Jackson's Quest for the UDX

Been there, done that.....

2012-01-22T15:04:00.000-06:00

....that seems to be the conclusion I usually come to when thinking back on Jackson's obedience career and my plans for the future. I've been thinking about it a LOT lately - since Jackson's retirement from the ring - but MW's blog post last week about her goals for 2012 spurred me on to put it down in writing. (That might help me think things through.)

It's been quite a journey for Jackson and me as we pursued the elusive UDX title. I've learned a lot about training, what works and what doesn't work for him, and for me. I will confess, training with the goal of achieving titles has at times gotten in the way of our 'relationship.' I believe I've been able to fix that now (thank goodness dogs are very forgiving : ), and I won't make the same mistakes again.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey and the great friends I've made through training....but..... would I do it again with my next dog? I don't know. I tend to think, not. Oh, there will be another dog at some point. It will be a Great Dane, as I love my breed more than I love obedience titles. And, I love training. I am really anxious to get a puppy at some point and start training from the very first day and see how far we can go and what we can accomplish - not necessarily in obedience titles, but in terms of what we can learn and the relationship we can develop.

Now, lest it sound like Jackson has one foot in the grave, he's doing fine. We're keeping active in training and hiking - although we're having to trim the distance of our walks due to some occasional lameness resulting from some arthritis issues. Future posts will likely be about our hikes in the desert, rather than training for the next title : )

Holiday Greetings!

2011-12-24T14:56:00.000-06:00

Jackson meets the Cactus

2011-12-21T18:47:00.000-06:00

Jackson's ear -

The Cactus -

Now picture a hunk of the cactus in Jackson's ear.

As if to prove that we actually do live in the desert, Jackson came in the house this afternoon with a hunk of cactus in his ear - acccckkkkk!!!! When we first got here a couple months ago my husband came in the house with a hunk of cactus hanging from his arm. I didn't panic - I just got a tweezers and started pulling the needles out one at a time - about a hundred of them, and they seem to have hooks on the end that make pulling them out a challenge. But, hubby held still - and didn't even scream - so we managed to free the cactus from his arm.

When Jackson came in with his cactus, I did panic - a little. I tried to pull them out, but he didn't want to hold still, and let out some yelps as I tried. Since I was alone and didn't have anyone to help hold him, I called the nearest vet and asked if I could come in right away and get some help with this. They said 'yes,' so, I put my mastercard in my pocket and off we went.

Long story short - I got him out of the van at the vet's, he shook his head, and the offending hunk of cactus went flying across the parking lot! Problem solved. I ducked into the vet office to cancel our appointment and we went back home.

Lesson learned: don't panic, it's probably not near as bad as it looks : )

Now if I were the home owner instead of the renter, this sucker would be gone!

Life in the desert, training, an award, etc.

2011-12-19T13:33:00.000-06:00

Life is good in the desert - and busy. If Jackson thought retirement from the ring meant sleeping on the couch all day, he was in for a surprise. Although we're not training to go in the ring again, we have hooked up with a fun group of trainers here in Arizona and train in a park with them on Sunday mornings. My goals for Jackson now are to keep him moving and thinking, and maybe try to figure out some new training strategies that will help him relax in distracting environments, and build our relationship.

I'm also working on training with lots of games and positive reinforcement. Jackson loves going for our daily walks around the neighborhood so on these walks I'm doing a lot of treating when he's in the 'reinforcement zone' - which is keeping him in heel position and paying attention - by choice. It doesn't seem like 'training' but it's working. He's choosing to stay close to me and check in with me frequently - looking for that treat. Makes for enjoyable walks : )

Thanks to our friends, Falkor the Great Dane and Famke the Field Spaniel, we've received the 'Liebster Blog' award. We are honored. This award goes to 'up and coming' bloggers. Now I need to come up with five bloggers to pass this on to. I'll be working on that.

In the mean time, here's a few pictures of Jackson's life in the desert.

Wishing all our friends a very happy holiday season!

Where in the world is Jackson???

2011-11-22T16:54:00.000-06:00

If you guessed the 'Valley of the Sun' - you'd be right!
Jackson is wintering in Arizona. Would write more about what we're doing here, but having an unbearably slow connection today.
More later.

Finding the Balance

2011-10-15T18:08:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about finding the balance between the time spent training and the time spent just enjoying activities with my dog. When I think back over my time with Jackson, it seems as though we've spent 95% of our time outside the home training for competitive obedience. I'm thinking now that's way out of balance.

Although I have tried to make training fun, ~~a lot~~ most of it has been just plain 'work' and repetition. Probably not something he would choose to do, if he had a choice. So I started thinking, "What would Jackson enjoy doing?" He doesn't like to play with balls or toys. He doesn't like to retrieve. He doesn't like to run and jump. However, I think I've found something he loves to do - sniffing and exploring new territory! With that in mind - and being blessed with some gorgeous fall days here in Iowa - we have been going on walks and exploring some new parks in the area.

Jackson's "heaven"

I don't plan to do training on these excursions, however, I don't pass up a chance to reward him when he is in the 'reinforcement zone.' I find that he frequently checks in with me and falls into heel position on his own. I guess I could consider that 'choosing to work with me.'

Growing old is a 'state of mind' .... right????

2011-09-17T15:09:00.001-05:00

Am I getting too old for this obedience stuff?

The heartbreak of owning a giant breed dog such as a Great Dane is knowing that their life span is estimated to be eight - ten years. Considering they need two years to reach physical maturity, that doesn't leave a lot of time for training and competing in obedience.

I was perusing my 2010 National Invitational catalog recently and was not surprised to see the ages of the top obedience dogs. Looking through the sporting breed listings, I found the majority of the dogs competing were in the five to seven year-old age range, with a dozen more that were eight to ten years old.

I feel fortunate that Jackson stayed healthy enough to compete through the udx level prior to his seventh birthday. However, I think I am now seeing some signs of his age catching up with him, which may start to limit some of the jumping exercises. He has started refusing the bar jump lately - something he has never done in training. I'm not sure if it's his eyes or a lack of umph when he needs to jump.

Oh, we will continue training, although we will be lowering jump heights or omitting the jumping exercises altogether. I think it's important though to keep him moving and thinking. We just need to find some different things to keep him - and me - learning!

Still trying to figure things out - some random thoughts

2011-09-05T10:12:00.002-05:00

Labor Day - can't believe it's the official end of summer. The summer has flown by and we're still training regularly, although with somewhat fuzzier goals. It was easier to stay focused when we had title goals we were working on, but I must say it's been a lot more relaxed without them.

I do have goals though. I'm working on changing the way I train with the goal of making Jackson more comfortable in the ring. He's a natural-born worrier so it's always been stressful for him to be in the ring. Now I'm wondering if my approach to training had something to do with that. Jackson was my first attempt at competitive obedience training, so when we started training I used quite a bit of 'have-to' / compulsion training, which is where my limited experience laid. However, I've really been trying hard to move away from that toward 'it's your choice' and making the correct choice the most rewarding option. (You can probably tell SG has had some influence here : )

When Jackson walked into the ring, things changed - his happy demeaner in training disappeared and he became somewhat of a zombie in the ring. Some trainers will say it's because there are no treats in the ring - but, in Jackson's case I don't think that is it. I think it had more to do with his fears - fear of distractions, fear of making a mistake, and his general lack of confidence. Anyone watching us in the ring would probably think, there's no relationship in that team. I'm left wondering if my initial training with compulsion and corrections helped set the stage for the stressful performance.

On the other hand, could he have held it together to qualify if it weren't for the 'have-to' training?

Another trainer that I follow online, Denise Fenzi, recently posted about 'fixing' a client's dog's unhappiness in the ring. First on her list of things to do was: 'remove all compulsion from training.'
That got my attention! Is it possible to get a dog to perform competitively without compulsion? It works for her dogs - but then she has high drive dogs - so would it work for Jackson?

DF also makes a point about 'work is a privilege when trained motivationally.' She recommends 'putting dogs away (in the house, in the crate, etc.) for failures of effort - dogs don't get to work who don't want to work.' Hmmmmm..... I'm thinking that may be exactly what the dog wants - to be left alone????? I guess the challenge there is to make training so exciting, they will choose the training over being in the crate.

So many theories, so many things to try - maybe something will work for us : )

Have you Googled your dog?

2011-08-16T10:34:00.000-05:00

You might be surprised what you find when you google your dog's name. I sure was. On a tip from a friend I googled Jackson's name last night and was surprised at a couple links that came up. The biggest surprise was the picture below that was published in the Waterloo, Iowa newspaper in April 2006! I had never seen it and didn't know that it had even been taken.

The caption was: "With front paws on a chair Great Dane "Robindane's Heartbreaker CD RN" takes a good look around Saturday morning at the Waterloo Kennel Club Dog Show."

Rich Chase / Courier Photographer.

Another link came up that had two win pictures from a trial in January 2010 that had been published on the Northstar Working Group Association website, plus loads of other stuff I hadn't seen. So, if you haven't googled your dog yet, do it. You might be surprised at what comes up : )

It's a miracle - my dog can tug!

2011-08-09T17:06:00.000-05:00

Now, those of you that have dogs that are natural tuggers, you're probably asking, "What's the big deal?" Well, I have been working with Jackson off and on (usually 'off' because I have given up a number of times) to try to get an enthusiastic tug from him. Unlike a lot of dogs, he just never seemed to have any interest in tugging with me. I've tried all kinds of tugs - soft, hard, ropes, food-containing ones, etc. - with not much success..... until recently.

According to SG, and a lot of trainers, this is the foundation to building a relationship with your dog and building drive. (Heaven knows - we could use some drive : ) So, I've started working on the tugging again with him. I'm not sure what is different this time, but we seem to be having some success. We have a long ways to go to get to the point where he will tug with me in new settings with distractions and when I ask for it, but for now, we are building value with tugging in the house. We'll gradually try to move it outside where there are some distractions and then to the club, etc.

And for now, I am only asking for tugging when he is 'up,' like before we go out to train, or when it's time to eat. If anyone has any tips on how they have gotten a non-tugging dog to love tugging, please share. We can use any help we can get to keep this thing moving in the right direction.

Here's the proof : )

The invitation and the questions

2011-08-01T16:00:00.000-05:00

Jackson's invitation to the NOI (National Obedience Invitational) arrived today. This is the second year in a row that he's received an invitation. This year's invitational will be held in December at Orlando, Florida.

I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about posting this. Don't get me wrong -- I feel honored to have received this invitation. I think it does recognize all the hard work and effort Jackson and I have put into training and trialing, as well as the unique challenges some of us face when we choose to train dogs that are not of the traditional obedience breeds.

For those who may not know how invitations are decided, AKC invites the top 25 obedience dogs in the country based on number of OTCH points earned in the reporting year. In addition to these 25, the top three dogs (according to their OTCH points) in each breed are invited. A third way to get invited is through regional qualifying events.

Some breeds have no qualifying dogs; some i.e., herding and sporting group breeds have lots; and some breeds i.e., Great Danes, have very few competing at that level so their chances of getting invited are much less competitive - although they do need to have earned OTCH points to be on the list.

I guess the thing that seems incongruent to me is - the goal of the NOI is to have dogs compete for the title of National Obedience Champion (NOC), which to me means the best obedience dog in the country - at least on that given weekend - but they also invite dogs such as Jackson, who are nowhere near the same level as the top obedience dogs are. Perhaps AKC is just trying to encourage wider participation in obedience and are recognizing the accomplishments of nontraditional obedience dogs - and if they are - that's okay. I am proud and honored that we have been invited, even though it seems a little weird : )

Just thinking out loud.

If you have thoughts on the NOI, I'd love to hear them!

Dog Days of Summer

2011-07-29T20:41:00.000-05:00

Temps - 90s

Heat Index - 100s

What's a guy going to do?

Tracking and Training update

2011-07-16T17:32:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update on our training and tracking progress.

It has been too hot to get out in the field much to work on tracking. Even if I could get myself up at daybreak - and that's a big if - it would still be too hot to track. Nighttime lows have been mostly in the 70s this month with high humidity. But - we did get out a couple mornings ago when the temps dipped to the upper 60s. I was really, really pleased with his enthusiasm for finding the glove. We did 30- and 50-yard straight tracks, with the track layer doubling back on the track, and Jackson took off flying (well, loping - which is flying for him : ) to find the glove.

What I'm noticing now with the longer tracks, is when he gets about two-thirds of the way out he realizes he can't see the glove and he starts using his nose. Now, I don't know if he is smelling the treat on the glove or if he is smelling the track, but either way, he is finding the glove with no problem.

The next level is setting the 30- and 50-yard straight tracks but not doubling back on the same track. I may stay at the current level a couple more times out to make sure he is using the scent of the track to locate the glove.

We are also going to the club regularly to train to keep us mentally and physically active : ) Trying to keep the training fun and games. Susan Garrett has been posting some videos about her training challenges and struggles. She talks about staying in 'Do-land' as opposed to 'Don't-land.' In other words, communicating to your dog what you want him to 'Do' rather than what you 'Don't' want him to do. It makes sense to me and I'm trying to stay in that land more often - but, it's hard sometimes : )

A new title....and a patch to go with!

2011-07-05T18:40:00.000-05:00

The American Kennel Club (AKC) is now issuing Therapy Dogs a new title - THD - to place at the end of their names. This program went into effect June 27, 2011, and Jackson received his letter and patch in the mail today.

From the AKC website:

     "The purpose of this program is to recognize AKC dogs and their owners who have given their time and helped people by volunteering as a therapy dog and owner team.

     The AKC Therapy Dog program awards an official AKC title awarded to dogs who have worked to improve the lives of the people they have visited.

     The AKC Therapy Dog title (THD) can be earned by dogs who have been certified by AKC recognized therapy dog organizations and have performed 50 or more community visits." 

Jackson's name is now -

ROBINDANES HEARTBREAKER UDX RAE THD

We are particularly proud of this title as this is one of the things he does best : )

Tracking - Part One

2011-06-23T19:53:00.001-05:00

Part One - Building motivation to the glove
When I first started tracking three years ago, the method used involved dropping food along a track to teach the dog to follow a track. You eventually fade the food so the dog learns to follow the scent on the track to get to the reward (glove/treat) at the end of the track. After a few months of tracking, winter came and I got focused on obedience training and did not get back to tracking until this spring.

The food drop method works great for some people, but I felt Jackson and Jolee were lacking in motivation to find the glove. Then I came across a website that described another method of training, which focused on building motivation.

In this method, you start close in with the glove and treat in sight and get the dog excited to get to the treat. You gradually lengthen the distance. At first the dog is finding the glove by sight, but the theory is that as you lengthen the distance and the glove is out of sight, the dog will transition to using the scent of the track to find the glove. That's a real quick and dirty explanation. If you would like more detail on this method go to this Basset Hound website.

We've just started this method and I'm really liking it. We're still at the very beginning stages of it and I'm excited about how motivated the dogs are to find the glove. I don't know how the transition will go to finding the glove by scent, but we're having fun with this stage of it.

The video shows Jolee first with the initial exercise of getting the dog excited about the glove. Then I taped a couple short tracks with Jackson, who is surprisingly motivated to find the glove : )

Dog friends are the best!

2011-06-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

I received this photo recently and was reminded why I love dog training - it's so much about the friends you make along your journey :)

The photo is of the decorated cake that my training friends surprised me with at one of our training club meetings shortly after Jackson earned his UDX. The relationhip you build with your dog through obedience training is great, but having friends to share it with enriches it all the more!

The Nose Knows

2011-06-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

Now that we're retired from the obedience ring, we're getting into nose work - and really having a lot of fun with it. I was reading Laurie Luck's article, introduction to nose work, and thought it looked like a fun thing to do. I went out and bought some cardboard boxes to get started. Unfortunately they were too big. The dogs didn't want to put their heads in the boxes to get the treats, so we improvised by laying the boxes on their sides. I think I may need to start over with some properly sized boxes. Anyway, this was our first attempt.

In addition to working with the boxes, I've started playing 'find it' games with Jackson at the club where we train. He has really taken to these games and is getting really good at finding treats I've hidden around the training building. What's really been interesting is how it's carrying over into his motivation for tracking. We went tracking yesterday and I had to run to keep up with him - he was so motivated to 'find' the glove. I'm starting a new method to teach tracking that seems to be more motivating to find the glove than using the traditional food drops. I'll post more about that as we get into it.

Trial weekend - leaves me pondering

2011-05-23T10:24:00.001-05:00

Jackson was entered in a UKC (United Kennel Club) trial this past weekend. When we achieved our primary goal of the AKC udx title earlier this year I wanted to continue training and decided to train for the UKC ud title. I wanted to have more fun in training, practice some skills and see if training and trialing with no pressure would improve our ring performance.

Well, the answer is 'no.' It did not improve our performance in the ring. We have incorporated a lot more fun and games in our training sessions and done some fun activities outside of obedience training, but it hasn't transferred to lessening the ring stress for him. Which leaves me pondering whether or not I want to go back into the ring with him. ( I know he doesn't want to go back!)

He did hold it together the first day (three-day trial) enough to qualify and get his first ud leg. It wasn't pretty and he was stressed. I don't know what was so different for him the next two days, but he was too stressed to hold it together. He was just too worried to pay attention to me and focus on the job at hand so missed the signal exercise and the directed jumping. What I was most pleased with all weekend was his getting the glove (directed retrieve) exercise correct each day. This is the exercise that is quite different from AKC utility and something new that we have been training for quite a bit.

Ring stress is something we have dealt with from the very beginning of his obedience career and have never really been able to overcome. We've worked through the stress to qualify for the titles, but it has not been the picture of performance that judges are looking for in the ring. As I look back on our training and trialing, I don't know what I could/should have done differently to help him - or, maybe nothing would have made a difference. He is what he is.

So, I'm thinking maybe it is time to retire him from the ring. Doesn't mean we won't keep training and doing fun things - such as tracking, learning tricks, doing school demos, and such - but entering another trial is questionable at this time.

What would you do?

School visit

2011-04-29T16:58:00.001-05:00

Jackson was invited to do another school visit/demo today at an elementary school. The students in this group were younger than we normally see ... and somewhat more animated :) They were six and seven year olds. Jackson wasn't sure quite what to think of them at first, but warmed up to them pretty quickly.

Our team consisted of two standard poodles, two Nova Scotia Duck Tollers, a Border Terrier, a Scottie and Jackson. The class had been studying dogs so we talked a little about our breed of dog and demonstrated some obedience exercises, then had a meet and greet with the students. All in all it was great fun.

Here's some of the photos taken at the visit.

Some of our team members.

Demonstrating the Stand for Exam

The Figure 8

Drop on Recall

Retrieving the dumbbell

And... just waiting for the next command

I've added this last photo so Laura could see there actually was a Toller present : )

Is there a dance routine in Jackson's future?

2011-04-23T17:33:00.001-05:00

Well, I haven't decided yet, but.... at least I'm thinking about it : ) Our blog friends, Honey and Hsin-Yi in Australia, are having a contest - Dancing with the doggie Stars - and have encouraged us to participate. She suggested that we might use some of Jackson's obedience moves to create a dance routine. We have until June 15 to come up with something, so if anyone has ideas on which obedience moves might lend themselves to a dance routine ... please, send them our way. I'm a little short on creativity. But, I'm thinking it would really be a fun challenge.

In the meantime, we continue to work on our obedience exercises. I think my readjusted attitude is making a difference. Now that we are no longer under pressure to achieve the udx title, we have really relaxed our training attitude and are having a lot more fun. I didn't realize how stressed we were!

We've also started tracking again. We hadn't been out tracking for a couple years so we're starting over this spring with the basics - doing straight line tracks with lots of food drops along the way. Both Jackson and Jolee are doing great with it. I'll leave you with a short clip of Jolee and hubby on their first time out tracking this spring. (The orange flags mark the beginning and end of the short track.)

Yes, I have puppy pics!

2011-04-08T16:25:00.000-05:00

Thanks for asking : )

Happy Birthday Jackson and Jolee!

2011-04-07T13:22:00.001-05:00

Wow! Can't believe it's been seven years since these pictures were taken. The happy day was April 7, 2004, so they are seven years old today!!!

Jackson and Jolee three months old

On the Road to a Brilliant Recall!

2011-04-01T18:49:00.000-05:00

Last summer I took Susan Garrett's online course, "The 5 Minute Formula for a Brilliant Recall!" A different game was presented every day for a month to help achieve brilliant recalls. It was a good course and introduced a lot of fun games to play with your dog. I believe Susan's philosophy is that if you have a brilliant recall, everything else will fall into place - so to speak.

I think that's true - if you have a brilliant recall, you likely have a good relationship with your dog and he is much more willing to work with you. It's all about the dog finding the value with you, and not with other distracting things around him. Not having done a lot of these games previously, things moved along pretty fast and I found it hard to keep up. I was still trying to master the first day's game at the end of the month. Fortunately, at the end of the course, we were able to download all of the daily lessons so we could go back through them again at our leisure. So, that's where I am this spring, starting back with the basics.

Jackson has a pretty solid recall - but brilliant - it is not. So, now we are recommitted to going back through those lessons to make our recalls more brilliant. Today we worked on one of the first games to shape the basic recall. Jackson is not motivated by toys so I used the highest value food treat that I have found - moist dog food.

Since the weather is breaking here in the Midwest, it was a great day to get outside and play. (I wish I had done a lot more of this type of activity when I first started training Jackson : )

Jackson's new collar/leash

2011-03-31T18:45:00.001-05:00

I was stewarding a couple weeks ago at our club's agility trial and was quite taken with the colorful fleece collars that some of the agility competitors were using. They were martingale collar/leash combinations. Thanks to Melinda at Exercise Finished, I was able to find the exact collar I was looking for at Genuine Dog Gear. So now I have about 506 collars and leashes!

Here's Jackson in his new "padded martingale tug leash" : )

Training update

2011-03-27T17:23:00.000-05:00

It's been two weeks since I posted about Jolee's breakthrough with picking up the article. I'm using the clicker to mark the behavior I'm looking for. She had gone from nosing it, to mouthing it, and then the breakthrough - she started picking it up and bringing it to me.

I had not done anything else with her until this weekend when I was spurred into action by Laura's post, "How to: Teach your dog to hold." This is our next challenge, getting Jolee to hold the dumbbell/article. She currently wants to drop it as soon as she gets to me so I'm only clicking and treating when she holds it for a second or two. For the next few sessions I'm going to try to extend the length of time she holds it and work on getting her to look at me when she holds it. Perhaps if I get more regular with my training vs. once every two weeks, she will progress faster : )

Today's training with the dumbbell.

Jackson's training for UKC (United Kennel Club) utility class is continuing. The directed retrieve (glove) exercise in UKC is quite different than the glove exercise in AKC, so that's the exercise we've been concentrating on the most. In UKC the glove placement is different (they use the entire ring for this exercise) and there are two retrieves instead of one. On the second retrieve you send the dog to the middle of the ring and then direct him to the glove from there. You are working away from the dog for that retrieve instead of being right next to him so it's been more of a challenge for Jackson. He is coming along nicely though.

A Breakthrough!

2011-03-12T15:36:00.000-06:00

I started experimenting with clicker training articles with Jolee last month. It's been somewhat hit and miss, and it seemed we had reached a plateau. I had been putting three articles out and clicking/treating when she indicated the scented article.She would indicate and maybe push the article around to get the click/treat, but wouldn't put her mouth over it.

Then it occurred to me that I had never worked with her on taking and holding an article. Maybe that's why we weren't making any progress???? So, I took a step back and stopped with the training on identifying the scented article and started working on taking/picking up a single article.

One other thing I did today that was different is I had her sit and watch Jackson pick-up the article a few times. Now, I don't know if dogs can learn from watching other dogs - or was it just a coincidence .... but shortly thereafter, Jolee started picking up the article. The video below is of our session today and it is the first time she has picked the article up. Not sure where we go from here - but it sure is interesting : )

Training update

2011-03-06T17:21:00.002-06:00

Training has been more relaxed lately, and I've had time to think through what some of my training goals might be now. I have a couple things I'm working on with Jackson - some new behaviors/tricks and a new obedience exercise.

The new obedience exercise we are working on is the UKC directed retrieve/glove exercise. It's quite different than the AKC glove exercise so it's incorporating some new commands. I think learning a new exercise will keep both Jackson and me challenged. We have competed in UKC trials previously and Jackson has his UKC CDX title. I like UKC trials because they're usually quite a bit smaller and more relaxed than AKC trials - at least in our area. If I do decide to enter a UKC trial later this year, it won't be the kind of pressure we've been under trying to get the other titles. I find though, that if I don't have some kind of plan or goal to work toward, I'm kind of at loose ends.

We had a fun match at the training club this morning. I did run throughs in both Open and Utility to see if I could see any improvement in the areas we've been working on lately. I was okay with both run-throughs, even though he didn't come on the first command from the down on the drop-on-recall exercise. Otherwise, he was staying with me pretty good on the heeling/figure 8 and he seemed more relaxed. I'm working on a behavior that will relax both of us in the ring between exercises - it's 'give me five' - having him offer me his paw. I see a lot of handlers doing jump and touch behaviors between exercises, and I tried to put 'touch' on command, but Jackson would never do it in the ring. However, he will sometimes raise his paw at me in training - usually when he's stressed and is trying to calm me : ) - so, I decided to try to put it on cue. He seems to like doing it and did it when I asked in the fun match today. I've heard some judges don't like handlers doing 'tricks' between exercises, but I'm not going to worry about that.

Now, for our other 'trick.' I've been looking for something that Jackson can do to entertain the residents when he goes on his therapy visits to the care center. The one I settled on was, pick things up and put them in a basket. I've been trying to use the clicker to mark the breakdown of behaviors I'm training. However, I am not a 'clicker' trainer - at least not the kind that captures behaviors. I have found that I just don't have the patience to wait for a behavior to occur on it's own and then try to capture it. So, I'm using a lot of shaping and then I try to mark what I like using the clicker, and treat. Our first lesson was today. He knows the pick up part, and it was pretty easy to get him to bring it to the container. We need some work on the drop it in the container part. I ended up putting a treat to his nose so he would drop it to take the treat. (I was really off on my timing with the clicker though, as you will see in the video.)

Clicker trainers out there - if you have suggestions, please don't hesitate!

Introducing Jackson's co-star, Jolee

2011-02-23T14:22:00.000-06:00

Ch Robindanes She's So Fine CD CGC aka "Jolee"

Now that Jackson has achieved his quest, I guess it's time to shift the focus a bit and include his littermate - Jolee - on this blog. I've periodically mentioned her in posts and featured her in a couple videos, however not everyone has met her. (We are now a two-Dane family so there won't be any more surprises.)

Jolee is six years old and spent her early years in the conformation ring, thus obedience training was kind of an after-thought with her. I did start some obedience training with her a couple years ago and then rushed her into the ring to get a CD (companion dog) title on her so she would have a title at both ends of her name : )

So, what are my goals in training with two six-year-old (almost seven-year-old) Danes? Not sure, but I think this next year I am going to focus on continuing obedience training with both of them to help keep them mentally and physically challenged. I don't have any obedience title goals in mind at this point, but want to continue learning from training them; try new training methods; and improve and expand my training knowledge and skills.

And, as soon as the weather breaks - we're going to get back into tracking.

Stay tuned : )

Good bye Beemer

2011-02-20T17:26:00.000-06:00

Ch Mesaba Razzle Dazzle aka "Beemer"

May 23, 2001 - February 18, 2011

I debated about posting this today, but decided it would help bring some closure. Everyone that has pets knows that someday they will face the loss of that pet. However, the sadness of that day is compensated by the years of love and companionship you share with them.

Beemer was our first conformation champion, mother to Jackson and Jolee, and a joy to live with. We will miss her terribly.

Regrouping

2011-02-06T16:30:00.001-06:00

My name is Kathie - I'm an obedience training addict.

There, I've said it. Being addicted to obedience training as I am, I couldn't just quit when we reached our goal. So, I started thinking about what new goals could I set now to keep me motivated. What I've decided for the time being is - to continue training Jackson to try to improve his execution of the various exercises, and to improve and expand my training skills. I probably won't enter many trials with Jackson, but I may enter a few local trials at times to measure our progress. I think it's going to be interesting to see if things improve now just because we don't have the pressure of attaining any titles.

I'll be continuing with the previous goals I set to accomplish the improvements - incorporating a lot of play and treats, and learning new tricks. I think I'll probably drop the tug thing though. He's just never going to be a tugger :)

Now that the pressure is off Jackson, I've also started doing more training with Jolee. I don't know if I'll enter her in any trials, but I'm sure having fun trying a lot of new training methods with her - primarily using the clicker. Her personality is so different from Jackson's, I think it's really going to expand my ideas on training.

Which brings us to the following video - clicker training Jolee for articles. Up to now, I've not done anything with articles with Jolee, so I thought I would try clicker training them. I used the traditional tie-down method with Jackson and he is very reliable with the scent discrimination exercise. But, I thought it would be fun to experiment with something completely different with Jolee.

These are our first two attempts with it. I put out three metal articles - one which I scented - and clicked and treated whenever she would hesitate over the scented article. In following sessions I will look for more committment to the scented article before I click, and so on.
Please excuse the background noise. Note to self: turn off the tv when taping :)

"Wasn't easy. Wasn't supposed to be"

2011-01-24T09:23:00.000-06:00

Wow, I didn't know how to start this post until I recently saw this quote attributed to Roger Bannister, the runner who broke the four minute mile, and I thought this fits so well in describing our quest for the UDX title. Heaven knows, it wasn't easy and I don't believe attaining that title is meant to be easy.

But, we did it! Jackson qualified in both Open B and Utility B yesterday at a trial in La Crosse, Wisconsin to get his 10th leg and that elusive UDX title.

ROBINDANES HEARTBREAKER UDX RAE TDIA aka "JACKSON"

Now, for the rest of the story ..... It was a small trial and the facilities were really nice. Lots of room to crate and warm up. The only downside - when we walked out of the motel Sunday morning the temperature was 14 degrees below zero! That's not the wind chill folks, that was the temperature. But, we're from the Midwest so we're tough and we adjusted : )

The first day of the trial was a good day, except he went down on the three-minute sit in open. The high point Saturday was his score in open would have been a 192 if he hadn't NQd on the sit. Not a good score for competitive dogs, but a great score for Jackson! His utility score that day was the usual 176. He lost a lot of points on lack of precision on fronts and finishes and on the no sits on go outs - things we have been working on in practice but he loses in the ring.

The second day (Sunday) we had utility first at 8 a.m. His utility exercises went better than Saturday although he was somewhat stressed as usual. He only had one go out with a no sit. His score was a 181.5! Yay, we finally broke out of the 170s. One down and one to go : )

I was nervous about open because of his sit problem the previous day. But, he did the exercises fine, stayed up on the long sit, and ended up with a score of 189.5. Again, higher than his average score for open.

Thus we ended the UDX quest on a high note all around last weekend. Now, to ponder ... what next?

Training update

2011-01-17T17:30:00.002-06:00

Time to do a quick, week-that-was review of our five training goals.

1) Begin each training session with play - Yes, we've been doing a lot more play - as in throwing treats and running. Today, he was really up and attentive. That was in contrast to yesterday when he was really sluggish. I don't know if he was having an off day, or just didn't feel well. I'm getting a little concerned about his age and the accompanying joint problems that giant breed dogs have so I started him on Rimadyl today to see if he seemed more comfortable - especially with the sits. Sometimes he seems really stiff when he gets up from the three-minute sit in Open B. He has been on Dasuquin (a joint supplement) for two or three years.

2) Play tug twice a week - Not making a lot of progress here. He'll mouth it, but still doesn't want to hang on to it.

3) Shorten sessions and/or take more play breaks - We've been doing a lot more breaking out in play while we're training lately. We'll just do short heeling segments and when he's in perfect heel position I'll throw treats. I'll give him the down signal and then throw a treat, or give the down and sit signal, then throw a treat, instead of doing the whole signal exercise. When we go from one exercise to the next, I'll set him up then release and play, then set up again to do the exercise. I have a hard time keeping him with me when we move between exercises so I'm hoping this will help.

4) Try a new treat each week - We're throwing Charlee Bears this week. They're easy to see on the dark floor, they don't take as long to eat - and....they're a lot cheaper than Bil Jac liver treats : ) They seem to be working just as well.

5) Work on one new clicker behavior each week - I was remiss on the clicker training this week. Maybe next week.

Oh, did I mention - we have a trial coming up this weekend. Hope springs eternal : )

Another bright idea bites the dust!

2011-01-11T15:25:00.000-06:00

We've had a few snow days lately so thought I would try to keep the dogs challenged and entertained with one of the toys that dispenses treats. I've seen them work great for other dogs, but hadn't tried them with my guys. So, I went looking for one of these toys. Well, I found one at Wal Mart for only $5.99. The price should have been the first clue that this was not gonna last. And, it was hard plastic - not a good thing.

Here it is - the Dogzilla!

I loaded it with some treats and Jolee was the first to try it out. She nosed it for awhile, then she got impatient and started chomping on it.

Jolee with the Dogzilla -

Two minutes later she had chewed it apart and left it with hard, sharp edges that made it no longer useable.

So much for the Dogzilla!

You would have thought I'd seen this coming, wouldn't you?

Week One - and still on track

2011-01-09T18:28:00.000-06:00

I thought perhaps if I review in writing each week how close I've come to incorporating my new year's resolutions into training, I might be more likely to accomplish my goals. Hopefully that will keep me more accountable and I'll stick with it. We'll see : )

Week One - working on our five goals
1) Begin each training session with play - We've been starting each session with throwing treats, running around the ring, doing restrained recalls - and just generally picking up the pace.
2) Play tug twice a week - I got the tug toy out and loaded it with good treats to entice him into tugging. He will put it in his mouth - in the kitchen - but let go as soon as I take hold of it. My goal is to get him to tug in the kitchen, then take it to another location.
3) Shorten sessions and/or take more play breaks - We've been doing more really short sessions in the house and when we do go to the club we've been taking more play breaks during training sessions.
4) Try a new treat each week - Our new treat this week was left-over chicken breast. He was interested, but didn't go nuts over it like he does Cesars moist dog food.
5) Work on one new clicker behavior each week - This week we worked on 'touch.' We've done this before, but it's been awhile so it's kinda new. Thought we would start out on something pretty basic - touch my hand - and build on it.

It will likely take awhile before I see significant/or even any small changes in his behavior/attitude in training, but I feel I've accomplished something by just sticking to my goals - at least for one week!

We'll see how next week goes : )

Rethinking our New Year's resolution

2010-12-31T15:04:00.001-06:00

After posting our New Year's resolution - 'to put the joy back in training' - it dawned on me how general and unmeasurable this goal was. How will I ever be able to tell when/if I've attained it - or made some progress toward attaining it? So, I've been trying to come up with a more specific action plan that will help me reach this goal, and some ideas on how to measure our progress. These are my ideas so far:

1) I will begin each training session with play. Not being a toy or tug dog, Jackson's favorite game that gets him excited is chasing his favorite treat across the ring. He will also chase me around the ring (when I have the energy to run : ) and he likes to do long recalls to his other favorite treat (Cesar's moist dog food)!

2) I will try to play tug with him twice a week. I ordered a mesh tug toy a while back that you put their favorite food in and it's guaranteed to make any dog want to tug. Well, I didn't have immediate success with it so I put it away. I will get it back out again and give it another try. This time I will not give up so easily.

3) I will shorten our training sessions, and/or take at least two breaks during our training to break out in a play session.

4) I will try one new kind of treat each week to peak his interest. I've heard dogs go nuts over tripe - or, maybe some sirloin steak will be on the menu : )

5) I will try to teach him one new trick each week. With a clicker, he picks up on simple tricks pretty fast so I think it's doable - if I can just think of 52 simple tricks!

Now, how will I measure our progress in putting more fun back in training? I'm not sure. That may be more subjective.

Tail wags are usually a sign that a dog is working happily. I'll admit, I don't get a lot of tail wags when he is working obedience exercises, so maybe I'll look for tail wags and keep track of when/if I see them. I'll watch his head position too. If his head and ears are up when he's working, that might also be a sign of his comfort level. One of Fanny's posts talks about your dog asking you to work with him - instead of the other way around. If I walk out to the middle of the ring and he comes trotting out to me, does that mean he's asking me to work with him? If he's nudging me for more treats, does that mean he wants to work with me - or does he just want a treat? Hmmm... I haven't figured this one out yet. Any ideas?????

I will not suck the joy out of training!

2010-12-30T16:05:00.000-06:00

Yup, that's my new year's resolution and number one goal for 2011. Up until a couple weeks ago I thought my number one goal was obvious - to get the udx title. However, after reading Melinda's blog post about putting the joy back in training, I was reminded again about why I do this.

Although I try to make our training sessions fun, I sometimes get caught up in the frustration of trying to meet the performance and title goals I've set for myself and forget to relax and find the joy in training for Jackson and myself. This year I am committed to trying harder to find that joy. I didn't start out training with titles and placements in mind. I just wanted to try doing something different with my dogs that I thought would be challenging and fun. It is fun and rewarding - which is why I'm hooked on obedience.

Another blogger - Fanny Gott - posted something recently that also really got me thinking. In her post she said, "I never ask my dog to work with me. My dog has to ask me to work with him. I don’t ask him to look at me or to come to heel. The dog has to take responsibility for those things if he wants to work." Wow, I've never thought about training in those terms - expecting my dog to ask me to work with him : )

Anyway, those two posts really got me thinking about what it is I want to accomplish with training my dog. I will of course be setting some less lofty goals, i. e., straighter fronts, better position in heeling, nicer finishes, but always trying to keep in mind my primary goal of making training fun!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T20:23:00.000-06:00

A Pictorial Review of 2010

2010-12-09T21:56:00.000-06:00

I've selected a photo taken in each month to represent some of the

events in Jackson's year.

What a great year it's been!

To pinch, or not to pinch ....

2010-12-02T16:43:00.000-06:00

...that is the question. I was recently asked how I taught Jackson to retrieve the dumbbell. Since I had been thinking about doing a post on my training philosophy at some point, this question seemed a good lead in.

Jackson is the first dog I have trained for competitive obedience, so please take my random thoughts on training with a grain of salt : ) Every dog is different and it's a journey to find training methods that work for your dog and for you. This is what I have learned - so far - about what works with my dog --- and, that's not to say that other methods may have worked as well.

I am not a purely positive trainer. I choose to use primarily positive reinforcers such as treats and praise to train behaviors. I lure - a lot - when first teaching a behavior. I also use corrections to extinguish behaviors I don't want and to reinforce the notion that he doesn't always have a 'choice.' I don't believe corrections have to be harsh - they only need to get the dog's attention and communicate to him that, 'this is not appropriate behavior, or that was the wrong decision.' I don't believe that ignoring bad behavior in my dog will make it go away, any more than I believe you should ignore bad behavior when raising children. And, I don't believe correcting my dog damages my relationship with him anymore than I think disciplining children damages your relationship with them. I think it gives them a clear picture of what your expectations are and what's acceptable behavior. Well, that's pretty much it in a nutshell - at least as of today. I'm sure my ideas on training will continue to undergo changes and adjustments with more experience, and more trials and errors!

All of which brings me to the question, "how did I train the retrieve?" I used the ear pinch method. I started out with putting the dumbbell in Jackson's mouth and having him hold it. I rewarded him for holding it and sometimes he would even take it from my hand. But most times he would choose not to take it. Now, I might have worked on this for a year or so and gotten him to take it on command (and I do know people who did work on it for months and were able to get their dogs to retrieve without pinching their ear), however, I am not that patient of a trainer, and at that time, had no experience with clicker training. We had one training session where we pinched his ear to get him to take the dumbbell. I think we only did it a couple times before he figured out what he needed to do. Today, Jackson has a reliable retrieve. I can't remember one time in the four or five years since we did the ear pinch, that he has refused to retrieve.

Would I use the same method with my next dog? I don't know. I've done some dumbbell work with Jolee, who has a totally different personality/temperament than Jackson and I've been using the clicker training method with her. It has been a lot of fun watching her learn that way and I hope to get back to working with her soon. I'll just have to see how far clicker training takes me.

Year-end Review

2010-11-28T15:34:00.000-06:00

Now, you might think it's a little early for a year-end review. However, we just completed our last weekend of trials for the year and thought it was a good time for a review. Our goal for 2010 was to get the UDX title. Well, we fell a little bit short of that goal but when I look back at the year of trialing, I am very happy with what we accomplished - nine UDX legs!

At the beginning of the year I was not optimistic about setting this as a goal. Our first time out last January was going to be a 'do or die' weekend. If he had not done anything at that first trial, I was not going to pursue the title. As luck would have it, he qualified that weekend and got his first two UDX legs. He qualified the next three trials also and earned three more legs. So, five trials - five UDX legs. Then the magic stopped and the wheels fell off. I haven't gone back and counted how many trials it took for the next four legs, but it was a lot.

Utility is hard. There are a million - well, maybe not a million - but a lot of things that can go wrong to keep you from qualifying. I imagine if it weren't so difficult, it wouldn't be such a great accomplishment to get to this level of obedience. What's particularly difficult for Jackson, and for a lot of dogs, is the stress in the ring that keeps them from focusing on what it is they have trained to do and do so well in practice. This weekend was no exception. Jackson was very stressed in the ring even though the trial was in the building we train in. Both days he NQd on the signal exercise. He also NQd yesterday on the moving stand when he didn't come all the way to finish. The moving stand is usually the exercise I have the most confidence in. I think it just goes to show than anything can fall apart when he is stressed.

So, that brings me to our goal for 2011. It's going to be to try to get that 10th leg and the UDX title. We've come too far to quit now - and I'm not sure what I would do with my time if I didn't have a dog to train : )

Another Day - Another Demo!

2010-11-11T10:00:00.000-06:00

Jackson was invited to participate in a demo last night for a church youth group. We really enjoy doing these demonstrations. It's great fun and really good experience for Jackson to go into new environments and perform exercises with different distractions. The request came through our obedience training club, so we talked about our dogs, how we train them, and demonstrated a few obedience exercises.

Here are a few pictures of our team - Melody the Border Terrier, Sparky the Standard Poodle, and Jackson.

Introducing our team

Drop on Recall

Figure 8

Scent discrimination

Meet and Greet

Weekend Trials - still one to go!

2010-11-01T18:39:00.000-05:00

The weekend trials turned out to be a weekend for training, as we didn't qualify in utility any of the days. The stress monster got to Jackson and our go outs for directed jumping fell apart. He just couldn't bring himself to go to the other side of the ring and sit. Instead, he either didn't go far enough out or when he did he turned around and walked back in too close to the jumps. Now, we've had problems with slow sits and/or no sits on the go outs, but the walking back in is new. There was ring rental time after the trial ended, so we spent our five minutes in the ring just working on go outs. He was able to do them in practice, but that didn't carry over into the trial the next day.

He had a couple other glitches during the weekend - but, I'm not too worried about them. Overall, I think he was just bothered and distracted enough by the trial environment that he couldn't perform well. I never really know what one - or more - things bother him about certain venues so I just have to wait until we go in the ring to see how it's going to go.

My plan in training this month is to try some different things with go outs to see what helps. We were back at the club training today and I put a couple guides out at the location where I want him to sit. It was just two of the 2" high-jump boards parallel to one another and just far enough apart for him the turn around and sit. Well, wouldn't you know - he was perfect. I've used guides before and they evidently are the clue he needs for him to know exactly what to do. He appears very confident about what it is he is supposed to do when he sees the guides. Now, the challenge will be - how to wean him off the guides? I think I'll take it slow this time and maybe reduce the visibility of the guides gradually.

Our next trial is the end of the month in the building where we train. You would think that would be easier for him, but.... we've not done particularly well in that building previously, so I'm not overly confident. We'll see : )

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-20T17:11:00.000-05:00

9 Down - 1 To Go ! ! ! ! !

2010-10-18T19:08:00.000-05:00

Well, we got the ninth UDX leg this past weekend - I guess there's no turning back now! We had a chance to get the tenth leg on Sunday, but no Qs. However, we won't talk much about that - we'll just focus on Saturday :)

It was a small entry at Saturday's trial, so only one ring and lots of room for crating and warm-up. He was worried in the ring, but he managed to hold it together and complete all the exercises in both utility and open for that double Q. The stress showed up in not-too-pretty fronts and finishes, and the usual slow down in sits and performing the exercises.

Sunday was a different story. (I just never know which Jackson is going to show up in the ring.) There were several more entries in the Sunday trial, however, still not crowded or distracting - at least I didn't think so. However something really was bothering Jackson and he couldn't focus on the job at hand. I could tell he was stressed when we entered the ring because he slowed down even more than usual and was lagging on the heeling and turns. He NQd on the first exercise - the signals. He did the down, sit and come okay, except.... he stopped and sat about five feet out in front of me instead of coming on in. Open B went much better than utility - that is until we got to the long sit. He went down immediately before I got across the ring. That was very uncharacteristic for him. Never done that before, so I will just chalk that up as a fluke and not worry about it for now.

Back to Saturday - It was a gorgeous fall day here in the Midwest and the trial was held near one of the larger lake/resort areas in Iowa, Clear Lake. So, after the trial we went over to the lake to hang out for awhile - to bask in the sun and to celebrate getting the ninth leg.

Here's a couple pictures of our afternoon. I was surprised by Jackson's reaction to the water. He walked right into the water. I think he might have just kept going if I had let loose of the lead or gone in the water with him :) Hmmmmm, maybe dock diving is in his future.

When does 'sit' mean 'sit' ?

2010-10-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

We've been working hard lately on the verbal sit command. As you may recall from earlier posts, this was the area we decided to focus on after the last trial where I got no sits on the go outs. It didn't seem as though Jackson recognized the command in that situation. Or, if he did recognize it, he wasn't confident enough in that situation to do it in a timely manner.

Coincidently, Hsin-Yi had a post on Honey's blog yesterday about dogs not generalizing and about testing to see if they understood the command when you were giving it from positions other than in front of them. This had also been one of the games on Susan Garrett's 'Brilliant Recall' e-course I took recently. Dogs not generalizing commands is not a new concept to me, but I had never really set about testing the 'sit' command to see how many different positions and places I could give the command - without any treats or body/hand movements -and have him respond correctly.

So, today I decided to see how well he would do with the command from different positions. What I found was, he does really well when we are in the kitchen and in various other locations when I am standing in front of him up to 10-15 feet away. And, he also responded well when I turned my back to him and gave the command. However, not so well when I was sitting down, as you will see in the video.

The following short clips are from our 'test' this afternoon - first in the kitchen, then moving to the deck. (I haven't figured out yet how to edit the clips to put them together in one video, thus the two clips. If anyone has suggestions for video editing software that works well with Windows 7, please let me know : )

I think what our 'test' today shows is, we really need to continue work on the sit command in different locations and my giving the command from different and unusual positions. We also need to work on the sit command with various distractions.

National Obedience Invitational ad

2010-09-25T13:03:00.000-05:00

This is the ad we're placing in the AKC 2010 National Obedience Invitational catalog. The trials will take place in Long Beach, California in December. We'll be there in spirit, even if not in person : )

Training update

2010-09-21T21:33:00.000-05:00

With two UDX legs left to go, I've looked at our performance in the last few trials and tried to pick out a couple things to focus on in training that might help us with getting those last two legs. I've decided to let the speed thing go, as I don't think either one of us has enough years left of training to make a dramatic impact on increasing his speed in the trials. He is what he is : ) So, the thing that I've decided to focus on is the sits on go outs. Since I got no sits on go outs at the last trial, it seemed like an area that we could improve.

My approach to training this has been to really up the value of treats that I'm using to reinforce the sits. The highest value reward I've found so far in training is the canned dog food. I use the little plastic containers of Cesar dog food that you can peel off the foil lid and spoon out for rewards. Throwing Bil Jac liver treats is still high value, but the Cesar's is even higher and I can deliver the reward in place. So, with my high-value reward in hand, I've been doing a lot of random sit commands in an effort to make sure he knows the command. I give the sit command when I'm close to him, when I'm across the ring, when I'm behind him, in front of him, etc., I sometimes put a ring gate between us so I can increase the distance, which is also good exercise for me because I then have to run to him to give him the reward in a timely manner. (I really need to dig out my clicker again so I can mark the behavior from a distance : ) I have in my mind a picture of an acceptable sit speed and only reward the sits that are faster than the 'acceptable' level. I'm looking for this 'acceptable' level to improve as we continue with this training.

I also combine the sit command with the go outs sometimes. I work the go outs without the jumping - varying the distance and still using the high-value reward for fast sits. We've just been doing this for the past week, but I'm seeing some improvement already. I have a few more weeks to focus on this before we're entered in trials so it will be interesting to see if there is carryover in the ring.

The other thing we need to do more of is work under some stress. It's hard to find stressful distractions away from trials, but we got lucky today at the club where I train - someone had pulled the agility equipment out in two of the rings. This is one of the most stressful things for Jackson to work through, due to his irrational fear of agility equipment. We did most of our training in the adjacent ring to the agility equipment, but when it came time to do the articles - guess where we put the article pile? Yup, right in the middle of the agility equipment. He was really stressed, but I helped him a little and he worked through it and did fine. Hopefully, putting a little more confidence in his bank account : )

The downside of using these high-value rewards and treating a lot is he's gaining weight. At his annual check-up last week, he weighed 178 pounds. Not a good thing when he's doing so much jumping. I may need to find a low-calorie Cesar dog food!

The Trial Today - #8!

2010-09-13T17:47:00.000-05:00

We were entered in an obedience trial today at the club where I train. He usually doesn't do well at all in that building for some reason - even though he's familair with it. Today though, he held it together and qualified in both Utility and Open for his 8th UDX leg!!!!!

It wasn't always pretty - he was true to form with his slowdown in the ring. There was more walking than trotting and some crooked fronts and finishes, but he did all the exercises. I thought we were going to NQ with the first signal. I gave the signal to down and he just stood there looking at me. I was about to give him a second command, which would have been an NQ, when the judge motioned for me to give him another down command. Well, I don't know if he saw the judge from the back of his head, or if it was just coincidence that he decided to go down at that moment, thus saving the day - and the Q : )

I got no sits on the go outs, but he took the correct jumps. I was worried though that he wouldn't have enough speed to carry him over the jumps - but, he's getting pretty good at 'walking' up to the jumps then going over them.

Open was somewhat better. His heeling was pretty good except for some lagging on the figure eights. He was still pretty slow on the retrieves and drop on recall, but again, he did everything.

I'm really not getting so frustrated anymore with the slowdowns in the ring. I know he's not going to ever give me the performance in the ring that I get in practice due to his personality - but, that's okay. If we can just get these last two legs, I promised him he could retire from obedience and we'd do something fun --- like tracking!

The Photo shoot

2010-09-06T22:13:00.001-05:00

Jackson and his training buddy Melody had a photo shoot yesterday. Both Jackson and Melody were invited to the AKC National Obedience Invitational (see previous post). We thought it was really neat that both of us were invited since we're training buddies and nontraditional obedience breeds. And, since and it's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime event for us, we decided to put an ad in the Obedience Invitational catalog. Thus, the photo shoot. So, here's one of the photos we selected for the ad.

Photo by Jerry Ranch

What I learned at the trials this weekend.....

2010-08-29T22:19:00.000-05:00

I try to look at trials as an opportunity to evaluate where we are with our training, what is improving, and what areas we need to focus on more. So, I spent most of the trip home from the trials today trying to figure that out, and how to put a positive spin on the weekend. It was one of those weekends again. No udx legs. While he qualified consistently in Open, we couldn't keep it together in the Utility ring. One day we 'pointed out,' which means he completed all the basic utility exercises, however, too many points were deducted for slow responses for him to have a qualifying score. On another day, he got the wrong glove - due to a really bad pivot he was facing the #1 glove instead of the #2 so took the wrong glove. And, to top it off today - I sent him over the wrong jump. I couldn't believe it (banging head against the wall :)! The judge said he would have qualified except for that error on my part.

The positive spin I put on it is - we get to continue training and trialing! After all, it's the journey - not the destination! That's what I keep telling myself anyway : ) Okay, so now for a look at what's going on with him. It's the same thing that we can't seem to overcome - his reaction to the trial environment. When we step into the ring and the leash is off, I cannot keep his focus. He goes through the motions - make that sloooow motions - of the exercises, but loses the enthusiasm, drive and precision that I see in practice. He is constantly trying to keep an eye on what's going on outside the ring and around him rather than focusing on me, which also results in really sloppy fronts and finishes.

In practice we've been playing a lot of games to increase focus and drive - the theory behind this being that if the value and rate of reinforcement is high enough for the behaviors you are shaping, the dog will choose to work with you in spite of the distractions around them. In theory, it sounds good - but, in reality, I'm not sure it can be applied successfully to all dogs - especially low-drive dogs, that are fearful and lack confidence aka dogs like Jackson! Are there some fears and/or distractions that just cannot be overcome in some dogs???

Any thoughts on that? I would love to hear them : )

Last training session before the trial weekend

2010-08-24T22:36:00.000-05:00

Today was our last chance to train at the club before leaving tomorrow for a four-day weekend of trials. Our training buddy (the two-legged one) has been out of commission with an injury for the past couple weeks so today was the first time we met up to train. And, I must say, I've missed having someone to train with. We've had fun on our own the past couple weeks - mostly playing games - but it really is helpful and more enjoyable to train with someone else.

We decided to do run-thrus today to see where we were at. We did both utility and open run-thrus. And, I was really pleased with Jackson's performance. He was generally pretty well focused and attentive. His fronts, sits and finishes were really nice with not much lagging at all. As always, I would have liked to have seen more briskness on the go-outs and articles, but overall he did a nice job.

Now, if he can just tune out the distractions at the trials this weekend and stay on task - but, that's always the unknown with him - how will he be affected by the trial environment?

Stay tuned........

Training update

2010-08-16T16:41:00.000-05:00

I'm seeing a difference in Jackson's attitude since we started the e-course - a game a day for the month of August. I can't go into detail about the games, but I will say the ones that I've found the most helpful are the various versions of restrained recalls and rewarding in the 'reinforcement zone.'

We were at the club today to train - make that 'play' - and he was really up. Of course we were the only ones at the club so that may have had something to do with it : ) And, since they have agility scheduled at the club tonight, all of the ring gates were down leaving a big, wide-open space where three rings normally would be. The more room available - the faster Jackson's recalls are, so he was really 'flying' today. It's so much more fun to watch him run than it is to watch him slowly walk through the exercises.

We worked some restrained recalls and some regular recalls - throwing in a few drops too. I'm also doing a lot of rewarding in the 'reinforcement zone,' which is a variation of 'choose to heel.' I'm hoping this will help with his heeling and cut down on the lagging.

We did articles by placing the article pile in the middle of the room - about 3-4 times further than it would normally be. Instead of sending him to the pile, I ran out to the pile with him and then as soon as he found the correct article, I ran back to the other end of the room to give him his very favorite reward - a spoonful of canned dog food. I did get trotting out and back from the pile instead of the usual slow walk.

We did a few other exercises and overall, I tried to keep it fast and upbeat, which resulted in him acting a lot more focused and energized. I don't know if there will be carryover into the trial setting or when working with distractions, because we still have the lack of confidence problem that's been hard to overcome. However, I don't see how having all this fun and games can hurt, and maybe I'll be able to see a difference in his attitude at the trials we're entered in the end of the month.

Trials and Games

2010-08-09T15:39:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy couple weeks now with training for last weekend's trials and trying to keep up with the game of the day in the e-course I'm taking, Susan Garratt's 'Five Minutes to a Brilliant Recall.'

First off, the trial weekend in Wisconsin - The trials were held in conjunction with a conformation show so there was quite a bit of activity (read that - distractions) in the building. It was air conditioned though with plenty of room for crating and warm up. The ring set-up had spectators on two sides, a rally ring adjacent on one side, and a wall on the fourth side. Jackson was worried about what was going on around him - especially in back of him. And, wouldn't you know it - the signals were at the end of the ring with the active ring behind him. On the signal to down, he could just manage a sit. I think he was afraid that if he went all the way down, something would get him from behind. NQ. The remainder of the exercises went pretty well, although there was the usual stress-induced slowdown and some crooked sits and finishes. He did qualify in Open though. He's much more confident in the Open exercises - maybe because they're not as complicated and there's not as much opportunity to make the 'wrong' choice.

There was ring rental time after the trial was finished on Saturday. We spent our five minutes in the ring just heeling and playing - trying to get him more comfortable in the setting so he wouldn't be so stressed.

The good news now - Sunday he qualified in both Utility and Open to earn his 7th UDX leg! I don't know if the ring rental time helped, or if he was just more comfortable with the environment the second day and not so stressed, but he held it together and completed all the exercises.

Only three more legs to go! We are entered in trials at the end of the month so we'll see how things go. Which brings me to the GAMES!

I'm having great fun with the five-minute games - a different one each day - that focus on attention and drive. The things we desperately need : ) My training plans for the rest of the month are to concentrate on playing those games with Jackson with the hope of increasing his attention on me. That's the really big difference I see when we go to trials. I am so envious of those handlers whose dogs focus all their attention on them and don't seem to even be aware of what else is going on around them. If I can get just a little more attention from Jackson in trial situations maybe he won't be so aware (read that - stressed) by what else is around him. We'll see : )

Jackson gets invited!

2010-07-31T11:08:00.000-05:00

Jackson has been invited to the 2010 AKC National Obedience Invitational to be held December 4th & 5th in Long Beach, California !!!!

Now, you're probably wondering, "How is it possible for a dog struggling to get an average score of 180 to be invited to this prestigious event?" And, it is a highly prestigious event - especially for those dog/handler teams that work all year to qualify for an invitation so they can compete for the NOC - National Obedience Champion title.

Well, as it turns out - and I'm not sure why AKC does this - in addition to the highest scoring dogs (according to their OTCH points) being invited, the top three performance dogs in each breed (also according to their OTCH points - Jackson has 2 : ) are also invited. In the case of Great Danes, as well as many other nontraditional obedience breeds, there are just not that many competing at the utility level, so Jackson more or less received the invitation by 'default.' But, I'm not saying that it's not a great accomplishment for nontraditional obedience breeds to be invited, because I am thrilled to have received the invitation. I think it recognizes the really hard work that trainers of nontraditional obedience dogs put into training their dogs to get them to the utility level, even though they may not always be competitive with those dogs scoring consistently in the high 190s and getting placements.

I'm also not saying that Great Danes are not capable of getting those high scores, because there is an OTCH Great Dane, and a couple others who do consistently score in the 190s.

And, in case you are wondering - we do not plan to attend. However, I think I will frame the invitation and look at it periodically for inspiration : )

Let the games begin!

2010-07-19T10:38:00.000-05:00

I am excited! I have signed up for Susan Garrett's e-course, 'The Five Minute Formula for a Brilliant Recall.' It's her first e-course. It begins August 1 and consists of 31 games in 31 days - five-minute games that will help with focus, attention and drive, not to mention brilliant recalls.

Now, I don't do agility, but I have found some really helpful information on her blog regarding training basics and foundation work for any activities you do with your dog. Jackson is certainly not the high-drive dog you normally see in agility or obedience, so I figured anything I can try that may result in more focus and attention on me in distracting situations is worth the try.

I'm going to give it 100 percent for the month, and I'm really excited to see what results may come of it. I'll keep you posted on our progress : )

Colorado Trials - #6!

2010-07-06T10:27:00.001-05:00

Here I am with my laptop (don't you love WIFI?) on the open porch of a cabin in Estes Park, Colorado, enjoying the mountains, hoping to see wildlife, and also reflecting on the weekend trials : ) Jackson is beside himself with all the new mountain/wildlife smells. I am happy to be relaxing in the mountains and I'm also happy with the trials. I really enjoy coming to the trials here in Colorado because it's such a nice venue and the people are so friendly.

We did pick up our 6th UDX leg on Saturday. (Yay - only four more to go!) However, it was a different story on Friday and Sunday. Friday was a split decision - we qualified in Open, but not in Utility. On Sunday, we NQd in both Utility and Open.

Okay, now for the high points - aside from getting the leg.
1) On Friday we got the highest score ever in Open - 191.5 (not really high by competitive dog standards, but great for him!)
2) He was able to work through his stress to complete most of the exercises, even on the runs where he did not qualify. He really tried!

Now for the rest of the story -
Utility
He was the second dog in the ring on Friday. I was nervous - he was worried. It was not a good mix : (
The first exercise was the directed retrieve (gloves). Bad pivot, bad signal on my part so he took the wrong glove. NQ. The judge was great though - he said, you paid the money so go ahead and help him with the other exercises. (This does not happen often, and sometimes it depends on whether there is an AKC rep on the site.) So, I did help him with the signals and articles, which he probably would not have been successful with if I hadn't helped him. The moving stand was great though.

He was able to work through the stress on Saturday though and qualified in Utility. Not a good score. Lot's of points off for slow to respond, crooked sits and finishes, etc., but he did everything. I thought things would be better on Sunday, because he would be used to the site. We were the first team in the ring and he was very distracted by what was going on in the next ring and outside the rings. Signals were the first exercise, and he missed one of the signals. NQ. The other exercises were good except for the directed jumping. His first go out and jump were great. On the second go out he walked in too close before he sat, so couldn't take the jump. NQ again.

Open
He was pretty consistent on Open all three days. His only problem was on the broad jump Sunday. I hate when the broad jump is the first exercise in Open. I'd rather do something moving first to get him warmed up. Anyway, he stepped on the last board when he jumped. NQ. It might have made a difference if I had set him up back further from the jump to give him more room. You just never know.

Overall
He really tried, but worry and stress are still our enemy. It was small entries in Utility B and Open B (10-12 per class) and a nice trial site. Lots of room for crating and warm-up with only three rings in the building, but still difficult for him to focus on me and the job at hand. I don't know that we will ever overcome that entirely. My training plan for July will include continued work on focus and ramping up the training with distractions.

Jackson makes the news

2010-06-21T13:00:00.000-05:00

Jackson is a celebrity :) Well, he made the local newspaper anyway in the town we were trialing in this past weekend. I guess it's hard to keep a low profile when you have a great dane in obedience :) I did talk to the reporter when we came out of the ring, but I didn't know he had taken any pictures so I was really surprised when a friend sent me this article - www.robindanes.com/Jackson_in_paper.pdf

The weekend trials

2010-06-20T19:39:00.000-05:00

The weekend trials went surprisingly well. We didn't get any UDX legs, but I was pleased with his performance - in most exercises. We qualified in Utility both days, however, NQd in Open both days. The problem in Open both days was the drop on recall. He's been pretty solid on that in practice, but with the stress of the trial and the distractions, the drop command just wasn't registering with him.

It was pretty crowded in the building with not much room to maneuver without running into other dogs. That can create quite a bit of stress for Jackson - and for me too, trying to protect the space around him in close quarters. He's not particularly good with strange dogs in his face, so I really need to keep a close eye on him so I can manage that. This was one of the larger-entry trials that we've been to this year, so even though it was a challenge, it was a good experience for us.

What I was most pleased with was his improvement on his fronts and finishes. We have been losing a lot of points on those things, but they were much better this weekend - especially today. Now, the sits were still really, really slow. I suspect the stress of the trial has a lot to do with the slow sits because he doesn't sit that slow in training. OMG, I just stopped to count up the number of sits I ask him to do in a trial, and it's 38! (23 in utility and 15 in open) So, if you have crooked sits, those points can sure add up :)

Overall, I am much happier with our performances at the end of this weekend than I was after the last trial weekend. I felt we were a little more in the groove. And, I got a lot of positive comments from folks around the ring, who say they really enjoy watching him perform in the ring. Now, I don't know if it's because they are so surprised to see a Dane in obedience or if they just think he is a cool dude :) Either way, I'll take it!

Training update

2010-06-15T16:58:00.000-05:00

Training has really been going well this past week. We've been mixing it up quite a bit with some clicker training and formal obedience, and we've been training less frequently - meaning not every day. Trying to work on some skills with the clicker that will help in the trials - like focus, sits, and fronts.

Today we trained at the club and tried to work in more distractions than usual. We can't create the trial-like setting, but we threw in a few odd things to try to distract him. When we did articles there were loose dogs wandering around the ring and a couple people walking around the article pile. It did take him a little longer to work the pile, but he got the correct articles each time.

When we did the other exercises, we also had people and dogs wandering around the ring. Not a problem with heeling and figure 8s. I am really pleased with his heeling lately - at least in practice he is staying with me. There was a blip in the drop on recall. He failed to come when I called him from the drop. I think he was distracted by the dog behind me so that gave me an opportunity to go in and correct him to show him what I wanted. Hopefully, next time he's distracted, he'll remember he needs to work through it.

Really slow sits and sometimes no sits in the go outs have been a problem in the trials. To try to correct this, I've started working on the sits away from me with the clicker. I've been clicking and treating for sits at various distances away from me. Trying to make sure he understands the command in different locations and situations. Maybe with the clicker training he will be more responsive with the increased distance when I'm across the ring.

We're still working on the rear-end awareness with the box. And, we've added focus training to the mix. I'm clicking and treating whenever he looks at me. It appears to be helping with his focus.

It's officially summer - and we need a plan

2010-06-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

We've taken some time off from formal obedience training after the last weekend of trials. Time to regroup. Memorial Day weekend is behind us and it's now officially summer, so we need to come up with a summer plan for training and trialing.

I was somewhat disappointed in our last trial performance, however, I've decided to focus and build on the positives. Hmmm.... maybe it was just an off weekend for Jackson. So, I've entered him in another trial in a couple weeks, just to see if it was a fluke, or if we need a longer break from training and trialing.

We've been training less frequently this past week or so, and we've been doing more clicker/fun training instead of the formal stuff. We're getting pretty good at the rear-end-awareness exercise with the box and we've been doing some fun things with attention.

Our plan for awhile is to continue training, but with the reduced amount of formal training and more of the fun stuff. My goal also is to get him out to explore some new interesting places. The plan is still a little vague now, but I'm going to try to come up with some specific behaviors to work on with the clicker.

The video

2010-05-24T10:58:00.001-05:00

Since I've been grousing so much about Jackson's performance at the trials last weekend, I thought I would upload the video of his Utility B class. Actually, when I viewed it this morning it didn't look as bad as it felt Saturday, although it's a long ways from where I'd like to be. As I've said before, I don't expect the speed of the high drive dogs you normally see in obedience, but this weekend was especially slow and unmotivated.

The video begins with the first exercise at the point where he NQd. Hubby missed the jump over the bar part, but caught the part where he came in and sat too far away from me. That was the NQ.

VIEWER WARNING: The video is about 10 minutes in length!

The Wall - aka the trial weekend

2010-05-23T15:45:00.001-05:00

I feel like we ran into a brick wall this weekend. I am challenged to find something positive to say about the trials this weekend --- but, I'll try.
Positives:
1) the obedience building was air conditioned (something really good since it was a warm and humid in Kansas this weekend.)
2) the hotel we stayed at was really, really nice (La Quinta in Olathe, KS) and pet friendly.
Hmmmm..... that's about it for the positives, now, on to what happened at the trial.

The overall problem this weekend was Jackson's attitude -- or lack thereof. I don't know what it was about the trial site that affected him. The thought did occur to me that maybe he didn't feel well - was having a migraine headache weekend - or something! But, for whatever reason, he just was not up to working at all. I felt like I was dragging him into the ring. I just couldn't get him up at all. Once in the ring, he did all of the basic parts of the exercises, but he did them at 'negative warp speed' (that's really, really, really, slow) Even though he managed to perform the basic portions of each exercise, he did not come close enough to front on the directed jumping and was NQd on that exercise.

He did manage to qualify in Open later that day (Saturday), but he was so slow and lethargic that he almost pointed out. Other than the fact that he did perform the basic parts of all the exercises, it is really difficult to find a bright spot among the day's performance.

This morning was more of the same. He did the basic portions of the exercise in Utility, but did not qualify for lack of enough points. Again, it was like watching paint dry! (I didn't know a body could move that slow and still keep going!!!) I decided after the Utility class to pull him from Open, because I just couldn't see rehearsing that same behavior in the ring again.

So, now I'm left to ponder - what next? Was it just a fluke of a weekend and I should just keep training as I've been training. Albert Einstein is credited with the following definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Does that concept apply to obedience training? If it does, I'm not sure what the alternatives to try are. For starters, I think I will take the week off from training while I try to figure out where we're at.

Mixing it up!

2010-05-12T19:04:00.001-05:00

Okay, I've taken the suggestions to try training some new exercises to heart and we have been working on something new this week. (Thanks Hsin-Yi :) I think maybe he is getting bored with the repetitive obedience training, and it is time to add some new challenges to the mix. I can see already he's having more fun in training learning something new - especially with clicker training where he gets lots of treats and he's not worried about making a mistake.

So, the exercise we've been working on is practicing rear-end movement with the box. I've seen several videos with different types of dogs doing this exercise, but had not tried it yet with Jackson. At the first session it took him awhile to put his front feet on the box. However, once he did that it didn't take him long to get the hang of it. The video here is the fourth session where we've started moving the back feet around while his front feet stay on the box.

I'm thinking when he gets good at moving his rear end with me standing in front of him it will be time for me to move to heel position and have him pivot both directions. Then, I'll have to think of other things I can do with the box - or with something else new!

What can I do to help my dog?

2010-05-07T09:40:00.000-05:00

That is the question of the day. I'm really trying to get into the mindset of asking, "What can I do to help my dog be successful?" when he appears to not understand what it is I am asking him to do in an exercise, or reducing his stress level. Lately, I've been thinking more about the stress thing. I'm wondering what I may be doing to create/reinforce stress, and/or what can I do to reduce the stress he feels in trial situations? The stress is definitely affecting his performance in the ring, so maybe I need to examine more closely, and objectively, what I am doing. Am I unconsciously reinforcing his reaction to stressful situations?

I really do believe dogs pick up on the handler's emotions. I was in denial for a long time regarding my nervousness in the ring - thinking that if I said I wasn't nervous, I wouldn't be nervous :) But, in fact, I do get nervous in the ring and I'm sure Jackson picks up on that. It is getting better though. I believe if you 'act' confident, you will become confident, so I am trying to practice acting confident - and more relaxed in the ring. If I can get control of that, it may go a long way to helping him.

I need to examine what else I am doing or not doing to increase Jackson's confidence. When we are waiting our turn to go in the ring I tend to have my hands on Jackson a lot, if he's not in his crate. I find myself stroking him and massaging his shoulders - thinking that is relaxing him, and me. But, is it? He also likes to sit on my lap. Now you may be wondering how a Dane can sit on your lap - easy, they just back up to you and sit :) Is allowing this behavior reducing or reinforcing stress? Should I just leave him in his crate except for taking him out to warm up prior to going in the ring?

Away from the trials, I am following through with my goal of getting him out several times per week to train in new locations, which I think may help with working through distractions. Yesterday we went to the Wal-Mart parking lot and worked on some attention and heeling exercises for a few minutes. There happened to be a couple pylons set up to block off a drive so that was perfect for doing some figure 8s. Finding new places to work for a few minutes is turning out to be easier than I thought.

If anyone has found exercises that helped them reduce their own stress and that of their dogs, I'd love to hear them!

Weekend Trials

2010-05-03T18:00:00.000-05:00

This past weekend of trials was a mixed bag - some success, some not so much success, but overall lots of fun : ) It was a really nice trial site - fairgrounds in Seward, Neb.; the weather was near perfect; friendly people; and we picked up our 5th UDX leg! However, didn't get the double Q on Sunday because he missed the signal to come from the down on the drop-on-recall exercise in Open.

The trial site is around three hours from our home, so we drove over on Friday afternoon and were able to get into the building and set up. We like to get in the evening before to set up if we can because it's sometimes difficult to find space for a Dane-sized crate if we get there at the last minute. Our training buddy, Melody the Border Terrier, was also there so Jackson had a 'friend' to crate next to. I'd like to think he is less stressed if he has friends there, but I don't really know if that helps or not.

He was stressed and distracted in the ring as usual - lots of yawning, panting and looking around instead of focusing on me, but he was able to work through it and on Saturday he qualified in both utility and open for that 5th UDX leg. We lost a LOT of points for lagging, crooked sits, slow sits, some no finishes, etc. He was quite a contrast to the border collies and goldens that were so fast and so focused on their handlers! However, I am happy with how far he's come in trialing when compared to his performances a few months ago. I just have to keep reminding myself not to compare him to those high-energy dogs. He is what he is : )

On Sunday, our utility run went well and we qualified. However, he missed that come signal from the drop-on-recall and I had to give a second command. I'm not sure what happened there. His mind must have been somewhere else at that moment. That's just something that happens. I'm not going to stress about it in training - just hope it doesn't happen again.

Overall, I was very happy. It's still the ring stress that gets him, so my plan for the next few weeks is to get him out in new places at least three to four times per week to work on basics - attention, heeling, signals, drop on recalls, etc. I know that was my goal some time ago, but I got somewhat lazy about it and didn't get out as much as I had hoped to. This time I'm really going to try to stick with it. We're entered in a trial in three weeks so I'm hoping it will help him build up more confidence.

Here's a couple pieces of video from this weekend. One is the figure 8 in open and the second one is the retrieve over high.

Choose to vs. Have to - that is the question

2010-04-25T10:28:00.000-05:00

As a beginner to obedience training, I have read a lot and observed a lot of various methods of training - and probably tried most of them! And, to be truthful, I'm not sure which ones are working. I'm thinking about the lagging behavior here. When I started training, lagging in heeling was a real problem. I was even NQd once in Novice A at a trial because of the lagging - not to mention the time he decided he'd rather leave the ring instead of staying with me. That was the low point of our obedience career, but, we hung in there and we've come a long way since then. However, I'm still getting the occasional lagging in the ring, so thought I would revisit my training with that particular behavior to see if we could 'fix' it.

I've done a lot of 'choose to heel' in training with treats and rewards for finding the perfect heel position. Hoping to create that 'muscle memory' thing. That's worked fine in training when I have treats on me, but doesn't always carry over into the trial. It's not necessarily because I don't have treats in the ring, because I don't think he would even take treats in the ring due to his worry and stress in that situation.

Last week I started working on heeling by holding him in that position. All my heeling for now will be on lead - keeping him close and always in heel position. I especially have a problem keeping him with me when moving between exercises. I am putting the lead on when moving between exercises also. So, is the problem - that he doesn't know heel position or is he choosing not to stay in heel position? And, will keeping him constantly in heel position while moving help? Who's being responsible now for his position - him, or me? I don't know the answers, but it seems I have tried everything. And, since I've tried different training methods, it may be impossible to tell which one is working for him.

Any thoughts out there ?????

Another demo!

2010-04-20T15:02:00.000-05:00

Jackson and I were invited to participate in another obedience demo this morning. Instead of elementary students this time, it was college students. One of our friends from our training club is an English professor at a nearby community college. A small group of us performed some exercises with our dogs, and the students were instructed to observe, record and relate what they witnessed in the dogs' behaviors to human learning. There were a lot of questions and discussion about how animals and people show signs of stress; the different personalities observed; and the impacts of positive and negative reinforcements to motivate individuals (dogs and people) to learn and perform behaviors. It was all very interesting, and it got me thinking more about Jackson's personality and what motivates him and what stresses him.

Susan Garrett had another great post on her blog today about people labeling their dog by what they perceive to be their limitations. And, they are doing so to overcome some embarrassment or frustration they are feeling about their dog's behavior. Boy, did that hit home! If I had a nickel for every time I made a joking comment about Jackson doing things in 'slow motion,' I'd be rich : ) But, what is my expectation of his performance doing to reinforce that behavior that I have found so frustrating? Maybe there is something to that 'self-fulfilling prophecy' comment?

Susan goes on to say, "I would like to suggest every time you make this joke or repeat your limited belief that your dog is _________ (you fill in the blank) you are creating a new reality that does not have to be yours or your dog’s reality."

Hmmmmm, maybe it's time to start focusing on what Jackson does well, how far he's come, and what he is capable of. Some food for thought : )

We've been tagged for the photo game!

2010-04-13T16:59:00.000-05:00

Thanks to our friend, Honey the Great Dane, we've been tagged for a photo tag game.
Here are the rules:
1. Open your first photo folder
2. Scroll down to the tenth photo
3. Post the photo and tell the story behind it
4. Tag 5 more people

Well, that was not so easy for us, since last month my computer crashed and they were unable to restore anything from the hard drive. So, I lost most of my photos stored on the computer. On the bright side, that's a good way to get rid of a lot of clutter on the computer !!!!!

Anyway, I had to bend the rules a bit to get to a photo. I went to the first folder that had 10 photos in it and picked the tenth photo. This is it : )

There's not much of a story behind this photo : ) This is Jackson's normal position during the day. When we get home from training he heads upstairs to the bed for some much needed R and R.

Now, here's my list of five bloggers to tag for this game. If you are so inclined, please play along. I know you have great photos - I've seen them on your blogs : )

1) Blogging Dante

2) Life with Big Dogs

3) Fun with Falker

4) I Dream of Otch

5) My Great Danes

Weekend trials

2010-04-11T22:23:00.000-05:00

It turned out to be a great weekend of trials. I wasn't sure what to expect on the drive up - I never really know what to expect with Jackson : ) - but, it went really well. This was the first time I had been to this particular trial, which is about a four-hour drive from our home. It was a small trial so there was plenty of room for crating and warm-up. The people were super friendly and the weather was beautiful.

We qualified in Open and Utility both days, earning us our 3rd and 4th UDX legs! (Only six more to go.) He did the best ever in Utility on Saturday with a score of 191.5. However, today (Sunday) he was back to normal with a score of 177.5 : ) He's getting more consistent with his ability to perform the basic exercises to qualify but his attitude/stress level/focus goes up and down and really affects his performance. We can't seem to make that transition from enthusiasm and attention in practice and warm-up to carry over when we step into the ring. However, on the bright side, he's been able to work through the stress and perform the exercises.

I was particularly happy with the scent discrimination exercises. We've finally worked through the endless circling the pile problem and he goes right to work now and picks up the correct article quickly. I was also pleased with the directed retrieve, signals and the moving stand exerises. We need work though on the directed jumping. The going out part was good, but the sits were painfully slow and he walked in a few steps on two of the go-outs before he sat. A few more steps in and he probably would have NQd. Training note to self: work go-outs separate from jumps for awhile and focus on the sits.

In Open, he was pretty solid on the basics of the exercises, however, we lost lots of points on crooked fronts and some really bad finishes. Today, since we had the #3 glove, which is a left pivot that he backs into, we practiced several of these in our warm up. The upside of that is he did the pivot to the glove great, but whenever I gave him the right finish signal today, he tried to back into a left finish and ended up sitting in front of me instead of beside me. That's probably hard to visualize.Suffice it to say, it was a really bad finish. Training note to self: Work on finishes!

There are a lot of things that we can work to improve, but overall, I am really happy with his consistency in performing the key elements of the exercises. We are entered in another trial in three weeks, so time to sit down and make a plan : )

Happy Birthday Jackson!

2010-04-07T18:45:00.000-05:00

The Birthday Boy!

Jackson celebrated his 6th birthday today. Can't believe it's really been six years : ) He celebrated his birthday this morning with his friends at the care center where he goes regularly to visit. Today they had lots of treats for him and cookies for everyone.

Jackson getting a birthday kiss from one of his favorite residents.

To thank them for the treats and well wishes, he performed a few of his obedience exercises. In this picture he is doing signals for them.

In the afternoon we met up with our training buddies at the obedience club and practiced for our upcoming trials this weekend. I don't know what to expect at the trials because he's been on and off with his exercises this week. I guess we'll just hope for the best Saturday morning : )

Jackson relaxing after a busy, fun-filled birthday!

Cooking with Jackson

2010-04-05T16:17:00.002-05:00

On one of our recent pet therapy visits to the care center, our friends there gave Jackson some 'cookies' the residents had baked. He absolutely loved them so I asked for the recipe and today we tried our hand at baking them. Now, I am NOT a baker or cook or anything resembling either, and I have no fancy kitchen equipment like a food processer or even a big mixer, etc., so this is a very simple recipe. There are only four ingredients. If my dogs are any indication, they are wonderful cookies - evidently foolproof : )

Here's the recipe:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 T. baking powder
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl combine flour and baking powder. In another bowl, mix peanut butter and milk, then add to dry ingredients and mix well. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Bake for 20 minutes on a greased baking sheet until lightly brown. Cool on a rack, then store in an airtight container.

One of the things I love about these dog treats is that they are soft and I can break off small pieces to use as treats in training. Following are some pictures of our cookie-making afternoon : )

In the oven they go.

Hot out of the oven and cooling - and boy, do they smell good!

And, what would I do without my supervisor?

Finally, a taste!

Five-a-day challenge

2010-03-29T22:35:00.000-05:00

I saw the five-a-day challenge referenced on a blog recently - can't remember which blog - but it motivated me to try it. It's basically doing five short training sessions per day to work on a behavior. I've had trouble sticking to multiple short training sessions per day even though I do believe they are more productive than the 'marathon' sessions I tend to do at the club. Now that the weather is conducive to being outdoors, I think it'll be much easier to just step outside for a few minutes and train. I've decided to commit to doing this for at least one week and see if I can maintain a schedule.

The behavior I'm going to work on this week is attention. Yes, it's back to basics again : ) What I'm doing is taking Jackson out in front of our house (where there are lots of distractions) and clicking and treating him for every time he looks at me. We just do this for 4-5 minutes. My goal is for his attention on me to become his default behavior. I video taped our first session today and at the end of the week, I'll video tape another session and see if I can see any difference. If I can see progress, I'll then start taking him to other places with different distractions and work on attention in those locations.

I also added some heeling to the session after a couple minutes of just standing and treating for attention. I'm a big fan of 'choose to heel,' so I walk a ways and click and treat when he gets in heel position.

Funmatch

2010-03-27T20:21:00.001-05:00

There was a fun match this morning at one of the clubs where we train occasionally. The last time we attended a fun match at this club, Jackson was really, really stressed and did not do well at all. It's the club where they do a lot of agility and Jackson is very worried about the agility equipment and the environment in general. So, when I think back to our last fun match at that club about three months ago, I am really happy with how things went today. He was still pretty worried, but was able to work through it in both Open and Utility classes.

We arrived about a half hour prior to the start time. He was the second dog in the Open ring. We walked around for awhile and did some warm up exercises to get him used to the noise and activity in the building. However, I could tell he was worried and having trouble focusing on me. The way he takes treats is always a good barameter of his level of stress. And, today he was taking the treats slowly - he wasn't going after them like he usually does in practice.

The Open exercises went well. He stayed with me pretty much on the heeling, although I was helping him with verbal encouragement. His drop on recall was good. His dumbbell retrieves were also good - good speed and good fronts and finishes. And, his broad jump was good. I did notice some anticipation on two or three of the exercises. He will sometimes start up when he hears the judge say 'forward' instead of waiting for my signal, and he started the broad jump before I gave the command. I'm going to have to pay closer attention to that in training and work on him waiting longer for my signal. Anticipation means he knows what he's supposed to do so I don't want to give a correction for it, but yet I don't want to see it in a trial, as that would be an NQ. Overall, I was happy with the Open exercises. I had decided to treat it more like a practice rather than a formal trial-like setting, so I was 'helping' him quite a bit, trying to make it fun and build confidence.

The Utility exercises were okay. He was stressed about the judge in this ring. He usually doesn't worry too much about the judge, but for some reason he wanted to keep his eye on this particular judge. First exercise was the directed retrieve. He retrieved the correct glove but was slow coming back and kept looking around like he thought something was going to get him. The stand for exam was fine, and the directed jumping was fair. His go outs were not quite far enough but his jumps were good. Scent discrimination (articles) was where we ran into a bit of a problem. The first article was good, but then he had a problem with the second article. He was working the pile, but kept passing by the correct article. Rather than let him continue longer, I went in and pointed out the correct article. The last exercise, heeling and signals, was good.

Overall, if I were grading on a curve (comparing it to past fun matches), I would say it went well - but with lots of room for improvement : ) I have continued doing mostly fun stuff the past week in training and not asking so much for formal fronts, finishes, etc. I think that's helping because I did see a glimmer of some of the behavioral changes we've been working on coming through, even with the stress.

We're finally getting a real break in the weather this next week, which means more outdoor work in different locations this next week. And, I'm hoping to start my five-a-day challenge soon. I'll post more about that, when we get started : )

Finally, we can train outdoors!

2010-03-18T21:09:00.000-05:00

A touch of spring broke out this week, which means we can train outdoors. It is wonderful to be outside without freezing, so we took advantage of the nice weather and met up with our training buddy, Melody the border terrier, at the fairgrounds. This is one of our favorite places to train. It's a huge state fairgrounds with many different places to set up our training equipment. It's usually not real busy, but there are always some people walking/driving/working around there, which helps provide some distractions.

I have been sticking with my goal of training with less formality for awhile in order to build confidence and have more fun. We haven't been doing a lot of formal fronts and finishes, and I've been throwing a lot of treats. This seems to really be helping his speed and enthusiasm. I've also been 'revving' him up to retrieve the dumbbell and go to the article pile. Today in practice he actually trotted out to the article pile -- and back. He usually walks slowly, so this was a bit of a surprise. The downside of all this revving up is that he occasionally anticipates instead of waiting for my command. I'm not worried about that right now, but it's something to watch.

Overall, his attitude seems much improved in practice, so I'm hoping this will carry over. (Maybe it's the weather. I know the springlike weather is sure helping my attitude :) We have a fun match in a week, so we'll see how that goes.

I took a few pictures of Jackson and Melody training today.

Jackson and Melody practicing signals together

Practicing heeling

Working articles

Waiting for the directional jump signal

Melody and Jackson resting

Jolee's new trick - Rocking Teddy

2010-03-13T14:53:00.000-06:00

Jolee and I have been working on a new trick. I'm trying to shape a behavior to rock the chair. This has been good practice for me with the clicker. And, even though I am sometimes (often) way off on my timing with the clicker, she seems to know that getting a treat has something to do with touching the chair. We've just had a couple sessions, but thought I would post short clips of how we're doing. We have a ways to go, but I think we're making progress. She's fun to work with because she offers behaviors. Hmmmm, I wonder if that's because we haven't done a lot of competitive obedience training?

This is our first session where I started out rewarding for any touch or interaction with the rocking chair.

This second clip is our next session.

Training update

2010-03-05T18:23:00.000-06:00

Training has had a few ups and downs this past couple weeks. Toward the end of last week he seemed real sluggish in training. I wasn't sure what to attribute it to. I didn't know if he wasn't feeling well, was just showing his age, was distracted by more people than normal training at the club lately, or if it was something else - like maybe me! I may be the one that needs an attitude adjustment.

I thought we would take a few days off from training to give both Jackson and me a break. However, I couldn't stay away - I think I must be addicted to training : ) - so off we went to the club again. But I had decided that it was going to be different. It would just be play time and I would focus on keeping things upbeat. I was hoping that we would be the only ones training there when we first went back. I like having others there for the distractions and I enjoy their company, but I really wanted to see if I could get him up and excited with no distractions. We were the only ones there, and it really did make a difference in his attitude. He was very up and ready to work - not looking around or worried about what else was going on in the building. I think maybe my change in attitude and focus on fun entered into it also. Anyway, I'm happy to be able to rule out any physical reason for the sluggishness, so it's full speed ahead with training.

I've entered a trial in April so we have five weeks to train for that trial. My plan is to try to find small trials sponsored by obedience clubs. Trials that have lower entries - thus, less noise, congestion, and fewer distractions. Overall, a more relaxed setting, which I think will be helpful for both Jackson and me. (I'm trying to stack the deck in favor of Jackson since he is such a worrier : ) Our training plan for the next couple weeks will focus on fun and losing the formality. I know he can do all the exercises, so my goal is to get us more relaxed doing them. To work on precision in heeling, pivots, fronts, sits, etc., I'm going to make it more of a game with treats and in some cases try using the clicker. Here are some of the things we've been doing - for fun.

One of the behaviors I'm trying to shape is for him to spin and sit. By itself, it's a fun thing to work on, but I'm also seeing how this might help his sits on go-outs for utility. Jackson's not great at offering behaviors. He's a dog that doesn't like to make a mistake, so I think he prefers to be 'shown what to do' rather than offer something. That may be partly his personality, or perhaps the way I started out training him. Hoping it's not too late to change.

The drop on recall is coming along nicely. He used to anticipate the drop so would slow down to a walk about halfway to me waiting for me to give the drop signal. We started playing a game with it where I would throw a treat for him to chase as soon as his elbows touched the floor. The other problem I sometimes had was him not coming from the drop on the first command. Again, throwing some treats behind me seems to have helped with that - at least in practice.

A new shaping/clicker behavior I'm trying is to have him put his front feet on a box on the floor and pivot his back feet around. This would be good for rear-end awareness, which will help him with his turns and pivots. I've seen this in several videos and thought it about time for Jackson and me to try it. So, the first attempt I clicked and treated him for putting one foot on the box. We got as far as him just touching the box with one foot. Like I said previously, he's really slow at offering behaviors so we'll see how far we get next time. I'm going to try hard to resist the urge to show him what I want : )

Overall, our training will mostly be fun and games and treats for awhile - working on building confidence and attitude. There's going to be a fun match at another training facility in three weeks, which will give us an oppportunity to see where we're at, and determine what our next plan will be : )

The School Visit

2010-02-23T12:13:00.002-06:00

Jackson was invited to join some friends for a school visit today. The teacher does a unit on dogs and has her students pick a purebred dog to research. Each of us gave a brief introduction and told the students some of the basics about our dog's breed and what activities our specific dogs are involved in. Following the introductions we did some demonstrations on the various obedience competition skills and ended with a 'meet and greet' session. Here's some pictures of our visit.

Waiting our turn for introductions

Jackson's turn

The Stand for Exam

Meeting and Greeting the students

Training update - members' class

2010-02-19T16:23:00.000-06:00

Last night began a new three-week session of classes for club members. The obedience club I belong to has classes for members on most Thursday nights. They cover a variety of subjects from beginning attention and games to utility and open proofing. I'm taking a break from my usual utility class until the weather breaks so this is a good filler and provides a different type of training environment for Jackson.

I participated in the utility proofing class last night. It was a crowded class, which is good for Jackson as we learn to work through distractions. There were 10-12 dog/handler teams in the ring working at the same time. We did signals next to each other and Jackson did great with that. He was not as bothered as I thought he would be by other teams around him and behind him.

The article exercise went well too. We each set up in a different area of the ring - pretty close to each other. He was able to quickly retrieve the correct article even with dogs crossing paths as they went too and from their pile. He was a little slow going out and back on the glove exercise due to the distractions, but did good pivots and retrieves.

The rest of the hour was spent practicing pivots and short go-outs to various points in the ring. Overall, a good training session with lots of distractions.

On another topic, I just received the photos from last month's trial wins, so thought I would post them here for fun :) I hung the stained glass rosettes we won in the kitchen windows, but I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the ribbon rosettes.

Homework

2010-02-12T16:27:00.000-06:00

One of the side effects of this unseasonably cold and snowy winter is that I've started doing more training in the house. I had previously thought it too much of a challenge to try to train with three Great Danes in a not-so-big house. However, after trying it a few times, I have found that - with the help of baby gates - it is doable and can be productive :)

Today, I decided to try an exercise that had been suggested by a couple different people some time ago. This exercise is designed to build confidence with scent discrimination and involves placing the article pile in another room or around a corner so the handler is not in the picture and the dog is working on their own. This is the kind of exercise that really works well in the house because I can put the pile in one room and send him from another room. Here's a short clip of how it went.

Jolee's homework today involved additional work with the dumbbell. Last time we left Jolee, she was happily picking up the dumbbell, then immediately dropping it. At that point, I was just clicking and rewarding for the pick-up. We haven't done it for awhile so I was interested to see how we would do today. She didn't seem as excited about the dumbbell today (maybe I need higher value treats :), but she is holding it longer and starting to walk to me with it. So, today, it was click and treat when she walked to me with the dumbbell. Here's her training today.

In the mean time, I'm trying to decide what I need to focus on with Jackson as we continue our quest for the UDX. I'm looking at entering a trial the middle of April so we have a few weeks to work on some things. I think overcoming stress may still be our biggest challenge, so my plan now is to keep working on everything to build confidence and hope he's able to work through the stress again at the next trial.

Our club is hosting trials this weekend. We're not entered, but I am stewarding for Utility tomorrow, which really gives me a good opportunity to watch and learn from the good handlers we have competing in our area.

Looks like the quest will continue!

2010-02-01T22:07:00.003-06:00

I was thinking when I entered the trials last weekend that this was a 'do or die' weekend for Jackson - as far as our goal of pursuing the UDX was concerned. I was not optimistic due to his performances in new training locations lately, so I was starting to have second thoughts about our goal for 2010. For those who may not know about AKC obedience, to earn the UDX title a dog must qualify in both Open B and Utility B classes at the same trial on the same day 10 times! Now, it took Jackson one year and 14 trials to earn the three legs needed for the Utility Dog (UD) title, so you can see why I thought it might be a stretch for us to pursue the UDX title.

But then Friday morning before we left for the weekend, I read Susan Garrett's post - Making Dreams Come True. Her point was, "Whatever your dreams are, start to see yourself as that person or it will never happen. See yourself as already having accomplished it." So I spent the hours driving up to Minnesota visualizing how I wanted the exercises to go - the perfect performances.

I didn't know what to expect though, so I was surprised - to say the least - when Jackson qualified in both classes both days and earned two UDX legs this weekend! Now, we just need to do this eight more times : ) It was not especially pretty (not exactly how I visualized it) - there was some lagging, some really slow sits, some no sits on go outs, some crooked finishes - but there was also some trotting out and back instead of walking, some good scent discrimination work, really good drop on recalls and he completed all the basic exercises. Our scores for Open were in the high 180s and our scores for Utility were in the low 180s. Certainly not scores to brag about, but because we were the only qualifier in Utility both days, we got the trophies for High Combined. (It was a small trial : )

I was relieved and really happy because it means we can continue training with the hope of earning our UDX title this year. I was also reminded of another post on Susan Garrett's blog about rehearsing success - The way you get better at anything is to create opportunities to repeat those successful events over and over.
The more you rehearse - the more likely it is that you will be able to do it again and again. So, that's what we're going to try to do in these next few months - rehearse success!

Rethinking our training goals

2010-01-23T14:57:00.000-06:00

I'm rethinking one of the training goals we were going to work on this winter. Yup, it's the increasing speed goal. I'm not sure it's attainable, and in order to avoid the frustration of not meeting that goal, I've decided to not worry about it. In a way it seems that I am giving up, but if it's not realistic then maybe I should focus on other things.

What got me thinking about it is the performance I am getting when we train in a new facility or with something different occurring, and stress becomes a factor. For example, a couple days ago we were training at the club with a few people and decided to give each other run-throughs. Not a lot of distractions, but it was a different person acting as judge and a couple dogs and handlers in the building that Jackson is not familiar with. We were doing the Open exercises. The first exercise was the retrieve on flat. I threw the dumbbell and sent him. He proceeded to walk slowly out to the dumbbell, retrieve it and walk slowly back to me. And, that was pretty much the way the rest of the exercises went. Now, in practice he can be quite animated and I was hoping this would carry over to a trial-like setting, but with the addition of a bit of stress he defaults to operating in slow motion.

I have tried about everything under the sun - and what's frustrating - it works in practice, but doesn't work when he's stressed, i.e., in a trial setting. He's just a worrier. That's his personality, and it doesn't appear that any amount of exposure to new and different settings is going to change that. He's going on six years old now, and I just don't think we've got enough training years left to change that. So, having come to that realization, I've decided to focus on the other things. Oh, I'm going to keep rewarding him for speed and attitude in practice, but I'm not going to get frustrated when I don't get it in the trial.

Having said that, there are some bright spots. His fronts are awesome. Even with the article, glove or dumbbell in his mouth, he's coming in straight and close and looking up at my face when he sits. And, his heeling has improved a lot. Even with his slowing down on retrieves in the run-throughs, he was staying with me in heeling and did especially well on the figure 8.

We're entered in a trial next weekend. I had intended to wait until spring to trial, however, I saw there was a trial about 3 hours away that is limited to working group dogs. This is a small trial in an obedience building and not being held with a conformation show, so should be a fairly calm environment. Thought I would take advantage of the setting to try for our first UDX leg. How he does at this trial may also have me rethinking our overall goal of attaining a UDX this year. We'll just have to see how things go : )

Dumbbell training con't.

2010-01-12T22:42:00.000-06:00

After a couple more sessions at home, we took our dumbbell training on the road. I was interested in seeing how Jolee would do with the training at a new location, so we went to the club today to train. I've really been surprised at the progress she's making with the dumbbell pick up and retrieve - although not always sure we're going in the right direction : ) I'm still not real coordinated with my clicker, but she seems to be getting the idea and offering me behaviors. I'm thinking, 'Wow, this is amazing stuff!'

A couple things that I noticed today -
1) She's able to do it in a different setting - away from home; and
2) She's correcting her pick-up method herself. When she first started picking it up off the floor, it was consistently by the end of the dumbbell. Today at the club, she was consistenly picking it up in the middle - the way she's supposed to pick it up. She evidently figured out for herself that this was the most comfortable way to do it.

I'm working it from three different directions - taking it from my hand; picking it up off the floor; and retrieving the thrown dumbbell. My next goal is to start rewarding her for holding it longer. Here's a couple videos taken today.

Training update - new facility

2010-01-06T13:25:00.000-06:00

A small group of us that train together rented ring time at a training facility that we have only been in once for a fun match. We thought this would give us an opportunity to train our dogs in a new, unfamiliar building. There were five of us so we set up two ring areas to practice open and utility. There was a lot of agility equipment around the edges and the rings were divided by agility jumps instead of ring gates, so it was a really unique type of setting. Especially stressful for Jackson since he has this irrational fear of agility equipment - but good practice for him to work under stress.

We first warmed up with some heeling and signals with multiple dogs working in the ring at the same time. Good practice for working with distractions and dogs needing to pay attention to their handler, not the other handlers' signals or to what the dog next to them is doing. He was anticipating and occasionally reacting to other handlers' signals. Good practice for him because he needs to learn to focus on me even when he is stressed.

We then practiced some utility exercises.

Go outs - He was not overly confident. I put a treat out for the first go out. He did that one fine. The next couple go outs though were off to the side, so I did a few from a shorter distance, and I put out another treat. This straightened up his go outs some. His jumps were good.

Gloves - He was fine with the gloves - except for the #3 glove, which was in the corner where the agility tunnel was. He headed the right way but hesitated when he saw the tunnel, but with some encouragement, he went to it and picked it up. Did it again and he was fine the second time.

Articles - The first article was good - slow, but he went right to work and got the correct article. On the second article, he started circling the pile. When he started on his second circle around the pile, I went right in and tossed the article out of the pile and took him to it. I was a little surprised that he started circling (I had hoped we were over that hurdle), but was glad for the opportunity to make the correction here instead of seeing him do it in a trial. The next two articles were perfect. He went right to the correct article both times and even trotted back.

The Open ring was a lot harder for him because he was really stressed by the 'look' of that ring - agility equipment all around edges of that ring. We started out with the drop on recall. His recall was slow, but his drop was fine.

Then we went to the broad jump. I don't know if it was the stripes painted on the boards, or the position of the jump, or just the ring set up in general, but he did not want to take the jump. In practice, he has never refused to take the jump so I know something about this jump really stressed him. We shortened it and I put the lead on him and ran over it with him a couple times. Finally got him so he would take the jump. Added the fourth board back in and did a couple formal jumps that were good.

Heel off lead/figure 8 - He stayed in pretty good heel position even though he was stressed. Lagged some though at particular areas of the ring.

Retrieve over High - Slow pick up, but his return over the high was good and his front was good.

Retrieve on Flat - Good retrieve and return.

Overall - This was an excellent training experience for Jackson. He was really stressed by the new location, with all it's 'scary' distractions. But, this is what he needs - to build confidence and learn to work through the stress - and know that he will survive! I was seeing the same behavior and attitude that I get when we go to a trial, so it was good to be able to train through it.

Since we were all experiencing some distraction problems with our dogs, we thought this was a good training experience, and have scheduled another training session at this facility next week. I will be interested to see if he will be more relaxed and if there is improvement in his performance of the exercises.

When it's too cold to go outside .....

2010-01-02T16:38:00.007-06:00

We have been in the deep freeze lately with the temperature being minus 16 degrees F last night (I believe that's about - 26 C). So, a good time to stay inside and work off excess energy by training the dumbbell pick-up. Actually, I had to wake Jolee up to do this training. (I'm thankful this time of year that my dogs are couch potatoes and do not need to get out and run off pent-up energy :)

As I've mentioned previously, I'm experimenting with various ways to teach the dumbbell retrieve to Jolee using clicker training. I'm probably going about it backwards, but we are having fun. In the first session, I put the dumbbell on the floor and clicked and treated for any interest in it (walking toward it, standing over it, sniffing it, etc.). In the next few sessions, I clicked and treated for pushing it with her nose, pawing it, licking and mouthing it. Then, today for the first time, she picked it up off the floor. I clicked and treated for any time she actually picked it up.

This first video is how she started out with the pushing it around.

In the second session, she started picking it up off the floor. Even though she's picking it up by the end instead of the middle, I'm clicking and treating for any pick-up.

At the end of the session today, I held it and asked her to take it from my hand. To my surprise, she took it right away. I think she is starting to associate taking the dumbbell with good stuff.

So, in summary, we've moved from her not wanting to have anything to do with the dumbbell, especially not having it put in her mouth, to enthusiastically picking it up when she thinks there may be a treat in it for her. I'm wondering now what I should do in our next session. Maybe I should work on having her take it from my hand and holding it. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. This clicker training is new ground for me :)

Action plan for the new year

2009-12-31T16:18:00.002-06:00

Well, now that we have our goal for 2010 - obtaining the UDX - I guess we need an action plan to get us to that goal. There are so many skills that we need to work on, it's difficult to decide on our top priorities. However, I've narrowed it down to these three to really focus on this winter.

1) Attention - This is really a basic, but continues to be our top priority. My plan is to do attention exercises in five to ten minute sessions twice a day - at least. These exercises include working attention sitting in heel position and also with fronts using clicker and treats. I do this at home and whenever we are out among distractions. My goal over the next couple months is to increase the length of time I can keep his attention - with and without distractions.

2) Targeting - I've been working on Jackson targeting my finger. I have been using this to improve his position in heeling and also to help him with straight fronts. He seems to be catching on quite quickly with targeting my finger in heeling. Sometimes I have a treat in my hand to give him when he touches my finger while heeling and sometimes I don't. I hold my hand at my waist when heeling so I'm hoping this transitions over to his focusing on my hand when heeling. He's never done a 'heads up, look at your face' kind of heeling, so if I can get his attention on my hand it should keep him in good heel position.

3) Speed - This is a tough one - but I'm not giving up on it : ) I am experimenting with ways to get him moving away from me to go to the article pile, retrieve the dumbbell, and on the go-outs. I'm using the restrained send and trying to rev him up to go away from me faster. I'm also running with him sometimes to try to show him what I want. On the return to me with the article or dumbbell, I am jackpotting him for trotting instead of walking. These things seem to be working well in practice, although I haven't seen a lot of carry over when I do the exercises quietly - as in the trial setting. I'm hoping we can build muscle memory with the practice and maybe eventually see increased briskness in the trials.

I'm thinking if we can make progress in these areas, the rest of it will fall into place. Anyway, it will surely keep us busy this new year.

Wishing everyone happy training in the new year!

Can one dog teach another dog to retrieve?

2009-12-18T17:10:00.005-06:00

I think so.....or is it just a coincidence ????? I've started training Jolee (Jackson's sister) to retrieve the dumbbell. She has her CD title, so the next step is Open, which requires the dumbbell retrieve. Her personality is so different from Jackson's, that I've decided to try training her with some different techniques, and I think it's fun and educational for me to experiment with various training methods.

At first I tried opening her mouth and putting the dumbbell in it to get her used to the feel of it. That did not go so well. She was fighting any attempts to put something in her mouth. So, then I got the clicker out, and thought I would try clicker training the retrieve. Now, I don't have a lot of experience with clicker training but thought it would be fun to try. After just a few sessions with clicking and treating her for offering behaviors with the dumbbell, we progressed from standing over it, pawing it, and then pushing it with her nose. However, she wasn't offering to pick it up. (Maybe I'm just not patient enough to do clicker training.)

Anyway, I thought I would set her up close to the dumbbell and have her watch Jackson retrieve it a few times. I would jackpot Jackson when he brought it back to me just to make things more interesting to her. Then, I tossed the dumbbell for Jolee and, much to my surprise, she ran out, picked it up and came running back to me with it for her jackpot! 'Wow,' I thought, maybe Jackson can help teach Jolee to retrieve. She did that several times - sometimes grabbing it by the end instead of the middle and then dropping it before she got back to me, however, always very happily retrieving it.

Now, folks who have naturally retrieving dogs are probably thinking, "Duh, you throw anything and a dog is going to go get it!" Well, not necessarily. Our dogs have never been natural 'retrievers.' When we throw something, they are most likely to stand and look at it or they may in some cases follow it and sniff it. But, never pick it up. So, I'm thinking, this is progress. But now I'm wondering, where do we go from here ??????

Going public with our 2010 Goal!

2009-12-14T13:36:00.002-06:00

I know it's a couple weeks before the beginning of the new year, but since I've made my decision about our new year's goal, I thought I might as well update the blog title and go public with our 2010 goal. (Also, thought it was about time to change the header photo to reflect the current season : )

Our goal for 2010 is to earn the elusive AKC UDX title! I know it is going to be quite a challenge for us, so now I've really got to get to work to develop a training plan that will help get us to that goal.

With that in mind, today Jackson and I are beginning one of our winter training projects that can be done twice daily here at home. I'm going back to basics with some attention training. I've just reread Building A Bridge from Training to Testing by Smith and Bosbyshell, and plan to work through their 10 stages of attention training. I'm going to see if we can strengthen our bond through more focused attention. Will let you know how that's going : )

Update/random thoughts on training

2009-12-12T09:46:00.003-06:00

After a long week off from training due to bad weather, we were back at the club yesterday to do some training. I'm beginning to think that having a few days off is a good thing because he was really up and attentive, and working much better. I guess we all need a vacation sometimes : )

I've been trying some new things lately, thanks to suggestions from Kim at doberkim blog. One of those things - I've started doing a restrained send on several of the exercises, and it is really speeding him up! I have used restraint previously on long recalls and in play to warm him up at the beginning of training sessions, but since dogs don't seem to generalize, it was not carrying over to the exercises themselves so it did not become a part of our regular routine. What's new about it now is, I'm incorporating it into the exercises themselves. Now, when I send him to the article pile or to the go out location and on the dumbbell retrieves, I hold onto his collar while I tell him 'ready, ready, ready..... GO!' When I let go, his moving away from me is much brisker.

I've combined that with special treats, which has also helped. The combination of a treat at the go out location and the restrained send gets him actually running to the location. And, the jackpotting him when he trots back with an article appears to be working too. This is actually quite a change from his former slooow walk to the pile and sloooow walk back with the article. A test to see how well any of this will carry over with distractions and stress, may come next Saturday when we have a fun match at a new location.

Something else I'm trying to do is to make the fun match/ring experiences look more like training. Instead of going into the fun match and acting like I would in a trial, I'm going to help him more and have treats. In other words - make training look more like trialing, and trialing look more like training. Not an original thought, I read that somewhere - I believe it was in Front & Finish. I think that approach might help both me and Jackson with handling stress. Maybe that's why working in the ring with a 'judge' has been a scary, stressful experience for him - because it looks so different from training. If I can make fun matches more fun and less stressful, and make training look more like trialing sometimes, perhaps he'll have a better attitude whenever he goes into the ring.

Snowy day project

2009-12-08T14:25:00.005-06:00

Winter has arrived in the Midwest! We are having our first major snow event of the season today and tomorrow. They are even using the 'b' word - blizzard, to describe conditions. So, it's a good time to sit down at the computer and work on Jackson's presents for his special friends at the care center.

I have mentioned previously that Jackson is a certified therapy dog with TDI (Therapy Dogs International). He visits residents at a local care center every other week and recently completed his 50th visit, so we can now put TDIA (Therapy Dogs International Active) after his name : )

I've been trying to come up with an idea for a little something we can leave with them on our next visit. I'm not a 'crafty' person, but I came across a kit at Hobby Lobby the other day for felt Christmas tree ornaments that can be assembled with a picture in them. I had noticed on our visit last week that most of the residents had Christmas decorations in their rooms, so I thought they might enjoy an ornament with Jackson's picture in it to decorate their tree or bulletin board.

I got busy with my Photoshop program and came up with a picture to put in the ornament, and am now in the process of assembling the ornaments to give to our friends on our visit next week.

Seasons Greetings from Jackson and me!

It's full speed ahead

2009-12-03T22:22:00.002-06:00

After several days to reflect on our performance at the recent trial in our club building, I've decided to go full speed ahead with our training with the goal - dare I say it - of earning the UDX (Utility Dog Excellent) title in 2010! I was somewhat disappointed with our performance at the trial earlier this month, which left me wondering about our future goals. However, I've been happy with our training since then, so I still have a glimmer of hope that we can do this.

We had our last utility class of the year tonight. So, it was a good time to reflect back over the last several months to see what progress we have made. It has really been helpful for him to work with the distractions and stress presented by the class situation. And, overall, I can see that he is working with much more confidence than he was a few months ago.

We started the class out tonight with heeling and signals with all the dogs in the ring. His signals were good - good attention and no misses. I'm still dealing with some lagging and slow sits on heeling at times, which tells me that he is still somewhat stressed with the distractions/activity in the class, although he is improving.

We then paired up to do articles, so there were four dogs working articles in the ring at the same time. Great for distractions! Jackson did the best he's done with articles tonight. No circling at all. He went right to work and got the correct article each time. We even threw in the distraction of having someone stand in the middle of the article pile. This is the same dog that a few months ago would circle the pile at least a dozen times before starting to work the pile.

The directed retrieve exercise went really well. Good pivots and retrieve of the gloves, with nice fronts and finishes tonight. The directed jumping also went well, except for one minor blip. His go outs were good and he had good speed heading for the first jump. Then he stopped short at the bar jump. We redid it and he took the jump fine, as well as the high jump. Did another set - all was good. It wasn't until I went to reset the jump for the next dog that I realized the jump had been set at 26 inches instead of the usual 24 inches. Maybe it was the extra two inches that threw him off the first jump.

Overall, I was very happy with his performance at this last class of the year. Sometimes I have to look back quite a ways to see the progress, but when I do look back, I can see that he really has come a long way. It gives me hope that we can accomplish our 2010 goal : )

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T19:56:00.009-06:00

Wishing all our friends a happy Thanksgiving day!

No training today - just a day to eat and reflect on everything we have to be thankful for. Included in the many things that I am thankful for today, is the blogging community I discovered this year. I had no idea when I started blogging that there were so many dog-related bloggers out there. You have truly been an inspiration to me.

I want to thank everyone that has visited our blog; left comments of support; and suggestions for training. And, I am appreciative to all those bloggers who have posted about their dogs and the activities they do with them. I have a growing list of blogs that I try to visit every day to see what's new.

Leaving you with a couple pictures of our Thanksgiving Day : )

Is it time to eat yet?

My clean up help!

We have our benchmark - now what?

2009-11-22T14:24:00.005-06:00

Well, today was the trial at the club where we train. I planned to use it as a benchmark for where we're at and what we need to work on this winter IF we are to set a goal of getting our UDX in 2010.

For some reason he has never done well in this building, even though we train here regularly. And, today was no exception. A couple things were clear today - he continues to be very stressed in trial situations and has trouble focusing on the job at hand. In five years of training, we've just not been able to overcome the fears he has of performing in the ring, which manifests itself mostly in his slowing down - I mean really slowing down in everything he does.

Heeling and signals - We had some lagging on the heeling. The first two signals (down and sit) were good, but then he missed the come signal, so NQ right off the bat. I thought he was looking at me - but it just must not have registered with him. So, after NQing I decided to see how much training I could do in the ring - without being excused : )

Scent discrimination (Articles) was next - I'm not sure how long it would have taken him to pick up the correct article, but I had decided to interrupt any uneccesary delay by giving him a second command. So, on his second circle around the pile, when he stopped to look over in the other ring, I gave him the second command to 'find it.' He then quickly found it and picked it up. The same thing happened on the second article. I could have let him continue circling until he finally found it, but since he had already NQd, I wanted to take advantage of trying to correct this problem in the ring.

On the directed retrieve (glove) exercise we had the #2 glove. His pivot was off and he ended up looking at the #1 glove so I waited until he straightened up his sit and looked at the #2 glove before I sent him. That was a little iffy as to whether or not it would have been an NQ.

The moving stand was good - until the call to heel. He got distracted and stopped before he got to me, so I had to give him a second command to finish the heel. That was one I hadn't seen before.

The last exercise was the directed jumping. This was the only exercise that I saw some - however slight - improvement. And, that was on the go out part of it. He went straight and did not turn around until I gave him the command. Previously he would go about three-fourths of the way out then he would start anticipating and begin turning around before I gave the command. Not today - he kept going! The sits were extremely slow again, but both jumps were good.

So, now I'm in a bit of a quandry as to what our 2010 goal will be. I think I will need to sleep on it for a few days : ) If I could get the performances in the ring that I get in training I would be a lot more inclined to keep going with him. I'm doubtful though that we will ever really overcome his stress at trials. However, on the other hand, he really appears to enjoy training - and I do too - so maybe we will just continue to train through the winter and decide what to do next spring!

A glimmer of progress ???

2009-11-19T21:59:00.003-06:00

We had run throughs in our utility class tonight instead of the usual training since several of us are entered in trials this weekend. It was interesting - in that I can see improvement in some areas, and am thinking maybe some things we've been doing lately in practice are paying off. Run throughs are good opportunities to train since I tend to get some of the same behaviors in these as I do at trials - things I don't normally see in practice.

I was pleasantly surprised that his heeling was improved over what I usually get in trials. There was very little lagging and he stayed close. I've been keeping a light string on his collar lately in practice because as soon as I take the lead off, he's not as attentive and I get the occasional lagging. With the string, I can remind him to pay attention and keep up. I'm thinking that may be what has helped his heeling. Signals were good. He trotted in and gave me a good front, but his finishes left something to be desired. The 'around .... and run' game that we've been doing to speed up his finishes evidently hasn't kicked in yet. We've only done it a few times in practice so I'm still hopeful it will help his finishes eventually.

The article exercise went very well. No circling at all : ) He worked the pile fairly quickly and picked up the correct articles. I sure hope we're over that circling hurdle. He's still slow out and back - and slow with the finishes too.

The directed retrieve (gloves) exercise was good. And, he trotted back in with the glove (usually walks when in a trial) with a nice front. The moving stand was good, as usual, although slow on the come to heel.

Then there was the last exercise - the directed jumping. Go outs were good - straight and brisk all the way out. However, the slooooow sits showed up again. Hmmmmm... I wish I knew what he was thinking when he's out there and I give him the sit command. He stands there looking at me like he's just not sure what I want him to do, but then he always ends up sitting even if it takes him forever to get his butt on the floor. After the sits, he consistently takes the correct jumps and his speed coming over and to front from the jumps is getting much better. I just need to figure out what to do about those slow sits.

So, overall, I was happy with his performance tonight, and really hopful that it's an indication that some things we've been doing in practice are sinking in -- and that those things will stay with him in the trial Sunday : ) If not, at least we'll still have a benchmark as to where we are with training and what we need to really work on this winter.

Let the Games Begin!

2009-11-12T15:39:00.002-06:00

The finish is one of the two things I've decided to focus on for our winter training projects. The other one is fronts, but we haven't started our new games with that one yet. Today we started working on finishes with a new game. A game I'm hoping will speed up his around finish and result in him being closer and straighter at the sit end of it. Aside from speed never being his strength in finishes - especially in a trial - he often times ends up sitting too far out and forward, and crooked. The crooked is usually rear-in because he sits before he gets his rear in position.

A big thanks to Melinda (Exercise Finished) for posting the 'around... and run!' game on her blog. You can read the details on her blog, but basically the first phase is as follows: using a treat in your right hand lure the dog around behind you, then use the treat in your left hand to keep him in tight. When you see he is coming around, you take off running. Later on you will transition into adding the sit command and eventually losing the treats. I tried this for the first time today at the club and am really happy with the results. In my version of the game, I end up throwing the treat because he loves to chase treats and it keeps him going.

I think this game is really going to work for him. He loves it, and hopefully, it will speed him up and keep him in close to me when he comes around so he will be in better heel position. And, maybe if I do this all winter, it will carry over into the ring next spring!

Here's a short video of our first go at this.

And, not to leave Jolee out - I'm trying the game with her too, so here's my first go at it with her.

Fun Match - lots of work ahead for us

2009-11-08T12:13:00.004-06:00

There was a fun match at the club where we train today so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to train in a more trial-like setting. I wanted to see how the article exercise would go with distractions and what his overall attitude would be. I have entered a trial in the same building two weeks from today. I have 60 days from when we received our UD title to still enter Utility A, so my thought was to enter our club's trial to see if his performance of the article exercise is still holding and where we are with other exercises. He's never done well at a trial in the building we train in, so this may be a good test of his progress with the article exercise. It will probably be the last trial we will enter until next spring, so it will be our benchmark to measure our progress over the winter. Depending on how much we progress through the winter will determine our goals for next spring.

I'm excited that the articles went really well. No circling the pile today. He just went out and started working the pile and found the correct article fairly quickly. The moving stand, gloves and directed jumping were also good. His go outs were straight and the jumps were good. He fulfilled the basic requirements of each of these exercises.

What needs work -
The signal exercise gave him a slight problem. He anticipated the down signal so we restarted the signals. He did them fine on the second attempt, and he even trotted in on the come. The anticipated down would have NQd him in a trial. I'm not too worried about that though because it's something we can work through.

I am somewhat frustrated with his attitude (specifically lack of attention and lack of briskness) in a trial-like setting. It's really not surprising though, because we have struggled with this from the very beginning. However, I am getting more frustrated that I haven't found a way to get the positive, happy attitude I see in practice to transfer over to a trial-like setting. He becomes distracted, worried about what's going on in the next ring, and he really slows down. I'm not sure if he needs an attitude adjustment - or maybe I'm the one that needs it : ) Maybe I should try to be more upbeat in the ring. Perhaps he can sense my frustration. Maybe I should change my expectations and accept his slowed down performance in a trial. Maybe he's never going to show the briskness that's required to avoid points off. Hmmmmm... some thoughts to ponder over the winter.

I'm thinking now I will continue focusing on attention and briskness in practice, but not get frustrated when I don't get it in the ring. Because, really, once you get in the ring there's nothing you can do about it then. How's that for compromise?????

Picking a winter project

2009-10-30T16:05:00.005-05:00

We're back at the club training regularly - trying to pick out one or two things to really focus on. In her recent newsletter, Susan Garrett talked about her winter training projects. Susan does agility, but has lots of good information in her posts that applies to obedience training and developing a relationship with your dog that I have really found helpful. Her winter training plan involves picking a new behavior you'd like to teach or a behavior you wish to change and then work at least two, 15 minute sessions a day, five days a week during the winter on that behavior.

So, I'm trying to pick a winter training project for Jackson. My challenge is training twice a day in the winter. Since the weather here is not conducive to training outdoors in the winter, I'm trying to think of a behavior that I can work on in the house. That in itself has some challenges when you have three Great Danes in the house and you need to separate one of them to train : )
I'm narrowing it down to the following:
1) Attention with/without treats and with distractions;
2) Touch (training Jackson to touch my chest at a point that gives him perfect fronts);
3) Pivots; or
4) Finishes to perfect heel position.

He loses a lot of points in the trials because of slow, crooked fronts and sits, so if we can get these fixed, we'll do a lot better in trials. I'll let you know what I end up choosing and how it goes.

Last night in utility class and today at the club we worked on articles. No problem with these in practice. No circling - even with distractions of other dogs working in the ring. I obviously need to take this on the road - go to new places with distractions, like the local pet store where he gets really distracted just walking through the store. I want to start going there once a week just to do articles somewhere in the store. And, we have some fun matches coming up locally this next month, so these will be good opportunities to train in a more trial-like setting.

We're back!

2009-10-25T16:38:00.004-05:00

After taking a couple weeks off to regroup, we are back with a new plan and new goals. We love to train, so we needed to set some new goals to help us focus.

We had already entered a three-day-trial this weekend before we earned our UD two weeks ago, so we decided to go ahead and go to the trials and just relax and have fun. Since we didn't need any more qualifying legs, I thought it would be less stressful and I could just see how things would go. Besides relaxing and having fun, my goals for Jackson this weekend were to get some consistency in qualifying and improve his performance. Well, we didn't get the consistency, but I was very happy that we fixed his endlessly circling the article pile behavior - at least I think we've fixed it.

His circling the article pile became increasingly worse with each of the last few trials. The judges have been willing to let him continue his circling - and even sometimes walking away from the pile to survey the audience - as long as he kept moving and came back to the pile and picked up the correct article. However, I had decided that he just couldn't continue that behavior, if we hoped to keep competing at the UD level. I do allow him to circle the pile once in practice because he air scents. In practice, he will usually circle the pile once and then go directly to the scented article without sniffing any others. However in a trial setting, he will circle endlessly. So, the first two days of this weekend trial became training opportunities for us. Now, you cannot 'train' in the ring at an AKC trial, but some judges will let you give second commands, which will automatically NQ you, but it will give you an opportunity to interrupt a behavior you don't want to see. Another thing that was really helpful this weekend was the club rented ring time after the trials Friday and Saturday, so you could 'rent' the ring for 5 or 10 minutes to work on some things.

Day 1 trial - First article - He circled the pile a few times and walked away from the pile, so when the judge motioned for me to call him in, I gave him a second command to 'find it' and the judge allowed him to go back to the pile and pick up the correct article. Second article - When he started his second circle around the pile, I again gave a 'find it' command and the judge allowed him to go back to the pile and pick up the correct article. Sometimes judges will not let the dogs go back to the pile.They will have you call them in without the article. I was fortunate this weekend to have judges that allowed him to finish the exercise.

He doesn't appear to be stressed. He just seems to be really distracted and more interested in looking around than working. To impress upon him that he had a job to do out there, we worked on this in the ring rental time later that day. One of my friends from our training club helped me with this by setting up the ring like it was a regular trial so we could get the behavior. When he started his circling routine, I didn't say anything to him, I just walked out, picked up the correct article and tossed it out of the pile. Then I took hold of his collar, took him to the article and told him to 'take it' in no uncertain terms. Now, to him, that's a correction and seemed to get the message across to him that he was expected to go out and retrieve something. We did a couple more articles and he went right to work - no circling. Then our five minutes was up.

Day 2 trial - He NQd right off the bat when he missed the come signal, so I did not hesitate to give him a second command when he started to walk away from the article pile on the first article. He went back to the pile and picked up the correct article. Second article - he went directly to the pile and picked up the correct article. Hmmm, I think he might be getting it : )

I rented the ring again after the trial to work on articles some more. No corrections needed this time - he went to work immediately without circling. Maybe there's hope for qualifying the third day. I think fun matches are essential in training because you get those types of behaviors in the ring that you don't see in practice, and there's not a lot you can do to correct it when you're in the trial.

Day 3 trial - He qualified! More importantly, he did not circle the pile. I'm thinking - this is a breakthrough! I've not posted videos of his scent discrimination exercises before because they go on and on and on - sometimes for 3-4 minutes. Yikes! However, today's second article took only 39 seconds!

Our Goals -
Okay, our short term goal is to improve his performance of some of the exercises that we are having problems with. They are sometimes good enough for him to qualify, but we still need to work on precision, consistency and of course speed. So, our plan is to continue training the utility exercises through the winter to try to get more precision and speed. If the training goes well, we will try working on our UDX next spring.

For those not familiar with the AKC UDX title, it entails qualifying in both Open B and Utility B at the same trial on the same day - 10 times. It is an awesome challenge for us. I believe there are only a few male Great Danes that have achieved a UDX title, so we have a lot of work ahead of us if we're going to try for that.

We Did It !!!!

2009-10-11T18:57:00.006-05:00

Jackson's quest for the UD ended today when he qualified for his 3rd leg and UD title at a trial in Mason City. WAAHOOOO! Novice A to UD - what a trip! That was my goal for 2009 - to get Jackson's Utility Dog title, and we made it with a couple months to spare! Now, I'm going to have to sit back for awhile and try to figure out where we go from here.

Will let you know what comes next : )

Jackson getting his awards for qualifying for his 3rd leg - and UD title. He was the only qualifier at this trial, so he also got a blue ribbon!

Utility Class Tonight

2009-10-08T21:37:00.004-05:00

There were no utility classes last week due to the weekend trials, so it had been two weeks since our last class. I was hoping to see some progress in his attitude and behavior since our last class. Just looking at it from week to week it's hard sometimes to see progress. However, if I look back a few weeks or months, I can really see how far we have come.

We started out with heeling and signals. There are 7-8 dogs in the class, so the ring is pretty full and can be very distracting for him. His heeling tonight was better than usual - not as much lagging, although still some, and his signals were all good. It's hard for him to pay attention to me sometimes with all the distractions. He gets worried about people and dogs moving around behind him, but tonight he did really well with the attention.

Then we paired up to do articles. Other dogs were working articles in the ring so plenty of distractions. He did good though. He just circled the pile once each time before putting his head down and starting to work the pile. No endless circling like he did at the trials last weekend.

The remaining exercises - moving stand, directed retrieve and directed jumping - were all pretty good. I was getting some really slow sits on the go-outs though. Not sure what his problem was tonight. The sits on go-outs have been improving lately, so this was a little unexpected.

Overall, I thought he seemed more confident tonight than he has previously in class, so that was progress. Maybe working through the level of distractions and stress he experienced last weekend at the trials helped to boost his confidence - making it a little easier this time : )

A character-building experience!

2009-10-04T18:12:00.006-05:00

This weekend of trials was a real character-building experience for Jackson, and a learning experience for me. I had fun, but Jackson was a nervous wreck! I have mentioned previously about his irrational fear of agility equipment. Well, I did not know until we arrived at the trial site that they were also holding an agility trial in the same building - across the aisle from the obedience rings. Now, if you've ever been to an indoor agility trial in a horse arena, you know the air is filled with dust and the noise is bouncing off the walls. Add to that Jackson's fear of agility and you have a recipe for an 'interesting' weekend.

In a recent post, I wrote about adding more distractions to the exercises, especially the scent discrimination exercise. Little did I know that we would be facing the 'mother' of all distractions this weekend! Having said that, I thought, " Oh well, we're here now so let's see what we can learn from this."

Both days he was very, very stressed. So stressed he was trembling most of the time and I was afraid he was going to have a panic attack! Aside from that, I was pleased with the fact that he was able to hold it together enough to do most of the exercises. He didn't qualify either day, but I know now which exercises he is really solid on and which ones he had trouble working through.

The moving stand and the directed retrieve (gloves) were very solid both days. His heeling and signals were good today, however, he NQd Saturday because he didn't go all the way down on the down signal.

The scent discrimination (articles) exercise was really difficult for him both days. Saturday he circled the pile 8 - 10 times before he finally picked up the correct article, so he passed that day. Today he started his circling routine, but came back to me without the article. NQ.

The directed jumping was interesting. Both days he did the first go-out and jump fine. But the second time out he didn't go far enough. It seems that it's the more complicated exercises where he has to 'think' and make decisions when he's away from me that give him the most problems when he's stressed.

Overall, I'm thinking that after this weekend's trial, the next trial should be a 'walk in the park' for Jackson : ) Here's a video of Jackson's heeling and signal exercise today. Some lagging on the heeling, but a lot less than I expected considering how stressed he was.

Lessons learned this weekend:
1) Always find out as much as you can about a trial - before you enter. Jackson needs to be in a less stressful setting if he's going to be able to perform the exercises.
2) On the other hand - if you find yourself in an unexpected situation, know that there are some valueable experiences you can take away from it that will help you in future training.
3) Nerves - It's not me! It really is the dog.
4) You always meet new people, make new friends, and catch up with those you've met previously. There's a lot of down time at a trial, so visiting with people sure makes the time go faster and makes the day more enjoyable :) That's a big part of why I enjoy going to trials. And, I love the camaraderie of the Utility A folks!

Now, for the news about Jolee. Jolee qualified today in Novice B. She now has her CD (Companion Dog) title! Here's a picture of Jolee and me with the judge.

CH Robindanes She's So Fine CD CGC aka Jolee