Broad Jump - Left Side

We hear that the AKC is likely to allow the judge to specify that the handler stand on the left (new) or right (old) side of the broad jump.  We tried it in class for the first time.  Wyatt seemed confused and walked over the boards the first few times.  I practiced at home and now he seems fine.   It is interesting how a different visual picture will be very different to our dogs even though logically to us, it is the same thing.  

Tracking Sunday

Wyatt did a pretty hard track Sunday of 400-500 yards with 4-5 turns.  In other words, it was a regulation TD track.  I did use 4-5 articles though.  I tried treating out of my pouch but he got distracted with that.  I am going to go back to putting treats in the articles.  I see no advantage to treating from the pouch anyway.  Seems better to just reduce the number of (baited) articles slowly and/or leave some unbaited and just praise him.  I am getting better at reading him and am working of trusting him more even if he appears to be drifting off.  He seems to drift back.  I can tell by his head movements if he is on the track.  Corners are harder to read.  That is the next task.  

Training Log

I have started to keep a log for sits and downs.  I am hoping to see some patterns.  Wyatt has been pretty good lately with an occasional failure.  Right now, I am doing 1 minute out of sight sits and 3 minutes out of sight downs successfully.  

The Next Generation

Runs Thrus Nailed

 Wyatt and I did some run thrus at Clean Run last Friday night.  We really rocked.  I did not have any dog walk issues (he saves those for trials I guess).  On the last course, a really tough USDAA style master's course, he nailed it.  Fast, good distance, and no faults.  

Second Chances - Status

So far so good on second chances.  When Wyatt has popped up on his long down, I have walked away and stopped practice.  He did it 2-3 times and after that, he has not for 3-4 times.  I am sure it is not the last mistake but, so far, I am cautiously optimistic.

Second Chances

I am wondering if my general policy of trying again and giving a second chance is backfiring.  I am seeing three specific instances where Wyatt is consistently doing an incorrect behavior the first time.  These are:   drop on recall where he does not drop on the first one of the day, dogwalk contacts where he jumps off, and on long downs where he frequently pops up.  On the dogwalk, I have been doing only NADAC where you can train in the ring (no Q, of course).  He will consistently blow the dogwalk and I take him back where he almost always gets it the second time.  [This could also be related to my position relative to him where he has a real problem if I am behind him.]  So, what I normally am doing is giving Wyatt a second chance and he still gets a treat after the second, correct performance.  

I am wondering if I have inadvertently trained him to do it "wrong" the first time since he is still rewarded.  I am going to try consistently breaking off training with no reward when he does not "do it right" the first time.  Interestingly, I only see the dogwalk problem at trials.  I cannot get him to fail at home or in class.  The obedience issues I see both at home and in class though I see it more in class.  

Tracking - What Does He Look Like On and Off

We went tracking yesterday and did a long course with 5 turns, one of which was acute.  Wyatt did well except on the acute turn.  He does drift quite a bit and I believe he is checking out the edges of the scent rather than following the strongest scent.  I am going to work him on some easier courses next with lots of straight legs and less turn.  One light bulb went off in reflecting on the session.  What I really need to do next is to really tune into when he is on the track and when he has lost it.  This will not look like a GSD or Golden!  So, instead of trying to make him look like a GSD who is pulling very strongly with nose right on the track, I need to figure out what he looks like when on and off the track.  

First Drop

We have having a real issue with the first drop on recall of the day.  Wyatt does not drop if I do a cold recall with no practice downs beforehand.  If I practice him, he is fine.  I am trying to get that first one.  I suppose I can practice before we go in the ring but I wanted him to be able to drop the first time, everytime.  I have been working with him hoping we will get the idea but no improvement yet.  

Video of Some Nice Qs This Weekend

More later on some interesting contact progress...

NADAC Hoopers and Jumpers

Here is video of me and Wyatt last weekend at a NADAC trial.

Patriot CAVX

I am trying to finish up a few titles for Patriot. He needs one more point for his Whippet Racing Association, which he can get by coming in third or higher in one straight race heat. That should be pretty easy. He also needs one more AKC Lure Coursing point for the American Whippet Club Champion Award of Versatility Excellent. To me, this is the highest award a whippet can earn. It means they are a conformation champion and have significant achievements in 3 or 4 other sports. These AKC points are hard to come by. Since he became a veteran Saturday by turning 7, I figured he could beat one other veteran and get his final point. The other veteran did not show so I had him run alone and then in Best of Breed. He has slowed down and not been coursing that well, but I was very proud of him in Best of Breed. He ran his heart out and had some great stretches being in the lead and running great. He was coming in very strong but really died on the final leg. But I was so proud of him being competitive with the special dog (a champion) and the open whippet who went on to get Best in Field.

Slowing Down For Contacts

I have admit defeat on my latest contact strategy for Wyatt. Last year, when I was working towards Wyatt C-ATCH, I developed a bunch of strategies for contacts at trials. These were little things I could do to get him to slow down and not jump off. Of course, at home and in class, he has an independent 2 on, 2 off contact. But it was hard to remember all the little things to remember to get a good contact. So this year, I committed to just doing NADAC where I could take him back on a blown contact and not have to do all the little things. It did not work. He definitely needs more support at trials.

After looking at video for Saturday's NADAC trial, I saw that be was releasing when he either heard of saw the slightest thing from me that could possibly be interpreted as a release. That could be a jerky body movement (proofed at home, of course). So, on Sunday, I thought, what is I try walking for the length of the contact? Sure enough, it worked. I think he is so ready to spring at trials that the littlest thing is interpreted as a release. When he finally got 2 contacts in regular (I have needed one more for his elite title for about a year), he has trouble popping out at the last weave. So that last leg is still eluding us. However, I do think, based on Sunday, that this will work and I can't wait to try it out at the next trial. I am not worried about speed right now. He has plenty for the rest of the course and I figure I can try to work up to a very controlled job later and work up to a run.

Getting Old

I took Wyatt and Patriot coursing this weekend for one day. Patriot really seemed to have slowed down since last year. He will be 7 in 2 weeks. He was quite a bit behind the 2 and 3 year olds that he was coursing with. He was so far behind, he got unsighted several times during his first run. His second run was better. But it really sunk in that he is getting older and will not be with us forever. Wyatt and Patriot are our first dogs and it was hard to realize that Patriot's prime, at least in coursing, is behind us. Wyatt had an awesome first run but his second run was not as good. He should have gotten first or second single though; we did not stay for awards.

Agility Update

I have been working with Wyatt on 12 pole weaves at a distance. He is doing very well with this and I am able to work about 15 feet away. His success does depend on the placement of the previous obstacle but he is progressing well and I am gradually increasing my distance and putting things like tunnels between me and the weaves. I am working on contacts too but he is really good at home. But I try to fool him to realize early or not stop. But he really seems to understand the behavior at home. Trials are a different story of course! He does not go all the way down and will stop higher up sometimes if I am way behind him unless I verbally encourage him to go to the very end.

Safety in Pack Animals

I was at a little horse fair Sunday and there was a horse whisperer type of person. What he was saying made a lot of sense to me and was also relevant to dogs. He was a positive trainer and emphasized that ideally he animals elects you as their leader rather than through force. In any case, he has a mustang is a large ring before he started. The horse was upset and galloping around the ring and heading towards a fence. The owner was not visible and another horse of the owner's was out of sight but could be heard. The guy claimed that the horse was actually showing a fear of death since it was a pack animal and separated from his herd. My wife told me to watch out and that the horse might jump the fence. I was skeptical but sure enough, the horse did eventually jump the fence.

Anyway, he was saying that you had to convince the horse that you would protect and ensure the horse's safety. It made me think about Wyatt, who is a fearful dog with some separation anxiety, and especially working the out of sight sits and downs now with difficulty. It gave me the idea to work with Wyatt sits and down by actually going out the door. He could not do this at all with his back to me but I was able to work with short (10 second) sits and downs with me going out the door. He seems to break most often when leaving when you have your back to them so I hope I am on the right track working specifically on anxiety when leaving. It is almost makes this less of a training issue and more of a emotional training issue. I also wondered when I saw that horse how it relates to dogs. Wild canines are also pack animals. Maybe what we call separation anxiety is a normal response to being a pack animal.

Drop On Recall Progress

I believe I discovered the solution I was having with drop on recall. When I took Wyatt to class he would sometimes fail to drop especially the first time. I wondered if I had trained him to do this. Somewhere along the line, I had been told it was good to do a straight recall first (without a drop) to get the speed up. So I would always do a straight recall first usually with a treat visible. This did work great but I believe that he came to expect that we always did this first and would not stop or creep a lot if I did a drop first. I changed my habits at home to do a drop first and he seemed to have improved greatly in his first drop of the session.

Last night in class, I got great a great drop, broad jump, and retrieves all with perfect fronts. He did go down on his sit right at the end so we did it again with me coming back early and he was fine. If we could only get the sits and downs 100%, we are so ready for open!

First Time Tracking This Year

We went out on a straight track first. Wyatt tracked all the way to the start pulling hard across a big field so he clearly enjoys the game. There was a strong breeze and we had a 1/2 hour track so the scent was strong. I held ground when he started going too far off track. However, this seemed to stress him out. He may have been confused because he was on scent and I was stopping him. Tricky, you want the dog to be right on the track but if he still has the scent, he probably is confused about why he is being stopped. The instructor told me to try and be more smooth and not stop him suddenly but increase the tension more slowly. They also noted that my voice and body language seemed to throw him off at times. I think he is so responsive from obedience and agility but in tracking this can work against you. They suggested using a lower voice (in pitch). I may also want to try and work without much voice and use my body language instead (except when he finds an article). Second track had a turn. He had trouble on the turn but seemed to gain confidence on the last long leg. We seemed to lose a little over the winter but that's OK. I hope to actually practice at home more between going to the practices.

Don't Reward the Correction

Reward the correct behavior and not the correction. Something I have been thinking about. I think we do reward the correction a lot and need to be very careful about that. Example is when Wyatt pops up on his down stays (like this morning - frustrating!).

If I put him back in a down and finish the down stay and then reward him, I am probably rewarding the correction and may be unintentionally rewarding the incorrect behavior - exactly what I don't want. That is pretty clear. So what is a poor trainer to do instead?

I can finish the down stay and praise but not treat him. That is what I usually do. Or I can stop, do something else, and try again later.

How would you handle this situation?

NADAC Tunnelers and Jumpers Video

Wyatt and Patriot earned Elite (Wyatt) and Novice (Patriot) Tunnelers titles on May 5, 2008. Not my and Wyatt's best run but it does show the speed he has in tunnelers. Patriot and Wyatt also had great Elite Jumpers runs and Patriot's was captured on video.