The Toberizer

(Taken with my iPhone 4)

Tonight I got to spend some quality alone time with Toby. I try and do this on a regular basis. Macy normally spends plenty of alone time with me...because she's always shadowing me. Toby, however, has always been more of daddy's boy and so on the occasion he decides to do some 'shadowing,' he tends to follow my dad. For this evening though, by sheer chance, he wandered upstairs while Moose was still downstairs begging for food. So I grabbed a few toys, my clicker & treats and sat down on the floor to spend some time with my boy.

It's moments like these that have defined me as a dog person. Moments with him.

They remind me just how far he's pushed me, how much I've had to grow in my skills as an owner, a trainer, and as the second half of our relationship. When we got him, I knew very little about dogs. We'd always had little dogs growing up...but my extent of knowledge with them was so small. We were one of those families who lucked out for the most part...getting confident little dogs who tended to do fine in most situations, and training really wasn't something anyone really worried about besides potty training. If they pulled on the leash that was fine, the chances of them pulling us over were slim.

Toby completely changed my world. He taught me that dogs--even our little ankle biters--needed mental stimulation. They needed training, things to do, and while love is essential...they need more than just that. He also challenged me every step of the way. He taught me to look past what was 'common knowledge' about dogs and really open up and start to research. He's the dog that drove me to spend three years lurking on Clicker Solutions. He's the one that led me to start my own dog library (I don't tease, because of him I have a book shelf full on dogs and it's still growing). He's the one that drove me to start volunteering for the Golden Retriever Rescue Resource, because I needed to not only know more, but to get more hands on experience.

He's the one that changed my life. He made dogs my passion.

So when I get nights like tonight, where everything falls perfectly into place without me having to pre-plan it, I take it with delight. We did some simple shaping: pick up a metal spoon, then a session on resting his head on his front feet, and then one on baring his teeth (working on putting this one on cue). Then I grabbed out some of our dog games toys (think the Nina Ottosson toys) and worked through several of those before just cuddling on the floor, playing together.

But as we laid there, I just couldn't help but think back to how much I've changed over the past eight years. Giving up was never an option...you pick a dog for life. But I know how hard we've worked over the years...from bringing him home and fighting parvo, to under socializing him because I didn't have clue, to dealing with dog aggression... He changed me from someone who just lived with dogs, to someone who would do absolutely everything for her dog--who'd change her life, her way of thinking, everything she could to make him happy. Every dog after him will benefit, but I credit him for doing all the hard work on making me who I am today.

Tug Work in Distractions

Today we went hiking again back at the trail we used last weekend. It's a gorgeous strip of woodland that's less than 15 minutes from my house. Winter is about the only time it's really hike-able though, because it floods through most of spring and early summer, then the ticks are horrendous for most of the other weather. So I tend to forget it's even there.

What's nice is the trail isn't heavily used by a lot of people, so outside of the woodland critters and yummy scents...there's not too many distractions. It makes it a nice place to drop the leash and get some off leash work done. Most importantly, to get some recall practice in where she can really stretch out and drive home to me.

Still...dropping that leash is unnerving to me and I have a few rules I follow when we're out there. One, and probably the most important, is that I want her engaged with me. Ready and raring to work when I drop that leash. She'd been pushing her way into heel/her reinforcement zone most of the trip out there so I didn't think to test it further. I dropped the leash and we started working recalls and just keeping me on sight while running loose.

I can't really say I had an issue on any of that...Macy did spectacular. She dropped what she was doing every time to barrel back to me, any time I got more than fifty feet out from her she raced back on her own and drove straight into her reinforcement zone. The catch came when I called her back to do some 'work'.

I've placed a lot of work into her tugging and building up a love for the game...but yes, to me that's still 'work.' I want it to be a reward and 90% of the time, tugging on her leash is a huge reward. We use it for heeling past other dogs and countless distractions, we use at dock diving events to reward a good wait on the dock, or a good jump. Today, after getting to run loose for about ten minutes, she was having none of it.

A huge, Don't Wanna, Don't Hafta moment (a Susan Garrett term). So we started hiking back towards the car, her on leash close enough to me that she couldn't wander too much. I didn't want her rewarding herself anymore than she already was. Harsh maybe, but she'd showed me where the value lay--in the environment. That was already self-reinforcing, just being out there getting her freedom, getting to sniff and romp. I needed to refocus some of that value back onto me, and then using the environment as a reward once I got the behavior I wanted.

So we'd stop and try and tug, but nope. She couldn't do it there. Not yet. Her body language was very much the same as when I started working so she could tug happily and gamely in the presence of food. Or in the presence of higher value tug toys, but ones I didn't want to play with. My ultimate goal is to create a drive to play with me, no matter what toy I have, no matter where we're at.

So we kept moving closer and closer to the car, stopping in boring spots on the trail (parts where she normally ignores the environment and starts pestering me to heel or do trick work for treats). Still no tug. We made it all the way back to the car and I had her hop into the Jeep and tried to play with her still in there. Nope. Not even with me shut in the car with her. I will admit, right about then I was starting to wonder if I should be trying another tactic. Maybe what worked with tugging around food and higher value toys, wouldn't work for walking trails. Still, we were at the car, it was time to pack it up, go home and reevaluate.

On the way home though I made a decision. I know she'll tug at home and around our neighborhood. At the very worst, she'd latch on if we had to back our butts all the way up the drive way and into the backyard. But eventually I could make a huge fuss over tugging with me and then reward with a walk around the neighborhood. Using tug to reward good walking, walking to reward good tugging (which normally jazzes her up really well and she's a working queen).

Sure enough, the moment I popped open the back of the Jeep and all four feet hit the ground, I offered her the leash and told her to, "Get it!" She launched right at it into a happy game of tug. So we started working up and down the sidewalk. Can you tug with that dog barking and running up down his fence across the street? Good! What about by that squirrel? Yay!

We were just getting ready to wrap it up and head back down the street for home when I spotted one of our neighbors out salting the sidewalk in front of his house. Perfect! A distraction that we could build towards getting closer and closer (I suppose we could have done it with the neighbor's dog, but I hate to stress the poor guy out). For a moment she spotted him and had another Don't Wanna, Don't Hafta moment, so we backed up a few feet heading away, I offered the tug again and WHAM! Game on.

After that, it was a no brainer. We worked up to within twenty feet of him (would have worked closer, but the ice was slick, and well...tugging on ice with a dog her size does horrors for my back). She flipped perfectly into doing obedience work, hand touches, to tugging--once again completely tuning out the distractions. And every time I released her to head his way, one call for me to come back to resume the game and she was there, raring to play.

That's what I wanted out on the trail. And it seems so simple to a lot of people. Why did I care so much if she didn't want to tug out there? But tug is our biggest reinforcement. She'll take a treat anywhere yes, but that's over and done with fast. And I hadn't realized it, until she'd refused that tug, but once that leash had been dropped...she was doing a lot of hit and runs. Yes, she was still coming back...for now.

Tugging means she has to completely engage with me. She can't take that toy or leash while still looking at a squirrel. I want good solid, loving this game tugs when we play. Which means...when she's engaged and we're really revving up that game, tug is a huge motivator. It drives her back at a lightning fast recall rather than a trot. And therein lies where I'm going to get the most consistent behavior. I could have accepted her hit and runs for her treats, but obviously the value she was finding in the environment was some pretty heady stuff and we were in low distractions. Thank heavens a squirrel didn't dart across her path right then! I don't want to accept hit and runs. I want her to come raring back to me with as much love for the game as she loves her free-runs. I want her to want to engage with me more than she wants to engage with the world around her.

Don't get me wrong, I still want her to have her freedom. But freedom comes with training, confidence, trust. Letting her run loose but not being able to call her back is dangerous for her. So we're going to really amp up her tug games around the house, building in some pretty heavy distractions this week. Then if the weather stays good, we'll do another long hike this weekend, but with some ground rules. Can she tug before we get in the car? At the parking lot when we get there? Along the trail?* Once I've got that 'want to play with me' back, then we'll start adding back in her off-leash time again, most likely doing a walk or two with a long line as well. :)



*I also plan on bringing along a higher value tug-toy. Maybe her bunny fur even. While I'd like to have her willing to charge back for tug play on her leash, because that's a reinforcer I'm guaranteed to have, right now I'll take what I can get and will build her back up. She wasn't being "stubborn" or "dominant", she was just showing me where the weaknesses in our training lied.

Attention Games

With Macy I've decided to start upping the ante on her Attention work. Especially out on our walks. I've been a huge slacker and have done very little training (especially outdoors) for the past several months... On walks lately the only I've done (at this is intermittently at best), was ask for a sit before heading out...normally so I could put my earbuds in and choose whether I was listening to a book or to music on the stroll for the day. After that, she was free to do what she wanted as long as I wasn't being dragged.

Uh-huh. We can see how well that's been working. Squirrels have suddenly hit her whoa-my-gosh chase mode, several of the dogs we pass daily are now getting screamy, bouncy answers from her as she play bows and madly dashes from one end of the leash to the other (though I am impressed at how little she ever bumps the end of the leash)...and uh, remembering I exist? Pretty nonexistent. Though considering I've been in earbud heaven, I count that fair. Obviously I haven't been considering her much either.

So, I added a few new rules. Mostly for me. -grin-

1. The earbuds stay home. When I'm on the treadmill or working out, I can have them. But if I'm working my dog, my attention needs to be on her. Only fair, since I want hers on me.

2. Start engaging with her on our walks again. Before I turned ultra-slacker, we'd frequently stop on the walk and I'd ask her for random behaviors - recalls, sits, stays, tricks...

3. Bring back play and rewards to our walks. When she sees a squirrel now, I've gone back to stopping and waiting for eye contact. Then I either reward with playing tug with the leash, a treat, or getting to chase the squirrel with me. Tugging on the leash is also back. This is great for her heel. She loves tug-o-war, and if she thinks there is any chance that I'll give her the cue to grab the leash for a tug, she'll heel into sunset on our strolls.

These three rules are suddenly morphing my dog back into the picture perfect walker she used to be (and me back into the person worth her paying attention to). I do plan on upping the ante though. I'd like to start getting her really solid attention wise and working around high distractions (especially with her recalls), so she can be offleash in certain places. Our yard is really small, and the one fenced in area gets closed off in the winter and has become an unsupervised (and scary) dog park during the warmer months. Meaning the only way she can get in a good run or do any obedience work outside of sidewalks, she has to be able to be offleash safely. Right now, we long-line it...but reeling up 50ft of long-line, covered in snow or mud gets old fast.

We're also introducing (or in some cases re-introducing) some Attention Games we can play indoors, to help build a better foundation for our outdoor work. I'll make a post on these and our upping the ante outdoor games as things progress. :)

Book Review: Remembering to Breathe & OTCH Dreams

I thoroughly enjoyed both of these books. Remembering to Breathe is the story of Willard Bailey (the author) and HB, aka Honeybear, and their journey into the world of competitive obedience. It was a very touching and heartfelt journey. I love stories like this where you get to follow along as the author builds their relationship with their dog, learns to listen to them, and tries their best to do what's right for the canine loved ones in a world of contradicting advice. (It's probably why I follow so many dog blogs. :-p) By the end of the book I was dying to see whether HB would get her OTCh. I empathized a lot with Willard's struggles to find the best way to train HB, to find ways to keep her happy, so they could enjoy doing what they'd come to love. To say this book hit home would be an understatement.

OTCH Dreams is it's sequel, and is really two books in one. The first part wraps up HB's last days, and the second follows Bebop, Willard's latest competition dog: a border collie. This book tore me apart. I sobbed through Honeybear's death, having fallen in love with her in Remembering to Breathe, it was so hard to read about her passing in OTCH Dreams. Especially when a lot of what Willard went through in letting her go, I went through when we had to put our shih tzu down not too long ago.

The second half, Bebop's story was just as fraught with emotion as the first. I teared up when I read about Barbara offering to handle Bebop in Conformation, I grinned like a maniac when she set out to achieve what she wanted to do. I admit I cried when I saw the picture of Bebop wrapped around Barbara--who really hadn't wanted a male border collie, but had let Willard get him--kissing him, and saw the bond that had developed between the Bopster and Barbara. The laughter and love on her face warmed me straight to my toes. But Bebop's obedience career wasn't all Super Dog success.

The book highlighted what I see a lot with working with the rescue. A lot of people, when looking for their next dog...want one just like their 'perfect' dog at home (or their last dog). It's hard not to compare the new addition, puppy or adult, to the last dog. Watching Willard struggle to realize that Bebop didn't need the cheerleading, that he needed different approaches, and that he was a very different dog than HB both pained and connected with me. I admit there were times when I read it, where I didn't understand why Willard kept pushing Bebop to do something that seemed to scare him, but it's always easier to say something from the outside POV, or from someone reading a book. In the end, I was just as touched by Bebop's journey as I was for Honeybear's.

Now, I just wish I could find another book like these two to read. (Dog sport related, showing the author and their dog(s) grow together as a team).

Overall, I rate both books four paws out of five.