Berners with The Edge, Week Two

Most of the over two dozen people working together in our online community want to improve aspects of both human and dog performance when training and/or showing. This is excellent because those two things are intricately related.

We began by establishing a long-term goal and then thinking through a couple of intermediate goals that could be addressed over the next 12 or so weeks. Yesterday I introduced the idea of Least Trainable Units, or micro skills, to get us all thinking about our tendencies to “clump train” dogs.

Today I want to do three things: 1) Discuss micro-sessions; 2) Continue the micro-skills conversation; and, 3) Challenge assumption-based training. Specific assignments — “Invitations” — related to each are included in this post.

A micro-session is a tiny amount of training time that when utilized over the course of a day, can add up to impressive skills.

I keep a bag of Charlee Bears handy and do these all day long.

I have never “formally” trained signals to Claire, for example, but she knows them all because of micro-sessions. She learned “stay” in micro-sessions —including micro-group stays…

Claire and Daisy — and a look at our new floor.

I could go on and on — I cannot say enough about the value of these tiny training sessions both for learning AND maintaining a happy attitude about “work.”

Thirty seconds is plenty of time — when you start the microwave, think micro-skill in a micro-training session and you will be on your way to big things.

This is a (narrated) VIDEO of a quick micro-session on a walk with Claire, and it brings me to micro skills again.

Claire’s sit in the video is not quite what I want — I prefer that she bring her rear end forward into the sit rather than pop up with her front end.

I say nothing about that to Claire — instead, I appreciate that in spite of being in “drive” because of the ball, she is quickly responding to cues. In other words, she is demonstrating knowledge of the cues AND doing that in an environment that is “tough.” For that, she earns the ball toss — and I have good info to tuck away under “What I Need to Train.”

I will work on improving those sits — a micro skill — in micro-sessions this week.

Invitation: Identify one micro-skill that you can work on in micro-sessions this week.

Let’s switch gears and discuss the human side of all this dog training stuff.

You will hear this from me over and over — thoughts are the driver of both feelings and behavior.

We are going to spend time unpacking all that but to begin, I want to ask you to reflect about assumptions you make when training dogs, and how those assumptions drive both training behavior and feelings.

“The dog is blowing me off” is a common belief/thought and so let’s start with that.

What people will say to justify a belief that the dog is choosing to — with malice, no doubt — “blow me off” is this: “She does it perfectly at home.”

Ponder this, if you would — you are to give a speech. You practice it at home and are perfect when delivering it in the shower, in front of your partner, while cooking dinner, and so on.

Does that mean you are equally ready to deliver said speech in a competition with an audience of 50 strangers, many holding up signs that read things like, “A bomb is about to go off” and “The end is near” and “Beware of Lions” and “DANGER AHEAD!”??

Dogs are non-verbal communicators and read humans like we read signs. The stress and anxiety FELT BY HUMANS are clear danger signs to dogs, and set off their Danger Scanners — it is hard to focus on heeling when you are trying to figure out where exactly the lions, tigers, and bears are hiding.

This is why it is so hard to change ring performance by trying to “fix” the dog — because the problem is not the dog. Even if the issue is a knowledge/skills deficit and not just smelly stress hormones flooding the dog — well, whose fault is that?

Invitation: Assume good intentions of your dog. Take responsibility for any/all gaps in training and performance — not to flog yourself, but simply as Helpful Feedback about what needs work.

You are, after all, only human.

Ready, Set — micro train.

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!