Brad Pattison Training - Week by Week Update Feb 26, 2012 The Finale!

[BG and Gavin]

Brad Pattison Training

Day 16

Well today was the final day.  Gavin was on the mark today and did really well with the extended stays we practiced downtown.  One thing I noticed is that everyone that passes by us reaches to pet Gavin (most without asking).  I guess he looks like the approachable one of the crew.  Lucky for them he is friendly!  The trainer is giving us 11 business cards each with her info and our name on them.  She is giving us a $5 gift certificate for each referral.  The 11^th business card contains Brad’s private email address.  She would like us to report to him on what we thought of the class.  He also guarantees to personally respond to any training questions we may have from here on in.  Our trainer has also vowed to be available to us for life.  She even said if your dog is sick and you need someone to go the vet with you, call me and I will be there for you.  So young and so sweet.  Bentley’s mom is signing up for the trainer certification course in July.  How cool is that?

Here is our final 4 minute “stay.”  You will note that the dogs are looking beyond us a bit.  There was a very cute fluffy dog walking on leash behind us out of sight of the camera.  None of them broke.  The last picture is Gavin and me on the “Secret Bench.”  Our first time there Gavin would not jump up on it – the figures and the texture of the metal spooked him a bit.  I have him jump up on it several times a session now!

Thanks everyone for sticking through this with me.  Many lessons learned.  I won’t pretend that I buy 100 percent into everything this program offered, but I took on as much as I could.  The skills I learned will have to be practiced over and over for the next 15 years at least.

 

THE END (of the course) but just THE BEGINNING (of the lifetime of training!)

Day 15

We were back in the park today and worked on more extended sit stays letting go of the leash.  All the dogs did very well tonight with this exercise.  We also learned her “down” technique which involved putting the dog in a sit, holding the leash loop in your right hand, stepping on the leash with your right foot, then sliding your left foot down the leash to put downward pressure on the collar.  Once again you do not force the dog down, just put a bit of pressure whereby the dog will be more comfortable is he lies down.  This worked fine except for baby Bentley who was having a bad day as demo dog and kept popping up out of his sit.  She also showed us a massage technique applied to the chest to use to relax your dog of give as a reward.  She also talked about how to instruct people (children) to approach your dog.  We talked about the reporter getting bit due to an unwise approach.  We talked about approaching from the side instead of head on and not petting over top of the head from in front as it is a sign of dominance.  Gavin got us out of push ups again as he took the opportunity to play with Apollo disrupting the activity (oh rats!).  Our trainer will be teaching a dog and owner fitness class called `Six Legs`  I will have to check this out at Brad`s site.

 Day 14

 We had a pretty good week.  We went up North to visit a friend for the weekend.  She has two acres but the lot is quite narrow and there is no fence.  We worked on some boundaries there in the summer.  It was a bit easier in the summer because she had a party and Gavin would be loath to leave the people.  This time he loved playing in the snow and did very well staying in the back yard, of course we did not leave him outside unsupervised and after dark we kept him on a line as the coyotes were out and Gavin was heavily distracted.  He also hiked with us off leash in the snow 5 km in and out of our cottage.  He liked to lead the way but kept turning back to make sure the people were following him.  He would also stop and wait for us to catch up.  I tried a few recalls and some stays and he did well.  His one pitfall was walking without pulling in a brand new area.  But the good far out-weighed the bad and Gavin was so great with her shy kitty that I am declaring the whole weekend a success.

Gavin also was pretty good at training tonight, fairly responsive.  We practiced further and more extended stays.  She let me lay down Gavin’s leash confident that he will not go anywhere.  The others are not at that level yet.  We did lots of walking and  obstacle work in the park.  One tip I got from today is that when approaching a distraction that you think your dog may break for, speed up as you approach it to force the dog to focus on you. 

Grandpa was misbehaving something fierce.  His owner has been down and out with back troubles and he is physically demanding at 104 pounds.  He was biting his leash, pawing and jumping on his owner and generally being sassy; a far cry from the shy and super reserved pup at the beginning of class.  The trainer said this is to be considered a success and there were a few things at work. First he was running the house before and content with the status quo and now his authority is being challenged.  Also he has gained confidence.  Thirdly the daughters have been walking him with their mom injured and are not as consistent as mom is so he is testing his boundaries.

Bentley’s mom and I have made an agreement to get together regularly after class is done to go walking and continue to practice our training.  She is also going to help me to practice the things Gavin needs to know for his TDI testing.  I gave the required elements to our trainer tonight and she said Gavin can do it hands down.  She said it would be a good idea to let him drain some energy prior to testing though.  Agreed!

Day 13

 Well I need to tell you that Gavin was a handful today.  He was pully and had the attention span of a gnat!  The trainer said they all have bad days once in a while.  This was his bad day.

We did sit stays downtown, which was really fun.  People had to pass by us on the sidewalk while they maintained their position.  A really great experience.  We went to the park and the trainer introduced the STOP! command.  Basically you put the dog in a sit stay, call them to you and before they get to you do a lunge step with arms extended, one palm over the other and yell stop!  She cautioned not to over practice this only two or three times during the course of a session because you don’t want to spoil recall and it should be a bit of a surprise when you really have to use it.

The Golden’s handler shared some concerns with his behaviour.  He has been resource guarding, basically stealing socks, stashing them in his bed and laying on them.  Then growling when they came near.  He also was aggressive with a puppy while on leash.  Funny thing is, he is the best dog in the class in terms of obedience.  She kept her after class to talk about the resource guarding so I did not hear about that.  Regarding the aggression toward the puppy she advised to look for the dog’s “tell” before the aggression starts (her dog gets quiet/still) and do a correction/start walking when he gives you that sign.  She said the biggest mistake is to avoid other dogs altogether instead of practicing appropriate greetings.  The trainer has spoken to this handler several times for giving affection at the wrong time.  Tonight he started barking and she began rubbing his ear to calm him.  No, no, no! is what she heard from the trainer – you are rewarding inappropriate behaviour.  She has also gotten heck for stroking her dog while he is in a sit.  Just food for thought.

Day 12

 We went back to the park and worked more on sit stays.  Gavin was having a hard time focusing because the park was covered in frozen goose poop   I just was tugging on him a lot to keep his head up.  I found myself turning his head toward me when I was positioning him for his sit stays but the trainer said not necessary.  He knows what you want him to do, if he breaks you just reposition.  No eye contact necessary. 

The trainer said that dogs need jobs, even if its something small.  Our homework is to find our dog a job.  The Golden already has a job – he fetches the paper.  What a browner!  LOL!

Day 11

 We met downtown and did lots of work down there including practicing our street crossing, stairs and using buildings to control the walk.  We also went to an intercity park to learn stays with distraction.  The trainer started with Apollo the shepherd mix who was struggling tonight.  The trainer worked without any sound.  She sat Apollo and squared in front of him – feet shoulder width apart, shoulders back, chest out, a confident stance.  She then gradually stepped back and repositioned the dog when necessary.  Poor Apollo was having none of it.  He was nervous and whining and looking around the trainer to see his owner and broke a dozen or more times.  The most she got out of him was 10 seconds.  It was frustrating.  She then used Gavin to demonstrate and he was fantastic.  He went a full two minutes the very first time and kept focus on her well after she dropped the leash and moved all over the park.  He resisted a jogger and a small dog walking on a flexi-leash.  He looked like a genius.  I was proud of him doing so well with high distraction, that is for sure, but I also needed to talk to Apollo’s mom to tell her that stays are his strong suit and we have been working on them for a very long time.  The one major flaw with this trainer is that she does not seem to acknowledge prior training.  I have worked hard with him, it was not her teaching him this in that moment.  I don’t really care if she thinks it, but the others need to know right?  We then broke off with our dogs and did a 10 second stay at the end of the leash, walked in toward them and kept walking then repeated three times.  On the last stay we bent down, called our dogs and celebrated with them.  We added in the stop sign hand signal and the word stay.  We did several sets of stays.  This controlled distraction is exactly what we need. 

 I hope that we progress enough as a group to get to some off-leash work.  I was more than happy with Gavin off-leash at the beach with my friend and her dog on Monday,   Not getting far ahead of me, looking back and staying close even when her dog wandered away.  However he was a total handful on-leash on the trails with them wanting to pull.  One step forward, one step back lol.

 

Day 9 and Day 10

We continued to work downtown.  Bentley bounded back from his operation after only two days! 

 We did a make-up session on sunny Saturday afternoon which was really great.  Gavin was having a fabulous day, the best he has ever been at class.  The dogs were garnering tons of attention from passersby.  She told me to get Gavin to jump up on a very tall structure, easily as tall as a counter top.  I did not think he could do it, but up he went.  She said I need to raise my expectations.  We did some stair work and urban agility stuff,  just a really good day.  For your enjoyment, I have included some class pictures.  Grandpa is absent as his mom hurt her back.  This class picture is pretty typical – Gavin and Bentley playing and not paying attention, Apollo wanting to get in on the action but a little nervous and Hudson is a perfect sit stay.  The second picture shows the trainer with the big dogs on umbilical and the third picture is the trainer with the Teacher’s Pet lol!

Day 8

Tonight was really fun!  We met in front of the library downtown. We first worked in the park surrounding the library.  She talked about the importance of play and getting down on the floor and playing with energy with your dog.  She says to keep all play on the floor and when you stand up you announce the end of play.  She also says that this sometimes helps with dogs that like to jump up – if you keep all the excitement at floor level and ignore jumping up there is no reason for jumping.   

We then worked totally on the sidewalks of our downtown.  The total focus was street safety.  She does not believe in walking your dog only on the left.  While on the street she wants you to always walk your dog on the “safe” side.  You keep yourself between the dog and traffic so if the dog bolts he does not pull you into the street.  She also taught safe distance from the curb when you are waiting for the light, crossing the street ahead of your dog (like walking through the door, you are first off the curb and first on the curb) and not to allow your dog to touch or interfere with a stranger walking by. 

Keeping the dog on the “safe side” also proved to be a handy training technique as we walked the dogs right alongside the buildings and could use the our leg and the building to block them from getting ahead of us.  This works like a charm.  In fact if you have a dog that pulls ahead, find a fence to walk along so you can practice this.  This was a real light bulb moment for me.  Three quick steps continued to be emphasized as well as the snap sit.

We encountered several people that wanted to (or did) pet the dogs (without asking).  We also encountered a man in a motorized chair several times, a couple having a public argument, people coming out of bars to smoke cigarettes as well as traffic noise.  Gavin was quite good tonight; he is pretty used to traffic.  Grandpa had a tough time; he was timid and pulled away.  He is a very big boy so it was tough on his handler.  Little Bentley was absent because he was getting “tutored.” *snicker*

Day 7

 A few of us were there early today and we let the dogs have a bit of on leash play time.  This really seemed to bring Gavin down a notch for the rest of the class – he seemed more focused once he got a bit of play out of his system.

 Tonight we did more patience training – having the dogs sit up on a higher structure side by side.  The structure was fairly narrow and Grandpa has a tough time – he kept jumping back and forth over it and got frustrated.  We also taught the dogs snapping to sit.  She likes the snap because it provides visual and auditory so if the senses of the dog begin to fail when they are older, you have both.  You can also do it from across the room to gain control of the dog if you are on the phone or at the door or just want to impress your friends at a party (her direct quote is that it looks bad a55 if you can snap and get your dog to sit from across the room – remember she is 22 lol). We are to practice this in all areas indoor and outdoor by snapping then pulling up on the leash.

 We switched dogs up and she demonstrated that when you take your dog for a walk you take three quick steps.  This snaps the dog to attention and starts the walk with their focus on you.  All the dogs did really well at focusing on their new handlers when we did the three quick steps and stopped.  She explained that the novel handlers needed to be paid attention to while dogs will take advantage of their own handlers due to all the times in the past we did not follow through or were inconsistent.  We practiced this exercise with our own dogs.

 As usual there was a lot of people and other dogs passing by us in the park during training which served as good distractions.

 

Day 6

There were only four of us at class tonight so we got lots of individual attention and direction.  We worked the dogs on leash in an up and back pattern and the trainer observed and helped us with timing corrections and critiqued our techniques (too much leash, not enough leash, sharper movements, change pace etc.).  We did some agility and put the dogs in a sit up on a raised area while we remained at ground level.  This turned out to be a bit of a challenge as I was not in a good position to pull up on the leash for a sit without using my words.  Gavin took advantage by either getting up or lying down.  The trainer said it was patience training for us and them.  We finally got all of them sitting at once and looking great.  She used this time to talk about different things and to hear about who our dog’s celebrity was.  I went with Matthew McConaughey and everyone agreed.  Little Bentley was super cute tonight in his red and grey striped hooded sweater with kangaroo pocket.  He chatters or “sings” a lot.  His celebrity doppelgänger is Justin Bieber.  

 

We also did quite a bit of work on stairs.  The rule is the dog has to be on the step behind you.  We took turns with the other dog owners cuing us.  When they said stop, both you and the dog had to stop and the dog had to stop on the step beneath you.  This was a fun exercise.  My spotter said Gav was checking me out quite a bit which was nice because I feel like he does not do this.  The trainer pointed out that the dog does not have to turn his head toward you and make eye contact, a sideways glance and awareness is just as good. 

 

Gavin continues to be excited and wanting to play with the other dogs and sniff every square inch of the park (the park was littered with goose poopsickles).  He does better when we are in the zone and working on something (like the stairs).  The trainer also said Gavin will likely always be excited to go to the park and meet other dogs and that is a good thing; it is part of his nature.  I will get better at controlling it.  She demonstrated how I can bring him up to another dog respectfully without him pulling me and she did a great job.  I noticed she gave him a couple little pops first to get his attention on her and he worked beautifully for her.  Gavin and Grandpa got to play for a bit.  Grandpa’s owner is so happy about how his confidence is building – he even invited Gav with a play bow.  This huge nine month old baby never played with another dog before class started because he was too timid.

Day 5

This will be a bit shorter and a bit sweeter as it was cold tonight with a North wind that would knock your sox off and my fingers are barely moving.  DH came with me tonight as my calf and tendon are sore on one of my legs and I did not think I would be up for much running.  It was fun watching him handle Gavin.  Gavin was more mellow than usual tonight which was nice.  Bentley had an adorable red and navy bomber jacket on – he looked like a letter man from the high school baseball team.

 

They really subscribe heavily to the alpha dog principal including:  you enter and exit door first, eat first, no dogs on beds or furniture, etc.  Not sure how I feel about the whole dominance theory.  I do all of these things in practice simply because we agreed to the no furniture rule before we got him (so as to save the furniture from such a big dog) and for practical reasons I don’t want him dashing out the door ahead of me.  But he is also not a very dominant type dog and I am not sure he would be no matter when I fed him.  However…

 

We did a great exercise tonight where you weaved around trees and purposefully allowed your dog and you to be separated by the tree.  You then put slight pressure on the leash and wait for the dog to come around and join you on your side of the tree.  Some dogs were pretty stubborn and took over 5 minutes to come around.  The golden retriever was especially stubborn.  I handled him a bit tonight.  His handler was worried that he just wasn’t getting it, but I think he got it plenty!  He is pretty willful.  He cried when I had him tangled and then just sat.  Once I got him moving we ran a bit and he was all eyes on me.  Gavin gave up much sooner.  It only took two or three tangles before most dogs would not allow it to happen – they kept an eye on their handlers going by the trees.  It was pretty amazing; something to be practiced for sure. 

 

She forgot to ask about our dog/movie star alter egos, it was too darn cold!  Side bar:  I asked what to do about a loose dog approaching while out on walks and she says to power forward and keep moving at all costs if at all possible.

 

Day 4

We met at another park tonight.  Not too much new today.  We had a discussion about food and what people were feeding before class started.  The trainer was wondering out of general interest.  Grandpa was on Blue Buff limited ingredients.  She said the vet had him on GI Rx stuff, but she educated herself on the ingredients and made a better decision.   Total sidebar but the trainer was thrilled that people are educating themselves around dog nutrition and making good choices.  A volunteer from the Humane Society came to class.  I wonder if he was sent to “check up” on what was going on due to all the stuff in the newspaper.  Only five dogs left in the class.

 

We did walking/umbilical exercises across the field.  We switched up and handled other’s dogs.  The Wheaton pup was having a temper tantrum and would not sit for her new handler.  He whined and cried and jumped up and when the handler persisted he faked a hurt paw.  It was hilarious.  What a smart doggie, looking so adorable in the cold misty rain with his black and red plaid jacket.  He was looking at his mother pleading to be picked up.  He finally sat.

 

She talked about how we should all have big expectations for our dogs as they are capable of much more than we realize.  We did some review.  Gavin was a bit better, but still very interested in meeting the other dogs.  That part is going to take a while I think (sigh).  Our homework is more silence and we have to come up with a celebrity that is most like our dog and why so that everyone can come to understand what our dogs are really like.  Any suggestions?

 

Day 3

We met at the same waterfront park as we had lots of territory there that we had not explored.  The trainer started by addressing some recent controversy in the newspaper regarding Brad Pattison’s training methods.  http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=34... Our trainer’s message has been consistent – “no pain to train” and in fact there are a number of things she has told us in class to avoid such as kneeing dogs in the chest when the jump up (ribs are fragile) pushing down on back hips for a sit and she has also told us about the importance of boots and paw protection in the winter.  The only physicality are leash tugs when we change directions and I really do not see this as being cruel or painful for the dog.  She has also stated over and over that dogs should not be robots.  Here is the response from our Humane Society:  http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=34... She invited an open discussion about people’s feelings surrounding the controversy and everyone agreed they find the training humane and effective.

 

We lost two dogs this week.  The x-guard dog and his owner have dropped out because she finds the training to be too difficult for her.  The high-energy lab was not there either, but is not officially dropped out.  I won’t lie, there seemed to be a greater sense of ease without the x-guard dog there.  I was very leery of this dog and the owner’s ability to control him as he regularly challenged other dogs.  I hope the lab comes back.

 

Gavin once again was pulling to get to the other dogs, so I had to do lots of direction changes when we were doing our walking exercises.  Some boys went by on skateboards which really spooked Grandpa, the young husky-shepherd and he was a bit off most of the class, except when he was doing mental work.  We did a great deal of urban agility tonight.  We were up and down raised planting areas and concrete barriers, weaving around lampposts etc.  The seemed to be an excellent confidence booster for Grandpa. 

 

We had a discussion about using treats and tennis balls (guilty) as bribes.  According to her the dogs should obey due to the bond and relationship that you have.  There was more to it, but you have all likely heard this debate before.  Something interesting that has developed this week is Gavin’s improved recall (I can’t talk so just open the door and motion) when coming in from the back yard.  This had slipped a lot for me – I would call he would look at me, I would take one stop outside, he would get up from where he was and finally it was coming down to me coming down the second step and then he would come.  I now catch him looking in the door at me to see if I want him.

 

One very interesting thing happened during question period at the end.  We were all standing in a circle.  I glanced around and every single dog (even little Bentley the Wheaton) were sitting with their backs facing the interior of the circle and looking outward, keeping watch on the surroundings and each facing a different direction.  I pointed this out to the trainer and she nearly burst with enthusiasm.  They have “packed up” and bonded as a group.  She allowed us to let the dogs that wished to play together; Gavin and Apollo 13 the smaller shepherd mix had a riot.  It’s about time I am sure they were thinking.  Gavin also got a good hugging up by the trainer who said she has been dying to do that since she first saw him as loves fluffy dogs.

 

Our homework for this week:  continue with no talking, continue with umbilical and begin doing the urban agility.

 

Day 2

 

So tonight we met at a busy waterfront park.  It took a few minutes to gather the dogs up because every time one tried pulling toward another we had to turn and run the other way.  During review I asked for further clarification regarding the no talking rule.  Several people agreed that they were having a hard time with it.  Others like me said we have been touching (cuddling) our dogs more because we can’t use words.  The trainer said, “so how can that be bad?!?”  She said the no talking is because we use so much talking and words with the dogs all day long that it all sounds like background noise and means nothing to them.  We are taking words away and replacing them with action and once we start using words again, they will actually have meaning.  The tether is to get the dog to pay attention to you and to help you to be consistent with the dog. 

 

A new owner joined us:

Dog 7 – a gorgeous year and a half year old North American Retriever who looked friendly enough, but barked loudly and lunged when other dogs came near.  The owner was using words despite two warnings so she had to do 5 push-ups along side the trainer but we got off.

 

As suggested a couple of people brought their teen kids with them to have instruction too.  Guard dog owner brought her mother who was so helpful as they could switch off.  He did better tonight but was still barking, lunging at certain dogs and they sorta stayed off to the side.  He is so big and strong.  The trainer said no to umbilical with him in this situation as she felt that he could easily pull the petite owner off her feet.  She had everyone assess if this may be a problem given the size of their dogs.  The Husky-Shepherd people opted out on the same grounds.

 

 

Tonight we did a lot of umbilical work – stopping, starting, sideways, backwards.  

We then with dogs on lead had to spell our dog\s names in great big letters on the ground.  I had to spell Mallow!  This involved lots of sharp turns, stops, starts etc. She showed us how to give a quick leash snap to get the dogs attention right off the bat.  We all switched dogs and did exercises with each others dogs.  The trainer took the guard dog.  So then she decided to show the wondrous progress that has been made and used Gavin as her role model.  She draped his leash around her neck and he paraded around like a show pony.  People were gasping.  The lady beside me said OMG is this new for him?  I had to tell her that really this is his default mode and the pulling only happens around other dogs, he was doing his things but it was a tiny bit of a cheat since he has been acclimatized for the past hour and more than a bit tired.  But the trainer went on and on about what a wonderful dog he was and really who am I to disagree?  All the dogs did pretty well except for some barky confrontations.  I was a wee bit nervous for the Wheaton owner as she was handling Gavin and one of the teens had her dog when the guard dog lunged and barked at it.  I took Gav back so she could take her dog.  They weren’t real close, but that GS dog seems pretty scary.  Same homework as last class and she will call us for our next mystery meet-up place.  Her final instruction was to go home and love up our dogs as they did great tonight.

 

Day One

 

This is like no training class I have ever seen.  Expectations are high, accountability is high, it will be alot of hard work and I am sure that once we are all over the initial shock, it will be fun.

 

The Instructor:  22 year old, quirky, spitfire with an in your face boot camp style.  She expects everyone to participate and call out answers.  She thinks dogs need to have fun, be stimulated and not act like robots.  She has studied under Brad Pattison for the past two year.  She stated that she spoke to him before starting the class today and that he wished us all well.

 

The Dogs:

 

1. A 6-month-old small Soft-Coated Wheaton – very yappy, jumpy, cute and puppy-like.
2. A small three-year-old Shepherd mix rescued at eight weeks old  – seems quite social with a good disposition and not too excitable.
3. A very large GSD who is also a rescue (later in life).  He spent his early life as a compound (guard) dog.  This dog is very intimidating with a strong bark.  He is also very wilful and his female handler was near tears as we were an hour and fifteen minutes into class before she was able to get him to sit. 
4. A year and a half year old chocolate lab.  Beautiful pup, just what you would expect her to be:  energetic and intelligent, however very poorly mannered – lunges at other dogs, won’t hold a sit and barks a lot.
5. A nine-month-old Shepherd Husky mix.  Stunning looking dog with light eyes and one tipped ear.  He was very calm, a bit unsure, and did not take his eyes off the instructor once, tilting his head and listening to every word.  He looks like a wise old man.
6. Gavin (instructor nick-named him Mallow – as in marshmallow) who seemed totally confused and excited by the company of all of these new dogs.

 

The energy in the room was atrocious.  The lab, the x-guard dog and the Wheaton were barking their heads off jumping and lunging.  Gavin was pulling and not attending to me.  I found all of the commotion to be very stressful in the room (it was too cold to be outside) and I felt my shoulders tightening (I was thinking am I doing the right thing exposing him to this heavy duty stress).  However I took a deep breath and tried to ignore it.  It did improve as we went forward thankfully.

 

The first rule is no talking to your dog for the first two weeks.  I broke that rule within the first ten minutes when I said “no” when he got up from a sit.  Guess what?  The whole class had to do three push-ups for my transgression.  I also got in heck for pushing down on his rear hips to make him sit – she said it is wrong and dangerous to the health of their hips and joints.

 

The rest of the class we focused on making the dog sit by pulling up on the leash.  Gavin either got up from the sit or lied down during the sit, so I was pulling up on the leash A LOT.  Really with all the excitement and commotion, all the dogs were.  The x-guard dog would not sit so the instructor just continued to support the handler in keeping steady pressure on the leash until he did make the decision to sit  - one hour and 15 minutes in.  The second thing we focused on is umbilical work.  She demonstrated with the lab that went from high energy jumping all over not listening guy to extremely attentive and looking great inside of two minutes. 

 

Our homework:  no talking to the dogs (you go to them and make them do what you want) and two hours of umbilical (inside and/or outside) per day.  I noticed by the end of the lesson, Gavin was looking up into my face a lot more often then usual.  He was exhausted by the end of class and I could hardly get him on his feet from lying down (he had a full groom this morning as well).  We will not be doing any more inside classes.  I apologized to the group for the push up incident.  The instructor said we would all have great arms by the end.  She will be calling us before each class with a meet up place (including downtown and other highly populated areas).  She was very supportive of the x-guard dog handler and told her that she cried four times during her first training with a very tenacious dog and that she had her back.  She stayed with her for a while after class.  See ya Thursday!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I can't wait for you to get to the off-leash work!  I love his transition approach to off-leash.  I won't say another word about it, because I don't want to get ahead of things, but I think it's perfect.  You have lots to look forward to, and I'm so happy that you're willing to share your learnings with all of us. 

[Adina P]

Can you give an example of her 'dynamicness'?

[BG and Gavin]

Think dashing, freezing and darting the other direction, instead of moving in a straight line and making sweeping or u-turns.  It looks theatrical when she does it - exaggerated movements, big movements.  Fast, slow, big steps, baby steps.

[Adina P]

Yup, that's how I do it too.  When I turn right it's a 90 degree turn then run.  When I turn left, same.  When I turn around it's 180 degree turn and run.  It is for more meaningful....  I never considered it 'fun' for the dogs...it just keeps them on their toes and they have to work harder to keep their attention.

[Adina P]

There are some similarities in the umbilical training to the first week of attention training that I do.  The benefit of NOT talking or cuing while you're walking/running etc to train attention is so the dog takes it as his responsibility to keep track of you.  Works much better in the long term than if you have to TELL your dog to pay attention to you.  He learns early on that his comfort and happiness is dependent on his decisions and that is a first step in getting a dog that wants to make good decisions.  So did the trainer give the people with dogs that were more likely to lunge the option of NOT doing this?  I am not clear on that when you said the petite lady didn't have to do the umbilical work.  (In my training we hold on to the leash very securely with our hands...I would have been severely injured more than once had it been around my waist in certain distracting situations).

[BG and Gavin]

Yes Adina you nailed it.  They still did the exercises, but held the leash securely with both hands anchored at their waist for maximum strength.

[Adina P]

I wonder why she doesn't have you do this that way all the time?  If a dog were to dash when you did this outdoors...yikes!~

[Jeanine Bandini]

Thanks for this! What kind of collar are you using?

[BG and Gavin]

We use a martingale.  It is the only collar she will allow in class.  We already were using one, so it was no big adjustment.

[Jeanine Bandini]

The chain or nylon? Or does it matter?

[BG and Gavin]

Nylon with a section of chain.  Like this: 

[Jeanine Bandini]

Thanks! I have been looking for something more than a buckle collar but not a pinch!