The Spaniel Annals

working and living with performance spaniels

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about

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

    Tugging thoughts

    Brian loves toys, and so we’ve been doing some tugging as part of his puppy training.  I’m not into tugging like some trainers, who often seem to use the activity as a way to amp up the dog before running on an agility course.  I’m not sure running an overly aroused dog on an agility course is good anyway, and I definitely don’t want it for the obedience ring.  But tugging has other benefits.  Here we’re working on two things: stillness for a few seconds before a “strike” at the toy, and then releasing the toy when it goes “dead.”  I need to get better at this, but he does release near the end of this brief session.  Eventually this release will become an “out” for a retrieve, and overall I hope it dispels any tendency towards excessive possessiveness of toys.  Little baby steps are in this video, but they make a good start.

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Flying with the big dogs!

    We’ve had a busy week, with many new experiences.  One of them was Brian finally annoying my much older pack enough into playing with him:

    Brian also ran a baby track for the first time this week (pics next week!), and last night met a friendly adult springer owned by a training friend of mine when we met up to work our dogs in Woodinville.  So Brian also got to do recalls, positions and simply explore a new place.  The last 2 days have suddenly gotten hot, and I’ve had to recognize that a baby dog can’t handle temperature shifts very effectively.  Happily we have cooler weather today before a heat wave comes in next week.  Brian adventures continue!

     

     

     

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Roz and her puppy

    In a world of new normals, 12 1/2-year-old Roz makes her own peace with the craziness of a new puppy.  She even played with him a bit this morning.

    Roz and Brian

     

     

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    The Pool!

    Brian’s weekend adventure was an introduction to water with a wading pool.  After looking at all the dog pools on Amazon for $100 on up, we opted for the Fred Meyer $10 special.  Brian’s first reaction to water was, shall we say, underwhelming:

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    Well, Uncle Robbie seems to like it?
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    Wait, waaah???!!?

     

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    Think I’ll just stay out here….

    After this, Brian managed to find a hole in the fence, and the entire activity devolved into grabbing puppy before he runs off to the front of the house.  I’m not ready to life-test his recall yet.  Suffice to say the next priority is plugging up that hole…

    Brian’s other “new” introduction over the weekend was to the “2-ball game,” which teaches him to play with two toys, releasing one to go to the other.  It develops the basis for “outing” an object more naturally.  While I don’t have any pictures for this, I soon realized he was not ready to have both a retrieve and switch to a new toy all at once (he started picking up the new thrown toy and immediately dropping it), so we are backing up to just playing and tugging, switching back and forth between two toys at play.  I’ll try to have some video later today.  I’m looking forward to getting more adventurous once Brian has his next set of shots next week.

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Back to tracking

    Yesterday Robbie trained at the hardware store and Brian came along.  I took Brian into an outdoor area of the store where I’ve never seen many dogs, so I felt safe in doing some engagement work, playing with a toy and other basic exercises.  I was really pleased with his attention on me despite the very distracting environment.  I’m sure that will change, as right now he’s pretty dependent on me.  Adolescence will hit at some point in the coming months…

    Today we headed back to the tracking fields, and Brian got to have a bit more of a walk.  He did not show any amphibian tendencies…

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    He enjoyed exploring more, despite the loud noises of the fertilizer spreader…

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    And he proudly took charge of walking on leash…

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    Another good day for the puppy!

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Box Game!

    Today Brian got to play a box game, where he has to find the cookie in the box.  I discovered he’s just a little small for these boxes, and so will need to cut off the tops, but he has a good nose and seemed to enjoy this activity.  You can see he is really into offering me sits right now (not a bad problem to have), so a game where he has to work independently is a good thing.

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Off to school!

    Yesterday we took off for a nearby elementary school to let Brian explore the world while Robbie worked away from the property.  With COVID-19, I’ve been training far too much at home, and Robbie really needs that work in new(er) places.  So of course Brian came along to play on the playground equipment, do some baby recalls and focus work, and simply be in a new place for training.

    First he learns to wait his turn to train!  He cried a little at first, but then settled down while I trained Robbie nearby.

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    Some of what I wanted to do involved Brian getting up on new surfaces (safely).  I discovered this playground equipment wasn’t really good for that, but we did find one step:

    Brian at school

    Climbing down from one level to the next:

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    After this, we did some baby recalls on leash in the grass, and then I saw a man with two dogs (leashed) coming towards us, so I decided we were done.  A good adventure for Brian, new worlds, all good things.

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Training in the building

    Another new adventure was coming along with the big dogs to the training building, and having Brian’s first little training session.  While watching the other dogs train, the first day Brian put up quite a shriek of protest, and I had to just wait him out for a quiet moment in order to give him his turn.  I did learn that covering his crate so he can’t watch also helped.  He is a very quick learner and loves to “do stuff.”

    In our first session, I unfortunately blocked the camera, so here’s a partial session from the next day. (The entire session was maybe 8 minutes, with lots of play, cuddles, and silliness.)  We started with engagement–just me and him, no toys or food–then shaping onto a platform.  I’m still learning about shaping, so my timing isn’t always the greatest, but he caught on quickly.  Then we played with his natural retrieve.  When the dog is so willingly bringing it back, I don’t want to always be taking the object from him immediately, hence the chasing around and petting him with the toy in his mouth.  He’s a great little guy!

     

  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    The Pasture!

    Next adventure was Brian’s first experience of our pasture.  Of course I tried to get photos of him running through the wildflowers, but my timing and his constant movement didn’t always come together.   So far, nothing gets him down!

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    There was always the opportunity for a little baby recall practice:

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    And Brian first got to meet the other dogs on his own.  They are being very patient so far:

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  • “When violence begins, training ends”
    Anonymous

    Tracking practice!

    Brian’s second day of adventures meant coming along to Robbie’s tracking practice, which I’m starting up for the summer with a friend who wants to track her young Irish Water Spaniel.  So Brian got to meet Martha, a new human, get his feet muddy and see the wide world of the Snoqualmie Valley for the very first time.  In a few weeks, he’ll start baby tracking too!

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