New Dog Training Techniques - back from India

I'm hoping to write a few blogs about India itself, about the people, what I thought about how they live, their dogs, both street and owned.

Here's some of the dog training.

Training Sheba the Saluki to do the Guide Dog task. 

At the test on the last day (blindfolded) I did walk into one barrel, but with more time to train I'm sure Sheba would have carefully led me round every obstacle! She also alerted and led me to the doorbell at the end of the task - a Hearing Dog task.

Training Sheba to detect tobacco

Some of the dogs were learning to detect explosives, tobacco isn't quite as glamorous but apparently it's hard to get the scent of drugs through customs. No idea why... For this section we were being trained by Jane Sharp, who trains the detection dogs at Heathrow Airport.

The lecture hall. I'm hidding behind other students, but see if you can spot me!

All the lectures were outside. This was where we had our lectures about dog behaviour and learned the techniques we then used on the dogs. 

Tracking session

We learned 'search and rescue' style tracking, teaching the dogs to use not just the track itself, but sight, sound and the air currents. Helped along by us! So we learned a little bit about following tracks as well, and if  wespotted the item, person or sausages that counted, it wasn't the dog working on their own. I'm told this is properly called 'trailing' and is great fun to do, as you really are working in harmony with your dog.

The great thing about all of these activities is that they are all done on the lead. So any dog can do it,, it doesn't matter if they pull on the lead, or are not reliable off the lead. Plus it can be done in areas dogs may not be allowed off the lead. I'd like to use my new skills to make training fun again. So no  endlessly marching up and  down a training hall in a line with a group of other dogs.

Dogs can be useful again - the Hearing Dog task for instance - ever mislaid your mobile phone? You ring it, but still can't quite place it, which coat or bag has it been left in? Or maybe you dropped it, you know roughly where, but can't see it. Your dog can take you straight there.

If you're walking along having a chat with friends, have you ever 'nearly' walked into a lampost or a tree? Your dog can make sure those near misses never happen, and once they've learned to lead you around obstacles, the bond between you strengthens and you can use this to help stop pulling on the lead.

And after the more standard exercises are done, what's more fun than teaming up with some other dog lovers, splitting into two teams, and using your dogs to help find a person who is 'lost' or better yet, a trail with all the makings of a picnic on it! If your dog doesn't find something you may find you have everything to make a cuppa but the teabag, but that's where the fun is. Maybe the other team found the tea, but not the milk.

Once our dogs have learned to locate lost items, we will never lose our keys again! Anything that's dropped can be found again, and dogs regain their lost purpose. Many of our breeds today were bred to work - while some dogs have a working life and there are plenty of dog sports to try out there, they all need investment in money and time, especially if you want to compete seriously. 

Our dogs were finding 'lost' people very, very quickly, after very few sessions they were leading us around on a night track (completely dark, no street lights in the mountains of Pune - I've never, ever seen so many stars), successfully finding the spoons our trainers had left for us. I think we missed one, but on 'test day' we found enough letters to make the word TEAMWORK.

 

Some of these skills are very new to me, so I'm practising them with  my dogs, but if you fancy a short session, we can meet in the park and learn together -the more dogs I do this with the more I will learn. Fees, coffee if it's a chilly day, diet coke if it's a warm day! If I can teach a 7 month old Saluki, your dog can learn this too. I also worked with ten year old Sarah, so there really is no limit on the dogs who can learn these skills.

I have two more course this year, one in March repeating some of the trailing work with one of my dogs, then one in May repeating some of the detection work, with another of my dogs. I've been told I don't need to do these after being in India, but I'd like the refresher on the techniques and of course I get to work with my dogs under expert supervision.

Lily, Touch & Retrieve

Lily is a great little puppy, keen and eager to learn!

Touch

Both very short videos, but in both she is doing something else before the touch - she finds moving away from a person not quite so rewarding when she's not got something to retrieve. Awww....

 

Retrieve

And retrieving - we tried a few objects, and it seemed to be the treat pot she was most interested in bringing back! So I could open it for her I expect...

Dogs with Jobs

In days of yore all dogs had a job, even if it was just to keep your feet warm. Our dogs today are very pampered, and mostly want for nothing. But this is the equivalent of a person sitting on the couch all day watching television. It might be okay as a treat, but every day it's not going to do you any good.

My Fred has lots of jobs - perhaps not as satisfying as the job his breed was bred for, but at least he's occupied in a good way. My favourite is fetching printing from the printer (so that I don't have to get up from the couch, d'y'see?).

Photo quality is appalling, but you try taking a photo of a moving terrier when he's got places to go and things to do!

Waiting patiently for the paper to pop out. The printer waking up is his cue to go and wait. 

 On his way to deliver...

Here it is Mum! Aren't I a good boy?

So, now you know. If you get a letter from me and it's a bit crinkled at one edge, Fred's been working as hard as I have.

Instant Triple Recall

I use Stay Close as a command to get dogs back to me quickly and stay close to me until they are released. This overlaps a bit with the ComeComeCome recall, but I use that more to get dawdling dogs back to the pack and they don't have to focus on me. Had I thought things through more I would not have done it like this, but Stay Close evolved from the close competition heelwork I taught Fred.

Stay Close is hazard avoidance - if there isn't time to get dogs back on leads, this works very well to get the dogs out of any potential trouble.

Fred has known this one for a long time, Scamp and Bobby are relative newbies, but are already VERY reliable. I couldn't record an actual hazard, as things are still too new for me to not focus 100% on the dogs, but we're getting there!

Just see how quickly the dogs turn to me and start coming back. Video is only 8 seconds.

I can teach any dog to do this.

Old English Sheepdog 12 week old puppy retrieving

This is Mr Bridger and his mum. I was invited to meet Mr Bridger as I had walked the family's previous dog. I left some advice, did some training and advised they teach a retrieve to encourage a reliable recall - going back to Mum is A Good Thing.

Less than a week later, here are the results! Hard work from everyone involved, and a great game to play with puppy.

Ultimate Recall Training

Tired of your dog running off?
Does your dog chase joggers or bicycles?
Fed up with running after other people as your dog is enjoying playing with their dog and won't come back?
Is your dog a tease? Coming back to you, but won't stay still or come close enough to have the lead put back on?

I can help, as I specialise in recall training.

As a dog walker, with over 80 dogs cared for in the last two years, I have to train all the dogs to come back when I call them in the same way they respond to their owners, to enable me to walk them safely. As a trainer, I have taught my own dogs, plus those of family and friends, all the foster dogs I care for, and even dogs belonging to other dog trainers who could not get their dogs to come back when called.

How it Works

Recall training starts with a consultation session and assessment of around an hour, in your own home. To be able to give the best advice for you and your dog I need to ask some questions about your dog’s background, their behaviour in general and any previous training. If there is more than one family dog a longer session of around 90 minutes may be required, even if only one dog appears to have a problem. This will be followed by a short assessment of your dog's current recall.

There may be some practical steps you can start taking straight away, before the first training session, which will prepare your dog to learn.

I will design the practical training sessions specifically for your dog, using the information I have gathered in the consultation. Each session lasts 30 or 60 minutes (or longer if you prefer), and you may have as many, or as few, practical training sessions as you require to get the result you want, at a time and frequency that suits you. Training usually takes place in the area you walk your dog, unless your dog would benefit from choosing another location to aid training.

There is no magic number of how many sessions you will need, as this depends on how long your dog has not been coming back, your dog's breed, what is causing your dog to run off, and how much time you can dedicate to practising on your own between sessions. You will see an improvement very quickly, your 'Ultimate' recall may need more time – it is your choice whether to have ongoing sessions with me, or whether to train on your own using the training methods I have designed for your dog. I advise at least one session with me to demonstrate the techniques.

Your only job will be to call your dog – mine will be to ensure your dog responds to your call.

Training is done using a mix of pleasure and penalties – not punishment or pain!

Fees

60 minute assessment and consultation - £35
(90 minute assessment and consultation if needed - £45)

30 minute practical training session- £16
60 minute practical training session- £25

Travel
Distances are measured from Brentwood High Street, Essex.

First 0-5 miles – free
Each mile over 5 - 50p per mile each way

Post-Op Activities

Daisy can't go out for walks at the moment, which is a shame as she enjoys them so much. As her health improves she is getting restless, so we've been doing some indoor activities. Today we not only had 'Find It' in the garden, we added 'Keep the Parcel all to Youself'.



What do you expect me to do with that?


What's that I can smell?



Daisy won't let this be the one that got away!

Training and Behaviour News

I passed Introduction Instructors Course with Mic Martin today. Got a lovely certificate too, which I wasn't expecting!

I will be assisting at Mic's Dog Training School from 31st January as part of my ongoing training. Closer to home, I did my first behavioural/training consultation this month too, which went well. Within the next few weeks or so I hope the clients will let me know how things are going and what the improvements are. Next month I hope to do the first of my 'recall training walks' where I take the client and their dog on a walk around the local country park (permission granted by the Rangers) to teach them how to get a good recall. Minor issues only to start with!

Also in the pipeline for me is some sort of 'responsible dog owners' event at Thorndon Country Park, with the Rangers, details still being worked out, but will at least be ready to publicise from February.