The Great Dog Walk Debate

Okay, my head is fixing to explode so I need to blog now, even though I have a ton of work to do today. So, I decided this weekend, while the weather was nice, that I would start training Deuce's dog walk. I videoed our work (posted via FB) and got lots of comments both good and bad. Some of the comments are driving me nuts and rather than try and respond to them on FB, I thought I would respond here and give a better background of what I am thinking and where I am going with his dog walk.

First of all, I do not have a dog walk. I use to have one that Tony made and some kids got on it and broke the middle ramp. Now all I have is the up ramp and down ramp. I had previously used the broken board to train "toes" on (i.e. front feet on ground, rear feet on contact obstacle). I want a stop on at least the dog walk and the teeter. I feel like these are two obstacles that need a stop on them, as a point of collection for the handler and the dog and for safety reasons. I was blessed with Miller to have a natural running a-frame and I pray that deuce will also have a running a-frame since he is so heavy, especially in the front end. Anyway, the latest rage in agility is the running contact. Everyone is teaching their dogs to do running contacts. I do admit, they give you a competitive edge but with this edge also comes some disadvantages as well. I feel like you pretty much need to train this behavior, which consists of muscle memory as well as shaping striding into the yellow, every day. For people like me who don't have obstacles, this is kind of hard. I can't drive every day out to my trainer's house and the weather isn't cooperative for training outside as it is. I feel like there is alot of maintenance to having a running contact. Some people disagree, but I think it is something that you have to train constantly. I do agree that all contact criteria has some sort of maintenance and training but I feel like running, even though it is natural to the dogs to run, is the hardest to train and maintain. I do not feel comfortable trying to train this in my dogs for these reasons. I can train a 2 on 2 off anywhere, using any type of change in surface and I can click for 2 feet on the obstacle and 2 feet off. It is black and white to me and black and white to the dog. I really don't feel like running is as black and white and for that reason, I choose not to train it. I don't need that competitive edge at all, especially if I can train a dog to drive down to position and then wait for my release. Someone commented that she didn't want to train a 2 on 2 off because she would release her dog early and thus degrade the behavior. How, if her dog is ahead of her, especially in a trial situation can she see if her dog correctly strided? How do you correct that if the dog didn't stride correctly? How does the dog every know that it is correct? Do you click for the dog hitting a specific spot or just anywhere in the yellow?



Okay so back to the current times. I decided since deuce has not really been on a dog walk and I am not 100% sure what exactly I am going to do that I would drag one of the dog walk planks out and just have him run back and forth on that. He needs to become more body aware anyway before he goes on a big dog walk and I guess I thought that would be a good idea for him. I also decided to tape his progress, more for me than anyone else. Well, as soon as we started running, he was jumping off it, pouncing off of it, and not paying attention to his feet at all. I decided to raise it up with two little bricks to try and make it more like an obstacle and less like just a plank on the ground. This did make him more aware of the board but made the pounce more pronounced. I had his food tube about 15 feet away and apparently he was focusing on the food tube and pouncing on it. After 10 or tries of this, I decided to stop and review the video and see what i needed to do. At the time, I was using the restrained recall and telling him "go walk it".

After review of the video and talking to my trainer, we decided to add a down ramp and make it more like a dog walk and less just like an elevated plank. I don't regret having one day of him jumping off because it showed me what I needed to do next. I hardly think 10 reps of something, even if it is wrong will hurt him mentally or physically. The next day, I added a down ramp and decided to experiment with asking for toes. The first few reps, I just let him run either with the restrained recall or asking for a wait and then a release to go walk it. The pouncing was still happening but not as bad so I decided at that point to add in the toes command. Of course the first couple of times he just kept on running, but withholding any type of reward, he got it and started stopping. I was getting a mix of him driving to the end and stopping and him driving to almost the end and then taking a couple of slow steps to the bottom. I do like the driving to the end, I don't like the slow steps.

At this point, it was day 2 and I wasn't using a clicker or rewards unless it was just the ideal performance, just trying to see what he would do in different situations. Things that I liked were i think it did show me that he would have a hard time doing a running contact and that at 7 months, he is capable of linking running and stopping at the end of the board no matter what I am doing. I am going to now back up a few steps and really start using the clicker for the exact performance I want (drive to the end of the board and stop no matter what the mom is doing and wait for a release). I will work on the behavior thinking of all aspects, me running, me behind, me in front but will start with what position gets the most success and build from there. It seems that he is the most comfortable with me ahead of him at this point but I am giving him no cues other than just the word toes. I am trying to refrain from adding any body movement, i.e. pointing or turning into him. I want a dog with a good two on two off and I don't think that is wrong to want that!


Here are the two videos. The left is day 1 and the right is day 2. I just finished day 3 but couldn't video because it was dark:(

Sunflower Kennel Club trial 2010

I really need to work more on impulse control on this puppy! He is a wild child, especially in a crowded trial situation. Everyone is his best friend and every dog loves him or so he thinks. My forearms are killing me right now from dealing with his lunging to go see whatever or who ever. I think we may have to have a little visit from the pinch collar. I don't think it will take maybe one or two corrections and I think he will get the point loud and clear. We had a couple of coming to jesus meetings this weekend and that would work for a little while and then his brain would switch back over to "I know this person wants to pet me really, really bad!", so who knows. We did some work at the trial but I was so busy with either miller or helping tony that I really didn't get in as much work as I had wanted to do. He has great focus when food is in the picture so that is nice that I have a weapon. Toys are 50/50, some times he will focus on play an other times not but I don't think that is a stress issue, more of just a brain gone, want to go play with that dog or person instead of the mommy. I have a feeling that we will be having some visiting going on in his first few novice runs. It was so nice to watch so many people start their novice dogs this weekend. I can't wait to be doing that too! That is if we ever get to get on equipment again due to this crappy weather! Lori's puppy is already working on a running dog walk and a-frame and poor Deuce has only been on a couple of contacts period. Oh well, his foundation should be solid when we get started.

Funny story, when I got back from the show, I had gotten a second wind and decided to pick up poop from the backyard. Now, I haven't done this in about three months so it was super bad. I picked up two tall garbage bags full of poop if that tells you anything. Anyway, deuce was outside just running laps and playing either with harley or by himself and in the process got covered in mud. He did this for two hours and when I finished I had decided that I wanted to take a shower. Tony thought it would work to just put deuce in the tub with me while i showered. Well, I am happy to report that it did work and I did get all the mud off of his feet and legs and he didn't freak out too bad but harley decided to join us shortly after deuce got out of the tub. Needless to say, the water got super cold and I still had to wash off as I was then covered in mud! I now have two white legged dogs but who knows how long that will last since our yard is still pretty muddy.

Deuce is worn out and sleeping under my chair and I am hoping he will sleep all night and not be restless. He is a very good boy at shows 99% of the time, just sleeping in his crate or watching. He doesn't seem to get too hyped up watching other dogs warm up or run (other than miller) so I am pleased with this. Maybe he has a little shred of impulse control! I was hoping to get to see his brother this weekend but sherry didn't bring him:( She says that Deuce is bigger, both taller and heavier so can't wait to see them together again. Deuce did get to play with some of the other dogs at the trial and we did do some waits in the kennel with the kennel door open and me sitting back down and waiting for a while till I released him. We even worked on releases with different words and using body motion instead of the word okay and I was very pleased that he was waiting for the proper release. Funny thing was, I would always make him sit before opening the door in or out and I would wait to release him and he would explode through the door so wonder if that is how he is going to come off of the start line? YIKES!

Okay going to bed now. Can't believe I am still even functioning. Didn't get much sleep last night and then had to get up super early since it was tall to small today. NEED SLEEP!

deuce is in the house

I took Deuce to a friend's indoor softball facility last night. I mainly went to work Miller but thought it would be good for deuce to go and we could work on impulse control (YEAH RIGHT). I will have to say, while he was a barking lunatic when Miller was working and while he didn't want to hold a stay to save his life, i was overall pleased with his behavior. We got some great agility work in for sure. We were working on jump chutes with a curved tunnel. It was great work to just have deuce stay at the start line, be relased and then do some baby jumps. We have been working on go jump and go tunnel so having several jumps for him to do was great. We had them super low so i am not worried about doing any damage to his little or should i say big growing bones! He was sending very nicely and of course with little speed bumps, he was super fast. I did have him doing some here's out of the tunnel instead of just running back down the jump chute for control work. The next skill I need to work on is pulling out of the jump chute and coming "here" instead of just taking everything in front of him. He needs to listen! We also did a baby teeter that was very loud, so loud that even Miller jumped. I had him do the bang game with lots of treats and by the end he was banging it down, no problem. He is a little heavy to be on it as it was built for little corgis so we only did a few full teeters. I really enjoy getting him on different people's equipment as this broadens his little doggy horizons.

As usual, deuce's impulse control was at 0%. He got so excited to see everyone and would practically go nuts whenever anyone would come near him so that they would pet him. We seriously have to work on greeting people. Maybe next time, we can work on that more. I did take him to my vet's office today and worked tricks and stays but it was just me and him in the waiting room, so no distractions. Need to go when they are busier cause that is when he is the most distracted. We did play find it and he didn't seem to get it. He has a little stuffed chipmunk he plays with so i hid it (within sight) and then told him to find it. He sort of would search but when he found the toy, he would not get it or bring it back. He hasn't really showed any retrieving skills yet. If you throw something, he will go get it but won't bring it back. If you call him back, he will come back but will drop the toy. I haven't really worried about this but do want to track with him at some point so would like him to want to find stuff. I did put food on the chipmunk but that didn't seem to peak his interest. I guess I need more yummy, tempting food to get him to look harder LOL! The vet's wife, Kim, helped me work on greeting a stranger although she is not a stranger at all to deuce and he dearly loves her which makes it way harder for him to not jump on her. We worked on us approaching each other and him sitting while she gave him a treat. He was allowed to get up when she started petting him but if he jumped up, we stopped and i walked away. We need to do way more of this!!!!! I need to have everyone participate in this exercise. He is 40.4 lbs now so he is leaving bruises on me when he bounces off of me and could injure someone in his enthusiastic greetings. He is also still peeing a little bit when he sees someone he loves so poor Janelle and Jan got pee all over their shoes last night.

I did get some attention work in while other dogs were working. He was doing great with that, really didn't seem interested in the other dogs running unless they ran very close to him or it was miller. He still has a long way to go before he is really reliable on this and I do need to reward way more for good behavior. I also need to drag a crate up there so he can rest in the crate when not working. I am really excited to have this place to work and look forward to working with my new training buddies!

More training videos and teeter training

So this is our video of beep-beep, back-up Deuce. I have been working on back-up and my friend Ami had her dogs back up the steps so I thought I would try it. I am eventually going to fade out the back-up command and just call it beep-beep. I taught him this in about 5 minutes. I did have to put some pressure to get him started by mostly shaped his behavior. I also cheated and used the command back-up, which he knows, so not true shaping, but oh well! I have been doing lots of trick training with him since the weather has been so crappy here lately!

I did get out today and work the table, the teeter and a very low jump. I have already linked the teeter with his toes command and he is doing okay but I do have some concerns. I have him do a behavior before we do the teeter such as here (touch my hand) or sit or down. I then have him go walk it and ask for toes. Most of the time he runs to the end and bangs it down into position, but he is starting to go a little too fast, bang it down and keep on going. He realizes pretty quickly that he missed toes so he immediately turns around, bangs it down with his front end and then puts his back feet on it. While I do like the fact that he knows he is wrong and he tries to fix it, I am not sure I want him to do that as his behavior as in, do the teeter, miss the toes, go back and fix it. I need to talk to Lori and see what she thinks about this. I am at this point not rewarding this but going back and starting over and then rewarding when he does stick it. I may have introduced movement or distance too soon to his toes command so I will work backwards and then start introducing movement and distance again.

I also worked on table today. I have been shaping his table or "load up" in the house with the bed in the house, so he is transferring this behavior very well. Today I decided to add the 5 count so he gets use to hearing that and also adding movement on my part into the equation. He did break the first couple of times I started moving, but he soon realized no reward if I don't hold my position. He also got to do some tugging today instead of just treats so that he gets a varied type of reward. I think he is starting to get out of the must have food as a reward attitude, thank goodness.

Lastly today, I worked a jump with the bar very, very low. We just worked on "go jump" with me throwing the food tube and restraining him so he was driving to the food tube. We are doing much work yet with the jumping, still got lots of growing to do.

Okay so I have been trying to upload a video of deuce and all of his tricks for like two weeks now and I can't get it to upload so I am giving up. I will try and shoot another one as he now knows: sit, down, here, touch, roll-over, dance, spin, turn, out, speak, back up, put your butt in the air, shake, wave, high five, wait, and we are working on whisper, sit pretty, and sneeze. No clue why this blog program doesn't like my video, shot it with my digital camera as it seems to upload those better.

So what has been going on lately, well a whole lot of nothing. We have had three pretty significant snows and it has been bitterly cold so most training has been going on inside. I am still working on alot of foundation skills at home and have been taking him to Petco and my vet's office to work on impulse control. This is going to be a huge hurdle for him because unlike my other aussies, he LOVES people and will just about turn himself inside out to go see people. He knows he needs to sit and wait for them to pet him but he just can't control himself. He still also pees a little bit on people's shoes when he meets them because he is so excited. I am hoping that when we have trials again to go to, I can work on his impulse control issues. We have done very limited work on the teeter as the backyard has been covered in either snow or ice covered snow. He is now doing a very nice teeter with a two on two off at the end. We have also been sequencing the table in to work on baby front crosses and rear crosses while he holds his contact position but that is about it. He is going through a phase right now where he we only work for food, not praise and not toys, but yesterday he did work for a toy. I hope this doesn't disappear completely because I was really excited to have a dog that previously was motivated by many things, not just food. I have been doing alot of clicker training with his trick training and he loves that so i will continue that. I found a list on Susan Garrett's blog about 100 things to do with a puppy so I am working my way down that list.

Deuce is growing up and getting so big and so much more dog like and less puppy like. He is going to be a very handsome boy as his markings are very striking. I hope the desire to show him in conformation doesn't creep in too much. I haven't really worked on his stacking or his standing as I had previously thought I would, but since he is such a clicker trained dog, it shouldn't be hard to train if we decide to do something. I had also wanted to start his tracking training but it has been so bitterly cold that even I have been venturing out.

Well, that is a good update for now, got to go eat lunch. Being stuck at home due to snow has its advantages, it makes me want to write!

Deuce's first christmas

This is Deuce's first Christmas and we have had some very interesting weather to say the least. Yesterday, we started getting snow and crazy wind and it hasn't stopped yet. Last time I went out and measured, the snow was at 7 inches, but with the wind, we have at least foot tall snow drifts. I really feel like this is the most snow I have seen since I moved to KS, and we have only had two snowstorms so far. We didn't get the dogs specific gifts this season but gramy sent them tons of rawhide, so they have candy cane rawhides and little rawhide bones with red and green rawhide wrapped around them. Needless to say, they will have some interesting colored poop for a while. They were kind enough to share their bones with Chloe and Dana and Haley, their whippet girlfriends. They also got to each get a big spoon full of sweet potato after daddy got what he needed for the sweet potato casserole (and I am sure he is sneaking them more scraps).

Our plans had been to head over to Robert and Deanna's house and spend Christmas with them and their two girls, but the weather kind of changed that. Oh well, we have plenty of food and the doggies are super happy we stayed home with them. As usual, Deuce is wanting to go out every five minutes, just like a little kid and play in the snow so I have to watch and make sure he isn't out too much. Tony spilled something outside so that has been their favorite place to hang out all day and eat snow. I figure at some point, if tony ever stops cooking, we will have to all go out and play in the snow or at least dig out tony's truck just in case we need to go anywhere. Of course, mother nature decided to play a trick on me and brought me my monthly friend about a week early and I have very low supplies so we may have to find something that is open at some point.

Well, not much else to talk about other than I hope each and every one of you have an awesome and safe Christmas and a wonderful new year. I will be posting a wrap up of the year here in a couple of days for your reading entertainment. Lots has happened in the Coleman household in 2009 for sure!

Playing Catch Up

Well, Tony is stuck in Topeka and I am trying not to play GH so I thought I would update my blog. So what is new you ask? Well, my schedule has kind of changed so I am not blogging as much. I have to admit, I was so excited when Deuce started sleeping till 7, but could never get him to sleep later. I don't have a definite start time at work so I usually leave the house around 9ish so I love to sleep as long as I can. He loves to be outside, no matter what the temp so I have been letting him and Harley play outside for an hour while Miller and I catch another hour of sleep. I know, I am being lazy but i LOVE sleep and he LOVES being outside! That is why I am not blogging as much as I use to:)

I am letting Harley babysit Deuce alot and I really hope this isn't a bad thing. Miller babysat harley and was his playmate and it didn't seem to affect Harley (i don't think). They play alot and I do have to separate them and put harley out of sight when I train. Harley really plays hard like Deuce does which most dogs don't so I am proud of Harley for being such a good big brother.

Agility-wise, haven't been doing much, the weather has been too icky lately. We got snow over a week ago and it has lingered quite a while. We have started doing the whole teeter now by having him sit close to the down end and me being at the up end with a cookie. I am trying to get as much speed as I can get and he is doing really well. He has tons of drive and the teeter does not scare him at all. I only do a couple every few days so there isn't too much concussion on his bones. I am also doing lots of toes and am linking the two together only on the teeter. He is doing well and I hope to improve his performance but I want to take it very slow and not rush any details. I need to drag a jump in so we can start working jumping at like 4 inches of course, which is more like a baby speed bump. We have been doing lots of foundation work but need to start honing in on some of our specific skills. I am excited to have a puppy class to attend, probably in the spring when the weather gets better. He needs distractions and to get on other people's equipment. He is still in that very excitable stage, especially to certain stimuli so we need to be able to work through that.

So funny story, I still do alot of work in the bedroom with doing load up (table criteria) on the bed and then doing outs and turns since the room is so big. I still have his balance disc and use it for working his hind end and for working toes. I had been working him for about 10 or so minutes and wanted to finish up on some toes/hind end work and then quit so asked for toes. He gave me that f#$# you look and walked over to the disc, hiked his leg and peed all over the disc. WOW! What an attitude dude! I was laughing so hard, that it was very hard to be mad at him. I really wish I had a video camera as it truly was funny. He is so funny right now with his little dude tude! I am just laughing it off and rolling with the punches. I love miller's attitude so I am hoping Deuce has his own little 'tude as well.

Today we were sequencing teeter to table and he did reach up and nip me so that isn't going to work. I just had a foster dog that did the same thing and I worked through it so I am sure we will be able to work through this as well. I think he just gets over stimulated and he reacts and that is such a herding dog thing. I did work some rear crosses from teeter to table and some front crosses and he held his position very well. I am so proud of his progress for the little bit we have done since the weather has turned bad (and we have added GH to our life LOL).

Okay, promise I will do better in the future of keeping you updated!