When Maisy Met Pyggy

I picked up Pyg- my first foster dog (and first foster fail)- from the rescue late in the afternoon on Monday, October 28. I loved him from the moment I set eyes on him. He was trotting around the rescue office with another dog. I said hi to him, and he was happy to come over for some treats. He seemed calm and friendly, and given what had happened to him in his short life, I was impressed.

Pyg came to me through Second Hand Hounds, a rescue based here in the Twin Cities metro. They got Pyg from a (high-kill?) shelter in Mobile, AL. They sent his vet records with him, which indicated his birth date as January 31, 2013, making him 9 months old. Those records had him down as a cairn terrier/yorkie mix, but I have no idea if that was a “best guess” or if they knew something. Second Hand Hounds thought he might be a yorkie/shih tzu mix. Personally, I think he’s a Midwest Muppet Dog, like Maisy. Damned if I know what he was doing down south.

His records showed that he was neutered at 15 weeks old. I was told this meant he’d been adopted, as the shelter doesn’t spay/neuter until the dog has found a home. Makes sense; why subject a dog to a surgical procedure or waste veterinary resources for a dog who will be euthanized?

At some point in the not-so-distant past, Pyg was returned to the shelter. We don’t know why. I think this question will plague me forever, as I simply cannot figure out why anyone would give him up. He’s wonderful, and someone had obviously done some training with him in the past.

At any rate, Pyg became part of the Second Hand Hounds family, so on the Saturday before I met him, he got on a small commuter airplane and flew from the southern part of Alabama to the northern part. He then got in the car and was driven up to Chicago. I don’t know where he stayed on Saturday night; somewhere along the way, I suppose. I know he spent Sunday night in Chicago, and that he took a second small plane from Chicago to a (small) local airport. I met him a few hours later, put him into one more car, and took him home.

Because I knew that I wanted Pyg to be my dog, and not just my foster dog, I created a plan for introducing him into the household that would give us the best chance for harmonious relationships. The first step was to leave him in the car while I went inside to shut Maisy, my cat Nicky, and my doggie houseguest Maus into separate rooms. After a quick potty break, I brought Pyg up and let him explore his new digs.

I ended up integrating the animals much quicker than I had anticipated. Once he had the lay of the land, I put Maisy behind a baby gate so they could see each other. Both were clearly interested in the other, and so after an hour or so, I let them meet. (I later did the same thing for the cat- who was indifferent- and Maus, who has a rotating foster in his home and therefore was all like “yeah, whatever.”)

Not just interested in each other, but Pyg and Maisy adore one another. Maisy has solicited play from Pyg on numerous occasions, including that first night. It is pretty rare for her to want to play with another dog- she tends to be a parallel-player instead. If she plays with another dog, it’s usually chase games. With Pyg, though, she will wrestle, something that she’s done like once or twice before. Uninterested in tug games, she’s begun to parade around with toys, try to lure Pyg into grabbing an end of it. It’s adorable.

Pyg was interested in Nicky-cat, but for the most part has respected his space. Nicky just ignores Pyg, although if he gets too close and/or obnoxious, Pyg will get a swipe across the face from a fully-clawed paw. This doesn’t happen too often, because I can usually call Pyg away (seriously… this dog is amazing).

He loves to train, and will work for his meals. He’s got a good grasp on impulse control, and knows to sit when he wants something. He’s potty trained, especially if I take him out on a schedule, but he has asked to go out a few times.

He’s incredibly personable. He’s very sweet and a big cuddler. This is a nice switch from Maisy, who has never been big on being touched. She does now curl up near me, but only on her terms. Pyg just wants to be with people (and especially me). He also makes me laugh and laugh. He’s just so dang cute with his puppy antics. For example, the first night he was with me, he found an empty cat food can and decided it was the best toy ever.

Oh, and did I mention that The Pyg has an off-switch? Yeah, it’s bizarre. Not only can he occupy himself by finding an (appropriate) chew item like a Kong or a Nylabone, but he will also just settle down and take naps, too. On Saturday, Pyg was napping on the couch, and Maisy jumped up to join him. So adorable.

All in all, Pyg is an awesome little dog, and I knew I couldn’t let him slip through my fingers. In the week and change that Pyg has lived in my home, he’s begun to shine. Of course, I know that when dogs arrive in new homes it can take weeks or even months for their full personalities to express themselves, so I’m excited to get to know him better.

He’s not perfect, though. There are a few little things that may be issues, or they may not be. Only time will tell. For now, I’m working on mitigating or preventing those things. I’ll tell you about them soon. In the meantime, have some bonus videos. Both are from Pyg's first night with me.

Denise Fenzi Seminar: Rewarding Your Dog

When Denise talks about rewards in dog training, they seem to fall into one of two categories: things or activities.

Rewarding with things is very common in the dog training world; these are the ones that require that you plan ahead and have food or toys available for the reward process. Both food and toys are important rewards. Denise prefers to use toys when she working on happy, enthusiastic performances and food when she’s working on precision, but when it comes down to it, she believes attitude is more important than precision.

Where Denise really shines, though, is rewarding with activities. These rewards are ones that don’t come with something tangible, but instead in doing something. For example, Denise does a lot of personal play with her dogs. This is different than toy play. Instead, it’s about the dog and handler interacting together in a fun way.

You know what's fun? Running!

Denise also talks a lot about making activities in and of themselves rewarding. She told us about a study (sorry Science Geeks, I don’t have a citation) where researchers split kids into two groups. Both groups were told that they were studying some new puzzles, and they wanted the kids to play with them and then answer some questions. The first group was told they would be paid at the end, and the other was not paid. After the kids played with the puzzle for a specified period of time, they were told the researcher would be in to ask them some questions. While the kids were waiting, the group of kids who were not paid continued to play with the puzzles, while the paid group did not.

What does this have to do with dog training? Well, as this study demonstrated (and as many of us know from experience), activities done as volunteers often yield more satisfaction than those done for pay. In other words: we enjoy work more when we find it intrinsically rewarding. Dogs are the same. We shouldn’t need to pay them for things that are fun… and training can be fun! Many dogs naturally enjoy retrieving or jumping or running.

Of course, you have to make the work interesting for the dog. Make it an exciting privilege for your dog, like a child getting to go to DisneyWorld. Teach your dog that if he’s going to work, it needs to be at his full capacity. Or, to paraphrase Master Yoda: Work or or don’t work. There is no halfway.

Be sure that your dog receives one unit of reward for one unit of effort. Denise and Deb talk quite a bit about this in their upcoming book, but basically, if your dog tries to do something that is very difficult for him, compensate him fairly for it- kind of like hazard pay. As your dog gets better at that same thing, you can reduce the amount of reward he receives because it doesn’t require as much effort any more. Doing so often naturally leads to the reduced reward schedule so necessary in trials.

Finally, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Denise told us that the more things your dog does wrong, the better. Mistakes help a dog understand what won’t be rewarded, meaning that in the long run, he will have a better idea of what will. If you feed your dog so much that he never fails, all he learns to do is to eat, not work. Teach your dog to work.

How do you reward your dog? Personally, I tend to be a bit dependent on things. A lot of this is because I compete mainly in venues that allow me to take food in the ring, so I don’t have a ton of incentive to develop activity rewards. For the few times I do compete somewhere I can’t use food, I’m fortunate enough that Maisy does find my smiles and praise rewarding.

How I Taught My Dog to Heel for a Ball Without Having Her Brain Fall Out of Her Head

I am really proud of Maisy’s heeling- although I never thought I’d say that. It used to be that her heeling was sort of dull and lackluster, but these days it's bright and animated. She is focused and excited and definitely having fun; she thinks it’s a huge game. Which it is, actually, because I taught Maisy to heel for a ball reward. This wasn’t easy, because every time I tried to use a ball, her brain fell out of her head. But I wanted the attitude that I was sure would come if she thought heeling was fun, so I needed to figure out how to use her ball as a reward.

Luckily, I was able to get a working spot at a Denise Fenzi seminar, who is a master at using play to get excellent results. Thanks to Denise’s excellent coaching, Maisy now has some awesome heeling skills. She’s still not perfect, but she definitely has a solid foundation. I documented the process last summer/fall here on this blog, but I thought it would be nice to organize all of that information into one post.

Step 1: Get the Dog Thinking
This is the hardest step. No matter how much your dog has heeled in the past, if he loves his ball, there’s a pretty good chance that he’ll forget it all when you bring the ball out. Prevent disappointment and frustration by starting from the beginning. Don’t worry- this doesn’t take that long. I trained for about five minutes a day, four times a week, and spent about two weeks on each step. In the end, I spent less than three months accomplishing more than I had in the three years before.

So, how do you get your dog to start thinking? Teach him that the ball only gets thrown when he exerts some self control. Since most ball-obsessed dogs will run forward looking for his ball (and thus forging at heel!), require him to be in line with your hip. Start the training session by walking. Your dog will no doubt run to your side, and yes, cross that imaginary line. Immediately turn and go in the other direction. You’ll probably do this three or four or more times. That’s okay, just keep changing directions until it’s obvious he’s try to control himself- it will probably only be for a step or two- and throw his ball.

Make no mistake, this is not heel position- Maisy went very wide, especially when I turned around- but don’t worry about that right now. All you want is for him to be thinking and demonstrating that he can control himself when excited. Continue building on that until he can stay in line with you for about 10 to 20 feet.

Step 2: Close the Gap
Now it’s time to get your dog close to you. The easiest way to do this is to temporarily relax the criteria of remaining in line with your hip, which means that you’ll see some forging again. That’s okay for now. Since your dog has learned some self-control, so it’s unlikely that he’ll go shooting off too far ahead (Maisy was about a half to a full body length ahead of me at this stage). It’s also unlikely that he will immediately get right next to your leg, so you’ll need to shape him closer and closer to you during each subsequent session. I generally expected my dog to be about three inches closer to me each time.

If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to simply capture this. If your dog accidentally moves closer, throw the ball immediately. If you’re not so lucky, you can try patting your leg, talking to your dog, and/or drifting away from him. As soon as he makes a move to get closer, throw the ball. Continue doing this until your dog is tight against your leg, and can maintain that for 10 to 20 feet.

Step 3: Perfect the Position
It is easier to get this than you might expect. Start walking. Your dog will be close to your leg because that’s what you’ve been working on. Now, however, when he forges, slow down. Your dog will probably slow down, too. Reward him as soon as he gets into heel position, both in line with your hip and tight to your leg. If you have to, shape him in stages, just like you did when encouraging him to get close.

When he can stay in place for about five feet, return to a normal pace. If he forges, slow down again. Throw the ball if he maintains the correct position. It didn’t take Maisy very long to figure out that she should both be in line with my hip and close to my leg. Keep working on it until your dog can maintain the correct position for 10 to 20 feet without you needing to slow down.

Note: you can also correct the forging by doing an about turn, and if that works for you, go for it. This made Maisy go wide, though, which defeated the point of close and in position.

Step 4: Change the Motivator
At this point, your dog is probably already watching you pretty closely because OMG YOU HAVE MY BALL, but you can’t take a ball in the ring, so you need to motivate him to pay attention for other reasons. To do this, you’re going to change your pace and direction frequently- like every three to five seconds. Go fast, go slow. Turn right, turn left. Do about turns. And most of all, be unpredictable. Not only is this way more fun for most dogs, but it also makes change to be the reason to pay attention, not just the ball.

At the same time, start using the ball way less often as a reward- about half as often, in fact. Again, the reason to pay attention is you, so praise your dog like crazy when he’s doing well, and reserve the ball for particularly brilliant moments, or for longer stretches of time (every thirty seconds or so at first, but stretch that out as he gets better).

Step 5: Start and Stop
So far, we’ve just started walking, not worrying about the sit at heel. Now it’s time to add that in. I found it easiest to work on adding the halt instead of starting from a sit. Again, you’ll need to tackle sitting in line separately from sitting closely from sitting straight. Once your dog is sitting where you want him reliably, stop rewarding it every time and work on starting from heel, too. Soon your dog will be a total pro!

Some Final Notes…
You can speed this process up if you are thoughtful about how and where you present your dog’s ball. Since dogs will often anticipate where the reward will show up, a ball thrown forward will often yield more forging. If you throw the ball out to your left, you’ll encourage him to go wide. The best option is to drop the ball to your dog in the correct position. If your dog is like mine, however, and relishes chasing the ball over catching it or possessing it, experiment with throwing the ball behind you. I found this a bit tricky at first (so did Maisy), but together we figured it out. If your dog starts anticipating the ball going in the new direction, simply change it up between throwing it forward and behind.

Keep in mind this isn’t the only way to train a dog. This is just how I did it. Obviously, it’s geared towards a dog who goes over-the-top in excitement. If your dog is lagging, you’ll handle it very differently (I would try speeding up and rewarding when he tries to match your speed). Know your dog. If this doesn’t sound like it would work with your dog, don’t do it. Well, except the having fun part. You should definitely have fun no matter what.

But if your dog is like mine and his brains just go to goo when he sees the ball, there’s a good chance this might work for you. I know that I am very, very pleased with the results. I’m still blown away by how happy Maisy has been in the ring in the past month, and impressed by her very nice performance.

Finally, let me know if you try this. I’d love to hear how it goes. If you’ve done something else to help teach your ball-obsessed dog to work for one as a reward, please leave a comment about that, too. I’m sure someone could benefit from your experience!

Training Tuesday: The Joy of Training

Maisy and I continue to work hard. Well, "work" is probably the wrong word. Maisy actually stands by the front door (we only use that door to go to the park across the street from our house) and whines if I haven't trained with her yet that day; she loves the heeling game we play. For my part, I feel exhilarated after training sessions. Although I expend a lot of energy during our training sessions, they are so much fun that it doesn't seem like a chore.

Of course, it certainly helps that I see measurable progress every time. Part of that is because I've taken Denise Fenzi's advice to challenge my dog: I have raised criteria fast and furious since I've begun working on Maisy's heeling. Okay, it wasn't really me raising the criteria- Denise has coached me through each step. I'll admit, I was initially skeptical with how far and how high she wanted me to raise criteria. I really didn't think we could do it. Maisy has proved me wrong, though. This dog is capable of amazing things!

Take a look at this video. I've posted it before, less than two months ago, in fact. Then watch this:



Amazing, no? As the video says, my task was to vary my pace and direction frequently. I was striving for some kind of change roughly every three seconds. At the same time, I drastically reduced the frequency of ball-reward, and used verbal praise in its place. This was to teach Maisy that my changing speed and direction is the reason to pay attention, not just the ball. It totally worked, too. She went for almost 90 seconds without a ball throw, and she doesn't show any dampening of enthusiasm!

I've also started adding in some non-toy play, which you can see it at the beginning of the video. This wasn't something Denise suggested (although I don't think she disapproved), but I wanted to start building some reinforcers that were based on me, not an external object. Right now, this really only works before we start training- she's so amped up then that she'll play back. If I try to do it during a session, she will sometimes play back, but usually she licks her lips, or shows me some other stress signal. We'll keep working on it.

Another area where I've been raising criteria like crazy is with Maisy's dumbbell retrieve. As you may remember, we were stuck at the stage where Maisy would pick it up and hand it to me. Click here to see our last retrieve video.

A couple weeks ago, feeling empowered by our success with heeling, I decided to get out the dumbbell again. I started easy, asking Maisy to just pick it up off the floor. Then I moved it about a foot away. Then another. I kept tossing it further and further until she was retrieving it from six to ten feet away. The video below was taken at my aunt and uncle's cabin- a new environment- and Maisy absolutely rocked it.



But I don't think that simply asking more from Maisy was the key to our success here. In watching the two videos, the part that struck me most was how much I was talking to her, encouraging her, and praising her. In the first video, I was doing "proper" clicker training- being silent and letting the dog think. That works for many things, but it didn't work here. Once I started helping her with my voice, though, things just took off.

Yes, I broke the rules and repeated my cue. So what. She wasn't going to respond to the cue anyway (she was too distracted by those treats on the counter), and by gently reminding her what I wanted, she was able to be successful. I praised when she got close, and celebrated when she grabbed it. In the video, you can see her whole demeanor change when I do. You can also see that in each successive retrieve, she trots out to the dumbbell more confidently. She understands what she's supposed to do now, thanks to a little verbal support. 

Finally, I'm going to leave you with one last video. If you follow us on Facebook, you've already seen it, so I'll just link to it. Click here if you want to see what happens when the training session is over and we're just screwing around. That's right- she can do a drop on recall! What an awesome dog! Training is truly a time of joy for us both. 

Denise Fenzi Seminar: The Only Thing You Can Take in the Ring

Denise Fenzi told us that while you can trick a dog into thinking that you have food or toys in the ring, you can't do it indefinitely. If you're lucky, you'll fool the dog through his UD, but if you plan to try for the UDX or the OTCh, things will probably fall apart. At some point, you need to create inherent value for both the work and for yourself.

Take a moment to think about your closest friends. What do they have in common? For me, there are three main things. First, my friends and I often do fun things together- whether it's a silly board game or tubing on the lake. Next, I find them endlessly interesting. We come from all sorts of backgrounds, so I'm always learning something new from them. Finally, and most importantly,  my best friends are the ones who support me when I make mistakes, who encourage me to try harder, and who celebrate with me when I succeed.

My good friend Sara and I talking to Denise Fenzi.

Photo by another good friend, Robin Sallie.

While my answers are honest, they're also convenient, because many of the things I saw Denise do (or that she encouraged us to do) fit into these three categories. The way she trains lends itself well to developing great relationships with dogs, and I really think this is the part of the seminar that will change my training life.

Let's start by talking about play. Part of the reason Denise spent so much time talking about tugging is because it's a great way to play with your dog. But you can't take toys in the ring, so you need to find ways to play without them. On day two of the seminar, Denise had each of the working teams play without toys. This was easy for some, and harder for others, but Denise coached each pair on how to have fun together.

For example, she played a tag and chase game that many of the dogs loved- when the dog got into heel position, she would lightly touch his shoulder or chest, and then turn quickly and run away so the dog would chase her. She also encouraged the dogs to be physical; running and jumping is rewarding to most dogs. She did this by using things like the opposition reflex (where she pulled the dog back and then let him shoot away towards a jump or dumbbell) or hand touches in order to get the dog to jump in the air.

Play is a great way to reward the dog, but you need to make the work itself interesting, too. Simply drilling the exercises is boring, even if it is interspersed with play, and most dogs will droop under the weight of endless repetitions. Denise encouraged us to think outside the box- you don't need to train the exercises in a set order, nor do you need to do the full exercise every time you train. Instead, she recommended mixing things up each time so that the dog never knows what to expect. Sometimes you might recall the dog to sit in front of you, and other times you might have him run between your legs. Do signals backwards, or start from a down instead of a stand. Have the dog sit on recall instead of drop. The opportunities are endless.

While most people don't think about it this way, heeling really is just one long drill. Walking in straight lines? Not that exciting. Your job as the trainer is to mix it up, and Denise does this by walking erratically. She drifts left and right, makes frequent turns, and spins in circles. She does serpentines. She keeps it interesting by being unpredictable. And when she goes in the ring and walks in a straight line? Well, since that's so unusual compared to what she does in training, her dogs find it interesting too.

Finally, a good relationship will be supportive. One of the things that was so absolutely revolutionary to me was the way Denise used her voice in training. She is always talking to the dogs she's training. I am often rather quiet while training- that's what many of the leading clicker trainers recommend you do, after all. But one of Denise's cricitisms of clicker purists is that it uses silence as a “No Reward Marker.” In other words, clicker trainers tend to allow silence to let the dog know he hasn't got it quite right yet, and uses a marker- either a click or a verbal word like “Yes!”- to let him know when he's got it right.

This can backfire in the ring, where the handler must remain silent, even when the dog has it right. Denise's solution is both brilliant and obvious, and it makes me feel a bit stupid that I never thought of it myself. Simply put, she talks to the dog when he hasn't quite met her criteria yet, and then falls silent when he's got it right. After a few seconds (or longer, depending on the dog's level of training), she'll break the silence to reward him with praise and play. Thus, the silence begins to act as a secondary reinforcer by predicting exciting things. Genius.

But remember what I said about being supportive? It's important to note that she isn't scolding her dog or using a stern tone- she said that suppresses behavior instead of increasing it. Rather, she's encouraging the dog to try harder by being his own personal cheerleader. As I've begun to incorporate this into my heeling training with Maisy, I find myself saying things like, “Where's my puppy? I know she's around here somewhere! She should be right by my side!” in a very happy, upbeat tone. When she gets there, I'm quiet for a moment, and then BAM! I throw a verbal party.

In order to help the dog understand the difference between "you're almost there" and "you've got it," Denise said that you need to have two different levels of tone and energy when you're praising your dog. The “encouragement praise” is cheerful talk meant to keep the dog in the game, while the “party praise” should be over the top excitement. Both will be happy and positive, but it should be obvious to the casual bystander when the dog has gotten it right. In other words, Denise praises the dog for his efforts, and rewards the dog for success.

When the whole package is put together, what happens is that working becomes interesting and engaging because the handler is keeping things fresh and unpredictable. The dog remains motivated to keep trying because he's encouraged to do so. And when he gets it right, his reward is to celebrate with his trainer. Sometimes that means he is told how amazing he is, sometimes he gets a bit of food, and sometimes he gets to run and play. The common thread is that he always gets 100% of his person's attention, and the reward becomes more than just the tangible item he's given. It's about the interaction and relationship with his person.

Look, I know it sounds a little crazy. I don't entirely understand how it works myself- and I certainly can't explain it all in scientific terms- I just know that it does. Not only do Denise's accomplishments speak for themselves, but in a few short training sessions, I'm already seeing improvement in Maisy's enthusiasm and performance in both heeling and her dumbbell retrieve. Better yet- Maisy and I are having fun together.

What do you guys think? Do you talk during training, and how or when do you use silent? What troubles have you encountered? Do you think some of these ideas would help, or are you a bit skeptical? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Denise Fenzi Seminar: Be the Bunny

When people say they can't tug with their dog, they usually mean one of two things. Either they literally cannot tug with their dog because he isn't interested, or they refuse to tug with their dog because he becomes out of control and refuses to drop the toy when told. But no matter which problem you're facing with your dog, Denise's advice is the same: be the bunny.

It's honestly that easy. Since tugging taps into prey drive, you need to think like the small, furry mammal that your dog wants to catch. This means you need to do two things: you need to choose the correct toys, and you need to use those toys correctly. Of course, “correct” is relative to your dog's level of drive, so today I'm going to tell you about the different options Denise shared with us.

Choose the Correct Toy
Anyone who has wandered down a pet store aisle knows that there are tons of toy options out there, from the floppy fleeces to the tough tugs. Denise outlined four basic things to consider when choosing a toy.

A tug toy for every dog. Photo by Robin Sallie.

Length. Generally speaking, the length of the toy you choose is dependent on how willing your dog is to tug. Reluctant tuggers sometimes do better with longer toys because it reduces social pressure. Dogs who are high-drive, on the other hand, typically do better with a shorter toy. As odd as it sounds, Denise demonstrated that the dog who accidentally mouths you in play will usually do so less often when he has a shorter toy because it helps him understand exactly where he can and cannot put his mouth.

Stiffness. The amount of floppiness or stiffness in a tug toy can make a huge difference in how your dog plays. Limp toys tend to encourage the more reserved dog to grab hold of it because it has more movement and thus better simulates a bunny. For dogs who don't easily “out” or drop a toy, though, this can actually make the problem worse. Since limp toys keep moving, even if you're trying to hold it still, the dog's already high prey drive is continually simulated by the sight of the movement. A stiffer toy is a better bet as a result.

Fill. This category is very similar to the prior one, but it is slightly different. While the level of stiffness in a toy refers to how easily it bends and moves, the amount of fill has to do with how densely it is stuffed. A toy can be stiff yet squishy. In fact, squishier toys tend to be more engaging, probably due to their resemblance to bunnies. But, as above, this will make it harder for the dog to “kill” the toy, and thus make the more motivated dog feel less inclined to drop the toy.

Cover. Finally, we need to consider the exterior of the toy. Denise said that 90% of all dogs will probably work best for a toy with a more textured cover. This is because something that is rougher, like burlap, is easier to grip, and thus tug on. And while a slick outer shell made of something like firehose material is demotivating for a lower drive dog, for the truly determined dog, it's the best choice because it makes him work harder than you do.

Use the Toy Correctly
Tugging requires you to do two things: first to engage the dog, and then to disengage him when you're done playing. I've already written about how your choice of toy can impact a dog's willingness to play, but that's only half the story.

To teach us how to tug well, Denise encouraged us to think about what a bunny would do if a dog was chasing it. It would run, and it would not stop moving until it was far, far away. It would probably move erratically, in hopes of fooling the dog. It would probably panic, and get quicker, too. Even once caught, it would keep fighting back, hoping to somehow escape. But bunnies don't slow down, beg the dog to bite them, and they certainly aren't suicidal enough to move towards the dog.

With that in mind, when you're trying to engage a lower drive dog, Denise said you should try to pique his interest by keeping that toy away from the dog. In fact, she challenged us to keep the tug out of the dog's mouth for a full fifteen seconds. The point of playing with prey drive has nothing to do with whether or not the dog puts his mouth on the toy. Rather, the goal is for the dog to enjoy himself.. By telling us not to let our dogs grab the toy, Denise allowed us humans to let go of the “rules” and instead focus on the fun.

Once the dog does grab the toy, you need to keep it moving. Of course, the amount of movement you choose will need to be matched to the dog's interest, but the toy should never stop moving. If the dog isn't gripping well, short, quick tugs tend to make most dogs bite down harder since it will seem like the bunny is escaping.

Denise recommended playing in a figure 8 pattern, sweeping the toy back and forth in front of you instead of pushing and pulling it towards the dog. Not only does that come dangerously close to a suicidal rabbit, but for higher-drive dogs, that can tilt the game from a mutually enjoyable interaction to a contest to be won.

Speaking of higher-drive dogs, those are the ones that can be difficult to disengage. At the seminar, we saw dogs who either didn't want to let go, or who would let go when told but then immediately regrab the toy- and usually accidentally nailing his handler in the process. To get the dog to “out” the toy, you must again think like a bunny.

Dogs do not let go of their prey until it is dead. Dropping an injured bunny often means losing dinner- adrenaline allows even gravely injured animals to escape. So, to get your high-drive dog to drop the toy, you need to do three things.

First, lock up your arms, and hold the toy still. With more powerful dogs, Denise would sort of brace the toy between her legs so that she had enough leverage to keep it from moving. Again, your toy choice matters here. If you have a floppy toy- or even a stiff one but with a floppy handle- it will be very difficult to “kill” the bunny.

Next, wait until the dog lets go. You don't need to yell at him, or grab his collar, or even force it out of his mouth. If you can keep the toy from moving, he will probably let go of it pretty quickly. Denise showed us lots of neat things to accelerate this process- she's pretty deliberate about how she positions her hands and wrists- but you'll have to go to one of her seminars yourself to get all the finer points.

Finally, once your dog has let go, reward him by allowing him to grab it again! There is no better reward for a toy-obsessed dog.


And that, my friends, is a very quick overview of how to play tug with your dog. I was amazed to discover that when I was mindful of the no suicidal rabbits edict in conjunction with the 15-second rule, I had a dog that liked to tug! In fact, Maisy was so enthusiastic about it that she woke my husband up in the middle of the night to ask him to play. (He was unamused.) Tugging isn't Maisy's favorite thing ever, but she does seem to enjoy it. Since Denise told us that the drives we use are the ones that get stronger, I'm going to play with Maisy now and then. If her desire becomes large enough, maybe I can use it in training. Or maybe not. Either way, it will be fun for us both, and will help develop our relationship further- and that will make a difference in her performance, too!

I would love to hear if you try any of these suggestions, and better yet, if you have any break-throughs as a result, like we did. That said, it's very difficult to describe in words what Denise so wonderfully demonstrated, so if it doesn't work, please, blame the me as the messenger, and not her techniques. I assure you, Denise was brilliant in her ability to solve tugging issues, and just watching her play with the various dogs was worth the cost of the seminar alone. (Have I mentioned yet that you should totally go if you get the chance?)

Ian Dunbar Seminar: Lure-Reward Training Done Correctly

All of Maisy’s early training was done with lure-reward. As a novice owner, it was easy and intuitive, and Maisy learned quickly. I absolutely agree with Ian that lure-reward is the best method for teaching novice owners who just want the basics. However, lure-reward training is not without its critics, and I remember seeing people in my puppy class that struggled to get their dogs to work without food. Today, I’m going to share what Ian said about using lure-reward training correctly.

The first step is to phase out the lure as quickly as possible. The lure should be used briefly, as an instruction to do the dog, and you shouldn’t use a food lure more than six to twelve times before you move to luring with air-cookies. After another six to twelve reps, your air-cookies become a hand signal! Once you’ve reached this step, the treat should always come out of the bag/your pocket/wherever after the dog performs the behavior. Otherwise, you run the (very high) risk that the treat becomes a bribe, not a reward.

Next, you need to get the behavior under verbal command. Since lure-reward training so effective at getting behavior, Ian says that you can name it right away. However, he emphasizes standing absolutely still when you say the cue so that you don’t introduce any inadvertent body cues. After you’ve given the command, wait for half a second before you lure/use air cookies/give your hand signal. If you say the word and lure/give a hand signal at the same time, the dog will be focused on the food/your movement, not your voice, and as a result, is unlikely to pick up that what you said was a cue. When your dog responds to the word, and not your physical movements, have a treat party!

Now you need to motivate your dog to want to work for you. Treats are awesome, of course, but you need to phase them out, too. Ian does this in a number of ways. He asks for more than one behavior before giving the treat. He uses differential reinforcement to reward only the best responses (he recommends using a 1 to 3 ratio as ideal). And most importantly… use life rewards!

There are three main kinds of life rewards: playing with other dogs, walking and sniffing, and interactive games like fetch and tug. Ian said that if you have a dog that plays, you have a trained dog because it is so easy to use a toy as both a lure and a reward. (Incidentally, while he does phase out treats, he doesn’t phase out interactive games ever.) Any time your dog wants one of these life reward activities, ask for a behavior first. When he complies, release him to go play or sniff or chase the ball. Then have training interludes frequently (every 15 to 30 seconds of play, or every 25 yards or so when on a walk) to request a behavior before letting the dog return to the activity.

Finally, you need to figure out how to force a dog to do what you want… without coercion. This is where RRNR comes in, and since I’ve already written a whole post about it, I won’t belabor the point.

Following these suggestions will prevent lure-reward training from turning into bribery. My puppy classes with Maisy were very good about getting us to phase out both the lures and the treats, but didn’t emphasize verbal control- we used a lot of hand signals in class, and Maisy and I are still quite dependent on them to this day. We talked a little bit about using life rewards, but I wish we would have practiced the concept to help drill it home.

What about you guys? Did you use lure-reward to teach your dog the basics? How did you do at phasing out treats, getting verbal commands vs. hand signals, and motivating your dog to work? I’m curious to hear about your experiences!

Good with Puppies

Because she's reactive, I always assumed that Maisy didn’t really have very good social skills. I mean, why else would she act like such a jerk to other dogs? (For the record, I don’t actually think Maisy is a jerk, but at the risk of anthropomorphizing- again- I imagine other dogs think she is sometimes. Lunging, barking, and growling when the other dog is acting appropriately isn’t very nice, after all.)

It turns out I’m wrong. She’s actually got decent social skills, barring the barking and lunging, of course, and she’s quite good with puppies! I found this out when my friend Robin got a German Shepherd puppy named Via. Robin’s philosophy on socialization is to introduce a puppy to as many stable adult dogs as possible. Personally, I don’t know that I’d call Maisy “stable,” but Robin apparently trusts her enough to expose Via to her, and I trust Robin (she also teaches our reactive dog class).

So the girls have been playing together. Well, maybe not together, but definitely in tandem. I’ve got two videos of them playing to share. They were taken a couple weeks ago, when Via was about 10 weeks old. The first was taken during the first five minutes or so of the play session:



Now, what I love about this video is how calm and relaxed Maisy is, despite the fact that Via is a bit exuberant at times- Via loves to play with her paws and Maisy… doesn’t like that so much. You can see that Maisy tends to look or move away when this happens- subtle communications which say, “Puppy, that’s too much.”

When Via inevitably ignores that (she’s not much for subtlety yet), Maisy does a very nice job of escalating the warnings, first with a small snap, and then with a larger snap and lunge. She's actually quite patient, and puts up with a lot more from Via than she does from adult dogs. In addition to that, Maisy doesn't go over the top. She makes her point quickly, then moves on, making these corrections not only appropriate, but quite fair, as well.

This second video was taken about 15 minutes later:



As you can see, Via is getting tired. She’s begun barking, and in response, Maisy becomes stiffer and a bit quicker to snap at Via. Even so, Maisy remains fairly patient with Via, and prefers to de-escalate the situation by disengaging from her. We ended the play session shortly after this happened because Via was getting overly aroused, and Maisy was getting stressed, which isn't good for either of them.

Interestingly, Maisy’s corrections never quite work. Via usually momentarily stops what she was doing, but generally comes right back to swatting at Maisy with her paws, or biting her tail (oh, that tail is just too much temptation for a Schutzhund-bred puppy), or whatever naughtiness earned her a correction. I suspect this happens both because Via is very confident and because Maisy just isn't- she'd rather avoid a confrontation if she can.

I’m very curious to see how their relationship develops as Via grows older (and bigger!), especially since Maisy tends to be the most reactive towards large, dark-colored, prick-eared dogs. I’ve always suspected that Maisy’s reactivity is due to fear and anxiety, although I wasn’t quite sure what she was scared of.

Based on her interactions with Via, I’m beginning to think it’s because Maisy just doesn’t have the self-confidence needed to defend herself at close range. She could be a lot firmer with Via and still be appropriate and fair, but she just doesn’t seem to have it in her. Maybe she’s decided that the best defense is a good offense: if she can keep the scary dog away from her, she’ll never have to worry about defending herself.

At any rate, Maisy is good with puppies, and that makes me very happy.

Not a dog park dog... but not a loner, either!

I quit taking Maisy to the dog park long ago. There were a lot of reasons for this, but my main one was that she just didn't enjoy it. She didn't really play with the other dogs, and generally seemed kind of stressed while we were there, so I figured she was more of a loner.

Well, she's not.

My friend Elizabeth had me, Megan, and Jane over for supper last night, and of course we brought dogs. All told, there were five dogs: Maisy, Beckett the greyhound, Buzz the English springer spaniel, Boomer the lab, and Fritz who is probably a lab/shepherd mix.

I think we were all a bit worried about how it would go. I was worried because of Maisy's reactivity and spotty history at the dog park, Elizabeth was worried because Maisy sort of hops like a rabbit (and she has a greyhound), and Megan was worried because Fritz plays with his paws, and Maisy was, by far, the smallest of the group.

The beauty of hanging out with dog people, as opposed to the variable nature of the folks who go to the dog park, is that we were all very attentive to our dogs. In fact, I think Elizabeth and Megan were more protective of Maisy than I was! We were careful to introduce dogs one at a time. We allowed the big dogs to run around and blow off some steam before Maisy joined the group. Beckett wore a muzzle when he got too excited, and time outs were given when someone got too rambunctious.

In the end, everyone got along really well. Maisy does a really good job of communicating to the other dogs when she needs more space, but she does it appropriately. She also responded well when other dogs told her to back off just a bit, and again, they did it appropriately. I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to let Maisy play off leash, and know that the other owners aren't going to freak out, or stand by and do nothing.

Maisy still isn't a dog park dog- there are just too many variables that I can't control- but it's nice to know that she can play with other dogs from time to time.