Hannah Branigan Seminar

Soooooo many layers!!!!!  I recently attended a three day Hannah Branigan obedience seminar with Stella called Beyond Fundamentals and it was awesome.  I am familiar with Hannah's teachings from online obedience classes at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and seeing her at Clicker Expo and she is very good at breaking things down.  The further I go in this dog training adventure the more geeked out and fascinated I seem to get with all the subtle layers.

The seminar was less about training each specific obedience exercise and more about applying concepts like conditioned emotional responses and foundation skills that help us carry the trained behaviours into a high pressure ring situation.  We need to train each ring behaviour (or part of) until the skill is fluent and then add stimulus control, distance, distractions and sequencing.  We can teach and work all those additional steps as separate concepts without ever screwing up our ring exercises!

One area that I basically suck at is putting things on stimulus control. Dogs need to understand all sorts of cues both from the handler and the environment and translate those to reliably doing the behaviour only on the conditioned cue.  Hannah said that once our dogs understand the concept that a cue is significant then each progressive cue should be easier to teach as dogs can generalize that skill. I guess it is time to get all of those half taught tricks under stimulus control!

Lost focus on distance work is the source of many ring errors.  A lot of exercises require us to leave our dog in a wait (stand for exam, recall, drop on recall, signals etc) where the dog needs to maintain focus on us to prevent errors when we move on to the next step of the exercise. Waiting is boring and/or watching us walk away can be stressful for some dogs.  We can train our dogs that waiting is fun and rewarding.  Randomly turning back to toss rewards or take off running in a chase game or releasing to a toy or zen bowl are all ways to build value for waiting.  It keeps our dogs focused and ready for the next part of the chain.   Alternatively there are also exercises that require us to send our dogs out to do a task (directed jumping, gloves, scent discrimination, dumbbell exercises etc.) and then return to us.   We can train the send/return concept by layering levels of difficulty using things like zen bowls, targets and wraps (cone etc) to build confidence and understanding before adding in things like retrieves, positions and scent work. 

Distractions can then all be built on to the foundations.  An example would be when we want a dog to be comfortable with a judge working right next to the scent articles.  If we start with getting the dog comfortable with a "judge" close to a zen bowl or target first and gradually build on that we keep  success rates high and build lots of confidence.  All of that hopefully carries over to the formal exercises in a ring environment.

Sequencing is the final step.  Again we can teach that concept to our dogs by starting with strong behaviours that don't need high rates of reinforcement (sit, hand touch, paw etc)  and teach our dogs that the reinforcement comes at the end of a series of cued behaviours instead of after every single cue.

One of the areas of struggle for positive reinforcement trainers is what to do when a dog makes an error.  Hannah really stresses the emotional state of the dog as our biggest priority when training. Avoid errors by setting up the dog for success as much as possible.  "Failure begets failure" so if a dog fails twice in a row then stop what you are doing as the dog does not understand.   Hannah also avoids using non reward markers.  Some dogs are tough and can work through failure but many dogs get frustrated or deflated.  Stella is one of those dogs that deflates very easily.  Most errors are treated by the handler stopping forward motion, stepping out of position and restarting the exercise again quickly.  She also throws in things to soften that sequence.  For example when you stop and step out of position you can offer a hand touch which the dog will miss because it is out of position.  That hand touch has a huge secondary reinforcement history as we pair it with all sorts of rewarding when the dog is in the correct position so this "softens" the reset.  I've been experimenting with this in heeling with Stella and liking the results.

There were lots of other gems at the seminar and ways to break things down into easily trainable goals.  Training little pieces of things helps to keep things interesting and fresh for both the dog and handler and can give valuable information on where the trigger point might be in a problem exercise. When we worked the figure eight stuff I really developed a new appreciation for how many pieces of a chain that can be broken into.  Right circle, left circle, halt is expanded to train the little pieces like transitions from collection to extension and vice-versa, judge pressure, ring steward pressure, hind end awareness, handler eye and shoulder position cues, feet direction etc.  Things like the transition from "exercise finished" to the setup for the next exercise are just as important as the actual exercise and should be trained.    

Lots of things are still processing in my brain from this seminar.  Sometimes it seems like such a huge task and I miss those days where my goal really was just to go in the ring and get our novice title.  Now I want more!  I want to be a happy, confident and accurate team all the way from our Novice A debut through to a utility title and hopefully we will achieve that goal over the next few years.  I really do love this stuff even when it makes me crazy or makes my head hurt and Hannah is an excellent presenter who gave me lots to think about and work through.  Any errors in this information is totally my fault and I highly recommend everyone go to a Hannah Branigan seminar!   

Obedience Skills

So this time last year I decided to take a step back from competing.  Stella had just turned two and we had achieved our Rally Advanced title but we had a long way to go mentally before we ventured into an obedience trial.  I have a picture in my head of what I want us to look like in the ring.  The exercises are necessary but attitude and engagement are what is most important to me. We are slowly working towards that picture and I have a very loose goal of entering late fall for our novice obedience.

While we work towards that goal we are also having a blast working ahead on the open and utility exercises.  I have been taking courses at the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and  I really like them.  I have a real life trainer that could easily teach me these exercises but I love learning about training so I like learning on-line and then working through how to apply it to Stella.  I can then work with my trainer friend and she helps keep me in line when I totally do stupid things :). 

One of the trainers I respect and enjoy following is Hannah Branigan.  She has a great DVD set on Obedience "FUNdamentals"  and teaches on line Obedience Skill Building Classes at FDSA.  She is also a Karen Pryor Academy faculty member and I got a chance to see her in January at Clicker Expo.  One of her clicker expo seminars was on "Breaking it Down" to build up exercises that our dogs understand fluently and enjoy doing. When thinking about training she wants us to be aware of our priorities.  Emotional State should be first, followed by engagement and only then can we train behaviours.   When training for competition we should start with concepts then work on skills and with those it is an easy transition to working on the actual exercises. Concepts include things like teaching dogs how to offer behaviour (operant conditioning), impulse control, speed, body awareness, focus, distance work and stimulus control.  Skills include things like targeting, jumping, retrieving, platforms, positions etc.  All her stuff is taught without force and with both the dog and handler having fun!

Hannah is great at breaking down all the exercises into little easy to manage and fun pieces.  Splitting allows focus on one thing at a time which reduces errors and frustration.  Drilling exercises is boring for both dog and handler so breaking it down lets us work pieces and makes it easy to troubleshoot problems before putting it all back together.   It helps us to isolate our challenges and identify areas where our dogs have weaknesses.

I SUCK at splitting and planning which is one of the reasons I am enjoying the on line courses at FDSA.  I find the working spots very useful as I video and review my sessions a lot more than I would without.  I have taken Obedience Skill Building 2 at bronze and 3 & 4 as gold working spots with Hannah and really like the results I am seeing.  Hannah walks us through series of skills that build on each other until you wind up with competition level exercises through to utility.  Stella is easily frustrated so breaking things down has helped both of us a lot in learning all these exercises.  There is a range of skill levels in the courses and Hannah  is very patient, encouraging and has great feedback when critiquing our videos.   She has made me more aware of back chaining, reward placement and is very helpful in keeping the exercises fun for the dog.  She is also good at busting the handlers on their unwanted body cues and movements.

I am very excited that I will also get to work with Hannah this fall when she comes to Vancouver, BC for a three day seminar!  It will be covering obedience materials "beyond fundamentals" and I am looking forward to it.  I know a few friends how attended her seminar in Oregon and they really enjoyed it.

This video is a mish-mash of working through a few of the exercises.

Teenagers

I have been a terrible blogger lately.  In my real life I am an accountant so April is very busy plus I had dog stuff (conformation shows, seminars, rally trial) every weekend so not much time left.  The good stuff is I got to attend two amazing seminars with Suzanne Clothier and Michelle Pouliot.

The Clothier seminar was on observation skills and arousal.  She also did an extra session on adolescent dogs which stuck quite a few chords with me.  Stella is approaching her second birthday soon and I have been noticing a lot of distraction and testing of boundaries lately.  When Riley was around the same age that was when everything went crazy with my "perfect" puppy and started my interest in dog training.  Teenage dogs are hard!

Suzanne is a fabulous presenter.  She has a great sense of humour, interesting stories and an appreciation for dogs that shines through everything she discusses.    This blog will talk about the information presented during the adolescent dogs portion of the seminar.  A few favourite quotes included:

"Adolescent dogs are trying to mess with your head. Like Tax Attorneys, if they can see a loophole, they'll drive at truck through it."

'There's a good mind in most of those little buttheads. I agree though that sporting breeds get their brain cells in installments. Once a month, another clump arrives.'

"Stop trying to jam it (energy) up. Utilize it."

"Dogs are brilliant negotiators. I always thought dogs would make great used car salesmen. However, if you sent a really smart adolescent dog in to negotiate with the used car salesmen, he would give you the car and write you a check for additional money. Sometimes you don't even know when you have been had."

Adolescents begins in dogs around 16-20 weeks.  Other dogs recognize it long before most people do and will start to enforce social responsibility.  People recognize this as the end of the "puppy license".  Dogs will then mentally mature gradually over the next 2-3 years.  We mainly fail our dogs in this period because we are not clear in our expectations to maintain responsibility.  We need to be aware of not just training skills but on developing connection.  Suzanne suggests we video tape a training session or other interactions (walking) with our dogs and then watch it as a silent movie.  Show the video to a friend and se if they can identify what you are working on.  Dogs guess their responses based on our actions so they care what is happening not what we intend.  We need to make the information and permissions very explicit and consistant.

That is where "even though" training and connection is important.  "Even though" that dog is walking across the street, or that nice lady has good treats or ....... you must still stay connected to me.  We often silently permit our dogs to do whatever they please and justify it using human type excuses like oh, he loves that doggie friend and is just excited.   The dog doesn't have any feedback  so assumes that rules don't apply when he sees that friend or is excited.   A good way to work on this is to make a list of thing that the dog knows how to do and a list of things we control (because we have thumbs!).  Work these things a lot and change it up.  When we do the same sequence all the time the behaviours become habituated and automated without thinking.  Give one request and have a time frame and performance goal in mind.  When the dog meets criteria then they get what they want.  It is fine to help to remind them but then no reward.  A dog's decisions need to have meaningful consequences especially in the adolescent years.  They need to understand "Why should I ...." and when we train with positive methods we achieve results by smart use of access to resources.  It isn't about controlling our dogs every moment of every day, it's about clear communication and understanding expectations. 

This isn't new information but that seminar combined with a recent rally trial with a distracted Stella has me tightening up some things.  I am trying to have much clearer expectations when we are training (no sniffing, visiting etc) and also doing things that make it easier for her to understand  (on/off behaviours) when we are working.  Day to day rules in the house are more consistant and if I get an "in a minute" response then I go and get her instead of calling a second time.  She really is a very good butthead teenager so I am already seeing some results.  Like Suzanne said ... "She isn't getting away with anything, she is just doing exactly what she thinks the rules are".

Denise Fenzi Seminar

I recently attended a seminar with Denise Fenzi on Drives and Motivations.  I stumbled on Denise’s name about a year ago and then it popped up on a few blogs that I enjoy reading plus she started her own blog where she talks about raising her own puppy. I really enjoy her style of training as she advocates relationship and play with our dogs.

The focus of the seminar was on various types of drives (hunt, prey, food, pack) and how they can affect training decisions, play methods and the overall needs of our dogs. This blog does an excellent job of summarizing the same seminar for anyone interested in the specifics (drives, tugging, relationship, working) so I will just blog about the moments that “clicked” for me.

A friend and I were recently discussing the science of dog training and she made mention to me that “science is good, but putting theory into practice is an art”.  I believe Denise excels in that.  She was able to assess each working team quickly and provide information that will work with that dog.  She gives dogs a lot of credit for figuring things out and believes we often under challenge our dogs. 

When it was our one-on-one time I asked for some help with heeling.  I taught the initial heel position with a target stick and had achieved some good position but need to progress that for duration and different heel exercises.  I had been concentrating more on getting a series of steps from start in a line but felt I was losing her attention.  Denise had me heel around with her for a bit and then told me she couldn’t tell by my body language what my dog was doing.  I was basically doing the same motions if she was with me or if she was distracted.  She recommended that as soon as I start to lose her attention I remove the opportunity for Stella to be in position.  I do that by moving out of heel position towards her tail which redirects her attention back to me.  Most dogs don’t like when we stand behind them so will shift to face us and will follow if you move backward.  Once I had her focus back I could then pivot back into heel position and praise and reward for correct position.  This exercise seemed to work very well with Stella and I look forward to working this more as well as doing some video to see what I am doing.

I also need to be aware of direction with Stella and move more to the right.  I tend to want to correct position by moving to the left (into the dog) but that puts way more pressure on the dog and going right removes the pressure and will help her to drive into position.  Denise also rarely heels in a straight line while training and uses lots of twists, turns, circles etc. to make it more interesting for the dog.    A dog that forges in training would use more left turns and/or backup steps to correct.

Denise is a big fan of making sure the dogs understand the link between their behaviour and a reward.  She does this partially by sharing “missed opportunity” with the dog.    When the dog knows a behaviour but makes an error she will show the reward and communicate “too bad, so sad” that the dog has missed the opportunity, put the cookie away and then try again.  If the dog repeatedly fails then there is a training problem and the dog does not understand the behaviour. 

She took that “missed opportunity” thing a bit further when answering some questions.  A dog that doesn’t want to go in the crate gets a handful of yummy food thrown into the crate and the door closed so the dog can’t go in after it.   A dog that downs during a sit stay has the “judge” go along and feed the other sitting dogs and the empty space where that dog’s head should have been.  A dog that breaks the stay is held by the ring steward while the owner comes back and has a reward party where the dog should have been.    It sounds strange but if it works what the heck!  Stella has been going through a strange phase being reluctant to go in her crate.  I have just waited her out with the cookies in my hand until she gives up and goes in and then feeding her.  After the seminar I tried throwing the treats in and closing the crate, then left to brush my teeth while she waited to be let in for the treats.  Within two nights she was back to her normal crate routine. 

Denise also believes ring preparation routines and an on/off position while training our dogs.  Her thinking was very similar to the Michele Pouliot seminar that I recently attended.  Dogs should be put into a down stay while we speak with our trainers or prep for the next exercise.  In a trial situation she has specific routines for each dog to prep for the ring.  She says at that stage it is not about drilling the dog as you should know what to do by then.  Instead she wants to connect with the dog with some easy, quiet games.  She also has a position called “squish” where the dog stands across her legs against her body and it knows that position is just to relax and look around (take a break).  She then has a set step sequence out of that that has been heavily rewarded and it reorients the dog into a working position.

Another thing I found quite interesting was Denise’s use of praise and silence.   She believes in vocally encouraging the dog as it is working to give feedback to the dog and then going silent as the dog achieves what you want.   She then rewards with play or praise after a short silent moment.  She makes sure there is a difference in tone between encouraging and the reward praise.  This conditions our dogs that silence is an indicator of success and good things so that when we get into the ring they don’t freak out that we are all of a sudden silent and serious.

Other odds and ends include creating a love for things you can take in the ring.  First on the list is you but it can be useful to have a dog that loves a dumbbell, glove and articles.  It is important to have a solid trained retrieve first to prevent the dog from incorrectly picking up the item.  We can create a love for these items by playing hide n seek games with them and using them as rewards.  Then when these items are used in obedience trials the dog has good associations and believes it is being rewarded.  This would probably work well with Stella but Riley’s personality would likely have him obsessing on those items and distracted.

I really enjoyed this seminar and was pleased with Stella’s performance in the various exercises we did.  She is young and I am a novice so it is wonderful to get information to try and head off some bad habits.  Denise has an excellent blog  and youtube channel for anyone looking for more information.

Michele Pouliot Seminar - Part 2

This is a follow up post to Michelle Pouliot seminar part 1.

Visual cues are something I have obviously been aware of but did not give them the respect they deserve.  Michele spent a lot of time discussing how easy it is to sabotage our training with confusing signals and body language. The seminar convinced me that this is an area I need to pay more attention.  Visual cues for me break down into two main areas.  The first is the importance of clean training.  The second is the importance of environmental cues.

Before the weekend we were asked to identify our top three goals and the top problems I have in achieving those goals.  I identified my top problems as a need to improve my consistency, need to improve my mechanical skills and need to plan my training sessions better.  This basically all rolls up into the concept of clean training.

Michele's handout describes "Blocking" a marker (clicker etc.).  Blocking is anything that distracts the dog from its awareness of the behavior that it is performing.  Any action, noise or visual incident that occurs before or during the marker can prevent the dog from understanding what is actually being rewarded.  Handlers can easily block their audible marker with hand movements, a food pouch, body movenments or words spoken before or during the intended marker.   Michele only uses a bait bag when training new behaviours where she would need a high rate of reinforcement and even then makes sure that the bait bag is on the opposite side of the body.  Treats are normally hidden in her pockets and she uses toys that are easily hidden. A favourite trick of hers is to use those flat road kill toys for tugging and she hides several on her body.  That lets her pull one out, play and then put it away where the dog can see.  She then surprises the dog by pulling another toy off her body.  Her theory is that she wants the dog to think she is the source of endless good stuff even if it isn’t right in front of the dog. 

Clean training involves keeping neutral body language when teaching behaviours, marking the behaviour cleanly and THEN moving to reward the behaviour.  Dogs are very visual learners and it is sooooo easy to unconsciously give body cues that end up being the lure to get the dog to do what we want.  Haven’t we all have had those moments where we think our dog knows  a voice cue but instead stares blankly at us when we ask for the behaviour?  We need to remember to keep our bodies neutral (i.e. hands at side, standing casually straight etc.).  Mark the behaviour with a clicker or other marker and ONLY then we may move to reward the behaviour.  It is fine to praise in between the marker and the treat and that will classically condition the praise which can be beneficial.

My mechanics have really improved over the last year but I still find myself with my hands in the treat pouch before they should be or my body in some sort of luring position.  It’s fine to use our body language as a cue for behaviour (and many freestyle moves are cued by body) but we should only be using the position that will be the final clean cue for the dog.   Lures that become habitiual visual cues for the dog will evolve into required cues.  The good news is that I am recognizing my bad habits now which is a good step to stopping them.  This seminar just reinforced that I need to be constantly vigilant about keeping things clean. 

The second part about visual cues is to be aware of environmental cues.  Michele spoke of watching dogs compete the first few times in a freestyle or obedience routine and the moment where dogs that are heavily rewarded with food figure out that there is no reward coming.  Dogs learn very quickly that the presence of ring gates indicate long working patterns with no rewards.  When we throw in stressed out owners it quickly adds up to not much fun for the dog.  She believes in training the entry into the ring as a regular behaviour that is rewarded.  One exercise we did at the seminar was to enter through a set of ring gates with our dogs as if we were to start an obedience round or freestyle routine.   If you have access to someone who can act as a ring steward and usher you in and take the leash that is even better.  Do those types of actions and then stop and have a play party with your dog.  Mix up the reinforcement schedule by sometimes asking for a few behaviors and then having the party.   After the party return to exit the ring gates quietly, leash up and exit the ring.  Repeat often so the presence of ring gates becomes a strongly reinforced cue to start work and also have fun. 

These fun party moments are important ways to reinforce our dogs without using food or toys.  Be sure to note how your dog likes to “party”.  Some dogs don’t like their owners being all crazy and they should be rewarded with calm petting or other things they enjoy.   Stella loves to bounce around but that can also sometimes get her over stimulated so depending on her mood I should mix that up with butt scratches and goofy talk.  It was quite impressive to watch the seminar participants work this exercise.  Many dogs enter the ring very slowly the first time and then look totally confused at the “party”.  Pretty much every dog showed significant improvement in attitude by the third attempt.

These environmental cues are everywhere in competition.  In obedience think of two people standing with crossed arms for the figure eight or a judge following you around with a clip board.  Consider if we dress or move the same way in competition as we do in regular training?  Be aware of those sorts of things and work them to our advantage because if you don’t the dogs will figure out they are cues that another boring time in the ring is ahead for them.

I would advise anyone to take part in a seminar with Michele.  I very much enjoyed my time and hopefully these posts represent some of the information acurately.  If not it is totally my fault because she was fabulous! 

Seminar - Michelle Pouliot Part 1

Stella and I had a working spot this past weekend at a Michelle Pouliot seminar.  Michelle is a top-level competitor in Canine Freestyle and is also Director of Research and Development for programs at Guide Dogs for the Blind.  I saw Michelle at Clicker Expo and really liked her presentions plus once I viewed a few of her freestyle routines I was blown away. Anyone that can complete a long routine like that with no food or toys and a happy working dog has my utmost respect.  The focus of the seminar was freestyle but she also has a strong obedience history and adapted her information for both types of participants.

I came away from the weekend with two "aha" areas that I want to focus on going forward over the next little while.   The first was working attention.   The second was the importance of visual cues.  This really isn't new information for me but I feel that life has a way of slapping us upside the head with information when we need to revisit something.

Michelle feels that we need to train more attention and focus less on training skills in other environments.  This makes a lot of sense to me because once I have great attention behaviours in all sorts of areas then the dog will naturally be able to perform the exercises I request.  This doesn't mean that the exercises don't still need to be trained, generalized etc but the biggest first step is just to get the working attention on cue and with duration. 

I worked attention with Stella as a puppy but realized that it had fallen away as we moved onto "sexier" stuff.   When we competed our pre-novice rounds a few weeks ago we passed but I wasn't happy with her heelwork as she was fairly sniffy and distracted.  She is capable of much prettier work than we gave.  I tend to have a mindset where I still think of her as a puppy and excuse things like distracted behaviour .  She is still a young (14 months) dog but I now recognize that I need to set and maintain some better standards when we are working together.

When training attention we have the following progression of goals:
1.  Have the dog offer attention.
2.  Get duration attention. 
3.  Get attention on cue.
4.  Have on cue attention fluent. 
5.  Attention is reliable in goal environments. 

Attention is a trained, reinforced behaviour for most dogs.  We want our dogs motivated to want to work with us.  We need to have a strong history of reinforcement (food, toys, play, interaction etc.) and a mutual trust and respect with our dogs to be successful.   We can't take food or toys in the ring so the relationship will be what gets us through.  We can classically condition praise by using it after we click but before we treat/play.   Stella has a few pretty good non-food/toy reinforcers in that she likes when I clap my hands and she gets to jump/bounce but that can get her a bit over-stimulated for a ring environment so I'm going to also explore other reinforcers.   Michelle believes in using the dog's favourite natural behaviours whenever possible as rewards.  One of her dogs loves to jump straight up and down and the other loves when Michelle is laying down on the floor.  Stella does love when I get down on my hands and knees with her so that might be useful for us. 

Michelle believes one of the biggest problems we have with attention is that as humans we self-sabatoge by checking out on our dogs.  We do this to talk to our trainer or friends, to think about what our next trainings steps will be, to set up stuff etc.  This teaches our dogs to dis-engage with us and move onto other self-rewarding behaviours like sniffing.  Attention is a two way street and we need to give our dogs 100% when we are training with them.  When we get attention on cue that is our "ON" switch so when we cannot offer our dogs 100% of our attention in return then we need to use our "OFF" switch.  Dogs need to be taught to shift into a neutral off that will allow us to do things like talk to trainers/set up.  This is not the same as an "all done" situation.  With young dogs she recommends placing them in a down (sit or stand also ok), give a cue like relax etc and then step on the leash so it is very short and prevents the dog from exploring the environment.   This is generally not a rewarded behaviour as the object is to teach the dog that we are not going to interact so there is no point in doing anything other than just waiting for us to turn them back "ON".    If you need to remove your attention for an extended period then it is better to crate or tie your dog somewhere.

I did the "OFF" exercise with Stella and she went down nicely and then I stepped on the leash.  She got bored quickly and wanted to explore but while the leash would allow her to stand it wasn't a very comfortable position for her.  She struggled a bit and I totally ignored her so she didn't think this was about me.  She wasn't stressed or freaked out, it was basically a discussion between my dog and the floor and eventually she flopped down and settled.   We've done this a few times since then and each time gets better.  I can see how this will lead to a better understanding of when we are working and expect engagement.   Michelle actually takes the whole thing further and uses a set routine where she crates for a short period before and after each training session and uses a specific leash on/off routine.  This pattern becomes a strong cue to the dog that work is about to start and is also useful in a trial environment when our dogs are often crated.  It certainly works for her!  We were lucky enough to watch her work her dogs and it is impressive.  Her dogs obviously love to work with her and equally obvious how much she loves and respects them.

I've rambled on long enough now so will talk more about visual cues another day. 

"Least Reinforcing Stimulus"

One of the talks I attended at clicker expo was from Ken Ramirez on what to do when your dog makes an error and doesn't respond as you wished.  This is a subject of great interest to me because that is an area that I have struggled with as I have transitioned from the more "traditional" training methods.   There is a "heirarchy of effective procedures" designed by Susan Freidman which outlines the steps that should be taken before punishment techniques are considered.  This is a link to heirarchy article with examples of each level. 

Ken Ramirez discussed different techniques on how to handle errors.  They included Non-Reward Markers, Time-Outs and Least Reinforcing Stimulus.  He is not a fan of non-reward markers (NRM) because he feels it can be a punisher unless used very skillfully and can easily cause frustration for the dog.  He feels most people do not have the skills to use it effectively.  He feels that time-outs should mainly only be used when the dog is giving a human a time-out.   If the dog is ignoring us then we should remove the opportunity for reinforcement.  Time-outs can also easily punish the wrong behaviour if not timed properly and are ineffective if the animal doesn't care about your presence.  He noted that ending a session for a break or to reduce frustration is not a time-out, it is a managment technique.

The one I found interesting was Least Reinforcing Stimulus.  I find all this jargon confusing at times but basically when the dog gives us the wrong response (or no response) we provide a neutral response (ie don't move, make noise, change facial expression etc) for a period of 1-3 seconds and then offer the dog an immediate, easy opportunity for new reinforcement.  The dog should have a calm response to your neutral response.  It is designed to cause the least amount of frustration for the animal.  This is not really a technique for teaching new behaviour it is only a response when a behaviour is learned and is not done correctly.   He showed the technique working very well with both marine animals and his own dogs.  Many positive trainers already utilize this technique even if they are not aware of the science or terminology.

A real life example of how this works for me....
When I release my dogs to explore off leash I require a sit while I remove the leash and a release word (go see) from me before they move.  Riley pretty much has this understood so often is released first.  Stella is fascinated with what Riley is doing and therefore isn't all that keen to sit and wait.  Previously I would ask for a sit and if she didn't offer then I would touch her collar (basically an alternate cue for the same asked behaviour).  If that didn't work then I would move her further back from what she wanted, try again until I finally got what I wanted.  It worked but we both found it frustrating and I felt I was re-cueing much to often.  It also was not teaching a fast response.  Yesterday when she didn't want to sit I did my "pause" and then asked for two hand-touches which she did and then asked her to sit and she sat super fast.  I was then able to reinforce that by releasing her to play. 

Another example is that I have been making the dogs "work" for their dinner when I have time.  With Riley this means I run through his list of "obedience" commands and feed him a spoonful of dinner when he is right.  Previously if I got a wrong response I would often "fix" the response and then just reward with a "good" and a pat.  That basically teaches him that I will "fix" his response (tell him to get in closer etc.) instead of him learning to think through what the correct response is.  Yesterday he sat too far back in heel and I just moved forward and asked for a touch, then a down (both reinforced) and then moved into heel.  Again I didn't get the position I wanted so moved on.  The third time he had beautiful heel position and also the next two times I asked. 

I know it is a very simple thing and probably has been very obvious to many others but it as been a bit of a light bulb moment for me.  If I think about it I have used this technique especially when Stella was jumping up to grab at me while we were walking.  I would freeze and she would stop and then we moved forward again.  Dogs also often use this when playing with each other and one dog doesn't like how the other dog acts.  I look forward to experimenting more with it.  Any errors or incorrect interpretations of Ken Ramirez's lecture are entirely my fault!

In other news Stella turned eight months old January 31.  Where does the time go?

Clicker Expo

Clicker Expo was amazing!  I find I am having a hard time putting into specific words what I learned as there is so much stuff still flowing through my brain and digesting.  I need to print out the lecture notes and go through and make some notes and future goals.  I attended mainly foundation series seminars and labs which are designed for newer clicker trainers.

I attended the following:
          Ken Ramirez - Oops, What to do when mistakes happen seminar
          Kathy Sdao - Understanding and applying shaping seminar and lab
          Kathy Sdao - Developing cueing skills
          Kay Laurence - World of targeting seminar and lab
          Kay Laurence - The Al-lure of Luring lab
          Michelle Pouliot - Hold it, Get it, Bring it, Give it (formal retrieve) seminar
          Kay Laurence - Training with play lab

All of them were dynamic speakers with great passion for positive training and animals.   I think that is one of the biggest things I take away from the weekend.  There is obviously great science behind these training methods and I learned a lot about that but even more it is a mindset that there is a better way to get what you want.   I also have great admiration (and a wee bit of envy) while watching these trainers with such amazing timing and understanding of the learning process.  It inspires me to be more creative and to reach towards new goals.

I opted not to take a dog with me.  It would have been to much for Riley I think and while Stella probably would have been fine I thought it was a lot to expect from an eight month old puppy.  They were long days which would have meant lots of crate time and the working spots in the labs I attended had limited working time.  I went with my trainer Heather who is a KPA graduate and she brought her dog so I had lots of opportunity for dog loving.  I even saw my first real life wire haired vizsla.  My dogs were well looked after at home and gave me a great greeting when I returned.  Little Miss Stella was so excited that while I was greeting Riley the little brat actually nipped my butt to get my attention.  Life with dogs is an adventure :o).

In honor of the clicker expo being held in Portland, Oregon here is a few pics of a year old Riley on a trip to the beaches of Oregon in 2007.

Handling Seminar

This past weekend I attended a seminar with Stella on Show Handling.  Confirmation is not really my thing but I am considering doing a few shows with her just for the experience.  She is seven months now and I thought this was a great opportunity to introduce her to a world that will be similar to any rally or obedience trials in our future.  The seminar was well attended with about 50 dogs and was held in a building that often is the venue for local trials.  My original plan was to take both dogs but I decided it would be good for Stella to go alone plus Riley is kinda to big for his crate for any long periods of time.

My goals for the weekend were to learn more about confirmation handling and to make sure that Stella had a positive experience.  When we first walked into the building Stella seemed a bit overwhelmed but within minutes she was happy and looking around.   This is also the first time I have crated her anywhere other than a home situation so I wasn't sure if she would be scared or anxious.  I placed my chair close enough to hear her and walked over occasionally to give her a treat.  A dog right next to us was screaming loudly so I didn't want her to pick up on that.  Luckily most of the dogs settled and she did great!  I did cover the front of the crate a few times when she first saw some dogs out working close to her and barked at them but by the end of the weekend she was very comfortable and a few times when I went back to reload treats she went right into her crate and settled with the door open and waited for me. 

Our first time out in the working part we were just supposed to trot them out and observe if we saw any of the common movement problems.  She cracked me up because she bounced happily the entire way around the ring trying to play with me.  In my book that was great because it showed that she was very comfortable.  The weekend progressed and we learned lots about presentation.  A lot of the moves were tough for both of us because they are contrary to the obedience type things we have worked on.  She is used to sitting in heel position and giving me more eye contact in heel position instead of just moving forward but we figured most of it out by the end of the weekend.  The techniques shown were all very positive and treat based.  I worked lots of our own fun games in to keep her interest high and I loved that she was happy and focused even when there were 50 dogs working all around us.  She is going through a minor fear stage right now so a few times she was startled but recovered quickly.  I love this puppy!

The only downside I had this weekend was watching a woman react to her dog that was whining in it's crate.  She walked over and opened the door and smacked the dog and then grabbed it told it to shut up gave it another little smack and closed the door.  She didn't "hurt" her dog but she definately just added more stress and will likely just make her issue even worse.  I waited until she turned back towards me and saw that I had seen her and gave her a super disgusted look and shook my head at her.  I doubt that will have any effect but hopefully she was at least embarrassed.

We also got to meet some more Vizsla relatives this weekend at the seminar.  Stella is on the far right.  The pup far left is two days older than Stella.  The other pup is approx 3.5 months and his momma is seven.  All dogs are descendants of Stella's maternal grandfather Sasha.   They all had a great time playing at lunch on sunday.

So excited!

I am going to clicker expo in Portland at the end of January.  I really had wanted to attend this for months but the responsible, practical side of me said I really couldn't afford to do it.  However it appears the stars have aligned and thanks to an incredibly generous offer I will be attending with my trainer Heather.  I am very excited!

Dog "training" is relatively new to me.  When we got Lucy 15 years ago I did the regular basic obedience course (complete with choke chain) and that was it.  She was a mostly well behaved dog and fit into out lives well.  She had some issues (hated little dogs) but they were very predictable and managed fairly easily.  When Riley came along I was a bit more interested in training and my main goal was a dog who came when he was called and got along with any dog or person.  Those are probably the same goals of 90% of pet owners.  We did puppy class, intermediate and advanced pet dog classes and even did some tracking courses.  All of those things went very well and I was pretty darned proud of myself and my "well-trained" dog.  When Riley hit about 1.5 years of age he went though a terrible teenager phase and he began to ignore me and developed some agressive tendancies (on leash etc.) towards some other dogs.  This is very common teenage behaviour but it really threw me for a loop.  I was so sure I had done everything right!  Truth is I did do most things pretty well but also got complacent and figured we had done enough training. We got away with that with Lucy and people everywhere get away with it with some other dogs but Riley wasn't that dog.  I needed to fix things or end up with a bunch more issues to manage for the rest of his life.

That started me about three years ago on my path to learn more about training.  It began as just trying to help my dog and developed into a new interest that I needed in my life.  There is a ton of information out there and I finally feel like I am discovering what is comfortable for me and how I want my relationships with my dogs.  Riley loves to "work" with me and Stella is a wonderful new partner that I am sure will teach me all sorts of new stuff.  I have more knowledge now but learning really is a lifelong process and I am just starting into the world of dog sports.  Clicker expo is another step in my learning process and I am very grateful to be going.