Bad Habits

I attended a Sharon Nelson seminar on Thursday and Friday and learned a lot about building a relationship with your dog and putting an end to undesirable behaviors.  My pack has one bad habit that if I can put an end to it would make Sharon's seminar a bargain at twice the price.  When my neighbors come home, the dogs charge the fence and bark.  Dusty absolutely loses his mind and goes into an altered state.  Belle barks mostly out of "fear."  Libby loves to shoot off her mouth.  Max barks because the others are barking, and sometimes I suspect he does it to get them going so he can sit back and watch the chaos he has instigated.

I had planned to go up to the fence and beat on it and myself with an empty pop bottle when Dusty loses his mine barking at the neighbors.  My voice will hopefully remain upbeat and I am just going to have a fence-beating party.  I warned my neighbors so they don't call the men in little white coats to come take me away.  I didn't get a chance to try it yesterday, and today is football gathering day at the man cave next door, so I'll probably have to wait until Monday to try it.

Yesterday, the dogs went bonkers at the front window when someone pulled into the drive of my other neighbor's home.  I grabbed my empty pop bottle and joined them at the window.  It didn't have quite the effect I was hoping for--I was hoping they would all scatter.  For a short time, they all barked more intensely.  Then Dusty and Belle left the window.  Max continued to woof in his deep voice, and Libby began to howl.  (Before we moved into town, I used to lead the dogs in howl fests.  They used to really carry on when the Bears scored a TD.  I don't do that anymore because my neighbors might think I'm crazy.)  Anyway, I was less than impressed with the results of my first effort to stop the barking.  Poor Ed, my husband, was outside getting the mail.  The guy who pulled into my neighbor's drive gave him a quizzical look, and all Ed could do was shrug his shoulders and say, "Beats me."

This morning I was checking my e-mails when my neighbor pulled in.  Only Dusty and Belle were outside at the time.  When the barking started, I got up as fast as I could and grabbed my trusty empty pop bottle.  I think they may have stopped barking before I even got to the patio door, and as soon as I opened it, they come trotting to me.  AWESOME!!!!  They have come away from the fence before, but not without being called.

I'll be sure to post again if this turns out to be a success.

P.S. August 23, 2012.  Yeah, well.  The dogs will still charge the fence when the neighbors come home.  On the other hand, if I realize my neighbors are pulling into their driveway before Dusty and Libby lose it, I can often keep them from launching into full scale hysteria with a simple "leave it" or "come."

P.P.S.  April 10, 2013.  There has been a considerable improvement in the dogs' behavior at the fence.  (It's about time!)  I instituted a zero tolerance policy last fall and tried to stick with it.  Dusty is so much improved, he's like a different dog.  Unfortunately, Libby still enjoys barking way too much, but being consistently crated for doing so has helped.  I try to say "quiet" just once.  If the dog doesn't comply, then it's off for some alone time in a crate.  The most important points of my current campaign are using only one command, remaining neutral when I go get the dog to crate him/her, and of course, never allowing the barking to go without consequences.

Pain is a Good Motivator

I came to the realization yesterday that I have settled for behaviors in my dogs, thinking it was good enough.  For example, Belle was in the habit of taking treats like a piranha.  I had worked on breaking her of the habit ever since she was a puppy--she's 4.5 years old now.  I finally settled for managing the way I presented the treats to her.  Then about three weeks ago, she jumped into the air to grab a frisbee from my hand.  Unfortunately, my forefinger was on the rim where she grabbed it.  It resulted in two deep puncture wounds which fortunately are healing nicely and never showed any signs of infection.

Needless to say, this incident motivated me to put an end to Belle's fishy ways.  No more grabbing toys; no touching with teeth when taking a treat.  I didn't have to get nasty about it, but I did have to become emphatic and consistent about it.

An Attractive Off-Course

I also ran Belle on the Whatcom jumpers course.  The first time through, I left the bars on the ground, and was really surprised at how far we got.  I decided to put the bars up so the challenge would be a little closer to an actual course.  Belle did really well, but I quickly found that the #15 jump was a very viable off-course both in the beginning and end of the course.

I learned that if you're going to layer a jump like this one, you have to consider how you're going to handle passing through a box where one of the side jumps is not very far from the dog's intended path.

1.  Standing in the red area seems to be the worst handling choice, but even that can be overcome by issuing a quiet "out" command.

2.  When handling from a distance, a good choice is to be to the right of the off-course jump as the dog comes through the box.

3.  If running closer to the dog, running close to the off-course jump (but still layering it) seems to be enough information for the dog to continue from #2 to #3.

4.  The absolute worst choice I made was to run toward the lower right of the course as Belle passed through the box for the closing.

Needed: More Front Cross Training

(P.S. 03/23/11.  In re-watching the video, it is clear I'm the one who needs more front cross training.  I'm a late with my pre-cue almost every time.  Once Dusty is in the air, he can do nothing about changing direction until he lands.  He MUST have the information before his take-off stride in order to achieve a tight turn.)
 
This morning, I set up the Whatcom jumpers course posted October 23rd and ran it with Dusty.  When David ran Dusty on a Regular course a week ago, he encountered the same problem that I had with Dusty this morning--Dusty failed to heed a front cross and turn off a straight line.  After viewing the footage from last Sunday in slow motion, I came to the conclusion that Dusty was clearly not heeding a timely front cross.  When I analyzed today's footage, I found the same thing to be true.

Below are four series of frames from today.  In the first series, I gave timely signals, but no verbal command, and Dusty takes the off-course jump.

Front cross pre-cue given.

Handler rotation begun.

Handler rotated 180 degrees.

Message ignored.

In the second series, I issued a "come" command, but Dusty lands and then turns, adding a couple of strides to his path.

In this third series, Dusty is coming around a circle of jumps, but despite the really early pre-cue and "come", he fails to start turning until after he lands.

The last two photos are from our effort to do this course from the 15-point bonus line.  Either Dusty has become pattern-trained, or the use of "wrap" instead of "come" combined with my lateral distance has resulted in what I would have like to have seen in our other efforts.  Dusty is already turning as he comes over the jump.  Notice how he has shaved a couple of yards off his path to the next jump.

Here is the video:



Luckily, there are a couple of sequences I can set up using this course to work with Dusty on his ability to read a front cross when there is layering involved.  But another thing to keep in mind is that "wrap" may be more effective in getting him to turn off a straight line than "come."