Monday Round-Up

Our Peeps have been busy!

But first…

That is Sparkler Abbie with two of her humans — clearly Abbie is a good influence on her little human brother!

And just as clearly, these two are not spending quite enough time with dogs…

Note the stem on the pumpkin.

Our People were everywhere — I know Jordan (Sparkler) finished her Open Brace title AND her ABNDD at the California draft test but the internet there was spotty so that all I have for now. Congratulations to Team Jordan!

Lori and Ruthie (also a Sparkler) were at a handling clinic someplace on the opposite side of the country — I just love this photo of Ruthie…

Lucas, yet another Sparkler, finished his Rally Excellent title down in Arizona. Congratulations to them!

Back on the eastern side of the country iPup Tristan was making sure his human, Alison, had a weekend to remember.

On Saturday Tristan finished his CDX with a score of 198.5 (out of 200) and in doing so, became a BMDCA Working Dog Excellent AND earned the AKC’s Versatile Companion Dog 2 (VCD2)!

Those are Big Deals.

In 2018 only two Berners earned the Working Dog Excellent award — in 2019 both Tristan and Sparkle have done it (and another iPup is close behind).

Berner-Garde reports there are 22 VCD2 Berners, although since Sparkle is missing from the list we know there are at least 23 — add in Tristan and we have 24.

Ever.

And one of those VCD2 is Sparkle and Tristan’s mom (Zoey), who actually finished her lifetime as a VCD3 (there are seven Berners who have done that).

And so yes - we are thrilled with Tristan’s accomplishments and happy for Alison — and yesterday Tristan put additional icing and a generous amount of sprinkles on that triple-layer cake by getting an Open B bonus leg with another 198.5 and an all-breed High in Trial, which is also a super Big Deal.

Congratulations to Team Tristan for a great weekend (understatement alert).

Claire notes her family members are a bit of overachievers — and that we spent the weekend as Happy Slackers, as evidenced by the fur on the carpet.

Congratulations to everyone on your weekend — whatever it included.

In Which Training Involves a Moose

This is what it looks like to train a drop on recall.

Yes, she is a baby unicorn.

The drop on recall requires the dog to sit in heel position, wait while the handler walks to the other side of the ring, come promptly when called, drop into a down position on a single cue (while in motion) — and hold that position until called again. The dog completes the exercise by sitting squarely in front of the handler, and then — on cue — returns to heel position.

WHEW.

That is a lot, and especially when you add all the finer points — for example, wanting a fast recall and a quick drop and perfect fronts and finishes.

I train in small pieces that I call Least Trainable Units — that basically means Baby Steps.

In the photo above, Claire was playing fetch with that stuffed moose and I randomly gave the signal to drop when she was racing back to me.

Claire dropped quickly. I praised while she waited and — after snapping the photo — walked over to her, took the moose, handed over a cookie and threw the moose again — much to her great delight.

What would I do if Claire did not drop?

This is important.

I would have taken the moose with a happy “thank you” (my cue for the release) and had Claire do something she knows well — a finish or a sit — and I would have rewarded that by throwing the moose.

AND I would have said to myself, “Self — you need to do something different to better support her understanding.”

Something different could be adding both a signal and a verbal, stepping forward as I cue her, only asking for the down when she was stationary or moving more slowly, or, or, or — so many possibilities.

Dog training is a creative endeavor — or should be.

Not on my menu of possibilities is any kind of consequence or verbal error message because seriously, the dog is racing back to me holding a moose — what part of all that would she understand as the error?

How does it help anything to tell a dog who doesn’t fully understand and is doing at least three things at once that she is wrong?! Training should not be a guessing game for the dog with seemingly random error messages tossed in — that is just mean (and unproductive).

If Claire had not dropped as requested, the issue is not the dog — it is that I did not prepare her well enough to meet the expectation. The one who needs to correct is the human. Luckily, I can do that.

And that is why Claire has a lovely and fast drop on recall, with lots of attitude and no stress or worry. Because I assume good intentions of my dog, and know any corrections belong on me.

While not the most flattering look at her face because she was turning, I love this photo because you can see how Claire, at almost three, is filling out and growing up.

Claire: “You threw the ball through the fence AGAIN.”

I hope you have a Happy Sunday, one in which people assume your own good intentions!

P.S. The Monday Round-up will be a good one.

Free to Good Home

If you are a regular blog follower you know that I spent some months last winter and spring training with Suzanne and Sundance; that ended with a Tracking Dog title for Sundance.

In the summer I was asked to help a person with draft training — but she is 500 miles away. We used technology to facilitate our work together, and that team is having fantastic success.

I do not, of course, take credit — it is the teams that did the work and earned the titles.

But it is great fun to have a part, however small, in supporting the adventures of dog/person teams. Even more, it is an honor to be invited on the journey (as a sort of annoying back seat driver).

Training dogs is actually the much smaller part of working with teams — the expertise required to effectively support dog/human teams includes more about working with humans than I could list here (and keep your interest).

I literally teach that stuff to graduate students.

Educating humans how to work effectively with other humans is my professional thing — I have tenure at a university and a professional mental health license to prove it.

And training dogs — my passion for over two decades.

How grateful I am to Suzanne and Crystal for reminding me how enjoyable it is to companion teams as they set and achieve goals.

I want to do more of it.

And so I will.

Starting in January.

Dog training that is focused on the human side of the team — in kind, respectful, supportive, and informed ways.

Online.

Small groups.

Four months (think 2020 Specialty).

And because giving back and creating community matter to me…

Seriously. Free.

Additional details in late November — but you may request that the additional information be emailed to you when it is available (sontag.bowman@gmail.com).

Notes: Limited to Berner Peeps for now.

P.S. And speaking of building community — Secret Santa coming soon (not limited to Berner Peeps!).