Berners On Track, Week Five MIDTERM EXAM

It is time for our first Midterm! Don’t worry — it is a take-home exam :)

Here is the Novice Dog Midterm:

The Specifics:

1. Please follow the directions on the exam — and post any questions/thoughts/comments on the Facebook page.

2. Walk straight into the track as directed for at least ten yards. Plant the flag and keep going.

3. When you run the dog, switch from collar to harness at the point at which you started your straight entry to the track — and let the dog have line to get started. The start flag is the official start but also decoration — there is no need to make the dog stop at that flag.

4. Space food as directed but you know your dog and the cover — always support success even as you push the learning envelope, so to speak.

5. A right or left turn is fine — do what works for your location.

6. The turn is sharper — increase food and scuff your feet a bit on that corner as you lay the track.

7. Use 15 - 20 feet of line when you run this track.

8. Handler stays on the track no matter what dog does.

9. Look for handling opportunities — practice stopping on the track (dog is off shopping) and backing (dog is swinging wide and coming towards you).

10. As always, increase or decrease difficulty of this exam as needed for your dog!

Please provide a detailed report of what went well and what needs more work.

Midterm for TDX Dogs!

Some thoughts:

1. You can use just one cross track layer — have them go one way and then back the other, keeping 8 - 10 feet between their two tracks.

2. In a test, cross tracks are marked for the cross track layers with flags and so use them on your track when you lay the track. This helps the cross track layer know what to do but also replicates what a cross track will be like in a test for the dog. Just make sure the cross track layer(s) knows to pull up the flags when they lay the cross tracks :)

3. If possible, video how the dog works the cross tracks so we can all watch/learn.

Please provide a detailed report of what went well and what needs more work.

I will update this post with videos as they become available.

Berners On Track, Week Three

Three things are converging in my brain this week — well, there are more but I mean relevant to this post kind of things. First, the semester started and so I have classrooms — in-person and online — of new students. Second, the online tracking class is settling in. Third, I am in the middle of a book about trauma (The Body Keeps the Score — HIGHLY recommend).

The book’s author describes what happens in our body when we perceive threat. In one paragraph, he was detailing the physical responses and ends it with noting that in response to this rapid and physiological activation of the body’s danger system, the family dog growls.

Dogs, in other words, read humans like I am reading the book.

I have long been convinced that what humans describe as dogs shutting down at events is nothing more than a dog’s appropriate response to the human non-verbally telling the dog that there is danger close at hand.

Humans are convinced the dog is “blowing me off” — no, the dog is appropriately trying to understand where the lion, tiger, or bear is hiding given that you — the human — are a stink bomb of danger signals.

This is only a slight digression.

I have a classroom of anxious, eager university students who need to be coached on how to interact in appropriate and helpful ways with other human beings. How can I provide coaching and feedback in a way that doesn’t cause them to feel threatened?

This matters because learning cannot happen when an individual perceives threat in the same way that a dog cannot perform in optimal ways when worried about the unknown dog show dangers clearly terrifying a beloved human.

Our bodies’s fight/flight/freeze system does not distinguish between real and perceived threats — that would take too much time and leave us vulnerable. Instead, it is activated when there is merely the perception of threat and when the danger system is aroused, the parts of our brain that are more rational and logical get muffled.

I think of this kind of stuff when training dogs — and training people. How can I provide feedback in ways that do not “feel” threatening so as to keep the dog and human engaged and able to utilize their rational brains?

My strategies include:

• Being aware that feedback can feel threatening to self-concept and self-esteem;

• Understanding that feedback should be invited;

• Avoid overloading Learners with too much information at once;

• Use language that focuses on skills;

• Recognize it takes courage to hear feedback;

• Focus on what is going well so that it can be maintained;

• Maintain a compassionate connection to Learners; and,

• Link feedback to identified goals.

When I am receiving feedback, I try to:

• Assume good intentions of the feedback giver;

• Understand the caring and courage it takes to offer feedback;

• Recognize skills-based feedback as critical to my personal goal-attainment; and,

• Practice mindfulness to understand and slow down my reactions to feedback if I feel my fight/flight/freeze system activated.

This process of learning through feedback is a challenging and imperfect one, and so there is an ongoing need for Grace because none of us will always get it right, no matter our role or intentions.

The view from one of our tracking sites — that is the Bitterroot River.

The Berners on Track group is making incredible progress in both skills and understanding. Tracks are lengthening and cookies are moved from being lures to reinforcers. Handlers are developing handling skills and learning to read dogs. I wish you could all see the progress!

In today’s Week Three video (click HERE to watch) we introduce how to incorporate a turn on the tracks of our Novice dogs. The turn is open (gradual and rounded), in the middle of the track, and because we have added a level of track difficulty, we increase the food drops on that particular part of the track.

Today’s video also gives us a valuable chance to watch the impact of a quick and unintended error message. At about the 2:05 mark, Sadie wanted to rejoin the track but Suzanne holds her back, perhaps thinking that Sadie should not merge so far ahead.

Sadie makes two attempts and gives up, returning to Suzanne. Because Sadie does not have a “bank account” of error messages, she is not discouraged and is quickly and easily redirected back to the track — that is resilience.

A steady stream of error messages, however small and unintended (and often unconscious), will cause a dog (or human) to eventually quit trying — we call this Learned Helplessness. The video is a valuable learning opportunity, and not just about tracking; much gratitude to Suzanne for letting us learn through her learning.

Sadie is ready for a longer line so she can make these kind of independent choices, and Suzanne now knows to let her. Not a big deal — just feedback. Luckily for Suzanne — and the rest of us — human imperfection does not result in the loss of our birthday.

This is Claire’s 770 yard track — you can watch the start and end by clicking HERE.

Happy Tracking — or Happy Whatever you are doing this week.

Berners On Track, Week Two

We have a fun and dedicated group of people in our Berners on Track online class. It appears we have 8 - 9 who are actively working TD dogs, four dogs who are doing TDX training, and quite a few auditors.

The first week saw a flurry of tracking activity and posts on our Facebook group. Our beginner dogs are catching on to the game, which involves using cookies in a straight trail to help them understand that they can use their noses to find a jackpot.

The course Teaching Assistant, Sadie

Some are already spacing out cookies and adding length to their track as the dogs transition from using the cookies as their guide to using whatever dogs are using to follow the track. Is it scent from shoes? Is it specific scent from broken vegetation or crushed snow? The truth is that we really do not know — and that is okay.

Before we talk about specific activities for the next week, let’s step into the process part of both the class and learning in general.

Learning a new skill is tough because it requires vulnerability. To learn, we must open ourselves up and acknowledge what we do not know. Unfortunately, admitting we do not know something is too often seen — even by ourselves — as problematic, as if there is something wrong with us; the opposite is actually true.

Learners — real Learners and not the “yes, but…” learners (note small “l” because they are not actually learning anything) — have both the capacity and the courage to be vulnerable. They are willing and able to stumble and bumble through the process of learning, and that is admirable.

Post-tracking romp — Claire and Sundance

Every person working a dog in our class is expressing vulnerability, courage, and graciousness as they allow others to learn from their learning. Kudos to each of them.

Auditors — please appreciate and support our Learners. You are our cheerleaders and encouragers, and we want and need to hear from you. Ask your questions, add your comments, and express your support and appreciation for those brave enough to allow you to be the fly-on-wall witness to their vulnerability in this process of learning new skills.

All — please remember that learning never looks like the polished, finished product. Why would we need to learn if we could just jump right to the finish?!

Dogs are starting to understand that they are to use something to find a jackpot. Some are starting to look for the jackpot, necessitating flatter jackpot bowls (click HERE) and clever hiding places. Some dogs are getting excited and want to just lunge around, hoping to bump into the jackpot. But all are also using their noses!

Claire’s track courtesy of the Tracking Dog app

The general plan for Week Two is to move to just one longer track per session — still straight — with food drops spaced as needed to keep the dog’s nose down, and a great jackpot at the end. Vary track treats to keep it engaging and in case you misjudged the deliciousness factor.

Give a bit more leash to allow the dog freedom to move maybe 2 - 3 feet off the track BUT do not move forward until the dog is moving forward on the actual track (and yes, go ahead and move when the dog is lunging to the bowl, having visually spotted it — and order the flatter bowls). Give the dog more responsibility to figure things out — but be ready to redirect as needed; this is illustrated well in the week’s video.

Continue to work on the dog finding and picking up random articles — this is new life for odd socks!

We only need 2 - 3 sessions this week and really focus on adding length. The dog is your guide — push length to where she is successful, and back off if she struggles; same with spacing of cookies.

Click HERE to watch the week’s video — remember our Teaching Assistant is just 12 weeks and so her tracks will be shorter than your dog’s track but the concepts are the same.

For those who are interested in watching more tracking, click HERE to see Claire run a 3+ hour track that was 771 yards long - thanks to Suzanne for this video.

Happy Tracking!