After not being able to get a Master Standard Q for 2 years they not only got the final Master Standard Q with a First Place earning their title, they also got another Master Standard Q on Sunday. And Scott ran Kindle for me in Master Standard and Q’d again. Fabulous!!! That dry spell is over!

Here is the video, isn’t this fabulous. Oh, I was a little excited too.

In May I was having problems with my right knee, after some Physical Therapy and a cortisone shot it really improved and I was feeling better than I had in years. But, then I hurt my left knee while running agility with Kindle. I irritated the arthritis to the point of huge swelling and pain that was, well debilitating. It has just not improved much even after cortisone and SynVisc and continued Physical Therapy. So this is the next step. Sort of ironic I am ending up having the left knee replaced when this started this year with the right knee.

Both knees May 2012

I’m looking forward to getting past the surgery and starting the recovery. But first, I report to the hospital Monday morning at 8:30. My goals, to be back at SureFire Dogs teaching agility and obedience classes by February 5th and to run Kindle at our next USDAA trial February 15th-17th. Ambitious? Maybe, but that’s what I’m planning to do.

So, I hope you’ll come along or the journey. I’ll take encouragement and cheers as you offer!

So I hope you’ll come back and visit as I reconstruct.

As a dog training instructor, I teach people how to best train their dogs to have good manners. But in all the classes I teach, I also have the goal to enhance and strengthen the relationship between owners and their dogs. Through positive training methods we teach the dogs to sit, do a down and come when they are called, leave stuff alone we don’t want them to have. We teach them to roll over, shake hands, run an agility course, we teach them to want to do the things we want and need them to do. At the same time those positive methods improve and strengthen our relationship with our dogs because those positive methods motivate and affirm our dogs.

And, we gain so much as we nurture the relationship with our dogs. Every class I teach, I watch people learn to persuade their dogs to learn what they need them to know so they are well mannered members of their families. I’ve come to realize I watch people evolve. From week 1 to week 6 as they learn to change the relationship they have with their dog, they become more confident, more able. In a small way people learn to be more successful, and while they improve their relationship with their dog. Maybe along the way they learn better ways to enhance their relationships with people. It is true, positive methods work with our children, spouses, in-laws, bosses and our friends.

We are so lucky to have these awesome animals who are so willing to share our lives with us. They teach us so much about how to be patient, how to respect other living beings and how to elicit cooperation without being overbearing or running roughshod over others. And you thought you were just teaching your dog to sit!

George Richards & Hummel at Dachshund Speciality 2009 from John Richards on Vimeo.

Congratulations to George and Hummel.
So glad I have almost 50 years to perfect my dog training. (OK, 45 years.)
Go practice something!!!!

You need a 15 to 20 foot drag line attached to your dog. If it has a loop on the end just cut that so your dog can’t get caught on anything.

You still want to practice in a somewhat safe and confined area. It’s ideal if you have a fenced yard or access to one. You’ll also need your cheeseburger or whatever yummy treat you’re using to entice your dog.

Start with a couple practice recalls letting your dog wander only a few feet away before you call him and then give a jackpot when he comes. This sets the stage for success for this session. You want your dog to succeed as often as possible so you can reward him. A reward (cheeseburger etc.) is often referred to as reinforcement. Reinforcing something makes it stronger so rewarding your dog coming to you, increases the likelihood your dog will repeat the behavior so he can get rewarded again, reinforcing the behavior so it gets stronger and increasing the likelihood your dog…… well, you get the idea.

After a couple practice recalls, start letting your dog wander further from you and wait longer between recalls. You want to continue jackpotting your dog for 20 -30 seconds when he comes, especially as you increase the distance you let him wander. When your dog gets really good at coming in this location, switch to new place to practice. Dogs do not generalize behavior so you’ll need to continue working in many new places until you teach him he is to come on command regardless of where he is. Keep jackpotting your dog as you work in new places and be sure to keep him safely on the drag line until you think he has got it.

You can start to incorporate this into your walks with your dog. Naturally you want to be sure your dog is safe so be careful where you take your dog. The woods are a great place except during hunting season of course so check your area. There are nice playing fields near where I live and I use those too.

As your dog gets better and better at coming to you on command you can graduate to removing the drag line but I recommend you go back to the fenced area and work for a bit before assuming your dog will come without the line attached to him.

If you have diligently worked at this, rewarding each step along the way you will have taught an effective and trustworthy recall. Well done!

Now before you think you are all done and you can put those treats away forever, let’s talk about maintaining that recall. Come on back in a few days and we’ll discuss how to keep that recall strong and dependable.
In the meantime, let me know how it’s going.

Merriam Webster dictionary defines a Jackpot as: an impressive, often unexpected success or reward.

Like playing a slot machine in a casino.

People sit and pump coins into a slot machine anticipating they will win the big Jackpot. Why? Well because they have won before or they saw someone else win and hope to hit the big one! And why not, when the machine pays off it’s a flood of coins accompanied by flashing lights and blaring horns while the winner cheers. The result, the winner and many people watching will most likely sit down and play again.

This is the same philosophy in jackpotting your dog.
Train a behavior, a sit, shake, rollover, whatever and when you get a really good one, jackpot it!

Pay out a whole bunch of treats one at a time while lavishly praising your dog. Chances are your dog will repeat the behavior just to test if he will get that fantastic jackpot again!

And lucky you, because you jackpotted a really good behavior it will most likely improve your dog’s future performance and result in faster responses.
Here is a short video that shows how to pay out an effective jackpot.

Kindle loved helping us make this video. It was indeed difficult to convince her we had a good one and were not going to continue. She kept sitting and then running to me in hopes she would get another of those jackpots!
She is an over achiever.
Give it a try and let me know how it affects your results.

We all want our dog to respond quickly when we need them to come to us. But it is one of the behaviors most people have trouble teaching their dog and maintaining. I believe it’s all about the association our dogs have about coming to us. Create a strong, pleasant association and your dog will prefer coming to you over everything else.

I am a huge proponent of using really good food to train dogs. Of all our senses smell and taste form the strongest and longest lasting associations.

Just a whiff of warm apple pie and I am transported to my Grandma’s house learning to make pie crust and sharing tasty warm pie just from the oven. A wonderful memory and even now apple pie is one of my favorite desserts.
Likewise just a hint of eau de beef bouillon and I feel terrible. I had the mumps when I was 14 and was terribly ill. Swollen throat, high fever, I couldn’t swallow so my mother made me beef bouillon to keep me hydrated and nourished.
I lived but I HATE beef bouillon. The smell is enough to put me off and I wouldn’t ever consider eating it!

Our dogs also form strong associations based on taste and smell and we can use this to create an association that assists us teaching our dogs to come to us whenever we want.
Use good food, create a strong behavior.

Take my advice get your dog a cheeseburger from the local fast food restaurant or some plain donut holes from the donut shop. At the very least use that left over prime rib you had last Friday when you went out to dinner. I know I know, its people food, full of fat and sugar. But people! we are forming an association here! My dogs eat very healthy most of the time so a few training sessions with food not so healthy is fine. Just trust me. Go get the cheeseburger. I’ll wait.
Back already?

OK, cut that cheeseburger into very small pieces. You are ready to start your first session.

Take your dog to a controlled area. I use a small room with a door. Let your dog wander and get distracted.
Then call him using only his name. Hold the food out and lure your dog to you praising as he comes. As soon as your dog gets to you feed the cheeseburger one piece at a time telling your dog continually how brilliant and wonderful he is. This is called a jackpot and it should take 20 to 30 seconds. You can have someone time you to be sure you’re taking enough time to form the association.
Now let your dog wander and get distracted again. Then repeat the process and continue this 3 more times during this session.
You will find it is harder for your dog disengage from you at the end of the session. This is a good thing.

When you begin the next session a few hours later you can go to a bigger room maybe without a door. Let your dog get distracted and then call him using only his name. Hold that lovely cheeseburger out and when he gets to you feed for 20 to 30 seconds and praise him the entire time. Again you will repeat this 3 more times this session.

Students always ask me how many times they will need to practice this and I tell them between 4 and 4000 times depending on your dog. Seriously there is no cut and dried answer.
Just like people dogs learn at different rates. You’ll be able to determine your dog’s ability as your training progresses.

When you are 99% sure your dog is going to come to you every time you call him you are ready to attach a command to his recall. I use “come” but you can call it anything you want, just be consistent.
I will caution you that if you are retraining your recall and already call it “come” I recommend renaming it as you’ve already taught your dog he has a choice to come or not as he chooses. A fresh command attached to the behavior will give you a better chance of having a more reliable recall.

OK, keep practicing.
Make sure you are only using your command if you are truly in control of whether your dog will come to you. Don’t take him to the back yard off leash and let him wander 50 yards away then call. You have no way of controlling your dog under these circumstances and you may set back your training. We will work up to that but in the meantime, keep working in small areas and if you choose to go outside please, have your dog on leash and only let him get a few feet away.

In the next couple days check back and we will continue to the next step.
Happy training!