Scott -

Looks good but if you are seeking some critiques, I would suggest the following. In each video it appears like you feed the dog the tug. Over time this will make him lazy. To keep his drive up (and play into his predatory instincts) I would make the tug more alive and make him work to grab it. As others have suggested the side-to-side movement (which I agree completely with), you can add movement into the tug. This has the added advantage of forcing him to explode into the bite, rather than develop the bad habit of "walking into the bite."

Anyway, good luck.

-Al

A little eye contact is fine. It's really the whole picture that matters.

Presenting more of a side profile, moving laterally, not presenting a frontal, forward picture and staring the dog down (unintentionally, I know).

All-in-all, for being self-taught this far, and a beginner, you're ahead of the game.
I suspect with training, you'll make a great helper.

Al, thank you for the critique. I've actually been working on that. I'm presenting it a few times and pulling it away just before he bites, then putting the tug where he has the opportunity to get a good bite but still has to work for it. I'm using a 4"x24" tug now, so that makes it considerably easier. With that tug I'm also holding it in the middle and shaking it against my the leg that's away from him, kind of like making a fishing lure "come alive". I'm also starting to pick him up with the tug once or maybe twice at a random time.

Alyssa, thank you very much. I'm really enjoying what we're doing do far and look forward to getting more in depth. I watch videos to see what good helpers do and what bad helpers do. Your object guarding video, for instance, was a big help just in watching how you moved.


Here's an open question. What about petting the top of the dog's head while it's biting the tug? I've read that this is calming but, I've also seen helpers fake a strike and end with a head pat which would seem like defense. I tried it with a tug session earlier today, minus the fake strike, and it made him go from relatively calm and pulling straight back to shaking his head and (seemingly) flat out trying to win.

The fake strike is usually done to desensitize the dog.
It's followed with the stroke to build a positive connection between the (feigned) strike and something pleasant.
That way the stick hits down the road won't disturb the dog- they aren't painful, per se, and the dog doesn't mind the motion, so ideally it becomes a non-issue.


Long story short, all other things being equal, there's nothing inherently bad about stroking a dog on the top of his head.

Hey there Scott,

I first heard a valuable piece of 2nd-hand advice from Claudia Romard (I think).

Then I started paying attention and noticed other very skilled trainers and decoys doing the same...even though I'm not sure I personally heard them mention it.

You yourself should be reactive to your dog's desired behavior.

For example, when playing tug with the dog, don't make success the mere winning of the tug (and running off). If you see something you like, make your whole body react in an exaggerated fashion. Fling yourself back with an exclamation of surprise. Dogs enjoy having affect.

Watch Ivan. When the dog drives deeper, he intentionally flings his head back.

http://www.usamalinois.com/files/qennytheone.wmv

Michael Ellis...he sees something he likes (again, driving deeper on the grip) he makes noise and physically reacts.

http://kaiserhaus.com/rainebitework1st.wmv

You look kind of boring and uninviting as soon as the dog wins. When you see something you like, I'd act like you got stuck with a red-hot poker, reel back, and immediately invite further interaction.

It's the fine line between a the adversarial competition for an item, and the enjoyment of the direct competition itself....with you.

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

The fake strike is usually done to desensitize the dog.
It's followed with the stroke to build a positive connection between the (feigned) strike and something pleasant.
That way the stick hits down the road won't disturb the dog- they aren't painful, per se, and the dog doesn't mind the motion, so ideally it becomes a non-issue.


Long story short, all other things being equal, there's nothing inherently bad about stroking a dog on the top of his head.

Groovy. Thank you, much. I thought that might be the purpose of the fake strike. I'll just pet him.

 Quote: Steven Lepic

Hey there Scott,

I first heard a valuable piece of 2nd-hand advice from Claudia Romard (I think).

Then I started paying attention and noticed other very skilled trainers and decoys doing the same...even though I'm not sure I personally heard them mention it.

You yourself should be reactive to your dog's desired behavior.

For example, when playing tug with the dog, don't make success the mere winning of the tug (and running off). If you see something you like, make your whole body react in an exaggerated fashion. Fling yourself back with an exclamation of surprise. Dogs enjoy having affect.

Watch Ivan. When the dog drives deeper, he intentionally flings his head back.

http://www.usamalinois.com/files/qennytheone.wmv

Michael Ellis...he sees something he likes (again, driving deeper on the grip) he makes noise and physically reacts.

http://kaiserhaus.com/rainebitework1st.wmv

You look kind of boring and uninviting as soon as the dog wins. When you see something you like, I'd act like you got stuck with a red-hot poker, reel back, and immediately invite further interaction.

It's the fine line between a the adversarial competition for an item, and the enjoyment of the direct competition itself....with you.

Hey, Steven,

Ah, more animated. I can do that. I've actually started experimenting with being vocally encouraging, but I'll go ahead and start working with that. Thank you very much for pointing this out. He's going to love this and I'll start with our morning session.

Outstanding. He loved the animation and vocal encouragement! I was acting startled when he'd give me a good bark and he started barking deeply. Then I'd tease him with the tug, tell him "oh yeah, good boy" when he got a good bite on it, and kind of throw myself backward from the sheer explosiveness of his puppy power when he gave me a good tug. I also made sure that I didn't square my hips, shoulders, or feet to him and only gave him enough eye contact to encourage him.

At this point I assume you're just trying to illicit the mechanics of barking and the appropriate timing of it, right?

I'm not sure you want to hear anything but frustrated "yip yip" prey barking for your current purposes. Of course, that's relative...one dog's yip maybe deep and rumbling compared to another dog. That wouldn't be the only behavior indicating a "prey" state of mind, however.

I'm not there, but...the bark going deeper could indicate he's getting a little uneasy with you. And that is certainly not what you're looking to do.

Despite rote instruction of how to illicit prey or defensiveness, respectively,...the bottom line remains; the perception remains with the dog and is expressed through his body language.

You could be doing side-to-side this-and-that and still be illiciting behavior indicative of "defense" due to other factors you're not aware of. Or maybe that's something the dog is going to bring with him no matter what.

It's more about reading the dog and properly improvising on-the-fly to meet your objectives. Instructions from afar can only be based on rough averages and educated guesses.

Just something to keep in the back of your mind.

In the Drive,Grip and Focus video there's a segment with just such a thing happening. A human thinking he's illiciting one thing...and a dog's body language telling another story entirely.

Thank you. I will most certainly keep this in mind. I bought that video from someone on eBay. It should hopefully be here tomorrow.

Yeah, I'm mostly trying to get him to bark during play. Before we started the alert bark training he'd never barked while we were playing. It's slowly progressed from a quiet whine to him actually barking at me/the tug. While he does yip and make all manner of odd noises, he's got a pretty deep bark for a puppy. But, his barks during play are still higher pitched than when he barks at the door...which I'll make the effort to footage of in the morning when my wife gets home from work.