"Honoring" While Waiting Our Turn

[This is a reply to a post entitled "Excited at a test" on the PositiveGunDogs list]

On May 10, 2011, at 11:38 AM, Jen wrote:

Just looking for some advice as to how to break down criteria. I have a 2 year old FS Black Lab that has her JH, SR, and WC. She is a very nice working dog that gets very excited at a test. She can be very anxious waiting for her turn but is silent and still once we are at the line. While sitting in holding blinds she can be a bit vocal and doesn't want to sit still at all. I am looking at breaking down the criteria so that I can teach her to wait her turn. To me it is a self control issue but wanted advice from others as to past experience you may have had. This weekend in the holding blind we were having her nose and paw target and offer down to keep her busy but long term I wold like her to sit or lay there quietly. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Hi, Jen. I realize that in the extreme what you describe can be a problem, but this is not something I worry about very much with Laddie. I like the fact that he's excited. At the line he can channel it into focusing on the field, but it's not easy for him to focus it on anything useful in a holding blind. Maybe I should be worried about it, but so far, I have not been.

However, I have put that time waiting for our turn to one use I haven't seen before: a sort of cold honoring. An explanation:

I have a set of honor cues for my dogs: The dog is in a sit facing the field, I'm standing in a particular position and orientation that are both very different from when the dog is going to be running a mark or blind, and my verbal cue is a quiet string of "just watch . . . just watch . . . sit . . . just watch . . ." etc. After the working dog has been sent, I step in front of the dog, use a target hand to get his/her focus off the field, heel him/her behind the judges, and slip on his/her lead while offering him/her hearty congratulations, which will be followed at the van by much play and possibly some treats.

Of course, the main time I use those cues is when honoring, and I try to take every opportunity at training days to practice honoring, especially if the next dog is going to be getting a flyer and especially especially if that dog is going to be getting a multiple with a flyer. I don't ask Lumi to honor any more, but I always try to arrange our position in the training day running order so that Laddie will be running right in front of a dog getting a flyer, preferably one who will be getting a multiple including a flyer.

While I feel that the greatest benefit in practicing an honor comes from practicing hot honors -- that is, immediately after running the series yourself, as is the usual sequence in a test -- I'm not aware of any harm from practicing cold honors -- that is, honoring even though you haven't just run the series yourself.

Therefore sometimes, when Laddie and I are in a holding blind, or even on the grounds waiting for our turn to get in the first holding blind, I'll keep my eyes on the start line. As the next dog is brought to the line, I cue Laddie to sit, take my honoring position and orientation, and begin a stream of verbal honoring cues in a soft voice: "just watch . . . just watch . . ." Of course, Laddie can't actually watch, because the field isn't visible. If it were, we'd be in violation of the rules. But luckily, Laddie doesn't understand English. What he does know is that duck-calls are about to be blown, guns are about to be fired, birds are about to be thrown, the judge and handler are about to say some things, a dog is about to be sent, and Laddie is to remain steady thru all of that.

Then, after the dog has been sent, I perform a modified version of the post-honor routine: I step in front of him, get his attention with a target hand, quietly heel him in the opposite direction of the field for a step or two, and lean down to ruffle him up while saying, "great job, good boy."

We might do such cold honors two or three times before we get to the last holding blind.

This may or may not actually help Laddie's honoring when his turn comes. But it does give us something to do together while waiting our turn.

LL&L

Gun Shyness

[From a post to PositiveGunDogs list on December 27, 2010]

On Dec 27, 2010, at 6:59 PM, a poster wrote:

One of my Vizslas got 2 passes toward his Junior Hunter title before I fired my pistol too close to him and scared him gun shy. We've given it a break of about 3 years and now I'd like to try and finish his JH title. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to repair the damage I've done?

Hi. My first Golden, Lumi, was terribly gun shy at the age of three, when we first started field training. Lumi eventually got over her gun shyness to the extent that, if I wasn't careful, she would sometimes leap out of the parked van thru a half-closed window when she heard a shotgun blast in order to "help" the working dog get the bird.

I was guided thru the process by an expert in dog behavior, especially Desensitization and Counter Conditioning (D&CC), named Amy Cook, who worked with me on the project on the DogTrek list. I'll try to give you an outline of the D&CC process we used as best as I can recall, and will then try to answer any questions that come up:

* The process took Lumi about six weeks, working every day. Several experienced dog trainers, in both field and other sports, later told me they'd never heard of a dog recovering from gun shyness, so I don't have any data to compare that to.

* Every day, Lumi and I went out with a helper (not always the same person), a blank pistol with minimal-loudness cartridges, two walkie-talkie radios, a bag of high-value treats, and a bumper. We went to a number of locations over time, but I don't know if that was necessary.

* For each session, Lumi and I stood near a creek with Lumi on a short leash (Lumi loves water). I had the treats in a bag in my pocket, and I would hold the bumper. The helper with the gun was far enough away that the gunshot was barely audible in the early sessions, and the helper wasn't visible to Lumi and me (we trained at creeks that were in the woods). The distance was shortened at the end of the process.

* The helper and I each had a radio.

* Each session consisted of several reps. The early sessions had fewer reps (maybe three or five) than the later ones (maybe ten). Each rep went like this:

-- I would stand around with Lumi in quiet mode. We would engage in some quiet activity such as meandering in a small area and looking at something in my hand or on the ground. It was important during this period before the gunshot that nothing exciting was going on.

-- I would use the radio to tell the gunner that we were ready, then go back to quiet activity with Lumi.

-- The gunner would wait about 30 seconds. This long interval was to minimize Lumi's association of me speaking on the radio with the gunshot.

-- The gunner would fire the blank pistol.

-- Instantly, I would do my best to create an exciting and highly pleasurable environment for Lumi.

-- Since Lumi is more food-motivated than play-motivated, in the early sessions I would offer Lumi a bite of the high-value treat. In the earliest sessions, though the gunshot was barely audible, it still scared her and she would not take anything. I experimented with tossing the bumper on land or water, but she also had no interest in that. As the days passed, Lumi became willing to accept food after a gunshot sooner than she became willing to play. By the end of the process, she would readily take food as well as chase the bumper on land or water, or play a rousing game of tug. That was weeks later.

-- I would also make quiet comfort available to Lumi, who would have run away in the early sessions if not for the leash. She could push against me or between my legs, and I would pet her and talk to her gently. I would comfort her as long as she wanted.

-- After she calmed down, that ended one rep and we started the next one. As I recall, it might be five or ten minutes before we'd start the next rep.

The single most important aspect of this training, as I understood it, was the sequence of events:

(1) Quiet time.
(2) Gunshot.
(3) Availability of high-value stimuli such as treats and play.

Note the word "availability". It was not necessary that Lumi actually avail herself of the high-value stimuli, and we had to continue for days before she ever took even the first nibble of food in these sessions. Yet the process was still working (Amy knew it was, I didn't at the time). It was only necessary that the gunshot PREDICT that such stimuli would instantly become available. Eventually, Lumi would learn that the gunshot predicted the availability of good things, and eventually she would begin to take advantage of their availability.

Don't rush the process. What you want is to maximize the dog's willingness to take advantage of your high-value stimuli (such as treats and play), NOT to be in a big hurry to shorten the distance between you and the gunner. Eventually, when the dog is completely comfortable with the gun being fired from a significant distance, during your last few sessions you can have the gunner gradually fire from a closer distance. By the end of our training, the gunner could fire within a few feet of Lumi, and she would still take food, and play chase and tug games.

I didn't have access to a shotgun, so our D&CC was limited to the blank pistol. Lumi did need a little additional work when we started going to training days where shotguns were being fired. But once she discovered that shotguns predicted the opportunity to retrieve flyers, her gun shyness was over.

I hope you're able to use some of this information. Please let us know how it goes.

Lindsay, with Lumi & Laddie (Goldens)
Laytonsville, Maryland