Process or End Product, is it a question of attitude?

    As a dog trainer, I am often struck by how much easier it is to teach dogs than it is to teach people.  People are so very hard to train.  I have spent a lot of time thinking about how best to teach humans.  I really think a lot about the different ways people learn to get across my message.  How many different inputs can I give them?  How can I quickly assess the style that works best for the student.  How can I have a broad stroke approach for a group of people?  How do I deal with a student who actively resists what I am teaching?  How do I tailor my message to sway the resistant?  Maybe I think too much about this...I should just use puppy dog eyes to sway the humans...

Sway, begging you to listen & giving "the look".

    One of the great things about gaining a little knowledge about dog training is that you think you know a lot.  And in some ways, that's very true, if you know a little more than someone else, you are more knowledgeable.  A friend and I were chatting recently about how much we THOUGHT we knew during our twenties and thirties and how much we now know WE DON'T KNOW at the ripe old age of let's just say, over 45ish.  I did know some stuff when I started volunteering to teach classes, but the education I got from teaching what little I did know...priceless.  All the books, classes, seminars, and personal experience you have only kinda help when you have to stand in front of a human and actually teach.

    I quickly learned to read the humans, the puzzled faces, the people attempting to go thru the motions when they only kinda understand, the questions, those who confront you, or those who build walls rather than try.  I naively didn't realize that people could be highly invested in their dog being a BAD dog.  Or a STUPID dog.  Or a STUBBORN dog.  It never occured to me that people would want to blame the dog because they didn't want to feel inadequate as a human.  I get that human trait now, but I also don't get that concept personally.  Certainly some issues can seem too daunting to overcome.  Label it impossible and it 100% is.   

    So back to this Process vs. End Product shit Jayne. Seriously, I ramble, it's a problem.  I was at my gym, fighting the good fight to remain upright.  My trainer and assorted buddies were talking about University of Iowa Women's basketball phenom Caitlin Clark and I had to tell them about my half time demo experience.  We did a flyball demo at the half time of a Iowa Hawkeye Men's and Women's basketball game.  I had a liasion who told us when to go in and out as the set up, demo and tear down has to happen in about 8 minutes.  The men's game was pretty chill, half filled arena.  Once the half time buzzer rang, the guys walked off the court.  When it was all over they meandered back.  The very next night, the women's game was popping!  My liason was like okay, just so you know the women are going to move much quicker on and off the court.  When half time is over they'll be running back onto the court.  It was indeed a different game.  A full arena of screaming fans. Caitlin & crew were killing it.  When the buzzer rang, the women moved quickly off the court.  We did our thing and then they came running back onto the court.  I was struck by the difference in attitude.  The women's team was killing it, they played so intensely, and then they hustled on and off.  The men played basketball and they walked on and off.  No hurry.  No urgency.  Mentally I thought, wow, that difference right there is mind blowing. 

My trainer, super cool dude Brendon, was like yup, that says everything.  The sport fans in our small group launched into a discussion about the sporty differences between the Men's and Women's coaching styles etc and Brendon noted that some of it is just men vs women and their overall trainability.  He's spent a lot of time as a strength trainer for high school athletes and he said the girls will ask if they are doing the parts of an exercise correctly, and the boys will be focusing on the end product of how much they can lift.  He noted that the few boys who  focused on the process had far better gains than the other boys.  The girls had better gains as a whole.  Now I've definitely noticed gender differences in dog training classes.  Not all guys, but many are impatient, they don't want to do the small things, they'll try to do the BIG LIFT with their dog before they are ready.  Sigh.  I mostly assumed they didn't respect me as a woman trainer, telling them what to do.  Now I'm thinking maybe it's more complicated.

Do you even lift Brah? - Pixar

Why is this relevant to anything?  Well, while doing single leg glut bridges, I had the epiphany that I am 100% about the process of training.  About mastering all the steps right along the way.  While we all value the end product of whatever training behavior, the process is vitally important to me.  I thought I was just very detail oriented and persnickety.  My lesson plans focus on trying to getting people to work the process with their dog.  I have tried to condense things down for non training nerd consumption. It's a struggle because I have so very many more details I could put into each lesson.  It can feel like a battle to get people to understand and value the opportunity to work on the process pieces.  I suppose in some ways, it's an overall attitude.  Are you slowly walking toward the end product or are you purposefully putting effort into every step in the process to get the end product?  Do you push for the end product, that BIG LIFT vs making sure the process was clean and productive?  Do you have confidence that you can do more than just that 1 BIG LIFT?  

In dog training what is the BIG LIFT?  What about all those other muscles and moves.  Flexibility, functional movements, versatility, and endurance.  What else can you do?  Are you confident that your dog can do more than just the BIG LIFT?  What about with additional challenges, with extra competiton, travel, noise, adversity, stressed out tired humans?  I know that I want to give my dog's everything in training. To practice every possible scenario our dogs might face.  I want to personally give it my all when competing and look at challenges as a positive thing.  Something I want to tackle.  I am not walking slowly off court and slowly back on court.

Here's some video of Caitlin discussing her process to get that end product: 

As Caitlin said...she practices making those long shots, she had to get strong enough to make those shots, she has been investing in the process to get to this end product.  And in spite of being a phenomenal athlete, with plenty of ego and accolades, she could have walked slowly off court to the roar of 15,000 Hawkeye fans.  That same person who out scored everyone the night of that half time demo, was hustling off court and back on because the process is as important as the end product, and your attitude towards both is everything.  

HARD KNOCKS

Resilience, Acceptance and Moving On...

    Talk about a crushing blow.  Or maybe a ripping blow.  Either way, things were blown.  September 30th was a beautiful fall day.  It was a Friday, I had off work, I ran errands and came home to enjoy the day.  I swam the dogs and decided it was definitely the last time for the year.  The water was chilly even if the air temps were great.  Then I headed out to walk the gang around the yard.  They were overjoyed, I was enjoying the great weather and their antics.  The dogs ran off toward our hiking path.  Nothing out of the ordinary, until it wasn't.  I watched as Valley switched direction to cut from the right side of a tree to the left side.  In the blink of an eye, it was over.  She clipped her right shoulder on the tree.  I saw it.  I heard it.  Instantly she was screaming in pain & crumpled to the ground.  I knew it was very, very bad.  She could not stand or use her right front leg at all, she was struggling and in pain.  I picked her up and rushed back to the house.  I was yelling for Steve to come help, while trying to call the clinic and text my friend who works there at the same time.  I rushed her to the emergency clinic, where we got the good news, nothing broken, no pneumothorax, nothing except she was in shock, probably had a concussion and a brachial plexus injury.  There was no sensation in her leg.  I had been thinking about the next week and what my lovely puppy would get to do at CanAm.  The next moment I was just hoping she didn't have permanent brain damage and devastated to see her in pain.

    I was able to bring Valley home that night.  It was very hard to see our sweet girl struggling to move, but with meds her pain was under control.  The prevailing advice was wait two weeks to let the swelling go down to see how extensive the damage was to her nerves.  To complicate things, we had to leave on Tuesday to set up at CanAm.  The logistics of having a puppy who was struggling to walk, while camping and surrounded by concrete was emotionally overwhelming.  I am incredibly fortunate, that my wonderful vet offered to watch Valley.  So Valley spent a week, chilling and worming her way into their household.  She made a mysterious man, we'll only call Jimmy her new daddy.  It was an incredible weight lifted.  She could easily get out to potty.  No carrying her in and out of the camper.  Not carrying her thru a huge building to potty.  Moreover, not having the mental burden of explaining to people over and over what happened, not having to rehash the horror of seeing her hit that tree.  I was still processing what happened.  Over and over I would hear Valley's screams in my head.  It was a lot to deal with.  I felt like a zombie for a lot of the week.  I could not give flyball 100%.  I knew that, but I tried very hard.  I felt guilty for knowing my head wasn't in the game.  I felt guilty for feeling guilty because I know I'm hard on myself. Valley, meanwhile, was learning how to get around on 3 legs just fine.

Valley - the 1st few weeks

    When we got back, Valley was still within that 2 week recovery period but it wasn't looking good.  We hoped we were seeing some improvement but it wasn't much.  We tried some therapies but the recommendation was to see a Neurologist.  Ha.  Anyone tired to get into any veterinary specialist lately?  Strings were pulled, connections reached out to...and on October 17th we squeaked into a Neuro appt.  I hoped they had some magic wand to wave, but we already knew there was a strong possibility that amputation would be the end point.  Her leg was still dangly, it was in her way, but we kept hearing wait 6 months, wait 6 months.  For what?  Would she have any return of function?  What kind of function?  The neurologist had bad news and again mentioned waiting 6 months, but that it was unlikely that she would regain function.  Valley did a really good job when she hit that tree.  No one wants to tell you there is no hope.  I wanted to know that there was no hope.  I pressed him hard for answers.  When dogs do recover from this type of injury, did they look like Valley did now?  The answer was no.  I was fine with amputation,  I knew the deal, dogs end up injuring the leg they can't feel.  You have to protect it.  You have to keep them from eating their own leg too.  I mean...it's a real thing that happens with this type of injury.  We already saw that the leg was in her way as she adapted. Many tears were shed as I accepted his answer that she would not regain any function.  It was better knowing that than being in limbo for 6 more months. Then still amputate.  Better to do it now while she's younger and get on with life.  It was time to accept a far different path for Valley, but in many ways an easier one.  The next day, Valley's amputation was scheduled for 10/27.  Not what anyone wants to happen to their 5 month old puppy, but it is what it is.  

    Off to U-Fli Champs, my head was like 80% in the game.  That was better than 2 weeks prior.  Valley got to go back to Daddy Jimmy & the land of cuddles.  She certainly made some fans at my vet's house!  Amputation scheduled, things no longer up in the air.  I began to hope again.  Hope that Valley could have a pretty normal life.  Valley has never thought she couldn't have a fun life.  Me, well Valley is my long planned for puppy, the culmination of a lot of dreams.  She had so much potential for sports, and now, we shift our expectations.  It's a loss, but lost potential isn't really quantifiable (except in physics...very quantifiable).  Most importantly, we didn't lose her.  Valley is still the same silly, happy girl.  I struggled so much with what happened to her.  How could I have prevented it?  Why didn't I go a different direction on the walk.  Maybe I should chop down all my trees?  Never let the dogs run free?  Accidents happen. Shit happens.  Doesn't make it easier to know that.  It doesn't make it easier to see your sweet puppy struggling.  So we dropped off Valley and we picked her up Valley, minus the  dangly leg, plus a lot of staples.  She had to stay quiet initially, but you could instantly see that she was moving better without that leg.  

Valley 3.0

Just after amputation & restarting training

    Life moves on, we have let her figure out how to run again, to play again, to tug again, to live her zestiest life.  Now when you see her run, you do a double take.  Nope, still 3 paws, but she's making the most of those 3.  I worry about teaching her to play flyball safely.  I know I can, it's just an extra worry.  I worry about her long term stress on that remaining leg.  We got some great advice on how to help her avoid overuse of the remaining front leg.  How to prepare her for possibly needing a cart some day, hopefully long in the future.  Valley healed well, she's adjusted very well.  Sometimes she trips or falls but she gets up and gets back in action.  It'll likely take me longer to let go of the what ifs, if only, doubts and worries. It certainly has been a wild few months, and I need to remind myself that I can be as resilient and accepting as Valley is.  Recently a teammate said, this would be so sad, except that Valley is so happy.  And she is, Valley loves life, she doesn't care.  That's really all I want for her.  That's really what I want for all my dogs.  

    As a sports competitor, it's easy to get wrapped up in what dogs can do. Flyball...is all about speed.  Valley was impressing me even as a young puppy.  However when this happened, my dreams for her crumbled.  I felt crushed.  Then I slowly rebuilt those dreams.  She is happy.  She is super fun to train.  She is exactly the same as she has always been.  For that, I am so grateful.  She is still my dream puppy, we just have some new challenges in how we move forward.  Valley doesn't crumble under a challenge, and I won't either.  

   

Talking Dogs, Space Oddities, Communication Breakdown

 What the hell kind of title is that?  Well, it's not what you think.  

I have a whole Bachelor's degree in Speech & Hearing Sciences that I'm really not using.  Except it has taken on a fascinating new twist as I work to have a better relationship with my dogs.  I want to know more about what the dog can tell me.  Not with a fancy word button board, because while an interesting concept, I'm not lugging one with me to competitions.  I also don't know how you'd put emotions on the board.  I have been paying a lot of attention to Pixar's communication with me.  Partially because I didn't think about it a whole lot with Wire, but also because Pixar has had far less exposure to dog sport settings.  (Cue the violin as we sing about poor pandemic puppies).  In reality, I should be this attentive with all our dogs.  

Since my hamster sized dog Betty, I have not had a truly fearful dog.  I had some dogs go through fear periods, but nothing like Betty's global fear.  Where I had to continually monitor the situation as well as constantly looking to see what Betty noticed in the environment.  Now, some of it was nutty.  Like a folding chair.  A cat picture on a wall of a training facility.  A tree stump in the yard.  You just never knew what might scare her, and while it was totally illogical to me, it was terrifying to her.  I had to respect that her fears were just that...hers.  You might have some irrational fears yourself.  Spiders?  Snakes?  Flying?  Heights?  Fear of missing out?  Whatever your fears are, they are yours.  Someone out there keeps tarantulas & snakes as pets.  People love flying & even jump out of perfectly good planes too.  And there are levels to your fears right?  A little spider, no big deal.  A dark room full of spiders...that's a BIG DEAL.  

We were off to a new Toss & Fetch disc venue for Pixar.  Now Pixar is usually uber friendly with other dogs.  Too uber.  We've worked on not visiting and I've paid heavily for attention to me with treats & toy play.  And he LOVES disc.  But this time, we were going to the training yard of a dog park.  All the park areas converge at one entrance point.  There are lots of well meaning park goers who will let their dog get in your dog's face.  I had some challenges getting there, and I arrived RIGHT at our start time.  There was an incident with a metal tool spiked into my van tire.  Ugh!  That's the dog mobile!  It has crates & all my stuff in it.  Plan B, take my husband's truck!  It's got a extra cab, but now I have 3 dogs loose in the truck vs kenneled.  Ugh Ugh.  I threw 3 dogs, gear bag, extra gloves into the truck and almost forgot treats.  Dang it.  No treat bag.  Then couldn't find a treat bag, so I grabbed my daughters treat bag.  It's got a belt that was sized for a 9 year old's waist.  Better than nothing.  We roll up to the parking lot & Pixar is super amped seeing all the dogs.  And he's loose, in the truck.  Wire & Sway were like WTF dude!  I wanted to get my gear in the training yard, I knew Pixar was at the beginning of the run order.  I wisely got out of the truck alone first and grabbed my stuff.  I flailed around frantically changing the belt size, wrong way, shit, make it bigger.  I talked to my friend Peggy about the minor vehicle catastrophe & that helped me calm a bit.  Then I took a breath and just told myself to RELAX, and then magically I stopped fumbling.  I got the treat bag belt sized properly, put it on, grabbed my gear bag & then got Pixar out of the truck.  

Pixar was still very amped.  He wouldn't take treats, he would sniff them or grab one and spit it out.  I still marked if he checked in with me, even though he wasn't taking the treats.  He was dragging me as we walked vs our nice loose leash walking.  I let that happen because I knew I wasn't going to have the mindset to work on that without frustration on both our parts.  Sometimes perfect isn't going to happen...Let it go!  We negotiate the oncoming dogs with a short leash & made it into the training field area.  Then I got out a disc to use to reward him.  We found out we had to wait a while so we played some fun cued disc grabs and then he calmed down & could take treats again.  I was really proud of him for connecting with me and not focusing on the dogs playing disc in our immediate area.  He also was not paying attention to the general dog park melee on the other side of the chain link fence.  He was excited but functional and I knew we were connected.  We did our practice throw and I made sure to call him & play tug when he brought back the disc.  Then we did our turn.  He was focused & played hard, never noticing the dogs in our area or in the big dog park.  We leashed up & left with lovely walking, lots of cookies, several sniffs & pees.  It was great!  I will take that all as a huge success, especially with a young dog & a whole lot of chaos.  

After Pixar I worked thru Wire and Sway's turns.  The girls were both excellent.  Wire has been at this field before & practically led me in.  Sway was just happy I picked her to be the one for this round of disc.  She is 7.5 years old and steady as can be amongst chaos.  Now thunder...that's a nope.  But all this, no biggie, give her the disc or treats, whatever but let's go do some work!  Gotta love older trained dogs!  Pixar got to watch the girls go courtesy of the truck's lack of crates.  He was pretty exhausted after his turn, and I didn't even see him as I took Wire in.  When I swapped to Sway...he was recovered and made some mournful noises while watching her and I.  When we came back he was quietly watching from the driver's seat.  He was rather surprised when I asked him to come back out for his second turn.  

This time, he was perfect walking to the field, took treats, didn't pull.  He was aware of the dogs but not excited by them.  I had the disc & treats he took both easily.  Then I saw THEM.  Great.  There are several dog park regulars that we've run into before in past disc seasons.  Big dogs who like to case the fence line while we do disc.  They bark fiercely and you worry a bit about them going over the fence.  The start line is like 25' from that fence line.  It's a big distraction.  We weren't up yet, so I hoped they'd move on...though I was pretty sure that was a futile wish.  There owner is slow and doesn't care that they are jerks.  Sure enough...they stayed put.  I think they'd love a good fence fight.  Pixar might like a good fence fight too...UGH.  UGH!   Well.  Time to find out.  

I kept Pixar engaged with me but I also didn't want him to be totally unaware.  What had been a safe, happy space, now had a new, different & intense vibe to it.  We walked to the line engaged, getting treats.  I asked him to sit at my side and he promptly did as asked.  However, he was looking a bit wigged out.  Big eyes, worried face scrunch.  He was sitting but his body was tense.  The dogs were behind him.  He started throwing Auto Check Outs at those big scary dogs.  It was CLEAR that he was worried about them.  Those dogs.  RIGHT THERE!  I marked his Check Outs, rewarded him with treats.  He kept throwing his head toward them, more marks & rewards.  Then I saw the moment he relaxed.  It was like he said to me.  "I believe you will keep me safe, I trust you mom."  It all happened in less than a minute.  It felt like I was delaying everything, but I also knew that my fellow disc mates would understand.  They know these big scary dogs are a huge problem.  Then I gave the nod and we did it.  1 minute, 4 throws, done, a nice long tug with the disc and then collar back on & lots of cookies as we walked away.  Think about it, every time he carried the disc back to me, he was running headlong towards those dogs.  He could see them pacing and carrying on.  It's very threatening behavior to other dogs.  I was so proud.  I was super proud of Pixar.  I was super proud of me for letting Pixar talk to me.  I listened, I reassured him and we persevered.  

So I don't have a panel of buttons for dogs to press.  Sometimes we just aren't going to communicate when the environment is too exciting.  But I have given them a way that they can talk to me.  I can pay attention and let them tell me when there is a problem.  There can be space oddities and communication breakdowns, that doesn't mean you and the dog have failed.  I listened.  He was too excited & I wasn't prepared enough to get nice loose leash walking our first time entering the field.  Everything aligned the second turn, I was ready, he was ready, but the dog park fairy threw something unexpected at us.  I helped reassure him, I helped him know it was okay to do the fun thing, even with the jerks behind the fence yelling at him.  

Those kind of dogs are exactly why I don't go to dog parks.  Now, is Pixar a fearful dog?  Nope.  Trust me...sooo NOPE.  If I had let that be a bad experience or asked him to perform under duress, I might be dealing with a new problem.  Instead we had a huge win.   Will I continue to be watching, listening to him and making sure we are connected?  You bet.  Think how confident he must feel knowing we are partners, that he can tell me something, that he's not trapped in a situation where he has no control.  I sure feel better knowing he can talk to me.  He was exhausted that evening.  He worked very hard...for 2 whole minutes of disc.  Good boy Pix, good boy!        

What's in Your Toolbox?

As a dog trainer, I've jammed my training toolbox FULL of lots of tools.  To be honest, it's a messed up jumble in that toolbox, but my most used tools stay at the top of the heap.  There are some extra bits of junk in there though. Like Despair, Excuses, and some extra vials of Ego. So it's really good to sort thru your toolbox every once in a while. What is useless?  What's just garbage getting in the way? Why are there so many cheese stick wrappers in here? Those kind of hard questions need to be asked as you sort. Maybe Marie Kondo that toolbox!  I thought about her "does this item bring you joy" concept a lot in the last 24 hours. The problem is I see a lot of people who hold Despair, Excuses, and Ego in their hands and it DOES bring them joy. So they put it back in the toolbox. Maybe they leave it right on top, covering up all those really useful tools. 

 

I put a lot of thought into reorganizing my toolbox.  We had a new session of Toss & Fetch, a distance disc throwing league start yesterday.  I cajoled the organizers into organizing it.  As one of my favorite tools is Organizing Shit. Since I am not the organizer, I had to just use my powers of persuasion to annoy the organizers. However I did show up early and stay late, help set up and helped the whole night. My Organizing Shit experiences helps me know that many hands make less work. And organizers are more likely to organize if they have ready help. So definitely use your Be A Helper tool a lot more often. Now you might say, Jayne, why is your toolbox a mess? Especially if you love Organizing Shit so much!  Well, um, good question. The Shit, in this instance, is opportunities, not my tools. If you want more opportunities in life & don't want to organize them yourself, use that Be A Helper tool!  
I used some other tools last night. Be Prepared was the one I grabbed right away. I made sure I had treats, treat bag, leashes, water, bowls, my discs, a towel for wiping my hands/the disc, a mask, a spare mask. I often use my Fly by the Seat of your Pants tool which is frankly, an inferior tool. You should only use that in emergencies. Like when life stomps on your Be Prepared tool. Just put on your Fly by the Seat of your Pants & hope for the best.  In this case I took my Be Prepared tool out extra early and thought about how I'd incorporate that into my training plans. I have 6 dogs, and I like to work with all of them. Sometimes that means I get out the Spread Too Thin tool and all get some, but not all that much.  To avoid having to use that, I opted to work with only the two youngest dogs.  

Wire is 2.5 years old, and lives to work. Any work, all the work. She was an obvious choice of dog to bring.  Plus she rocks. That's for me. I have been working on training myself to do longer distance throws and she is a fast, accurate dog. So a bit of Ego on my part helped me match the dog to my personal goals. Pixar is 15 months old & had been in few novel places in those 15 months. Covid obviously altered a lot of our opportunities in 2020. But he also hasn't been a lot of places because I have my own training facilities. That's a Good/Bad Thing tool. While it is a luxury to have a facility, it also means I have to get my dogs to other places for novel experiences. Luckily Pixar is a stable, happy dog. He's not environmentally sensitive and if anything is overly friendly with people and dogs. But opportunities are meant to be seized, Be Prepared to grab them!

The Be Prepared tool also meant I thought about who I wanted to work first. I knew if I started with Wire, my youngster Pixar would be rather peeved. I don't know what a peeved Pixar would be like alone in a soft crate. So I worked him first. Then I recognized that I had an opportunity to walk him out & then go right back in. I had pulled out this great tool called Be Flexible. Be Flexible is one of the best tools, remember to grab it often!  It can be used in conjunction with all your other tools. Useful for adjusting attitudes and when dealing with problem people. It also can grease wheels with organizers! Because I had used the Be Prepared tool, I could easily switch plans. I had my treat bag on, discs already in the building, a disc carried out with me to get Pixar. I wanted to set expectations coming out of his crate and then be 100% focused on him and his emotions. I wanted to react quickly if he was too high, stressed, or just perfect! I was ready to use Connection to quickly bring us together. 

 
Now Connection is an amazing tool, and like a socket wrench, there are parts that attach to it, that make it more useful in many of situations.  I used a whole bunch of my Quick Connect tools to tighten the Connection.  Auto Check Ins, Auto Check Outs, Loose Leash Walking, Sit, Patience, and Humor.  As we got into the building my people loving boy had already been rewarded handsomely.  I tightened that Connection with my Be Generous tool. So when he saw people and I suggested mobbing them wasn't the right choice, he took that pretty well.  He was sniffing & looking around happily. Then I saw him get a little nervous.  It wasn't much of a signal, but I didn't want to ignore it. I quickly cued a Sit.  That's one of his default behaviors, he sat, and I rewarded. He pointedly did a Auto Check In. Reward. He pointedly did an Auto Check Out. Reward.  He kept doing Auto Check Outs, I kept rewarding each one.  I noted that he did more Auto Check Outs on the building staff that were doing weird things.  They clearly were not Dog People.  We did some tricks and he was visibly relaxing and it paid off, because I can Be Generous.  Then he saw his most favorite Person. I knew it before she got close. He did an Auto Check Out & wiggled with glee. Reward. Ah, Emily must have walked in.  Emily = FUN to him. Reward. She had his buddy Sweep with her.  Sweep = FUN. Reward.  Butt Wiggles galore and we moved towards his buddies.  Reward. In the few minutes after we had entered the building, he probably gotten about 30-40 rewards. All for good behaviors. All that rewarding reinforced how strong those Quick Connect tools are.  I did almost no cueing except an initial sit command and to tell him he couldn't mob people. I marked every good behavior he offered. I used Patience to quietly observe his emotional state & see what things caught his attention. I used Humor to enjoy the process & see what made him happiest. I could have ignored him, he was behaving nicely enough.  I could have used Excuses and skipped all of this. He is young & will do silly things. But, in just a few minutes, I told him what was rewarding, I maintained Connection and learned so much. Then it was our turn to go!    

As we walked ringside, we were asked if the building staff unloading equipment at the far corner of the building would be a problem.  I confidently said, no. Not only because I can Be Flexible, but because I already used my Be Prepared tool. Pixar & I walked to the entrance, he was rewarded many times for his Loose Leash Walking.  We took off his collar, hung it up, rewarded. I offered the disc to tug on, tugged, asked for an out & I said the magic word "Ready". He threw himself into his Around behavior & he was off after our practice throw. Then he came back, got lots of praise, some rewarding tugging with the disc. I gave the drop command, then the Sit command. The Timer gave us the nod & it was on.  I had no doubt he would perform at that point. I knew he was clocked in, on the job, and ready to party with me. You could say that was my Ego talking. But it wasn't. I had every possible signal from him that he was focused. I had every confidence that our Connection was tight. 90 seconds later, we ended our turn with some fun tugging on the disc, I asked for the out, praised the hell out of him as I put his collar back on.  We walked back out & I immediately started using our Loose Leash Walking tool. Rewards! We did stop to greet a few people, because that is rewarding for him & the job was done. Plus his wiggles of happiness for people crack me up.

   
Obviously my toolbox is pretty full. But unlike earlier last summer, when I was using 1 tool, Be Prepared, and using it poorly.  This time I used lots more tools!  Be Prepared is really handy, but I just kind of threw it at the problem.  Kind of like I was trying to use a Hammer instead of a Compound Miter Saw.  It was a tool, but not the right tool. I had plenty of tools in my toolbox. I didn't even need to dig for them. Instead after wildly swinging Be Prepared around rather uselessly.  I grabbed Despair to beat myself up, used Excuses to blame others, and let my Ego cover up the problems. Eventually, I used those same 3 tools to break down the problem. I pushed aside my Ego so I could see where I had failed. Despair, pushed me to delve into the problem instead of wallowing in it. Excuses, actually told me exactly what I hadn't planned for. Damn it. Using the wrong tools had only made the work really frustrating.   

So I rearranged the toolbox. Despair, Excuses & Ego...firmly at the bottom. They have a use, but only in helping you carefully examine the problem and look for solutions. I put some important tools back on top.  Experience & Knowledge are now right on top. Forgiveness is too. Even with all my tools, I will occasionally grab the wrong one. It's okay to let it go and move on. Use Patience with yourself and your dog. Dig deep for some Humor when things go wrong.  Next week, I'm going to use all these tools again.  

Now, where's that roll of Duct Tape...

x

MORE THAN A NUMBER

So, my lovely dog Wire contributed to Skidmarkz running a blazing team record of 14.333.  However, in our first race that day, Wire ran a 3.396, clean pass, great ball carry.  You may not be a flyball person, so why is that significant?  It's a damn rare gift to have a dog that can put a 3.3XX on the clock in tournaments.  The 14.333 is the 2nd fastest time ever run in the sport of flyball.  Both things are super impressive.  Especially in 2020, with limited to zippo tournaments.  It is downright stellar given the circumstances.  I have grown more & more reluctant to brag about my dogs in general.  As we have gotten faster & more eyes are on us, it can put a lot of pressure on the humans and the dogs.  It can set the expectation for your dog to always perform flawlessly.  I don't expect that from my dogs, I know they will have ups and downs, bad and good days & they will eventually slow down.  I also don't want it to be about me.  It's Wire  The dog is amazing.  I am just along for the ride!  And my whole team is on the ride too.  I don't want my brag to water down the fact that this took a whole orange village!

 

 Oh look, it's real...there's a picture!

You could argue the 3.396 is solely Wire's achievement.  I would argue otherwise.  You see, Wire was running second when she posted that time.  She was passing Trix, one of our amazing height dogs.  Trix is hands down one of the easiest dogs to pass on our team.  She is extremely consistent.  Trix was NOT easy to train. We knew what to do because of every dog before Trix.  We knew to throw away the flyball manual and work with what Trix brought to the table.  I could not have done that pass without the training that made Trix consistent.

Oh look...another real picture.

Wire IS fast on a whole 'nuther level.  We have fast dogs on Skidmarkz. Wire and her brothers are Fffffast.  It is challenging, but training every dog before her meant that we knew where to insist on good technique, and where to just let her rip.  She does not follow the flyball manual.  She does 2 strides in & 2 strides out.  She uses a squishy ball instead of the far cooler regular tennis balls.  I don't show her tug to her on her return.  She has no props.  NONE.  Not in warm up, not in practice.  We are 100% doing it all wrong.  We are 100% doing it all right, for Wire.  And that's a big WE.  The entire Skidmarkz team trained Wire.  Every dog on our team is the product of the efforts of every human on our team. So THANKS Skidz!!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4btv1i_kpws

Hey, video of it, so it actually did happen, with a ball, at a tournament...

Wire taught me some things recently too.  Compared to my other Border Whippets: Sway who is quick & graceful, Ping who is super chill & powerful, Wire is demanding & intense.  She commands your full attention or you will be sorry.  There is no casually running her.  Wire reminded me of this by biting my finger, through my Mechanix glove at a tournament.  I pulled off the glove hoping the tip of my finger was still attached.  (It was, just bleeding & numb).  Message received!  I stopped trying to multitask and just watched my dog.  I realized I wasn't playing tug the way she likes.  This tournament, I focused on what she wanted and how she wants to tug.  Eyes OFF the lanes, Eyes ON the dog.  Thank you Wire, I'm sorry I wasn't listening before!

Now after you have read all this, please know, I am truly, insanely proud of Wire.  But I really want you to know that I love this dog for everything she is, not for the time she runs.  The time she put up was faster than anything she has run before in practice or a tournament.  It is super cool.  But, we may never see it again.  We are not training Skidmarkz dogs to be 3.3XX dogs.  I will not be disappointed if she never runs it again. Because PERSONAL BEST TIMES DO NOT MATTER.  Average times do. Consistency matters.  Finding where she best fits in the lineup matters.  Finding out what her weak areas are matters. Yes, she still has some, she's just over 2 years old.   

My ego is not tied to Wire's times.  If that is what your dog is to you, reconsider what you are asking of the dog.  Is the dog in the lanes to bolster your ego or so your dog can PLAY a fun and super complex game of fetch with you?  I want happy waggy tails, and dogs enjoying this GAME.  Because...it's just a time, it was only 3.396 seconds of her life with us.  It meant nothing to her, she was just playing.  A blink of an eye & it was over.  Their time with us is short.  Make it fun, make them love to play silly games with you, to the best of their ability, as safely as possible.

Finally - Some top secret training advice...

  Question your training.  Why do you do it? What is the purpose? What is the result you expect to see?  What are you trying to teach the dog?  If the answer is "I don't know.", rethink your training.  

Humans with all their blah blah blah. 

- Wire

 

It's My Choice!

"The work involved to reach this level of competition is not work for me or Kris, it's a passion, it's a passion for oneness in a sport that requires so much from the both of us. It's my choice to do this game, it's my duty to make this worth doing for Bratska and all the others in our family."

- Chris Tucci

I saw this facebook post a week ago and it contained a lengthy recap by Chris Tucci about his experience competing with his amazing agility dog Bratska at the European Open.  These two lines really struck me.  They struck me hard! Obviously dog stuff is a passion for me, I love the sense of connection you get from training anything with a dog.  Agility takes that to another level, flyball less so but also more so.  Daily life, tricks, basic house manners, well they are all about making a connection with your dog.  Enough about passionate oneness.  What about that choice part?

The way I see it, most everything related to dogs is about the human's choice.  You chose the dog (for the most part), you chose what you will allow the dog to do, what it eats, how much it eats, where it sleeps, hell I even teach mine where to potty & where on the tug they can bite.  It's a lot of choices to make...and almost none are made by the dog!  

Over the years I've really striven to accept dogs for who they are and not try to mold them into something of my choosing.  So Nikki, my wild child, is embraced for her wild...but molded to be obedient and make the most of that.  Betty, fearful and shy, is embraced for her weirdness...but molded to be able to function in the world.  Nikki is an obvious dog to channel into dog sports.  Betty far less so, and I've had many internal debates, frustration, and big doubt about choosing to make her go to classes, to compete etc.  How do you make those choices for a dog whose happy place is under my bed?  It seems to be a complex balancing act.  I've done my best to make leaving the bowels of my bedroom a worthwhile choice for Betty.  I pledged never to leave Betty alone at the startline, I promised not let Nikki's barking anger me if she's doing everything else I've asked of her.  I tried to honor their choice to play with me by making sure I don't forget their individuality.  They have needs damn it!

Lately I've been struck by the number of people who make a choice and do not consider the dog in the equation. The more choices I give my dogs, the more they chose to do what I want.  That sounds contrary but I've also endeavored to make working with me such AN ENJOYABLE choice for them, that they just about glue themselves to me when it's training or work time.  The rest of the time they can "go do dog stuff".  Aka, stand down dog, you are off duty!  (Thanks to Ron @ Pvybe.com for that term!)

So how do we balance our choice and the dog's choice and frankly, our human desire to make those choices their choices?  Overall, I want every part of training with me to be clear, concise and rewarding.  I'm not trying to be their leader, I'm trying to be a coach, who brings out the best in you and teaches you how to continually advance.  I also understand that there will be communication break downs and frustration on both our parts.  I'm not going to punish the dog who is trying very hard to figure out what the human wants them to do, especially when the human is clearly an idiot!  If I was your math teacher and kept tell you to solve this quadratic equation.  Now.  Do it now.  Now, no don't look over there, solve it!  Now.  What would you do?  I'm betting you'd clam up, cry, run out of the room, yell at your teacher, or maybe just nod & smile while pretending to write down an answer?  Well a lot of dogs do that.  They sniff, look elsewhere, get up and walk away, do something else, or just freeze up entirely.  Hum.  But a good teacher would explain each step of the way how to solve that problem, and how to apply that solution to future problems.  So when faced with the same situation you know how to solve for X!  I want my dogs to feel smart & in control.  If you felt smart and in control, what would that translate as?  I'm betting you would be mighty CONFIDENT in your abilities!  

Dogs pose a special problem though, they don't speak our language and just like us humans, they can all learn differently.  So an extra challenge is learning how they think.  Setting aside their emotional issues (um, Betty), just learning how they learn requires patience.  For Betty, I had to calm her fears so that she could learn.  For Nikki, I had to help her learn to control her enormously explosive energy level so she could learn.  For Sway, I just had to make sure she understood what I wanted, the first time!  She is easily frustrated by repetition.  For Ping...oh Ping.  Let's just say he'd be riding the short bus.  So things had to be even simpler and not change quickly for him to get it.  All this requires patience on the human's part.  Most humans have no patience.  So how about we just get some compassion?  

Compassion:

1. sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it

Remembering that our dogs have no choice but to live with us...let's keep some compassion in how we train them.  Let's make it worthwhile for the dog to choose to work with us.  Then let's be patient so they can build confidence and attack any problem we throw at them!

PS - I don't know why this is highlighted.  Sorry!

One Door Closes

Today was the end of a very important chapter in my life.  I have been involved with rescue groups since I was 22 years old.  18 years later, I'm closing that door.  I worked 8 years with big national rescue groups, and 10 years with the rescue that I started.  Protege Canine Rescue.  I have never been paid, never had a salary, never wanted one.  I wanted rescue to be about the dogs, not endless fundraising.  I was able to do that thanks to the incredible dedication of volunteers who were similarly committed to that mission...DOGS!  Of course I'm not really done, we promised to be a safety net for our dogs for the rest of their lives.  So maybe in another 13 years I can consider Protege really done.

This was not a rash decision, it was over a year in the making.  I've had some big guilt trips, some self-induced and some from well meaning people.  Trust me, you can't top my own guilt trips. So, I am sorry, sorry to disappoint, sorry I just can't keep it going. I can't just take a break and deal with my burn out.   

So why have I heartlessly closed down Protege?  Well, I've always firmly believed that if you weren't fully committed to something you would do a crappy job.  As the president of Protege, many things were ultimately my responsibility, and I was starting not to care about doing a good job.  I didn't want the quality of our work to suffer because of my attitude.  You see, there are many behind the scenes things happening, and since the buck stops here...it's pretty vital that I be 100% committed.  Running Protege was essentially a unpaid, part time job.  It got to the point where Protege was becoming really intrusive in my family life, which I greatly resented.  The most intrusive things were dealing with a never ending revolving door of problems to solve.  I was essentially always on call.  If you traveled with me, it became a running joke that if I was doing something for myself, sure enough, something major would happen.  I was never, ever not on duty.  I'd call it compassion fatigue, but it's more than that, I still have lots of compassion, but I have little patience or tolerance for the continual problem solving required. The joys of rescue, the happy stories, they amazing transformations, they just weren't enough to get me through the grinding obligations.  Maybe I will feel differently after some time has passed, but if so, there are plenty of shelters, groups etc I can work with, without such heavy responsibility.  And yes, I've tried very hard to farm out that responsibility over the years, but ultimately, I have to make sure things get done, make tough decisions, figure out other options etc.  I debated handing over the reins, but I wanted someone as committed as I had been, and in the end I felt that I couldn't ever rest if Protege existed.  

My regrets:

I regret that in 18 years, I got exactly the same behavioral calls over & over & over.  There will be a blog post about this, it really deserves it's own attention and I want something to refer future callers/rescuers.  

I regret that I haven't developed a better Crazy Radar.  Crazy people seem highly attracted to animal rescue work.  Oh the stories I could tell you...

I regret any dog we have placed that developed serious health or behavioral issues.  We try so hard, and while health is always a crap shoot, I wish we could better determine which dogs would be truly problematic.  All I can say is we TRIED & if we had known, we would not have placed the dog. 

I regret that some people never got the idea of rescue, of carefully placing a dog.  They just saw a commodity to purchase and they wanted it now, now, now!   

I regret that I didn't tell off more people.  Calm, cool and steady is the reasonable way to react, but ohhhhh, it would have been nice to smack some people upside the head!

My delights:

I delight in every update we get from adopters.  I know how much my own adopted dogs mean to me and I'm glad that we were able to provide you with family member.  Many times over the years, those updates kept me going.  

I delight in all the amazing volunteers, rescuers, shelter workers and veterinary staff we have worked with. There are so many smart, reasonable animal lovers out there, it gives me hope.

I delight in the fact that Steve Branin has supported me every step of the way.  He is the best husband and a true animal lover.  He has been a great sounding board and coped with many, many rescue related interruptions in our lives!

I delight in Jo Pearson, who I met through the adoption of one of my earliest rescue dogs, who led me into flyball (my obsession).  She has been a steadfast rescue supporter who devoted as much time as I did to keeping Protege's T's crossed, I's dotted, websites running etc etc!  She did more for Protege than any other volunteer, and did it really, really well!  Jo's efforts kept this rescue working from a regulatory & a functional sense!  

I delight in knowing that something will come from this.  Doors shut, windows open, maybe you just tunnel a hole thru the wall.  It might be good or bad or who knows.  I'm okay with that and when I made the decision, I knew it was right, and the time was right, and I knew a huge weight had lifted off my shoulders.    

I delight in this dog, Zoe.  My first, terrible dog of my own.  Because of her, I developed an interest in dog training, in rescue work, and is why all of this happened.  She was the smartest, most loyal, most devoted dog I've ever met.  She wasn't an aussie, she wasn't a rescue, but she was the catalyst in my life that turned just a dog owner into a dog rescue person.  I hope that everyone has something in their life, like Zoe, that makes them more than they ever knew was possible.