Listen to Avril on BBC Essex Radio!
October 16, 2010
Friday afternoon was BBC Essex Radio with Steve Scruton, what a busy afternoon we had! Steve had a lot to fit into the show so we decided that if I answered people quickly we would get more questions covered, so I really went for it! I love having to think that quickly, I spend most of my working time making sure I have got the right picture of the dog, checking out the facts and considering my responses to be sure I am on the right track! It may mean that the quality of my answers was not as thorough as I would like, but we got through a lot of calls, emails and texts, more people got some sort of answer and I had great fun :)! It would have been even better if Rod Stewart had been in the building for the interview, but he is a super star! Steve confessed to me that he was really nervous when he interviewed the icon, but you would never know it, listening to his interview! Steve is such a professional, so smooth at his job 🙂 what a thrill for him to get to meet Rod!
Click the link below if you haven’t heard the show yet, though when I looked this morning the Friday show wasn’t available yet, I am sure it will be on the web soon, and will be available for 7 days!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00bh9qq/Steve_Scruton_15_10_2010/
Update on Betty training!
August 16, 2010
Betty learning to skateboard!
Betty is getting hairy!!
Betty has the best sense of humour, I think she is constantly laughing at life! She certainly makes me smile a great deal of the time, she is just so funny! From the way she hurls her toys about, they often land on top of the work top, to the way she throws herself about! I can see how much she will love agility, not a trait she gets from Pie, but her Mum Gracie was bred very purposely for agility!
Training wise we have been doing a little of everything that she may need in life, recently she has been getting a little confused and offers up all her tricks to find the right one! So far I have taught her the baby beginning’s of sit, down, heel, come, high-five, stays, retrieve, roll over, and watch, plus she is starting to learn to ride a skate board! Confusion is a part of training progress and a very useful one too! Confusion means that the dog is trying hard to please and simply throwing everything in the pot to try to find the right one! I always praise whatever Betty gives me, it is all good and by encouraging her efforts she stays willing, the most precious gift any dog can give!
To iron out some confusion I am focussing on 2 exercises in any one training session, this is already paying off after one day of 3 training sessions. This morning when I asked for the down, Betty threw herself straight down, whereas yesterday she tried the sit, high-five and a bit of a spin to heel first:)!
You can see in the photo’s Betty is very leggy now and sprouting whiskers, you can see why she makes me smile! 🙂
Next time your dog sits when you asked for the down remember to praise the effort and then make yourself clearer, maybe use a hand signal for the down? It is a common mistake with beginner handlers not to recognise when the dog is trying to do what you want as opposed to being naughty, the best clue is if your dog is looking at you he is trying to do the right thing! When a dog is not interested in pleasing he is looking elsewhere if not further from you! Attention is the key here to knowing if the dog is trying!
Update on Pie’s training, Betty and life at Barbary!
August 11, 2010
You must have thought I had forgotten the blog! But no just busy training my dogs and my clients, there are just not enough hours in a day it seems!!
I have been remembering my dear Pie and what a bad dog owner/trainer I am! I didn’t train Pie until the Saturday after our messed up session, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, too busy sulking really :)! By the Saturday evening when I took him for a walk all my senses were alert and ready to learn what had gone wrong, and I must confess his recall problem had been building up for a while, at least that is what I see now! To understand I will explain how it started, 18 months ago when I was first in Italy with Pie and walking on the mountains about a week or so after we arrived I lost Pie! I was so busy looking for the way on the mountainside and trying to keep upright I forgot my dog for a moment, as I guess he forgot me, we were both on very new terrain! I had no idea which way he had gone and I was soon very nearly hysterical trying to find him and shouting for him all to no avail, I was scrambling about on very difficult ground, and eventually sat crying, fearing he had fallen to the bottom of some ravine, regretting bringing him to this inhospitable country! When there he was beside me!! He was so puffed out, I believe he had run all the way back to the village to look for me, thinking I had turned back, he was as exhausted as I was, but otherwise all in one piece! The outcome for him was that I was not able to lose him again, he was so on to where I was after that I just didn’t have to worry again! At least not till last week!
We have been living back on the flat land of England for the last year, of course it is possible for him to see me from much further away, and over time we have both become complacent and I hadn’t noticed:), on top of that when I do take him out with Betty (not too often) I am concentrating on Betty, when out with Pie on his own, I am grateful to relax and not think too much about dog training! As a result we had both become sloppy, not Pie’s fault as he has soon proven!
Betty was there too! Magic is at ease with the dogs!
Having spent a few days not giving him attention unless in response to a command from me, Pie was much more ready to listen to me! On top of this I became much more difficult to please on our walk, hiding from him and insisting on him staying closer, he was only too pleased to oblige! I have been taking his dinner on his walks to remind him how to work for his meals again, something he has really enjoyed doing again. I had forgotten that he likes to work for me on his walks, after all he is a Collie! I will stay on his case for a few more weeks as yet, but he is becoming more popular with me by the day:) and he must so that he can continue to help other people with their dogs!
Those of you reading this that have been to see me at Barbary have met our new visitor Magic the pony in the front paddock. Magic belongs to Adam and Ian of Barnards Bridge, they rehomed Magic a year or so ago from a girl who had rescued him from the gypsy’s. Magic had learnt not to trust people and is a troubled pony, only small so you can imagine he would be easy to bully by badly intentioned people! Magic had come on a lot with Adam and Ian’s care and love, but not being horsey they didn’t know how to move him on to the next level and asked me to help. I am enjoying having Magic to stay, it is great to see a pony in the paddock, it brings the outside to life!Luckily he seems completely at ease with dogs and is happy for Pie and Betty to run round him! I will keep you posted on Magic’s progress 🙂
Betty is growing fast and getting more whiskers! She keeps me constantly amused and entertained, it is like she has a great sense of humour and loves to share the fun! Below are some up to date photo’s of Betty with Pie, her Daddy being very patient!
Magic in the front paddock!
Naughty Pie!
July 30, 2010
Pie was so naughty last night, yes really naughty! I had arranged a session in Dunmow Park with a client that I have known for some time, luckily they do know me well! My dog was worse behaved than my clients!! How embarrassing is that? I am going to tell you about this as I think it is good for everyone to know that my dogs make mistakes too, often people think Border Collies are easy, and because, generally:), they do behave well, that my dogs are just easy! Well I have to tell you I do work hard at training my own dogs. I do love training my own dogs but also I need a dog that will help when my clients have a problem dog, plus my dog is an advert for my training! Well last night Pie was a bad advert!! Pie has helped a great many dogs over come their anxiety or aggression, he has a great calming effect on all dogs.
By the time I got home there was steam coming from my ears, honestly I am sure there was!! 🙂
It all started badly, Pie pulled me round the park, when off lead he immediately ran off to some children that were playing and joined in, licking them and dancing around until I got close enough to get his attention! A little further on and he fancied the look of a nice Flatcoat and disappeared with her and her owner! Again until I was in easier shouting distance!!! By now I was fuming with him, he was back on the lead while I trained my client and tried to concentrate on that dog, while my brain was buzzing with shock at my dogs behaviour! Fortunately Pie did his job work wise, the dog I was working with has dog to dog problems and Pie had a great effect on him, he was very chilled and we made some great progress with the dog we were meant to be training! My client left the park by a different entrance and I made my way to the car park, I could now think about Pie, and proceeded back to my car training him, doing downs and recalls etc, my mobile phone rang just as we were turning a corner onto the last field by the car park, and I forgot Pie for a moment as I fumbled to find the phone in my bag, (mobile phones are not good for dog training!) in worrying about the phone I did not notice the boys playing football ahead of us!!! Yes you guessed, Pie loves football, he was gone, like a rocket, I shouted he ignored me and joined in the game! The boys loved it, they soon saw they had a new play mate and started including Pie in the game! It was about now the steam started to come out of my ears!! I had to get right up to Pie and get hold of him, it was like I was on another planet! I then proceeded to do some recall training on the lead near the boys, but really I was to cross, and having made a bit of a point with him, I took him back to the car, where he said no I don’t want to go I like it here, I picked him up, and if he weren’t so big I would have thrown him in the car!!! I drove home, it is many many years since a dog of mine made me feel so out of control, I decided the best place for Pie on arriving home was his crate, I do not lose my temper with dogs, but I knew I was on the edge and if he had put one foot wrong I could have lost the plot and do something I would regret! So there he stayed until after my dinner and my last client had gone that evening, some 3 hours, I had got things in more perspective by then at last!!
Here are my thoughts and reasoning, not excuses for him. As a dog trainer I have to analyse what goes wrong with other people’s dogs everyday, now I must apply my skill to my own dog in a big way! Firstly my angry response, Pie has been to Dunmow Park several times, either when I have been training him or working to help other dogs and has always behaved impeccably, my expectation of him was high and so I felt badly let down and disappointed in him. Were my expectations unrealistic? Maybe.
Secondly, I thought about his activities and behaviour over the last week, what had led up to this behaviour? Well last Friday I had my cousin Cheryl come to stay with her 3 children and her little dog Annie (a sister of Betty’s from an earlier litter), plus my the rest of my family were visiting us all, so for a great deal of the time from Friday through Monday there were 5 children and 5 dogs running round the garden playing, football was pretty high on the list of games, Pie is really good at dribbling and taking the ball off of people! I was busy catering and generally attending the business of hosting, my dogs had little attention from me, and it was so lovely to see them all having such a great time together, children and dogs had a ball (excuse the pun) really just running wild:)! So in the park, in his mind he was just doing what he had done last weekend!
On top of this since Betty has arrived Pie’s training has taken a bit of a back seat as I give most of my time to educating Betty, work has been busy and 2 weeks ago Magic arrived in the front paddock. Magic is a little pony belonging to Adam and Ian (of Barnards Bridge) that they rescued and I am having him to stay to see if I can help him with his issues around trusting people, this means Pie has had even less training and next to Betty of course he looks like the grown up and a really good boy. I know that because of these distractions the attention Pie has had from me has been all the soft stuff, I have over indulged him, unconsciously, to compensate for the lack of training. He has had more cuddles than ever, and all privileges of rank like the scraps from dinner, free tit bits just for being there and so on.
Now, as I thought about all of this build up, I could see that last night was the outcome of a build up, even a well-trained dog needs more continuity than I have been giving Pie, I have let him think he is very important, stopped treating him like a dog and instead over indulged him, just like my clients do:) I am human:). Once I could see all this I realised it was my fault and I have some work to do to get Pie back on track again. So if you are over Dunmow Park and see me out training Pie you will know what is going on:), but first we are out in the garden with that darn football to get some control back!! Followed by inviting my nephew and niece over for some Pie distraction training, he loves children, which is great, but he has to know he must come to me, not run to them!
Have you felt your dog let you down? Have you worked out why? Let me have your stories please? I do think by sharing this information we can help each other don’t you?
Betty and wheels and being a sheepdog!
July 21, 2010
Betty is mostly Border Collie, which means the herding instinct is strong for her! The first signs of this with Betty, and a lot of puppies, is she is interested in small wheels, things like the wheelie bins, wheelbarrows, vacuum cleaner and the hose reel winding and unwinding!
This innocent behaviour can rapidly turn into larger machines like lawn mowers, bicycles, motor bikes and cars! A very dangerous hobby for any dog!And herding is only found in Collies, many breeds can display this behaviour.
Luckily I know my Collies and I take action as soon as the early signs show themselves. For those that read the blog regularly you already know that where ever possible I want Betty to learn from her environment, as opposed to me constantly nagging her and saying “no”! The action I take when Betty starts chasing the wheel barrow wheel is to keep walking, not go round her, she is small so I don’t want to squash her too much, I walk slowly and deliberately, keeping to my chosen path, it is her job to get out-of-the-way! Rather she gets bumped by the barrow wheel than by a car! I do the same with the wheelie bins and the vacuum cleaner, with the vacuum I do push it at her a bit more deliberately, as it is lighter and hurts less if she isn’t quick enough! I also push the vacuum at her if she goes for the cable, I want her to learn very quickly not to go for electric cable!
I must add I don’t move these tools in a playful way, not too fast, as that may be enticing, but a boring ploddy sort of way! plus when I sweeping or mopping I put her in crate, these tools are just too tempting and she would learn more chase from these, the odd bump would not deter her:)
I was delighted this morning when I vacuumed that Betty did not attempt to chase the vacuum nor attack the cable!! 🙂 A step closer to keeping her safe in life!
Betty
Betty watching and not chasing!
has more than enough outlets for her natural instincts when herding me on a walk :), playing retrieve and other toy based games!
Betty feeding, cupboards and bowls!
July 13, 2010
Betty catching up on a walk!
I am really chuckling as I think and write this one 🙂 I am constantly amazed by dogs, how quickly they learn whether it is the right of the wrong thing! The brighter and cleverer they are the more likely they are to learn the wrong things too! Really it is amazing that people don’t have worse problems than I see!
Not long after Betty arrived I remember chuckling to Anne (Betty’s breeder) that Betty was throwing her metal feed bowl round the kitchen because she wanted feeding, she does love her food! I do think there were a few occasions when on seeing her I thought “oh I am late feeding her” and did feed her. I was particularly impressed as metal is the hardest material to teach a dog to retrieve, I am not quite sure why anyone would want a dog to retrieve metal, but anyhow it is tricky! I think it was this that delighted me so much and made me respond to Betty’s antics 🙂 at least that is my excuse! Well anything a dog does that firstly we show pleases us, like smiling and laughing and secondly even gets food in return will soon grow! Betty obviously thought I can do better and by last week this behaviour had grown into throwing the bowl around with great gusto, in between throwing her whole body at the kitchen work cupboard doors, and I mean throwing herself too, it was very enthusiastic! I just stopped myself laughing, just, though I laughed inside! Wow I thought this has gone far enough now, this behaviour could become completely ridiculous and very embarrassing for a dog trainer, in fact it is already!! I turned my back and looked out of the window then made myself busy doing jobs, after about 20 minutes, yes 20 whole minutes, Betty gave up that game and laid down, I fed her! The next few meal times I saw similar attempts, though her efforts started to dwindle until today I noticed her sitting in the kitchen near feed time, just watching me:) she was waiting for her food and she had twigged that sitting or lying got the right result! Now I just have to stick to my side of the bargain:) and only feed her when she is giving me this sort of behaviour!
One or two of you have mentioned the mistakes you have made with your puppies, well I have to tell you I haven’t been so aware with my other puppies as I am with Betty, the process of learning is ongoing, Betty is teaching me so much! Each dog I have lived with has taught me more, pushing me to a new level each time.
How clever is she, how clever are all our dogs? They all do the same sort of thing, just start noticing your dogs attempts to train you:), becoming aware of how they train you or how you inadvertently train them!
I am waiting to hear! 🙂
Update on Dennis!
July 8, 2010
Dennis and Maggie, performing at Saffron Walden Talent as guests!!
I am sure you wall remember about Dennis competing on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show, and getting to the last 10 out of 1000 applicants!! Well since then Maggie is inundated with invitations to open shows, fetes and do guest appearances! One of these was at the Saffron Walden Talent contest where Dennis was asked to do a guest spot! How can anyone look at this picture and not see the enjoyment for both dog and handler in dog training, just look at the smiles on both faces!! I cried with joy at the sight of them, I am so proud to have worked with Maggie and to have bred this little dog for her, how lucky is Dennis to get Maggie?!!!!!
What Betty taught the dog trainer!
July 6, 2010
Betty learning to sit
and down
High five!
Betty watching me!
Well this blog is really an exciting one for me to write, I am so excited by Betty and her training at just 11 weeks old!!!! As you won’t be able to guess what she did before I finish writing 🙂 I will just have to tell you :).
Betty went “down” on a word command only when she was 10 feet from me!!! yes she did! If you are not as amazed as me I want to know how come you are so clever:) ? And I will come to you for training!
It was just last Wednesday that she went down in front of me for the first time without my usual hand signal, and I think it only took that long because I have been teaching her sit, down and high-five! Normally I stick to 2 positions until a puppy gets them before introducing more, so she was slower than my other puppies have been to go down without a signal close by, but I think it has paid off! I obviously still have a lot to learn about dog training!
I haven’t ever asked a puppy of this age to go down at a distance from me before but 2 things happened earlier in the day that told me that Betty was cleverer than I was letting her be!
firstly the stuff we were doing in the kitchen and garden were so easy for her, I see it as easy for a puppy when they do the exercise really fast, and she was jet propelled!
But secondly it was when I was play retrieving with her in the garden. We had got into the habit when I threw a toy of her coming and lying behind me when I was sat on the grass, today I thought that is weird how I have let her do that, but like every dog owner I want success for her and I had continued to accept this as good enough, mmmm I thought, she is a Collie and I know her training genes, and she is well-bred for training, I wonder? The next time she laid behind me with the toy, I didn’t look round, I stayed looking forward and said, daftly I know:) “Where’s Betty, oh Betty puppy, Betty Boop” and she came to the front of me! Well that was it now I knew she was being a Collie!!!! Collies will always try to control the game, herd the person and toy together, and that is what she was doing, albeit in a small way, she was turning me, just as Collies turn sheep! So no more turning from me, I threw the toy a couple more times, both times she went behind and both times I said “where’s Betty” and she came back round even faster, the third time I threw the toy she came straight to me in front! What is great is that not only have I made a big step in her retrieve I know more about Betty now too a lot more!
I must add when I say throwing the toy, I do only throw the toy a few feet from us, it is hot and she is young, I don’t want her exhausted:)
Anyway that is why I was thinking I have to push this little girl a bit more, not in a pressured way but simply ask and see what happens, I did just that. Which is why we came to be walking around the paddock, me with Betty’s dinner in my pocket and having done a few of the normal sits and downs and comes and high fives all as we walked around the paddock, I waited for her to wander away from me a little and said “Betty down” and she did, so having given her 5 bits of food in my excitement:) I continued to wait for her to go a bit further and try again! And, as I said before, she did it!!
No holding us back now, I am going to have to rack my brains for this little one to see what more we can do, while of course keeping these bits going!! 🙂
I must add too that since that first time Betty went down without the hand signal I sense her listening to me more, I could a bit before, but it is like now she has one word she wants to understand more! She is certainly responding appropriately when I say things like “where is it” when playing and similar. She may not know the words completely yet, but she is trying too and the best dog to train is the willing one:)!
I look forward to hearing about the words and signals your dogs understand and/or how they have surprised you:)?
Avril Munson's Blog 