Pre-Open - Riley

I really have not done much obedience in the last few years.  I am kind of torn about it. Agility really is so much more fun than obedience. But with the right hound, obedience can be fun too!

Riley is one of those "right" hounds. She is just so precious. But ever since she fractured her hock, her sit just has not been the same.

She is trained through Open level (second out of three levels), but she cannot physically do the 3 minute sit stay anymore and I don't ask her to. Generally, she is fine with all the brief sits for heeling and fronts.

Since Riley cannot meet the requirements of the Open level, we have now shown twice at Pre-Open. It is scaled down version of open.  The jumps can be lower and there are no stays.  I figured why not?  She is already trained in all of the exercises.  I might as well show her off.

Last time, we got away with no practice and qualified anyway... and with a borrowed dumbbell because I forgot mine.  This time it showed that we had not practiced.  Riley did pretty well on all of the exercises and her drop on recall is always fantastic.  But her heeling left much to be desired. On certain ribbed matting, she will get picky about her sits and well... she was picky about this matting.

  Oh well, she was super cute anyway and I guess next time we will practice.

Photos by InMotion Photos.

That Sucked!

Riley Greyhound and I headed up to Tennessee for another obedience trial. It was definitely not worth six hours of driving round trip. It turns out that Riley is quite picky about the flooring. After a couple of sits, she simple would not sit anymore.  I eventually stopped asking for them as I did not want to practice being ignored.  The bright side is that her attitude was very good and she was happy.  So here is a nice video of us totally sucking!

One person outside the ring offered a suggestion.  She thought that I might be confusing Riley with my stand signal and stay hand signal.  I cue a stand with my left hand and because this was a problem for us in the past, I cue my stays with my right hand.  This strategy eliminated the confusion.  We have not practiced Novice exercises in awhile (including stands) so maybe I was getting sloppy.  However, thanks to the video, I can confirm that I am still cuing her correctly and that it is quite obvious she is avoiding.

Luckily, the judge excused us from doing sit and down stays.  There was no way we would have succeeded so I would not have done them anyway, but it was nice to have the judge's blessing as it is bad manners to just duck out.

So dang it! Greyhound sits are already hard enough. I certainly do not want to cause her any discomfort.  Lengthy sit stays are already very difficult for Riley so I am not going to start a fight and insist that she sit stay on a floor she does not even want to sit for 3 seconds on.  Unfortunately, most of our obedience trials are held indoors, on concrete, with thin matting.  It appears to me that if the matting has any texture at all, she does not like it. Fun, fun.

Crowd Pleaser

Riley and I drove three hours to an obedience trial in Tennessee yesterday.  And then drove three hours home.  Six hours of driving for a less than fifteen minute obedience performance.  Why the heck do I do this?  Actually, I am not sure either.  Pure insanity. 

No, we had a lot of fun.  It was Riley's debut at Open level and this was an excellent environment for her first time out.  The trial setting was small and quiet.  It was a one ring trial rather than multiple rings side by side with action happening all around.  And I love the matting.  It is very cushy for those three and five minute stays.

Riley did not disappoint her fans and was quite the crowd pleaser.  We received applause, cheering, and so many nice compliments.  People love to see a happy hound since they are thought to be hard to train and not popular for obedience traditionally.  Unfortunately, we did not qualify, but I was thrilled with Riley nonetheless.  The two errors were no biggie and we will do better next time.

I was also very pleased that Riley held her three minute, out of sight, sit stay (meaning the handlers leave the room).  Long sit stays are the one thing I hate to ask my greyhounds to do.  In training, I always highly reward and jackpot long sit stays.  However, at a trial the reward for a three minute sit stay is a five minute down stay. Of course, I jackpot Riley after both stays are completed and we leave the ring, but I prefer for her to know that the sit stay is of utmost importance. Heck, we rarely ever practice down stays and never for five minutes... that is boring.

All in all, it was an excellent Open obedience debut.

Open Exercises

Riley is working hard on Open level obedience exercises (the level after Novice) and is almost ready to be shown.  Here are two video clips of us practicing.

Riley loves when I grab her collar.  It means "jackpot".  She is not allowed to go to the "jackpot" without me so I always at least touch her collar first.  Now she loves her collar grabs.

The Dreaded Stay

Since Riley finished Novice, she and I are working on her Open level obedience exercises.  Open is more fun and interesting with off leash heeling, jumps, and dumbbell retrieves.  However, the exercise I dread the most is included in the Open class - the dreaded, three minute, OUT OF SIGHT, sit stay. 

Handlers and dogs line up.  Most handlers sit their dogs immediately, but I wait until the very last second and the judge's direction.  Once seated, the dogs are told to stay and a ring steward guides the handlers to the hiding place out of view from the dogs.

As most of you know, many greyhounds find sitting to be awkward and assume a position that looks more like a squat (see the air between Riley's rear and the ground in the top picture).  Some greyhounds are excellent sitters and quite comfortable.  Katie had no trouble with 3 minute sit stays.  She figured out how to get her rear on the ground.

Teresa obviously was not.  She would get tired, rock back, and sprawl out.  She was able to do one-minute sit stays for Novice, but I never attempted to train her for Open.

I am very appreciative of my greyhounds' sit stays and never take them for granted.  Each sit stay results in a jackpot of canned dog food, mackerel, or tripe, peanut butter, creme cheese, macaroni & cheese, or a stinky, raw beef mixture I save from the raw food breakfast.  A generous amount is placed into a plastic container and my good, sit stay greyhound gets to lick the container clean.  It is usually my greyhounds' least favorite thing to do so this is my way of sugar coating it.

I am having a unique problem with Riley's sit stays.  She is maintaining three minute sit stays with me out of sight, but she flicks her ears the entire time.  It is as if there is something tickling them.  I have tried to fold them back with no improvement.  I have considered trimming the hair inside of her ears to see if that helps.  I only see this when she is sitting.

Her funky right ear seems to be the most affected.  It probably has something to do with the floppy tip.  All in all, Riley has endured it so far, but if I could stop it, I would like to as it looks uncomfortable and irritating.  I want Riley's sit stays to be as comfortable as possible for her.

First Obedience Title

Riley finished her Companion Dog obedience title last Saturday with a first place and a score of 195.5 out of 200 in the Novice B class. We won a leather leash and $5. That makes Riley my second greyhound to earn money (Travis won $200 once). $5 was such a funny amount because it did not even cover the cost of the entry fee. Ha! But it was fun and appreciated. The Companion Dog title or CD is earned with three qualifying scores in the Novice class. A qualifying score is 170 or better.

I am really pleased with all three of our performances. Not only did she qualify in our first three attempts, but she did so with scores ranging from 194.5 to 195.5 and at three different venues. In the past, I was always happy to just qualify with a happy and willing greyhound usually in the high 180's. Katie and Travis were always crowd pleasers, but I avoided working on details because I felt it might be demotivating for my canine partner if I nitpicked. We easily qualified, but not without lots of of half and one point deductions for being crooked, off center, or out of place.
About a year ago, I attended a seminar that taught training the details using a clicker. I finally had a good technique for explaining and rewarding the tiny details. Riley is the first greyhound I have actually worked on straight fronts (recall to a sit in front of handler) and finishes (return to heel position). We also worked very hard on heeling. I learned how to give Riley little cues that tell her what is happening next so she stays in position. It has really paid off.
Now on to Open level obedience. Riley is well started on Open obedience exercises. She can retrieve a dumbbell on the flat and over a high jump. She is well started on the broad jump and drop on recall. The big hurdle will be the three minute sit stay with the handler (me) out of sight. Lots of practice ahead. Obedience trial photos by Dee Leclair.

WOW!

I was so pleased with Riley last weekend! She was perfection! On Friday, we competed in obedience. Unfortunately, I do not have any video, but Riley scored 195.5 out of 200 in Novice B and placed first against 10 or so other dogs. Again she was so cute and very happy to work for her scrambled eggs jackpot.

We ended up tying for High in Trial which is an award given to the the highest obedience score of the day. A Portuguese Water Dog also earned a score of 195.5 in another obedience class. The tie is broken by each dog and handler being judged on a heel off leash pattern. Both dogs had very minor deductions and tied again! The second heel pattern, both dogs were perfect and I believe it was a hard decision, but the judge gave it to the PWD. I was thrilled that two non-traditional obedience breeds were going for High in Trial. Everyone was very excited and complimentary. Next day, we were off to a two day agility trial. Riley was AWESOME!!! Two perfect Excellent A level runs resulting in two more 1st place finishes. Riley was very fast in Jumpers covering 6.14 yards per second which is faster than Travis.

On Sunday, Riley was awesome again. She placed first in the Standard class and finished her Excellent title. This moves her up to the highest agility level where she can now earn points to be ranked, to earn agility championships, and to be invited to invitationals and nationals. In Jumpers, we had the course nailed until the very end. The very tricky course ended with a tunnel. Recall that Riley sometimes ducks around tunnels or even jumps them... notice she did not do that at all this weekend... good girl, Riley! But she did go into the wrong tunnel entrance. Not qualifying, but no big deal. I was so happy she entered the tunnel after a speedy line of jumps.

It is wonderful when everything begins to come together. Riley was so smooth and focused this weekend.

Agility photos by In Motion Photography.

Obedience Debut

Last Saturday, Riley debuted in obedience and she did great! She was so happy and cheerful throughout the entire performance. The venue is not the best for green dogs. It is a very busy setting because there is also a conformation show going on. There is lots of barking, blow drying, and airplanes overhead, but Riley was never disconnected and I never felt as though she was distracted for more than a split second. She was better than I expected.

Our major 2 point deduction occurred on the stand for exam. Riley pivoted as the judge approached. No big deal. Just gives us something to work on. Other points were taken off for the lag right at the beginning. She looked away right as we started heeling and her finish (the very last thing) was a little crooked. But most importantly she was happy happy!

Next came the one minute sit stay. This is her least favorite exercise, but she dutifully held her sit. There is just so much air between her butt and the mat. I hope I can build her endurance to three minutes as she needs to perform a three minute, out-of-sight sit stay in Open level obedience. Next came the three minute down stay. Riley has this down.... literally.

Riley finished up with a 192.5 out of a possible 200 points. Definitely a good score for Riley's first time out. She thoroughly enjoyed her macaroni and cheese jackpot.

Open Training

Even though we have not shown in Novice level obedience, I have started introducing Riley to Open level (2nd level) obedience exercises.

First exercise is the broad jump. It is the silliest exercise of all obedience maneuvers in my opinion. It serves no purpose. I always envision myself standing in a creek with my feet submerged in the water and telling my dog to jump it. Who does that? Regardless of my opinion, we have to do it if I want to compete in Open obedience. Since Riley is 24 inches tall, she has to jump 48 inches wide. In this video, Riley has already been introduced to the broad jump. As she jumps, I toss a treat in front of her so she practices jumping and landing straight before returning to a front position.

The second exercise on the video is starting Riley on the drop on recall. In fact, I believe this is her very first time working on it. Eventually, I will teach her to drop if asked when she is responding to a recall. Right now I roll a treat to the other end of the room so she has a reason to move away and then when she turns to come back to me, I can practice asking her to drop. I also will do the same thing when she is retrieving toys for fun. Travis was especially offended when asked to drop while fetching his bumper, but the food jackpots quickly changed his mind and he was more than willing to down.

Just Say No

When you take training classes or private lessons with your dogs, occasionally you may be given a suggestion you disagree with. Even if you are a beginner student, keep in mind that you are the trainer's employer.

Riley and I took a semi-private lesson the other day and we worked on dumbbell retrieves for part of the session. Riley chases the dumbbell, picks it up, and tends to drops it in my direction. She is still learning the fine art of holding it until I take it. So when Riley opens her mouth, I put my hand under her chin, and prevent her from dropping it. When she closes her mouth, holds the dumbbell, and does so while I put my hands back down at my sides, I will take the dumbbell and reward with a treat. Its perfectly reasonable (although not an acceptable performance) for Riley to want to get the dumbbell out of her mouth and ready for a treat as soon as possible. So I am explaining to Riley that the treat prerequisite is that you must also hold the dumbbell until I take it. In a way, I am sort of correcting Riley, but mostly I feel that I am helping her not fail so I can reinforce a successful outcome. I attempted to video this for you, but Riley did so well that I only had to touch her chin once.

My trainer suggested that I let Riley drop the dumbbell and pop her under the chin. My gut told me that Riley would probably not figure out that holding the dumbbell would prevent the pop under the chin. Her zest for the dumbbell would probably diminish. It was more likely that she would drop the dumbbell out of my reach or stop picking up the dumbbell all together.

It does not matter what level you are working at or what kind of class or private lesson you are attending, sometimes you will disagree with the trainer. Please do not do something your gut is telling you is not right for your dog. You are paying the trainer. That person is working for you and it is okay for you to say "I don't think that will work for Riley." If your trainer is offended, you need a different trainer. My lovely trainer said "Ok, it looks like what you are doing is working also."

Novice Obedience

Both Reagan and Riley are getting close to being ready to compete in Novice level obedience. I would say Riley is closer since her sit and down stays are more reliable. I am also hoping that I will be able to the higher levels with Riley eventually. We will see. Here is Riley going through all of the Novice level obedience exercises.

I have really enjoyed working with our obedience trainer, Kathryn Willis. Kathryn has nationally ranked Golden Retrievers (very difficult to do with Goldens), qualifies and competes at the National Obedience Invitational (very difficult to with Goldens being so popular in obedience), and has achieved a perfect score of 200 more than once (difficult for anyone at any level). I used to not care if my dogs were crooked or not precise. I just wanted my greyhounds to work happy, quickly, and smartly. Kathryn has been great for working on the little details and making it fun for the dogs.

Golden Child

Riley is the new Golden Child. She has been working hard and doing really well. She is almost ready to compete in Novice obedience. I want her sit stays to be a bit more reliable and for her to be a little more polished. Other than that, she can do all of the exercises and is pretty darn cute.

This is Riley working on heeling figure "8s". She is really good at moving her rear end, but over does it and steps on me. Its funny to see in this video how wide she steps.

Here is more figure "8" heeling, but outside with better light. It was Christmas day and very cold and windy. Snookums was with me and able to video so I did not pass up the chance despite the weather.

Here is some regular heeling. Nice and focused.

I am starting to train jackpots. Riley and Reagan are both learning that you do this for a couple of minutes and you get an extra big treat.

Here is a front and finish. Excellent front. It is straight, but the finish was crooked.

Riley's Turn

Riley's latest in heeling.

Riley and Me

Riley and I have had a lot of alone time lately. While she probably enjoys getting me to herself, it is probably lonely traveling in the giant van with no Katie and no Reagan.

I have spent extra time on Riley's focus in distracting situations (busy park or PetsMart, for example). I ask for short bursts of attention with a front, a sit, or heel position. When I am completely ignored, I have found a good correction to be to simply walk into her or tap on her toes. She can't ignore my annoyance for long. Riley is finding out its much easier to do what I ask for 10 seconds, get a food reward, and then she is free to sniff and look around.

PetsMart is still quite overwhelming. Riley is so mesmerized by the smell and sounds of small animals. At PetsMart, I initially settle for eye contact. I want Riley to acknowledge that I do exist at the end of her leash. When she does look at me, she gets a click and a treat, and we move forward.

Another problem I have is that Riley is so darn adorable. Folks are very drawn to her and vice versus. She loves people and is so excitable. I appreciate when people ask if they can pet Riley or give her a treat. I feel bad, but I politely decline and try to explain that she is in the middle of training. I need for her to view me as the source for treats, toys, and affection and not seek it so much from her environment.

Am I Still a Vegetarian?

At the seminar last weekend, Kathryn was an advocate for keeping the treats in your mouth. The reason for this is that in formal obedience it is important for the dog to look at your face. The quickest way for your face to be worth looking at is to turn it into a cookie dispenser. Treats can then be given to the dog by spitting them out or by using your hand to take a treat from your mouth and hand it to your dog..... I have to admit that I am chuckling as I write this. I feel as though I am divulging a secret that only formal obedience trainers know. The rest of the world is so amazed that our dogs won't take their eyes off of us......... so now you know why. :-)


Here is Riley attempting to catch bits of cheese I am spitting out. You can see how it is a little slow going with her at times.... Snookums, don't get excited. I am still not giving her to you.

Well, at the seminar, I only had boiled chicken for Reagan. I was not willing to mess up her menu and give her cheese just yet. So I put boiled chicken my mouth and it was nasty. Since then I have also put Tyson grilled chicken strips in my mouth. That tasted much better, but cured any cravings I had. Occasionally, chicken smells good to me, but after tasting it again, it really did not excite my taste buds. Thank goodness, string cheese appears to be working for both hounds with no digestive upsets. Cheese is definitely the preferred treat for hiding in my mouth.

So am I still a vegetarian?

Get Close

On Sunday, Reagan and I attended a small, local seminar with Kathryn Willis. Kathryn has been training and competing in Dog Obedience for 15 years. Her Golden Retrievers have been nationally ranked for the last five years and have qualified for five National Obedience Invitationals. Kathryn has earned 3 Obedience Trial Championships, a perfect score of 200, over 50 High in Trials, and over 50 High Combined awards..... and best of all, Kathryn uses clicker training.

The seminar focused mostly on teaching the dog that he/she has a rear end, how to move the rear end, and where the rear end should be (something Riley, pictured above, needs a lot of help with). The difference between a nice obedience performance and a great obedience performance often comes down to straight fronts and finishes and a good heel position. With 4 legs, its easy to forget where the rear is and to let it drift off to the side. Kathryn taught us several "doodles" to help explain the rear end to the dog.

The first "doodle" (shown below) is teaching the dog to move into heel position or "get close" (dog is parallel to handler's left side). I have always been in a bad habit of asking my greyhound to sit and then positioning myself parallel to my dog (except with Katie, somehow I managed to explain to her how to move her rear end). With finishes (dog returns to heel position and sits next to the handler at the end of each exercise), it was always hit or miss. I would get credit for my dog's effort at finishing, but would lose points for the sit not being parallel or straight.

This is not the most interesting video clip, but I have to say I was quite thrilled to see how just twisting my hand with a treat and stepping back with my left foot encouraged my dog to move her rear into a more parallel position. You start by clicking and treating just a small side step, but eventually require a move into correct heel position.

Wait For It

I am currently teaching two greyhound clicker training classes. About three or four times a year, I offer a basic obedience class for greyhounds using the clicker.

One of the things I have noticed is that handlers are sometimes desperate for their greyhound's attention. Class is a distracting environment. The dogs are pulled in all directions by the attractive treats, the other dogs, and the sound of clickers.

This time, there is one hound in particular that is very stressed, but she is working really well for short bursts despite her anxiety. She can be very frustrating to work with because she is either jumping on her handler or pulling away from him and putting 55 pounds of pressure on the leash. The handler tries to get her attention by repeating her name and pulling her back.

I experience something similar with Riley at times, especially at PetsMart. The squeaks, chirps, and small animals smells are almost too much for her to handle. It is stressful for Riley to not be able to get to what she is hearing and smelling.

When Riley has switched to high prey mode, I know that her training has taken a giant leap backwards. Instead of asking her to do things she may fail to respond to (such as her name), I simply wait for her to come back to earth. I let her look, listen, and smell from one location (I do not let her lead me around the store). Since she is not given access to the animals or the toys in the store, the looking, listening, and smelling behavior never leads her to a reinforcement.

Eventually, Riley starts to realize that her action is not working for her and she may turn to look at me... click and treat. She makes eye contact again... click and treat. She might offer another behavior, a down perhaps. Click and treat. Now she is listening and I can start to make requests.

I much prefer to allow Riley to exhaust her curiosity and then "choose" to see what I have to offer. Some trainers teach a "watch me" command. I have never done this with my greyhounds nor have I felt the need to. I find that eventually they become quite attentive and just eventually keep their eyes on me without being asked.

I think a similar strategy would work for the greyhound in my class. Just wait for it. Let it be her idea. I am eager to see how she and her handler progress over the weeks.

Heeling

The obedience classes I attended with Jes more than 10 years ago used lots of collar corrections or quick jerks on the leash. I was never comfortable with this approach and Jes clearly did not like it either.

Heeling is an exercise where the dog matches the handler's pace and maintains a steady position on the handler's left side. For competition purposes, the dog is required to sit automatically at each halt.

Initially, I was taught to give my greyhound a quick pop on the collar if she was not in the correct position or not looking at me. For a soft dog especially, imagine how the collar corrections suck all the joy that could possibly be found in heeling. This is another reason I fell in love with clicker training.

With a clicker, I can identify behaviors I want my greyhound to repeat including a nice heel position. Marking and rewarding the correct heeling behaviors makes heeling fun for the dog and easy for the handler to teach.

Here is Riley demonstrating some beginner heel work. She did better than I had expected, but you can see that when she loses heel position, I use a little leash to get her back into place. There are no corrections. I simply click & treat when she is right again.

Pure clicker trainers prefer to train heeling without a leash. I believe using a leash helps to speed up the process because you can at least keep your dog in the general area, so he or she is more likely to succeed.

Here is Reagan. She has been working on heeling a little longer than Riley has. The clicks & treats come less frequently. Her criteria has been raised and I want a little more from her before I reward.

I think some trainers resist using a clicker/marker for heeling because it does interrupt a moment of good work. I find that it is well worth the interruption. Over time, I introduce the idea of working for a longer period of time for a jackpot. Katie understands this concept precisely. Here is Katie showing advanced heeling.

Katie is trained and titled through Utility Dog obedience and is 8 year older so she is way ahead of Riley and Reagan.

Training Update - Riley

First, a cute story... Riley has learned to sit and down. The other night we were all standing at the back door. Stephen and I were putting muzzles on everyone. Reagan had a boo boo I had to take care of, so I had a treat in my hand to give her after I had messed with it. Riley had smelled it, so she plopped herself into a down in the middle of everyone hoping for a treat. It was very cute. I love to see the wheels turning in their heads.





On Tuesday, Stephen was kind enough to come video some training sessions. So this is Riley at just over 2 weeks of training.





This video is of Riley working on sits and downs. Riley responds to a sit and down hand signal without food in my hand and she is learning to maintain the position while I move around and to wait for my release word. I stress this in my classes, but it is very important to reward hand signals with food you then have to reach for (pocket/pouch/container/etc). Otherwise you train the dog to respond only if the food is under his nose.

This is Riley working on eye contact and name recognition. I stop her from sitting because I do not want her to think that is what we are working on. I am mostly just waiting for eye contact, saying her name, and clicking & treating for it. Occasionally, I say her name and click & treat for the head turn towards me.

This is Riley working on recalls. Its important to start recall training on leash so you can make it happen. A week ago, I had to use the leash to show her what to do. Now the leash is there as back up if she ignores me which is bound to happen at some point. Since we are in a safe area, I do drop the leash a couple of times, but again it is there if I have to correct her. I also want her to know that I will grab her collar, so I put my hand on her collar each time she comes in for the treat.

Stephen also helped me start her on tunnels. She was very easy and very willing to give it a try. I have also started her on jumps.

Prong Collars

Hiking with Riley has reminded me how wonderful a prong or pinch collar can be. Most people would never consider a prong collar to be an option for our thin skinned greyhounds. However, if you have been hurt because your dog has pulled you off your feet.... if you do not enjoy walking your dog (even small dogs) because of the constant pulling or unexpected lunges.... if other animals are at risk because you are out of control, then a prong collar may just be your new best friend.


A prong collar basically gives you some leverage so you do not have to struggle and wrestle with your dog. I liken it to whispering. I would much prefer my dog to respond to gentle leash guidance than to feel like I am tugging, yanking, and manhandling my dog with a flat collar. Most dogs will "yip" the first time they lunge hard. They aren't expecting to feel the the pinch and are surprised by it. In cruel, insensitive hands a prong collar could do damage, but in gentle hands I have yet to see a dog pull so hard to cause injuries.



In my opinion, prong collars are not a substitute for good training. With few exceptions, I do not train with a prong collar. I aim to always be consistant so when my dog wears a flat collar, I do not allow any pulling and will issue a distance penalty each time. A distance penalty is backing up in the opposite direction and making the dog change direction. It can be tedious, but it pays off after a few weeks. When I do not have time to insist on good manners, a prong collar gives me a time out so we can just walk. Its very easy for a dog to tell the difference between a prong and a flat collar so there is no confusion.

A fitted prong collar should sit above the regular ID collar. A prong collar should not look like a necklace draped around the dog's neck. The collar is made up of links that can be added or subtracted to custom fit it to your dog's neck. I prefer the small sized links for greyhounds.