Clean Run - February 2014 - 59

Can I look to watch you reaching for
my reward as I head down the dogwalk or finish the weave poles?

Do I have to do my trained behavior
on the contact equipment if I took
the contact by mistake (off-course)?

What if it's hot out? Do I still have to
run fast?

I can see that you threw the ball as
my reward, but can I have a cookie
instead this time?

These types of questions give you a
chance to dive in and save the day by
helping your dog to understand the
answer when he asks the question. Of
course, it helps if you know the answers.
Remember, the answer can be delivered
in a nice, helpful way; you do not have
to resort to nasty corrections to make
a point.
If you sweep the questions under the
carpet, your dog's behaviors will disintegrate. Dogs ask different questions in
the trial environment than they do in
training. Ignore questions asked in the
trial environment at your own peril!

The Box of Chocolates
Forrest Gump's mother must have been
talking about dog training when she said,
"It's like a box of chocolates; you never
know what you are going to get."

Beyond getting and losing wanted behaviors, you can also train unwanted behaviors
quite effortlessly. Here is my favorite example of getting something I really did not
want. I used to tell my Border Collies, Ty and Brink, to "Go for a swim" at the beach.
They would race to the water and frolic around. Quill, my JRT, would often get overstimulated and bite Ty's front leg. One day, I let Quill run far ahead down the cliff to the
beach so she was the first one to the water. I then told the BCs to "Go for a swim."
To my surprise, Quill slammed on the brakes, turned around, and ran full tilt back up
the cliff and latched onto poor Ty's leg.
When I got back home I tested the cue. I said, "Go for a swim," and Quill jumped off
the bed, ran around until she located Ty, and executed the cue perfectly by latching
onto his leg. This is a great example of a dog self-rewarding while learning a behavior,
and associating that behavior with a cue. I fixed it by adding the cue "QUILL" to "Go
for a swim" and gave her lots of meat for coming to me instead of biting Ty. Soon "Go
for a swim" was a recall for Quill and Ty could enjoy the water again.This worked well
for all of us. I did not need Quill to go to the water when I gave that cue.
Here's another one. I decided to teach Quill to sneeze on cue. I had the perfect
sneeze going; it was beautiful. But sometimes she would struggle to make it happen
and then I would get imitation sneezes. Because I was thrilled with her intense efforts,
I rewarded her when I should not have. Before getting rid of the imitation sneezes, I
added the cue, "Who's gotta cold?" Now, whenever I say, "Who's gotta cold?" Quill
does the imitation sneezes, instantly pounding her feet and doing seizure-like head
movements, with some very odd chortling/gurgling noises. You would only know it
was a good sneeze gone bad if you were told. Interestingly, when I would give up on
the sneeze training and work on something else, suddenly she would very deliberately
produce the perfect sneeze! I realized I had trained the perfect sneeze on some cue,
but I did not know what the cue was!
Later I discovered my line up to my leg cue had become the cue for the perfect
sneeze. You've got to be awake and open-minded when you're training! Getting what
you don't want happens to everyone and it is a natural part of training. Taking it all in
stride and enjoying the problem solving can be fun and very rewarding.
I hope I have encouraged you to enjoy finding the real hows and whys of getting
behaviors, even the ones you do not want. You will become a better dog trainer
for it! D

Sandy Rogers has been teaching obedience and agility since 1991. She founded ACE Dog Sports in San Francisco, California, in 1999. Her dogs have competed in all
the USDAA and AKC National Championship finals multiple times. Sandy and JRT Quill competed on Team USA at the World Agility Open in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
They won the individual gold and silver medals in 2012 and bronze in 2013. Quill won the USDAA Grand Prix at the Cynosport Games in 2013 and placed 3rd in 2007.
She placed 2nd at the 2012 AKC Nationals. Border Collie, Brink placed 3rd in the Grand Prix in 2000 and won 16" Speed Jumping in 2007 and 2008, and the Performance
Grand Prix in 2007. Sandy has two DVDs available: Training the Extreme Dogs and One Jump Two Jump.

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Clean Run - February 2014

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