Sunday Salutations and Dog Training Adventures
Happy last week of April. This has been a strange month for me. This week was particularly busy, as I entered my first rally competition, but being a complete noob at it, I turned just registering into an event of its own.
First, I had trouble with the entry forms. I ended up phoning a friend (actually three friends). If it had been a game show, I would have been eliminated.
Then, I got a little confused about how to get the entry form turned in, but our wonderful rally instructor helped me find a place to drop it off on the last day for entries… Which I am grateful for, just as I am grateful that the show did not fill up completely. Apparently, that happens.
But to get it entered, I had to have an Uber drive me about 30 minutes to drop off the form and drive me 30 minutes back. It was an adventure. I think the poor Uber driver thought I was insane, but not as silly as Tod thinks I am. (Tod didn’t drive me because he had to stay home for both work and to prep for guests.)
It was a lot. Then right after I got it dropped off, the wonderful organizer called me, verified where I had dropped it off, and the next day emailed confirming she got it.
On the same day as the Ubering around everywhere, Tod and I had from friends from out of town over but that was later. It was nice to see them and meet their dog. I got to talk dog training and writing with them. One of the things we talked about a lot was how hard it is to find good trainers.
This whole conversation made me really grateful that when I was in graduate school one of the other students in my lab introduced me to one of Houston’s local AKC training groups. While I never officially joined the club, I take classes with them. I know that I receive more balanced instruction than I would from the majority of dog groups or most retail instructors.
I am really grateful that I have experienced people I can turn to for training Crokell and any new puppy that comes into my life.
The whole dog training conversation made me think about good places to learn training if you don’t have a local group. I realized that online training videos only can give so much, and oddly you run into a different issue. With the local group, where you are matters so much that finding one that matches your schedule and can really teach is hard. The online ones… well, they are useful for refreshing existing knowledge, but they cannot give you the really hands on one-on-one that really makes a training experience. Still, there are some resources that I found to recommend to our friends. I’m not going to say they are the end all and be all, because I still think local groups and interactive training is best. But the resources I’ve been able to find are:
Service dog training fundamentals – this video is 45 minutes but broken into nice segments that are fairly well marked. I like his style because he does not use clickers (although he explains it for people that do), he talks during the training instead of having a lecture portion separate from the training. There is a lot of basic training and all through the video. It also shows the tricks and training techniques more than once. He also reviews a few common mistakes.
Video link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY8ajyiZgIY
Fundamentals – Has a lot of fundamentals and talks about using meal time for training.
Yes/Free – he shows how to do rewards and releases with marker words instead of a clicker.
Luring – He covers luring and the basics for simple tricks.
Sit – note that he teaches the hand signal first, with an emphasis on how fast the dog responds.
Down – I actually an in the middle of retraining Crokell on down, to decrease response time and teach it in a way that makes it less likely for him to sit halfway through a down.
Transition from hand to verbal commands – dogs respond better (generally) to hand signals. He covers transition to verbal for many commands.
One thing I like about it is he shows short training sessions and sometimes says, this is as far as I will go in this training session.
I found other videos for him as well. I am going to be going over how he teaches focused heel which is something that I struggle with Crokell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqnyEJu5jtU
Wean off treats – Dog training fundamentals – Kikopup
Trick dog training but she has some really good basic videos as well.
She is very good about going through different tricks and her basic ones tend to show multiple examples. Also goes though basics items as well. I like this one because I don’t use clickers and she sometimes uses one (but not always). Sometimes she uses marker words like “good” instead.
In this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDWLRiSSD58 she talks about varying the amount of treats based on how hard the task is, with some detailed basics.
She also covers determining the relative value of treats.
Here is a video about verbal cues without a treat but using a clicker. Although she is teaching the dog to jump on the couch… So your mileage for use may vary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y06CbxTs_Rc
Offered attention – Doggy U (includes service dog training fundamentals)
Video link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFTDHi6QCR8
She throws the treats on the floor for the dog often. I find this amusing because I focused so much on “leave it” that I would have a hard time training the way she does. However, she does say if you have a service dog and don’t want them to eat off the floor, you can put their bowl on the ground and add the treat there. In a different video, she talks about when training a service dog, she rarely gives a standard dinner because she gives the food during training instead.
I have been liking random Doggy U videos, but the sound clickers make is a bit painful to my ears. So it says something that I like her videos despite the clicks. LOL
I really like some of her full descriptions, but she sometimes talks a lot.
She does go through a lot of basic items, has a free mini course, and a paid course including service dog training. (I have not seen the paid videos.)
She has more advanced games like Engage / Disengage, which is something I need to work on with Crokell. He is often too interested in things other than me during training. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5OANGG342Y
Dog Whisperer – treadmills and basics of walking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87cPFvoJyHI (Full explanation but showing with a second dog. Also talks about weaning off of treats.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36dzdJEjQ6M (With older dog and a basic walk.)
The Dog Whisper isn’t really about dog training so much as dog behavior and how to interact with dogs. I think the part that people really need to see and understand is, if you watch how Cesar moves, he is calm and assured. That energy (for lack of a better word) is what makes him good. It is the energy I try to replicate. (She’s pretty good at it. -Tod) I have seen trainers become frustrated with their dogs or themselves and I feel that that is what truly shuts down a dog training session before than anything else. He has a new show, but I have never watched it.
Note, he does not use leashes on treadmills, since it is safer to not do so.
So, my question for today is what is the most useful animal training resource you have ever found? If it is an online resource, please feel free to drop in a link, I would love to check it out. And be sure to tell us why you love it!
~Anna and Tod
