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".

[Anna and Achilles]

You will get there, keep the faith!! Sounds like you are on the right track.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Adina's clarification on the "choke chain" (my trainer refers to it as a training collar) is a great one. This was a learning for me too. My trainer's approach is all about positive reinforcement. What she explained to me was that when Murph was in this "out of control zone" he couldn't even "hear" my commands, so they were useless. Unless you can get his attention back he will remain "out of control". The collar has to be used correctly. You have to allow the leash to go "loose", and then step into the dog and give one very quick pull or correction. This takes him out of the "zone". You definitely need to know what you're doing. That's why I'm not going to use it myself right now. She did show me how to "correct" him with his regular collar. I was doing that all wrong. The minute the dog comes out of that "zone" and focuses attention on you, he gets praise and a reward. That reward doesn't have to be a treat. It should be whatever he responds best to...a hug, a toy, etc. I know from watching her that it didn't hurt Murphy at all, but it did bring his focus right back to her so she could tell him what to do and reward him for that.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Does sound like somewhat of an overwhelming day! We have the same going crazy issue with Sophie occasionally when we meet a dog on a walk. If it is a little dog it is worse than if it's a big dog. She will hop overtop of Lucy to get closer if it is on the other side. This is one of the reasons I don't use the "Y" type attachment to walk both on one leash. She is somewhat better than she used to be, but we do still have an occasional issue. It is mostly that she wants to go get nose to nose or play and I won't let her. She sounds like a crazy dog when she does it. Very embarrassing in public. I too will be interested to see how it goes with you and Murphy out on your walks now.

[Adina P]

It IS pretty interesting how our attitude influences training and just daily living with dogs. I feel sorry for dogs when they are IN a bad situation, but once that situation is turned around, my pity mostly disappears. I just can't hold on to their past because it's past. Boca was a 'breeder' dump and survived parvo...I'm mostly in awe that she did but otherwise don't consider her a 'rescue' except historically. She's just our dog with an interesting story.

[Clifford, Cloud, Jake..and Kim]

Oh I so wish we lived in CT! Your trainer sounds amazing and makes me want to find one near me to do as well for Clifford. He does a lot of things well but some things he just doesn't seem to get - and I realize it is probably more me than him but he know how to frustrate me and it ends up he gets his way...very bad doodle mom, I know but at least I recognize it and am trying to correct it. You are an awesome doodle mom - even if you only bring Zukes treats.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Good luck with the training.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Honestly, she sounds like an amazing trainer. I am so jealous! I think that nose class sounds like so much fun!

[Suzann, Rosey & Bandit]

Thanks Adina, I wasn't sure if they were using a prong choke collar or a choke chain which have been highly unrecommended by the forum,

[Adina P]

Sounds like you're off to a good start =) Do keep us updated on future walks. Also to Suzann: Choke chains only 'choke' if you allow a dog to pull on the leash...but a quick correction does not choke--it tightens then releases.

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

Wow. Intense. Please keep posting how Murphy does on his future walks. Yea for Guinness finding the smell on the first try. That smelling class sounds like great fun.