My Head Is About To Explode....Doodle Training Day!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I hardly know where to start. Today was our marathon training day with the two boys. It all started with Guinness's "Nose Class". My trainer gave me a "lecture" (and that's an understatement), because I continue to expect Guinness to comply with his obedience commands. She tells me I have to leave ANY expectations at the door. It's so hard...it's "hard wired" into my brain. So, he wanted to go "nuts" finding the designated scent, but he kept looking back at me for the okay. She says "He's not on a therapy visit...just let him be a DOG!". I need to keep practicing (and just letting go). Anyway, he still loves it (in spite of his "obedience obsessed" Mom). Today he found the "target scent" hidden among ten different boxes/baskets on the first try, and "sat" to let me know this was the "right" scent. He has a new friend in class who is another poodle mix who looks very similar to Guinness. He loves this dog, and he loves this dog's Mom even more. He would have gone home with her today in a flash. She brought the best treats he had ever tasted. She buys freeze dried turkey hearts from a local turkey farm...he truly thought he was in dogie heaven. He completely gave me the cold shoulder and followed her everywhere (I only had the Zukes mini treats...loser Mom that I am).
Okay, so then it was Murphy's turn. DH brought him up when Guinness's class was over. You all know that for the past couple of months Murph has been a real problem on walks....freaking out whenever he saw another dog...pulling and barking like crazy. I had to give up walking the two dogs together, because I couldn't control Murph with one hand. So we did a private lesson and "recreated" the event. We started with me walking the two boys around the training facility. They were perfect....no problems. The trainer was thinking, "so what's the issue". Then she brought in her very high drive "search and rescue Golden Retriever" while I was continuing to walk the boys. Well you guessed it...."all he... broke loose, and Murphy totally lost it. He "freaked out" and tried to "attack" Guinness because he couldn't get to the other dog. It was perfect...she really needed to see this. She quickly went to her car to get a training collar (choke chain collar) and put it on Murph. We then used the "Guinness Look Alike" dog to elicit a reaction. When Murph did not "heel" she gave a quick correction. She only had to do this twice. At that point she keep the training collar on him, but hooked the leash back to his regular collar, and we kept practicing with the little "Guinness look alike" as his distraction...no problem. Then she went out and again brought in her Golden. He was perfect, no pulling, great loose leash walking. That's when she said that this has been her experience with Doodles. She has done "board and train" with three different Doodles recently. Her experience has been that they will test and totally try to take over, but they learn very quickly. She's thinking that we may never need to use a correction collar again (and she doesn't want me using one myself anyway). We'll have to see, but I was pretty amazed today. If there's more problems, we'll do another "one on one" session.
The other huge learning for me today was about my own attitude toward Murphy. I always kid about him being the big, goofy Doodle. I think in my own mind I have been totally underestimating this guy. My trainer loved him, and was willing to put him right into her Therapy class with no Intermediate or CGC. She wouldn't do that for Guinness, because she didn't think he was ready. I have really not thought seriously about Murph as a Therapy Dog...she thought he was perfect. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty bad about this. She also pointed out to me that I treat Murphy different than I did Guinness. I let him get away with so much more. As we talked about it, I mentioned that I felt bad for him when he came to us because he had to leave his "first home", and I thought that must have been pretty hard for him...that may have carried forward. Well, it was time for another "lecture". As she put it..."Murph is living the sweet life", so get over any concerns you might have about his past...he has absolutely no clue about that now...HE'S A DOG! He's trying to redefine his position in the home right now (because he's a really "fresh" teenage boy), and this is the time I need to really understand that this guy is very smart (and manipulative), and he needs to be very clear on what's going "to fly" and what isn't. It was a huge learning day for the Doods and me. There's just so much to learn....I wonder if I'll ever really "get there".

[Leslie and Halas]

It sounds like you've made a lot of progress in a very short amount of time. Pretty soon, Guinness and Murphy will be trash-talking each other about who is smarter.

[Eva]

Hi Jane,
Thank you for sharing your stories... sounds like you have an excellent trainer that has a great insight into the dogs. Keep up the good work, Eva

[Linda and Murphy]

Jane, thanks so much for sharing.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Jane thanks so much for sharing your experience with Murphy's training. I'm so glad that you and Murph are doing so well and so quickly. After our experience with Tara recently at the "PetStupid" store I was feeling pretty discouraged. You helped to remind me how incredibly intelligent and willing to please our doodles are if they understand what we want from them and we approach them with a right attitude. DH and I are re-engergized today and have been rethinking our approach to Tara's training. We've tried some new techniques today and are seeing immediate results too!! We are getting excited along with you!!! Keep up the good work!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, I can tell, and I'm very excited for you!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Murph and I took our walk today....I think it was the best overall experience I've ever had with him. I realize now that that training session yesterday really didn't do much for Murphy...but it really changed ME. We both came home "panting". I think I was actually panting harder than he was. I've been sitting here trying to decide exactly what was so different, and here's what I came up with....

-The trainer told me that the walk needs to be full of energy and fun. It needs to be approached not as a chore but as a time for the two of us to continuously build our relationship. There should be few if any commands given...actually there should be very little "talk". I should always try to keep it interesting...changing direction, changing sides of the street, changing pace. It should feel like a "party" to him. He should feel like he has to keep his focus on me just to know what's "happening". If I'm not in a frame of mind where I think I can do that, it's better not to go for the walk. That's when it's just a "potty trip".
For the first time in months, this walk was really fun for me...and so it was for him too.
-I kept some small treats in my sweatshirt pocket, and every now and then when he was walking right next to me I'd "slip" him one. I didn't make him "sit", and didn't make a big deal out of it. He never knew when it was going to happen, and he seemed to LOVE that idea.
-At the end of the driveway he started to pull, and I gave a correction the way she showed me. I never said a word...just gave the correction. He "got it". That was it....the entire rest of the walk was totally a loose lead. Since I was walking where there was very little traffic, he was on his regular collar and leash....not the slip lead. That seemed to work fine.
-We never saw any dogs, but we saw lots of squirrels, and he ignored them. We also passed a pair of joggers who spoke to me...again he was looking at me and paid no attention to them.
-By the "half way" mark I was practically dancing, and he knew it. I think he was almost dancing himself.

I now understand what she meant about the relationship. When she said that yesterday, I was a little defensive and told her that our relationship was just FINE (thank you very much). Now I "get" what she was saying. Today felt very different for both of us. I'm hoping we can continue to build on this. I'm excited, can you tell?????

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Regarding the choke chains (training collar or jewel collar is the correct term), I used them for many years. You definitely have to know what you're doing, even putting it on correctly takes a bit of skill. In fact, they aren't all that different from the slip leads Murph and Guinness usually wear...if they pull, the part around their necks tightens. The jewel collar just releases faster and more smoothly.
I agree, focus is everything. JD will occasionally still go ballistic on walks when he sees other dogs. Your trainer explained "the zone" much better than I could. I've devised my own methods of getting Jack's focus back on me, and you will, too, in time.
I am also guilty of feeling sorry for Jack, and this post has made me feel a little ashamed that I haven't asked more from him, and from myself, for that matter. Maybe he actually could pass the CGC, lol. Hmmmm.
Lots of insights, and lots of inspiration here. Thank you for sharing this. You are lucky to have such a great trainer, and G & M are really lucky to have a mom who loves them so much and works so hard to help them both be the best they can be.

[BG and Gavin]

Thank you for sharing these insights. Your trainer sounds amazing. It is amazing how expectations can limit us. You are lucky that your training is able to see the possibilities and is not "doodle prejudice." Good on you for offering your boys these great opportunities.

Most first born children will say that their parents were very strict with them and the next sibling got away with murder! lol

[Christine & Shelby]

Very interesting and thank you for sharing! I am sure you are doing great.... we are all learning and will continute to learn thoughout our lives on how to best work with our doodles! How great that the trainer thinks Murphy is ready for Therapy classes... that is amazing! Freeze dried turkey hearts..... I bet Shelby would have been in heaven too!

[Suzann, Rosey & Bandit]

That is interesting, Rosey definately goes into a zone of selective hearing. I haven't had any of our trainers use the choke collar, I will have to ask ours next week about it. It would make me nervous to use:) There is soo much to learn!!