"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