A is for Attitude

Yesterday I posed these two questions about matches and run thru’s to The Edge group:

• What are your goals when doing matches and/or more formal run thru's?

• How do they support your training?

I appreciate the diversity of responses received; sharing our thoughts gets them out of our head, and invites others to help us refine and shape them.

Some of you may remember last Specialty when I was trying to decide whether to show Claire in Novice B obedience — this was happening literally at ringside. She was entered but not ready to show, in my opinion. I was teaching her a “finish” as we waited through the long class, for heaven’s sake.

I know how to have fun with my dog in a ring and do not suffer from Ring Nerves. Therefore, I decided — what the heck?! I would have fun and make it a great experience for her. Basically, I decided to treat it like a match or a run thru.

My version having fun with an unprepared dog was this: Claire was second in a class of something like 50 dogs, behind her Uncle Tristan who went High in Trial. She lost two points for her no-sit finish and still scored a 196.

And most important— we had a blast.

Had I seen one iota of stress in my dog, I would have excused us immediately — rehearsing undesired attitude in any kind of a ring is a Bad Idea.

If a dog is stressed in a match, she has practiced being stressed.

If a dog is worried in a run thru, he has rehearsed being worried.

Attitude is the foundation of focus — if you lose the confident attitude of a dog, you can kiss focus good-bye.

Therefore, attitude — not stress or worry or even actual skills — is what most needs to be practiced in matches and run thru’s.

“Working through” the concerns or worries is actually not what we want — it still brings the worries and concerns into the ring, and risks teaching the dog Learned Helplessness, which is a real buzzkill.

Most people can teach the dog skills — that is the easy part. The hard part, evidenced by the number of dogs being shown that look like they would rather be anywhere but a ring, is teaching and maintaining attitude.

Don’t risk poisoning the well. Once poisoned, it is tough to get right again (but it is possible!).

We all have different goals for our dogs. I would hope, however, that we share a commitment to ensuring our dogs have what they need to be happy and successful in whatever we ask of them.

And that, my Friends, means training skills and attitude to fluency before stepping in a ring setting — and then only doing what the dog can and will do in that ring while maintaining attitude.

For some dogs, that could mean a match in which we do two steps of heeling and then a toy is tossed before we happily leave the ring.

For Claire last year — it was the entire Novice ring exercises.

I have not shown Claire in obedience since the 2019 Specialty. When she enters the obedience ring again this Spring, my primary objective will not be about scores or ribbons or even what anyone else thinks about our performance. Rather, I will consider the runs successful if my dog maintains her pizzazz and attitude because that is, after all, the most challenging of training skills.

Game On.

Berners On Track, Week Six (Updated)

The Berners on Track Crew continues to make steady progress — it is amazing how much learning can happen online!

Dogs in the class are at different points because of conditions, time, and so on but the progress really is amazing. Most are ready for the challenge of the following two tracks — as always, handlers should adjust based on their unique circumstances.

This first track introduces an intermediate article — a sock, glove, bandana dropped on the track about 20 or so yards from the end. Hopefully everyone has been working on making articles high value!

Make sure you are handling closer to the dog than usual so you can have a quick article response — even if the dog STEPS on the article, you start the party.

“OH MY GOSH! What did you find?!” and so on.

Do not muddy the Party Waters by asking the dog to do anything with that article — just be happy that she touched it, looked at it, picked it up, tripped over it, or whatever she did.

Have that party, hand over a cookie, tuck the article away and let the dog finish the track.

Because we introduce a new element (article) we reduce the difficulty of everything else so there are no turns on this track, and continuation post-article is quickly reinforced by finding the jackpot.

The second track challenge for the week (on separate days, of course!) is a two-turn track. Because we are increasing the difficulty with two turns and a longer track, we reduce the difficulty of the actual turns — they should both be open turns. Use food to reinforce and motivate, and make sure to have one turn to the right and one to the left.

There is no article on this track — one should not add two new elements to a track at once!

Good luck and have fun!

Update: Sadie’s Track!

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!