Last ngiht at the Boxer club I was watching the Master trainer work with another member and their male dog. They were working at the protection work and when the dog got the arm the owner was instructed to command down when the dog had the arm in the mouth then ask for a release. This was totally a new exercsie that they were doing.

Courious as to why they were now teaching this I asked the Master trainer what his thinking was and why he was teaching this. (In advertantly Hella and myself were, is and are the basis for this new approach he is working on with the more dominant dogs at our club).

Down is the worst command for any dog as this places them in a submissive position. By teaching a strong down and a willing down this will not only cements you in the position as leader but also buillds the respect to you as true leader.

Recall should always be a priase command and the best thing is to come back to you.

So the master trainer is now teaching down as a calming command and recalling directly after as a safety or praise reward command. 

So  in a situation such as  vaughn69 is going through, with one dog growling and snapping at the others in a posission guarding responce over the person, I would have each dog set up with a bed or crate in the common area, and upon the dominant growling not remove that dog outside away from the others but make each dog learn the strong down stay command on their bed/place.

Do not just place her down on her bed, but when she growls and or snaps take her to her place command down, then the next dog down on their place and so on down the line, remove all attention to each dog and make each dog stay on their place for at least 5 to 10 minuets (to be increased as the down command becomes proofed). After this time period go to her, praise her for the down stay by petting and release her first. Then go to your next dog, praise for down and stay by petting and release, then the next dog or the least dominant dog last praise and release. If they come to you after for attention and the incident occures once more, repete the above.

You can also try a twist to this by when the more dominant dog growls to start with the more submissive dog first in their place to stay and work the way down the line to the more dominant. This could also work to help the more dominant dog to feel secure that you see them above the others. But always release the more dominant dog first as this is their right.  

Today in Germany as it may be in the states is Holey communion day the first sunday after Easter Sunday, when the kids make first communion at church. I am not by any means a religious person (I never had my communion even though I can say I was raised Catholic I do not practice any relgion). Anyway this is not the basis for my Blog today.

Being a "sort of" German Holiday we had no practice hour ( Ubens stunde) At the boxer club. Normally Sundays for me are up at 5 A.m out the door by 6 A.M, tracking by 7 A.M (with the group both humans and dogs)  to the dog club by 9 A.M, obedience practice then of course bite work practice we are usually finished around 3 P.M or 4 P.M in the afternoon on sunday. So today being a day off was more then welcome.   

 After a super busy month of March with a boxer show and then a endurence test (ZTP) then of course Easter, we have been in the last week working our butts off in preperation for the up comming April 12 and 13 training competition which is only a short distance away.

 We had tried a few new things with hella to better her barking and hold, we hung her favorite ball in the blind this worked great to bring her in closer to the helper and to get her not to focus so much on bitting the arm but on just barking. This worked so well in fact that when the master trainer would go to let the ball down to remove it, she would turn her focus  from the helper and bitting to her ball (so now the ball is not used).

We have also been working at what the actually test is going to be like. The greeting (anmeldung) to the judge "Dog handler Suzi jones, presents Hella vom hirsch morgen to VPG 1", then, tracking along with how the dog identifys the articlas  ( by laying down in our case), part 2 obedience, part 3 protection work. Of course at the end of each part a anschlusse or "closing" must also be said to the judge at the end of each part, now mind you this is me saying all this in German.   The hardest part has been learning the end saying after the protection work, For weeks all I could remember to say was "taters and waffles". This was O.k (NOT) BUT close to what it sounded like however not what was supposed to be said in German. "Ta te ge stelled (the helper secured) und ent waff net" and here is the hitting stick (which is handed to the judge) before leaving the field.  You can see how taters and waffles comes to mind?

Last night at practice hour Hella had a few suprises in store for us, nothing bad just that she is starting to get all the patterns down. When I had commented this to the Master trainer he agreed but then added I did not think Hella would be ready for the test! "What? you have been fibbing to me all this time?" "You said, YOU thought  she would be ready and now the truth comes out? "Ah Ja well". Nothing like a little white lie to motivate your dog handler? Thank goodness Hella is always full of suprises for me. If she holds true to form as she has in the past, she should be almost perfect the day of the test in giving her performence.

Uly has been making progress also. Both on the training field and today out for our walk. On our walk today I was able to have dogs and people pass by with only 1 incident of him reacting to nothing. He quickly got a prong colllar correction and the reaction was ended.  I started to think have I been dong a dis-service to them by going to dog club to practice on sundays? In the begining I had said I would attend tracking sunday morning but head home afterward to have a clear the head day for us.  However the Master trainer and another member quickly pointed out that Sundays is as close to a test day for practice as you could get as we practice all three phases tracking obedience and bite work. So I have been for months attending Sundays. But as I think about it Sunday's is the day when we encounter many people and other dogs on walks. This is the day I could use a setting Uly up to finially teach him not to react when something approaches? Well we will have to see as the summer comes if I go back to having Sundays to us and not practice.

I will report on Uly and the training field progress later this week.

After a very busy weekend which started last Thrusday, cleaning the club house and judges room and Friday as well as Saturday with helping to set up tents tables and get everything in place for the Boxer show our club hosted, Sunday finially came and I had a little time along with my Customer/ friend to relax and look around at all the different boxers (108) that were partisipating in the show.  I thought what a perfect time to get Uly out and work with him during all the goings on.  This was sugguested by a lovely member of our dog club that said "Go get your boy so everyone can see what a REAL boxer looks like" ( as Uly is a perfect boxer speciman except for his missing (ah hum) EGG, ball/ testical.

My friend had her boxer pup on leash waiting for me to bring Uly into the practice field where 2 show rings were set up. We just wanted to walk around to let the dogs be exercised a little (Of course Uly had his prong collar on for a little extra control and I will get to that later).

I enter the field to stand next to my friend and another member stopped me to chat. As we were chatting this little Blue ( as was the color of her overly large jacket) person appears before me, out of no where she appeared! I think she must have been hiding underneth in the ground where I was standing with my friend as she popped out from nowhere like weeds appearing for the first signs of spring (at least it seemed).

At first I did not understand what she was saying to me, was it because no other dogs except for the ones in the show could be on the field? No this was not it as there were quite a few different breeds walking around the practice field also, a border collie, Bosten terrier, Shih Tzu ect...

then other dog club member dumbed it down into German that I could understand  when I did not answer the little blue person back, by whispering at me, "How old is your dog?"  the part about I am the "on site vet control" I understood. Then this little blue person starts to just let the questions fly at rappid fire at me, to which I could only replay "Bitte auf Englisch, "Please speak in english"? Wow did this throw the little blue aggressive person off, She just stopped cold   with the rappid fire aggressive questions and looked at me like I had 3 heads!  Once more I aksed when she did not speak Please in english!!! Then she pops off aggressivly again with (in German of course to which I did understand) "What vet docked your boxers tail?"

You cannot partake in the show with a boxer with cut tail unless it the dog comes with a letter of medical reasons why the tail had to be docked to which you must carry with you at all shows and competitions this letter. If a vet does dock a tail for no reason they can get into also a lot of trouble and have their practice licence taken away from them.   

I just looked at her like the little blue idiot she was for Yelling at me and said quite aggressivly back "Ah hello stupid I am an american member here ,and my boxer is american bred boxer!!! They cut all boxers tails in america and I AM NOT PART TAKING IN THE SHOW!!!

She turned bright red and promptly disapeared back into the hole of which she climbed out of. I did not see her any more that day she must of have left the grounds pretty quickly.  Of course to find out later that I was not the only one to take a little flack from her as the breed warden of our club also got into a small bit of trouble. You are supposed to have someone on the gate with a microchip reader to double check all registration papaers and chip numbers match for the dogs part taking at shows and competitions at your club ( Ooops their bad) Couple that with the breed warden tried to make an excuse for this little blue person by saying she was new this was her first show to "control" and she got over zelous to catch someone doing something wrong and illegal. 

No matter I told everyone at the club  that night as we all were celabrating drinking beer and wein (I am quickly finding out at we I think are the trouble makeing club, loud and boistrous  and opinoinated out of them all).

Now to the prong collar, I am the "BAD AMERICAN", perhaps the leader of Iran is correct and no one likes us anymore? (until of course they need our husbands and brothers and sisters in the armed forces to defend them in time of crisis).

I had 1 old guy (Oh He has been at our club a few times to practice and I can not wait to see him again) start to attack me because Uly had a prong collar on him Sunday of course this was after he commented what a FINE  looking boxer he was to be followed by, "Oh you are so crewl, that collar gives the dog PAIN!" "Go take it off of him right now!"  I said "No it does not give the dog pain it is just a little extra control,   if he had pain or mental anxeity from the prong collar, every time I corrected him by poping the leash he would have cowered down ears back whiened cryed ect"... "Oh you americans have no knowledge" he finishes off with as he could see I gave 2 rats asses about his opinion!

  Yes I am the bad american with the E collar and prong collar!!! As another by stander old man (the father of one of our club members actually I had no idea at the time) Started to also comment about take the rpong collar off of him you do not need it! Of course he also followed that up with "Deine hund felt mir an"  Which would loosley translate into "the looks of your dog I really like!"

Of course I know for the obedience tests I cannot compete with prong on but lucky for me the master trainer thinks the same as I do train every day with the prong collar on and only take it off for the tests as the dog must think the collar is always on him. As for the other trouble... At least I had a for warning that in April we are possibly to expect that a vet will show up to be making sure about chip numbers matching registration papaers and I should carry with me that day a copy of Ulys' American AKC PAPERS to defend his docked tail.

All in all I did find out that when my next pup comes there is a way to register him as being out of country to beable to partake in normal dog shows with him haivng a cropped tail. Now this makes me want my next pup even more and I cannnot wait!  

I can tell spring is almost here and not because the plants are coming alive after sleeping through out the winter but because the dog clubs are starting to come alive with shows competitions and more people showing up to work their dogs. I almost wish this month were over as we are about to get very busy.

We at the boxer club have our first breed show this weekend, now mind you we are a small club but this weekend we have over 100 boxers showing up to take part.  Next weeknd we have a long distance endurence competition where the handlers ride a bike 20 Kilometers and the dogs must jog along with the handlers next to the bikes. Of course along the way are check poitns to check the heart rate and condition of each dogs as well, after the 20 KM bike ride the dogs must take part in a obedience competion plus show their stuff at bite work. Then comes early Easter.

Of course members not competing are required to help out with the mundane stuff like preping club grounds cleaning the club house (which is where I am off to today). Holidays are of course non practice days and even though it is only March I am getting nervous of approaching April!

April 12 and 13 ( 6 weeks away) you see  is when Hella is schedualed for her VPG1  I have opted not to part take with Uly so as I have more time to prep and practice with Hella. Can we make it and have her cleaned up enough in 1 month to pass? Of this I have big doubts.

We have been working very hard at her tracking, tracking is where she will have most of her points. So I am not worried. She loves to get out and go tracking! 

Her bring of the barbell is O.k I will loose 2 points because, 1. she does not sit nice and close to me and 2. because when she picks up the barbell she does a  1/2 circle before coming back to me.    

Her revier (blind search) is very nice but stellen and gebelen (bark and hold) leaves  something to be desired and she will also have points off I am sure. However in 6 weeks and after what I noticed last night might save us and get her cleaned up enough to compensate for the barbell work.

The master trainers son is usually the one that does the helper work for Hella, we have been now teaching her to run into the blind and just to bark which she does. However she does not go far in to bark at the bad guy (So points lost as she is too far away when barking). Anyway she barks and holds until the master trainers son say "COME ON" , he says this to try to get her to come in closer and bark directly infront of him. But when he says "COME ON" this is when she leeps forward and bites the arm.    

So now I am thinking (as smoke bellows from my ears), I saw another trainer use a scoccer ball  placed above the head of the bad guy to build her dogs bark, as before using the ball her dog would only woof at the bad guy. Could I twist this thinking and method using Hella's favorite ball suspended from a long line above the helpers head to bring her in closer to bark at the bad guy?  Will the master trainer allow me to try this? I will find out I suppose after this weekends craziness is finished. 

We have also been working on calming Hella down beofre her bite work or (Schutzdienst arbeit) as too much excitment and a barking wheining dog can cost you points.  I hate to phrase it this way but I have come to learn that not all dogs should be worked at a faster pace. I had tried that apporach with Hella, but have come to discover that dogs that have a tendency to be nervous to begin with and get worked and spun up very quickly should be worked at a slower pace.  The master trainer and a few of the other members also will quicken their pace to get better attention from their dogs and after weeks of trying this I noticed Hella was very much the opposit I have now taken to walking very slowly with change of directions (at a snails crawl) when entering the field as this seems to calm and quiet her much better. It was a little hard to explain to the mster trainer why it was taking me 5 minuets to enter the working field when it was my turn to work, but thankfully he sees  progress in quieting her mind down with this apporach.  

As I seem to mostly report on Hella's progress with training Uly is also making great strides. His tracking is coming along however he still back slides when I try to change the routine just yet (such as changing the amount of steps I place the bait gets him a little confused)  and for obedience work Boxers tend to be "laggers"  walking just a little behind in antisipation of the next change of direction or change of pace.

What I have started doing for this problem is not expecting him to walk 50 paces looking at me before a reward is given. I took a step backwards holding the toy with my right hand up against my left shoulder to where he could see it and he would look up at me, after taking 3 or 4 steps he looking up at me I then toss his toy out infront a few steps ahead then quickly back up telling him here. This builds the excitment of when is she going to throw the toy out so is constintly now is looking up in antisipation of the toy being thrown, bringing him more forward and locking his focus directly up to my left shoulder.  2 weeks of practicing this and I can now hide the toy and still keep hi gaze on me.

We have started to work on blind searches every practice day and this is a little hard. Little brat knows I have bite toys on me and instead of wanting to run into the blind to get the toy I have placed in there he would prefer to jump up and grab my toy pocket with the velcro thinking I am dumb enough to have a toy in such easy reach for him. He is starting slowly to understand how ever that you run into the blind to get the toy there and when you hear the Here command to come running back for a game of tug. 

My customers (6 months old on Saturday) boxer pup Bella is also comming along super nicely. She no longer must watch her track being laid and can now wait in the car, her tracking is slow and intense and you can just see her mind working to get every scent of her woners foot prints ( I hate to say it but she is much better then Uly at tracking, at a much younger age).  

For her Obdeince we no longer have to use treat rewards for her to heal and focus and have now switched her over to the same method as I use with Uly (However to teach the coordination and timing to the owner is  more difficult. But we have time (1 year to be exact) before Bella and owner are ready to take their first test.

 Bella's bite work is also really coming along and she has now graduated up from the puppy tug rag( fishing pole) to the puppy bite pillow and we added last night that I now hold the leash while the owner stands next to Bella and pets and speaks to her while bitting, we do this so outside distractions do not break the dog's consentration from the work at hand, and they look  back to the owner when being petted or spoken to.

Well  that is all to report on this trip I have very busy next few weeks with helping at shows, traveling up north to visit friends (If I go to club 1, I promise it will be only to work obedience walking and nothing else! This time I have learned my lesson)   Easter is the next weekend after so we will have a quiet non practice weekend then. But after this month it will be time to bust our butts once more in preperation  for Hella's next test.

Well it has been months since my last blog (Or at least it feels like it) and after a full day yesterday of cleaning my car (I started at 10.00A.M with oil change finished detailing the inside at 3 P.M.) I can take a small break.

The last month has been very busy with Year end membership meetings at 2 clubs  (Of course the mixed club meeting was heated and the Boxer club membership meeting was lots of fun) .and 2 weeks of trying to keep a 4 year old busy and occuipied in a house with no toys only ferrets to play with (all i can say is poor Inky took the brunt of it and kurbis tried  let sam (the 4 year old) know he was boss over him. Kurbis had poor sam terrified at eating times and would climb onto the table to steal food from his plate, and basically any time kurbis woke from sleeping kurbis would "hunt" sam and try to take dominence over him by bitting soft kiddy fingers. Sam learned very quickly DO NOT PICK UP THE LIGHTER COLORED FERRET!

On the dog training front.

I screwed up and it was almost bad. I did not heed my own warnings nor the warnings and sugguestions of Carla and Adam about only using the mixed club for getting the dogs use to working at another club (the mixed breed dog club). During the weekend of the yearly meeting I decided to give training with  them 1 more try. BAD IDEA! and unfortunately for hella set me back a tiny bit with her training.

I was working at Hella and her bring and she still does not hold her head high  to look at me when she is sitting infront of me with the barbell but she was sitting infront of me at least NOT mouthing and turning the barbell. The master trainer  1 says "SHE MUST LOOK UP AT YOU"! I tried to explain to him that Master trainer  2 says "most important is she is consistant in holding the barbell quiet, she will learn later to be comfortable in holding the barbell while looking up in your eyes". 

Master trainer 1 sees Hella isnot holding the barbell and looking up at me, so he comes over and takes Hella's leash from me and "Shows me how to do this".  You must praise your dog! I tried to tell him the verbal praise makes her mouth the wood more that treats for her after holding the wood quiet worked better. Look I show you, she brings the barbell to him he grabs her by the collar yanks her close to him , he is telling her good girl, she is chewing like a mad dog on the barbell and he starts smacking her on top of th head!  I was horrified! We then try to work at revier (blind search) this was the clincher that helped me once and for all make up my mind that they do not have the best interrest for my dog at heart. I send hella revier she of course is confused, I place her in a sit and stand inbetween her and the blind, I send hela once more, this functions and she goes into the blind and comes back to me for the reward of bitting the toy. master trainer 1 starts to yell at me "This is not how we train this here"  I said to him" but if it works then why not?" "Because I am the head trainer here and I said so". I made up my mind right then and there that no more would I ask them for guidence and or instruction. If I go to that club I will just work at heeling, and focuse exercise. When the time came to work at the protection exercise he of course told me to get my dogs, I greatfully declined and said no thanks, I was going to take the rest of the evening off. Actually also a clincher  was  when I mentioned Uly was having trouble with the long flight to go and bite the hellper, Master trainer 1's answer was "you have a boxer what do you expect". With an answer like this there is NO WAY IN HELL I am going to let them put an arm on and heat my dog.  

   Back at the boxer club that Wednesday, I get ready to work Hella at her bringing exercises,I throw the barbell give the command, and Hella refused to run out to pick it up. Instead she sat by my side looking up at me. I throw the wood again this time point in the directions, Nope no movment from her, I even gave her a little push forward trying to sound as excited as I could, Nope. I was almost in tears, Master trainer 2 comes to me says what is wrong? Does hella feel O.k? Why was I looking so upset? I then exploded(not at him of course) telling him what had happened at the mixed club. He then exploded, Saying "Their methods might be quicker in training and getting the desired results with the dog but at what cost to the mentality or to the dog wanting to truely be happy to want to work for the owner"! I have never seen him so heated. It took Hella 1 full week to get comfortable and back to almost where she was with her bring, She still is not exactly where she was for that matter on the flat ground, anyway. Over the hurdles, the wall and A -frame she did not back slide thankfully, she brings and will sit quietly infront of me holding the barbell.  

 So I thought and thought, I need a way to get her confortable, sitting close and looking up? I keep a tab leash attached to her prong, and as she approaches me I take hold of the tab quickly loop it under the barbell and help her to hold the barbell and her head up. As she sits infront of me, if she chews the barbell I give gental tugs on the prong telling her no. As she gets quiet I then pet her head softly on the snout and under the chin slowly releasing the tab leash so she holds her head up by herself. Out her as I take the barbell, then give her a treat to reinforce that she did a good job.  

On the training front of my customers boxer puppy Bella, Yes it appears that we are an experiment for the boxer club.   She is comming along nicely with heeling and focus and last week another potential member showed up with a white puupy about 16 weeks old. The Master trainer had the owners enter the field with the pup and start working her lightly at heeling and getting her pray drive up through the use of play.

Bella has now graduated at 5 months old from only heeling and focus to now adding a down for a second with Karen the owner taking 1 step infront while bella is in the down (However I stepped a little to far forward and as I thought about it we should have worked at sit and stay with the step infront added first (We will add this on Saturday) .  The fishing pole and brulap rag has been put away and Bella has graduated to a puppy bite pillow (This was after I had asked when do we know if she is ready to bite on a pillow  He said "Let's try it tonight". Bella did great has a solid and quiet bite and will carry the pillow all the way to the front gate.

I also asked when do we know if she is ready not to have to watch the owner laying a track for her? Again the Master trainer said we will try next week. However my feeling is as we are moving to a new place for tracking it might be best to have her watch at least for the first time at the new place and try leaving Bella in the car on the second tracking day.

I have also some videos that were taken of all of us  working,but I am a little nervous in trying to get them on to my computer as I have no clue how to do this.    

Master trainer 2 asks me last night in reguards to Hella what are we working on? I say everything and  he stated to me weeks ago after the BH he does not have to be directly with me/ watching while I train.

(My honest feelings are I would rather have him watching/coaching me, but he is usually at the same time while I am on the field with one or the other dog,He is working coaching with the members that have no training experience and green dogs at the same time, (O.K what ever) Anyway...

I "warm" Hella up by doing heeling exercise (Warm up should always be done  with your dog same as human athlete)  practicing her sit and down in motion first. From there we move onto her blind searches.  In my last Blog I made mention that master trainer 1 said add the sit directly infront when she comes to you out of the blind. O.k I can do this, and my thinking was, as I got no expliation of why to do this, is to teach her a little more control and focus on me and her not to just rush off to the next blind. This sounded reasonable in my mnd.

So last night I sent hella 2 times revier and she was super, Fast,and clean and all this with no bite toy in the blind but the reward of bitting the toy that I had hidden in my pocket. I then decided to follow master trainer 1 sugguestion of adding the sit directly infront of me before rewarding her.

This did not go so well. And I guess that Master trainer 2 was watching me by this time out of the corner of his eye...

She came, She sat, I rewarded her. had her sit again, then out command, then commanded Foose. The second time I sent her revier she ran forward, but then dropped her head and started searching around the ground about 10 to 15 feet infront of me. I got her attention while she was searching for what ever, I pointed in the direction of the blind, command revier once more then she went into the blind circled it and came back out to me.

I tried this  2 more times with each time the same result.  

I then decided to move to the blinds on the right side of the field as I can see us always practicing only on the left side blinds might create a problem for the both of us not being so clean on the opposit side (this proved to be true), plus I was getting frustraited by the results of her comming to sit infront So best to stop if something is not going right before the handler gets too frustraited. And this is when master trainer 2 came to watch. I explained to him what I just wrote and he agreed with me inreguards to practicing revier on both sides of the field.

When I was finished with blind searches exercises and walking to the end of the field to practice the barbell exercises he walked with me and he asked me "why did I have Hella come and sit in front when she came out of the blind?" "Ah because that is what Master trainer 1 said to do" and I said to him what I thought was the reasonable answer as to why teach sit in front". "FALSE"  was his answer. You want the momentum from the dog the same going in and exiting the blind.  He said that the command "here" coupled with reward of  tug, teaches them when you recall here to come close to you as you walk down the field to the next set of blinds (as there is 6 total the dog must search when you test for the VPG 3).

Oh wow I felt so stupid trying to give the reason to master trainer 2! And I hate that about master trainer 1 they never give me a reason WHY to do something! It is always DO THIS and that is the end of it!!!  With Master trainer 2 if you can give him a reasonable answer as to why teach something ( as was the case with Uly's bitting on the sleeve with only 1/2 a bite and not a full mouth bite the problem was that Uly was comming in so fast to bite  he was actually bouncing himself backwards then bitting down thus creating 1/2 bite was reasonable and logical.  If Master trainer 2  can see the reasoning behind your answer then he figures a way to fix it or work with the problem to achieve the desired end results which we did with Uly's problem.

So driving home I started to think of why hella dropped her head and started to search the ground instead of going revier into the blind... She was confused by the sit command and thought I had thrown the bite toy or a barbell, as she really acted as if we were doing bring exercises!

So I have to think is club 1 purposly telling me to work at things to set me up to fail? Or is it the fear of lack of communication or that they think they do not or can not explain why simple enough and that I will not  understand?

(Mind you... all you newbies...... I am living in Germany, not 100% fluent in the language (but fluent enough to get my point across and to understand)  and I am learning all this with no english translators!!!!!)

 I do not know for sure, but that is sometimes the feelings I am getting are...

 Master trainer 1 is jelious as they see Hella and Uly making faster progress in their training at club 2 then we made at club 1? 

Club 1 does not want me to suceed to far or do too well so  they are telling me things to fail on purpose?

I was thinking of E mailing with master trainer 1 and asking him why have Hella sit infront when comming out of the blind, then taking his response to master trainer 2 printed out for him to read with the answer?

Or should I just wait until I go back up Jan 26th for the year end meeting to ask why?

So on to Uly.....We are working with Uly on the send out and also bring of the barbell.  The bring of the barbell is not as bad as some of the other boxers as young as he is at club 2. There are 3 other boxers about the same age that are way behind his level.

I am however finding a little bit of trouble coordinating my movments with everything together... Dog sitting at your heel side Throw the barbell, command bring, run with the dog on leash forward towards the barbell as he picks it up (if they have a tendency to run to the barbell and drop their heads and mouth it to play.  If they do this then run with them as they pick up the barbell passed the barbell the dog learns to go stright grab the barbell and follow you forward and not stop and linger to play with it, then take the dog by the snout place them in a sit while holding the muzzle closed to teach them not to spit it out but to hold it. This is much easier with a lab or GSD or long nosed breed!!!!!Something long to hold onto and they do not view it as such a bad thing. But for the snub nosed breeds this can be quite uncomfortable and they tend struggle a bit having your hand cupped on their noses....

What we are now doing instead of cupping hands on the nose to keep the dog from spitting out the barbell is run forward  dog picks up the barbell quick  I jog past the barbell keep the dog moving in a circle with no command place the dog in a sit, step quick and only for a second infront of the dog then get the dog moving around once more commanding bring to the dog, grab hold of the barbell tug, tug, tug, to ensure the dog keeps a good grip, release the barbell from my hands (but still in the dogs mouth) then command bring and while the dog is in a standing position command out. the start from begining with sit at heel position ..... and practice 2 more times. This functions quite well! Now if hella was only so easy!

OH by the way.. I really have to think with both clubs having me as a member that of course there is some feeling of competiton between them... Club 1 has gone to the bayern regionals trials 3 times and 2 members this passed summer did so well that they were invited to the  Deutche meistershaft or Germany finials (they did not place but still quite an acomplishment to be invited)...  

Now I cannot be 100% sure of what I understood but I was listening to club 2 speaking over the weekend together and I could have sworn that master trainer 2 is now in training to try to take his Boxer Etzel to the Deutche Meistershaft next summer.

So while on vacation, Hella exacuted her blind search very well and worked very well in general which was a complete suprise. Yesterday (Saturday) I was so excited to show the master trainer How well she did!

"Oh good, lets see" he says........ Wow we FLOPPED!

So I am thinking to myself why at one club she performs much better then at the other club? We work 3 times a week at the boxer club Wednesday evening 5P.M until usually 9 P.M, Saturday afternoon from 2 P.M until 8P.M and sundays from 8 a.m. until usually 3 or 4 P.M.Now mind you this is not mydogs alone working for that long by the time all the dogs (12 boxers) go through their Obedience routines then we start the next set of bite work. Anyway....

So I had to take a few small steps backward on saturday but only for 2 times at each exercise.I had to go backwards and use a bite toy for hella to find  in the Blind and bring to me. But by this morning I first practiced 1 time with the toy in the blind then the second try I decided only to walk around the blind, but not drop a toy for her to bring. O.K I sent her to revier and she went into the blind then was running around like a chicken with her head cut off looking for the stupid toy, I called her here to me while hitting the toy against my boot for her hear and noticed, Ooops.... there went that light bulb in her head again MOM HAS THE TOY!  "Oh now I get it" is the look she had.  Druing the week next I have to work on recalling her after sending her around the blind and having her come and sit infront before rewarding her.

So the end point is working in a different location will sometimes bring about different results. So I cannot stress enough to change locations to practice your routines (this even goes for just taking an on leash walk) Try to change the locations where you walk as often as you can.

Next is the subject of training fast. At club 1 the mixed club most do not train very fast but then most members have Malinioas they do not need to get pumped up to work!

At the boxer club I noticed the master trainer and 1 other member while waiting their turn to take their dogs onto the field to do their bite work, jog along  doing change of directions. Then I started to think about Adams blog and decided to give it a try. Mostly because hella gets herslef so spun up while waiting for her turn. I had tried being calm, calmly giving corrections with the prong collar, making sure not to pet or praise or speak to her as she still would not quiet down.

Well today I kept her moving at a quick pace changing directions back and forth, and this worked and helped to relax her and quiet her (as in stop her barking) but still keep that excitment and drive I want at a good level.

So Yes if you notice your dog fixating or being so distracted sometime to move quickly and with out notice will help in the end product to get their attention on you and not the distractions.

While I am away visiting friends this Christmas I always take the oppertunity to go and train with the mixed breed club that I belong to.

This Saturday was very quiet there as expected. Many people on vacation or getting ready to travel to family. But the most important person was out at the club and he is the master trainer. I  worked Hella very lightly in Obedience and I did no bring work with her as I did not have "my" new ovel shaped barbell with.  Instead I decided to work her more on blind searches. This was a tad bit difficult as they have short chain link fences on one side of the blinds (I am guessing that it forces the dog to enter then exit and not just charge to the next place(blind) to look for the bad guy, at first she would not circle the blind to exit out the side with the chain link fence. Not a problem instead of putting the toy directly into the blind I circled a little further around and dropped the toy more outside the blind  to forcce her to enter the chain link and circle around back to me. Now to start to teach this the dog learns the toy is hindden behind  you send the dog "revier" and it birings the toy to you for tug.

The problem that arrises is the dog gets use to looking for the toy to bring. The next step is to place the toy in the blind send the dog revier then to teach the dog that you have another toy waiting for the reward.  This is the step we have been working on with Hella.

At the mixed club I had put all toys away as we were prepairing to do the protection work and why have my pockets stuffed with toys when bitting the bad guy is the reward.

The master trainer says to me I have to watch yoour dog search the blind to see if you have made progress. "I have no toys"  I tell him, "I do not think she is up to the step to search with out toys" "Try " says the master trainer. So I send Hella "Revier"! Wow she did it but came to me looking for the reward, "Do 1 more time" he tells me, I send her again and the same happends!

I was in Shock! She did it! He then tells me "to send her revier" with him  hiding in the last blind but she knew he was on the field and she could go and bite..... and we flopped. She was so excited to go and bite him! "Make sure you have a long line on her next time so you can correct for not going around the blind first", he says to me.

Next exercise was the stellen and gebellen (bark and hold for bite work)  This I did not thnk she was ready to be sent to the helper with out a long line on to stop her from just running to him and bitting the arm stright away and she was not, until when she did he popped her hard on the nose to get her to back off and just bark. Wow did she scream, as yes it is painfull to be cracked on the nose with a whip.

The first thing she did while screaming in pain was look to me but I had no time to react (and this goes along with the do not coddle your dog when it runs to you crying from getting corrected by another dog as a pup),  because I did not react she quickly  stopped screaming went back to the task at hand barking at the bad guy.    The one problem which I see had quickly come about is now she will not go into the blind stright, she stays more off to one side now so if she is to get another crack on the nose she can get out of the way faster. This is something we have been working at with the boxer club, teaching her to enter the blind stright. So I do not know  how this will effect her once back home and training at the boxer club.

 Also Boxer club updated their members link....Not a bad picture of me...

http://www.boxer-klub-bergstrasse.de/

Click on the Hunde button and I am the next to last picture.

Tonight was a very short practice evening at the dog club. It is very cold out and we could only practice at obedience no protection work as injury to the leg joints from hitting the hard ground could be a problem.

So I bring Hella on to the field and the master trainer says "Do you want to work at the barbell and bring?" 

"Yes" I reply. As he sees me bring 2 of my own barbells over to the table and lay them down. The Gummi barbell for hella and a normal all wood barbell for Uly (as Uly is not doing very well with holding the gummi in his mouth because of it's width).  

Hella only only was having a problem with holding the barbell quietly but also when she would get to the object she was not grabbing it and heading directly back to me...She would grab the barbell and then loop off in a half circle beofre comming back to me....But that is a small problem to fix.

He then says to me "I have bought Hella a new barbell" Oh joy a Christmas present for Hella How sweet!  

1 more barbell to add to my growing collection of 3 plain wood ones( different sizes of course), One with the center bar covered in a plastic ribbed hose like matieral, one with the center covered in a bright orange gummi matieral.

His son brings the barbell out, This is not an ordinairy barbell, Of course it is all wood, but the center bar is ovel not round!

Now from what I was told( not just by Adam but from quite a few different trainers) and the sugguestion that the "bring" stresses hella appears not to be true! and we had all mis-read it as such!

The master trainer had asked a few weeks ago if this was a problem Hella has had all along? and of course my reply was "yes I cannot figure out what is stressing her with this exercise"!

He says to me tonight what he sees is not stress but is "over excitment", and the root cause is the all in how teaching to keep a grip on her bite/tug toys. Ooops you loosen your grip I yank the toy away and tease you with it, then letting you get one more bite inn hopes that this time you will not let go.  Well Hella knows she is faster then me so she was turning the game around to her benifit Lets see if Mom can yank the toys away quick enough? He He you guessed it Hella is much faster then I am.

Oh my gosh! How funny was this tonight! I threw the barbell She ran and grabbed it like normal with out realizing something was different stright away she runs directly back to me (there was no half circle then back) by the time she got to the position to sit right infront of me,  she THEN realized that something was different and drops her head and spits it out.

O.k take a step back and when she brings the barbell to me grab her by the snout with both hands so she cannot drop her head and spit the barbell out..... This worked!

This new barbell threw her off so much it stopped her half circle and she was about 80% quieter holding the wood! Of course though to keep her excitment level down I am still giving treats and not play time at the end of the exercise.  

When all was finished I take the barbell and start to head off the field and the master trainer says "No No that stays here!" 

What you said that was for hella ( I had intended to pay him for it no problem) Ah no it stays at the dog club But it is hella's? ah yes but he wants to keep the progress monitored!