Super Shirt

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Jamie

"This shirt is so relaxing. With it on, I can handle almost anything!"

One of my favorite places to walk is one of Risa’s most feared places to go. I have always enjoyed walks there even before I had a dog. But there is a gun range not far from it and the loud bangs you can hear on the path are too much for Risa. While there are rare occasions when we don’t hear any scary sounds on our walks there, it’s fairly rare when that happens. So we don’t go there frequently because it’s just not fun. Risa gets scared and she pulls on the leash the entire walk whether we hear the sounds or not!

There are times (in the winter especially) when going there to walk is the better option. Today was one of those days. It was incredibly windy and cold out. Our usual spot has no trees to block the wind so we went down to the “scary place” instead. But I came prepared. I had Risa wear her Thundershirt underneath her coat to help calm her fears.

I must say, I was extremely impressed. I know her Thundershirt has helped her cope with thunderstorms (she still needs Rescue Remedy as well for those) and fireworks. She’s also seemed more comfortable in hotel rooms and at trials with her shirt on. But this is the first time I’ve taken her for a walk down there without her panicking and me having a miserable walk because of it. (I would bet money it’s not fun for her either.) We certainly heard the scary noises and early on in our walk too. But she was able to keep herself together and only flinched slightly at the sounds. She never pulled hard on the leash or seemed in a huge rush to get back to the car. It was the nicest walk I’ve had with her down there in probably over a year. The Thundershirt seems to work amazingly well with sound-phobic dogs.

We also went to Petsmart to do a bit of work since our next AKC rally trial is coming up soon. I had her wear her Thundershirt there as well. Her focus was pretty good. Not really much of a difference between non-shirt-wearing and Thundershirt-wearing Risa in that regard. However, when we walked around the store, she was much more relaxed. She usually pulls quite a bit on lead (this is a typical nervous behavior for Risa and many other fearful dogs) and likes to remind me which way the door is. I noticed this behavior was almost non-existent and I was able to calmly and comfortably walk her around the store without needing to stop every 2 steps because she was pulling again.

I am so glad I decided to get her a Thundershirt this year. It’s turning out to have far more applications than I’d ever imagined.

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Merry Christmas

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Jamie

Oh Christmas Tree!

The Holidays have come and gone. Risa and I certainly got a great haul for Christmas and it was nice getting a chance to spend some time with the family. It was a bit sad since my brother and sis-in-law weren’t around this year. But such is the way of things. We still managed to have a great time.

Risa was like a kid at Christmas the entire day. Bouncing off the walls and being a general pest. I tossed a present at her right away to get her to leave me alone while I went through the contents of my stocking. She tore into that and revealed a stuffing-less snowman from my mom. After enjoying chewing and squeaking him for about 30 seconds, she was back to bugging me. Nose in my stocking trying to help me open my gifts. So I gave her the present from Santa Paws and let her have at it. She got 3 squeaky squirrels (the kind you use in those puzzle toys) and was content to squeak them incessantly for several minutes. Much to the dismay of the humans’ ears but at least she was leaving me alone! 😉

She went through the rest of her gifts fairly quickly and was occupied enough with her new toys to allow me to open my gifts in peace. Before the rest of the family arrived, she curled up into her bed for a quick nap.

Our guests were greeted first with a lot of barking. Not atypical for Risa. But, as soon as she realized that no one else was worried about the ‘intruders’ she went right up to sniff them. She’d met everyone before so it wasn’t long before she remembered who they were and allowed them to pet her at their leisure. Risa was actually quite social which is a huge improvement for her. In fact, later in the day, she brought her new tug toy over to each of my grandmothers and engaged them in play!

Opening gifts is so much fun!

I spoiled her with some cheese tidbits and even a small piece of ham. Her gut has been off again so I was hesitant to give her too much for fear of making it worse before it gets better. But she was happy to get some yummy morsels of the good stuff.

Once things died down and the company left, Risa settled in for a nice long nap. She was exhausted. Risa slept on the foot thing of the chair I was seated in, snuggled up next to me, and dozed for a good hour or so while I read. If I hadn’t been reading, I would have probably been sleeping too!

We had a great Christmas and were blessed with great company. Risa and I got quite a haul of gifts as well which is really nice. Risa got a stuffing-less snowman from my mom, a grunting rabbit from my brother and sis-in-law, 3 squeaking squirrels from Santa Paws, a candy-cane stripped bone from my grandma, a lure-coursing slip lead from me, a snap-on dish for her kennel from me, and another awesome fleece tug from our friends: Tena, Rio and Shayne over at Success Just Clicks.

"I got a lot of amazing gifts this year! I must have been really good."

Posted in Fear, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Getting Creative

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Jamie

Variety is the spice of life, they say.

Being an artist, I find a great deal of joy in being creative. I find this is easily applied to dog training as well. As a clicker trainer, the bread and butter of my training is clicking the behavior I want and rewarding with a treat. But I’m not limited to that alone. In fact, I find offering up other rewards actually creates a stronger and/or more animated behavior.

I figured this out about a year ago. I was working on Risa’s recalls and had decided to use a tug toy as a reward. One day, I called Risa to me and rewarded her with a treat instead of a vigorous game of tug. The look on her face was priceless. She had been expecting the fun tug game not a quick snack. By continuing to use the tug as a reward for recalling, her recall became much stronger. I can now reward it with food if I want to but, by using a tug reward, I created a much faster behavior. And one she’s more willing to offer!

I also started doing this with her freestyle training. I used chasing her flirt pole as a reward for completing sequences. I saw a lot more enthusiasm and drive in her performances when the flirt pole was involved.

Most recently, I’ve been trying to make heeling fun. It seems rather silly that I know the importance of groundwork in agility but never thought of the importance of it in rally and freestyle! Slacking on heelwork makes it very difficult to get stellar performances in the ring. It’s hard to cue the next behavior if your dog has checked out during the distance in between them.

To reward focused heelwork, I’ve started adding in a variety of rewards. Sometimes I reward with vigorous petting. I also reward with games of tug. And I still use treats as well. The best reward so far has been a game of chase. Risa’s favorite activity is running. It’s a very powerful reward. So I’ve been letting her chase me to reinforce focused heeling. On top of that, it builds more value for me. I may not always have treats or a toy on me. But I can always break out into a game of chase!

It’s also much more exciting for me to add in a variety of rewards. I never found heeling all that interesting either but it’s starting to become more fun. I’m finding out it’s much more interactive to train this way and much more enjoyable. Especially when you see that happy grinning face and tail wagging at you after a race around the yard. 🙂

Posted in Rally, Thoughts, Training | Tagged | Leave a comment

Consequences vs. Corrections

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Jamie

I'll look at you because I like what happens when I do. I get treats!

I don’t train with corrections. Corrections, to me, imply that the dog is doing something wrong. As far as I’m concerned, if my dog doesn’t comply with my cue or otherwise ‘misbehaves,’ I probably haven’t trained that behavior to the level I’m asking them for. There’s also the baggage the word correction carries. Most people think of collar pops, e-collar stims, or other positively punishing methods when they hear the word “correction.” Which I why I prefer to abstain from using it.

I train with consequences. Positive or negative. Good and bad. The behaviors my dog(s) choose to do are influenced by the consequences of doing them.

For example, the Pupster loves other dogs. If she sees another dog, she usually launches herself at them while wiggling wildly. If she launches at another dog (or otherwise acts out of control), the consequence is removal. She’s trying to get closer so I walk her away. There is no anger or frustration. No collar pops. I simply turn and walk away (I usually cue a “This way” or “Let’s go” as I move). That’s the consequence for lunging. Lunging doesn’t get you closer. It moves you further away.

On the flip side, if she can maintain control of herself, I will step one step closer to that other dog and give her a treat (I’ve been doing some BAT with her recently). The consequence of not acting like a crazed fool is that she gets to move closer to the other dog which is what she ultimately wants.

The more positive consequences a dog has, the more clear they are about what it is you want from them.

I do similar things with Risa though on a more complex level (since Risa and I have been together longer and she actually lives with me). Risa knows how to sit and it’s pretty well generalized. So what if I go to a pet festival and cue a sit in the middle of a crowd of dogs? If she sits, I will probably click/treat her and use effusive praise. But what if she doesn’t sit? She doesn’t get a reward, for one, but I also evaluate the situation. Clearly, being in a crowd full of dogs is very stressing to Risa and I don’t get a lot of opportunities to train her in environments like that. So I don’t get correct her ‘misbehavior’ by telling her she was wrong. I simply evaluate the situation and try and figure out how to set her up for success. If I do re-cue the sit, I will wait several seconds so that it’s clear to her that missing the cue will not result in a reward. If she sits the next time, I will reward her.

So, to sum up my training style, I train with consequences. I reward what I like. I don’t reward what I don’t like or I remove the dog from the situation if they are unable to comply. I don’t correct anything my dog does or doesn’t do. If they cannot comply, I re-evaluate what I’m asking them for so that they can be successful and earn those rewarding consequences. 🙂

Posted in BAT (Behavior Adjustment Training), Thoughts, Training | Leave a comment

Happy Holidays

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Jamie

I’ve always wanted to do a short movie with Risa. Ideally, I would have liked to have done it with more than one dog because I think it would have been more interesting. But Risa makes that sort of difficult. 😉

So here’s a small video I created as a Holiday Greeting. I shot the indoor footage yesterday. The winter scenes were filmed last year since we haven’t had any real snow yet this year.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Posted in Training, Uncategorized | 2 Comments