Humane Society overwhelmed

Due to several surrenders, the Central Missouri Humane Society is currently overwhelmed with dogs. Read the article in the Tribune here:

http://www.showmenews.com/2008/Feb/20080228News007.asp

Listening and watching

That header sounds like this will be a training blog, but it's not. It's about listening to what your dog is trying to tell you, and learning to watch your dog's body signals. It's about lameness.

Many years ago I took Equestrian Science at William Woods. There, in addition to learning to ride horses that were often either rank or sour, we dealt with a lot of lame horses. I don't know how it's done now, but in those days all the horses used at WW were donated, and nobody was going to donate a horse that didn't have problems of some sort or another. We had structure and gait analysis drummed into our heads and I could still wrap a leg if I needed to. Once I moved into dogs I used to spend hours sitting at a corner of the breed ring where I could see both sidegait and the down and back. I'd play the "solve the puzzle" game of why a certain structure produced a certain gait. I'd link a dog with flying elbows to a short upper arm or a crabbing dog to too much rear angulation. And I saw a lot of lameness.

I'm rarely around the breed ring any more, spending most of my time with my obsession with agility. But I am constantly shocked at how many dogs I see in the agility ring that are lame. Some of it is caused by structure. And some of it is injury related. I see owners berating dogs for not jumping when the dog clearly can't, or cheerleading their dog around the course when it is wincing with each stride. And I don't think owners are cruel. I don't think they are doing it on purpose. I think they don't know. They don't know what to look for and how to catch it. Or maybe they see a really small limp and think it's minor and it'll go away. They are not listening to or watching their dogs in a meaningful way.

Dogs as a species are incredibly stoic. Way back in their hindbrain is the knowledge that if they get lame or unfit they will be ostracized from the pack or even killed. So they hide it as much as they can. And unfortunately, not taking care of lamenesses when they're minor very often leads to a major problem down the line. So the trick is learning first how to SEE lamenesses, then how to treat them. Often when a dog has a minor limp there's very little a traditional vet can do. But a canine acupuncturist or chiropractor may be able to work wonders.

Right now, I have 3 dogs, all of which are lame.

Cala either jammed or broke a toe Monday night training at the building. I already know that just like with people, there's not much you can do for a dog with a broken toe. But I'm taking it seriously; I've pulled her from agility training and may have to pull her from next weekend's Rally show. The limp is very mild most of the time. Would you have noticed? I did.

Last week I saw Zipper carry his right hind leg for a couple of steps. Time for an appointment with our genius acupuncturist, Sherry Russell DVM. Turns out he's got a back injury. Not major, but enough for a treatment. It's the kind of thing, Dr. Russell told me, that's easily fixable at this stage but could have caused big problems if I hadn't addressed it. My bet is, most owners wouldn't have even seen it.

My old girl, Viva, hasn't been any more lame than usual for a dog with spondylosis in her spine and arthritis in her feet, but she's had lick sores that have been getting worse. And it turns out she's in far worse shape than I thought. Dr. Russell wasn't sure how she was getting up and walking. That will take several treatments over a series of months. I almost dismissed it as old dog syndrome.

So please do your dog a favor. Learn how to look for lameness and make it a daily habit to watch your dog move. When something changes, even if you don't know what it is, something is probably wrong. And if you need to learn how to look at this stuff, Dr. John Sherman, founder of the renown canine rehabilitation clinic VetHab will be here in town Saturday giving a seminar. If you want more information, go to our website, www.columbiak9sportscenter.com.

Going to the Dog Show

As I said in my last post, the Columbia MO Kennel Club will be holding its annual show on Saturday and Sunday, March 7-8, at the Boone County Fairgrounds.

The event is open to the public. I think there's a fee to get in but it's very minimal. And it's a really great place to go if you love dogs or if you are thinking of getting a dog. There are two main types of competition at this show, Conformation and Obedience.

The largest number of dogs will be entered in Conformation, which we call "breed." This competition is the same thing you see at Westminster each year (well, except with lots less glamor, and Westminster is a show of Champions only, whereas most dog shows have everything from puppies on up). Each dog is measured against the standard of its breed. Each breed's written standard is designed to describe the physical attributes that the breed needs to do its job. So the Doberman is a short-backed galloper with a deep chest, designed to be nimble and quick but with enough heft to stop an attacker. The Greyhound has a long, arched loin for speed. The Border Terrier's chest must be spannable (you must be able to put hands around it and touch fingers bottom and thumbs top) because they need to be able to go to earth and hunt prey.

In breed competition, there are "Class" dogs, who have not yet attained their championships, and "Specials," who are Champion dogs competing for Best of Breed, Group and Best in Show wins for rankings in the show world. Class dogs compete in a variety of classes for best male and female (Winners Dog, Winners Bitch). Those two dogs get points toward their championship. How many points they get depends on how many dogs they compete against, but the most they can ever win in a single day 5 points. It takes 15 points to get a Championship. Winners Dog and Bitch also get to compete with the Specials for Best of Breed. Whoever wins that can enter "Groups," which are divisions loosely based on function or type (i.e., Herding Group, for all herding dogs, Hound Group, for all Hounds, Working Group, for dogs who work/pull/guard, etc.). Then whoever wins each Group gets to go on to try for Best In Show. As many of you know, Uno, the Beagle who went Best In Show (which is the Daytona 500 and Superbowl combined in the dog world) is owned in part by Eddie Dziuk of the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals in Columbia. Oh, and a note about the Groups and traditions. One Group has a really odd name: Non-Sporting. Does that mean it's for reject dogs who don't show a proper sporting attitude? No. Back when dog shows first started there were two groups. Sporting, for the dogs who competed in sporting events such as hunting; and Non-Sporting for all other dogs (such as toy dogs, etc.). Over time more groups were added, but the Non-Sporting group remains as sort of a catch-all for breeds that don't easily fit in other groups. Here you will find breeds like the Shar Pei and Chow Chow, the Dalmatian and the Standard and Miniature Poodles.

In addition to all the Breed dogs, there will be an Obedience and Rally competition at the show. For this competition dogs need only be purebred and registered with the AKC. No specific physical look is needed. There are three levels to both Obedience and Rally, and at the upper levels there's a lot of really great work seen like scent discrimination, directed retrieves and jumping, heeling backwards (Rally), etc.

There are just a few rules to keep in mind if coming to the show. This particular show doesn't allow strollers because of crowded conditions. No unentered dogs are allowed. Always, always ask before petting any dog. Some dogs aren't that friendly and some have had a lot of grooming before going into the ring and need to not get their "do" mussed. If you're watching Obedience and/or Rally, please stay a few feet away from the rings and no food within 10 feet or kids hanging over gates.

It's a great place to check out dogs and breeds you might be interested in, but try not to corner someone just before they go into the ring. You might ask when a good time to talk to them about the breed might be. Most people are very generous with their time, but a few may be grumpier than the dogs. Just remember they get stressed and nervous too. It's not you.

You can find when the breeds will be in various rings at the Onofrio site: www.onofrio.com/jp/COMO1JP.pdf

See you at the show!

—Robin

The attention heel, what and why?

Ginger teaching Baker to heel in 2005. Photos by Jennifer Riess.

On March 7 and 8 the Columbia MO Kennel Club will hold its annual show at the Boone County Fairgrounds. Traditionally, this show has always had a large Obedience entry, and some of the top Obedience competitors in the Midwest and the U.S. will probably attend.

Some of the most common comments we hear about the top competition obedience teams have to do with what we call the attention heel. "Why do they do that odd thing with their heads?" "Why are they watching you all the time?" Indeed, in almost all top obedience teams, the dog will heel on the handler's left side looking straight up at the handler. They don't look where they're going, the don't look down or out, they look up. Some people call this the "pretzel heel," or just plain weird. To a lot of people it seems stupid. "I wouldn't want my dog to do that, he'd fall in a hole and break a leg!" "My dog is of a breed that's supposed to be alert to his surroundings. No way should he be staring up like that." "Those must be robot dogs."

But there's a real and valid reason for the attention heel, and that's why you see it so often in Obedience. It helps to first understand that Obedience is a sport, and like many sports there are some aspects of it that have only vague connections to real life. In real life, you're not likely to have to run full speed then throw yourself down on your belly or back to slide into a small object on the ground, but if you're on a baseball team you need to learn that skill. Being able to bounce a black and white ball off your head and not only that, get it to go a specific direction is quite useful in soccer. In your living room, not so much.

In Obedience, dogs may not need an attention heel for a walk around the park, and most handlers teach a separate skill called Loose Leash Walking (LLW) for those casual times. Yet even outside the obedience ring an attention heel can be useful, especially when moving through crowded areas.

Which comes to the "why" of the attention heel. The reason why we use the attention heel in competition obedience (and in Rally) is because when the dog is focused entirely on you, the human, it's a lot easier for them to react instantly to turns and speed variations. So their performance is more precise. Obedience is a game of precision. Further, when a dog's attention is focused entirely on you, her focus is NOT on that kid dropping an ice cream cone right outside the ring, or that dog of the breed she irrationally hates, or the birds above or the ground squirrels below. And believe it or not, most dogs really like the attention heel because your attention is also focused 100% on them. It's a two-way communication, a dance of subtlety.

We teach the attention heel in many different ways. The photo above is of Ginger and Baker, taken 3 years ago, and she uses food to teach the attention heel. In the horribly unflattering photo below, I'm using a toy (riot stick) with Viva. I'm holding it on my left shoulder with my right hand. With Zipper, because he's very small, I will not teach him to focus on my face but my hand. I'm doing that by teaching him to target a small stick held in my hand and follow it with his nose (a game he loves so much that at the moment he spends more time boinging up and down than going forward).



So if you come to the fairgrounds in a couple of weeks (and we hope you do), watch the Obedience and look at those top teams. See how the dog and handler move as one, with the dog always in the exact right place. And enjoy watching that attention heel.

—Robin

Snow, snow, go away!

I think we're all really sick of winter at this point. Actually I'm sick of winter by November 1, but that's me. While I don't like the 100s of August, I'm really much more a summer girl than a winter girl.

It's compounded by having short-coated dogs. This time of year, especially with snow and ice on the ground, it's very hard to get the dogs out for even the smallest run. Sometimes we think of dogs as impervious to weather. But my dogs not only have very short coats, they have no undercoats. Their bellies are completely bare. It's no more suitable for them to go out in really frigid temperatures than it is for me to. Zipper in particular I have to be careful of. He doesn't have enough body mass to be able to keep heat going even when he's moving. And his feet can literally freeze. He loves snow but if he's out very long his feet freeze up and cramp which is really painful of course.

The thing is, the dogs don't really understand the whole not-getting-to-go-run thing. They cope as well as they can, but things are getting a bit stir-crazy at my house with random eruptions of madness. Everybody will be normal then suddenly there are dogs leaping everywhere, barking and wrestling and knocking things over (not to mention making me deaf).

I have some hope for the weekend. It's supposed to get in the 40s on Sunday. So maybe we'll get to go blow off some steam.

Fighting Fire with Fire

Cala running with her Riot Stick.

Cala is a National 60-weave Champion and was on NBC in 2006. Cala is the smartest dog I've ever owned. Cala is the most driven dog I've ever known. Cala has an unofficial fan club. At every show I attend at least one person comes up and asks me about her, or points her out as "she's really cool, you need to watch her run," or "That dog is the 60 weave champion."

Cala is the most difficult dog I've ever had to train, and at almost 6, only has one Open Jumpers leg and not a single Excellent Standard leg. I had to stop doing Rally with her after she got her Advanced title. Cala flips very easily from drive and focused to drive and complete meltdown. She stresses UP not down. Instead of slowing down and shutting down, she flips into an overaroused state. Focus is always tenuous at best. She screams. And I'm not saying that as any sort of exaggeration as any who read this knows if they have ever been in the building when I'm trying to train her. She has a shrill, squealing, bark-yodel. It's piercing. It's maddening. It fires up every single dog that hears it. It causes instructors to cover their ears. It drives me bat s**t crazy. Not only does she scream, but when she loses control she is incapable of listening to me. She literally cannot hear me. She goes into hind brain (or as Brenda Aloff says, lizard brain) and begins taking as many jumps as quickly as possible as her way of trying to blow off some of her excess of hectic drive. Since she can't listen, this means that often she just gets out on the agility course and goes nuts, taking everything in sight.

The reason I had to quit doing Rally after Cala got her Advanced title is because Rally Excellent has two jumps. Even though they aren't in sequence, two jumps equals agility. Agility equals screaming. Screaming equals not just an NQ, but also causing the Honor dog to NQ. Not acceptable.

For the past year, things have pretty much gone from bad to worse. Every attempt I've made to try to get some sort of calm control have failed. Trying to do one-jump training escalated her frustration even faster. I tried heeling around the ring, asking for attention. Worked, but didn't translate. I tried calling her back to me between each jump. More screaming frustration. It's not that she doesn't want to please me. It's that she can't figure out how, and she can't find a way to control her overarousal. So she knows that I'm not happy, and that in turn triggers more and more extreme reactions. We are in a Catch 22 situation. And frankly, it's become a dreaded chore to train her. So I train her less and less because it's so difficult for both of us.

Earlier this week I had what might be sort of an "ah-hah" moment. Obviously trying to calm her down was not working. So instead, I decided to rev her up. Cala's favorite toy in the world is her Riot Stick, a length of stuffed rubberized hose with a handle. She goes absolutely crazy for it. It's always been the toy I used when I really wanted her to get excited. It's the toy I used when she was a puppy to introduce weaves and shape contacts. And part of the Riot Stick game has always been to down in order to get the toy.

So I went back to basics. I got two Riot Sticks out, and let her know I had them. And we started training. It was the most eerie thing, because the toy that is the one that gets her the most excited actually calmed her down. It was as if she was saying to me, "I KNOW THIS GAME! In this game I offer you some control and I get my toy!"

I've had two of the most productive practice sessions I've had in the last year this week. Suddenly Cala has her contacts back. She's watching me like a hawk instead of making her own course, because I have the toy. And though she's still noisy, she's not frenzied.

Could this be the answer? Fight fire with fire? Use her highest value toy to actually calm her down? The jury is still out but for the first time in a long time I can't wait to get her into the ring and try.

Of wins, losses, and hard lessons learned

Last weekend was our local UKC agility and obedience trial. UKC trials are fun because they're really relaxed and laid back. Because we hold two trials a day, there's actually a chance of a title in a weekend. And UKC is a really good place for young green dogs and young green handlers.

Such was the case last weekend when we had a young, first-time agility competitor enter with a first-time dog. This team has been taking classes since last summer. They've made good progress and have already overcome a big obstacle; the dog's deep fear of the teeter-totter. All of us who teach are actually really proud of both the young man and his dog, but especially the young man, for sticking to it and continuing to train.

So imagine how happy this kid was when he and his dog qualified on their very first run on the first day. And when he got the blue ribbon he really didn't know what that meant at first. A couple of us explained that he had not only qualified and gotten a leg toward his title but he was also the fastest in his class and so he got a pale blue Qualifying ribbon plus dark blue first place ribbon.

Except he didn't. Unfortunately there was a mixup in scoring and instead of first, he got second place. A red ribbon instead of a blue. And being a teenager, he went from not even knowing what first place meant to anger that his win was taken away.

A couple of hours later, I caught him walking up to his Mom waving the red ribbon and asking where the nearest trash can was. He was, he said, going to throw it away. At which I (being the oh-so-diplomatic person I am) fixed him with a gimlet eye and barked, "you most certainly are NOT going to throw that ribbon away. Do not EVER throw away any ribbon you receive." Poor kid, he got the deer in the headlights look but bravely asked why not. "Because it shows disrespect for the sport and disrespect for your fellow competitors and disrespect for your dog." I stomped off, thoroughly disgruntled.

But then I realized something. We'd helped this young man develop and train his dog, but we really hadn't talked to him about what shows were like or what was expected of him at his first show, much less what he should expect of himself or his dog.

So I caught him at a quiet moment, and me, the Queen of Tact (not), gave him a talk.

"What were your goals when you came here today."

"To do good."

"But what did that mean? Did you have anything beyond that?" A blank look. No. Of course not, because we hadn't taught him how to set real goals and attain them. "Okay," I said. "You came here wanting to do well. And you did really, really well. You qualified your very first time ever in the ring. And it sucks that you had to give the first place ribbon back, but that stuff happens sometimes. That placement was not the most important thing. You will learn that in agility what's really important is the teamwork you have with your dog. She's out there working hard for you. Don't let her down."

In his second run, the kid's dog decided the teeter was scary and refused it. As is typical with dogs, she was feeling some stress. And when dogs are stressed they tend to fail at their weakest point. This teeter was our show teeter, not our training teeter. It's actually far more stable than our training teeter. But it was different, and the dog said no. So now, there was no qualifying run. Big difference from a Q and a second place.

The next morning I pulled the young man aside again. I wanted him, I said, to set two goals for the day. One had to be a goal for his dog. One had to be a goal for himself. And neither goal could have anything to do with qualifying or getting a leg. I let him think about it. But just before his first run I asked him his goals.

"My dog goal is to get her to do the teeter. My goal for myself is to praise her more and support her, so she does the teeter."

Wow. What great goals. In his first run, the dog again refused the teeter and also the dogwalk. But we gave him some tips and he came up with some ideas on his own. And in his last run on Sunday, he and his dog had a super performance. She did both the teeter and the dogwalk. This time as they came across the last jump there was a huge celebration from a young man who had learned a whole lot in just two days. He'd learned how to win. How to lose. How to deal with losing. And how to set some fair goals that changed the definition of what "winning" meant and made it incredibly sweet when it happened.

--Robin

Uno Wins Westminster!

Hopefully at least some of you have been like me; glued to your TV for the past couple of days watching Westminster.

Westminster has been a yearly TV ritual for me since the 1980s. And Columbia has produced a lot of good dogs during that time. Liz Hansen, who teaches our conformation classes, was in the Working Groups for several years with her great Standard Schnauzer Seasar. And Pam Dziuk went to the Toy Group a couple of years ago with the Min Pin Nancy.

This year it was Eddie Dziuk's turn. I've been hearing all year how great Uno was doing with his handler as he racked up Best in Shows at a dizzying pace. And last night we all saw why. How cool is it that the owner of the most famous dog in the world right now lives right here in Columbia!

Way to go Eddie, way to go Uno. He deserved the win, it brought down the house. David Frei, who has been the TV host of Westminster for 19 years, said he'd never heard anything like it. I've certainly never seen a winner get a standing ovation.

What a ride!

Being Pretty is EXHAUSTING

This past weekend (Feb 2, 3) was Ailsa's first experience in the conformation ring - that is the dog competition where the dog is judged against the standards of the breed - first against dogs of the same breed (for Best of Breed).  If they win, the best of breed dogs compete against they others in their group (e.g. dogs bred for the same job - herding, sporting, working, etc.).

Finally, if they win Group they compete against the other group winners for Best in Show (the judge decides which of the Group winners best exemplifies the standard for their breed rather than "I like the toy breeds better than I like Terriers").

At this show Ailsa was entered as a 6-9 month old puppy so she ended up competing against other puppies up to 18 months old.  There were 4 shows: 2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.  She was 3rd in Group in Show 1 (Group 3) which was fun and she was shown 2 times: in Show 2 she was 1st in Group so she competed for Best Puppy in Show and she was Reserve Best Puppy ( a fancy way of saying she was second - no complaints, mind you - she got a big ribbon (see the picture below)). So in Show 2 she was in the ring 3 times under one judge and then 2 judges so for the day she had been examined by 3 judges and had to go through her paces 5 times.  When we got home she was pooped and slept well.

On Sunday she had the opportunity to repeat the process.  She was already to go in the morning - apparently she knew that the day involved treats and she rather enjoyed getting to play with some of the other dogs.  The day went well - she was first in group in both shows 3 and 4 so we had to wait for the end 0f the day to compete in Best in Puppy competition.  Wow - much to our surprise she too Best of Show Puppy in Show 3!  About 20 minutes later it was time to go back into the ring for Show 4 and Miss Ailsa had had enough.  In Show 3 there was a puppy who would not move and it was asked whether anyone had a toy or a treat so we gave over a small squeeky toy and it helped.  Well noises from the toy appeared during the competition for Show 4 and it was more than Ailsa could stand - she wanted her toy back so she sqwiggled and squirmed and twisted and would not stand still.  When it was time to move she jumped up and down and and galloped (e.g. she acted like a puppy!)  So guess what - we did not repeat our win.  The judges came over saying "but she was so good earlier - what happened?", "She fell apart", Well, I know what happened - she was pooped - it was a lot of work for a little girl.  5 examinations on Saturday and 6 on Sunday by all 4 judges in various combinations.  Sure enough she was very quiet as I packed up - not even one spin in crate on the way home - stopped eating half way through her supper and when I sat on the chaise, she fell out:

The How To of Agility

How Not to Qualify (get a scoring run, leg toward a title, and a chance at a placement) in AKC Excellent Agility.

1. Dog goes around or by whatever obstacle or jump he is supposed to take next in line.

2. Dog takes the wrong obstacle or jump.

3. Dog spins or otherwise turns away from a jump or obstacle within the last 1/3 of the distance to the obstacle/jump from the last obstacle jump.

4. Dog drops a bar on any jump.

5. Dog does not get a toe in the yellow on the down contact of a contact obstacle. Applies to all contact obstacles.

6. Dog does not get a toe on the yellow of the upside contact of the dogwalk.

7. Dog pulls out of the weave poles before completing them.

8. Dog "slips" or misses any weave pole even though they stay in them.

9. Dog slips, skids, or jumps off the table, even if it's a wet day and the table is slick and the dog can't help it.

10. Dog does not complete a contact obstacle start to finish (i.e., jumps off the dogwalk, teeter, or aframe before completed.

11. Dog stops or hesitates more than a fraction of a second before taking an obstacle or jump. The judge gets to decide what that fraction of a second is.

12. Dog enters wrong end of the tunnel.

13. Dog enters correct end of the tunnel but turns around and comes back out that same end.

14. Dog leaves the ring.

15. Dog is aggressive to handler or judge.

16. Dog attacks another dog.

17. Dog nips at handler excessively.

18. Dog eliminates (urinates, defecates, or vomits) in the ring.

19. Handler curses in the ring.

20. Handler inadvertently touches dog at any time the dog is in the weave poles.

21. Handler touches dog or dog touches handler at any time the dog is on the table. This includes dog giving the handler a loving swipe of the tongue.

22. Handler trains in the ring. This includes harsh corrections or retaking an obstacle already taken once.

23. Handler and dog bump into each other inadvertently, and the bump aids the dog in correcting its path to the next obstacle.

24. Handler bumps dog deliberately to correct its path to the next obstacle.

25. Dog runs without any of the above faults but is over the set Standard Course Time.

26. Dog runs out of the ring without the handler after the run is complete (i.e., not under control).

27. Handler leaves dog at the start before the timer has said "Go."

28. Handler holds up the trial by not coming to the startline when requested.


How to Qualify in AKC Agility Excellent

1. Run without faults and under the Standard Course Time.

How to Qualify and get First Place in AKC Agility Excellent.

1. Run without faults and faster than anybody else.

Now you know. When we say agility is a difficult sport, we ain't a-kiddin'. We tend to be a humble lot.

--Robin

UKC Agility/Obed at CCSC this weekend

This weekend (Feb 9-10) the Show Me Canines club will host a UKC Obedience and Agility trial at CCSC.

A bit about UKC. The UKC is not as old as the AKC, but it was founded in 1898. So it has a lot of history. The UKC has always sort of catered to working/sporting dogs and sponsors beagle hunts, coonhound events, etc. The UKC has always marched to the beat of a different drummer, and its agility and obedience events reflect that.

UKC obedience differs from AKC in a couple of significant ways. First, the UKC has an Honor Down, where one competitor's dog "honors" the next competitor by being on a down in the ring while the next dog works. It's a great real life exercise. There's also a jump on the recall in Novice. Open and Utility rules differ even more, with a walking steward in Open (a stranger who walks the opposite path to the heeling dog to show the dog's ability to work with distractions) and two glove exercises in Utility. There are other rule differences, but those are some of the major ones.

UKC agility is hugely different than any other agility venue. That's easily seen in the type of obstacles in the ring. In addition to the "normal" aframe, dogwalk, and teeter, there is also a hoop tunnel, pause box, sway bridge, swing plank, platform jump, and crawl tunnel. In Novice, the only different obstacle is the hoop tunnel, which looks like (well it IS actually...) a bunch of hula hoops looped together for a large, open sided tunnel. The other obstacles are in Ag 2 and Ag3, the more advanced levels. There are also many more handler behavior rules in UKC agility--a handler is faulted for passing his hand over a jump for instance. Finally, there is a lot more time to complete a course. UKC agility is a great place to start kids and young dogs.

If you plan to come this weekend, please keep a few things in mind.

It's free and open to the public. The entry is a bit small, so mornings would be the best time to come. Please leave your own dog at home. There is no smoking on the property, inside or out. And dress in layers, it's supposed to get really windy and cold Saturday and Sunday. Though the big building does have heat, it can't keep up well with extreme temperatures, especially when it's windy!

It's all about Want To...

Cala demonstrating "I WANT TO!" on the startline. (Photos by Cindy Noland)

I'm privileged to say that Cindy Noland is a friend of mine. Professional dog sport photographer, accomplished artist and probably the best motivational trainer I've ever seen. She's had a Doberman who was in both the Obedience and Agility Top 20s in the same year, she finished a Schutzhund 3 on a young intact male while he was going for his MACH. I should hate her freaking guts. But she's too darn nice. So alas, I can only sigh with admiring envy.

Cindy wrote a post on a dog list today that I thought was so good it deserved to be shared. So with her permission, here it is. The "her" in this post is the dog.

Agility is NOT about "have to." Agility is about "WANT to." Instead of focusing on telling your dog what not to do, think of ways to convince them to WANT to do it. Instead of trying to tell her something is not acceptable, try to think of a plan that will prevent the unwanted behavior from happening in the first place.

First of all, I would make sure that she totally enjoys doing all of the obstacles. That all you have to do is point her at one and she will run to it as soon as you release her. Make it easy for her to earn the reward and make sure she knows how happy you are with what she did. Happy handler equals good things for dog! You are now conditioning her to your praise, so that it has some value. Praise should always predict reward, so then the praise itself will become rewarding. If she tends to stick with you, sometimes throw the treat and tell her to GO get it.

In my experience, people new to the sport do not spend enough time with the obstacles and making sure the dogs know how to do them and that they thoroughly enjoy doing them. It is natural to want to hurry up and start putting things together, but then this weak foundation will crumble. The handling in between obstacles should just be some effort on your part to point the dog toward the next thing that it really wants to go to. And your dog should also be taught handling maneuvers without equipment, so they can learn what all of your movements, arm signals, and verbal commands mean without being attached to equipment. Again, sometimes reward at your side and sometimes throw the reward and release the dog to get it. And coming to you also needs to be very rewarding, so just handing them a treat is sometimes not enough. Lots of dogs find the control of the handler to be stressful and they avoid it. Watch dogs in the ring, most of them who stress and either shut down or run off do s after the handler tries to change their direction.

So with a lot of foundation practice and repetitions the dog now loves the obstacles, understands your various cues for direction, and also enjoys coming close to you when needed. It should then be easy to start stringing things together. I have found toys easier to work with, the dogs tend not to get so focused on the handler that they cannot return to obstacle focus. And you can also throw them and the dogs can see them easier than a treat and don't continue to sniff for more. The old rule is "toys for action, food for position."

But with either toys or food, they should NOT be used as lures. The dog must be taught to understand that sometimes they must move away from the reward in order to earn it. Try holding the reward in your hand where the dog can see it and ask them to perform an obstacle that they like. Does the dog run to the obstacle, or do they continue to stand there and stare at the reward? If you have paired the two together enough, she should run to the obstacle with the understanding that that is how to earn the reward. This is accomplished simply by consequences. If the dog goes through the shortened tunnel they earn the reward that is still held by you. If they offer to jump up onto the table when you move toward it they can earn the reward still held by you, etc. Move farther away from the obstacle and see if the dog can think about it and do what earns the reward. Then ask for two behaviors in a row before reward is available. Sometimes they do more, sometimes less and now your reward is being put on a variable reinforcement schedule. Also important is that when you want the dog to come to your for reward, you actually call them. Many people just quit what they are doing and when the dog comes to them on their own they give the reward. Then the dog has to guess when the reward is available.

But I cannot stress enough the value of making the obstacles themselves rewarding. I hold my reward, a toy or small ball, in my hand while I run my practices. The dogs know I have it and it is visible. I will tease them with it before asking for a behavior. I pound Fever's ball on the floor to wind her up and then ask for a sit and point her at the obstacle we are going to do. Through repetition she knows to go to the obstacle and not directly to the ball. Inci tries to pummel me into giving up the toy a bit more, but when that is not successful she knows what she needs to do. The toy is both a reward and a distraction in one. But they do not rely on it's presence to be able to perform. It is not used as a lure, therefore it is not part of the cue to do the equipment. I do not NEED to show them the toy in order to get them to do the equipment.

The only cue they need is the sight of the obstacle and my release word. They know just by looking at it what they need to do. And once they do it, my further cues tell them if we are stopping or continuing on to other things. Cues such as whether I am standing still or moving, what direction I am facing, what arm positions I have, and if I am calling them to come to me or not. They WANT to continue on, but they know it is also fun to come to me if that is what I am cueing.

So you see there is an awful lot for a dog to learn before going in the ring to compete. Putting your dog in over it's head is a sure way to build stress. And then expressing displeasure with them only escalates it. So take a step back and look at your training. Make sure you are being fair to your dog and that you have properly taught them everything you expect them to be able to do. Make sure YOU have held up your
end of the teamwork.

Cindy Noland
www.nolanddogart.com
Inci and Fever
In Memory of:
Britta, CDX,MX,MXJ,WAC,BH,CanCD,UKC Ch.,U-AG2
Tagi, ScH3,MX,MXJ,WAC,AD,EAC,UKC Ch.,U-Ag1
Maverick, AmCanUKC Ch,UDT,ROM,CanOTCh
Paradise,CD Aura, UDT, Ajay, CDX, and Magnum, CDX, CanCD

--Robin

Partnership responsibilities continued

So cool!  Resolution. I could not stand it that Baker had to wait until the middle of February to have his tooth fixed - it became infected, the pulp was exposed, and he had to go on antibiotics. I was able to get him an appointment with a Veterinary dentist in St. Louis and we went a week ago Monday. 

Poor guy had to be anesthetized to have X-rays and evaluated to determine whether the molar was removed or got a root canal.  His treatment took all day, ending up with his tooth remaining and my shelving the notion of replacing my kitchen floor!  Miss Ailsa was less than pleased to have her house brother away for the day. To ad insult to injury, while she was enthusiastic when he came home, he was in a foul mood having had a nerve block and not willing to play.  She was smart enough to read his obvious lip lifts and barked her displeasure from the safety of the coffee table.

By Tuesday morning, though, he was ready to play. For her part, Ailsa was not sure that he really was telling the truth given his demeanor of the night before - it only took a few major play bow invitations for them to start rip-roaring around the house.  She was delighted.  The chase involved the all-too-famous dog doors, up and down the stairs to the basement, around the yard, and then a big Springer tussle on the floor trying to snatch each other's ears and paws until they were exhausted.  While there was no Dog school on Tuesday evening both dogs played again in the back yard; Wednesday brought a good training session and Thursday was a second chance to rip and roar in the snow while we prepared the building for the IABCA show. Finally on Friday, it was my turn to play with Baker. We finally got to play agility games in Lake St. Louis - the first competition since the start of December.  

We had a blast - too bad he has a less than super handler - during the Standard run he popped out of the 8th weave pole and apparently I directed him back into the 9th pole so he ended up weaving 11, rather than 12 poles (oops).  He did not know that we failed - He was a happy springy boy who then whipped through the FAST class - not only did he qualify, he placed first in his class winning a stuffed toy for his house sister, Ailsa.  The drive back to Columbia was a delight - he snoozed (snored) contentedly in his crate while I drove into the sun set - his blue & green ribbons hung from the rearview mirror - both of us enjoying having had the opportunity to play together with him not having a painful mouth and me thinking of his happy, bouncy, self.

Ginger

It's better than Crack. Don't tell the DEA

I walked into the arena, Zipper tucked into my right elbow. His little feet rested on my hip. I snapped off his leash and handed it to the leash runner then sauntered slowly out toward the first jump. The ring crew was still changing heights from 16" down to 12". Zipper was the first 12" dog. Fine dust hung in the air. The rings had been well wet down at the beginning of the weekend but now, on the third and last day, the surface was drying up and loosening. I had tasted dust all morning. I kept cleaning my glasses off in a vain attempt to see more sharply through the haze.

I was doing my best to appear relaxed, but my knees were trembling a bit. Okay. What's the course again. I mentally went through it one last time. Two big imposing wing jumps straight out. There was a third big heavy wing straight ahead, but it was a trap. Jump three was actually a small, nondescript non-wing jump on a hard left turn from jump 2. A lot of teams were having trouble with the turn to jump 3, with dogs going over the trap jump or circling wide and losing a lot of time. The course then swept away and up, turning right and right again and coming back toward the start before a left turn that went to a long tunnel, then out across the back of the arena to weaves and a final two jumps and out. All this was swirling through my mind. Oh shoot. Wait. I want Zipper to be on my left at the start. I shifted Zipper from my right arm to my left. The ring crew was still fiddling with the last jump. Time was stretching. My stomach jumped and Zipper yawned; a big, jaw-cracking effort, his tongue curling stiffly. He was feeling my nerves and trying to calm both of us.

It looked like they finally had the timer done and I set Zipper gently on the ground, my index finger in his green and navy greek-key patterned collar. It almost glowed against his deep russet coat. I pointed to the first jump with my right hand, my finger trembling just a little. "Look Zip, it's Jump-jump" I whispered.

GO! said the mechanical timer voice. I took a breath and stood up, releasing Zipper and starting forward, my legs feeling like jelly, my left hand gesturing. "Jump!" I said, and he took off.

Over the first jump and I switched to my right hand, turning my shoulders left. He flew in front of me and reading my signal took jump 2 at an angle and headed straight left to jump 3, totally ignoring the trap jump. And suddenly we were both in the zone. My focus narrowed to Zipper's body, stretching and gathering. All sound vanished. The dust, the watching crowd, the judge in the ring all disappeared. I could feel Zipper's thoughts and hear his happy huffs as he hit the ground with each stride. We turned right as one and went up the curve of jumps, then right again. Zipper was running 10 feet ahead. A casual gesture with my right hand and another shoulder turn to the left and he responded immediately, not even head checking as he sliced a wing jump and disappeared briefly from sight behind the wooden palisade, ignoring another trap to fly into the tunnel.

"Good boy!" I told him when he was in the tunnel, and he came out even faster, at a dead run now. Now I just said, "Go!" and he was over the next two jumps. I checked my stride and said "Weave!" Zipper, who still doesn't really understand weave poles, flew past the weaves and went to see what the number in the ground was. I called him back and asked him to weave again. He started, but then ducked out.

"Okay buddy, let's try one more time." This time he did three weaves. We were qualifying. Should I keep trying? No. I came out of the zone enough to remember that I was only allowing myself two tries at the weaves.

"Good try, let's go!" and off we went, flying over the last two jumps.

"Good boy, what a good boy!" Zipper wiggled around my feet, panting happily, tail wagging so fast it was vibrating. I swept him up and grabbed his leash from the pole by the exit. "Let's go get some treats. You are the best boy ever."

****
And that, folks, is why we do it. It's those few magical seconds of time when person and dog move and think as one entity, flying around the ring in perfect sync. It doesn't happen every run. I've had clean runs that felt awful. And I've had runs like yesterday's that were so good I'll remember that high forever. Who cares about the Q. Being in the zone is the Crack of agility.

IABCA show

For those of you in town this weekend, there's an IABCA show at CCSC. The International All Breed Canine Association holds shows where dogs are judged according to the standard of the country of origin. Written critiques are given to each dog.

I won't be there. Vicki and I are heading to Lake St. Louis to the Equestrian Center where we'll play agility. Zipper is entered in Novice. He's really not at a stage yet where I expect him to qualify. Our trip is what I call an "expensive fun match." I want to see where he is in training and get him out in a new place. My goal for the weekend is to try to keep his attention around the course and not have him go gadding off to explore something. I'll be thrilled to pieces if he jumps the broad jump, and even more excited if he does the weaves. I'll probably only try to do weaves once, maximum twice. I see so many people shut their Novice dogs down by trying weaves over and over. Not worth it!

The whole next month is sort of crazy. This weekend is IABCA here, AKC agility in St. Louis. Next weekend is the Show Me Canines UKC Agility and Obedience trial at CCSC. The following Monday/Tuesday some of our Columbia friends will be at Westminster in New York--watch for them on the USA Channel. Then some people head to Kansas City for four days of agility (not me). Then there's a week off, then John Sherman comes to CCSC to teach us about canine sports rehabilitation. The very next week is the Columbia Kennel Club show at the Fairgrounds.

My head, it spins!