DogStar's DogBiz Blog

After a long absence, we return...

(8th entry in journal)

Guest author: The Pooch Professor

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted last. I'm a slacker. In truth, I've been busier than a one-armed paper-hanger. My dogs and their needs have been minimally met this last month or so. It's sad.

Anyway, I thought I had abandoned the project, but I decided to revive it before I posted tonight. I was pleased with the results I saw just now, though I hadn't been convinced I'd get them.

An aside

(7th entry in journal)

Guest author: The Pooch Professor

In my last post I referred to an incident where the dowel was in the kitchen after I threw it, and she ran in but didn't pick it up. She came back an looked at me, and I ignored her and just stared at the dowel.

I was trying to "mind-meld" with her. I read somewhere that dogs look where we look, and I've tried several times now with multiple dogs to "will" them to pick up something or go to a certain place by looking from them to the place, and back to them, and back to the place. Kind of like pointing with my eyes, or creating a path to the item or place with my eyes. It never works.

I don't think it worked this time, either; I think she remembered the dowel eventually and went to it. <shrug>

I would love to know if that concept works, though. I mean, when you point at something, the dog looks at your finger, so I read that you should use your eyes as a pointer, instead.

I just can't make it work. Anyone had success with it?

Too much, too soon...

(6th entry in journal)

Guest author: The Pooch Professor

No, I didn't fall in a hole! My first Basic Obedience classes for the year started last week, and it's been a bit hectic. Plus, my 14-year-old Schnauzer has been sick; we are afraid he is going into kidney failure (diabetes was ruled out) because he is drinking tons and peeing tons and cannot always get comfortable. It doesn't sound like much, but he's nearly blind, so taking him out every hour is a challenge. We have an appointment Saturday for bloodwork. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I have had 2 retrieving sessions with the Dervinator since I wrote last; one was on the 15th, and the latest was Sunday the 22nd. The first did not end well, but that was totally my fault.

January 15th
All the other dogs are outside, and Derv and I are in the living room alone. I figure, why not? I get the supplies and she gets revved up. I sit on the sofa and drop the dowel at my feet. She spins around a few times and tries a few tricks. When nothing works, she decides to pick up the dowel. C/T. I toss it down again, and this time she picks it up and brings it to my hand, which I am holding about a foot off the ground, palm open. We are now back where we left off, albeit in a different (and larger) venue. So far, so good. She is not leashed.

After a few successes, I toss the dowel a few feet away. She brings it back. Then, I set it up on the edge of the couch. She doesn't see me do so, and looks around for it. Then she spies it. She leaps up on the couch and grabs for it, but it falls. She leaps down, and I grab it and put it back on the couch. Again she jumps up there, and this time gets a hold of it, but cannot get back off the couch with it in her mouth. She keeps dropping it. She clearly doesn't understand the "hold."

I finally grab it and we go back to the floor stuff. I get a couple of successes, still with my hand open and waiting, and then I get bold. I throw it about 10 feet away, into the kitchen. She dashes in there, starts to pick it up, and then leaves it to come back towards me. I ignore her and continue to stare at it on the kitchen floor. My hand is prepared to receive.

She goes back in there, picks it up, and brings it to me! Woo hoo! She gets several treats for that. I decide to try one more...

What was I thinking? My throw gets wedged partly under the edge of the fridge. Dang! She grasps it, but when she meets resistance, she lets go. She looks at me. I tell her to "get it." (I have not given her ANY verbal instruction yet in any of our sessions except "take it" when I cheated and put it up to her lips the first time.) She tries again. It appears stuck. I'm excited that's she has not given up yet, but I don't know if that's because of the pending treat, or because she wants the dowel.

I am fidgeting. I want soooo badly to help her, but I don't. It's not unretrieveable. I wait.

She runs back toward me with that look..."what do you want me to do?" "Go get it," I tell her.

She goes back, grasps it firmly, and wrests it out from under the fridge! What a good dog! I am thrilled and I praise her.

Is that where I mess up? She heads 3 or 4 steps in my direction with it still in her mouth, and then I see my successes melt away. When she gets to the kitchen door, she turns right with it and runs off to the other end of the room, behind me, where she drops it. I feel like Charlie Brown...."aaaauuuuuugggghhhh!" Game over!

Yes, it is my fault. She should have been leashed; she wouldn't have run off. I shouldn't have thrown it so far and created (unwittingly) an obstacle to the retrieve yet. I smack myself, and get up and get the dowel from the chair across the room. Derv has reverted to running about, and has forgotten about it. Session is over.

Time for a beer...or something a bit more stiff. I'm such a ding-dong. I KNEW better. This dog is too smart for this game.

January 22
Sigh...back to the dang bathroom. I have to see if she remembers the game. She does. We have success, even with throws. There's hardly any room to screw up in here.

She perform perfectly as long as my hand is in receptive position. If it is not out, she takes the dowel off to the side and either drops it or chews it. This isn't good.

We do about 10 repeats, then quit. It's time to check the rules again and see the next step, though I really want to work on "hold." It is a problem, and I feel like if I could get that fixed, things would progress quicker.

I definitely think she is enjoying the game, though I doubt she thinks I am in control. She's just humoring me.

Back on track?

(5th entry in journal)

Guest author: The Pooch Professor

Wednesday
Back to the bathroom we go--dog is leaping about because she saw me grab the treats and clicker. I take both the dowel and the roller cover. She is not interested in the roller cover at all, so I guess I'll wait until the retrieve is more solid before trying to re-introduce it.

I put the dowel on the floor. Now remember, the last time she saw it, she was on the table and ignored it.

 

Disinterested

(4th entry in journal)

Blog guest author: Mailey (aka) The Pooch Professor

We took the weekend off...lots going on.

Monday
More of the same. We seem to have hit a wall. She is still picking it up, but there's no way my hand is getting anywhere near it to touch it as it falls. It's almost as if she wants to keep it away from me. She continues to lie down, too, which gives me only a few inches to get a hand in there, anyway.

We quit early again.

You want me to do what?

(3rd entry in a journal)

Blog guest author: Mailey (aka) The Pooch Professor

Thursday:
Shirley wrote me back with some good suggestions and I replied with a few more questions. The biggest is, What to do about the turning away from me?

Her answer is to have the dog on leash to inhibit that, then C/T when she turns back to me. I can do that, but I hope she won't drop the dowel first.

We try another session.

The first few lessons begin

(2nd entry of a journal)

Blog guest author: Mailey (aka) The Pooch Professor

Equipment
I do not have a dumbell, the standard retrieve item, so I cut an 8" length of ½" wooden dowel.

For treats I am using cut up cooked chicken, one of the dog’s favorites. I have some other treat options that I may move to.

The dog: Whirling Dervish von Spin-a-Lot (aka Dervy) is a JRT mix I adopted from the Atlanta Humane Society when she was about 7 months old. She was a piece of work, let me tell you. She has some strange behaviors still, but with lots of hard work I have gotten her to a much nicer, more obedient place. I'm convinced she is pure puppymill stock, though aside from a torn meniscus a few yeas ago, she hasn't had any health problems...yet. She's pure Terrier (I swore I'd never have a JRT) and I am fiercely attached to her for some crazy reason. Maybe it's because I see her as the risk-taking part of my own psyche. I celebrate her spunk, but she must be an obedient dog--I can't have it any other way.

Onward!
I follow Shirley’s instructions to a T, at first–including not letting the dog interact with the dowel until I’m ready to click. I like to clicker train in the bathroom, as it is small and non-distracting.

Retrieve without "balance"?

Blog Guest Author: Mailey (aka The Pooch Professor)

This is the story of an experiment. It’s not an especially daring experiment, but as I am not convinced that it will succeed as planned, I suppose you could say I’m a bit skeptical.

I’ve been training dogs for as long as I can recall, but only training people to train their dogs for about 6 years now. I’ve never trained a dog to retrieve. Since I do pet dog training, not competition or hunting training, it never seemed necessary. I’ve helped many clients shape retrieves in their dogs, dogs who already liked to retrieve but didn’t always understand the mechanics of it. My own dogs have been the same–if they liked it, I shaped it. Fetching a ball or toy is a great game for many dogs, and it fosters cooperation for the handler (as well as exercising the dog). So it’s not that I thought retrieving was not necessary, it’s just that I didn’t feel it was essential for a dog unless he had the innate drive for it. Did he HAVE to retrieve on cue? For a long time, my answer was no.