Agility training begins

Well despite the fact we didn't get Oddjob to do agility it goes without saying that any dog of ours will learn to do some agility.
As we are moving away and have passed UpAndover to a committee of club members I thought I would take the opportunity to train Oddjob in a foundation group.

The first week we only stayed 10 minutes as I wanted to keep his attention and so he would not to learn to eat off the floor as can sometimes happen :)

His attention was great although I didn't persuade him that it would be a great place to play. He was very happy to do loads of other things for treats though.
We will build play into it at home once we get set up again.

Last week we went again and without realising it stayed the whole hour. 
I chose to pick him up a couple of times to prevent habit forming of discovering the tasty horse droppings when I wasn't able to keep him doing things. I will probably train him to sit on a fold down chair or something if I mind a need to have to train in an equestrian school.
Enthusiastic is not the word - he was so bubbly about doing stuff. He ran over poles on the ground, in and out of boxes, along a dog walk plank and was just so happy :)

On Sunday it was the first Agility 1st Conference and they included doing some assessments for people that had just completed their modules. I had been asked if I would mind volunteering a dog and happily said yes thinking of Rhyme. What I didn't realise was that 2 of the students were doing assessments on dogs new to the equipment so they needed Oddjob.

A bit of a conflict as I haven't done anywhere near the prep work and haven't even decided on whether to train a run or a stop so not at all ready for equipment. However the instructors had worked hard in order to do the assessments so quickly and I did not want to let them down so Oddjob joined in.

Well I found it much harder to join in with a group with a small dog as it was harder to look up from him to the instructor. It was more difficult for me to give rewards at the right time and place as I had to bend down. It was even more difficult to see where he was LOL.

All that said I'm a quick learner and will get that mastered in order to train him as he was great. 

Karen White who runs Pugilty was one of the instructors so it was a bit nerved racking. She said that often people don't expect Pug's to be so athletic so are always pleased with their first performance.

Well that may be true but he was good and I was pleased. He just loved having a go. 

What I was even more pleased about was when I sat on the floor with him in between goes he played with my fleece scarf for a while.

We won't do any more equipment based training for a while now and when we go back to it he will remember the experience as great fun.

As an instructor of a club we often find that with dogs and people new to agility it is better if they come every week to keep up with each other and don't miss out on anything new. Conversely over the years we often have to dip in and out of training with our young dogs due to time constraints and have found that it has worked in our favour with the youngsters coming back more eager and confident about the last stage. It is often said that dogs are latent learners which is why that works. Hopefully it will work with Oddjob too.

Oddjob also attended his first Wag and Tone class which he thoroughly enjoyed.

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Mud Pies

I totally mistimed my dog walk on Wednesday and despite blue skies and a bit blowy when I left the car 10 minutes later we had torential rain. As Sandrine would say il pleut comme vache qui pisse.

The Collies continued to have a blast running around. Myself not having the correct clothing on and Oddjob were not so keen.

We bravely carried on albeit a bit of a shortened route and as the rain got worse even a couple of the collies started looking at me for ideas of where to shelter. Oddjob was sorted walking directly behind me using me as cover.

My initial idea on the walk was to work on Oddjobs unhappiness with mud. Not far from where we park there are quite a few molehills. Ideal not too muddy but dirty and weird when stood on.

On the way out before the rain we stopped and Oddjob was given his precious chicken in exchnage for putting his feet on the molehills and due to clever plavement of reward was enjoying eating as his feet sunk into the molehill.

As we hurried back towards the van in the pouring rain I glanced at the molehills and was delighted although surprised to see Oddjob look up at me and deliberately plant his front feet onto the molehill and await his reward :)

Very pleased with this as he demonstrated that he was happy to work in such miserable weather and that he was liking the molehill game. What I wasn't so pleased about was that as I bent over to reward him a gap opened between my relatively waterproof coat and my not waterproof at all and already soaking trousers revealing an area of skin that created a lovely watercourse for the rain down - well I'll say no more LOL.

Last night I took Oddjob along to UpAndOver Dog Agility Club foundation class for his first taste of an agility class and so we can list that he started his agility career with them as it may be a long drive to take him to classes once we move. He isn't really ready for full on classes yet as he is still learning about learning and having fun with us. He wasn't overwelled or noisy and paid attention when called. He climbed on the wobbleboard and walked on a seesaw plank, He got in and out of various boxes and go on to the stools. He even did a recall over a pole on the ground to me and then back to give Dee a puggle. He did the boxes, stools, wobbleboard and seesaw quite happily with a great attitude but was not rushing to get to me over the pole on the ground. I do not want him to learn to do anything slowly so will work on recall speed before revisiting any obstacles. It was great to have a chance to have a taster though and helps steer our training for the next thing.

As it is quite dirty at the equestrian centre I didn't take his brand new favourite tugging toy instead opting for one of Rhyme's similar to another that he plays happily with. It was not a sucess with him so I also have to add playing around distractions to his list of things to do.

Acid Mud

Well with things moving quickly on the moving, not moving front for us Oddjob's training and blogging about it has taken a bit of a back seat.

He has adjusted really well to living with the collies and him and Rhyme are best pals.

So the last training I did was a basic - sitting.

I have since been informed that sit is not a basic exercise for Pugs and it doesn't come naturally to them either mentally or physically.

That explains it. I know he isn't unwilling to try to do things and I know he isn't daft so I did wonder if my training skills were letting me down as he was not quick to learn this behaviour.

Luckily I was told about them not liking the sitting before I had cracked it and he will now sit either for a treat, a toy, to be let in along side the others (staying there once the door is opened is next on the list) and randomly at my feet when I am near the fridge where the chicken treats are kept LOL.

We have now find exactly the right house and so all should go through ok now. We may have to spend time in a small holiday let and I mean small. I don't think it has internet so I may not be able to write for a while.

When we had looked at the house the owner told us of a nice walk nearby. A 3 hour car journey meant we wanted to ensure the dogs were walked before we went back again.

It was a lovely walk, along a track, through some woods and along an old disused railway track.

Well it was a lovely walk for people with boots and Border Collies. However due to the acid mud it was the most miserable walk Oddjob had ever had. He was so very unhappy about this and could not understand why on earth we would expect him to walk through it.

I say acid mud as the look on his face as he stared down at where his foot nearly touched it was one of pure distaste. Poor Oddjob.

I had been told that Pugs don't like rain but he has been out quite a few times in the rain and run about with the boys ok. This was another matter altogether.

Just avoiding mud or picking him up is not a brilliant option so my next mission is to see if I can get him to be comfortable with his feet in mud.

When I was just starting out at work I started in a bank with a few other recruits. We did those newbie jobs on a rota. The worst of all tasks was the post. It was the lowest of low, the acid mud of banking jobs. for some reason I decided to be the best post clerk there was. I labelled the baskets clearly so it was easier to sort, I activiely went round asking if I could take anything extra to the post office for the staff (just take my club order back etc). Eventually I actually began to look forward to doing the post and suddenly my colleagues became the same.

So I know that with the right attitude and lots of positive feelings even acid mud could be fun to be in :)

Initially I am getting Oddjob to just put his foot in water in a bowl for he best reward - chicken.

Out and about I am rewarding him for putting his foot on the edge of the mud, on a mole hill and in a puddle. I want him to enjoy his walks with us and not to be unhappy about anything as he is such a bubbly boy. I do need to take care I don't overdo this as having a pug sat in by the fridge is one thing trying to dry a muddy wiggly pug every time we go out will be another matter :)

Goodjob Oddjob

Just a very quick blog today as we are busy house hunting (again).

Oddjob has settled in so well with all our dogs except Kodi. When at shows Kodi has always been fascinated by Papillons and we used to joke and say when he got to agility champsionship status we would get him one. Clearly a pug is a long way from a papillon so Kodi is not impressed. He isn't nasty to Oddjob as Kodi hasn't got a mean bone in his body - he just is not interested.

It is a totally different story with Rhyme, they would romp and play all day given the oppoertunity and Rhyme is so gentle.

Having had just one breed for a long time it is special to see such different looking dogs have such a closeness :)

Training is coming along great. At the moment I have no new video footage to prove it though.

There is still a time delay from treat rewarding to swapping to play. I'm timing it and at the moment it is not on a steadily decreasing amount or even a consistant amount - sometimes it is instant, other times a few seconds to a few minutes to oh I need to go outside for a poo. I haven't decided what the key is yet but will keep exploring it.

The 2 focuses for this week was sit and settle down. I wasn't sure if he didn't find it easy to sit, if sitting wasn't an option previously or if he just hadn't been taught it but decided we'd done some fun stuff so let us try a basic.

As with other training it didn't take too long but still needs some work before it is solid.

Now settle is a different matter. I do have to remmeber that he is only 11 months old and can remember sitting on our floor helping the collies to settle quietly in the evening whilst we watch TV. It is never easy but I kind of thought that a toy breed would find it much more natural. Not Oddjob he always wants to be doing something LOL.

The Importance of being Oddjob

Now I am a little bit put out as everywhere we go with Oddjob everyone speaks to him and he just commands attention.

Why am I be put out by this? Well having had Border Collies all my life (except a lovely smooth collie cross) and with Rhyme my youngest being the most handsome dog in the whole world it amazes me the reaction we get with Oddjob :)

It doesn't phase Oddjob at all as he knows without a doubt that he is the most important dog of all time LOL.

He struts around full of his own importance, demanding and receiving attention.

A dog with such high importance and attention getting it without doing anything could potentially be a problem to train. You may remember the most attractive people from school expecting everything to be delivered to them just because they were beautiful and mostly getting it. Oops there I go talking about Rhyme again :)

Well not so with Oddjob (or Rhyme to be fair). He's a pug and pug's love to please. They are generally pleased just to be with you so they don't have to do anything really but Oddjob has already shown he likes the learning we are doing.

Of course Pugs love food so he does have higher motivation. Just to see if my feelings about his growing love of learning was correct I put his food bowl down with his breakfast in it then went and sat down with a small amount of his kibble. Then I took out the box I am asking him to put his feet into. He left his freely available food to join me in earning some :)

Good step one of teaching him to want to learn is well on the way. Next it's taking it on the road so he will offer behaviour in a different place. See below for his first time outside.

Still lots to play for - well doing something for a toy for starters and then doing things quicker etc.

BTW I bet you didn't know pugs are great retrievers and going by the rapid powerful head shake he gives on a tug I bet they were great dispensers of rodents too.

PS Speed of eating to ensure fluent rewarding can sometimes be a bit different :)

PPS I'm not sure if these videos have loaded correctly if not try

Cone work


Placement of paw

Tugging's not just for Collie's

There is a generalisation that Border Collies are easy to train which is why they do so well at agility.

Looking around shows, on walks, in parks and even back at a couple of our own dogs, there are as many not easily trained collies as there as other breeds. Collies have their own associated issues. 

There I go being breedist! I think labelling any type of breed can cause preconceived ideas to challenge and possibly limit you.

I like the fact that there are so many breeds and I believe you can use their breed traits to your advantage. What your dog was designed to do can help you know the areas to concentrate on. 

My favourite example is turning. On an agility course changing direction quickly can help you get that much coveted red rosette. Collie's evolved to turn and twist quickly in order to follow a flock of stupid, erratic creatures. Not only are they physically built to turn quickly, IMO they are also mentally wired to enjoy this process. 

A gun dog type of breed that is rewarded for going out to collect the dead game and bring it straight back, will often gain a lot of speed on a straight run and then lose confidence once asked to turn. With that kind of breed I would spend a great deal of time on ground work making turning a continual pleasure.

Other than taking time to be aware of these breed traits, I believe ALL dogs have three or four main requirements. These could be titled the 4 F's - Food, Family and Fun. You can probably guess the 4th but I'm not considering that under training LOL.

Getting back to Oddjob. Food - Pug's are known for their love of food and so this will be an advantage to me. Placement of reward is important in developing a good understanding of what is required. His food retention in the mouth still isn't too great. We haven't got Oddjob to do agility, for obvious reasons, but the groundwork we do with our dogs makes them great family pets first and foremost. He will also be helping with Wag & Tone so having a dog that enjoys learning is essential. Dogs like to please. However, if you can reward them at the right time and place you can train them so much better. 

We had a lovely lady and dog start in one of our foundation class recently. They had a great relationship and the dog was game for anything. We commented that she didn't give her dog any treats or play. She said she didn't need any. After we explained that if the dog didn't know what a reward was, how could it know if it was doing things right or wrong; unless you told it, it was wrong. In our classes we use rewards to mark good behaviour in order for the dog to understand what is right. The next week the dog had a toy and the best treats you can imagine. They are going to be great at agility :)

Family or environment - Dogs are aware of whats going on around them. In order to learn they need to understand, and be comfortable in their surroundings. That's why we spend so much time socialising our puppies so that they can cope with different places they go to do agility. Confidence in their relationship with their owner makes this process easier. Consistency in your dealing with your dog helps and we'll cover that another time. 

Oddjob needs to be happy to be around other dogs, in different places and on different surfaces. He needs to be happy in all weathers and we need to take care of any special needs he may have. Apparently Pug's don't deal well with the heat so I'll be getting one of those cool beds for him in the summer. One website says they don't like getting dirty or wet either- I don't think Oddjob read that one. He is quite happy getting dirty and we've realised already that small dogs, being nearer to the ground can get so much dirtier that a Collie :)

Fun - this is where the tugging comes in. Playing with your dog develops mental & physical relationships. Any game enjoyed between people and their dogs is great and for agility tugging is one of the best. Tugging is intrinsically rewarding as it is a way of tearing flesh apart in order to eat. If it wasn't inbuilt centuries ago then meat eating would not have been an option for the canines. Even if you are not doing anything at all with your dog in a form dog sport, tugging helps your dog to use a lot of muscles and expend energy.

So Oddjob isn't being encouraged to play tug because he's living with collies, he's being asked to engage in a highly rewarding games with me because he's a young dog that needs to burn off energy without too much impact compared to the amount of walking he'd need to do to burn off the same amount of fat.

Today he played tug with me every time we went out in the garden. He also dug up a stone and did a hoolie round the garden with it. What's that all about? For the benefit of his teeth this isn't something I'll encourage but if I ever need something to give him extra motivation it's a good thing to know about.

Then as a bonus he played with Rhyme. I didn't think it would be long as Rhyme is such a lovely playful dog. Oddjob offered a play bow and Rhyme bowed straight back followed by a big chase game. We do restrict how much our boys play as they can get a bit boisterous. However a little bit of play is good for them physically and mentally. After all it is great that they have a bit of dog fun too. Once again I didn't get my camera out quickly enough - maybe next time.

I did manage to get this though of a tired little pug - if you listen carefully you'll hear him snoring :)

The Pug Tugs

Oddjob has decided that tugging is great fun and can tug with 3 different toys.

A Winnie the Pooh sucky blanket thing that I got from a charity shop, an old tug-e-nuff crazy thing bungee tug and an old bit of rope that may have once been attached to a ball or something. 

I have a couple of new toys bought especially for him which as yet he has not been bothered with so still work to do.

Writing this blog is useful for thinking of training as I have just realised we haven't done much on recalls yet. Probably just as well as he would have been really confused as we didn't even know his name for a couple of days :)

That said recall isn't an issue at the moment as he is a constant shadow.

Crate games are increasingly interesting as I think he knows what to do but also realises that eventually he will be shut in the crate so will do quite a few repetitions and then will suddenly stop. 

A breakthrough today was that he stopped spinning and just sat and thought about it for a while. I was tempted to reward the stillness as I do want to encourage the non spinning but surprisingly for me I stayed focussed and waited for him to go in to crate.

Another breakthrough was when we came back from the vets. I took him for a check over and the vet was pleased with him. He had a small lump on his head which the vet just pulled off - hence the hole in his head in video. On return from the vet I opened the back door into the utility room where all the collie's were. Oddjob just marched in and was not intimidated by them and they all greeted him like they were pleased he was back :)

It may still be a while before they let him join in any games if ever, and although that would be good it may be just as well. At the end of the day so long as they are happy to hang out together and Oddjob wants to play and interact with us that's all that matters.

Changing names and toy progress

Breaking news is that James is now Oddjob. His KC name is Wagsnort Skyfall and all the litter had James Bond themes. He was orignally called Skye which our experience is a very popular Border Collie name hence the change to James.

It very quickly became apparent that James wasn't quite him either. Tim mentioned Oddjob and he totally fits the bill - chinese and well build so James is now Oddjob and it so suits him.

He has taken to parading round the garden and barking because the nearby GSD is. His bark is lovely and deep but has no resounence. It is a behaviour that we will discourage eventually but is very amusing and shows what a strong character he is.

His crate games and getting in a box are progressing well and his play has come on in leaps and bounds. He carries a toy around, strutting about looking at the collies proudly.

I want to record his progress but find I am too engrossed in playing that I have forgotten to take a photo or film any of it.

Here's a quick shot of him tugging and another of him retreiving. If we are less absorbed I'll get Mark to film some tomorrow

The Wonders of chicken

Cheap Tesco's cooked chicken appears to be a key :)

Originally bought to keep Flint eating (that's a whole different matter) I have discovered that not only can I deliver it to James' mouth in the correct place as white flesh against black face is easier to see but also that James does not want the chicken to fall out of his mouth either.

This morning we continued to work on him understanding that if he put his feet in the box then I would give him a reward. He managed to stop the spinning long enough to actually eat treats with his feet in the box. Not totally sure if he fully understood what or why. The main issue is only that he is realising that we will do things together that we be rewarding to him and even more rewarding if he does something I want him to do.

We then broke off to work on play. Another wonder is a glove puppet and we even got some tugging. Real energetic, head shaking, tugging and he LOVED it.

After a walk in the garden to attend to business it was the time of the chicken and crate games. I love crate games. They teach dog and handler so much if done for the right reason and with time to spare. 

James went mad for the chicken and very quickly learned that I would produce this tasty reward when he went in the crate. I only did 3 repetitions then will work on it more later.

Introducing James

Somebody asked why and well sometimes things don't need a reason :)

James entered our lives yesterday and has settled in very well. At the moment the others aren't so sure but he just walks amongst them with no worries, broad shouldered and straight at the front showing no fear.

Now to start having some fun. Training session one was short and sweet - how to get the food delivered into the right place in his month so it didn't fall back out again :) Once I'd mastered that we were on our way.

A 10 month old rescue at any age will be a challenge to train but one that can't take treats or play with toys easily is another variety. That said he is so attentive or rather wants lots of attention in the form of fuss and puggles (a kind of snuggle that pug owners will understand).

So lets consider the old "It's your Choice"game. James can not eat food from out of a hand without a struggle so the choice to back off and wait for the food to be delivered totally misses the point with him.

Picture me sat on the floor with a handful of treats trying to time giving treats to a spinning pug hoping to time it right so he might gain some understanding that I was rewarding him for trying to do something LOL.

Ok what about the rewarding the puppy for getting into a box another old favorite that helps the youngster think about doing something in order to get rewarded instead of being lured.

This seemed to work and James offered the behaviour of putting his front feet in the box and I managed to deliver the treats into his mouth in the right place so hopefully.....

Tomorrow will be a chance to see if it worked and we will start to work on whether we can get some type of tugging sorted :)