Continuing Ed - Topic three - week two, first week with dogs

Week 2 - First week with dogs:

HANDLING THE STRESSY BOISTEROUS GROUP
Sometimes they come in with tails wagging and it's wonderful and everyone is smiling ... and sometimes it's chaos ...

Stress has a ripple effect in the classroom. The first week with dogs is always a bit chaotic. Arrive early. Get your thoughts together, your supplies ready. Review your profile scores and review the personalities and issues. Decide in advance how you might seat them and be ready to revise that plan as you size up their stress level as they arrive. Greet each student in a calm, positive manner and give them proactive direction and instruction. If you are hollering directions commando style, you will add to the stress level, not reduce it. If your eyebrows fly off your head, your students will believe the situation is way worse than it is! Take a deep breath. Smile. Be gracious and helpful.

Quietly body block and redirect, don't grab leashes unless it is an emergency. If you see a "Tarzan" swinging in the front door on a vine, step between him and the target of his launch and get his attention on you. Don't "knee your human students in the chest" for poor greeting behavior. No student should go home feeling like they "got in trouble" - it isn't the words you say but how you say it - the urgency in your voice that infers impatience or frustration - the context. Be positive and encouraging and focus on what you WANT the student to do, not what you don't: "Oh, who's this? Aren't you adorable? She's awfully excited/a little worried/not sure about this whole situation isn't she? Let's take her over here where she can have a little bit more room. Keep her close (demonstrate how many inches of leash and how to hold it), feed her some treats and help her get settled in." Then help the student redirect and guide the dog gently to their seat. Avoid grabbing leashes and scolding students for not watching their dogs.

The students are as nervous and excited as their dogs. They may be worried that their dog is going to embarrass them, that they didn't work as hard as they should have, that they are inept, clumsy and just don't get it. As Cathy F says, "it's a humbling experience to train a dog!" Some blame themselves, others blame the technique for the dog's difficulties, others blame the dog.

De-stress your students. "Let's all take a deep breath ... and let it out - 2-3-4." "Everybody yawn a great big yawn. Relax your shoulders and smile." There will be a little confused laughter and a whole lot of stress relief on BOTH ends of the leash. "Now you have a cover - if I'm incredibly boring and you all start yawning, you can tell me it's because your dog is feeling stressed and you're trying to make him feel better."

The emotional (limbic) side of the brain can override the thinking (cognitive) side. A dog who is excited, nervous, defensive, and overwrought can't learn - he can't even think. If he is out of his mind with excitement you have to ground him and connect with him before you can even attempt to train him.

This is a great quote from Nancy Royse's homework:
The competing level, depending on the individual human and dog, are the social skills that are important to have to be part of any class. Where is your dog (and maybe even you) on the social skills continuum? Do you know why your dogs is staring, barking, growling, whining, hiding? How does your dogs behavior affect the other dogs? How can you help your dog get into what we call in special education the "learning zone"?

We know in special education that for children to learn their nervous system needs to be in a learning zone. It is best described as being in a state of calm alertness. Some children are unable to automatically be in the learning zone because of the way that there nervous systems function. Some children are pre-determined by their disabilities to either be below the zone, above the zone, or in some cases moving in and out of the zone without any real control from the child. Teachers and therapists need to understand where the child is based on the behaviors they present in the classroom, and know how to help that child change the function of their nervous system so that they can find the zone and then gradually learn how to stay there long enough to actually learn something. Many of the dogs I have seen in headstart demonstrate behaviors that correspond to behaviors exhibited by children with disabilities.

One of the first rules in special education is that children can not learn until they are in a safe supportive learning environment. I see the same thing happen in headstart. The instructor gently but firmly helps the humans understand what they need to do to support their dog in a positive way. The instructors position the dogs in the room to maximize positive interactions and minimize negative interactions. They create safe places for stressed dogs by using gates, or placing them in the alcove next to the bathroom or the office space off the main room. And then basically showing and telling the humans how to get their dogs attention, how to use calming signals, the importance of the human staying calm and relaxed. Fitting the dog with a gentle leader or prong collar, which can really help some dogs understand that the human is in charge and they can relax and let the human do their things. And many more….

Brenda's restraint massage (the dog seated between the handler's knees) goes very well here. Don't try the prone massage yet. Not until all the dogs are relaxed and comfortable - later in the class or later in the session, depending on the group. Don't expect the shy dog to feel safe enough to lie flat out.

Touch can rev or calm - it's all in how the touch is applied. Nervous, embarrassed handlers may pet their dogs frantically. Quiet easy strokes and low calm voices can mellow a hyper dog. Chirpy voices and rapid stroking will wind a dog up. (This goes for your teaching voice, too. Yelling to be heard above an agitated group in sharp staccato with animated directions will only make the energy level in the room rise.) The knee-jerk reaction to their difficulty calming down to "just get them up and moving" might backfire. Take a minute to regroup and settle. The room will reflect what you project.

Once the owners get them "in the learning zone" they can keep them there by remaining attentive and connected themselves. If their minds wander, so will their dog's. Keeping the dog working, continuing to reward for little things along the way. Reward them for doing 'nothing'. Reinforcing a calm down with intermittent rewards during a group settle down time can be a great way to tone down the energy level of the room and get dogs and handlers connecting.

"DON'T PET HIM WHILE HE'S GROWLING!!" Years ago I witnessed an instructor (not DITR) snap this order at a student who was trying to comfort her worried pup. The pup's owner's hand snatched off the dog like it had been burned with a hot poker and the woman looked hurt, confused and shocked. She didn't come back the next week. The information was valid, the delivery was AWFUL. Humans naturally comfort their dogs as they would a frightened child without realizing that they may be inadvertantly reinforcing the worry and the growl. Others will scold and punish, thinking they can snuff out the growl - while only increasing the anxiety and stress that caused the outburst. The instructor tried to snuff out the petting, and increased the anxiety and stress of the owner and embarrassed her in front of the other students.

Sue Sternberg's anchor hold. 2 ft of leash in both hands clamped between knees. No "give" - like a tree. Many dogs bungee away and are hauled back. They strain against the leash and get a few inches closer to where they want to go. They don't stop trying because it feels like they are getting somewhere. And often they do get somewhere. Sue advises ignoring all activity, but watching carefully with your peripheral vision - the instant the dog gives up and settles, mark it and reward with calm soothing praise and touch. Sue uses long, slow, firm grounding strokes down the spine.

And the Oscar goes to ....
Help the owners of the drama queen not be embarrassed or feel sorry for the dog who throws a tantrum. Explain that looking away and yawning is a calming signal. It also gives the owner of the drama queen a proactive way to ignore and not accidently reward the dog by paying attention to the behavior. Make light of it. Oh, he's Mel Gibson! Such acting ability! Let's not give him an audience - look away and pretend he's not there. Hold the leash still and just yawn like he's boring you to death.

USE the frustrated dog who has no impulse control for your demo. Sitting and waiting or watching another dog work is sheer torture for him and just as frustrating for the owner. Give him something to do - with you. Often these incredibly wild dogs make the most impressive demos as they are very animated and "get it" as loudly as they act out. Usually the next time you are looking for a demo dog, this will be the dog BEGGING you to choose him.

Use the dog who belongs to a handler with no timing. Yours may be the only clarity he gets during class - sometimes seeing you do it will really help the handler, and sometimes the dog goes back and covers for their lack of training ability and trains THEM!

The Lessons:

Perfect the hand signal, help them get beyond luring - check and troubleshoot with each student.

Kathie Wamsley had a great comment in her 1st topic homework: "Some of the dogs may already know the words or signals for sit and down, some may even have a start of "heel". These owners wonder why we even bother with the lure "my dog already knows it". I let the students know that luring is the foundation, and helps the handler and pup to form a working relationship. It helps with trust and understanding for the dog and when he does well he will receive a reward."

Trouble shooting:
Dog "won't" stand, continues to sit. Handler's hand is too high. Because the human brain thinks they have to get the dog's butt "up" - they raise the food "up" higher. Dog's body is like a teeter totter. The fulcrum is the dog's shoulders. To get the dog from a sit to a stand, the dog must shift its weight onto its forequarters and lean forward. Lifting the food lure higher keeps the weight on the rear and lifts the front. Other 'problem' is the dog is trying very hard to do what it knows works. Once the dog finds out that the stand is treatworthy, will begin to offer more readily. Stop feeding the sit and only feed the stand for a few days. Remind the students that their dogs are best at what they practice the most. If they are lousy at "stand" it's mostly because they haven't practiced it as much as they have the other two positions.

Dog is struggling on stand to down. Many handlers are trying an "L" or forward motion with the lure - dog walks forward or sits and then downs. Dog must rock back, accordian style to drop in one piece from a stand to a down. The food lure moves TOWARD the dog at a 45 degree angle from the nose to the floor between the paws, under the dog's chest. Food lure stops between the dog's paws, dog's chin should be flat to the floor to flatten the shoulders, not tucked under with neck arched and flexed chin-to-chest.

Dog pops right back up. They are most likely feeding out of position (delivering the food after the dog gets up or fishing for treats between positions). Show them how to have several rewards ready and deliver one at a time with a slight pause in between, gradually adding a little more time delay between deliveries to help the dog remain in position for a succession of treats for the SAME position. Explain that this is how we teach "stay"!

How and when to add verbal cue, first as label: AS dog is on his way to the cued position, right before the "yes!" > next, give cue before hand signal > dog becomes aware of the association. Dog begins to recognize that one predicts the other and anticipates > fade visual signal/body language prompt > dog learns to perform behavior position changes on verbal cue only. Teaches the handler the concept of "quality goes in before the label goes on" - add cue when "willing to bet $5 the dog is GOING to perform the behavior" (80% or better chance) before adding verbal cue pre-behavior. "Sometimes he won't do it" - "won't" is usually a case missing critical information (body language) the dog is actually following - no cue=no behavior. Stage of learning, not refusal.

Discuss what verbal cues they might choose and pros and cons (rhyming words, like bow and down) the importance of single commands - sit, not sit-sit-sit ... moo is what a cow says, moo-moo is what your mother wore. Family consistency and tone of voice, i.e.: "sit! - si-i-t? - can you sit? - Buffy sit - sit down. Come, come here, hurry up, come on, get in here, come Buffy, Buffy come, I mean it!" Spoken language is a foreign language to our dogs. We must make ourselves as clear as possible, so our dogs aren't confronted with an imitation of Yoda: 'strangely sometimes speak we humans!'

Centered sit in front > foundation for not jumping up > turn away for jump up (neutral no-reward marker vs physical correction/verbal reprimand) > later will be a ‘front' following a recall > an attention/eye contact position > the offered behavior for speed trials in clicker class (offered sits/click-toss treat), front position for "back" "spin" etc. "Tune-in to handler/tune-out distractions" spot for managing distracting situations.

Set-ups: add sits at heel on right and left > teaches dog that ‘sit' is in any position relative to the handler and how to follow the lure. Teaches the handler to effectively lure > teaches dog to circle around into heel position > return to position when dog forges while walking > the formal finish later. Example: Karate Kid: "Wax-on/Wax-off" - clockwise circle to right, counter-clockwise circle to left. Have them practice the hand motion while seated without dogs before sending them to do the exercise with the dog. This prevents them from circling the dog the wrong way. Human muscle memorization before adding the dog to the equation. (Illustration page 55 in handbook)

Leash work progression:
week two - first week with dogs:

Follow food backward (a la CTH) > teaches handler how to lure and teaches the dog to target moving heel position next to leg without triggering any previously learned pulling reflex. Teaches handler to mark appropriate position with verbal "yes" > lays foundation for following lure back into position when forges. Teaches handler what loose leash feels like and to keep food in hand on same side dog is on. Keeps shoulders square and prevents twisting.

Follow food, turn dog around go forward > foundation laid with set-up exercise > dog learns muscle memorization of target heel position > learns how to return to heel position if forges > later: becomes hand target in clicker class > finish hand signal.

Loose magnet in heel position: 1 step at a time > then 2 > then 3 > then random. Teaches handler to get beyond lure stage. Food is up at shoulder, focuses dog UP at handler's face and off the ground > teaches dog to choose handler vs environment > mark position and attention with "yes!" THEN delivers food from their face to dog's mouth (in target heel position). Build steps and a foundation for moving attention. Add turns, circles L & R.

Diane had a great outline for how she introduces the progressions using Brenda Aloff's back-away:
One of my favorite techniques from Brenda Aloff is the "back away". It has proved successful in many ways. I teach this week one as the beginnings of the recall. It teaches the dog to become automatic in it's moving toward the handler when they move backward. The handler learns from this to feed in the desired position--at their leg, and that helps them learn to reward the dog IN POSITION. It helps them with timing, and paying attention to where the dog actually IS when they reward. After the back away, the handler moves forward again with a "let's go". This is great practice for the dog to heel, but not long enough to get distracted and get out of position before the handler repeats the back away, and the dog comes to their side. As the handler moves forward again, the dog does a "get in" in order to go forward, and neither of them realize it. So when you teach the "get in" they already have it, just fine tuning needed.

This move then flows into the follow food exercise, which includes the handler turning and walking backward. Then we try it with follow food, get in, heel, back away, go forward, recall front (! the added new move!) forward, back away, follow food, etc. I will mix all of these up and call it as they practice. Both dogs and handlers have to listen for what's coming next, and they both have a chance to practice how all these moves slide nicely from one to the other.

EQUIPMENT CHOICES

Collars: Gentle Leaders, prong collars, easy walk, premier, buckle, etc.

Leashes: Leather, nylon, how long? (waist leashes, retractable, chain leashes, bungee leashes, leashes with extra handles ...)

Other tools:
Binaca, lemon juice and spray bottles, citronella collars, scat mats, rug runners, x-mats, booby traps, penny cans, bean bags, "invisible" fences

Techniques:
Enforced downs, lifted sits, Fisher walk-away, Leslie Nelson time-out the door.

Your assignment:

1. What settle-down and attention exercises do you use in your classes?

2. Describe how each of the above works and explain, in detail, reasons when and why you would NOT use each of the above tools or techniques.

3. Describe your leashwork progression for teaching a target position and loose leash on week 2. (Diane already did!) Remember, the important part is to plan how the building blocks build one on top of the other.