Monthly Archives: December 2012

Obility is what I call obedience where you keep the action moving as fast as possible by blending exercises together and removing as many fronts and finishes as possible.  Sort of an obedience/agility blend.

All of my dogs learn obility, and we play obility games often.   Here are reasons to practice skills through obility:

1)  It’s fun.

2)  It teaches a dog to process commands while moving quickly and in drive.  They have no choice but to focus on you.

3) It allows a trainer to practice many repetitions of an active behavior.

4) It teaches the handler to think quickly, and requires 100% focus from all participants (not just the dog)

5)  It’s fun.  Did I mention that already?

6) And one of the most important – when you eliminate fronts and finishes, both dogs and trainers seem to stop focusing on the all mighty cookie (or toy) and enjoy the process of training, thinking and moving, for the sake of those activities themselves.  So if you’re struggling to reduce your classic reward schedule, give obility a try.

If you watch this video carefully, you’ll see that Lyra is practicing the following skills:  heeling with a combination of precision and drive, moving stand, recall, finish left and right, go out for akc, send out for schutzhund, out/recall with whistle for ringsport, blinds for schutzhund, directed jumping, retrieve, broad jump, moving down, backing up, drop on recall, and hand signals. All that in a couple of minutes with only a few rewards.  What’s not to love?

If you want to see more advanced versions of obility, you can see Raika practicing here:

This story is a couple of years old now, but tis the season, so here it is again….

My son’s school has begun preparations for their their annual holiday pageant.

Each year, dozens of smiling children sing a variety of holiday tunes for their adoring parents.  Except for my son.  He stands, frozen, no movement visible in his lips.

Each year I ask him the same question. “Why didn’t you sing?”

Each year, I get the same answer. “Dunno”.

“Dunno” is a pretty crappy answer coming from an articulate, intelligent child who is rarely at a loss for words or conversation.

Last year, I pledged to make it better.  I spent hours learning songs and singing with him.  I made sure he knew the words and all of the cute little hand gestures.  He was Prepared.

I attended the pageant with high hopes.  This time he would sing his little heart out and wiggle his hands in all the right places.

You probably see it coming….

He did not sing.  He did not wiggle.

After those many many hours, cheerfully working right along side of him, he did not participate.

When the pageant was over, I could not find my son.  Later that evening when he re-emerged, I asked him where he had gone.  He said he didn’t want to talk to me, because I would ask him why he didn’t sing.

Pause.

Let’s call this a  ”Shameful Parenting Moment”.

My son knew I was not asking the question expecting a logical answer.  It was a rebuke; my way of pointing out that I knew he hadn’t participated.  It was criticism couched as a question, and ten years of age is plenty old enough to figure that out.

Never mind that we actually had fun practicing together.  That we sang and were silly, and we had a really good time.

The issue was never the singing or the hand motions; the issue was his discomfort performing in front of groups.  He gets scared and anxious.  He can’t help that, and I’m sure if he had a choice, he’d have been born with the personality of a natural performer.

If it were important to me, I could have introduced him to very small and manageable doses of performance.  Instead of singing for hundreds, we’d do family.  Then family and friends.  And then maybe a few neighbors.  It’s possible that with time and maturity, he’d have the confidence and desire to perform for large groups. Or not.  Either way he is my son.   He is who he is; not always who I want him to be.

I abhor those soccer dads that scream and coach from the sidelines – but was I any different?  More subtle, yes, but the expression of dissaproval and “you should be able to do this” was the same.

A few of you are probably making the connection….

On occasion, I’ll have a dog training student attend a trial with a well prepared dog, and it doesn’t go very well.  We might express our dissapointment and wish it were different, but in the end it’s the dog who must feel able to perform.

We can make the dog work for our goals because we are bigger and stronger.  The dog cannot speak, so we can ignore her opinion.  We can ignore even the most extreme non-verbal expressions of unhappiness.

Or we can accept the dog that we have.

We can set a basic floor of comfort for the dog and abide by it.

We can have an agreeement, “I will do what I can to make this sport enjoyable.  I will not put you in  a position where you are unreasonably stressed or unhappy.”

We can take responsibility for making the dog ring ready by exposing her in small doses, over time, to those aspects of dog shows that are difficult.  We can go to training classes and work at appropriate distances.  We can learn about stress and fear, and create a plan that allows the dog to build confidence in herself and in her handler.  We can improve our relationship.

We can enter the ring with a dog that is clear on each exercise and as well prepared for the work and the environment as we can master.

What we can learn with our dogs, working through the journey that is competitive obedience, is pretty darned cool and interesting, regardless of the outcome.

In a week, the annual pageant will come around again.  My son knows the songs and the hand motions.  I enjoyed the hours spent practicing with him.  I also know that soon he will be a teenager, and there will be fewer opportunities.

I’m fortunate that last year he was able to speak to me, because this time, I was able to hear him.

My son wants a Ferrari for Christmas and  I’m thinking about getting it for him.

I can afford it; my neighbor has a used one for sale.  Apparently it’s been “too much car” for him, so it’s sat in his garage.

I will definitely give my son driving lessons – I know that owning a car like that is a true responsibility.  My son hasn’t learned how to drive yet, so I may have to make some modifications to the car, just in case it turns out to me be “too much car” for us as well.

Performance cars have special tires; they allow the car to corner at high speeds and provide exceptional traction.  Excellent in a racing car, but probably overkill for our family, so I will take it down to Costco for some regular Honda tires.

Performance cars also tend to be noisy – my neighbors are going to object if every morning the car roars to life.  Part of the problem is the muffler – or lack thereof, so I’ll need to add a muffler.

Obviously there are liability issues with a fast and powerful car, so I’m only going to let him drive it when I’m there to supervise.  Otherwise it will stay in the garage where everyone can be safe.

Some of you may be thinking a Ferrari is overkill for a child, but my son really needs a hobby, and it does appear that there are a variety of tools and modifications that I can use to settle the car down.  A little change here and a little change there, and soon I’ll have a Volkswagen interior with a Ferrari body.  The car doesn’t care if we take out every ounce of it’s Ferrari nature – it’s just a car.

You should see what my neighbors want to buy for their family.  A working line German Shepherd.  The dog is supposed to become a hobby – the husband needs something to do when he gets home from work.

They know that a working line dog is a huge responsibility.  They guard the property and can be suspicious with people – but they’ve heard that the right tools can control that.  Rambunctious in the house?  That’s why you should kennel a working dog.  Boredom in the kennel causes barking?  Got a special collar to stop that.  Dog’s brain spins 10 times faster than the trainer’s brain?  That’s OK too – all sorts of special tools can slow the dog down and suppress his instincts, so the owner will have some time to think about what to do next while the dog bubbles over with frustration.

Soon, he’ll be well behaved. Quiet.  No trouble at all.  And delighted with his incompetent training simply to get out of his kennel.

The potential owner of this dog has already been warned that “high drive dogs” aren’t like other dogs.  They require a firm hand, lest they attempt a hostile takeover.  Cannot live in a home.  Require a  wide range of power tools, because “no one can train a dog like that” without suppression.

No one.

Lightening quick, responsive and designed for performance.  In a car, that’s my worst nightmare.   In a dog, that’s my dream. I wonder how the dog feels about the modifications that are designed to take out every ounce of who he is and what he’s been bred to be, so that an unsophisticated trainer can handle a dog that is way outside of their skill level.

My son cannot even drive a car, so I will not buy him a Ferrari.    It takes more than desire; it takes time and dedication to develop the skills to handle power intelligently, and common sense suggests that a novice learn on something easier rather than blaming the car for its design.  You don’t get a Ferrari if you haven’t succeeded at freeway speeds with a Honda; stronger brakes and heavier bumpers are not the answer.

Might be something for my neighbor to think about.

If you want beautiful heeling, there’s something you need to know.

It’s more important than your reward structure.  It’s more important than verbal markers or clickers.  It’s more important than throwing corrections into your training.

It’s where your dog receives the reward for their work, regardless of the quality of that work. Where that reward process starts and where it ends.  It’s perfectly fine to reward a dog that is out of position; just make sure that the reward placement makes them more likely to be correct the next time.  And dont’ mark the incorrect work; just reward in a manner that fixes the mistakes.  Dog is lagging?  Throw the toy straight ahead.  It’s ok if you throw when they’re still lagging; they’ll get better and better even if you do nothing else.

Many trainers believe it’s not important -that as long as you mark a behavior with a “yes” or a clicker then you can give the reward anywhere you want.

They’re wrong.  It’s as simple as that.  You see, I used to believe that too; all that mattered was the marker – the “yes” or the “click”.  Then I battled a forging problem for a few years, until a pet dog trainer suggested that I change the placement of my reward.  I wasn’t  inclined to listen to her (“just” a pet dog trainer),  but to be polite I decided to give it a try.

It worked in a matter of days.  She was right.  I hate it when other people know things that I should know.

Markers are nice, but placement of reward is far more important.  This is brought home to me every single time I teach a seminar or train a dog in a private lesson.  If I could have either a marker OR excellent reward placement, I would take reward placement, hands down.

The rest of this blog is specifically for Gretchen and her wrapping, forging, crabbing Rottie.  Gretchen, once we change the position of your reward in heeling, you will stop tripping over your dog in a matter of days.

The reward must be given in a position that inconveniences the dog if they are out of position.  Forging?  reward behind.  Crabbing, reward to the dog’s left.  Wrapping?  Behind and to the left.  This technique works for all training, not just heeling, but today I’m going to demonstrate heeling.

Almost all of my own dogs will develop a tendency towards these sorts of problems – it’s normal and typical of dogs that are trained in drive.  They like the game.  They want to watch your face.  They want to see the toy you are holding.  So they get closer and closer to it – I doubt they even know they are doing it.  If I lose vigilance for any period of time then these problems will come back, so correct reward placement never ends.

Here’s a video of correct reward placement for a dog prone to wrapping, crowding and forging.  I also do specific moves in heeling which help Lyra learn to control her body, but this blog isn’t about that today, though it is certainly demonstrated in the video.  This blog is about rewarding her position.  You’ll notice Lyra’s position is pretty good; not perfect but on the way to being both accurate and pretty.

The first minute or so demonstrates reward position when I use a tug – I have her spin away from me before she gets the toy.  The second part demonstrates reward position when I throw the toy – to her left and slightly behind.  If she were seriously crabbing, I’d change the position of the reward to be further back, so she’d have to turn even harder to the left to get the toy.

If I were using food the same principles would apply.  Feed where you want the dog’s head – high up and on the OUTSIDE of the head, if your dog is likely to wrap.  Or throw the food.  Behind, to the side, or both.

I recently had a conversation with a woman from a seminar.  She’s been in dogs for a long time now; an obedience competitor who dabbles in agility and other dog sports.  She wants to learn; attends a very large number of seminars, and thoughtfully sifts through what she learns to create a workable plan for her dogs.  She’s neither traditional nor primarily positive in her training.  She’s a trainer of both dogs and people; working as an instructor for her local training club.  She’s kind, thoughtful and helpful.

In private, she opened up a conversation about a few comments I made in the seminar – comments about the logic of using compulsion to teach an exercise (specifically the retrieve).  She talked about the dogs she had over the years, and what led her to the decision to use a forced retrieve- convincing the dog that retrieving was not optional.

In our conversation, I heard unsureness or maybe a little  discomfort.  Not based on my responses, but more the conflict in her own mind between wanting to use minimal compulsion and the need to get the job done – to get the exercises taught in a fair, expedient  and reliable manner while retaining joy in the work for both halves of the team.  Tradition -( the dog must perform) vs. motivational training -(make it worth the dog’s while) were in conflict for this trainer.

Having just finished the seminar, I knew that she had some understanding of my opinion – I don’t really have a problem getting the retrieve taught using positive methods and with relatively little effort – and they are surely as “reliable” as the next person’s dog.  But then she made a final comment which really struck me.  She said, “If I teach it your way, there is no one to ask for help when I have problems”

And therein lies a root problem.

I don’t live at the seminar location, and neither do any other competitive, motivational trainers. That leaves her with a choice; start down an unknown path with little help, or continue in a known direction.   I believe she’ll continue with what she knows, and I do not fault her for that.  She loves her dogs and provides them with a good quality of life.  She tries to be fair, positive and consistent, but at the end of the day she also values participating in her sport.  She wants her dogs to enjoy the training process, but isn’t  quite ready to give up control – to throw out 35 years of training, especially when her training is far from cruel or unethical.

I’m not offering new tools in the toolbox; I’m suggesting a whole new toolbox that suggests you throw out many of your old tools.  That’s not very comfortable when your current methods seem fair, even if  those methods are occasionally unpleasant for the dog.

At the same time, what I offer seems attractive.  Reliability, enthusiasm and teamwork with a cooperative teammate.  Hard not to want it but at what cost? What if the dog fails to perform; where is the “have to”?  I tried to demonstrate and explain that issue thoroughly over the course of the seminar weekend, but she wasn’t  quite ready to hear me. Intrigued?  Yes.  Sold…no.

I’m hopeful that as motivational training becomes better understood, kind and thoughtful trainers with a traditional background will find access to the answers and resources that make them more comfortable training their next dog with a different philosophy, but change is hard.

Competition training is in the middle of a shift, and it’s a struggle for many who find themselves in between two worlds – both attractive for different reasons. I truly wish this trainer and her dogs well – regardless of the paths she may choose.