, snack on fresh grass or play ball, but always with an eye on me.  When she is done with her most current adventure, we’ll go home together.

I can ask her to come to me and remain by my side, and she will choose to respond because it’s our habit to cooperate with each other, even though she has freedom to choose otherwise.  Yes, I trained these things but she does not follow my requests out of obedience.  She follows because it works for both of us, to live in harmony together.

My friendship with this dog affects other people as well. Walkers, cyclists, and equestrians all smile as we pass by. My dog’s joyful leaping and running infects other people with her happiness; a reminder of the pleasure of being curious and free.  I am gratified to realize the power I have to make another living creature so joyful as she bounces and runs on our way out.  Alone, it’s just a walk, but with my dog it’s our shared exploration.

And then I see people smile when we return.  Now my dog walks quietly at my side, keeping me company. Everyone is happy to see our companionship. Things feel right in the world when a person is out with their dog, together with friendship.

There is no comparison between a person walking alone and a person walking with a dog. I have all of the benefits of solitude; time to think and breathe, but none of the disadvantages of being alone. I am not alone.

Not all dogs are so beautifully balanced, but a lot of dogs are, or have the potential to be. How amazing this is, a species that is not considered rare or valuable – just a dog that we take for granted, willingly staying in our homes and by our side. Dogs are widely available; many people can have one, which means that you can go out and adopt or buy a friend. Think about that. You can adopt or buy a friend. Doesn’t even matter if you’re a nice person – you can still have a friend.

I put in some time to get to friendship, but that wasn’t work.  As with all relationships, part of the pleasure was finding ways to have both of our needs met.  I enjoyed her youthful silliness as well as the training time that gently helped mold her maturity.  And now, as my dog approaches her twelfth birthday, I marvel at the connection we’ve built with little more than the natural capacity of our species to fall in love with each other.

I can pet her soft fur, share a snack, or we can walk. I can work on my computer and she’ll be found asleep under my desk.  And when I go to bed for the night, I know she’ll sleep nearby.  She is always there, waiting for me, for the price of her name.

In exchange for a few meals, the occasional walk, and a hand on her head when she asks for attention, I have a friend.  Day after day, that’s all it takes for my dog, a different species, to choose me.  An animal living contentedly in my home and giving back to me in ways to numerous to count.  A bit of a miracle, really.

If everyone had a dog for a friend – not because they thought they should get a dog, or to do dog sports, or to guard the house, or because families have dogs – if people got a dog for a friend, and then learned to treat that dog as a friend, the world would be a very different place.  A kinder, warmer and better place.

 

Books by Denise Fenzi

I’m all worn out this week, so rather than writing up a blog, I decided to cheat and use today’s blog for advertising instead.  The following is a summary of books that I have written (either alone or with Deb Jones) and where to buy them.    Take a look if you’re interested.

You may not have known that I have an online store, The Dog Athlete.

While I sell a range of dog toys specifically for competition dogs, the most important thing that I began selling after August of 2013  was THE BOOK.

That I wrote with Deb Jones.

The title is:  Dog Sports Skills Book 1: Building Engagement and Relationship.

That book got us started and then..we won the 2013 Maxwell award for Behavior and Training Book of the Year!

BUT WAIT!  That was a while ago, in August 2013!

The SECOND BOOK was published in August of 2014, and is available as well!

The title of that one is: Dog Sports Skills Book 2:  Motivation.

and then…that one also won the Maxwell award for Behavior and Training for 2014.  Wow; we were so proud!

And we just kept on writing.  And so, as of July 2015, there came a THIRD book in the series.

The title of that one is:  Dog Sports Skills:  Book3:  Play!

And then The Dog Writers of America honored us for the Third Year in a row.  We won ANOTHER Maxwell award – also for Best Behavior and Training Book (2015)!

Around that time, I decided that the topic of “Distraction training” needed to be discussed in a book, especially for the pet dog market, so I went back to writing; this time by myself.  The title is:  Beyond the Back Yard:  Train Your Dog to Listen Anytime, Anywhere!  

This book (Beyond the Back Yard) will help you gain cooperation under a range of circumstances and with only about ten minutes of training time per day! You’ll be taken through a systematic and comprehensive plan to get you where you want to be: A reliable companion who cooperates off leash, away from home and….when other things are going on around you!

Because this book is written for the pet market, you’ll have to do some improvising if your goal is competition. The process is is identical, but the examples I chose to use and the types of distractions are geared towards the pet market.  This book also comes with a comprehensive six week Instructor’s Guide so that professional dog trainers can teach classes based on the material.  You simply download the instructor’s guide from my website (instructions in the book).

Since it is now clear that I cannot stop writing, I went back to my computer, and this time I wrote a book called “Blogger Dog Brito.”  This book tells the story of Brito’s life – from Brito’s point of view.  Reviews have been excellent on Amazon – check for yourself and you’ll see.

This book is designed to give children (and adults) an education about how to develop a relationship with a dog.  The goal is that the reader will be so entertained by Brito’s adventures that they wont’ notice that they are receiving an education.  And if the Amazon reviews are any indication, then I’d say it’s working.   Check it out.  Even if you don’t have any kids or grandkids – go ahead and take a look!  You can see it here:  Blogger Dog, Brito!

Now…let’s go back to the books written for the Competition market; the Dog Sports Skills Series:

The first book in the Dog Sports Skills Series, Building Engagement and Relationship, is about how to build the trust and mutual respect required for a really fabulous relationship with your canine partner.  We covered relationship (what it is and how to get it), reading your dog’s attitude (and improving it if there are problems), and exercises that you can do to build your dog’s focus and love of working.

The second book in the series, Motivation, is about….Motivation!  See, the title gave you a good hint!  What motivation is, how to get it, and pages and pages and pages on the subtleties of motivation that most people really don’t think much about.  For example, if you’re going to use a cookie and a toy – which should come first?  Read the book to really understand this topic.

This all brings us to the third book in the series – the most shiny new one!

Book 3 is about: Play.

From an early reviewer:  “In the highly anticipated third book in the “Dog Sports Skills” series, authors Denise Fenzi and Deb Jones this time turn their attention to this hot topic.  Book number three lives up to the very high standard set by the previous two books, and fans of the series will not be disappointed. This is a fantastic addition which is sure to broaden your understanding of a crucial element of training performance dogs.

If you want to develop your playful relationship with your dog, this book is easily the most comprehensive source on the topic, covering food, toy and personal play in great depth. Fenzi and Jones begin by explaining that good play is not measured by the techniques you use, but rather the amount of enjoyment it generates between you and your dog. They continue to explain that each trainer and dog is unique, which means that what works for one dog won’t necessarily work for others. Fenzi and Jones discuss the dog’s natural play style, the importance of not overwhelming your dog with enthusiasm, and how to take a fun test to determine whether your dog is playing for fun, or because you insist. They also consider your own preferences and what to do if your dog doesn’t like to play. And then they go into great detail! Fenzi and Jones discuss HOW to play with your dog! HOW to problem solve if your dog doesn’t’ respond to your overtures! And HOW to proceed to develop as wide a range of options as possible for all types of dogs, from shy wallflowers to over the top high drive dogs. When you finish this book, you will know a great deal about all types of play. Indeed, you might have a hard time finishing the book since you will be in such a hurry to put it down and try out some fun games with your dog!

As the authors explain: ‘Each book in this series is more than a stand-alone resource. They are pieces of a puzzle that will eventually weave into a tapestry of concepts, ideas, and applications that create both excellence in training and a very deep respect for, and understanding of, another living creature.”

Ok.  You are now officially up to date as far as books that I have written, either on my own or with Deb Jones.  I hope you’ll find something that appeals to you!

If you order from me, I ship fast so you’ll have it in a couple of days.  Plus, if you put in coupon code: books   before the end of the this month (April 2016) you’ll get a 10% discount on books.  Only exclusion there is multiples of the same titles beause they are already discounted.  Note that I have “package deals” so if you order several books you are best off ordering from me if you are in the US.  My website is:  www.thedogathlete.com

If you’re outside the US, you’ll need this info:

For Orders in the U.K and Europe, please contact: www.dogbooksonline.co.uk. E-mail inquiries may be sent to: enquiries@dogbooksonline.co.uk.  or…Order from http://www.positiveanimalsolutions.com/Dog_Sports_Skills_Book_3_Play_by_Fenzi_and_Jones_p/dogsports3.htm

For Orders in Canada, please order on-line at: http://dog-books-canada.myshopify.com/

For orders in South Africa, please contact: http://www.performancedog.za/

For Orders in Australia, please order at:  http://www.politepaws.com.au/store/in...

and if you don’t like ordering from smaller websites, you always have the option of Amazon.com

And while you’re at the Dog Athlete website, go to the “Free Downloads” section and pick up whatever you can find!

Leadership

Today I worked both Lyra and Brito through a series of simple behaviors. All of the exercises involved skills that they know well, like circle a cone or pivot on a disc, but I had to read exactly how each one was to be performed off of a piece of paper.   I had food and toys available to me and I was working in my home training area.

And it was a bit of a disaster.

Even with my dogs on a stay while I read, the lack of leadership on my part was obvious and as a result, each time I started a new behavior I could feel how we had lost our working connection. I didn’t have a clear plan for our working time, and they knew it.

This got me thinking about novice handlers; the ones who enter the competition ring without sufficient confidence in what is going to happen.  Or who train haphazardly and without a plan, losing energy as they move equipment or contemplate what to do next.

Leadership is critical.  Your dog has to believe that you know exactly what is going on, and that you’ll maintain the flow of training.  This doesn’t necessarily mean being energetic, but it does mean being connected and confident.

Regardless of sport – obedience, agility, rally or any others, you MUST handle with confidence and a plan, even if you’re not feeling it inside.  If you are training, then you must have a clear idea of what you want to do in the session, and a plan for getting there smoothly and with minimal down time. If you are in competition, you must know the order of exercises and where you are going.  And if you don’t – you get lost or confused – then fake it!  It’s better to go wrong and have your dog oblivious than it is to wander around like a lost puppy while your dog loses confidence in you.

Your dog is counting on you.

Try it and see what you think.  Plan out a series of activities, and work hard to maintain flow and connection at all times.  If something goes wrong and you’re not sure what to do, hand your dog a cookie and move on; figure it out later.  Keep the session short; rarely should good training go over fifteen minutes.  Keep you energy level even and work to project leadership and confidence in your plan.

And just for fun, arrange another session where you write out the exercises on pieces of paper, place them in a hat, and after completing one – go to the hat and pull out an exercise at random.  Read it, set it up, and then get your dog.  Try it out.  Repeat until you have completed your series of behaviors.

At the end of each session, evaluate how you felt and how your dog performed. Better yet, videotape and compare.

To be honest, I was shocked at how hard this was for both me and my dogs.  Later on I tried again, but this time I memorized the first several exercises.  It went well.

What did I change?  I added leadership.

Changing behavior by doing things that your dog ‘Doesn’t like’

Do I do things that my dog “doesn’t like” in training in order to change behavior?

Yes I do.  I try to minimize it, but at the end of the day?  Yes.

Normally the “thing my dog doesn’t like” is taking away the chance to earn a cookie.  My dogs don’t like that at all.

Here’s how it works:

I ask my dog to circle a cone which is 10 feet away from me.  I believe that this behavior is generally easy for him – he is fluent at circling the cone under most circumstances so he can earn a cookie with little effort.

But sometimes this simple behavior is quite hard for him.

For example, if I place the cone so that he will leave me facing my deck then we may encounter a challenge, because…LIZARDS live under my deck, and Brito knows that perfectly well.  Indeed, hunting lizards happens to be one of his personal passions.  He engages in it from the house (watching them through the windows) in the yard (when he should be going to the bathroom) and in his dreams (I JUST KNOW).

So what do I do when I send him to circle a cone facing the deck, and then rather than circling the deck he deviates?  Maybe he stops and stares at the deck when he arrives at the cone.  Maybe he  keeps moving, but his attention is clearly on the deck and not on me. Or maybe he just runs off to the deck altogether.

What do I do?

First I ask myself, “Do I think this dog can do this if he is giving his best effort?”  Second I ask myself, “Have I done my best to prepare him for this challenge using positive reinforcement?” Third I ask myself, “What am I hoping to accomplish?” And finally I ask myself, “Have I isolated a single behavior for this exercise?”

Going back to Brito’s example:

Yes, I believe he can succeed if he is trying his hardest.

Yes, I think I’ve done my best to prepare him for this challenge.  Note that this is not the same as doing the best possible training, but in this case, the “best” possible training would require captive lizards or a more effective way to prevent access to my lizard area, and neither is realistic at this time.  That’s called “training in real life” – we do our best.

I’m hoping to accomplish an understanding of what I do NOT want; in this case; I do NOT want him to leave training to chase lizards.  Note that this is distinctly different from how I spend 98% of my time.  And indeed, if I could set up a more effective training scenario I wouldn’t be in this predicament at all. (see last paragraph on real life.)

And finally, yes, circling a cone (without any other behaviors) is a simple and singular behavior.  I wouldn’t use retrieve over high jump for this exercise because that is a full chain of behaviors rather than a singular one.

Here’s how it looks.

I send Brito around the cone with an awareness that he may not meet my expectations for the behavior.

He does not.

I abort that exercise with a delay, or I end the session altogether.  If I abort that exercise, I go and sit on the lawn and wait. He quickly turns back, realizes that I’m gone (along with his cookies) and returns.  Now he has to figure out how to get me working with him again (see my Engagement posts for more information on that).  And since that takes some time, the “delay” is part of what he doesn’t like.

If I end the session, I do exactly that.  I return to the house with his cookies and opportunities to earn them.  If he was ready for this step of training, he’ll see that I’m leaving and will come along. If not, then he will watch from outside the door while I feed his cookies to the other dogs in the house.  By the time I let him in the cookies are gone.  Works great; haven’t done that in a long time.

If I selected the appropriate approach then the very next time that we attempt this exercise (circling the cone) I expect it to be quite good!  If it’s not then I’m going to ask myself a few questions:

 Is hunting lizards more reinforcing for him than my work and cookies and personality and his opinion about staying in my good graces?  If yes, then I’m going to lose.  I need a new strategy, ideally involving less challenge OR I need to increase the value of what I have to offer.  Realistically, if he doesn’t feel “loss” then change is not likely to occur.  Worse, if your dog finds training stressful, then he wins in two ways when he leaves.  First, he gets to hunt lizards, and second, he gets away from you.
Can he actually do what I am asking of him?  If his self control and ability to think in the presence of lizards is insufficient, then no matter how much he wants to cooperate he’ll fail when put into this situation.  I need to make it easier for him by moving further away from the challenge and building up to this exercise over time.
Does he actually know what caused me to abort the exercise?  Let’s say he dipped his head as he came around the cone, and I decided that I didn’t want him to dip his head.  I can “want” him to understand all day long, but if he never knew what the criteria for success was in the first place, then he’s not going to make the connection.  Instead of proofing for lizards, I should be working on the issue of going around the cone the way I want (head up) and extinguish the head dips.  And indeed, if this is the issue, odds are very good that I will simply shut him down because “trying harder” doesn’t help if you don’t know what to do to succeed.

All three of these reasons for failure are incredibly common in dog trainers.  We over-face our dogs (put them into situation where they cannot succeed), stress our dogs (even all that happy talk can be pressure), and change the goal posts (sometimes we ignore head dips and other times we don’t) on a pretty regular basis.

Now what?  Well, if he didn’t learn it pretty darned quick (no more than two attempts) then something is wrong.  Find the weak piece and fix it.

If you repeatedly do things that your dog “doesn’t like” in an effort to change behavior, and if you are not successful, then you’ll erode your dog’s attitude about work.  That’s a very bad thing, so keep an eye on it.

Want to take a class at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy?  Late registration closes Friday the 15th – don’t wait much longer.  Click here for the schedule

Mistakes in positions

I’m working with Brito on position changes.

The possibilities are sit, down and stand.  I also frequently cue the position the dog is in, since a lot of dogs find this notably difficult and I find that is helps their understanding of the actual position as opposed to “try something different and hope for the best”.

Now, before you read on to how I handle errors with positions, I need to put out a disclaimer:

I’m not very good at position changes.  I’ve never been able to get a dog to 95% reliability on random position changes.  I’m not talking the AKC utility exercise where it’s exactly the same each time; I’m talking about training a dog to really listen and nail them – every time, in any order.  So now that you know that I’m at about 80-90% reliability with most of my dogs, you can choose to read on or not.

Here’s a video of Brito practicing.  We’re in a public space where he has only been one time before, and the distraction factor is splitting his attention (and by extension, his success rate).  Indeed, if you watch carefully, you’ll notice that environmental sounds/visuals are causing him to miss more positions than he might if we were in a more pristine environment.  He’s trying hard to look at me and pay attention because he wants to cooperate – I have tasty cookies and work is fun!  But he’s still struggling because the world is very real and he can’t totally shut his brain off from that reality – even when he’s looking right at me.  (If you think a dog looking at you means you have their brain…well.  You’re wrong).

That split attention is not necessarily a bad thing, since the purpose of this session was to help him become more fluent – able to function even under mild distraction.

Things to notice:

I work quickly.  Work should be interesting to your dog, so give them something to do!  I give cues quickly, I reward quickly and I “re-set” him when errors occur quickly – so he has a chance to get it right as fast as possible.

Here’s an example:

At 19 seconds I cue a “sit” and he gives me a “stand.”

By 20 seconds I have moved to re-set him.

By 21 seconds I have him back in the sit where we started (heeling sideways will end in an automatic sit) and I re-cue the sit to a sit.  He succeeds and is rewarded at 22 seconds.

That means in four seconds, he has made an error, been re-set, been re-cued and won.

His next error occurs at 44 seconds – after he is reinforced for his down, he pops up.  He doesn’t like to lay down on the cold, hard cement, so this is not a surprise.   It takes me five seconds (until 49 sec) to get him back into heel position and to re-cue a down.  I do not reward that down, because that wasn’t the challenge.  The challenge was staying down when he was in a down.  So instead, I cue a second down – that is the one I reinforce at 53 seconds)  and…he pops up again!

I have him re-set at 55 seconds, and rewarded at 58 seconds. Now I simply work on holding his down – we practice repeatedly with success up to 1:08.

At which time, I cue a sit.  Failure.

I get him up (re-set), put him back down (not rewarded because not the issue I’m addressing) re-cue a sit with a bit of hand help – and reward his success.

I then work both issues until 1:22.  Hold a down when you’re down and respond to a sit cue from a down.

You can see another error at 1:38 – I cue a sit and he maintains a stand.  I re-set him and re-cue a sit by 1:42 seconds and he is rewarded.

In a two minute session of position changes, we worked very fast – both correct and incorrect responses are handled quickly.  Correct ones deserve the reward and incorrect ones need a chance to be performed quickly so that he can see the difference between what works for him and what does not – as fast as I can possibly manage!

The important takeaways for most people are to have a plan for handling success and failure, and work fast to keep it from becoming a drudgery.

 

Zooming: Impulse Control or Stress?

 

Here’s a common request for help:

“My dog ‘zooms’ in training.  I’ve done a ton of impulse control work and it’s not helping.”

Impulse control work won’t solve the problem of zooming in training, unless the dog also has an impulse control issue.  That’s because zooming isn’t usually an impulse control problem, it’s a stress problem.  Of course, some dogs have both; they are stressy dogs and they also suffer for lack of impulse control.  But that is still two different issues and they need be addressed separately because they have different solutions.  Indeed, training for an impulse control problem when it’s a stress problem is likely to make the stress worse, because training for impulse control actually adds measured quantities of stress (in the form of decision making) to teach the dog our expectations.

Dogs that zoom (run wildly without a focal point when they should be working) to release energy and reduce stress are not exhibiting an impulse control problem; they are exhibiting a stress problem.  And if you pay attention, you’ll often see the cause of the stress immediately before the zoom (missed contact, redid weaves, lost attention, owner mishandled, etc.).

Running/zooming within training is a stress relief maneuver.  It feels good to many dogs.  It has no external focal point.  What I mean is there is nothing “out there” that is causing it – the dog is not going to anything.  That’s how you know it’s not an impulse control issue.

Of course, there is an exception.  Why must there always be an exception?

If your dog zooms for fun in regular life, and then sees training opportunities as a chance for more zooming (Big open spaces!) then that could be an impulse control issue.  Dog loves to run better than whatever you are doing – dog sees a chance to run in training – dog runs.  Then it’s a reinforcer that you are not controlling…impulse control issue.

It’s perfectly normal for some dogs to get the ‘zoomies’ in life – all stress behaviors have a normal variant.  No worries if your dog simply loves to run.  It’s only an issue when you see it in training – when the dog should be doing some variation of work but instead is running madly.

So what would a dog look like that is demonstrating an impulse control issue?

The dog is working,  spies a delicious bag of treats a distance away, and takes off to go help himself!

The dog is working, sees a lovely human a short distance away, and…takes off to visit!

The dog is working, sees his toy on the ground and…snags it.

You get the idea.

Now, a lot of impulse control issues do have an element of stress associated with them.  For example, the dog KNOWS that you do not want him to leave work to steal food, visit people, or grab a toy, but he can’t quite help himself.  So what started out as a simple impulse control issue is now an impulse control issue with major stress attached to it, and they feed each other.  Which means that after your dog does the bad thing…well…now he’s stressed, so he zooms!  And since a zooming dog is at high risk for poor decision making, you may also see your zooming dog start to grab random stuff as he runs – because he’s now having a first class melt down.  Three problems, all at one time!

Fun, yes?

It’s important to get a handle on the difference, and what is driving your dog’s behavior, because the way we handle impulse control issues can actually make stress problems worse if the root issue is really stress and not impulse control.

And while treating an impulse control issue like a stress issue won’t make the impulsive dog worse, it also won’t make him better.

When in doubt – assume stress and treat it as such. You can’t do much harm.

I’m sorry this blog post can’t spit out a quick and dirty solution to each possibility, or I would.    For now, try to understand what is motivating your dog’s behavior and learn all you can about addressing each of these types of issues.  If you know your dog has a stress issue, look at The Bogeyman class with Dr. Amy Cook at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy.  If you know that your dog has an impulse control issue, look at the schedule in general – lots of classes address this over time. And if you’re not sure what you have, then look at “Train The Dog In Front of You.”

 

Think Like a Dog Trainer

If you want to think like a dog trainer, get in the habit of asking yourself (or your trainer) two questions.

First, when learning a new training technique,  ask, “Why does this work?”

When you train a dog to use a foot target before teaching positions, why does the foot target prevent creeping?

(Answer:  Short term:  Dog is conscious of their feet. Long term: Muscle memory).

When you train a dog to back up after each position, why does backing up prevent creeping forwards?

(Answer:  Dog is anticipating backing which is incompatible with moving forwards.)

When you use pocket hand, why does the dog move their rear when you are manipulating the front?

(Answer:  Your hand creates a pivot point; the dog can’t get to the food without moving their rear).

When you’re unsure of how to use a technique correctly, the question, “Why does this work?” will allow you to become a problem solver for your specific situation.  The reality is, the odds that any given training technique will work perfectly for all dogs without modifications isn’t that good!  If you don’t understand why you are using a technique and how it works, you’ll  have a terrible time problem solving effectively when you run into a slightly different situation.

Let’s use pocket hand as an example since I wrote about it last week.  Here are some of the responses that I read:

“This technique challenges me!  My dog is…

Big, small, rough about taking the food, frantic personality, nervous about my body pressure, not food driven, just stands there and licks the food, etc.”  And of course, my personal favorite,

“I tried it and it doesn’t work.”  Which appears to be the generic response when the trainer prefers to blame the technique rather analyzing where they’ve gone wrong in the application.

Let’s consider why Pocket Hand works and, from there, how one might address challenges.

It works because your back three fingers create a block and your pinkie finger becomes the pivot point.  The food in on the other side of the block in your thumb-forefinger combination, just a few inches away.  The dog wants the food but can’t get past the block. To get around the block the dog must work their muzzle around the pivot point – your pinkie.  Because the dog cannot bend their muzzle in the middle, they move their rear to come in from a new angle and get closer to the food.  If the dog tries to reach around without moving their rear, the handler rotates the hand a bit more – so the dog still cannot reach the food as their head gets twisted at a weirder and weirder angle.  Finally, they move their rear to get a better position to reach the food….Voila, rear end movement.

It’s worth pointing out that if the dog can reach the food and if you did it correctly – you should be giving the dog the food instantly.  If the dog has reached the food and you have not released it….why not?

If you attempt to use the pocket hand technique without understanding how it works, then you’re going to struggle, because very few methods are done exactly the same way with every dog.

For example, in the video I showed, I asked the handler to wrap her hands under her dog’s muzzle just a bit.  I rarely do this BUT this handler has tiny hands so it was a necessary accommodation to prevent the dog from simply going under her hand for the cookie and avoiding the pivot point altogether.

I used this technique with a Papillon early in the day.  The Papillon was  pressure sensitive, so we didn’t even touch the side of the dog’s head – just placed the block and the dog worked around the pivot point to avoid handler personal pressure – no reason to touch the dog’s head at all – the visual block was enough.

The papillon was introduced to pocket hand on the handler’s knees – it’s the movement that matters, not the handler’s position.  What if the handler can’t get down on their knees?  How about bending at the waist?  What is the handler can’t bend or kneel?  Try a chair.  I’ve used this technique with handler’s in wheelchairs – you can figure it out IF you understand why it works.

And the lab?  That dog had a big head and a lot of resistance to movement!  Why not work your pivot point  at the back skull and use the whole side of your hand to create the block?

Dog is quick and grabs for the food?  If the dog moves a step, GIVE THE DOG THE FOOD. There is never a time when the dog can reach the food that it is not released instantly.

What if you don’t have any fingers?  Or no hand at all?

Fine – shape it!  Place what you have of your hand/arm on the outside of the dog’s head and train your dog to target the side of their head to whatever you have.  And then rotate your body on a spot.  The dog will pivot to keep their head against your hand/arm.

Ok – handler is in a wheelchair, has no left side mobility, and the dog is tiny.

Ah!  That brings us to the second question a dog trainer should ask:

“Is this the best method for my circumstance?”

Sometimes, after looking at how a method works, you might decide that rather than attempting to modify it for your situation that you’d like to try something else altogether. It doesn’t even matter why – it could be a highly uncoordinated handler with a fast dog.  It could be an extremely talented handler who dislikes luring.  It could be a dog that is so tall that the position is not comfortable for the handler, or will not give the desired end picture.  It could just be that you’re doing it completely wrong.  Who cares?

How long do you plan to smash that square peg into a round hole?

If I have twelve students in front of me, I will make twelve different decisions, based on the behavior of the dog, the skill of the handler, and with an eye to any particular quirks present in the team.  I spend no energy trying to pound square pegs into round holes – what a waste of time!  In my mind, the great pleasure of dog training is figuring it all out; encountering challenges unique to each team and creating an effective route to success.

The faster you ditch the cookie cutter approach the more success you’ll have.

Starting April 1st, I will co-teach a class at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy called “Train the Dog In Front of You”.  For three weeks, I will look at how I evaluate a dog’s temperament and behavior in order to try and balance that specific dog for the best possible training outcome.  Soft dog?  What can I do to make the dog stronger?  Driven dog?  How can I avoid whining or stressing up through my training set-ups and trial preparation?  When I encounter a  dog in a seminar situation, how do I quickly evaluate the team, and make a plan to proceed in real time?

How do you learn your dog?

And then Deb Jones will take over for the second three weeks of class for the “applied” portion – helping the students think about applying training choices to create behaviors to accommodate their particular dog, based on whatever conclusions the student has drawn in the first three weeks.

This is a “thinking” class followed by a “doing” class.  Should be interesting.  If you’d like to join us, registration starts on March 22nd!   Gold spots were already filled by lottery, but bronze is unlimited, and at $65 it’s a pretty good deal!  Hope you’ll join us:

Train the Dog in Front of You.

 

 

 

Pocket Hand?

“Pocket hand” is a way of teaching heeling that emphasizes rear end movement from Day One.  It involves placing the hand on the outside of the dog’s muzzle with a cookie, and rotating your wrist (not your arm or shoulder!) to move the dog wherever you might want them.

A lot of students have learned this technique, either online with me in my Precision Heeling class, or in seminars, or from instructors around the country who are now teaching it on their own.

It falls in the category of things that look easy when you watch someone else do it, but maybe not so easy when it’s your turn.

This weekend I taught a seminar and one of the students videotaped her lesson – part of it included introducing pocket hand to her dog.  She has graciously agreed to let me use that video to help other people learn the technique.

If you do not have some prior training or knowledge of pocket hand then this video probably will not be enough to do it for you, because each dog requires subtle differences.  If you really want to learn it, keep an eye on the classes at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and take Precision Heeling when it comes around (currently on the schedule for the June session).  Or join me for a seminar somewhere (see my seminar schedule on this blog)

For those of you who have been introduced to the technique somewhere, this video is very likely to give you the finishing bits just in case you got stuck somewhere in the process.   Obviously you need to take it further…but this will get you started.

I love pocket hand.  It teaches precision without a leash, works well with 99% of dogs, and allows the handler to help the dog at anytime.  It can also be used to solve a multitude of heeling challenges, from heeling wide, to crabbing to forging, etc.

First lesson in pocket hand

 

And on another note, if you live in the Purina Farms area of the country (St. Louis, MO), you’ll want to attend our second annual 3.5 day FDSA Dog Sports Conference.  Last year we sold out and people raved about the quality of the event.  Currently, we have seven full auditing spots left and we’ve sold six in the past four days, so if you want to attend – and you do (you really do) then don’t wait any longer.

This is the only national conference that focuses on training for competition dog sports.  We’ll have ten instructors, teaching everything from obedience to rally to agility and nosework.  As an auditor, you can watch whatever you want.  At $225, you won’t find another conference that offers what we do at such an incredible price.  That’s because FDSA is about education.  We WANT you there.  We want you to see what you can accomplish with your dog when you train with affection and respect.

The conference takes place June 19th through June 22nd.  You can learn more here:

FDSA Dog Sports Conference

Good luck with it!