FoxTal Training Center

06/15/2024

Give me the ball! Gremlin face

06/15/2024

The face you make when you want to sniff "eau de girlie" and Deb tells you to sit and look at her

06/13/2024

The best laid plans......laid a nice track for Bird this morning crossing lots of mow lines. I was going to age it 3 hours but those plans changed when I was advised they would be mowing in 20 minutes. It was only an hour old but I grabbed my dog and ran it. It was still an excellent training track. On 2 corners she checked both directions but didn't leave the track and I let her work those out.
I still had to put down breakfast for Tantoo, so I came home and put one down in the parking area of the training field where we had parked and also trained dogs last night. The little girl is doing such a good job, very attentive to the track, slow speed, corners all excellent and loves her articles. We aren't solid on re-starts yet and I'll be picking up more and more food as she is at 10 paces before articles and turns now. I was happy with how she worked through the fresh tire tracks.
Sometimes having plans go sideways is a good thing.

05/28/2024

05/27/2024

Tantoo track this morning. 16 mph winds. 14 months old. Still working on remaining down at articles. Arc and multiple corners, 2 articles. It's not perfect-- she is learning. We're getting there...

02/20/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16imaVWRzpD6AZdj/?mibextid=oFDknk

02/07/2024

Because when we have bare ground in Wisconsin in February we track

01/28/2024

Bern and I went shed hunting this afternoon. Well, I looked for sheds-- Bern just ran around. He had a great time checking all the smells and running through the woods. At the end he demanded his belly rub. Always, Bern. Always

01/03/2024

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=455530325374732&id=293018424959257&mibextid=CDWPTG

Poisoned Praise

Lately I've been pondering experienced handlers who seem to be doing all the right things -enthusiastic markers, good technical personal play concepts, no obvious or heavy-handed corrections, good core training techniques- yet have dogs having a hard time.

From dogs who shut down to dogs who look bored to dogs that start to view the games we play with them as chores to slog through.

I'm not stranger to this myself. So what gives?

I believe a large factor (if not the largest factor) is poisoned praise. That although we've done all the right technical mumbo jumbo, that our dog doesn't believe our praise. Somewhere along the line we've poisoned it.

How? It comes in many forms, but these are the most common versions I see -and almost always there is a large combination of elements at play.

1) Frustrated handlers dealing out frustrated praise. We are trying to pass off a lie and they know it. If our praise feels like cloaked frustration, that's the end emotional result.

2) Drilling Skills. For all but a few dogs repetition kills enjoyment yet many of us continue to train and train and train to get something "right".

3) Focusing on Specific Skills too Early. Before we can truly get skill we need attitude, teamwork and communication. Many experienced handlers want to rush into skills. If you don't allow the dog to cultivate desire first, you're gonna have a heck of a time getting a great performance.

4) Obligatory Praise. As handlers we know we should reward our dogs. However if praise, treats or tug feels like a chore to the handler, the dog feels that in the communication. Just another chore on the training front today. Thanks.

5) Praise is Pressure. I could write a whole post on the topic, but in a nutshell as we advance skill sets praise comes with a level of pressure. When we earn an A on a paper we feel we should be able to earn similar again. Less than an A can make us feel defeated, even if we weren't prepared adequately. If we keep pushing the envelope on skills, sooner or later you are going to find a dog who has some level of pressure stress. Where pressure lives desire and joy get worn away. Couple this with the fact that there is handler pressure too and the dog praises us with the wanted behavior, the team can quickly be dealing with a heck of a lot of pressure.

6) End Goals are Prioritized Over the Process. Especially for handlers well into their sports, there is a conscious or unconscious push towards the end goal -getting on that competition floor. It motivates you, but it often also takes you out of the moment when you train your dog. Plan away, but not being present with your dog is a very, very good way to create disconnect and make your praise seem hollow and fake. Don't go through the motions.

7) Making Mountains out of Molehills. People -experienced or not- have the very odd ability to find a single great session amazing while completely unravelling with one off session. We all have set-backs, but I promise just like a few great repetitions isn't actually as amazing as you think it is, nor is a couple of bad repetitions as detrimental as you may believe. What we communicate is what's going to hold water long term. You don't need to be super duper happy about the set-backs, but save your mental breakdowns for when you're not playing with your dog. Honestly, it's just dog sports. You're not curing cancer.

8) Not Taking Time to Play. Interact like you mean it. Play for the sake of playing. Quit training and have fun (a lot of handlers truly don't know how to mentally entwine the two). Build muscle memory for joy, desire, messy speed. You can refine it later. You obviously have the skills to teach "stuff". Now teach yourself to have enough fun that your dog believes you.

9) Quest for Perfection. We all want our dogs to do it right, but I promise the quickest way to strip desire in a dog is to make them go back and fix their work. God what a chore! Like a teacher over your shoulder telling you the moment you get something wrong. What a nag! Keep flow. Keep momentum. Keep speed. Keep desire. Those are way the heck harder to train anyway. Don't worry at some point you'll have enough steam in the tank to fix things, but until you actually have that, keep moving. Poor finish -keep moving! Missed a jump -keep running! You do not need to make it "right" all in the same session.

10) Time Lines. Deadlines create pressure. If we want X by Friday, unless it's already close to ready, I will need to strip desire in favor of simply "getting it done". There are times I may need to do such, but if more than 10% of my training is rushed, that rushed feeling is going to start to poison things. Rushing kills the process, which kills joy. Marie Kondo would feel we should throw it out.

If you think you may have poisoned your praise I encourage you to take a training break. A couple of weeks or even a couple of months. Enjoy your dog. Begin to grow a new praise system -one they believe and buy into. Allow them to show you how brilliant they are and have them believe it. Let them be cheeky.

When they have some fire in their soul, then you are ready to try again, going slow, relishing each session as two teammates who at the end of the day really enjoy time spent together.

01/02/2024

Bern and Tantoo met today for a romp! Of course, I first checked to make sure it would only be PLAY, as awesome as such puppies might be! I had never allowed her to play with him because of the size disparity and not wanting her to get slammed around as a growing puppy. She was introduced earlier to Argos, the pointer, who ignored her. Her interaction with Bern was so different! Crazy play but Bern let her feel confident and was so sweet! She would jump on his back and he would fall over, laying on his back or side and playing there. They had 40 acres to run in but pretty much stayed in one spot, jumping up and falling down again. In the end I had two tired dogs with completely slobbery faces. It was nice to see that Tantoo could end the play, let me get a leash on and walk nicely, ignoring Bern. We did a little food luring to reinforce, and it was all a very positive experience.

12/31/2023

Use ProPublica to investigate their nonprofit status

12/15/2023

📸 Look at this post on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/rZg8aVVyeBSUHCEm/?mibextid=qi2Omg

TRAINING TIP THURSDAY

Do you procrastinate training sessions because you get overwhelmed trying to decide what to train? These exercise or behavior training sticks can be kept in a cup for you to pull when you need inspiration.

These sticks are coded:

Pink - manners

Green - show dog

Yellow - tricks

11/25/2023

Original Author: Katherine Carter
Date of publication: Aug 4, 2019
Aptly titled
"Dog Trainer Unpopular Opinion of the Day:"

100%!! Your dog is not a child. Don't put your issues on your dog. He is not a furbaby any more than your human child is a skin puppy. RESPECT your dog by acknowledging it IS a dog!
**********************************

My dog is not my child. My dog is not my furbaby.

I am not his mother, I am his trainer. The word trainer is not a bad word, it means leader, supporter,disciplinary.. and friend.

My dog is my friend. He is my partner and my companion. To treat him like a child, to infantilize him and make it seem as though he needs my constant coddling or protection, would be unfair to him.

He is an adult carnivore that I have brought into my human world. Because of that it is my responsibility as his owner:

1) To communicate with him in a way he can understand.

2) To provide leadership, discipline and mutual respect.

3) To understand his instincts and needs, and provide appropriate outlets for them.

4) To train him and provide him the skills to function effectively in our human world, including acceptable manners and behaviours including the veterinarian.

Our dogs deserve to be given responsibility and allowed to be adult creatures, not perpetual babies.

Please, don't try to make them tiny humans, they aren't and they don't want to be. Dogs are wonderful because they are dogs. Let them be dogs.

Teach them to be good ones.

11/06/2023

Stopping excessive barking in a Cattle Dog during agility runs. This dog had bitten his handler severely several times during competitions. That behavior had...

11/06/2023

About 25 years ago I used a throw pillow to stop serious aggression. It was a matter of dealing with an emergency and discovering a very important tool. You can read about it here. http://www.clickandtreat.com/html/aggressionpractice.

10/02/2023

Tantoo🤣❤️

09/16/2023

And one final pic of the cutest super baby Dutch Shepherd, Miss Tantoo.

09/16/2023

Part 2. Tantoo is ridiculously agile.

09/16/2023

Part 1 of 2. Crazy Dutch Shepherd walking the elevated plank.