Rock Solid Dog Training

06/20/2024

06/15/2024

A few weeks ago I posted asking if people would be interested in sharing stories if I threw out some topics, well, here we are :)

My story for today is of Kara and Thor. Full brother and sister from a year apart. (Kara is on top torturing her brother in the photo.) Kara walked into the house and fit right in thanks to Thor. They instantly hit it off and shared a common energy. Taylor's nose was a bit out of joint because Thor was her minion before Kara got there but she got over it and she and Kara now also play quite a bit. Our pack has generally been pretty accepting of new puppies (well, since Penny stepped up to put Murphy in his place back in the day).

Share your puppy stories and pictures!

06/15/2024

Penny, celebrating with some puppuchino!

06/06/2024

Photo for attention more than anything.

I have been thinking about adding a feature here that could be participated in by everyone. Let me get your feedback on the idea.

Dog stories. Right, super original, but hear me out.

Over the years in my articles I have including a lot of stories about my dogs. Some are funny, some are sad and others make a point. I would like to open up to the group (who has shared many of their stories over the years also) to fully share funny stories. They don't have to be long (or can be) but they have to be YOU and your dog. I mean I would rather not have someone writing in flower prose (like I know what that is) if that is not them.

What are your thoughts? Something you were be interested in reading and something you may participate in writing?

-Dave

[Photo of Penny on WFH day]

06/05/2024

Thor dreams of being this big a boy! :)

06/02/2024

Thor - Three Year Review

Well, Thor turned three over the weekend and with that it is time for his annual review.

I will tell you what Amy constantly tells me. "Thor is a good boy."

This is the truth.

While Thor is not the smartest dog we have ever had, nor is he the most trainable dog we have ever had, however, he is probably the most balanced dog we have had.

Thor cares. In fact he cares a lot. He will generally put forth a lot of effort with everything he does. At times this effort out kicks his coverage. What I mean by that is that he is busy trying hard and does not take the time to listen or think while he is doing something.

I see this in his obedience training a lot! If he is moving he is no longer thinking and it is hard for him to change what he is going to do. He is much like Murphy in this way. You have to repeat exercises over and over and throw every possibility at him so he has an automatic response to the distraction. We are working on getting him to think while in motion but thus far it hasn't been a great success. Another 10,000 repetitions and we should have it.

Thor is an excellent big brother. Thor loves his sister Kara. They play and they are best friends. When Kara was in heat they were both completely lost, not because of their hormones, but because the other one in the house that could match the energy was unavailable. The first time they were turned loose they ran circles around each other for fifteen minutes and caused Taylor and Penny to get as close to a human as they possibly could. Thor puts up with a lot from Kara but they truly do love each other.

Thor also enjoys Penny and Taylor but just not the same way as his sister. Dogs don't know that they are related even if they are from the same litter but they do recognize energy. The two of them couldn't be more different in most respects but they fit together really well.

If there is a single word for Thor it is "needy". He does need constant reinforcement and when you are working from home he will pop up on your desk no less than 30 times a day. He simply wants to say "hi, I'm still here", get some pets and then move on only to return ten minutes later to get more pets and do it all over again. He is kind of like the 50 First Dates movie in this way.

Other than checking out the counters (he has never grabbed anything from them) Thor is very trustworthy. His only bad habit is to steal your Iced Mocha Cooler because he is pretty sure it is a puppachino for him. In fact when he is done he hides it under the recliner and you are pretty sure that you are losing your mind. Hey, they are a good drink so I can pretty much understand his fascination with them.

Thor got into a good school for agility last year and he continues to work to move up a grade. He struggles a bit to perform when the owner of the place is around which is something they are still working on. I think he just likes his classmates. He and Kara are in the same class and both do a good job with things. Thor's short term memory does make things difficult for him but he will figure it out.

At night Thor curls up on the end of the bed out of the way until the lights go out. He will then move to get as close to one of us as he can. He is most comfortable if he is touching us (used to be laying on top of our legs but after several chiro adjustments for me we have worked out a negotiated peace where he can and can't be. It makes him feel secure so it isn't all bad.

He does struggle a bit with watching football with me. Penny will just kind of dig in and hang for 2 hours. Thor doesn’t have more than 20 or so minutes in him. He has started to relax more and just doze off. When he was a puppy he would crawl up in between Penny and Taylor and flip on his back and sleep there. It was pretty cute. I think the girls just like that he stopped moving for a minute.

Physically Thor has filled out quite a bit. He is a thick boy with no fat on him. He is big and strong and sometimes doesn't know his own strength. When I was recovering from surgery I had to be really careful around him because he just wasn't all that careful and his oaf tendencies took over. He is instantly sorry for whatever he does because he just doesn't know his own strength.

Overall, Thor is a good boy. He really is. All of our dogs have been great and often in different ways, Thor however is well rounded, always happy and constantly makes you smile. He is special (take that any way you want) and he only wants to be a good boy. He was the best puppy we have ever had and he may be the best dog we have had. He is off to a good start.

-Dave
[Photo is of Thor as a puppy crashed between Taylor and Penny]

05/30/2024

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1123225542264968

05/21/2024

You've got mail!!

05/09/2024

Pretty sure this may be my retirement job!

https://fb.watch/rYOo5rqbBK/

05/05/2024

13

Penny turned 13 this week. The time has flown by faster than I thought it could. Penny went from being the puppy of the group to being the much older puppy of the group.

The accompanying photos are of Penny today and our Christmas card photo from when Penny was 3ish months old. Sam was around 12 and wouldn't be around for a lot longer. Abby and Murphy were still both relatively young and were full of gumption.

As I look back at this I just remember how distinguished that Sam got in her older years. She aged gracefully while staying in relatively good shape. She still enjoyed hunting (a few months later she would be showing Penny the ropes in the field) and still lived life. She was a bit more gray and she had moments where it seemed like all the bolts weren't tight, but she was okay with it. It drove Abby crazy and she would try to help her friend settle down, sometimes she was even successful.

Abby and Murphy would go on to live to 17 and 16 respectively. Both kept things together right up until the end and enjoyed most everyday.

This week Penny got to go to novice class with me. She took Thor's spot because, you know, it's her birthday week. Penny still very much enjoys going out and seeing the other dogs. She is curious, she is still a good barometer of what is going on in the room. She is happy to hang in place or do any of the exercises.

I mean, she has one good eye and is deaf but still does a pretty good job navigating the world. I am sure if she had both eyes she could still do Obedience, not that she would really want to but you know there are snacks involved.

Penny is in much better shape than Sam was in at her age. Sam's liver had started to fail her, she had survived cancer and had the beginnings of Laryngeal paralysis. She had also spent a lot of time in the field and there was a lot of wear and tear on her body. She led a great life and was the happiest dog you had ever seen but she was a little beat up by this age.

As I look at Penny I see so much life left in her. Several months ago when she had the issue with the eye it put things right out there, she is not as young as she once was. That is hard as most anyone with an aging dog knows, but it is also some of the best times you can have with your dog. Doing all the fun stuff and still having a dog that can relax a bit when she is done.

One question I often get asked about Brittanys is "how long are they puppies?".

The standard response is 14.

"Months?".

No years. (Those of your reading this with Brittanys are just nodding your head now.)

Brittanys are a lot and they definitely aren't for everyone. They have high energy, high spirit and high drive and that lasts until the day they pass. They can be a lot but they are the sweetest animals on the planet. To be fair, everyone thinks that about the dogs they have and I think everyone would be correct.

Growing up there was a German Shepard named Buffy that lived two houses down. I have written about her before, she was my "first dog". She didn't belong to me but the neighborhood kids spent a lot of time down there with her. She was not the prettiest Shepard ever but dang was she fun and protective. She loved her kids and took good care of them. She was the sweetest dog ever and had a beautiful soul.

My aunt had a dog named Rocky. Rocky was a "golden" although I remember her being more Toller sized back before there were ever tollers. Rocky would sneak up into bed with me at the cabin and snuggle in. She was an awesome dog. My aunt's next dog was a Shepard named Duke. Duke was lovable in his own way. When his kids got home from school they would take a wheel burrow and walk the neighborhood redistributing the stuff that Duke would sneak out and collect. This collection would include baseball bats, gloves, sleds, popped basketballs and even a pair of ice skates. I am pretty sure he laughed about it but he was a good dog.

It is strange, I honestly don't remember a ton of detail about growing up or my aunts and uncles from that time, or even my neighbors, but I remember every detail about their dogs.

Dogs are special. Their lives are short but they make our lives so rich in that short time. Their bond is strong strong and that represents in the memories that we have of them.

There is a meme that I have seen on Facebook a few times and I think it may be the only true thing on Facebook. No one will ever look back and say that they wished they spent less time with their dog. Truth!

Penny got her Birthday Cheeseburger (you can go to Rock Solid Brittanys FB page to see the video if you would like) and is enjoying every minute of birthday week!

Go enjoy a bit of time with your dog!

-Dave

05/03/2024

What can you do with the right energy?

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=2160415864333597

04/28/2024

So what can you do?

Over the last couple of years a common theme I seem to run into is people telling me what they can't do. This is something I truly have no appreciation for, mainly because it never advances the conversation. It is also usually said by someone that has no desire to make progress and wants to change the conversation.

I used to work with some folks who would only tell you that they couldn't meet their deadlines. Okay, fair enough, but what deadlines can you meet?

This question was greeted with hostility as if I asked a highly personal question or tried to insult them. The question is a fair one, when can you have something done? You could say a week, a month or a year the reality is that without having at least some idea of when a particular item can happen everyone on the team is at a dead stop and that is not fair to anyone.

When you are negotiating often times this question comes up. The two sides are fairly far apart and you ask the vendor "what can you do about" (insert timeline, price, availability, schedule or whatever). Often times you have to offer a starting point as to what you can do and what is acceptable on your side of the deal, it may not be your best offer but it is a start towards negotiating something that can work for both sides.

Believe it or not dog training is very much this same way.

Kara is a big believer in "nope" and refusing to do specific things. She is a little bit of a chicken but more than that she is a dog that has to warm to different ideas before embracing them.

When I started working on retrieving a dumbbell with her she started out okay but I got a little to overzealous and pushed her too hard. I stuck the dumbbell in her mouth before she was ready and we went from a 1 out of 10 in progress to a -6. She wanted nothing to do with me or the dumbbell, however she was willing to negotiate a little bit.

Her first stance was "hell no". No questions asked.

When I teach the retrieve I do it in an enclosed hallway. There are limited options available as to where they can go and how far I need to reach to get them. In general it takes about 3 sessions before they are picking up whatever the object is and happily bringing it back. Thor took 2 to do that and after three he was fairly reliable.

So when Kara reverted (would not get near the dumbbell) I went and got Penny and jackpotted cheese for her as she picked up the dumbbell everywhere and anywhere.

My goal became just getting Kara to touch the dumbbell again. After about a half stick of cheese for Penny the attitude shifted a bit for Kara. She got curious and decided that she was once again okay with touching it and then darting away without the treat (she is an awful negotiator). So I had figured out what she was willing to do that night.

This is a similar story with most dogs. I had a very small long hair dachshund in one of my classes who really wasn't keen on people, particularly big people. She did however really love cheese. The first couple of weeks I would just walk by and toss cheese to her every time she got near me. After two weeks she would come out to greet me, not get pets or let me touch her yet but she told me that she was willing to get closer.

The following week before class I sat on the floor and threw cheese to her. She would actually take food off my shoe and then off my pantleg. She wouldn't stay around long but we were making progress and she started to tell me more and more what she would do and what she wouldn't accept.

The following week when I walked by she came straight out to me and jumped up on my leg to get a treat, which she let me give her right out of my hand. After class when I sat on the floor she climbed up on me waiting for her treat. She made herself comfortable and let me pet her. We had negotiated an agreement that worked for both of us, she found out that I had no interest in hurting her and only hanging out with her, she told me that she agreed to those terms and that we could be friends on those terms.

The interaction taught her owners how to teach other people to approach (or not really approach her) and that she needed to go slow to gain trust. They did a great job with her. By the time she was done with the next session of classes she was pretty much a normal dog that loved people. That wouldn't happen if she wasn't willing to give a little bit.

When we got Kara she was tiny. She may have weighed 6 pounds. Her brother was a 35 pound monster and Penny was a bit more kind but weighed about the same.

When Penny was home alone with her she would grab a tug toy and get Kara to play tug. She would just wiggle it in Kara's face until she grabbed it and pulled. Two things happened and there were clear messages on both sides.

First, Kara would try to jump up on Penny and want to play biteface. That was a hard pass from Penny, but Penny was offering what she was willing to do, Penny would grab the tug and offer it up again until Kara decided to play. If Kara jumped on her again she would drop the toy and find a place to lay down that Kara couldn't get to.

On the other side when Penny started playing tug and started to pull too hard or whip Kara around, Kara would stop the game and go and hide. She was afraid of the new big dog that was playing with her and would end the play. Penny would then grab the tug again and go and offer it to Kara by dropping it in front of her to pick up first. This is basically the way those two play to this day.

Kara with her brother was a lot more physical. Thor would let her chew on him. They would both make a lot of noise and as long as puppy teeth didn't bite too hard they got a long great. They even developed a quiet mode of fighting so they wouldn't get in trouble. But if one got out of hand, the game ended with Kara either going to hide or Thor making sure that Kara understood that what she did was not acceptable.

Dogs are pretty clear with their communication as to what they are willing to do and where their current line is. Those lines will change as they gain trust or confidence and will take the next step. It is finding how far that step is.

This week listen to yourself and find out how often you are just outright saying no. How often are you stopping progress? How often are you backing away because you have been shut down by your dog? Sometimes you have to find a way to make progress and shutting down does not lead to progress.

-Dave

[Today's picture is of Miss Nope herself, Kara]

04/14/2024

Kara Math

I have noticed that Kara is our new mathematician. No she doesn't do calculus but she does calculate the "worth it" factor better than any dog we have ever had.

Worth it is an equation where you have to decide if what you will endure is worth the price you will pay for enduring it.

Think of going to a really good restaurant and overindulging in a great meal. That great meal may keep you up that night because it was too much or it was too spicy or too rich. Well it was too something but you have to make the decision and decide if it is worth it. Is it worth staying up all night in the bathroom or the heartburn that may accompany it?

Then there is that "thing" you want to buy. A house that is just out of the reach of your budget, a car that may be a bit impractical (which anything but a minivan is for people with a house full of dogs) or those private lessons you take with your dog. There is a balancing effect that you must have to make these things work. Generally if it is a stretch financially you will have to find something to give up so you can afford it. Then the "worth it " equation becomes of what you want is of greater value than what you have to give up. It isn't a financial comparison it is an emotional comparison or an comparison of need.

When you go to work each day you are doing the math of it being worth it. Is it worth driving two hours a day in order to be able to do your "dream job"? As above you have to give something up and in this case it is time that you could spend doing other things. When you get offered a job that pays more but you lose your vacation time or your seniority you have decisions to make as to if the offer is worth it.

Dogs are a little more simple in their math. For Kara when she goes outside she has to visit her rabbits and talk to them. She then visits her birds and finally her squirrels. Each torment her in a different way, just out of reach (although one day she will catch a rabbit) so she stops and stares. She is intense and there is many terse calls to Kara who then does her calculation and each and every time (unless it is -10 or +90 outside) she will opt to choose her woodland creature friends over coming in the house so we can get to work or go to bed.

We have not had a dog with this much prey drive, ever. Kara is just about two and she is very curious about the other critters and I would guess this will remain the case until she catches on.

Murphy had squirrel friends who would jump overhead from tree to tree and torture him. He would get really worked up but eventually wear out and come in the house. Kara has not found that spot yet so she wears an ecollar (electronic collar) when she goes out. Even though she knows she will be corrected at some point she doesn't care. Her "worth it" is very high and she will stay out as long as possible.

The fact that she sometimes forgets to even go to the bathroom (which leads to additional trips outside) doesn't matter to her, only seeing her friends matters to her.

Thus far we have been unsuccessful with many different ways to combat this and we have not found anything that is of higher value than being outside chasing from one side of the yard to the other waiting for movement anywhere in her field of vision.

High reward (lots of treats) seems to have no effect on her interest of coming in the house. Correction will force her in the house but if you don't have a ecollar on her nothing has changed. Walking her down in the yard is somewhat frustrating as she is very quick but often she will then just turn and go in the house and ask for her treat like nothing happened.

So what do we do? Well, that plan has not yet been formulated. I thought we had made a bit of progress before she went into heat but that event seems to have set us back a bit. Will age help this? Don't know. Will a long line that we can grab to bring her in the house help? Are we under rewarding or need to have steak waiting for her when she comes in? We have a couple of neighbors that may show up if we start giving out those treats.

For now the ecollar works but we will come up with a better plan. I mean trainer's dogs aren't perfect either. Kara is a combination of stubborn, afraid and curious all wrapped up in a weird little dog package (it is the speed package, not the luxury package for those wondering). More to come!

-Dave

[Today's photo is of course of Kara]

03/24/2024

You Need to Calm Down

About a year ago I got back into model building (tanks, airplanes and the like). It has been a real journey thus far.

I stopped modeling about 20 years ago. To put it simply I just didn't have enough time. I had started back into doing music stuff and with training dogs in the field and in the obedience ring my time was very limited and frankly I had gotten a little bored with it.

It is like most thing, unless you practice a good deal you don't get better. That is particularly true when you lack actual talent which I actually do. I won my share of metals and enjoyed doing things that others didn't but at a certain point you don't get much better without practice and a mentor or at least someone to teach you the ropes.

While the club I belonged to had a lot of very good modelers and several were willing to help however after a while you feel guilty constantly bombarding them with questions and then not really grasping the concepts. Eventually there are other things to do that seem to be more fun.

I can't explain why I wanted to come back to the hobby but I felt like I needed something creative to do after a band went south and having surgery. It is a quiet time hobby which I also enjoy after a long work day. I mean I still had a lot of my stuff so what the heck.

The difference this time around is YouTube and Patreon. There are folks that are master modelers out there with what are equivalent to master classes in building models. Oh there are also folks that are awful out there as well, either their skills or their horrible personalities.

I ran across a guy that calls himself Night Shift. He is from Slovakia and he is a very good modeler and even a better teacher. He is also super particular and when I started watching his videos I just thought that there was no way I could see myself doing all of those things. He will spend 50 to 100 hours on a kit but in the end it is awesome.

One of his videos talked about something that was particularly boring and he talked about how he changed his mindset from it being boring to focusing on how much he enjoyed the end result of the process. It completely changed the enjoyment of that arduous task to one that he simply enjoyed while listening to music or watching a movie. It became worth it because of the result and he no longer hurried through things just to get them done. If that is what you doing are you really enjoying the hobby?

To the point where this struck me I had done a few kits and they turned out marginally okay. I remember myself hurrying through things towards the end so I could just finish and move on. The work that made them the most marginal all happened during that time and made the projects less than I wanted them to be.

I remember when I showed Sam in obedience for the first time. We had prepared a lot with about two years of training during the non-hunting season. She was basically already trained and getting her through wasn't really all the difficult. She was nine and a half competing with dogs that were a third her age. In fact she was 3 year older than a "senior" Golden that was competing that got a standing ovation. Oh well, you live you learn.

Each of the dogs as they went through aced their Novice classes. Some won awards, some where ranked some competed for high in trial. It felt like no big deal to get through these things.

Murphy went through open class in three runs and qualifying in all three. Penny struggled a bit and actually failed one time. As I look back that failure was my fault because I hurried along. We were on day two and the group of dogs with us were awful, particularly on the out of sight sits and downs. The previous day Penny was the only dog that was remaining where I left her upon my return. She was super stressed out by what happened but I didn't listen to her and showed up the next day. As soon as I left the room she laid down. She was not having it.

It took us two months to work through that issue that I created by not listening and you would think I had learned but I didn't.

When we went through utility I really thought she was ready to compete. We had gone through Covid and had about 8 months off but she came back and was solid at class and lessons. We started going to run throughs (fake trial runs) and she was okay, sometimes passed and sometimes failed however there was no pressure on either of us.

I decided to enter her in a trial to see where she was at. As Penny does, she is happy to tell you what she thinks and that day I think she failed every single exercise. She looked like a puppy who had never been in a ring before. My impatience once again did not serve me well.

With Murphy he was always close even when he failed. He never melted down he simply would get nervous and pick up the wrong dumbbell or miss a signal. He qualified three out of six times for his title. But he was different. He was not encumbered by deep thoughts, he was just a happy boy who got to go for a car ride. That is literally what he thought. Woot!

Penny was always thinking about things. Sometimes it was what I was thinking about and other times it was what kind of trouble she could get in or how she could entertain herself or others.

We had a few resets, changed our training program around a bit and I completely changed my attitude. I chilled out about going in the ring. I mean we had about the worst performance we could ever have and no one died so why get stressed. I had to change my attitude about doing all the mundane things to get her ready to compete and I also had to change the way I approached the ring by listening to her more.

Once I did that we only had one failure to get her Utility title and that was a simple mistake because she was trying too hard.

Penny knew when we were at training the repetitive things that I hated (as did our trainer, again!) and once I cut the attitude she happily did them because she didn't mind doing them, particularly not two or three times.

There are times I believe we have to shift the way we think about things and stop trying to hurry through them. Not sure about you but when I hurry I generally don't get good results in anything that I do.

I have also noticed as I have slowed down how much clearer I can see things that are ahead. Reading through instructions all the way (I may lose my guy card for this) so I know what is coming up. Doing my research or being consistent in training all play into success.

Now that Thor is in training I find myself having to remind myself of the same things. The temptation to throw him in the ring too early is always there. Just feeling like you want to get it over with and then reminding yourself that you will never get these days back (as much as I would love to be back in the ring with Murphy or Penny). So you might as well slow down and appreciate them.

When I taught group classes I always hated teaching puppy classes. I loved the puppies, don't get me wrong, I couldn't stand the owners. They either wanted their puppies to be six year old dogs or they didn't want them to grow up at all and would never guide them to do the right things.

When you look back at your dogs you will remember so many goofy, funny and dumb things that they did and if you weren't paying attention you will have missed it.

Don't miss things. Take the time to do them right. Change your mindset as Night Shift says and enjoy what you are doing, it will go a long way to being happier. In the end it will produce a better result which is good for everyone.

-Dave

[Today's photo is of (L to r) Murphy, Sam, Penny and Abby]