The Spaniel Annals

working and living with performance spaniels

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I’m a retired English instructor, now devoted full-time to training, showing and enjoying my spaniels in many sports.
I’m an English college instructor by trade, a dog trainer by vocation. And lifelong baseball fan.

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Just A Bit Obsessed

    Sometimes I realize to what degree the sport of obedience trialing requires an almost obsessive love for delayed gratification.    The video below presents Reardon’s debut in the Novice Obedience ring.  He did a wonderful job, winning the class and earning a 196 out of 200 points, and ½ point away from the High in Trial score. 

    The routine we do doesn’t look too complicated.  In fact, Reardon makes it look easy.  But behind this successful debut is 3 ½ years of training, starting when Reardon was a 7-week-old puppy.  While we certainly didn’t train just for this set of exercises—he knows the advanced obedience exercises too, better than any novice dog I’ve trained—the degree of attention he shows, the precision on turns and sits, and the willingness to concentrate in a distracting location are all on-going projects for any dog training at this competitive level for the obedience ring. 

    Beyond that, I ponder the easy appearance of Reardon’s performance.  Italians have a word for a kind of beautiful performance, sprezzatura, to describe a performance that is intensely complex and difficult, but is made to appear graceful and effortless by the performers.   I like to think Reardon’s first novice run approaches this degree of sprezzatura. Or at least shows a glimpse of it.

    Where did he lose his points?  He lost 1 point by moving a foot during the judge’s exam that follows the figure 8 heeling pattern.   He lost another point somewhere in the heeling on lead, but his big blooper came right at the end of the off-leash heeling, where he decided he had figured out the heeling pattern and would complete the last about-turn on his own, thank you very much!  I have to laugh about it; here’s a dog who’s never been in the novice ring before, already injecting his own comments on events.  He’s not being disobedient or distracted; he just wants to get on with things.  That blooper cost us 2 points, but I’m happy to see him so confident right at the beginning of his showing career.   Way to go, Reardon!

    It’s Rozzie’s turn tomorrow, in the pouring rain if the weather reports are right.  I’m glad we trained in the rain on Thursday.

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Gotta train, even in the rain

    It’s 2 days before Reardon and Roz debut in the novice obedience ring, in the obedience trial put on the regional German Shepherd club.  Based on weather reports of a few days ago, I chose today to train at the show site, Carco Park in Renton.  I figured I’d put up half of a ring, get them out on the grass, and have Kani practice her directed jumping and scent articles since she’s also entered in Saturday.  Well, funny how the weatherfolks can’t seem to predict past the next hour in a wet Northwest spring.  Today it’s been heavy rain all day.  But this afternoon was still my only opportunity to get them to the show site.  So off we go: extra pairs of shoes, winter jacket, 3 layers of shirts and a hat.  And that’s just for me!

    Three hours later, we’re back home, bedraggled and soaked but with a great training session behind us.  Reardon and Roz had a full novice run-through, including off-leash heeling, and Kani practiced her more challenging exercises.    They did great!  I think I was the only one complaining, as my tennis shoes got increasingly squishy and the rain dripped off my hat.   But it was worth it, giving them a chance for an upbeat session right before the trial.  I’m excited to see how Reardon and Roz (referred to by a good friend and supporter as the “R babies”) will do in their first trial.

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Emotional Control and the Stay

    I’ve been re-reading Patricia McConnell’s great book  For the Love of a Dog, and came across the point she makes about stays: that they teach a young dog  not only physical control, but also emotional control.  She’s so convinced of this that she even has an addendum in the book with the details about teaching sit stays. 

    Recently I’ve been contemplating the need for Gael to learn more physical control.  She’ll be a year old in just a few days, April 24th, and she’s bright and eager to work.  I think she’s ready to handle more rigorous work with her stays and also holding a dumbbell.  While I typically wouldn’t start some of this work this early with a 1-year-old springer, there’s something different about Gael–her intensity, her toughness–that tells me she’s ready.  Besides, her lack of physical control is beginning to get a little over the top.  She’s a strong, quick dog whose exuberance has not always been easy for this aging trainer’s body to handle.  I want to keep the exuberance but get it a bit more within some boundaries.   Getting emotional control at the same time would be great!

    Gael’s stays up to now have been problematic.  She understands the position, but she twitches, turns, flip-flops, moves feet here and there, and generally shows no understanding of where her body is or what it means to stay still.  So I’m borrowing a stay technique I’ve seen used for dogs who are nervous about stays in the ring: a box made out of PVC.  The one I’m using is actually the old PVC front board for my since-passed Gordon Setter, Vita.  This box provides an enclosure so that if Gael moves at all, she’ll be touching the PVC.    Surprisingly enough (or maybe I shouldn’t be surprised), it’s working beautifully!  Gale is sitting quietly in her box, now for over a minute at a time, with no creeping forward or getting up:

    Before this, Gael’s downstay has been even worse than her sitstay.  She flip-flops over onto various hips, creeps forward, gets up, and any other possible movement she can think of.  Amazingly, here she’s doing a quiet downstay for over a minute with no movement:

    Interestingly, with the incorporation of this PVC stay box, Gael’s dumbbell hold has taken a leap as well.  Before she was willing to hold it quietly in her mouth in a sit, but refused to get up and move.  All of a sudden, she’s now willing to move forward some steps with it.  Emotional self-control?  I’d like to think so!

    I love these training breakthroughs where I and the dog learn something new at the same time.  Two “ah-ha’s” are always even better than one.

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    A Working Mother

    Journey is 6 weeks pregnant with 8-9 puppies (!) and soon she’ll be heading over to Colleen’s to whelp her litter.  But right now, she’s still eager to work despite the fact that she’s becoming quite rotund.  I’m not sure if this picture really illustrates how full Journey’s belly is, but those 8 puppies are certainly taking up some room:

    With her growing puppies, I’m being careful about what kind of work we do.  She’s no longer jumping at all, and in earlier weeks of her pregnancy she was  jumping 8 inch jumps.  We’ve been training the drop-on-recall exercise for the Open ring, but we’ve had to stop that as I worry about her quickly dropping onto her belly.  She’s still doing stationary drops, although that will probably end soon too.  Despite the awkwardness of her belly and added weight, she’s still heeling happily:

    In general we’re doing more stationary exercises that are low impact and easy on her back and belly.  So I opted for the pivot exercises, where I turn in place either to the left or right, and Journey must turn with me and then sit.  These pivots are necessary for the Utility directed retrieve exercise, and also help solidify heel position.  I thought these would be easy, but Journey is really struggling with moving her expanding belly to the left.   I use a dowel to guide the dog, and you can see Journey here as we begin the pivot:

    This pivot to the left, often trained as a “get-it-in,” requires a supple back and coordinated rear end movement.  (Ahem, her’s, not mine!)  Journey’s trying so hard, but right now it’s like manuevering a cruise ship.    Portward ho, maties!

    Whew, we made it.  It’s tough with all that ballast.   We decide to end on an upbeat note with a simple recall. 

    Journey’s desire to work through her pregnancy impresses me so much.  I’m excited to watch her become a mother and am looking forward to many visits with her puppies, but even more I’m looking forward to the time when we can just focus on her promising obedience career.  This is a working girl, no doubt about it. 

     

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    It’s not about the ribbons…

    Most folks in the dog show/performance world amass boxes full of ribbons won over the years, and we all love to brag about our titles won and placements awarded.  But in the end, it’s really not about those titles and ribbons.  Behind those colorful strips of nylon are the stories: of dreams achieved and dreams revised; months and years of training; tears of frustration, despair and joy; and above all, the relationship with the dog that is profoundly deepened by all these adventures together. 

    Once such adventure occurred with me and Rozzie in the agility arena recently.  Ever since I started training her for agility, I dreamed of running her at the Seattle Kennel Club agility trial held every February.  As you can see from the picture below, the crowds are thick and sit in bleachers right outside the ring.  Loudspeakers narrate the agility runs and the enormous hall echoes with the barks and buzz of Seattle’s largest dog show:

    Here’s another photo at ring level, just to give you more of an idea of how close the crowds are:

    Why did I dream of running Rozzie here?   Just call me a glamour queen at heart, I suppose.  Very few springers are running in agility right now, and I wanted people to enjoy watching her as much as I enjoyed running her.  But I knew the noise level would be quite challenging for Rozzie, as she’s somewhat sound sensitive, and the crowds could frighten her.  So we showed up Saturday morning with me prepared to help her through any scary spots.  Our first run was scary: right as she put her forefoot on the dog walk, a loudspeaker blared. She hopped off and I could not get her back on the obstacle.  The judge whistled us off the course, but fortunately allowed us to run a few jumps on the way out so we could finish positively.

    From there, I was fully prepared for a tough weekend where Rozzie would simply work on her sound sensitivity.  But she stunned me with her ability to recover: her Saturday afternoon run was a “jumpers class” comprised of only jumps, weaves and tunnels, and she ran it “clean” (no mistakes) for 1st place!   The next morning we again faced the dreaded dogwalk, and I had no sweeter sight all weekend than her confident mounting of the obstacle.  She had one split second of hesitation halfway up, and I got out a “good girl!”  From then on, Rozzie was brilliant, qualifying in all of her runs and winning 1st place in her class each time, which meant we moved up into the Open class on Sunday, the second level in agility. 

    So we got it all at the Seattle Kennel Club: ribbons and titles.  But the memory of that weekend is all about Rozzie overcoming her fears far more rapidly than I could have hoped for.  She gave me my dream of running an adorable and very biddable springer spaniel in front of the crowds, and she gained a huge boost in confidence and focus in a challenging venue.  Way to go, my Rozzie girl!

     Ahem.  Now I must confess, there are times when it is all about the ribbons.  Or at least they take on greater significance than usual.  The very next weekend, my gordon setter puppy ran in her very first field trial, a puppy stake with 10 entries.  This is good enough for 2 points towards a field championship.  However, with this being Gael’s very first trial, my only goal was to keep her running forward and not getting scared by the judges on horseback. But lo and behold, Gael ran beautifully and won the stake!  Believe me, getting that ribbon was a wonderful moment:

    Gael is looking a bit put out here as I’m requiring her to sit when she’d much rather be playing with the english setter on stakeout directly to her left.  She just doesn’t understand what the fuss is all about.  But the ribbon hangs proudly on my refrigerator, and will be there for some time.:-)

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    The intelligence of the Irish Water Spaniel

    As I mentioned in an earlier post, Journey the Irish Water Spaniel, is happily back with us for additional obedience training.  I’m stunned to report that she has learned her scent discrimination articles in slightly over one month.  Journey arrived here in early December; she’s now at the stage where she is selecting the article I’ve scented without any additional aids.  (Earlier posts on “scent work” can show you earlier training stages of this exercise, as well as the finished exercise in the ring.) In the video that follows, you will see that Journey has all the basics down.  We’re not yet at the correct number of articles she has to choose from in the ring (4 metal and 4 leather articles), and I do give her some encouragement once she’s indicated the right metal article.  We also need to add in the “flying send” portion of the exercise.    But Journey has mastered the hard part, which is choosing my scent out of a pile of similarly shaped objects:

    To give you some perspective on how quickly she’s learned this exercise, my three previous UD-titled dogs (springers and a Gordon setter) took over 6 months of intensive work to learn this, and some preparatory puppy play-training with the articles before that.  Reardon is slightly ahead of Journey on this exercise and has been working intensively on them since the summer, although he’s been exposed to this exercise for much longer.  Journey’s progress on this difficult exercise is truly astounding. 

    However, not all training is this easy.  Here’s a video taken today as well, showing Journey’s difficulties with learning directed jumping.  This is a portion of a more complex utility exercise, where the dog is sent from the handler’s side to the opposite end of the ring, and then directed to one jump or another.  As you’ll see, after one month of working on this exercise, Journey is having a tough time getting the idea.  Finally we take a step backwards, and I put back in the gate that stops Journey from running right to me.  Whenever a dog is having trouble, there’s no shame in stepping backwards to where she’ll be successful.  We’ll use the gates for a few weeks, and then see if she’s getting the idea.

    My instructor tells me that the Irish Water Spaniels she’s helped train have all had trouble with this exercise.  As retrievers, it’s so hard-wired in them to come directly back to the handler.  Plus Journey has had 6-9 months of retriever training, where she’s been trained to return directly.  No wonder this exercise is tough for her!   We’ll just keep plugging away until she gets it.   Note that at this stage of learning, I’m really not correcting her for making mistakes.  I’m just not responding.   If I corrected her at this point when she doesn’t understand the exercise, I have no way of bridging the “wrong” answer to the “right” answer, and the last thing I want to do is discourage her attitude.  I could dig a real hole for us if I got frustrated or negative.  Instead, Journey’s tail keeps wagging through the entire rather methodical exercise. 

    When I watch this, I can see how slowly I’m moving.  How boring–but it was just so darn cold!  Next time I’ll have to be a little more fun.  On the other hand, I can’t be too fun, since Journey needs to keep thinking through this.  It’s always a balance between having fun and maintaining mental intensity.

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    The significance of a tennis ball

    To you, a tennis ball might be a lowly object, a cheap amalgamation of rubber and fuzz, easily substituted by an exact replica and easily discarded.  But to me, a tennis ball keeps chaos at bay.  A house without a tennis ball is a house with a raging Gordon Setter puppy mouth, happy to fill itself with any chewable or non-chewable object: table ends, underwear, kleenex (preferably used), tea bag remnants, any kitchen item including metal forks and knives, student papers, notebooks, and so on. 

    Thankfully I’ve found that the lowly tennis ball is a wonderful substitute for Gael’s need to chew.  Once her mouth is full of rubber fuzz, she seems content to use her energy in other ways:

    These “other ways” usually consist of running in huge circles and playing keep away from the other dogs, since Rozzie is also a tennis ball fanatic:

    The greatest value of the tennis ball comes in the evening around 7pm, which I’ve come to see at Gael’s witching hour.   When I’m just settling down to dinner and a relaxing time watching TV or reading a book, Gael is winding up for a final harrah of the day.  A tennis ball in the house and a final run in the pasture seem to make this last burst of setter energy liveable.  Without these two strategies, I couldn’t imagine the state of my house or my mind in this 9th month of Gael’s existence. 

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Reardon & Rozzie at the National

    Our English Springer Spaniel National was held in Albany, Oregon this year in October.  We’ve been training this past year to get the younger springers ready for this event, as the National rotates around the country and so is not always nearby for us to attend.  I was thrilled with the performances of both Rozzie and Reardon, who competed in multiple events at the novice and pre-novice level in obedience and Rozzie in agility.  They amassed a wonderful record of qualifying 9 out of 10 events, and placing 1st or 2nd in all of those qualifying events.  Most importantly, they enjoyed these first attempts in the competition ring, and maintained a great attitude all week. 

    Here’s Rozzie in her second rally round.  There are a few bloopers in attention; she was fading a bit at this point in the afternoon, after already competing in the morning.  Fortunately rally allows the handler to give extra help.  It was still a very solid performance for this novice girl:

    Next is Reardon competing in another class called Beginner Novice, a new pre-novice class introduced by the AKC recently.  It eliminates the off-lead heeling and the group sit and down stays, with some other novice exercises simplified.  I think this is an excellent addition to the titling classes, and a great way to get a very green dog in the ring.

    This next year Rozzie and Reardon will move on to the regular novice classes in obedience.  This was a great first experience for them.

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Merry Christmas 2010

    It seems appropriate to re-start this blog the way it began a year ago: with a Christmas visit to a nearby wildlife recreation area for a dog run.  Cherry Valley is much wetter than last year, but still a joy for some muddy, wet dogs:

    This trip is also Gael’s first free run in a wildlife area.   Before letting her loose and keeping in mind her setter’s need to run, I first made sure we had a good recall on our property.  I’m happy to report that at 8 months old she is quite willing to respond to my come command and check in for cookies:

    Kani spent the entire time hunting like her old self.  This has been a worrisome year of health issues with her, that are thankfully now identified and treatable.  I have high hopes that this will be her year in the obedience ring.  Here’s a brief moment where she slows down to see where I’m at:

    At last we head home for some Christmas music and knuckle bones for all the dogs. 

    This has been a tough fall for me, with too much stress at work revolving around state budget cuts, and health concerns with Kani and Reardon that are happily resolving.  On the very bright side, we also spent a week at the ESSFTA National with great results, especially with the younger dogs Rozzie and Reardon (more on that in another post).  Gael is metamorphosing from an awkward, gawky demon-unleashed-from-hell to a pretty young girl with some glimpses of obedience.  On an even brighter side, Journey, the talented Irish Water Spaniel, is with us again for training in Open and Utility.   While I sometimes feel overwhelmed with all the demands of training, exercising and spending time with five dogs, I’m thrilled to have Journey back in my life.  I wouldn’t change a thing. 

    Merry Christmas and here’s to a wonderful 2011!

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Tracking!

    I’ve been tracking with Reardon off and on since he was a puppy, and I’ve been very impressed with how it educated his nose.  Now Gael is joining him, and we have some deadlines approaching: the English Springer Spaniel National, which is in Oregon in October, offers a tracking test, and there are several tests coming up regionally in the fall and late winter. 

    In AKC, the basic tracking title is the TD (tracking dog), where the dog tracks human scent for approximately 400 yards.  The track has to be aged at least 30 minutes, with multiple turns and some changes in terrain.  The dog must indicate a glove dropped at the end of the track.

    I’m joining my good friend Lynn Winchester of Alynn Springers two or three times a week now to get our dogs ready.  Her dog is “Indy,” a 10-month old springer.  He’s been tracking only a few weeks, but showing excellent aptitude and eagerness.  Here are Indy and Lynn at the startline, which is always marked with a pole and a first glove:

    At this beginning stage, the track is laid with hot dog pieces dropped along our footsteps. That way the dog is rewarded for following human scent.  At the time of this photo shooting, we are laying 3 tracks for Indy right in a row, with the first one at 35 yards, the second 50 yards, and the third 75 yards.  They are all straight tracks, no turns.  (The following week, this week, we introduced turns and Indy handled them well.)  Here’s Indy taking off on one of his tracks:

    Indy finds his glove!  We encourage the dogs to play with the glove and retrieve it afterwards, since at the test, they have to show some clear indication of the glove.  They can’t just track past it:

    Now it’s Reardon’s turn.  He’s been tracking for longer, so his track is more advanced.   Lynn has been laying his track with 3-5 turns in it.  This track was a bit over 200 yards, and it was aged over 1/2 hour:

    Note that the line is taut.  Unlike obedience work where the leash should be loose, in tracking the dog is actually pulling you along the track.  The taut line is a means of communication between you and the dog, to let him know you’re there.  Also in training, if he goes off the track, you let the line go slack and raise it up to let him know he’s off the correct scent.  In an actual AKC test, you must be 20 feet behind the dog.  Most of us use lines that are 30-50 feet long, and mark that 20-foot spot on the line with a strip of colored tape or a knot.

    After the very slight slackness of the line in the above photo, you can see Reardon is now charging and pulling the line taut.  He was hesitating on the scent; when he really pulls on the line, he’s telling me he’s certain and we can move forward with confidence:

    Meanwhile, a surprisingly patient Gordon Setter puppy is waiting back in the van for her turn.  Gael has to wait until last because, as the baby, her track isn’t being aged yet. 

    Now it’s her turn!  You’ll see the line isn’t taut yet.  Gael is gradually gaining confidence, and will begin to truly pull in the next few weeks.  Right now she does a lot of casting about (making circles and veerings off the track) because, according to this Gordon puppy, NO HOT DOG CAN GO UNFOUND.  If nothing else she is determined to find every piece of food we’ve left for her. 

    Here Gael has gone off the track.  Interestingly enough, she’s probably searching for hot dog scent that the wind has blown off the track.  Although it’s best to lay puppy tracks into the wind, on this particular day we had a lot of odd wind currents.  We’d lay the track into the wind, but by the time we ran it, it had turned into a crosswind.  Most likely Gael is working a crosswind here:

    Now she’s back on the track.  Good girl!  Actually we talk very little to them while they’re tracking.  They know when they’re doing it right or not, and talking just distracts them.  Tracking is an activity where “trust your dog” and “let your dog work” are the prominent mantras.

    Here Gael is working confidently.  Note the tighter line.  She’s coming along nicely in her tracking work!

    More tracking reports to come!