Showed Phoenix in Graduate Novice last weekend. It was a weekend of fun, frustration, good friends, achievement, disappointment and the realization that I need to put more energy into this dog if I am going to get the level of work from him I want. In other words, it was a typical obedience trial.
Saturday, our ring work was not terribly inspired. Heeling was laggy and everything else was a ho-hum affair. Phoenix invented a new exercise, the "Recall Retrieve with Stop and Drop." No points for creativity there, just a big, fat NQ. Honestly, if you TRIED to teach some of the stuff dogs come up with in the ring, you couldn't do it. I would have blamed the heat and humidity except the building we showed in was about 56 degrees and I think there was a wind chill from the ceiling fans. Darn, can't use that as an excuse.
I worked Phoenix at the match Saturday night, playing lots of running and chase games and felt good about where we were. Plus his group exercises with the Open dogs were great and I'm more confident we'll be ready for Open by late summer.
Sunday's judging was a marathon affair due to our judge being "shared" between breed and obedience assignments, both of which brought in much higher numbers than anticipated. Then she had to put her Open B assignment on hold before it was finished to go and judge the hound group! Needless to say, obedience judging continued long after Best In Show. To make a long story short, it was after 5 p.m. before Phoenix and I made it into the ring, the first time in more than 30 years of showing that I'd ever gone in the ring that late. Aside from the judge, stewards and a few folks who were still loading up their stuff, we had the building to ourselves.
His attitude was much better and he powered through the heeling like the dog I thought I'd trained. Horray! (Truly an improvement or lack of any other distractions?) My left hand mysteriously returned to my waistline. I swear I cannot remember where I want to carry that arm! Phoenix's head position is slipping — not that I'm into dogs who heel with their heads totally vertical but he is dropping his lower and lower and with that, comes a lack of eye contact. Sigh. Another problem to fix. Gee, what would I do with all my time if I had a perfect dog?
Aside from whacking the last board of the broad jump with a hind paw (I swear, we are under some kind of broad jump curse), he worked a 196.5 to win the class for his second GN leg. Do I have to say we were the only entry? No? Good.
We're off obedience trials for eight weeks now and boy, do we have a lot of work to do. Actually, no trials at all until a four-day agility blast the end of July. Time to train!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
My first rotating wall cloud
I intended to write about my weekend at the Hawkeye KC trials but Mother Nature had other ideas this evening.
The Storm Prediction Center had our section of the state under a slight risk for severe weather throughout the late afternoon and evening. I got home from the trial late (6 p.m.! We didn't get in the ring until 5:10 p.m. More on that in another post, I promise!) and lines of storms were beginning to fire to the west. A tornado had touched down several counties to the north and the TV stations all launched into severe weather coverage mode.
There's been a drought (no pun intended) of severe weather this spring, so now, on the first day of summer, I was ready to score some serious radar watching. Seriously, this is probably a form of mental illness. Or I just like to look at the bright colors. Whatever. It's usually more entertaining than regular programming anyway.
Wasn't long before a thunderstorm cell forming in Iowa County was getting serious attention. About the time I decided to go out and have a look-see (that's very technical storm spotter jargon for going out behind the machine shed and looking west), my weather radio blasted off on the kitchen counter and reported Iowa County was now tornado warned as a wall cloud had been reported near Conroy. Conroy is 5 miles directly west of our house.
And here it is.
I stood there and watched that cloud until I started feeling a little bit uneasy. I didn't call it in to the National Weather Service because someone else had obviously beaten me to it and I figured they were probably going a little crazy with multiple severe cells popping up all over and didn't need duplicate reports.I went back in the house just in time to hear my weather radio blaring out another warning. Trained weather spotters had reported a wall cloud with rotation, moving east out of Conroy at 20 miles an hour. It would arrive near Homestead at 8:40 p.m.
D*mn sneaky thing. There wasn't any rotation a couple of seconds ago. Someone was trying to steal my thunder (sorry, pun intended; I couldn't help it). Out I went again for another look-see.
A section of the cloud had lowered. It's really hard to show rotation in a still photo and I'm still such a beginner at this storm spotting stuff but it was both thrilling and terrifying to realize parts of that cloud were indeed rotating, the first step in becoming a genuine twister. It proves the weather can change in literally the blink of an eye.
We were starting to get some lightning by then so I bolted back to the house. Jamie put himself in the basement, Phoenix helped me monitor windows and Connor was sound asleep. I think the Farmer was worried we were going to have to go to the basement on this one and he was going to have to carry Phoenix.
We didn't get anything out of this particular storm cell besides some heavy rain and lightning. I spent the next two hours watching live weather coverage on TV and watching live weather right outside our back door. The lightning show in the the storm cell that went to our south was spectacular after the sun set.
Jamie came up out of the basement about 30 minutes ago — an all-clear signal if there ever was one — and I think we're headed for bed now.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Splash!
We got 3.5" of rain in about an hour late this afternoon during a severe thunderstorm, which caused a lot of flash flooding. Interstate 80 and Highways 151 and 6 were closed throughout the county. I made my first storm spotter report to the National Weather Service!
This is the bridge over Clear Creek one mile south of our house. The creek is usually at the base of the treeline and the bank is about 6 feet steep. You could go water skiing in the neighbor's soybean field. An amazing amount of water.
This is Clear Creek west of our house. Again, the creek is normally at the base of the treeline and is not visible unless you are driving over the bridge, looking down at it. The Farmer is concerned about what he will find when the water goes down, namely a lack of fences as well as crops.
All for now. Phoenix and I were at the Hawkeye KC match in Iowa City when the storm hit. We ended up driving home in the tail end of it, just heavy rain by that point, the wind and lightning had moved on to the east. That much rain, coming that fast, did not do the country roads any favors. Wonder what things will look like in the morning? These storms covered a lot of territory so I know there is a lot of water still coming down from upstream.
All for now. Phoenix and I were at the Hawkeye KC match in Iowa City when the storm hit. We ended up driving home in the tail end of it, just heavy rain by that point, the wind and lightning had moved on to the east. That much rain, coming that fast, did not do the country roads any favors. Wonder what things will look like in the morning? These storms covered a lot of territory so I know there is a lot of water still coming down from upstream.A visit to the chiro
"The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs."
The Belgians went to see their chiropractor, Dr. Fred, on Wednesday. I’ve been taking them to him for about two years now.
Phoenix loves Dr. Fred. He sits quietly and lets him manipulate him from nose to tail. Phoenix rarely needs more than a minor tweaking, which confirms my suspicions he is indeed made out of rubber and springs. The way that crazy dog flings himself around in both work and play makes me wince. There is no way leaping off the bed sideways with a half-twist while flinging a ball over your head and rotating mid-air so you don’t land on the old sheltie, then crashing into the wall and surfing across the bedroom floor on a dog bed can be good for any part of your body.
Jamie thinks Dr. Fred is the Devil incarnate. Of course, he thinks that about any strange man who wants to put his hands on him. Stranger danger! After multiple visits I think he’s being a bit of a drama king but that’s typical Jamie. Jamie always gets his money’s worth out of a chiropractic visit. He is usually out of whack in his neck, lower back, hips and pelvis. This is most likely the result of having Rubber Dog bouncing off him all the time. In spite of it all, Dr. Fred says my big red dog is in excellent condition with no signs of arthritis/heat/swelling/soreness in any of his joints. This is great news, since he turns 10 next month.
Our weekend agenda is the Hawkeye Kennel Club trials in Iowa City, Graduate Novice both days and ring-rental matches both this afternoon and tomorrow. I'm looking forward to another fun weekend with dog friends AND being able to sleep in my own bed at night, no camping in the poultry barn this time. I'm still shopping for a new air mattress.
The Belgians went to see their chiropractor, Dr. Fred, on Wednesday. I’ve been taking them to him for about two years now.
Phoenix loves Dr. Fred. He sits quietly and lets him manipulate him from nose to tail. Phoenix rarely needs more than a minor tweaking, which confirms my suspicions he is indeed made out of rubber and springs. The way that crazy dog flings himself around in both work and play makes me wince. There is no way leaping off the bed sideways with a half-twist while flinging a ball over your head and rotating mid-air so you don’t land on the old sheltie, then crashing into the wall and surfing across the bedroom floor on a dog bed can be good for any part of your body.
Jamie thinks Dr. Fred is the Devil incarnate. Of course, he thinks that about any strange man who wants to put his hands on him. Stranger danger! After multiple visits I think he’s being a bit of a drama king but that’s typical Jamie. Jamie always gets his money’s worth out of a chiropractic visit. He is usually out of whack in his neck, lower back, hips and pelvis. This is most likely the result of having Rubber Dog bouncing off him all the time. In spite of it all, Dr. Fred says my big red dog is in excellent condition with no signs of arthritis/heat/swelling/soreness in any of his joints. This is great news, since he turns 10 next month.
Our weekend agenda is the Hawkeye Kennel Club trials in Iowa City, Graduate Novice both days and ring-rental matches both this afternoon and tomorrow. I'm looking forward to another fun weekend with dog friends AND being able to sleep in my own bed at night, no camping in the poultry barn this time. I'm still shopping for a new air mattress.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Phoenix, the fashion police
Another post that would be improved with photographs . . . or not.
This morning after breakfast, the Farmer was looking for a hat. Now honestly, you do not have to look very far at our house to find a hat. They are everywhere: on the back porch, on the coat rack in the kitchen, in the basement, hanging off the living room lamp (seriously) and occasionally in a few other places where hats really do not need to live. It’s a hazard of being married to a farmer. When farmers buy things like cattle, machinery, seed, chemicals, trucking and the like, they always get a hat. I do not want to think about how much those “free” hats cost.
This particularly desired hat was in the back bedroom. The Farmer trooped off to get it, accompanied by Phoenix, who thinks, well, who knows what he thinks but any adventure with dad has the potential for great fun and mayhen.
A few minutes later, Phoenix started screaming his head off. I mean, seriously loud and dangerous barks. It sounded like he had found an axe murderer hiding in the back bedroom. Okay, he had basically the same reaction last winter when he looked out the living room window and came face to face with a bunny sitting on a snowdrift, looking in the window. You can’t be too careful with those bunnies.
Anyway, I ran into the dining room and there was Phoenix, going totally ballistic on the Farmer . . . who was wearing my Professor McGonagal hat from a Harry Potter themed birthday party last Halloween. It is fairly spectacular, as far as witch’s hats go, very tall and shiny with abundant black plumage and netting. It had been hanging on the coat tree next to the hat the Farmer was looking for.
This is proof that the Farmer has a sense of humor. (But one may question his good sense when it comes to teasing a malinois . . .)
Phoenix thought the hat was totally inappropriate and was doing an admirable Schutzhund “bark and hold.”
Jamie and Connor stared at both of them like they were out of their mind.
See how my mornings start? And people wonder why I am the way I am!
This morning after breakfast, the Farmer was looking for a hat. Now honestly, you do not have to look very far at our house to find a hat. They are everywhere: on the back porch, on the coat rack in the kitchen, in the basement, hanging off the living room lamp (seriously) and occasionally in a few other places where hats really do not need to live. It’s a hazard of being married to a farmer. When farmers buy things like cattle, machinery, seed, chemicals, trucking and the like, they always get a hat. I do not want to think about how much those “free” hats cost.
This particularly desired hat was in the back bedroom. The Farmer trooped off to get it, accompanied by Phoenix, who thinks, well, who knows what he thinks but any adventure with dad has the potential for great fun and mayhen.
A few minutes later, Phoenix started screaming his head off. I mean, seriously loud and dangerous barks. It sounded like he had found an axe murderer hiding in the back bedroom. Okay, he had basically the same reaction last winter when he looked out the living room window and came face to face with a bunny sitting on a snowdrift, looking in the window. You can’t be too careful with those bunnies.
Anyway, I ran into the dining room and there was Phoenix, going totally ballistic on the Farmer . . . who was wearing my Professor McGonagal hat from a Harry Potter themed birthday party last Halloween. It is fairly spectacular, as far as witch’s hats go, very tall and shiny with abundant black plumage and netting. It had been hanging on the coat tree next to the hat the Farmer was looking for.
This is proof that the Farmer has a sense of humor. (But one may question his good sense when it comes to teasing a malinois . . .)
Phoenix thought the hat was totally inappropriate and was doing an admirable Schutzhund “bark and hold.”
Jamie and Connor stared at both of them like they were out of their mind.
See how my mornings start? And people wonder why I am the way I am!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Wild times at Ft. Dodge
The plan when I left work at noon last Friday was to zoom home, fill the cooler, load the dogs and head north to Fort Dodge, a 3-hour drive. The van was already packed and ready to go. I wanted to get to the show site in time to get a good camping spot, set up my crate and chair in the building and work Phoenix in the ring-rental match that evening.
Everything went right on schedule until I opened the kitchen cupboards under the sink to grab a garbage bag and found a re-enactment of the floods of 2008 going on. How ironic, since it was the one-year anniversary of the record-setting crest in Cedar Rapids. There was water EVERYWHERE.
The Farmer came in right then. The man’s timing is perfect.
I pointed out the water gushing down the back wall of the cabinet from a madly leaking faucet and said, “You’re gonna want to do something about that. See ya Sunday night. Love ya, bye.” And I bolted.
Was that horrible? Remember, this is the man who A) left me to dump 250 pounds of spoiled meat by myself when the dogs’ freezer went out in August a few years ago and B) left me to clean up the house after the “Disorder of the Phoenix” incident which was HIS fault in the first place. He always had somewhere else he “needed to be.” And Friday, so did I. Turnabout is fair play. (Really, he is a wonderful man even though we drive each other crazy at times.)
It started to rain about an hour out of Ft. Dodge. The closer I got to the show site, the harder it rained. I seemed to be having all sorts of problems with water.
No big deal, I thought, it’ll clear off in a couple of hours. In the meantime, I got set up in the obedience building and logged some training time at the match. By 7 p.m., the rain showed no signs of letting up. If anything, it was coming down harder. I cruised through the show site, the Webster County Fairgrounds, wondering where to tent and how I was going to get it set up without drowning or burying C3 up to her axles in mud.
4-H fairgrounds are wonderful places. They are full of those long, low, open-sided barns where the kids stall their cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry and rabbits during the county fair. I decided one of those barns, with a good solid roof and cement floor was just what I was looking for. I backed C3 into the poultry barn and set up my tent. We slept snug and dry. Except for having to re-inflate my air mattress at 3 a.m., barn-camping was ideal.
Saturday was Phoenix’s first time in Graduate Novice. He won the class by merit of being the last dog standing, so to speak. He was the only qualifier in a class of 6 and I was tremendously proud of his behavior on the long down, his first time doing this with a group of “strange” dogs and me out of sight. Phoenix was the third dog in line. The first dog, a golden, got up and poked the second dog, a standard schnauzer. They exchanged some snappy snarlies and the stewards caught the golden but not the schnauzer. Thank doG the schnauzer had the good sense to leave Phoenix alone, went around him, and poked the fourth dog in line, a miniature poodle. When the poodle ignored him (good little girl), the schnauzer went dancing through the rest of the line-up until the stewards were finally able to corral him and the rest of the time passed in relative peace. I was so proud of Phoenix for minding his own business. Several exhibitors who were watching said he was giving the hairy eyeball to the two errant dogs and I’m also sure he was giving off a pretty strong aura of “Don’t mess with me.”
Phoenix is usually the only mal at area obedience trials and frequently, he is the only mal at all-breed shows with obedience trials as well. So imagine my delight at finding another mal entered this weekend. Not only that, it was Phoenix’s half-brother from one of his mom’s early litters. Polly F., a native Iowan now living in Arizona but traveling back to the state this summer, was there with Apache (Carousel’s Money Talks) from the Talk litter. Apache finished his CD with a nice score and 3rd place in the class. I enjoyed visiting with Polly who is active in Schutzhund with her mal boys. Apache and Phoenix had a very brief introduction but were not inclined to feel much brotherly love.
After another ring-rental match Saturday evening, it was back to the poultry barn. That $#@! air mattress sprung a serious leak and I woke up Sunday morning basically sleeping on the cement barn floor. I am now in the market for a new air mattress. Again. I do not have any luck with those things.
Sunday, Phoenix’s ring work was delightful. I heeled with my left arm at my side (totally forgot on Saturday and up it went, automatically) and I that was the NICEST heeling he’s ever given me in the ring, only .5 point off. He worked his fronts and his finishes were actually BRISK! And STRAIGHT! We have struggled with finishes, what a stupid little thing, so it was rewarding to see him put them together. A good thing, too, since there are 4 fronts/finishes in Grad Nov. However, the silly boy used the first board of the broad jump as a spring board, so we NQ’d. (Jump? What jump? Oh, THAT jump!) Only 3 dogs showed and everyone behaved him/herself on the long down, although Phoenix crawled a bit out of line (never lifted his elbows off the mat, according to Paula) and self-rewarded with a crunchy he found on the mat. Hmm, gotta proof for that!
When I got home, the Farmer/Plumber had installed a shiny new kitchen faucet and all was right with the world.
Everything went right on schedule until I opened the kitchen cupboards under the sink to grab a garbage bag and found a re-enactment of the floods of 2008 going on. How ironic, since it was the one-year anniversary of the record-setting crest in Cedar Rapids. There was water EVERYWHERE.
The Farmer came in right then. The man’s timing is perfect.
I pointed out the water gushing down the back wall of the cabinet from a madly leaking faucet and said, “You’re gonna want to do something about that. See ya Sunday night. Love ya, bye.” And I bolted.
Was that horrible? Remember, this is the man who A) left me to dump 250 pounds of spoiled meat by myself when the dogs’ freezer went out in August a few years ago and B) left me to clean up the house after the “Disorder of the Phoenix” incident which was HIS fault in the first place. He always had somewhere else he “needed to be.” And Friday, so did I. Turnabout is fair play. (Really, he is a wonderful man even though we drive each other crazy at times.)
It started to rain about an hour out of Ft. Dodge. The closer I got to the show site, the harder it rained. I seemed to be having all sorts of problems with water.
No big deal, I thought, it’ll clear off in a couple of hours. In the meantime, I got set up in the obedience building and logged some training time at the match. By 7 p.m., the rain showed no signs of letting up. If anything, it was coming down harder. I cruised through the show site, the Webster County Fairgrounds, wondering where to tent and how I was going to get it set up without drowning or burying C3 up to her axles in mud.
4-H fairgrounds are wonderful places. They are full of those long, low, open-sided barns where the kids stall their cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry and rabbits during the county fair. I decided one of those barns, with a good solid roof and cement floor was just what I was looking for. I backed C3 into the poultry barn and set up my tent. We slept snug and dry. Except for having to re-inflate my air mattress at 3 a.m., barn-camping was ideal.
Saturday was Phoenix’s first time in Graduate Novice. He won the class by merit of being the last dog standing, so to speak. He was the only qualifier in a class of 6 and I was tremendously proud of his behavior on the long down, his first time doing this with a group of “strange” dogs and me out of sight. Phoenix was the third dog in line. The first dog, a golden, got up and poked the second dog, a standard schnauzer. They exchanged some snappy snarlies and the stewards caught the golden but not the schnauzer. Thank doG the schnauzer had the good sense to leave Phoenix alone, went around him, and poked the fourth dog in line, a miniature poodle. When the poodle ignored him (good little girl), the schnauzer went dancing through the rest of the line-up until the stewards were finally able to corral him and the rest of the time passed in relative peace. I was so proud of Phoenix for minding his own business. Several exhibitors who were watching said he was giving the hairy eyeball to the two errant dogs and I’m also sure he was giving off a pretty strong aura of “Don’t mess with me.” Phoenix is usually the only mal at area obedience trials and frequently, he is the only mal at all-breed shows with obedience trials as well. So imagine my delight at finding another mal entered this weekend. Not only that, it was Phoenix’s half-brother from one of his mom’s early litters. Polly F., a native Iowan now living in Arizona but traveling back to the state this summer, was there with Apache (Carousel’s Money Talks) from the Talk litter. Apache finished his CD with a nice score and 3rd place in the class. I enjoyed visiting with Polly who is active in Schutzhund with her mal boys. Apache and Phoenix had a very brief introduction but were not inclined to feel much brotherly love.
After another ring-rental match Saturday evening, it was back to the poultry barn. That $#@! air mattress sprung a serious leak and I woke up Sunday morning basically sleeping on the cement barn floor. I am now in the market for a new air mattress. Again. I do not have any luck with those things.
Sunday, Phoenix’s ring work was delightful. I heeled with my left arm at my side (totally forgot on Saturday and up it went, automatically) and I that was the NICEST heeling he’s ever given me in the ring, only .5 point off. He worked his fronts and his finishes were actually BRISK! And STRAIGHT! We have struggled with finishes, what a stupid little thing, so it was rewarding to see him put them together. A good thing, too, since there are 4 fronts/finishes in Grad Nov. However, the silly boy used the first board of the broad jump as a spring board, so we NQ’d. (Jump? What jump? Oh, THAT jump!) Only 3 dogs showed and everyone behaved him/herself on the long down, although Phoenix crawled a bit out of line (never lifted his elbows off the mat, according to Paula) and self-rewarded with a crunchy he found on the mat. Hmm, gotta proof for that!
When I got home, the Farmer/Plumber had installed a shiny new kitchen faucet and all was right with the world.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Training food for thought
Phoenix and I are off to play Graduate Novice games this weekend at Ft. Dodge. It’s our first real camping weekend of the season (our over-nighter at Ames a few weeks ago being somewhat of a pseudo-camping experience).
Next weekend is the Hawkeye Kennel Club trials in Iowa City (which got cancelled last year due to the floods) and after that, it’s a no-man’s land of about two months without any local obedience trials before there are tons of great trials beginning in late August through November. I really love having a couple of summer months with nothing to focus on but training, no pressure to have our skills “ring ready” for a specific weekend. So the following article is really timely and I wanted to share it with you.
It was written by Laura Romanik and passed along to me via e-mail from friend and long distance obedience training partner Renee. It has a lot of EXCELLENT points and although it’s aimed at folks who do obedience, with a little tweaking it applies equally to agility or probably any other performance sport you enjoy with your dog.
“If you would like to take advantage of the fall show season, NOW is the time to start planning and preparing. You cannot expect to slouch over most of the summer, and then in late August suddenly start training on a regular schedule and frantically looking for matches, and get the results you want.
“
Right now you need to finish training the skills your dog will need for your fall goals. It’s OK to have a couple of holes or weaknesses at this point, but you better know what they are and have a plan for what you will do at each training session to improve those areas. You should also map out your opportunities to train in situations that will simulate a real trial, whether that be the above mentioned matches or group training get togethers. Put them on your calendar . . .
(This is one of my favorite paragraphs.)
“When you get to these matches and training opportunities, TRAIN, don’t just run through. It does you absolutely no good to go to a fun match and stand there and do nothing while your dog makes mistakes, even if he would have still qualified. All you are doing is increasing his understanding that at home or in one or two familiar training locations you will correct his mistakes but everywhere else all bets are off. One of the main reasons for going to train in other places is to teach your dog to generalize the need to put forth the same effort you ask for at home to everywhere else.
“This doesn’t mean you always have to use a harsh physical correction. Initially your response to a mistake in a new place should be the same as what you used to give at home for the same mistake when your dog was earlier in the learning process. In other words, always back up a step or two on your dog’s skills in new places. You might need to make the exercise easier. But don’t just ignore performance that is less than what you’d really like to see in the ring. If it is slightly disappointing but qualifying in a new place when you aren’t under the stress of a real trial worrying about legs or qualifying, it will be more disappointing or not qualifying when you do add that stress.
“Last weekend in Kalamazoo, they had ring rental time each day after the trial. I sat and watched even some top handlers ignore errors, presumably because what the dog did during the ring rental time was better than what it had done earlier in the trial. I’m guessing the dog did better because the handler was more relaxed, and projected more confidence because she knew she could correct if needed. So the dog did better but still showed hints of the earlier error. The handler missed a great opportunity to define the error to the dog and enforce completely correct performance in the same ring she was going to show in the next day. The next day, under the stress of a real trial and with no additional training that the error is wrong, the error was magnified again.
“Worse yet, is the people that go out of their way with their own handling to prevent an error, rather than let the dog make the mistake and fix it. Some of these things might be smart handling in a real ring in order to save a qualifier or points, but most of them are penny wise and pound foolish in training. For example, in the ring you might see that your dog is about to anticipate the finish command and so throw your signal hand out as soon as the judge has “F…” out of her mouth. But every time you do that in training or at a run through, you are reinforcing the dog’s tendency to make that very mistake. You are reinforcing to the dog that the judge’s order is his cue to finish. Another example is the handler that waits or gives extra little body language when the dog hesitates or fails to complete a command. Say the dog is doing a drop on recall, and when told to down it stops and sits. In this situation I see many handlers wait to see if the dog will decide to complete the drop, or even cock their heads or tense their shoulders and lean forward slightly.
“In the real ring, if the judge decides it was an extra cue, the dog may fail even if it does eventually go down. Even if you get away with it (and granted in the “A” classes it is more likely that you will), every time this happens the dog becomes less likely in the future to drop on the command alone and eventually he’ll start waiting for more and more of a body cue too. It’s basically the same thing as giving a dog the same command multiple times because he didn’t respond to the first one. You eventually teach the dog that responding to the first command is optional, and that if he really doesn’t want to do it right now he can just wait for an additional, or stronger, or repeated command to finally do it.
“So, get thee out to the fun matches, have fun, and TRAIN your dog!”
Laura Romanik and the Radiant Shelties
Next weekend is the Hawkeye Kennel Club trials in Iowa City (which got cancelled last year due to the floods) and after that, it’s a no-man’s land of about two months without any local obedience trials before there are tons of great trials beginning in late August through November. I really love having a couple of summer months with nothing to focus on but training, no pressure to have our skills “ring ready” for a specific weekend. So the following article is really timely and I wanted to share it with you.
It was written by Laura Romanik and passed along to me via e-mail from friend and long distance obedience training partner Renee. It has a lot of EXCELLENT points and although it’s aimed at folks who do obedience, with a little tweaking it applies equally to agility or probably any other performance sport you enjoy with your dog.
“If you would like to take advantage of the fall show season, NOW is the time to start planning and preparing. You cannot expect to slouch over most of the summer, and then in late August suddenly start training on a regular schedule and frantically looking for matches, and get the results you want.
“Right now you need to finish training the skills your dog will need for your fall goals. It’s OK to have a couple of holes or weaknesses at this point, but you better know what they are and have a plan for what you will do at each training session to improve those areas. You should also map out your opportunities to train in situations that will simulate a real trial, whether that be the above mentioned matches or group training get togethers. Put them on your calendar . . .
(This is one of my favorite paragraphs.)
“When you get to these matches and training opportunities, TRAIN, don’t just run through. It does you absolutely no good to go to a fun match and stand there and do nothing while your dog makes mistakes, even if he would have still qualified. All you are doing is increasing his understanding that at home or in one or two familiar training locations you will correct his mistakes but everywhere else all bets are off. One of the main reasons for going to train in other places is to teach your dog to generalize the need to put forth the same effort you ask for at home to everywhere else.
“This doesn’t mean you always have to use a harsh physical correction. Initially your response to a mistake in a new place should be the same as what you used to give at home for the same mistake when your dog was earlier in the learning process. In other words, always back up a step or two on your dog’s skills in new places. You might need to make the exercise easier. But don’t just ignore performance that is less than what you’d really like to see in the ring. If it is slightly disappointing but qualifying in a new place when you aren’t under the stress of a real trial worrying about legs or qualifying, it will be more disappointing or not qualifying when you do add that stress.
“Last weekend in Kalamazoo, they had ring rental time each day after the trial. I sat and watched even some top handlers ignore errors, presumably because what the dog did during the ring rental time was better than what it had done earlier in the trial. I’m guessing the dog did better because the handler was more relaxed, and projected more confidence because she knew she could correct if needed. So the dog did better but still showed hints of the earlier error. The handler missed a great opportunity to define the error to the dog and enforce completely correct performance in the same ring she was going to show in the next day. The next day, under the stress of a real trial and with no additional training that the error is wrong, the error was magnified again.
“Worse yet, is the people that go out of their way with their own handling to prevent an error, rather than let the dog make the mistake and fix it. Some of these things might be smart handling in a real ring in order to save a qualifier or points, but most of them are penny wise and pound foolish in training. For example, in the ring you might see that your dog is about to anticipate the finish command and so throw your signal hand out as soon as the judge has “F…” out of her mouth. But every time you do that in training or at a run through, you are reinforcing the dog’s tendency to make that very mistake. You are reinforcing to the dog that the judge’s order is his cue to finish. Another example is the handler that waits or gives extra little body language when the dog hesitates or fails to complete a command. Say the dog is doing a drop on recall, and when told to down it stops and sits. In this situation I see many handlers wait to see if the dog will decide to complete the drop, or even cock their heads or tense their shoulders and lean forward slightly.
“In the real ring, if the judge decides it was an extra cue, the dog may fail even if it does eventually go down. Even if you get away with it (and granted in the “A” classes it is more likely that you will), every time this happens the dog becomes less likely in the future to drop on the command alone and eventually he’ll start waiting for more and more of a body cue too. It’s basically the same thing as giving a dog the same command multiple times because he didn’t respond to the first one. You eventually teach the dog that responding to the first command is optional, and that if he really doesn’t want to do it right now he can just wait for an additional, or stronger, or repeated command to finally do it.
“So, get thee out to the fun matches, have fun, and TRAIN your dog!”
Laura Romanik and the Radiant Shelties
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)