We Are All Human ...ALL of us, even Susan Garret

SG posted a video of two spills Swagger had on the warm up day at Ontario East Regionals. They weren't fun to watch - in one clip he wiped out as he came blasting off the dog walk in the other he lost his footing as he took off for a jump and somersaulted through it. In both cases he jumps right up and is, as far as I can tell, ready for more. She clearly states that spills like this are why she hates doing agility in the rain. But she needs to do agility in the rain. If she's representing Canada and flown half way around the world and it's raining she has a responsibility to run. (She also has a responsibility to keep her dogs safe - and I am quite sure if she knew conditions crossed from unpleasant to unsafe she would pull them no matter where she was).

Conditions and equipment weren't unsafe in this case. They were wet and unpleasant and Swagger is a young dog who doesn't let a little something like wet grass slow him down. He may have learned a valuable lesson about how to keep his balance on Friday. I am sure SG will be doing more rain work with him this summer too.  SG is an athlete who knows her dogs are athletes. She keeps herself in good shape, working with a trainer, paying attention to what she eats. She does the same for her dogs. 

She is NOT a weekend warrior who only runs in the rain if she paid an entry fee. Her dogs work in all conditions, on varied surfaces and they need to. Should she have pulled Swagger? No more than any other dog there should have been pulled, perhaps much less than many should have been. I wasn't there. I was an hour away thinking "Yuck today is gross I am glad I am not playing agility today". The trial hosts have lots of experience with agility and I haven't heard a whisper that they thought about stopping the event. 

Were there other dogs there that maybe should have been pulled? I'm going out on a limb here and guessing yes - there were probably dogs running there who shouldn't have been running no matter the weather conditions. Urban dictionary suggests a weekend warrior is "a person who holds a regular job during the week which restricts their ability to party/go on trips/partake in awesome activities, and thus plans epic weekend adventures to compensate."  in terms of agility I worry that weekend warrior dogs go to class/training once a week and get leashed walks once or twice a day with little opportunity to truly build fitness or muscle memory for the obstacles we expect them to do.

 It's pretty hard emotionally to withdraw from any competition. You've paid your entry (not cheap for our sport), changed your schedule, perhaps traveled a long distance and then you realize  you shouldn't be there. Peer pressure is likely going to come into play. I have heard people say "she doesn't look that bad" and "maybe he'll work out of it"  to people with a sore dog. Nobody wants to be the one to say "Why would you run that dog now? You may do irreparable damage if you do". Being negative is no fun. We have huge demands placed on us to "suck it up" "be tough" and "get the job done".  Pulling out runs counter to all of those things. Last year when I had to withdraw from Regionals to work I felt enormous pressure to do it all somehow  - and that was actually physically impossible!

I totally get why people want to play - and I think they should play. I also believe that they should not cast stones without a good  hard look in the mirror.  There is a very big difference in asking "Why didn't you pull your dog?" and "You have completely lost my respect" (just one of a slew of frankly hostile comments on the SG video). We are all human. SG made the same choice everyone else did on Friday. Swagger fell, twice. With games and sports comes risk. Would I be terribly upset if it had been my dog? Yes. Was SG upset? It sure seems she was. Was Swagger upset? Not so much - he won the gambler's class yesterday and was second in standard. I have every confidence that SG will get him the best care and work out a solid plan of action to help him recover from any trauma (physical or mental) he may have suffered and learn to deal with varied conditions better. While she may be sorry she posted the video I am glad she did. It's provoked conversation and thinking - and perhaps more weekend warriors will actually think and withdraw from events when it's in their and their dog's best interest, rather than simply tell other people what to do when they aren't even present!

Sure hope Swagger and SG are ok!

Life is about timing ...

so says Carl Lewis (with 10 Olympic medals to his name who am I to argue?)

Dog training is surely about timing too. The impact of reward, punishment (if you use it) No Reward Markers (if you use them) and cues are all profoundly affected by timing.

Tom had the big dawgs out for a road walk yesterday and I wanted to play with shaping. I had nothing in mind but a happy Thea and Brody were staring at me.  I played some tug with Thea which she loved and then started shaping Brody to "go to bed". We had a friend over watching and she was fascinated by the process of shaping. She didn't understand why there was no cue. (I didn't understand how Brody has lived with us nearly 11 years and had never been taught this- it's a great great foundation behaviour).

Sally has "go to..." down to a fine art ..even when she doesn't quite fit!

I was very quickly able to get a down on the bed as Brody has done a fair bit of shaping and was very quick to understand what was paying. He had a couple of typical, for him at least, gap out moments where he stood and stared at me or sniffed the floor but I didn't fall for it. I held out for a down on the bed and sure enough I got it. Going backwards in marking behaviour (which I would have been doing if I had marked him looking at the bed after he was already getting on it) is so tempting but ultimately slows things way down. The Training Marketing Queen of Canada (TMQ?) , Susan Garret has an expression: "average or better".

I'd heard of her before but this book hooked me
The fact Sally was doing her thing as I read it probably helped
TMQ - thank you!

It's a great phrase and one that is influencing my day to day work with the dogs. Why reward something that is regressive in nature? If your timing is average or better - don't do it! Hold out and then pay well for excellence. I have always thought there was value in meritocracy, at least ideologically if not practically. Dog training is a great place to practice this principle. (So is my day job actually!)

It's pretty hard for any of us to ignore Thea

Keeping it real ... and some rambling ...

Run Sally

Balancing my natural optimism, pragmatism and realism (in life not just agility) can feel like a bit of a juggling act. I don't want to be pollyanna-ish (from the World English dictionary: Pollyanna:n. a person who is constantly or excessively optimistic) and annoy those around me but by nature I'm pretty take it as it comes and make the best of what you have. That isn't to say I can't be plunged into a funk or completely situationally overwhelmed but I can often get my groove back reasonably quickly. I'm very very fortunate that way - and believe me, I do appreciate that!

Animals ground me. They give me an outlet for emotion that is non judgemental and positive. They allow me to be entirely true to who I am (or think I am) which allows me to rehearse being true to me. That means I can bring that sense out when something is difficult. I have a bit of a reputation at work for speaking my mind no matter who I am addressing (apparently Superintendents are rarely told they don't quite get an issue and then educated about it- whoops!).

Brody keeps me real.

When I reflected on the brand that is Susan Garrett last month I left something out. I left it out on purpose because while this blog feels private (or shared in a small circle now)  it is very public. I also have not gone to Say Yes because there are people who would pay to attend the same workshop as me in the hopes that Susan would go after me publicly. They think that would be entertaining to watch as I am not easily intimidated. I didn't include this info in my last post as I don't know SG personally at all and had no clue if she knew there was a perception of her that included a yelling, losing it side. She wrote a post last night that makes it obvious she does know she has this side so I can include it as a further demonstration of my mixed up personality.

I am a great believer in capturing a good feeling and holding it so you can bring it back when you need it. I use this technique in life and agility often. I am also quite committed to the notion that you can and should plan interactions. Rehearse and visualize success but be prepared to adapt if need be. Stands me in good stead doing lawn agility and in the classroom.

Agility NOW please - enough talking - more action!

Quiz will be leaving us this week. It's taking some deep pulls from my fatalistic what will be will be side to be OK with this. She is going to a fabulous home that is part of the larger extended family of the rescue I work with so all is good but will Sally and I ever miss her. (The boys not quite so much).

Have been paid some very nice compliments during and since Nationals including "you have more just plain fun with your dogs than anyone I know!" from a fabulous handler/judge running fabulous dogs. That means more to me than just about anything*. I hope the dogs have fun with me too!

Pay somebody a compliment today - you may never know the power you give them!


Speaking of which - I am very proud of Sally's sister Sophie. She ran steeplechase at Nationals and did a heck of a job in a very distracting new environment staying right with her mom! They both were a pleasure to watch and be with. Nancy -you've done me proud! And I can promise you neither Brody nor Sally would have made it nearly as far in the weave ole challange either!!


* including being, forgive me, NATIONALLY ranked! Still blows me away!

Oh SG!

Yup that "SG" Susan Garret, the icon of Canadian Agility ... the one I thought was married to Greg Derret until I figured out their names were not the same! They are connected though, Susan uses Greg's system and that seems to work very very well for her. I look forward to one day saying I use Such and Such System but that day ain't here yet. I use my own system ~ I should call it the SWUCADWW system (shape what you can and do what works).

Susan uses lots of acronyms. DWDH = don't want to don't have to is one example. IYC is another  - It's Your Choice ... another way of saying what I have called Doggy |Zen for many years.
Susan's disciples try to use her voice. "Weave-aahss" took me way too long to understand." READY? READY?" and  "GIRLY" are two others you hear a LOT of up here.
Susan (along with lots of other great trainers) has INCREDIBLE timing!

None of which is to in any way knock the fine lady. She is an astute business woman and a very successful dog trainer. Watching her webinars and seminars; reading her books and blog; watching her videos etc is really educational and I often find it affirming. I love her emphasis on shaping; her insistence on looking at punishment as a human failure not a dog failure; her concept of being the cookie for the dog and the fact that she trains in short often interrupted chunks (just like me!) She encourages humans to allow mistakes and work with and from them.

There is a great video out there where Susan gives credit to bad trainers who build drive. I may have shared the link before but it cracks me up every time I think about it and makes a very good point. Distraction training is big in SG World and it's important to mine. I got distracted half way through this post by the chickens yelling - went out to investigate and all seemed fine so I grabbed a minute to wok on weave entries (completely forgetting the computer was on). About 4 minutes into our session a CHICKEN came looking for me!! We had worked through a new rabbit and a guinea pig being on the lawn grazing already and Miss Herding Sally was more distracted that expected by that; so I really thought a chicken was a bit much. A loose chicken in her weave poles! She finished the poles, I praised her and put Sampson, Sally and Brody back in the house with LOADS of praise.

I live relatively close to Say Yes and could, in theory, train with SG at least sometimes. There are a few reasons I haven't (yet) and one is probably that many many people keep telling me I really MUST. Telling me I MUST anything is a great way to make me DWDH personally. I also am not convinced of the necessity of a head collar and until I can be totally cooperative with the training plan it doesn't make a lot of sense. I can see times that a head collar could be a very useful tool but I do not yet see why all puppies need it. The absolute insistence on tugging as the be all and end of all of rewards is also a tough one for me to work through. I like tugging, don't get me wrong but I don't think it's the ultimate reward for many dogs.

She was in my group at Regionals. Which was super cool. She was pleasant enough in passing but quite in her own head space.  (Which is totally fair; I was in my own head space too.) She made a comment in passing about not liking how punative many people were at Regionals on a coaching call I watched. I suspect a whole whack of people suddenly raised their bar higher because SG was watching them and therefore got more frustrated with their dogs then usual. I made a conscious effort not to change anything for the audience and as far as I know I succeeded but I could feel the temptation.

I didn't realize it at the time but I got to meet Swagger. A cute puppy sniffed me very deeply at the raffle draw and I laughed and made some comment about smelling irresistible to dogs. Eau De Rabbit is pretty sweet. The Garrett group  didn't really understand but I had fed and watered the rabbits that morning before driving up to Regionals. My guess is Swagger hadn't smelled rabbit before!

She fascinates me. She enthralls me. My personality is not given to cult like behaviour.I love Crate Games. I have an audio with her  running behind me as I type this and it's LOADED with good stuff. Her puppy peaks introductory webinars cover lots of great stuff and are worth watching.

are you ever really ready?

I'm always ready and never ready at the same time. Not sure how else to put it but getting my game on involves this unbalanced feeling of did I do enough? do I have the right materials at hand? is my head in the right space? what else can I do? I always feel like there is more to do  ... and of course organizing the home front adds a whole other dimension when I'm going to be away a day or two.

It sounds ridiculous but my BIGGEST stress by far is the other people in the group I am running Sally in. I so feel like a B team player got thrown in with the big guns. I'm thrilled on the one hand - because I'm dying to watch them run and have never gotten to see many of the international members run but on the other hand I'm thinking - oh my word ... if the holes show up (and they probably will - these are tougher longer courses than Sally and I are used to) our B class status will be so apparent.  I'm pretty sure I can focus and do the job I need to do (other people don't worry me generally) but this is going to be another test.* No doubt at all.

Sally ran like a contender last night - fast accurate and she hit all her contacts (tipping off one but hitting it fair and square). I wasn't thrilled with her performance as she needed a BIG reminder as she hit the down sides and I don't like shouting at the dogs but it worked. So now I have to remember to do it this weekend.  I know I should only want her at her fastest most driven speed but I could handle a slightly more thoughtful dog more easily - awful eh? Sally and Brody both weaved like ROCKSTARS .. I was  amazed.

Brody did something he has NEVER done before - he actually  raced  ran ahead of me. He was Brody - steady and accurate -but he was flying ... flying I tell you. What fun! Except of course I don't know how to run him like that ... I just pretended he was Sally and all was good though.

* Seeing one of the ICONS of Canadian agility is in the ring with one of her superstar dogs RIGHT after Sally is probably what provoked this mini melt down ~ anybody need a nice dog to run at regionals? anybody? anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

Thinking thinking thinking .. who has a fire extinguisher?

Working on goal setting and not sure which end to start with - little goals first or BIG goals first ... making myself crazy here so time to surf and watch videos I've never seen . (And share them of course)

A really happy puppy playing/learning video - what a neat mix of play and work .. inspirational really. I love the reward behind for a stay - that's something I've said I'd do for ages but have yet to work into a session!

Easy, Snap, Maggie and Rumor doing some LAT, reorienting etc in a big open field. I 'gots me' some work to do ;) I think it's quite cute the way Rumour won't leave Leslie alone! Control Unleashed continues to influence my thinking. While every technique isn't for this group of dogs the overall principles fit nicely with my philosophy. Do I EVER use the relaxing on the mat with Miss Sally pants! Actually that would be a good snow day project. Time for Sampson to learn a go to place behaviour - or at least start it :)

This video truly is my all time favourite inspiration for working with Sally when she's high as a kite .. while I don't label anybody trying to work with their dog a "bad" trainer it does keep me motivated to hold consistent criteria and reward the good work I do get from the wild child. If Sally wasn't in my life my comprehension of this video would be minimal.

100 % recall

Susan Garrett posted a link to a survey she asked folks to complete - I'm really bad at links but I suspect those of you who might be interested already keep an eye on her blog. (If not, ask and I'll post the link). She is trying to find out about recall rates.

She asked if any of your dogs had a 100% recall and two of our dogs do. I could not think of a situation that Brody or Sally won't come in if I go to fail safe recalling. We have different levels of recall around here .. just saying the dogs name means look at us, a "check in" means circle back towards us until we holler OK then off you go again.. stay close means stay within flexi lead distance .. 'this way' means join on us the trail we are on and "HERE" means come to sit in front of us (or stand if you are a tiny dog) and stay close until you get another direction. "Come" simply means head our way til you here what my slow brain is actually processing.

I am not a dog trainer and chose to simply manage a lot of behaviours. My dogs will eat cat food if they get a chance and raid a garbage can too. My dogs jump on some of their favourite people (who, let's be serious, encourage them). Our dogs are primarily companions though and a solid recall can be life and death for them. They don't live in crates so could conceivably sneak out the front door when there is a delivery made - they'd better come back if they head for the road.

We are very fortunate to walk on a 107 acre property - but there are deer trails, baby ducklings, coyotes, hawks, wild turkeys, tractors doing work, atvs etc as distractions. If a dog's recall isn't pretty solid you can't exactly let them off leash in the face of those potential distractions. We want to be able to have our dogs running off leash and enjoying the great smells. So, I teach a rocking recall!

I often have a clicker in my pocket on walks, I often have some treats - sometimes just kibble sometimes something FABULOUS. Once the dogs know the terms sometimes they get a reward sometimes they don't.

Thea's recall is probably about 80% - she is the third wheel dog in my training life so I'm pretty impressed with 80% now that I think about it. I cheat with Thea too - I pick her up when the hawks are close for example. It's kind of challenging having a 6 pound dog who thinks she's a big farm dog too.

Sampson's recall improves every day - in some situations he's 50% in some he's 70+. His issue is he hasn't really mastered the art of check in yet ... he's either slamming into a excellent recall right in front of me or got his nose to the ground with his tail flagging furiously as he inhales the odours of nature. My goals for him this summer are mastering the various comes and down :)

I enjoyed the survey - I found it thought provoking. It is quite interesting to me that folks who read Susan's blog might not have pretty solid recalls in all situations. What does the lily pictured above have to do with recall training? It was planted three years ago and finally flowered this year. It took faith and time to mature into the beauty you see now. (I'm lying about the reason for posting it though the story is true) It's the nicest picture I have on the computer that I'm sure you've never seen before! And I appreciate a thing of beauty so thought you might too.