Imagine…..

You are walking along a sidewalk and a $100 bill is laying on a crack. You grab it and keep walking. Another one appears, and then another. You keep your eyes glued to the sidewalk. By $1000, you’ve recognized the bills are always on the 5th crack. So now, you push forward to get to the 5th crack. And by $6000, you’re so comfortable in the pattern that you relax, and enjoy the walk, subconsciously counting cracks while your mind wanders. 

And then, there’s no $$ at the next 5th crack. What emotions are you going to feel? What actions are you going to take?

This is why, once our dogs have the idea of nose down, follow the scent I try to avoid repeating the same pattern of food more than twice. Walk 5 scuff 5 food at 2 goes well twice? Change something! Increase the walk, shorten the scuff, move the food to 3 (one or the other, not all).  Two successful training sessions? CHANGE SOMETHING. 

The problem with patterns—1. Dogs are very very good at recognizing them; & 2, once patterned, breaking the pattern can function as a punisher (decreases the incidence of behavior). 

And….lets talk fluency. What is a fluent behavior? One that happens on cue, only on cue, no matter what else is happening. So, article indication.  What is the cue? It’s the presence of the glove at the dog’s nose. When does your dog offer the down? When his nose touches the article? When you start moving up the line? When you kneel down? When you dig for food?  

The only one of those that is actually an article indication is that the dog automatically downs when his nose touches the article. Can you, at home in the living room, hold your article in one hand, food in the other, and have the dog touch the article and down to make you feed him? Does he understand the way to manipulate your behavior is to touch the article and lie down……without any noise or movement from you? And can he do that 30’ from you (still in the house)?

While we all await the start of class, please….work on your article indication. Video your sessions—what is actually cuing the dog to down? It may not be what you think…..

If you are already tracking (yay!) remember to keep changing your food delivery pattern after 2 successful outings. You can, occasionally, take a big step back so the track is easy and rewarding, and then resume where you were. Occasionally—not every other track!

We’d love to start seeing videos now that the weather has cooled. Hoping everyone is getting out and getting their dog tracking!

Sent from my iPhone