January has been designated “National Train Your Dog Month” by the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT), and hey, why not? (Check out their free videos, by the way, good for them.) Those of us in the north of the northern hemisphere are getting cabin fever anyway, so why not think of a few things could make life better for us or our dogs, and get to it?
I decided to focus on one specific thing. (Always better than some vague, general concept, like “I’ll be a better person,” although heaven knows we could all probably work on that.) Skip and impulse control are not well acquainted–when I got him he spun at the door to go out, and had never learned the concept of stay in his three years of life. He’s sooo much better than he was; for example, he initiates a sit at the door when I put my hand on the knob, etc, but . . . BUT. When we go to work sheep he tires himself out by running back and forth between me and the gate to the sheep. Back and forth, back and forth. Maggie does it a bit too, but she has incredible endurance, while Skip has that heart thing (leaky mitral valve) and overheats very quickly. Left to his own devices he’d burn himself out before we even got to the sheep. I’ve dealt with it by sometimes ignoring it if it’s cold outside (or I’m just being lazy), or asking him to heel loosely beside me as we walk toward the barn or the pasture.
But here’s the rub: We often walk up a narrow path behind the house that leads to a pasture where we work sheep, and there’s no room to walk side by side. I’ve started asking him to Stand and Stay at the top of the hill when he gets to the gate, but we’ve, as the song says, only just begun.
We’ve actually gone further than I’d thought. I asked Jim to video us this morning as we walked up the hill together, expecting him to run up the hill, back all the way down to me, back up the hill, down to me, etc etc. To my surprise, he was a pretty good boy, until Maggie ran down and then, well, he just couldn’t take it anymore. You can see that as I get closer, he runs to and fro more often:
By the way, I said nothing to Skip or Maggie after they started up the hill; I wanted to see, and for you to see, what they do now without any input from me.
So. Where to go from here? Well, first, off, one dog at a time. I always knew that Maggie also did a little “back and forth,” but I didn’t realize how much until I watched the recording that Jim made. There was Skip being such a good boy until Maggie came running back, at which point they seemed to alternate. “Okay, you run back to her and then come back and then I’ll run back to her; maybe she’ll get her lazy ass up the hill faster if we switch off?” Who know what goes on in those terrifyingly smart brains anyway.
Here’s my plan:
— Set up success: In this case, it means one dog at a time. (Ahem, oh professional dog trainer you, this means training Maggie too in separate sessions.)
— Decide reinforcement: I could use a toy, which both dogs love, but I don’t think they’d pay any attention to if they thought we were going to work sheep. I could use food, but it’d better be exceedingly good because, again, what they want is for me to open the gate and let them into the pastures where the sheep are.
— Set up 2-3 quick sessions a day, making it fun and as easy as I can. You’ll note that this includes me walking up a steep hill, which I do anyway several times a day. But clever human that I am, sometimes, I can incorporate these sessions into our daily walks and save myself some exertion. That’s one of the most important keys to getting a behavior modified or training a new one: Make it easy on yourself by finding ways to incorporate training into your daily routine. It also makes it work better for your dog, rather than them learning during a “training session” that is separate and distinct from normal life.
After putting Maggie back into the house I asked Jim to record a quick training session. I asked Skip to Stand, a cue he knows well from working sheep, praised him when he was good, and asked for a lie down at the top. (Not sure I’m happy with the Lie Down, I’d rather stick with the Stand, but I wanted it to be easier for him, and I knew lying down made him less likely to get up.) I had some treats in my pocket, so I did use them, but opening the gate as soon as I got to the top of the hill was the best reinforcement. Note that I let his last run to me slide. Rome wasn’t built in a day. He’d been such a good boy, tried so hard (look at his tail wagging as I praise him!), that I wasn’t going to sacrifice the good for the perfect.
Note that I started this toward the top of the hill. In the two or three previous sessions (done in mid December) I started at the bottom of the hill, not going very far each time. Where to start is tricky: At the bottom he’s a long way from the reinforcement he wants. At the top he’s a long way away from me as I’m walking up the hill. I’m going to try starting on the bridge, 2/3 of the way up. We can heel together to that point, there’s room for us to walk side by side, which will prevent him from running back and forth. Then I’ll be closer to the gate. As he improves, I’ll start releasing him sooner, eventually from the very bottom of the hill.
Here’s what I love about positive reinforcement: Was this a perfect training session? Nope, of course not. (Where are you Ken Ramirez when I need you? Note: I always need you.) If I watch it again I promise you I’ll find all kinds of things I could have done better. But will he still learn it? Yup. Might take a little longer, but he’s already much much better after just 2-3 sessions. Before I started he’d run All The Way Down and then All The Way Up Again, back and forth, back and forth. It tires me out just to write it out. And by the way, Skip would like you to know that THIS IS REALLY HARD, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD THIS IS FOR ME. And I would like to say, “I know it is, you big, handsome, bundle of joy, it’s okay. You’ll get it. And if you’re not perfect, well then, neither is your human. She just wants you to save energy and not overheat when it’s hot.” (Hot? We are not acquainted with that concept here in Wisconsin at the moment.)
So, my dog lover friends: Have you thought about teaching anything new this month? Modifying something that isn’t a crisis but is just a little bit, uh, not good enough? If you’re thinking about something, put it out there in the universe and see what comes back!
MEANWHILE, speaking of Wisconsin and back on the farm: Between Cabin Fever and Covid right now, we’re, uh, okay. We had to cancel a months-in-the-making, possibly once-in-a-lifetime trip (Hawaii), because, well, you know, so we’ve been better. We also know perfectly well how lucky, privileged, and blessed we are to even be thinking about it, so we are disappointed but not complaining.
That has made the new toy we just received all the sweeter. It’s called the Virus Tearrible, and I can not tell you how much joy it has given me to watch our dogs start ripping off the spike proteins from the shell. Take that damn virus!
As I’ve mentioned before, these are not toys for dogs who might ingest smaller toy parts. Skip and Maggie just ignore things they’ve torn off, so it’s safe for them. (Although I admit that I pick up the smaller parts as soon as they’re done, and never throw them for the dogs. Call me neurotic, but there it is.)
And here’s good news! Skip has decided, that yes, indeedy, the couch is a great place to nap.
Here’s a another wonderful thing that is keeping my spirits up: A bulb garden from White Flower Farm. It is ridiculously embarrassing how many times I go to it and count the number of sprouts coming up.
Bulb garden aside, I couldn’t resist buying some flowers at the market today. It’s not the cold that bothers me so much, it’s the lack of color.
Sometime soon when I get the energy I’ll take a photo of all the clothes it takes to walk the dogs right now. I counted putting 13 things on this morning, including the footwear below. Just in case you were confused, they are not beach sandals. (Yak Tracks and LaCrosse boots, I literally couldn’t manage without them.)
I hope you are weathering the days okay, which is saying a lot, given the drama of our current daily weather. Let us know if you’re going to play with me and APDT and choose something to train this month, we’d love to hear about it.
Stay safe, stay warm, and do what Ina Garten says, she’s a very wise woman.
Caroline says
If you are really happy with yak traps, please feel free to ignore, but having had both I find Stabilicers to give much better traction
https://www.rei.com/product/890345/stabilicers-hike-traction-devices
Chris from Boise says
Microspikes on our boots too. At least they let us get out and about and stay upright!
Training at a distance is always a challenge. Doing Nothing (as exuberant Obi, Skip’s alter ego in personality and leaky valve, phrases it) is SO HARD. We’ve been working on self control games for seven years with our guy – and making progress – but that joyous GO GO GO is just built in. Could be worse…:-)
Our January goal is to go out the door to the car under some semblance of good manners. That means: 1) wait calmly while the house door is opened. 2) exit the door and wait by it while I pass and open the car door. 3) Come and hop up into the crates when asked. The third step is easy, the second step is where we need the most work, and the first step is more-or-less OK.
We’re feeling pretty chuffed around here because our wild little Rowan and I have passed our Community Canine Good Citizen test! And the skills are paying off in Real Life! Are we perfect? Well, no – she’s still a reactive young border collie, but we have made huge progress – while having a lot of fun.
Stay warm, and enjoy those sprouting bulbs! The chickadees will be singing their courting songs any day now.
Kat says
I’m still working on teaching D’Artagnan to play with toys. That’s my training goal at this point. Currently I have an astonishingly obedient Pyr (or should that be a dog that’s astonishing obedient for a Pyr). However, he’s still reluctant to pick up toys. I get it, in a house with young children, which is where he grew up, teaching your giant dog that all toys are off limits is a safety measure but in a house of all grown ups he should get to play with toys. We’re making progress. He will very gently grab onto a tug rope and pull very softly–he’d be wonderful at playing tug with a frail 98 year old or a not very steady on their feet 18 month old. But that’s the only toy he’ll put his mouth on.
The thrill came a couple days ago when he asked to come in. One of the offspring opened the door for him and he came running down the hall and around the corner to where I was, play bowed, and asked me to come out and have zoomies with him. Finna was a squeaky ball addict and two and an half years later I’m still finding her squeaky balls around. As I’m following D’Artagan around encouraging him to run like a mad thing there’s a squeaky ball. I pick it up and squeak it. D’Art’s ears come up and he whips around to see what just made that amazing noise. I squeak it again and toss it so that it lands just a little beyond him. He turns and chases is. Then he prances around near it looking at me so I go over, pick it up, squeak it, and toss it again. He chases it and actually puts his mouth around it, picks it up, and drops it. We played this until we were both panting hard. Every time he chased after the ball I was cheering and praising. I haven’t managed to get him to repeat that yet but I can see him thinking about it. Maybe by the time February rolls around he’ll find more things he’ll put in his mouth to pick up. It would be an improvement over his current favorite game of find where Furbonnaci is sleeping and tip it over. Furb is a basket addict and I have quite a few cat baskets scattered around the house. A big Pyr paw works great for tipping the cat out. And Furb is so good natured that he just stands up, rubs against D’Art and goes to find another basket. Fortunately the last few days have been better weather so D’Art spends most of his time outside. The tip the cat out game is his pouring rain days game.
K Jeong says
I’ve 4 year old standard poodle, who was damaged by aggressive trainer. He gets over excited around other dogs and is scared of humans, especially males. So not an easy combination for novice dog owner. I’ve had dogs before, but having a dog with special needs means a whole new level of sharing your life with canine companion.
I’ve spent the first year he was with us on finding good positive trainers, concentrating on things I wanted to change. Once I found a good trainer pandemic happened. Since then I’ve concentrated on trying to help with his behavior by myself, but in the process forgot how to enjoy my dog Monty. When you have a reactive dog that’s all you can see sometimes. Well not anymore.
Last December we sampled few online classes, just to give us something to do, as I had a knee operation and was unable to walk for few weeks. This January I’ve signed up us for akc tricks and scent work online classes. We are doing really well and Monty loves loves loves his classes. Who would have thought that standard poodle would excel at tricks lol 😆
I’ve to say that one good thing that came out of this pandemic is that the quality and quantity of great trainers online classes has increased tenfold and akc now allows virtual submission for their tricks and scent titles. Despite the devastation the pandemic has brought, it made me reasses my relationships with Monty and start doing things just for fun. Because anything that makes you spend time with your best friend learning new skill cannot be bad.
Trisha says
Caroline, I love that you mentioned Stabilicers. That’s what are on Jim’s boots, and he loves them. They have a “platform” at the bottom that fits on the sole of your shoe that is a bit heavy, so for me, I like the Yak Tracks better. But either way, if you live where it can get icy, please be careful! I’m guessing there are a lot of people in some mid-southern states that wish they had them right now. (Hang in there you snow covered folks but please be careful out there. I always tell visitors: Walk like a little old lady, tiny short steps with your weight directly over your feet!)
Trisha says
Congratulations Chris from Boise on your CGC certificate! Rowan is so lucky to have you! Good luck with the “exit the door” training, I am with you. Keep us posted.
Trisha says
Oh Kat, I’ve been there with my Mist, a BC from many years back. I got her as a puppy, buy she STILL paid no attention to anything that wasn’t alive. She’d track birds in the sky, moles and voles underground, but if it was inert she couldn’t care less. Eventually, when she must have been 7 or 8, I had a client who wanted to teach her toy-oblivious dog to fetch, and got inspired to work with Mist on it too. It also took lots of time; I stuffed a small hollow Kong with food and got her interested in it that way. The day she actually tracked its progress when I tossed it a few feet away felt like a monumental victory. She did begin to play with toys in time, although never with the same enthusiasm that the other dogs did. And to D’Art and his tip the Furbonnaci game? Hysterical! Thanks for the laugh.
Trisha says
K Jeong, how good to read about a silver lining in this horrific pandemic! Monty is a lucky, lucky boy to have someone with the stamina and wisdom you are illustrating. And let me add my cheerleading to number one of our To Do lists for 2022: Have fun with your dog!!!
Frances says
Freddy is 6 months old this week, and the last few weeks have been phenomenal. I finally found a treat he loves (home made chicken pancakes), his brain has suddenly matured along with his digestive system, his legs are long enough to manage the stairs, and things we struggled with when he was younger are all falling into place one after the other. He has learned “Freddy come!” so well that I can walk him completely off leash in the safe fields, and after a game of keep away when I realised I’d forgotten the codicil “…and let me put your lead on”, several brief sessions at home taught him that too. “Wait!” and “With me” are next on my list, working them into walks and other trips out and playing around the house. It is such a joy to see the light bulb moments in a growing puppy, and to experience the world afresh through his enthusiasm.
But the real training honours go to Sophy, who at 13 would often rather be taking life easy but has made heroic efforts to teach him the correct way to play bitey facey (no teeth, lots of noise, not too much barging) and useful life skills like how to recognise friendly dogs and greet them politely, how to know which humans like dogs, and how to blag extra treats from as many of them as possible. She has been brilliant, especially considering she was spayed just before Christmas and has been convalescing for much of the time since then.
Nannette Morgan says
Trisha – your description of Skip spinning at the door made me laugh. My Siberian boy has always done that. He apparently inherited it or learned it from his mom and grand-mom with whom he lived before coming to me at 9.5 weeks. I’ve gotten to the same training place as you, that he stops when I wait at the patio door. He only does this at feeding and treat time. To be honest, I don’t want to dampen it too much because I know when he’s very old he probably won’t be able to do it any longer and I’ll be sad that a part of his physical personality is no longer evident. My late Siberian girl used to do little dances before mealtimes. I used to sing Dancing Queen to her when she did it. I sure miss that!
Lorraine says
We have recently moved into a small apartment as our temporary abode [a long story involving a windstorm, a large tree, and a correspondingly large hole in the roof of my home]. London whippet still hasn’t figured out that the door to the apartment opens inward and insists on standing with his face against the door when we are getting ready to leave for a walk. I’ve started to teach him ‘back up and stay’ while I open the door. It wasn’t an issue at our house as the door opens outward.
We’ve run into a few surprises at this much more urban neighbourhood. Last Saturday in the dark at 7 AM we encountered a beaver in the shopping mall parking lot. London of course was all gung ho to eat it. A large and slow moving furry rodent is the stuff of dreams to a whippet. Nevertheless, we managed to get behind it and slowly herd it down the sidewalks of suburbia several blocks westward until the beaver trudged slowly but firmly off between two houses on private property and lost us. It was at that point adjacent to the large forested park where it probably originated and it was headed in the right direction so I hope it found its way home. London was deeply disappointed but didn’t seem damaged by nearly strangling himself several times (lemme go! must bite that critter!) No sheep for us but we can certainly herd beavers!
BARB STANEK says
Oh how fun! Good boy, Skip!
As a sloppy-with-my-own-dogs trainer myself, I have often heard myself say to myself, “So as a professional dog trainer, how would you deal with this situation!” And then deal with the behavior or not as the mood suits me!
I have been training my girl for eventual obedience competition since 1/1/2022. She is my fourth dog. I put a CD on the first three, but never felt confident in my methods or my results!
Thanks to Ken Rameriz, I heard a talk from Hannah Branigan and bought her books and started. Amazing how it was so difficult for me to break down the behaviors until I started working my way through the book. We’re just on Zen Bowl. I can see so many good reasons to be doing this ground-work!
My girl is going to have her first puppies soon, so her training will pick up again when she’s done with what she needs to do there. (All I want is for her and the puppies to come through the ordeal alive and well.)
I’m also reading Lads Before the Wind and was just reading that one has to train a behavior chain at the end and work backward. It looks like you and Skip have started exactly at the right place!
This girl is the easiest dog that I’ve had to train. Maybe I’m finally experienced enough to be starting to learn how to train? In any case, fun days are ahead! Carry on training everyone! Looking forward to reading about your adventures!
j says
Just finished videotaping the double-merle, blind and partly deaf border collie’s tricks for his AKC intermediate title. We’ve been working on quite a variety of tricks, he’s more than halfway to his advanced title before we’ve bagged the intermediate. Being able to do this remotely has been wonderful for a dog with a lot of concern about being out and about in new places. There are some tricks a blind dog can’t do, but not as many as you might think! Alas, the door hysteria is still a work in progress after 7 years. The dog, I can train. The husband of a quarter century? (“Make him SIT EVERY TIME before you touch the door knob!!”) Not so much!
Gayla says
Please don’t give up on eventually coming to Hawaii during one of your winters. You could stop on the West Coast to see the grandkids, both coming and going. That’ll make the flight easy!
Echo’s cue to speak is; “Do you love me?” Which of course she does, but I’ve always wanted her to then slowly shake her head back and forth ‘no’ – when I ask; “Do you love Daddy?” She does, but it doesn’t really count because I have to lure the behavior. (Still gets a laugh tho :>) Maybe I’ll work on that one…
Linda says
I am busy trying to explain to my miniature poodle that just because I ask Google what the temperature is she isn’t always going to go for a walk. Ah Wisconsin!
Ana Schnellmann says
My favorite line in this blog is “I wasn’t going to sacrifice the good for the perfect.” Wise words! At times, when I am working with my nine-month-old puppy on an exercise that is tough for him (recall with distractions), if he does ignore a distraction, I am tempted to add another one. Too much! Too soon! Too hard! I need to remind myself that training is a constant journey toward partnership.
Sue says
Trying so hard to use positive training techniques with my 9 month old female lab, but I’m really struggling with a particular behavior. When she’s off leash in our backyard there’s no controlling her zoomies. She’ll circle me, growling, jumping, hackles up, nipping at my coat. Very unsettling and scary too! I’ve tried all of my obedience commands (look at me, sit) to distract her out of it so I can hook her back onto leash. Any helpful suggestions would be so very appreciated. I need to be able to spend time with her in our yard and not be so worried. Thank you all!!
Beth says
I’m in Maine and recognized the footwear! I use cleats for walking and layers too.
I’ve been vaccinated, boostered, and wear a mask anywhere I go, so I felt ok to enroll my 12.5 yr old best friend into a scent work class. She’s done this before and loves it!
It’s her first class in at least 3 years and I’ve already signed her up for level 2.
She needs a bit of touch up on impulse control 😉🙄, but at her age her having fun is more important ❤️
I love Skips and Maggie’s ears!
Margarita Palacio says
Oh Skip. Reminds me of when I would walk with my young kids to the playground or library.
They would run to the corner and because they weren’t allowed to cross the street they would run back to me. Hurry up, hurry up they’d say and run back to the corner.
Smart mom that I was I’d walk extra slow on library days this ensuring tired little kids and calm behavior at the library.
Who says training kids and pups aren’t very much the same🤣
MinnesotaMary says
Hi Trisha – can you expand on the spinning behavior you mentioned that Skip was exhibiting in a future column? My rescued husky does this at meal time. He wasn’t fed regularly the first couple years of his life and was only 42lb when he was rescued (he’s a healthy and svelte 60lb now). But he still spins. Maybe he’s anxious about whether or not he’s going to be fed still? I’ve had him for five years…
Sue says
Maisie and I have been together for only5 weeks (she’s a 3 yo Patterdale terrier) so we are discovering new things all the time. Most I love, a few need work but we’ve started some CGC classes and will work things through. Walking on lead is a challenge and since we are in Iowa there have been many days when we don’t get as much time as we would like to work while allowing enough time for a satisfying sniff-fari. Spring WILL come!
Martin says
I’m curious – why did you go for Skip staying by the gate instead of having him walk behind you in the narrow bits?
Nanuk’s reactivity is so much better than it was: We can walk by crows, kites, small song birds, herons/cranes (not sure which they actually are), sheep in a pasture, horses in a pasture, cows in a pasture, chickens, goats, lawnmower robots, Nordic walkers, joggers, and strollers without a problem the vast majority of the time. He still needs some support with some of these, but tossing treats to a dog that’s initiating eye contact is perfectly fine with me. However, he hasn’t generalized this. The other day we saw ducks, something we almost never do and thus haven’t really practiced – it did NOT go well.
We have made very little progress with cats and dogs, with the exception of one doggy friend. (Nanuk picks Jamiro up at Jamorio’s house, so he typically doesn’t see him without being able to interact. Thus, Nanuk doesn’t get frustrated.) It’s so rare that cats and dogs are at the right distance – neither so far away that he doesn’t care nor so near that he explodes – that we haven’t been able to practice as regularly and as often as is necessary. The two trainers I’ve worked with weren’t able to supply these opportunities. On Friday we have our first appointment with a different trainer. She has access to a variety of dogs.
I hope it all goes well. I’m always nervous about trainers I haven’t worked with before. So many claim to be more positive than they actually are.
On a more lighthearted note, Nanuk has finally learned to differentiate “play bow” from “down.” That was a hard one for us. Now I’d like to teach him to “play bow” out of a down in addition from a standing position. I’m stuck on how to do so, though. I’ve tried having him lie on a raised surface and holding the treat below his nose, but he’s never raised his butt to get it. I’ve also tried making a pattern of alternating various tricks with a play bow until I eventually use a down. Even though he’s quite good at picking up such patterns and predicting what trick I’ll ask for next, he wasn’t able to figure out what I wanted from him.
Kristen says
So my ever bored 19 month old Goldendoodle and I are working on a stay on mat behavior. I’m using Dr. Karen Overall’s Protocol because I’m a beginner dog owner and I need it broken down like this for me to be successful. It’s been going very well so far and to liven things up a bit I’m teaching him to spin because that’s easy and it breaks things up. We are also working on him being more tolerant of brushing which is a bad thing for a Goldendoodle to not be okay with it. Apparently fine at the groomers but, not that great with me so we are starting slow. I was a bot overwhelmed when we got him as a puppy with all i had to train and his hyper-aroused behaviors that we really glossed over body handling. Hopefully eventually we will start cooperative care training soon!
Ferdie says
It’s incredibly helpful watching you meet Skip where he’s at with his impulse control. Accepting that we can’t expect perfection in a day (or ever) is such an important lesson. Thank you for the lovely reminder and example with Skip running to and fro.
I think I need to refresh my 14 yo Scout on her recall cue or teach a new one. She’s so easy going we’ve let her slide when she’s simply sniffing something interesting on our hikes and ignores the cue. But she recently ingested something that didn’t agree with her for days so I’m going to teach a “No, really – you need to come now” cue. And probably strengthen her Leave It cue at the same time. I love having an independent dog who generally makes the desired choices until she gets herself sick.
LB says
I just started an online scent work class that so far is really fun for both of us. I’m trying to find something fun to do indoors when it’s too cold/snowy to spend much time outside. We recently got freezing drizzle here leaving the hard surfaces treacherous and my Icebug boots are perfect. They’re expensive but easy to put on and take off, unlike Yaktrax. Plus, the carbide spikes press inward a bit to make them safe to walk on pavement (but not indoors) when there are stretches of clear pavement interspersed with ice.
J&K says
We enrolled in a 30 day challenge of training with Canine Science for this month, so we’re all set for the month!
We also have a second session of mantrailing coming up, those are good fun 😊
Suzanne Elshult says
Love how thoughtful you are. As a SAR K9 handler of two humabn remains detection dogs, I always try to think about a plan before I train. The four D’s help me anchor my training and focus on one thing per session: Distance, Duration, Distractions, Difficulty.
Julie Devlin-Wassell says
AAAAhhh yes the cobblers children have no shoes. And I have no excuse! New Jersey is NOT Wisconsin. Theoretically I am better suited for Florida. Sooooo weather wimp that I am. I am working with my 1 year old deaf dog and my 2 year old Golden on CGC prep. My golden was ready and waiting and I missed the exam date due to family matters. So hand signals for little Taco and lots of friendly reminders for Lambert. Goal February March for their first titles.