OCEAN4dogs.com

15/09/2023

Fascinating!!!

Dogs can sniff out disease and analyze new odors even as they exhale. But how?

03/11/2022

This has been floating around social media.

Abstract
Dogs are highly sensitive to human behavior, and they evaluate us using both their direct experiences and from a third-party perspective. Dogs pay attention to various aspects of our actions and make judgments about, for example, social vs. selfish acts. However, it is unclear if dogs judge human competence. To investigate this issue, we showed dogs two experimenters manipulating a transparent container: one was good at removing the lid to take an object out of the container (Competent person), whereas the other was unsuccessful at this task (Incompetent person). After demonstrating their actions twice with different containers, both experimenters simultaneously tried to open a third container which contained food (Food condition; 30 dogs) or was empty (Empty condition; 30 dogs). Dogs in the Food condition looked at the Competent person longer than the Incompetent one, and female dogs in particular were more likely to approach the Competent person. In contrast, dogs in the Empty condition showed no preferences. This result suggests that dogs can recognize different competence levels in humans, and that this ability influences their behavior according to the first situation. Our data also indicate that more attention should be given to potential s*x differences in dogs’ social evaluation abilities."

Read the latest articles of Behavioural Processes at ScienceDirect.com, Elsevier’s leading platform of peer-reviewed scholarly literature

29/10/2022

I created this GIF for my new OCEAN Specialty Class on how to incorporate Toy Play Rewards with Mark Training etc. I have so much fun creating graphics and videos of OCEAN4dogs.com. I know I don't NEED to do stuff like this, but before I was a dog crazed person, I was an artist so I love creating cool graphics, animations, and videos.

Click on the GIF icon to activate the animation

28/10/2022

Whose responsibility are start line stays? The dog or the handler?

Watch this 2 min video clip on "Creating Clarity about Start Line Releases" that I created for my in-person classes at Marin Humane. I see a lot of dogs expressing stress & confusion about what IS and IS NOT a release so I decided to also share this video on VIMEO and in my free FB groups.

Here is the VIMEO link: https://vimeo.com/765034050

27/10/2022

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.1025331/full?&utm_source=Email_to_authors_&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=T1_11.5e1_author&utm_campaign=Email_publication&field=&journalName=Frontiers_in_Veterinary_Science&id=1025331&fbclid=IwAR2rXuttfjVRdI9dD22-uwCnvNxfqPdHrX7V3KZlzCeginO-axdd3c8gklE&mibextid=D5hRgS

Agility is a rapidly growing canine performance sport worldwide, yet the literature is sparse regarding the impact of ground substrate on performance and injury. Approximately 1/3 of dogs participating in agility trials will experience a performance-related injury. The impact of ground material has....

12/10/2022

Love this!

06/10/2022

Interesting Perspective: "Embrace your losses as fair payment for the surplus of being alive." —KIERAN SETIYA

26/09/2022

“To do nothing is to hold yourself still so that you can perceive what is actually there.” -- Jenny Odell

I'm sharing this quote after reflecting on the astonishing results teams were able to achieve in single classes on my "Loose Leash Walking" and "Channel Heeling" methods at Wild Blue Dog Camp at Lake Tahoe last week. Progress happened so fast and it was so much fun, it felt like cheating!

18/09/2022

Learn how to transform your dog's leash from a source of conflict into a telephone line! If your otherwise well trained dog can pull on a leash all day long and doesn't seem to mind the physical sensation created by pulling on the leash, this class is for you! Loose Leash Walking Made Simple is not about teaching dogs to walk on a 100% slack leash. It's about teaching dogs to respond to the tactile experience of leash pressure the moment it occurs instead of pulling steadily on the leash. Available at Clean Run. Special Pricing $99 through September 2022 with the option to receive personalized feedback from Dev Sperber, Founder of OCEAN4Dogs...

Learn how to transform your dog’s leash from a source of conflict into a telephone line! If your otherwise well trained dog can pull on a leash all day long and doesn’t seem to mind the…

17/09/2022

Confirms what has already been studied about canine vision but interesting use of an fMRI

Scientists have decoded visual images from a dog's brain, offering a first look at how the canine mind reconstructs what it sees. The Journal of Visualized Experiments published the research done at Emory University.

14/09/2022

***Special Introductory Price $99 extended through the end of September***

"Loose Leash Walking Made Simple," a new self study class by Dev Sperber offered by Clean Run.

Go to the Clean Run Learning Center to learn more or to register. I'll also post a link in the top comment.

Note to OCEAN Members: This class is included in your OCEAN Membership for free.

31/08/2022

If the dog does not succeed in the learning, then this is most certainly a failure of the teaching process or the result of unrealistic dreams and expectations.

To set a dog up for success in learning is to set them up to flourish.

-Kay Lawrence

30/08/2022

If the dog does not succeed in the learning, then this is most certainly a failure of the teaching process or the result of unrealistic dreams and expectations.

To set a dog up for success in learning is to set them up to flourish. -Kay Lawrence

25/08/2022

Video about my new "Loose Leash Walking Make Simple" online class offered by Clean Run. For more info, click on link in the comment below this post.

24/08/2022

https://www.cleanrun.com/category/learning_center/online_dog_agility_courses_by_instructor/devorah_sperber_online_agility_classes/index.cfm

LOOSE LEASH WALKING MADE SIMPLE, a New Self Study Class is available through Clean Run: Special introductory pricing expires on September 16th at 8 a.m., ET!

ABOUT THE CLASS: Loose Leash Walking Made Simple is not about teaching dogs to walk on a 100% slack leash. It's about teaching dogs to respond to the tactile experience of leash pressure the moment it occurs instead of pulling steadily on the leash.

The course includes 40+ lessons with concise, easy-to-follow descriptions, narrated videos, and an abundance of training tips and troubleshooting guidance. You'll learn the skills necessary to transform your dog's leash from a source of conflict into a telephone line with communication flowing equally in both directions. This class exemplifies Dev's OCEAN-style dog training from the inside out and how simple actions produce astonishing outcomes when you know what simple actions you need to take! As is the case with most training methods, the dog's job is easy and the handler's job is more complex.

How this class came to be: In 2020, Dev's Border Collie had orthopedic surgery and was restricted to leashed walks for many months. She says, "To keep us both sane, I started experimenting with different ways to make heeling as fun as possible on our increasingly long walks. This led to the development of my online class 'Channel Heeling: A Fast and Fun Way to Teach Heeling for Dog Sports.' The techniques I developed for that class provided me with a huge insight about why I couldn’t teach my otherwise biddable dog to walk on a loose leash unless he was focusing on me or heeling.

The first thing I had to do was change the way I was thinking about loose leash walking from being a duration behavior I needed to train my dog to do to a split-second trick that would be cued by the leash itself, rather than by me. The techniques I share in this class will take you on the step-by-step journey I embarked on with my dog that led to us both being able to take in the world around us while maintaining a light connection through a loose leash.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICING.

Devorah (Dev) Sperber is the founder of OCEAN4Dogs, an online community and learning space where Simple Actions, such as Mark Training, Lead to Astonishing Outcomes. OCEAN is an acronym: Observe your Dog, Connect with Compassion, Engagement with Joy, Attitude before Anything, and Never Stop Learning...

24/08/2022

LOOSE LEASH WALKING MADE SIMPLE, a New Self Study Class is available through Clean Run: Special introductory pricing expires on September 16th at 8 a.m., ET!

ABOUT THE CLASS: Loose Leash Walking Made Simple is not about teaching dogs to walk on a 100% slack leash. It's about teaching dogs to respond to the tactile experience of leash pressure the moment it occurs instead of pulling steadily on the leash.

The course includes 40+ lessons with concise, easy-to-follow descriptions, narrated videos, and an abundance of training tips and troubleshooting guidance. You'll learn the skills necessary to transform your dog's leash from a source of conflict into a telephone line with communication flowing equally in both directions. This class exemplifies Dev's OCEAN-style dog training from the inside out and how simple actions produce astonishing outcomes when you know what simple actions you need to take! As is the case with most training methods, the dog's job is easy and the handler's job is more complex.

How this class came to be: In 2020, Dev's Border Collie had orthopedic surgery and was restricted to leashed walks for many months. She says, "To keep us both sane, I started experimenting with different ways to make heeling as fun as possible on our increasingly long walks. This led to the development of my online class 'Channel Heeling: A Fast and Fun Way to Teach Heeling for Dog Sports.' The techniques I developed for that class provided me with a huge insight about why I couldn’t teach my otherwise biddable dog to walk on a loose leash unless he was focusing on me or heeling.

The first thing I had to do was change the way I was thinking about loose leash walking from being a duration behavior I needed to train my dog to do to a split-second trick that would be cued by the leash itself, rather than by me. The techniques I share in this class will take you on the step-by-step journey I embarked on with my dog that led to us both being able to take in the world around us while maintaining a light connection through a loose leash.

CLICK ON THE LINK IN COMMENT BELOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICING.

17/08/2022

Course Analysis of NADAC Elite Grounders designed by Murrelet Halterman. I love this course because it has a good balance of fast, open lines and tight turns. If handled well, a BC sized dog could run most of the course in extension, which is my kinda course!

If you like videos like this, you'll find oodles more on a range of course styles based on videos submitted by OCEAN members and courses that provide good learning opportunities. Right now you can join OCEAN for $35 per month (no long term commitment). Yep! I'm waiving the $175 start up fee through Aug 31.

OCEAN memberships include access to all OCEAN Specialty Courses, unlimited feedback on videos, monthly Q&As on a range of topics... and more.

Click on the link to take the plunge into OCEAN!

https://www.ocean4dogs.com/courses/ocean-foundations-open-reg

15/08/2022

Another great article!

Let your dog stop and smell the roses
By Lisa Bloch

One of the best things about having a dog is that they get you out of the house and on a good walk or hike. It’s even better when it’s at a brisk pace. But I often found myself getting annoyed when my dog, Bowie, wanted to stop and smell every single shrub, tree, or fence post. He’s constantly stopping to “smell the roses” when all I want to do is get moving. And when he discovers a particularly alluring smell (to him), he anchors himself there. Then I remember that for a dog, their need to smell things is not only compelling but incredibly important for their well-being.

We all know that dogs have a superior sense of smell. But did you know that theirs outranks our own by orders of magnitude? It’s 10,000 to 100,000 times as acute.

Dogs can detect some odors in parts per trillion. In her book, “Inside of a Dog,” Alexandra Horowitz, a dog cognition researcher at Barnard College, writes that while we might notice if our coffee has had a teaspoon of sugar added to it, a dog could detect a teaspoon of sugar in a million gallons of water — or two Olympic-sized pools worth. Another dog scientist likened their ability to catching a whiff of one rotten apple in 2 million barrels.

Dogs possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared with about 6 million in us. And the part of a dog’s brain that’s devoted to analyzing smells is, proportionally speaking, 40 times greater than ours.

Dogs have used their super sniffers to help humans for decades in finding missing persons and sniffing out drugs and bombs. In recent years, it’s come to light that a dog can smell the subtle chemical differences between healthy and cancerous tissue. Now, there are even COVID-smelling dogs. According to the Human-Animal Connection, “Research into the efficacy of COVID-detection dogs is being conducted in several countries, including the United States, and some studies report 83% sensitivity or accuracy to detect positive cases of COVID, and 96% specificity or accuracy of negativity.”

During the height of the COVID pandemic, travelers to Finland were even being screened by dogs at the Helsinki Airport, and there were reports that these dogs accurately detected the presence of the COVID virus five days before the person even experienced symptoms.

In addition to “scenting,” as it’s called, being enjoyable for dogs, it’s actually extremely beneficial for their mental and physical health. Scenting is almost like working on a puzzle or math problem. It can be mentally tiring, which is great for dogs and can ease many behavior issues.

At Marin Humane, shelter dogs are treated to scenting work whenever possible. According to Kathleen Call, behavior consultant and certified nose work instructor, offering dogs an opportunity to use their noses eases stress, reduces excessive barking, and improves sleep.

“In my role at the shelter, I’ve witnessed the extraordinary impact a simple sniffing session can have on a highly stressed, overwhelmed, or under-stimulated dog,” Call writes. “After just one round of sniffing out the treat from a box, you can see dogs that are shut down, nervous or mouthy begin to relax. Scenting is a rewarding outlet for stress and boredom and a great mental workout.”

Horowitz, the dog cognition researcher, suggests taking dogs on a “scent walk.”

“A scent walk changes the focus of the walk from miles covered to odors logged, which probably requires a different mindset for most pet parents,” she writes on PetMD. “Instead of having a specific destination, the route of a scent walk meanders as your dog absorbs and processes the scents along the way.”

If you want to see what your dog’s nose knows, check out Marin Humane’s nose work classes. Learn more and register at marinhumane.org/oh-behave.

One added benefit I discovered was that once I gave Bowie time to stop and smell his favorite things, it helped me slow down, too. Now I even stop and smell the roses.

Lisa Bloch is the marketing and communications director at Marin Humane, which contributes Tails of Marin articles and welcomes animal-related questions and stories about the people and animals in our community. Go to marinhumane.org, Twitter.com/marinhumane, or email [email protected].

15/08/2022

This NADAC Elite Grounders designed by Murrelet Halterman was a perfect mix of Barrelers and Hoopers challenges.

It was tricky in terms of handling (which Elite Courses should be IMO) but good in terms of the dog's line... if you handled it well (which all courses should be IMO).

Takoda ran well but I flubbed the first tunnel send both rounds. Afterwards I realized I'd never practiced this type of tunnel send after a barrel with me handling from beyond the barrel. The reason I didn't wanted to handle the opening sequence from where I did because I needed to be running in the right direction to show a path through the hoop box that followed. Had I still been driving up the field that would have indicated a WC tunnel (which many dogs took or almost took).

I plan to train that specific obstacle 1-2 sequence so I can handle it from anywhere.... and that realization is why I like to trial... to find new things to train!

11/08/2022

People's Heartbeats Synchronize When They're Captivated by The Same Story. TESSA KOUMOUNDOUROS15 SEPTEMBER 2021

Having evolved with storytelling as a means to pass information across generations, our brains are powerfully attuned to narratives, so much so that we can recall well-told stories better than basic facts.

Stories play a powerful role in shaping the world we've created for ourselves, and it turns out they may even be able to dictate the rhythm of our own heartbeats.

A preliminary study looking at what happens in our bodies as we pay attention to these tales has found our hearts start beating in unison – even if we're miles away from each other.

Your heart rate fluctuates, naturally, even when you are just sitting there, doing nothing, maybe listening to a story on the radio.

Guess what, you are not alone!

Some one else listening to the same story will have the same heart rate fluctuations: https://t.co/A5O55JvLTv
1/n pic.twitter.com/eaqLX9w2Bb

— Lucas C Parra () September 14, 2021
"Why does your heart rate go up and down like that?" asks study co-author and biomedical engineer Lucas Parra on Twitter.

"We think it is because you need to be ready to act, at a moment's notice. And for that, you need to know what is going on around you. In other words, you need to be conscious of what is happening. Even if it is just a story."

Paris Brain Institute neuroscientist Pauline Pèrez and colleagues monitored volunteers' heart rates during a series of experiments, using an electrocardiogram.

Listening to a 1-minute snippet of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in one experiment, or a few minutes of instructional videos in another, heart rates were seen to synchronize between study participants, regardless of where they were.

The instructional video showed this phenomenon was not tied with emotion, which is something previous studies have theorized after observing this synchrony in people watching the same movie.

But disrupting the volunteers' concentration – by making them count backwards or subjecting them to distracting sounds – diminished their heart's synchronicity, and their ability to recall the narrative.

Memory retention has been shown to align with conscious perception, so this suggests our hearts play a beat in time with our mind's conscious processing of the narrative, the researchers explain.

"What's important is that the listener is paying attention to the actions in the story," says Paris Brain Institute neuroscientist Jacobo Sitt. "It's not about emotions, but about being engaged and attentive, and thinking about what will happen next. Your heart responds to those signals from the brain."

In a final experiment, the researchers even tested this on 19 unconscious patients along with 24 healthy volunteers. As predicted, most of the patients failed to synchronize their heart rates, all except for two. One of these went on to regain full consciousness.

"These results suggest that the patients' [synchronized heartbeats] might carry prognostic information with a specific emphasis on conscious verbal processing," the team writes in their paper.

Aside from changes from physical activity and other stressors, the rhythms of our hearts fluctuate naturally all the time. This has been attributed to autonomic processes – the automatic, unconscious parts of our bodies' regulation, but this study shows conscious processes play a role too.

"There's a lot of literature demonstrating that people synchronize their physiology with each other. But the premise is that somehow you're interacting and physically present in the same place," says Parra.

"What we have found is that the phenomenon is much broader, and that simply following a story and processing stimulus will cause similar fluctuations in people's heart rates. It's the cognitive function that drives your heart rate up or down."

Pèrez and team suspect that individual words (as well as the overall meaning of the narrative and the emotions they inspire) drive the synchronicity, and they note a cohesive narrative is crucial to create synchronized activity seen in brain scans.

But they caution that this is a very small study, with each of the experiments consisting of only 20-30 subjects, so the results will need to be verified with larger groups of people. Comparisons with brain scans could possibly help determine if narratives are indeed the cause of the heartbeat synchronicity too.

"Neuroscience is opening up in terms of thinking of the brain as part of an actual anatomical, physical body," says Parra.

"This research is a step in the direction of looking at the brain-body connection more broadly, in terms of how the brain affects the body."

"People think they react to the world in their particular way,'' adds biomedical engineer Jens Madsen from the City College of New York. "[But] even our hearts react in a very similar way when we listen to short stories. That makes me smile. We're all human."

This research was published in Cell Reports.

02/08/2022

Photos from Wild Blue Dog Camp @ Lake Tahoe, Spring 2022. I taught my super fast and fun methods for training loose leash walking and heeling. It was so rewarding to see teams excel in such short periods of time. I'll be back this fall for more dog training fun!

23/07/2022

Super cool!

Cornell University researchers have provided the first documentation that dogs' sense of smell is integrated with their vision and other unique parts of the brain, shedding new light on how dogs experience and navigate the world.

25/06/2022

Study from Finland: Agility related injuries

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/3/227/htm?fbclid=IwAR1KEAx8LLdJ0TEHwXsYM34CNHnTC084hNaJE-3qFo2716RFOf59nA5MfPQ

Dog agility is associated with a risk for sport-related injuries, but few risk factors for injury are known. A retrospective online questionnaire was used to collect data on 864 Finnish competition-level agility dogs—including 119 dogs (14%) with agility-related injury during 2019. Data included i...

21/06/2022

Takoda running a fast, fluid, and fun fun fun Novice type course at Marin Humane. Every week, we set a Master's Course with a Novice Course nested. The better the "bones" are in the Master's Course, the better the options are for coming up with a good Novice Course. This week's course has "great bones."

NOTE: I placed a MB in front of the A-Frame to create a brief pause so Takoda wouldn't blast out of the tunnel directly onto the A-frame on such a fast line. He has not been running over A-frames for 16 months, and I didn't want him slam into it hard and low due to not having run over one for that long. Better safe than sorry (imo).

15/06/2022

I love doodling with dogs versus following training recipes. It creates open-minded, open-ended, process-oriented, experiential learning for both the dog and the human and often leads to new training ideas.

This is "Takoda_Doodling_360_backs_in_yard_0681" by Devorah Sperber on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

14/06/2022

It's hard to see the 360 turn around the third barrel in the video I posted of Takoda running the entire course. Here is a 3 min instructional video on handling 360 wraps, which is similar to handing one type of backside jump.

This is "360_wrap_handling_instruction_0653.MOV" by Devorah Sperber on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

14/06/2022

Mark Bucket as Visual Magnet:

Here is Takoda doing a test run of yesterday's Novice Grounders course for the Intermediate Agility class I teach at Marin Humane. There is no way to run next to your dog on this course. You have to be able to handle some parts at a distance to get to a couple of technical points. I handled this course a few different ways in preparation for teaching.

This video includes the cue BACK around the second barrel, in which the dog turns away from the handler, stays on the lead leg he is on and looks for an obstacle in flow. BACK is similar to TURN in that the dog is turning and moving away from the handler. The main difference is TURN involves a lead change and BACK does not. You can think of BACK like a lap turn (rear cross) done at a distance.

I placed a mark bucket at the far end of the field to help dogs drive ahead of their handlers. You'll see Takoda pause on that MB. When I use MBs as "visual magnets," I don't verbally cue MARK. On the video, you can hear me cue RIGHT. Dogs are free to bypass or stop on MBs when used in this way. If the dog hits the MB, he doesn't have to stay until released. If the dog chooses to stay, then I say my release word and continue running the course. If the dog bypasses the MB entirely, it is totally fine to continue running the course.

Using MBs as "visual magnets" is something I stumbled upon while teaching Intermediate Agility to handlers with Mark Trained dogs. MBs used in this way function like placed toys or target plates but you can continue running the course with MBs because they are "just another obstacle" that you didn't cue but don't mind if your dog "sucks onto" since MBs are not found on agility courses.

I'll post the map in a comment.