Just Chuck Food

06/28/10	1 sec of eye contact in bedroom (handler standing)	10	7	70%	still do not hear clock ticks
		10	8	80%
		10	7	70%
		10	9	90%	Good timing!

Also, LLW in a playground by the "throw treats down the throat" method. ;) Got a few clicks for a nice head-up/eye-contact heel. Two women almost ate Gatsby. That is, walked across the other side of the playground and entered a building. He was remarkably good about the street sounds though. His reactivity is very sight based. Oh how I wish I could find a reactive dog/CU class here! It's not aggression, and I don't think I'd really call it fear either, he just doesn't like it when stuff happens and he can't investigate. Off-leash he's a little rude in the approach (rushing, very fast movements) but doesn't sound like he's being fed to a woodchipper. Also need to do a closer reading of Feisty Fido.

Training is a Mechanical Skill

I didn't get to do as much as I was planning to do today; I took a surprise trip to Milwaukee. But when someone offers to buy me books, I don't turn that down. I got Alexandra Horowitz' Inside of a Dog and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Not super impressed with it either so far, but I'm only forty pages in.

Behavior: Focus

Date	Criteria	Trials	Pass	%	Notes
06/27/10	1 sec of eye contact in bedroom	10	8	80%	I have trouble with duration criteria as I have no idea how long a second is
		10	7	70%	on second thought, I have three ticking clocks in my room. Why was I not using that?
		10	8	80%
		10	9	90%
	1 sec of eye contact in bedroom (handler standing)	10	9	90%
	1 sec eye contact in bedroom, standing, moving fist up and down	10	7	70%
		10	7	70%	got sniffy, distracted. Ended training session.

General Thoughts on Today: Mechanical skills were kind of crap. I was in a rush to do something with him that I wasn't as precise with treat delivery as I should have been. It's harder standing. Gatsby may be a Giant Miniature Schnauzer, but he's still a little dude. Some of my clicks were off. Duration of anything is a struggle for both of us.

Tomorrow: Pass 1 second of attention with moving hand. Short break, then move to the yard. Continue as per http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/attention.htm I'd like to shoot for three or four sessions: one refresher in the house, one in the yard, and one on the road (there is the possibility of a softball game tomorrow night?)

Future: Start Crate Games again. Think about reorientating points (CU) - Coming out of crate (no more zoomies!), collar touch. Work on a whiplash turn on name. Look at That Stuffed Dog (CU). Back of hand (or knee?) continuous nose touch.

Back in the Fold, Day 1

I love science, tables, and data.

Behavior: Focus

Date	Criteria	Trials	Pass	%	Notes
6/26/2010	not sniffing offered treat in fist	10	6	60%
		10	7	70%
		10	9	90%
	Ignore 1 sec	10	4	40%	offered treat in flat hand to differentiate from touch cue. Protecting treat=failed trial
		10	7	70%
		10	9	90%
	glance away from treat fist (held away from body) towards handler	10	8	80%
		10	7	70%
		10	9	90%
	glance towards handler in bedroom	10	8	80%
		10	9	90%
	½ sec of eye contact in bedroom	11	11	100%

Tomorrow (later tonight?): 1 sec of eye contact in bedroom

Kool-Aid, Please.

Right, so, scratch that. Penalty Yards are more effective than a choke chain by a factor of a billion. True facts, I took data. Why in the world did it take me a year to find this? Knocks the roots off "be a tree."

How do you like the new layout? Because I freaking love Blogger's new layout machine. There are some new blog in the roll, ch-ch-ch-check them out.

Dogs are Hard, Let's Go to the Mall!

So I have no idea how I'm going to get through a show weekend when I'm actually showing. I was EXHAUSTED just from being there and watching and chatting (though I cannot WAIT until I can say, Yes, I have the Miniature Schnauzer that jumps 16" and runs like a whippet on speed). But I saw a lot less depressing behavior from dogs and handlers at Fond du Lac's show than I did at Oshkosh's. Apparently Wis/Ill/Minn is super competitive for obedience. Apparently it's hell to get OTCH points. In Wisconsin. Who knew?

I'm sure I'll post collected thoughts from the show later, but right now I want to verbalize some training thoughts I had but couldn't tell anyone about. So, I turn to the internet.

I'm never quite sure how to tell people I'm a clicker trainer. I'm not really sure it's appropriate, but at the same time I really really want to talk about dog training with these people (one man had a BEAUTIFULLY trained Elkhound in Utility A; the dog took the wrong jump and so wasn't lined up properly for a straight front. The dog realized it's mistake and corrected it's position by shifting over. It was stunning to watch) and feel like I the way I train is a relevant point. I also am dying to find other positive trainers in my area because I've realized I'm really pretty atrocious mechanically. I can quote you theory until the Long Down is over, but when I try to do it I'm a mess. I want to work with someone who can show me what I'm doing wrong and help me fix it. I just need help.

I want to train WITH people so bad, I'm considering trying a choke chain on Gatsby. Or maybe a prong. Or maybe signing up for my club's training class and clicking in a corner. I don't know.

See, GOOD training is good training, regardless of methods. I think of it sort of like cutting the Gordian Knot. A really good trainer just trains dogs and gets results without to much fussing from any party, dog or human.

Bad training is bad training, and I've talked about why bad trainers should choose positive methods until they stop sucking before.

And another thing. I've heard it said, "Obedience is about HAVE to, agility is about WANT to." I've started to realize how reactive Gatsby is. He doesn't do really well with restraint and he doesn't like sudden changes in his environment (adding or subtracting people, sudden movements, sudden noises). I have some hope with agility, because he's much better if he can be DOING something and I really do think he enjoys it, but honestly I have doubts about that too. Run-throughs start next week, for the first few we're just going to go play Crate Games and try to stay under threshold.

But I wibble on Obedience. I wibble on competing at all. I'm very very competitive. Trialling would be almost exclusively for my enjoyment. I want to show off, I want to beat people, and I want people to think that I am a competent and savvy person. I want people to think "wow, there may be something to this clicking nonsense after all." A lot of people in this area still see Obedience as the gold standard (this is because they all have Golden Retrievers) and to be honest I wouldn't mind having an obedient dog. I am so damn lucky Gatsby turned out to be more or less easy to live with. I struggle with balancing what I want to enjoy and spend my money on versus what is best for my dog.

It sort of comes back to the idea that "you can't get reliability without corrections/aversives." How much is fair to expect of the dog? I read a Koehler e-mail list and they talk a lot about making the dog responsible for his actions and avoid the correction. (Koehler and learning theory is a whole 'nother post to put in the queue.) When is it alright to say, "No, you MUST do this, even if you don't want to, because I say so"? Is behavior modification really any better? I read a conversation about how a dog wasn't getting a clicked retrieve, but just got it when an ear pinch was introduced. "Now he loves his dumbell!" How ethical is it to condition a dog to LOVE a hunk of plastic?

Adventures Are To Be Had

Going to a dog show tomorrow. Can't read the premium. Totally lost. That's ok, I've got fresh batteries in my camera and GPS.

First off, let me just acknowledge how much the AKC's recent treatment of mixed breed dogs brings to mind the civil rights movement. Come on, you've all been thinking it. I've even seen the word apartheid bandied about. Now that we've got how down right creepy that is (especially in light that purebred dog breeding and the AKC are both very reminiscent of the Victorian Era's wackadoodle social Darwinism), we can move on.

By now it's circled 'round the 'net that the AKC has abolished the Mixed Breed class and now MB dogs will run (or compete in Rally/Obedience, but since I only just barely care about those I'm not going to deal with them) against PB dogs. Many people are happy about this. Many people are not happy about this. My thoughts, let me show you them.

I'm for it. If the AKC is going to let MBs run at all (they don't have to, they're for purebred dogs and if they choose not to let the MBs play in their sandbox that is their right), then for doG's sake let them run. If your trials regularly fill up, don't allow MBs. That's cool. You're overloaded as it is, don't worry about it. But if your classes are so small that everyone who Q's places, maybe you should think about it (and then stop thinking and just do it).

Repeat it with me folks: It's. Just. Dogs.

There is no inherent value in a purebred dog above the already inherent value of a dog by virtue of being a dog. It's just a dog.

There is no inherent value in a mixed breed dog above the already inherent value of a dog by virtue of being a dog. It's just a dog.

The value comes from purpose bred vs. random bred.

Let's take Mr. Jay T. Gatsby as an example. Mr. Gatsby is a purebred Miniature Schnauzer. His parents are Miniature Schnauzers. Their parents are Miniature Schnauzers. And so on and so forth until there stop being Schnauzers. To the AKC, this makes him "better" than a BC mix that herds reindeer in Alaska (ok I'm stretching a little, gimme a break I should be asleep).

Gatsby is, for all intents and purposes, a random bred dog. There was no outside validation of breeding stock, there was no comparison of sires, there was no health testing, there were just two Schnauzers in one room.

He's a great dog, but he's not really what the AKC had in mind (good earthdogs are not scared of rats and tunnels).

And yet they will take him over the BC mix that was bred for work, who's parents were chosen for their ability to take reindeer from one place and put them in another place, who had record of producing good working pups in the past, who were OFA'd and CERF'd because a working dog going lame at three is a pretty bad deal, every. single. time. Because the two dogs in that room both looked the same.

So for doG's sake, let the damn dogs run, you bunch of filthy dirty apes.