Denise Fenzi

Hello Everyone.  Meet my special dog, Fred.

Fred is not an ordinary dog.  Fred is a truly fantastic guy.  He is highly driven to work, motivated by just about everything (including imaginary food), never quits, never falls to temptation or distraction, and will work at all hours of the day or night, regardless of the environment.  The best part of Fred is that you can have him too – he works for all handlers, regardless of your abilities or inclinations.

You see, Fred is not a real dog.  He is the imaginary dog who has a very real presence in the life of my dogs and my student dogs.

Your dog is distracted by another person ?  No problem – work Fred. He’s begging to work.

Your dog is lagging in heeling?  NO problem – feed Fred instead. He’s in perfect position.

Your dog wants the cookie held by your friend?  That’s ok too – train Fred until your dog figures out he’s not going to get your friend’s cookie, and indeed, he’s been missing out on YOUR cookies.

Got a sniffing problem?  Fred never sniffs.  Give all of your cookies to Fred, every time your real dog stops for a good sniff.

And it should go without mention – praise Fred!  He appreciates that.  And your real dog will notice.

Now, there are a lot of caveats in the use of Fred.  First, understand that if you overuse Fred then your dog will simply give up trying.  If Fred gets all of the cookies, then your real dog will finally decide he might as well head back to his crate.

If your dog leaves training because he’s stressed, scared, or finds you a misery, then Fred won’t help much.  Your dog will be happy to watch fred work if it means he doesn’t have to.

Fred is not appropriate if your dog is not trained to succeed – if your dog has no idea how to earn the cookie, then increasing motivation through Fred will not work – your dog must know how to win.

So when is the best time to use Fred?  Fred works beautifully when your dog has decided that he has something better to do.  When he has made a choice to leave work – which he understands fully – to multitask.  To sniff the ground and then run back to heel position when he thinks he can have a cookie.

Fred really works best when your dog falls to a temptation – which you have set up for him.

Fred works beautifully when your dog thinks the reward schedule has fallen too low to make an effort – Fred will suddenly be eating those cookies.

Here’s a video of an excellent use of Fred. Note the single incident learning.  This young collie is set up to succeed several times and then he is set up to fail.  On purpose.  And then he’s tested – on purpose.  He passes the test – the pressure comes off – and he is allowed a few easy repetitions to keep his confidence intact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FaosKglEts

Single incidence learning in proofing – that’s cool.  And useful.  Because if you’re a positive trainer, you must take  moment to think about how you have communicated to your dog what is WRONG.  And Fred… he’s amazing for that.

Writing this post is a conflict for me, because lots of people will read this and will approach it completely wrong.  Dogs that are not property trained will be subjected to Fred.  Dogs that are scared and stressed will be subjected to Fred.  Dogs that cannot win – they will meet Fred too.  That makes me sad.

I decided to go forward with this subject anyway, simply because I am seeing too many lovely dogs, trained positively, who multitask about work – with no consequences.  Consequences must be  part of all dog training, but a good dog training program is so well structured and systematic in it’s approach that it’s less than 10% of training time, if that.

I will warn you now; if Fred does not work, then you do have a problem but it is probably not a distraction problem.  Most likely it is a motivation, stress or general understanding problem – each huge topics individually.

I cannot answer your questions about your dog, because your dog might as well be an imaginary dog for me.

On an unrelated note, if you’re interested in Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, sign up here to receive the class schedule every other month.  New classes start June 1st with registration opening next week!  Some classes will be popular, so you’ll want to sign up when they open.

Two weeks ago I talked about criteria – decide what is important to you and hold the line.

Now I’m going to tell you one more thing, since it might appear that I have a lot of criteria for one young dog.  In reality, I only have one criteria for Lyra. I expect her to concentrate on her work.

Teaching is my responsibility.  If Lyra performs incorrectly but is concentrating, then she either doesn’t know how to perform or cannot perform for some reason.   If this is the case, then I have to find a way to break down the work so that she can perform at a higher level.  Go ahead and forge on your heeling – just pay attention to me while you do it.  I’ll work on that forging over time, at home during our regular training.

If Lyra is focused but worried or stressed, then I have to find a way to make the environment more manageable.  Trainer responsibility.  When I see what appears to be stress or discomfort, I’ll end work so that she can look around.  Not as a punishment, but so she can try again when she feels safe.

And if Lyra is bored but focused on me, or if I have any reason to believe that she is experiencing any physical discomfort, then I need to deal with those issues as well.

Generalization and ring preparation are my responsibility as well, but here the line blurs. I  am responsible for teaching any details that Lyra must know in order to be confident in the ring, but Lyra needs to make the effort to pay attention in the face of distractions.

But if Lyra becomes interested in something else – in the middle of training – then she has crossed the line.  I do not allow multi-tasking.  Lyra can always choose not to work, but she cannot have her cake and eat it too. She cannot check in and out of work; taking the toys, cookies and interaction and visiting with the environment at the same time.

If we are working together, then it is rude for me to ignore Lyra, and it is rude for Lyra to ignore me.  We both need to take our jobs seriously and give our full effort.

Now, if I make a habit of ignoring my dog in training then my dog will find training boring or confusing.  See above – I need to change.  Ending training wouldn’t work anyway – that’s technique is only effective if the dog really does want to work.

At the end of the day, dogs that pay attention and are fully engaged are not the ones who are struggling with their training or competitions.  Engaged dogs are succeeding and enjoying their work, to the extent that they are well prepared and trained with joy.

It is a misconception that high expectations make work a misery for a dog, indeed, I would argue for the reverse.  I’d say clear criteria (at whatever standard you believe your dog is capable of achieving) allows your dog to relax and focus on what they need to do.  Inconsistent criteria creates stress and frustration, because the dog never knows how to “win”.  Lyra knows how to win – stay focused.  The rest I can take care in a training session away from competition.

Select your criteria.  Hold your criteria.  And do your best to meet the human criteria (100% focus on your dog in training) with equal consistency.

On an unrelated note, if you’re interested in Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, sign up here to receive the class schedule every other month.  New classes start June 1st!

Last week I talked about my criteria for trialing.  Many of you will be surprised to learn that I was only holding her to one criteria – the fact that she did excellent work was a bonus.  I’ll get back to that topic in another week or so.

This week I’ll talk a bit about Training Criteria.

Lyra is just now mature enough (and sufficiently interested in food) to begin using food for proofing activities.

In this video, I’m working on proofing front and heel positions with food.

My criteria for earning praise is TRY.  I will always verbally or physically reward effort.

My criteria for earning a cookie is:  ignore the cookie and get the position correct – the quality of the position doesn’t have to be perfect as long as she I believe she gave her full effort for her level of training.

I am comfortable giving multiple commands, encouraging her, and at one point I even started to turn my body so that she would be “pulled” into position – I felt she needed some help so I gave it to her.

Let’s look at this session from start to finish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJZdpt5uHGc

10 sec – start easy – hands behind my back so that I am “neutral.”  Move backwards to make it clear that I want a front position.  To encourage her to be absolutely straight, feed from the top down – not from the sides.  Alternate hands.

21 sec – gave a hand cue when she missed the verbal signal; she is still learning that finish on a verbal.

49 sec – beginning of proofing – I tried to pull her out of heel position with a cookie but she resisted.  Good dog!

1:00 pulled her out of position.  Wait.

1:06 – success!  Praise plus a cookie in correct position - remember to reward for position.  For those of you who took precision heeling, note that this is now a modified pocket hand; I will always use this position for food rewards.

1:10 – an easy one - don’t forget to make work easy AND hard.  It builds confidence.

1:16 – poor choice to feed dog from the wrong hand – I tried to offset this by reaching over her head to keep her straight.

1:21 lovely resisting of cookie.  She also did not move, which is correct.  If a dog is in a position and you repeat the position, the dog may shift, but should not throw something else at you.  This is an function of stimulus control.  An easy way to proof your stimulus control is to ask your dog to do something that they are already doing.  You’d be surprised how many dogs cannot do this.

1:55 – if I ask for “heel” and she jumps back and comes right back in, I will accept it.  She is doing this because we’ve worked so much on “get your butt in” – that should go away as she develops her understanding of what correct heel position “feels” like.

2:08 – note how many “heel” commands I give.  I’m totally comfortable with this.  I don’t want her to get stuck and she is trying, so I help her.

2:28 – I decide that she needs more help so I turn my body.  This is to use the force of my body against the force of the cookie – I’m lessening the pressure of the “proof” without actually making the proof itself easier.

2:50 – she figures out the heel position but not the head position – I go ahead and reward.  I follow this up with an easy rep for confidence.

3:12 – this moment tells me that she learned from the hard proof that she just finished – she takes much less time to make a good decision.  I tell her how proud I am!

3:34 – asking for a front after doing a series of proofs in heel position is quite a challenge.  As soon as I ask I realize I’ve made a mistake.  I cannot use a cookie to “lure” her there, because I just finished using the cookie as the “anti lure”.  So I use my body in a manner that pretty much forces the issue and causes her to come to front.

3:45  we’re just beginning this work – I give lots of support for effort.  Note that I’m tilting my body to help her; fine at this stage but eventually she needs to do it on her own.

4:08 – nice!

4:20 – that was difficult and she did it.  Good girl.

4:25 – note that moving towards the cookie hand is actually much harder than away.  That is why I praise even though her sit is obviously quite crooked.  No cookie but nice praise.

4:35 – she gets confused here.  This is a typical place for confusion – it looks to her like I’m opening up a space for her to pivot since I often teach going to heel position that way.  I do not allow her to get into heel because I know she’ll get stuck, so I turn quickly on a circle to get her reset.

I was very pleased with her work in this session.  I felt that she tried hard and that she made definite improvement in her understanding of ignoring distractions and finding the correct positions with a verbal cue.  She will have one more training session today – outside where we can run and play so we don’t have to rely so much on the rewards!  Remember, precision work is boring for a dog, so reward schedule should be high to offset the fact that there is little you can do to make this exciting.

Need help with your dog’s precision?  Sign up for the on-line Obedience Problem Solving Class with myself and Nancy Gigliardi Little at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy – registration opens May 15th.  To be kept informed of all upcoming classes, sign up for the catalog/newsletter.

I went to an Obedience Fun Match Today; best $36 I’ve spent in awhile.  Lyra was calm, friendly and curious.  She sniffed around, visited a few people, calmly watched dogs working, and had two hours to acclimate to the smells, sights, and sounds.  For Lyra, being in the presence of dogs and remaining calm is a very big deal.

When it was my turn to enter the ring, I said Lyra’s name.  One time.  Quietly.  She turned to me with both ears up, tail wagging, and expectant. I allowed her into heel position.  Lyra is not allowed into heel position if I do not have two ears up, tail wagging and an expectant face.

I approached the ring.  Lyra was perfect.  She showed tension throughout her body as she worked to maintain perfect position.  We passed spectators, dogs, the table, and the entrance to the ring. Perfect.  Lyra is not allowed to enter the ring if I do not have perfect attention.

The steward brought me to the judge;  Lyra remained perfect.  Never took her eyes off of me; never twitched an ear. Removed the leash and handed it to the steward.  Just excellent.

As the judge took over, Lyra did not waver.

Five steps into the heeling and she was exactly what I have trained for – engaged, accurate and beautiful.  That was enough; I took my toy off the table and we commenced a party – a very big one in recognition of her tremendous success at her first match.  We ran. We did “thru’s” and “fly”.  We did directed jumping with no fronts .  A few quick flip finishes, some pushes and turns; a party for a lovely dog who met criteria.

Another short stretch of formal work – heeling, a bit of backing, and a signal or two.  Again Lyra met criteria and earned herself another first class party.

And one last attempt.  As we approached the table, I saw an ear flicker; a bit of interest in what was happening over there.  I slowed my pace a bit to catch her and then she looked away from me.  First mistake; one retry.  I backed up and redid exactly that same movement in that same spot.  She did it again; coming into the about turn she lost attention at the steward’s table – maybe .5 seconds worth.  She did not meet criteria.

I went to this match fully expecting Lyra to fail; indeed I had already told the judge that we’d be lucky to get five seconds worth of work. I know she can do the work. I know she is trained to my level of expectation.  I know she cares about working with me – when she doesn’t  find something better to do.  I know Lyra, and I had a plan.

Working for me is a privilege.  I do not “make” my dogs do anything – I saw plenty of that with other teams, and I’m surely not going back to that picture.  So I punished her by taking away what she cared about; I took away the chance to work. I handed her to my friend (who was waiting for just this moment), and I took out another dog who was crated at ringside for this purpose.  And the party continued – with a different dog.

When time was up, it  was over.  I chose not to give Lyra a second chance.  This was her first match ever, and I wanted this lesson to stick.

No training outside the ring – that is not where the party takes place at this stage of training.   No physical corrections, cajoling, begging, bribing, or cheering. I took my trained dog to a match, and I expect her to perform to the level that her maturity and training allows.  Set your criteria to a reasonable point and stick with your plan.  Slipping criteria that have a way of degrading further over time, so think twice before letting something go that you care about.

Lyra is trained to orient on her name.  Lyra is trained to enter a ring.  She is trained to approach a judge with attention. She is trained to maintain attention in heeling at all times. All things considered, I could not have had a better day at the match.  When she worked she was at 100%, and when she slipped she learned a valuable lesson – there is exactly one way to perform, and it applies at the dog show too.  If you fail to meet criteria, someone else will take your place.

Set criteria.  Good criteria should be reachable most of the time, or you’ve likely asked more than you’ve really trained for. (Indeed, I’m already asking myself if I’ve worked Lyra near enough steward’s tables – will focus on that this week)

Obviously this will not work for you unless your dog values training, so start there.  Do everything in your power to convince your dog that training, working and playing with you are the best part of the day.

When criteria are not met – include consequences that you have predetermined and hold the line.  Every time you help your dog – pull on the collar, redirect back to work, ignore loss of attention – you are telling your dog that their decision to lower criteria was ok with you – you allowed criteria to slip, and dogs don’t  work harder than you expect – they only give you what you train for.  This is the single most difficult concept for my students to apply, even after years of coaching.

If I’ve done a good job, Lyra will be significantly stronger next time.  If she is not, I’ll need to re-evaluate whether she’s emotionally mature enough for the pressure of a dog event.  I’ll have to consider if heeling towards the steward’s table was outside of what I’ve taught.  I’ll have to make sure she’s not stressed or nervous; or that she simply does not care very much about my rewards in relation to her interest in the environment.  I’ll study her and our training, every day, making changes as appropriate until I feel confident that we’re ready for a real show.  Because when we head to a real show, I’ll get what I’ve trained for.  Maybe less, but never more.

No hurry on that.

On an unrelated note, if you’re interested in Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, sign up here to receive the class schedule every other month.

Trainers often say that they don’t need to know why a problem exists in order to fix it; they simply look at the behavior and address it.  I disagree.  I find that identifying the underlying source of the problem is critically important, otherwise the trainer is very likely to apply the wrong ‘fix”.    Carrot trainers tend to add more carrots and stick trainers tend to add more sticks.

Adding more cookies or a special collar might mask some problems, but often the fix is temporary.  Remove the cookie, or the collar, and the problem comes right back.  Keep in mind that there are neither carrots nor sticks in the competition ring – the quality of your training, trial preparation, and communication with your dog is all that is left. Rather than relying on more carrots or sticks, how about figuring out exactly what is going on with your dog?

Let’s take a look at how one might approach a training challenge.  We’ll take crooked sits in heel position as an example.

1) Do you have a skill based problem?  If your dog only nails a sit when you help  (move your shoulders, repeat the command, tension on the leash, cookie in front of nose, etc.) then you may have a skill based problem.  You need to learn how to teach a dog to sit straight. A few points to consider are the placement of the reinforcer, developing muscle memory, and setting up well thought out and structured training sessions that are designed to highlight the issue for your dog while supporting her while she learns. Teaching your dog how to be right is a lot more valuable than addressing what happens when she is wrong. (hint:  straightening a dog who sits crooked is almost a waste of time – teach them to be right in the first place, BEFORE the butt hits the ground)

2) Do you have a motivation problem?  If your dog can nail a perfect sit when he is wearing a pressure collar or a cookie is sitting in your pocket, but not so much when the props are gone, then consider that you may have a motivation problem.  Your dog only performs when the consequences (positive or negative) are nearby and immediate.  This will not get you into the ring.  If this is your problem, you’ll want to learn about fading reinforcers, competition preparation techniques (backchaining, interval training, etc.), and how to be a more engaged handler who does not rely so heavily on external reinforcers.

3) Does your dog understand that his correct or incorrect behavior causes the cookie or correction , even when they are not immediate?  If your dog sits straight when you have a collar or cookie, but not when the cookies and leash are sitting on the chair, then you may have a problem with the link between the behavior and the consequence.  If your dog does not understand the relationship between a straight sit and the cookie sitting on the chair thirty feet away, you’ll want to work on this issue.  Interval training and back chaining can help you.

4) Is your dog scared or stressed?  If your dog nails every sit at home, regardless of the presence of reinforcers or punishers, but melts down in public, consider that your dog may be scared or stressed.  Some scared dogs stop moving and show classic signs of discomfort, whereas others start to run around and throw themselves at their trainers (if they have received support in the past)  or into the world (if they have been punished for turning to their trainers).  Scared and stressed dogs need time to acclimate and they need to trust their trainers to keep them safe.  If the problem is serious then a behavioral program is probably a good idea.

5) Is your dog attracted to the environment? Dogs that are attracted to the environment work perfectly at home, but are much more interested in greeting other dogs and people or sniffing the ground when they are in public.   These dogs focus outwards with a confident, upright posture, mostly interested in some exploration and interaction.  If your dog is attracted to the environment, then the first course of action is to more gradually introduce your dog to working in the world.  Second, ensure that you are an interesting person to work with (not just the food and toys; the whole package!).  Finally, you may choose to either remove the opportunity to work and earn rewards (mild punishment) or train and reward Fred (major punishment).  Fred is the imaginary dog.  I’ll introduce him in a future blog post, but for now, let me suggest that training Fred can be a life changing experience for many dogs.

What I have not chosen to emphasize is how important it is for the trainer to be an engaged, interesting, motivating and positive person who makes good use of food, toys, personal play and social approval in training.  That topic will take a long time to cover. Maybe a book.  Maybe not so far away!

As you consider your problems and identify the root issues, you may find that you don’t need very many carrots and sticks after all.

There is a dog trainer who has been using the term “Obility” as her business name in California for many years, and she doesn’t think much of my use of that term.

Obility is the term I’ve been using to describe a blend of obedience and agility.  Under the heading of Obility I include “heeling games” and a series of Obility classes that I had planned to teach online at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy.  You can read more about Obility at:  http://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/obility-courses

Regardless of whether she has a claim to block my use of the word, if no more Obility….then what?

I’m rather attached to the term, but if there is to be a change then this is the time.  I’ve taught relatively few Obility classes and seminars, and it’s not widely known.  Yet.  I’d like to see it take off as a “typical” way of training a dog to understand the obedience exercises.

So, I’m looking for a bit of assistance here.  Some alternatives that have been proposed include:  Obedience Games, Fenzility, Fenzi Obility, Fenzobility, Fenzibility, Fobility, Agilience or For God’s Sakes Relax And Have Fun Training Your Dog.

What do you think?  Go ahead and give me your thoughts in the “comments” section.  I’ll go through and pick the ones I like the best for a vote.

Remember that the fundamental parts of Obility are the traditional obedience exercises taught with, speed, movement, and unpredictability.  Obility is designed to reduce reward schedules, speed up the rate of learning and virtually eliminate anticipation or boredom.

So…what do I call THAT?

Thanks in advance.

“Fly” is what I call it when a dog is sent out of one behavior, out around an object, and then called back into another behavior.  In this blog example, we’ll use heeling for both behaviors with a fly in the middle.

There are many reasons I teach a “fly” command.

1)  Dogs appreciate the release of movement when they are working hard in a controlled behavior such as heeling.  Precision heeling is a lot of work – each second the dog is making tiny adjustments to their body to remain in correct position.  If you approach heeling as a highly precise and engaging activity, the dog really needs that release.  Heeling is hard work!

2)  Allowing a dog to leave any tightly controlled behavior – at full speed – clears the dog’s head and creates more energy and enthusiasm when they return.

3)  Allowing a dog to leave work for a short break naturally reduces your reward schedule – instead of handing over a classic reward, you make the release the reward.  Because most dogs like to run, the “fly” operates as both a reward and as a release.  What a deal!

And for anyone who plans to sign up for my Fenzi Obility courses on-line (“Heeling Games” in June or Obility 1 in August), you will need this skill, so you can get a head start by learning it now.

Here’s Cisu learning the first steps in fly:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfZwJKunFEc

At first you can either lure the dog around the object (in this case a stanchion) or shape the behavior – either is fine.  When the dog is flying out reasonably reliably, add the cue (I say “fly”, you can say anything you wish).  Then add some distance from the object – I work my way up to about 50 feet so I can also use it for go-outs as well as a few other obility exercises.

Doing well?  Good.  Now, send your dog out and then turn your back, giving your “heel” cue as you move away from your dog.  Your dog should accelerate back up to you and drive into heeling.  What you do when the dog arrives will depend on what aspects of heeling give your dog the most trouble.  In a nutshell, allow bouncing and forging in a dog that lacks energy, and encourage tighter control in a dog that lacks precision but oozes drive.  We’ll get to that on another day.

Here’s Cisu.  She’s working on building drive for the first 45 seconds or so.  Then I add a control move (pivot left) – which also changes where the reward is delivered. Near the end I add a drop signal (control) and follow it up with coming up into heeling (drive).