Building a foundation

Squibby foundations skills:
THE BALL!
Squibby has a basic interest in toys, but I want him to love the game of tug & I also want to channel his interest in balls, at first he wanted to trap the ball with his paws all the time. So before I started I spent about 3 sessions doing a clicker intro (click-treat, click-treat). Squibby caught on very fast and started offering behaviors, yeah, smart boy. We moved on to a basic intro of me holding the ball and if he put his nose on it instead of pawing at it he got a click. Since I held the ball, it was easier for him to nose touch than paw at it anyway. We progressed in one quick session to having me set down the ball & start to roll it & clicking only for him nose touching or picking up the ball with his mouth. He loved that puzzle! Here is video of our 2nd ball session. I'm clicking (primarily) for him clearly picking up the ball. I don't care if he doesn't hold the ball or bring it to me. It's about the pieces...not the end product at this point. Does he understand that balls must be picked up with your mouth...yes. I'm not perfect at clicking every time, and you may see him pick up a ball then drop it, then pick it up again. That is often b/c he hasn't actually swallowed his last treat & he coughs it falls down when he picks up the ball. It's almost like he's training himself, (ha ha). We did this for about 5 minutes and he never tired of the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmhcBEz5h94


THE TUG!
This second video shows us working on tug play. Usually when we play tug we let the dog "win" the tug, ie they pull it out of our hands & we chase them around like they have stolen something super duper awesome that we want back. Squibby is different in that when I drop the tug, so does he, so I'm playing gently with him at first and just encouraging him to hang on & enjoy the game. I am also teaching him that letting go of the tug doesn't mean the end but that we'll start up again pretty much immediately. The good thing is he's not particular about what he tugs on, and that he relates the fun of the tug to a human being on the other end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDFdBaJnDPY

THE BOX, SORT OF...

The method we've used it sort of a hybrid of Springloaded training, with a mix of other stuff. I'm not sure where the carpet board idea came from. I must also give *props* to Rocket Relay, the first seminar our team went to years ago, for teaching us some basics of training. And most recently to Splashback Training/Craig & Kristie Knowles from Slammers for really encouraging me to do what I'd already been doing (using a clicker). They also gave me some great tips on speeding up things w/o having the finished product in place. The carpet board...is about the shape of the pedal on the box, plywood, covered w/ carpet. It could be covered w/ matting but we've been too lazy to change it out. We also have a much bigger one, it's about 1/3 bigger than this size one for really super big dogs, that then we transition to the smaller board once they are comfortable. The purpose is to help dogs who maybe aren't high drive, who have never been asked to step on something, who aren't comfortable touching a pedal on the box (eeek, it wiggles!), to increase/decrease the angle of the box, and it dampens the noise of the dog hitting the box. I used this briefly with my high drive aussie pup, she was willing to jump on/in/around/over anything I asked her to so after maybe 2 sessions just getting her use to the box it was outta there. My less confident dog Betty had it in for much much longer, moving up & down the box to match her level of confidence. The Knowles teach dogs by using a couch cushion, on/off on/off quickly and this is relatively the same idea. Since we teach a lot of those dogs off the street & owners who are not experience in training much beyond sit, it's worked really well & gives us some crucial back chaining ability at the box. I don't have the other stanchion on the prop because I'm lazy and because he's a small dog and he's not even going to notice the other side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfHj7Npk7Mw

George foundation skills

The Ball:
Since I don't know what training George has had, I'm acting like he's had none. I started w/ a clicker intro, then when he started offering me behaviors (his shake is adorable), I introduced the ball. All he had to do was look at it and we progressed quickly to a nose touch and I ended the session. This is video of his first nose touching only session. With a less confident dog I want to build lots of value for the ball, cause they are going to have to leave their handler and travel far down that lane to get it. If George was a ball crazy dog I would not be doing this, I'd be doing lots & lots of tug sessions to try to raise the value of the tug/playing with me. As you can see George isn't the swiftest in this video, but he's really thinking hard about what I want and I'm using PATIENCE to let him think through the puzzle I've presented him. I'm also working him with distractions already. The door is open w/ fencing to my yard & you'll occasionally hear a piercing squeal from Cisco (my friend's JRT who is a ball fiend). In any case, having PATIENCE pays off as a training, many people are quick to decide the dog has lost interest in the game or doesn't get it, when really they need to let the dog think things through. Sometimes them not paying attention can really a sign of stress from them. Of note for clicker purists, technically I shouldn't even be labeling this as getting the ball, but George already understood that word meant the green fuzzy orb so I'm going with it. My goal for this session was just to reward those nose touches and his understanding, not going for speed or anything else. Knowing that before hand helped me be patient & not push him and keep it calm & relaxed, no pressure George!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WYkBw9VBeA

The TUG:

Um, no, George does not tug & since he's very food motivated & his owner didn't care if he was a tugging fool I'm sticking with treats as his reward. Frankly, building a non-food reward is time consuming and George shows little to no interest in toys, so teaching him toy drive, then teaching him to do stuff for the toy, when he's not enthusiastic about toys, and not very confident doesn't make much since to me, We could end up with him thinking, screw this I'll just go over here & lay down...I don't really want that toy anyway.

THE PROP:

I spent a session clicking for George looking at & touching the box, he thought that was super fun. So since I already had it in place after working Squibby I just move the prop/board away from the box. Being long & heavy bodied, a good turn will be much harder for George to do, but we'll see what we get. He's going to have to develop some of the flexibility & muscle memory that Squibby comes by a bit more naturally, so it'll be a bit slower going. Again I'm not asking for speed at this point, just that he get the idea and that he find it rewarding. It's beginning practice for getting the long body in a U-turn! Compared to Squibby I am actually clicking later, so when George jumps the prop & then turns back toward me is when I click. Primarily that is because turning is so much harder for him, I wanted to make it clear to him to turn back asap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmrl5f-vqJo

That's it so far, at least what I got off my video camera, edited down, rendered, uploaded, then pasted into this blog. Geez, it's certainly easier not to document this stuff.

Training 2 very different dogs

I typically have a flyball project dog, courtesy of Protege Canine Rescue (http://www.protegerescue.org/) but in the last year I haven't due to training my own 2 young dogs. The project dogs are usually high drive aussies, border collies or terriers all of which need a job and so I train them for flyball & try to find them a flyball home. Past experience has shown that people aren't interested in aussies very much for flyball (a darn shame!), the border collie better be amazing, and the terrier better be short & fast. I started just teaching the basics, but I found that the best thing to do is to teach the dog a good box turn, work on drive to & from the box & then fish for a flyball home for the dog. I want to show proven potential to perform, cause just having "potential" is pretty vague as far as rescue dog advertising goes. Having dealt with many shelters who equate such potential with things like the ability to jump a fence, or being a ball freak, I understand that "potential" isn't much to go on. I look for young dogs, with a big desire to work with humans, good temperaments, good with other dogs, and no outstanding behavioral issues. As it where, a friend asked me to train her cardigan corgi at the same time I got in Squibby, my latest project dog. So I thought hey, I should document the training for her, but also I can work on showing different techniques for working with 2 very different dogs.






Squibby: It's hard to catch him in a still photo!!







Squibby came along from the ARL shelter in Des Moines. He's a 9mo - 1 yr old terrier mix, mix of what, I don't know but I like his build & his attitude. He is one of the shelter's least favorite dogs, very active ones!! They know if they adopt them out they will get returned. Squibby is not a bad dog, he is who he is but he isn't for someone who wants a little lap dog. I've developed a relationship with this shelter and luckily my two favorite ladies who spot dogs for me snagged him up & sent him my way. I've had him since June 18th. He's been to MN, stayed in a hotel, a campground, has been stellar in our house & blended in beautifully with my gang of dogs. He seldom barks at all, except at flyball training!! Squibby is about 14 lbs, and quite the character. He enjoyed throwing toys for himself at the shelter and basically made his own fun in a pretty dull environment. As far as training challenges go, I have pinpointed a few broad topics to work on with him.



1. He plays with toys with his feet.



2. He needs to know that playing with the toy, with the human is the best game, not just taking the toy & playing by himself.



3. He needs to learn how to retrieve toys/balls



4. He likes to tug, but he doesn't know the rules yet or that you need to do something to get the tug.




George: in one of his favorite positions!





George on the other hand is possibly Squibby's polar opposite. Not only is he built totally differently (being a Cardigan Corgi) His owner reports that he's very soft temperament wise, scared of the box, and at 3 yrs old he's not exactly brimming with youthful vigor. He is however, attentive, food motivated, and knows basic obedience so he's familiar with do something, get a treat for it. He's in good shape physically & good with other dogs. For him it's a totally different ball game (so to speak!)




1. Confidence


2. Confidence!



3. Ball retrieval skills



4. Learning to bend his body & get up on the box



5. Learning to love touching the box


So the plan is, to train a nice box turn for box these dogs, and document the training in this blog with video & my blah blah blah commentary on what I'm doing & why I'm doing it. I'm not an expert flyball trainer who can tell you how to get that 3.7 border staffy, but I'm pretty dang good at getting the most you can from the dog off the street (or straight outta the shelter) and fixing dogs with problems. Many flyball clubs have just that, and need the growth that new members can bring, so I'm sharing what I've learned works from years of training dogs, going to seminars from the folks who do create the 3.7 running dogs & teaching flyball classes (to that dog off the street).