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 :)