Awesome Dog is Awesome

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Jamie

Relaxed and confident at the rally trial.

I finally have an answer to one of the questions that’s been plaguing me for a while: Does Risa enjoy rally? After her last AKC competition, I wasn’t sure. I decided to try a new venue to see if trialing in a less stressful environment would help her have a better time. After this weekend, I’m positive that Risa does enjoy rally.

After her super stressful outing in April, I decided to call it quits from rally. The AKC rally environment is just too overwhelming for Risa. She tried her hardest in the ring but it was too much for her to focus on me. I had a couple friends who competed in APDT rally who suggested I try that instead. I was hesitant since I wasn’t sure if Risa even wanted to continue trialing in rally. It’s not as fast-paced and doesn’t have the flash and variety of moves that freestyle does. But freestyle competitions are few and far between making it harder for us to regularly compete. I wanted to have another venue to enjoy so I decided we’d enter an APDT rally trial and see, once and for all, whether or not Risa had any interest in continuing with rally.

We entered a 2-day trial consisting of two trials per day. It was a total of 4 trials and we had the opportunity to title in just one weekend! Unlike AKC trials, APDT trials are much smaller with usually only one ring of activity going on at a time (at the most, two). This makes it easier for Risa to concentrate and be less concerned with what’s going on outside the ring. On top of that, the trial was outdoors which made it much easier for me to navigate the show site with my dog reactive dog. I never wanted to trial Risa outside; it tends to make Risa’s lack of focus much more obvious with the changing winds and scents they carry. But I actually found it to be less of an issue than I’d thought it might be. Though I’m not sure we’re ready to trial on grass. 😉

The first day, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Fortunately, most of the signs between AKC and APDT rally are similar and I’d already prepared myself for the differences. Risa is also familiar with all of the AKC signs up through the RE (highest) level. The only major change was that some signs in APDT share a sit. So you might do a call front, finish left and then tell your dog to stay and do a sit walk around without your dog changing position between the two. It seemed really odd to me at first but I got it right away.

Because it was an outdoor trial, I was able to let Risa hang around outside of her kennel. She really seemed to enjoy just checking things out and being able to have some time with Mom outside the ring.

I went through my usual prep with Risa. I walked her around the site to get her used to what’s around her. I took her out and brushed up on some of the behaviors I knew I would need in the ring (especially the stand because I’d forgotten all about it for a couple weeks). I made sure to potty her before entering the ring. I got her out for her turn when there was one dog in the ring and only one ahead of us so she wouldn’t be out too long. I worked on having her do some moves and keeping her focus on me while we were waiting. Then it was our turn in the ring. Risa lagged and sniffed. Her focus was poor. I felt like I was dragging her through the course with me. I offered encouragement: “C’mon! Ris! This way. With me.” I had to have talked to her the entire time. Though I could have had food with me to reward her after the stationary exercises (this is legal in APDT rally), I didn’t bring any. I was too worried about dropping it and about breaking our flow. (Risa has a bad habit of searching for dropped treats after delivery which I’ve been working on fixing.) I was unhappy with her performance. Not because of anything she did; it’s never her fault when training/trialing goes wrong. I just knew what I could get out of her and was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t get it. Not to mention, I wanted her to have fun and I wasn’t sure she was having any.

Our second run went much the same way. Our scores were good. She got 194 (out of a possible 210) on her first run and a 4th place finish. Her second run earned her a 5th place finish with a score of 193. I went back to the hotel unsure if we’d ever do rally again. It just didn’t seem like Risa had enjoyed herself. I wasn’t sure I had either (at least not in the ring).


I did some thinking before the next day to try and figure out what I could do to help Risa enjoy herself more. Risa tends to do better on the second day of a trial. I think that’s because, between the two trials, I try and evaluate what happened and figure out how to improve things. 😉 I caught some heat from two of my friends because of how I felt about our performances the previous day. We discussed what I could do to make things better for the second trial day. One of them I knew but there was no way to fix that in a day. I rarely work on focused heelwork with Risa. I had noticed this about a week prior to the trial but it wasn’t enough time to fix this problem. However, I could stop being so nervous! I didn’t even realize I really was but it was apparently quite clear. 😉 I decided to change my game plan a bit.

Before her first trial that morning, I didn’t even warm her up. I didn’t practice heeling or auto sits. I just stuffed food in my pocket and got her ready to go. As we approached the entrance to the pole barn where the ring was, Risa sped up and dragged me towards it. I had my answer. Risa likes rally. As we waited our turn, I didn’t ask Risa to do anything. I didn’t nag her to focus on me. I didn’t drag her away from sniffing things. I let her do all of that. Totally counter-intuitive to everything I’d ever thought. But I did it. If she offered eye contact, I marked and rewarded it. But I never asked her for it.

I struggled a bit to get her connected with me when we first got in the ring. She got a treat at the start sign before we started off. She started slow and her focus was lacking. But I didn’t allow myself to get too concerned about it. I encouraged her but didn’t overdo it. I tend to blabber at her in trials but, when we train, I am fairly quiet. Since I learned at last weekend’s seminar that you should train as you plan to compete, I tried to keep my mouth shut. I praised Risa when she did what I wanted (especially when I saw her bright smiling face looking up at me) but, otherwise, I kept my vocalizations to mainly cues. I fed her at a couple of the stationary exercises much like I had in our second trial the day before. After we finished, it felt better. It wasn’t the bond and connection we have in canine freestyle, but it was far better than the previous day! This was our best score of the weekend: 200 and a 1st place finish. On top of that, it was the third Q and she earned her RL1 title.

For her second trial, I was even more “eh whatever” than I’d been for the first. I was rushed getting her in the ring (hadn’t realized they were doing Level 1 after lunch and we were second in line). She had a reactive barkfest at the other dog waiting to go in. In the history of Risa’s reactions, this was pretty minor. No lunging, hackles, or speedy spins in place. Just barking. She recovered quickly and then it was our turn for the ring. Risa already had her title so we were just adding another Q to a potential RL1X title (if you get 10 Qs in Level 1 B, you earn this title). So it didn’t matter. I got much better focus out of her this time and I didn’t even feed her in the ring! I meant to. . .but I have a history of not feeding in the ring so I just totally forgot! She scored a 199 (we are very consistent!) and got 5th place.


Aside from our eventual success in the ring, Risa was amazing on the show grounds. Most people would probably have never guessed her reactive and fearful history to see her out there. I was able to have her out and relaxing in the grass watching the goings on rather than needing to keep her kenneled for the entire event. If she started to posture and get worried about a dog coming by, I usually needed to say no more than her name. She’d turn to look at me and her body completely relaxed. It was amazing. There were several times where she got a bit more upset but, again, it was minor and didn’t effect her day!

Probably her most awesome non-reactive moment occurred after the trial. The trial hostess came in the ring area with her dog while Risa and I were milling around. They came close and Risa looked at the dog (I was already backing away but the leash was still loose), turned, and walked away on her own. I didn’t have any treats on me but I praised her immensely and offered some of her favorite petting. WAY TO GO MUTT!!!

She also did something I hadn’t expected. On the first day, I took her to a open area to play. I brought her tuggie and asked her to grab it. And we played tuggie. It wasn’t quite as vigorous as the version we play at home but it was darn close! If Risa is too stressed, she will not play. The fact that she engaged me in a fun game of tuggie speaks volumes.

Risa W-FDX/MF RN RL1 (AoE) CGC WCM and all her ribbons from the weekend.

If all of that weren’t enough, she was also social! It doesn’t hurt that she feels more comfortable around dog people. I do as well; I know I don’t have to monitor their interactions with her as closely. They generally know how to act around dogs. She readily accepted petting from complete strangers without shying away. She wasn’t rubbing on them or begging for more. But she was comfortable with tactile contact. Even from a guy though she was a bit more reserved and nervous around him.

Overall, it was a great weekend. I have nothing but good things to say about my dog and I learned a bit more about what I need to do to help her be more successful at trials. We’re still relative noobs when it comes to trialing so the more experience we can get the better! I don’t think this will be our last APDT trial and maybe I’ll consider trying to finish Risa’s RA title in AKC if we can find a trial that won’t be too crazy for her. Now, to work on focus and heelwork!!

Posted in APDT, Fear, Rally, Reactivity, Training | 1 Comment

Michele Pouliot Seminar Weekend

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Jamie

"Lemme out! Time to work!"

This past weekend, I had the immense pleasure of attending a 2-day seminar with amazing freestyler and clicker trainer Michele Pouliot. I was fortunate enough to have been present for her learning lecture at Clicker Expo in 2009 (I was signed up for the learning lab too but couldn’t make it in time) and I learned so much in that short hour or so. I knew I was in for some mind-blowing epiphanies this weekend.

She did not disappoint. I think one my favorite things about going to dog training seminars is finding out a dozen things I’m still doing wrong. 😉 I probably have 10-15 different statements and ideas starred in my notebook for me to keep in mind. Either because I’d never even remotely considered them or because it’s something I’ve been doing wrong and I want to make sure I don’t keep doing it. I’ve already begun implementing as much as I can from this weekend. I cannot believe how much I learned and how much fun I had.

The weekend was tough for Risa, though. Despite her familiarity with the lecture site (she’s trained and competed there), she was still pretty overwhelmed when we arrived Saturday morning. I set her up in the crating area in her usual spot since I figured that would help her feel more comfortable. She was also the only dog in that room. Whenever I came back to her crate to get her out to work, she seems to have been sleeping (or, at the very least, relaxing calmly). I was happy to see that she wasn’t anxious and felt content in her crate.

Working on the floor with the other dogs around, however, seemed to be too much for her on Saturday. She was extremely hypervigilant and I had great difficulty getting her attention for even a short while. She was constantly scanning and getting pretty upset. While her reactions were pretty minor (no noise, mostly just a lunge and spinning rapidly in place), it was still clearly hard for her. At one point, Michele suggested to me that we move out of the ring and to one of the more open areas near the entrance. This is something I should have considered myself so I am glad she had us move. Unfortunately, I didn’t see a heck of a lot more success over there. While there were less dogs nearby, it was right near the main pathway from the outside to the crating area. Risa had to watch a lot of dogs ‘appear’ and ‘disappear’ and walk right past her from that location. Not to mention she likes to go outside; being near the door made that an extra temptation. That being said, she was better and I was able to work with her a bit more being in that spot rather than inside the ring where there was no escape! Our location also made it difficult to get any tips and input from Michele, though. I was hopeful that we’d get more input the next day.

Chillin' in the hotel room.

Once we got back to the hotel room after a long and enlightening Saturday, I tried to figure out what I could do to help Risa be more comfortable training on Sunday. I realized I’d made several mistakes. First of all, I wasn’t able to walk Risa around and get her acclimated when we arrived Saturday morning. We’d gotten a later start than I had planned and I didn’t have much extra time to work with Risa before the seminar began. In fact, I hadn’t even thought to do so. Secondly, and this is a problem I’ve had before at seminars, I got thrown off my game. When I work with Risa, I have a set group of things I do and behaviors I reward when she offers them. It seems I have difficulty keeping those things in mind and doing what the seminar presenter suggests at the same time. For example, Risa was giving nice eye contact during our first exercise which was name recognition. Since the idea was to have our dogs look away so we could get their attention with their names, I let Risa look away too long and didn’t reward auto-check ins. She ended up getting overloaded and it was hard to get her back. Mea culpa. It also didn’t help that it’s been several months since Risa has been to a training class where she’s had to work in such close proximity to other dogs.

I decided that I needed to get her there early on Sunday to give her a chance to settle in. I also reminded myself that I need to click and reward Risa for attention on me along with rewarding whatever it is we’re working on. I had a plan and I was hoping she’d have an easier time the next day.

Sunday morning I got us up there early and I took Risa into the ring to work with her. She was flat and inattentive and I was a bit frustrated with her lack of enthusiasm. I ended up racing around the ring like a crazy person and letting her chase me, something she loves to do. I then cued some other behaviors afterward and she was still not really into it. But I ended on a decent note and kenneled her up as the seminar got ready to start.

The first exercise we did on Sunday was eye-opening and amazing. Even better, we got to work our dogs one at a time. This exercise involved us rewarding our dogs for entering the ring by doing something they loved without using food or treats. The handler had to be rewarding alone! It was also a great exercise in working with our dogs with real ring nerves. I think I was more nervous on Sunday than I had been the last time we stepped into the ring to compete!

I went through our usual ring entering procedure and Ris was disconnected. She followed me in and didn’t wander too far away but she wasn’t with me. I set her up in our opening pose and cued the music. We started the beginning of the routine and when Michele said “Jackpot!” (after 3 moves) I bent over and praised Risa. I rubbed her back and gave her ‘butt scritches’ (when you scratch a dog’s hips near the base of a her tail). I thought I was doing just enough to make her happy but not so much that she went over the top and crazy. Unfortunately, I did too much and she shot off to do zoomies around the ring. I don’t know why I didn’t connect butt scritches to zoomies; that’s what it usually progresses to in the house. And she is not the type of dog who gets zoomies in the ring. In my nervous, somewhat sleep-deprived stupor, I sent her into craziness. Sometimes someone needs to provide the example of what not to do. On Sunday, that was me. 😉

After several laps around the ring, I was able to get Risa back and under control. She walked to the exit calmly and got leashed up to leave the ring and try again. On our second attempt, she was much more focused on me when we entered. After completing the first three movements again, she was jackpotted and I was very cautious to not get her so aroused this time! I succeeded and we exited again for our final attempt. Her focus on the third entrance was much improved and I was able to set her up in a stand easily. While I walked away to set myself up, she apparently had to scratch. After she finished, she set herself up in a bow with her head on the ground. I turned around, saw that, and said “Show off” quietly to her. Everyone laughed at her and I walked back over to set her up properly. That exercise was one of my favorites from the entire weekend. It was so eye-opening so see something so simple create much more attentive and enthusiastic dogs!

We continued to work near the doorway for the early part of the day when we had other exercises to do. As the day progressed, however, I got Risa closer to the ring. She was actually okay. The dogs in the ring were still distracting but she wasn’t losing her mind. Other dogs working nearby also caused her a bit of alarm but I was quick to let her know it was alright and that she had nothing to be concerned with. And she agreed. We were even able to get some input on how we were working together from Michele which made me very pleased. On Sunday, Risa had only two small reactions. A huge improvement from Saturday. (This isn’t counting walking through the crating area. She had a hard time doing that with dogs barking at her and not a lot of room to maneuver away. When I could, I took her out the side door in the crating room we were in so she didn’t have to ‘walk the gauntlet.’)

Overall, this weekend was a huge success. I learned so much and I’ve already begun to implement a lot of it. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to learn from such a talented performer and trainer.

Posted in Dog Training Seminars, Fear, Reactivity, Training | Tagged | Leave a comment

Invincibility Cloak

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Jamie

Risa in her Super Shirt.

Today was the first of a two-day freestyle seminar with presenter Michele Pouliot. My brain is stuffed and I have learned so much that I didn’t know before or needed a reminder to start doing. I love going to seminars and realizing I am still doing a million things wrong along with getting a lot of helpful tips on how to improve what I am doing. I cannot wait until tomorrow.

But this post isn’t about the seminar (I promise I will write about that later). This entry is about Risa’s Thundershirt and the awesomeness that it is. 😉

Being a reactive and fearful dog, Risa is a horrible hotel-mate. She barks and grumbles at the slightest sound. From people passing by in the hallways to shutting car doors. Heaven forbid someone knocks on a door, has a conversation, or if a dog walks by. It’s immensely frustrating for us both. Risa is afraid and I know that. But we’re in a hotel and, sometimes, people are trying to sleep. It’s too late to toss treats or try to classically condition her to the noises (and, to be fair, I never had much success with that when we lived in apartments) because we’re already there. I wanted her to feel more comfortable. Not to mention I hated getting so annoyed and frustrated with her that I’d start yelling. 🙁 I knew about the Thundershirt and thought that would be a good solution.

I have used tight-fitting T-shirts on Risa before with good success. She’s always enjoyed wearing clothing (weird dog that she is) and I had noticed she was less anxious while wearing a shirt during thunderstorms or fireworks. So, on our last hotel stay, I brought her tight-fitting shirt with her for an experiment. While we were lounging around the room she had it on and she was relatively quiet. I heard obvious noises and she didn’t startle. The worst she did was lift her head and look around. But no barking. Unfortunately, I do not feel comfortable with her wearing clothing without being supervised so I had to remove the shirt at bedtime. My experiment was a success, though. I knew a ‘body wrap’ would help Risa feel more calm and comfortable.

Relaxing calmly near the door in the hotel room while I enjoyed my dinner.

With the seminar less than a month away and another hotel stay in the near future after that, I knew I needed to get Risa a Thundershirt. For both of us! I knew we’d have a better chance of sleeping soundly through the night once Risa got one. Since it’s safe to leave a Thundershirt on a dog even unsupervised (okay, so nothing is without risk but at least this is made to fit a dog), I could put it on her as soon as we got to the hotel and just leave it on throughout the night.

I wouldn’t say the Thundershirt has been a miracle cure. Nothing ever is. 😉 But I have noticed a huge difference. Risa did not remain quiet last night but we didn’t have a lot of acclimation to the room time before I had to call it a night and go to bed. Today, she’s been much better. She did initially bark at passerbys when we got back after the seminar but it didn’t last. Even with me ignoring her boofs and growls. Pretty soon she just quietly laid on the floor near the door. Right now, she’s completely passed out on the bed near me as I type this entry. 🙂 Of course, she had a long day and she’s always sleepy after her dinner. But I think the Thundershirt has helped her feel more at ease. After all, she still used to wake up to bark when she heard noises in similar situations before without the shirt.

Considering how uncomfortable she felt at the seminar today (she wasn’t really that bad but she was clearly a bit upset about the other dogs), I may work her in her shirt tomorrow.

Posted in Fear, Reactivity, Thundershirt | 1 Comment

The Appearence of Being Normal

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Jamie

Decked out in a patriotic bandanna in remembrance of the tragedy and heroics on this day, 10 years ago.

Today there was another pet festival. We have attended this particular one three times. Like all the others we attend, my focus is on working Risa around distractions and helping her become more and more comfortable. It’s the closest I can get to trial-like conditions with noise, food, dogs, and people. Not to mention the occasional livestock!

Risa was outstanding at the canine carnival earlier this year. But nowhere near as awesome as she was today. She didn’t even have a single moment where she was considering being reactive. There was one moment where I thought she might but, instead, she simply wanted to sniff that dog as it passed!

We walked around the perimeter a couple times to let Risa get acclimated to the location. Then I found several different ‘quiet’ spots where we could do some work. I click/treated her for looking at dogs and looking back at me. We practiced some rally moves (in anticipation of the upcoming trial) and did some random fun tricks too. I did have difficulty getting and keeping her focus. She preferred to look around or sniff for goodies in the grass. Lack of focus is expected though it is something that still frustrates me a bit.

While we were chilling in one of the relatively dog-free zones, I spent some time doing fun freestyle tricks with Risa. She did several spins, some sitting pretty, and scoots (turning around and moving backwards between my legs). As we did a bit of showing off, a photographer was clicking away taking photos of Risa. She came over to talk to us for a while afterward. Risa was extremely outgoing and walked right up to the photographer and allowed herself to be petted. Even on top of her head! Who is this dog? Where’s my shy girlie? She was also approached by a young man who, upon hearing that she is shy, didn’t even attempt to pet Risa. He just stood there while she sniffed him! Risa also reached out to sniff a little girl who approached me. . .which was huge as Risa is terrified of kids!

Hanging out amongst the craziness.

At one point, I was working with Risa on eye contact. She was seated 1-2 feet in front of me with her eyes locked on mine. I knew two dogs were passing behind us so I watched Risa for behavior I could click and reward. As I waited to click for eye contact duration, I felt a wet nose graze the back of my ankle. Risa appeared to not have noticed the close proximity of that dog at all. I click/treated her and praised her immensely. That was HUGE. Risa is usually quite possessive of me. The fact that she did nothing. . .not even a glance at the dog, is outstanding.

After all of that, I walked Risa through the canine gauntlet (the walkway that was flanked on both sides by vendors with many dogs and handlers gathered around) twice. I clicked and treated her for attention on me which she willingly gave the entire time. Despite all the dogs in close proximity, she maintained focus on me. I was astounded.

We were there for at least an hour. There were dogs of all shapes and sizes. Risa even investigated two goats and two horses from afar. She showcased some tricks. She made some friends. She was a perfect canine citizen. I couldn’t be prouder.

Posted in Fear, Rally, Reactivity, Training | 1 Comment

Holy Reactive Dog BAT, Man!

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Jamie

I’m always looking for new ways to work on Risa’s reactivity. We’ve made amazing strides over the past 4+ years but I know I could always do more. She’s still reactive and I doubt that will ever change. So I’m always on the look out for something new to try to help Risa learn to cope even better with the presence of other dogs.

The newest tool in my toolbox is BAT (Behavior Adjustment Training). Developed by Grisha Stewart, BAT uses the real-life reward of increased distance to reinforce appropriate behaviors. For example, if your dog gives a lip lick or looks away when they see another dog, you mark the behavior and turn to walk in the opposite direction for the reward. In the beginning you can also deliver a treat or toy. Once your dog feels more comfortable around other dogs, you can also use the increased distance reward to reinforce curious behaviors. By doing this, you teach your dog that by offering calming behaviors, she can make the scary thing go away. Your dog no longer needs to turn into a barking, lunging maniac to drive away the things that frighten her. You can learn more about BAT on Grisha’s webiste: Ahimsa Dog Training and on her Functional Rewards website.

I started doing some BAT work with Risa several weeks ago. To this date, we’ve done 4 sessions. Our most recent one was definitely the best. I really had a handle on what I was supposed to be doing which allowed me to focus more on Risa. Not to mention I got some great tips from Grisha herself and had a wonderful ‘dummy’ dog to use.

Risa turns her body away from Medo as he lauches himself at her. I waited patiently for Risa to look away, marked it, and rewarded her with distance.

My friend was nice enough to stand around with her 7-month old German shepherd puppy, Medo, while I did some BAT work with Risa. Medo was a good choice since Risa has limited experience with him. She met him once when he was just a couple months old and they didn’t exactly hit it off. She was a bit scared of him and ended up overreacting to his advances. He refused to go near her for the rest of the meeting. 🙁 This was no longer an issue, however, as he seemed quite pleased to see her this time around! She also saw him when we last went lure coursing as he attempted to climb into my lap while she was crated. Overall, Medo was an unknown which made this a good set up.

Initially, I kept my distance so Risa would feel comfortable. But I was quickly able to her within 5 feet of Medo with no issues. He even lunged at her a few times and she did not react. She simply stood there (at least once she turned her body away from him) and I waited for her to give me a calming signal. Once she looked away, I marked the behavior and we took off in the other direction. Risa didn’t have a single moment of reactivity the entire time. Even when we weren’t working. It was amazing to see.

I hope to be able to continue doing BAT with Risa. I have been able to implement it on two separate walks so far. I plan on taking Risa to work outside the dog park using BAT again and, hopefully, can do some more set up trials as well. I’m so excited to be trying something new and I cannot wait to get Grisha Stewart’s BAT book when it comes out later this month.

I did video our BAT session with Medo as well:

Posted in Fear, Reactivity, Training | Leave a comment