And concerning Uly I have had to really re think and rearrange some methods and techniques.

 I was at Mac Dill AF base in Tampa to get Health cert. done so I could fly over here. I go inside with both dogs to check in and wait for my appointment. In the beginning it was no trouble while the waiting room was empty but as the afternoon appointments started showing up, Uly started to get caught up in the excited energy of these dogs entering.

One dog walks in pulling on the leash Uly stands up, Platz I tell him, Nope! squared body posture legs locked. I then try to put him in a platz and step on the leash to keep him down. Nope!  Head down butt in the air there was no helping him down. Well I am going to win this no matter what! Nope! I was every minuet standing up and pulling his legs out from under him in order too get him down and keep him down.  Step on the leash once more (Of course he had a prong on) Nope not going to happen! Butt in the air head down on the floor as my foot is stepping on the leash next to the snap hook.

I decided then and there that I am not going to tire and frustrate myself by fighting in this manner with my dogs ever again. Of course Uly has insecurities! After all he was bullied by our neighbor's loose large lab in Virginia for 11 months& strike 1.

This dog would bark growl and charge the wood line crossing into our yard every time it was loose and we were outside playing or working at least 3 times a day.

He was attacked by 2 loose Dachshund's in Florida&.. strike 2

He was attacked by 2 loose mini poodles while we were out taking a walk in Florida&& strike 3

He was attacked by a jack Russell terrier here in Germany&. strike 4

So what has he learned He needs to stay guarded and at the ready and to be in a submissive down position is Vulnerable!   

And by forcing him down is not going to make him comfortable or make it a positive experience going down. I tried once here in Germany also to use the power of the E collar to get him down. He was blowing off level 100 as a dog was passing by and he was not going down. It was after this I decided I want to keep him willing to go down and keep down a positive command and I was no longer going to force it and make it a negative command.  Sit is different as it is not a vulnerable position and this he willingly does as strange dogs pass by. 

So trust me I tried everything!

And 25 + years of training Uly does not follow the norm.

Just yesterday I was walking them both for a cool off period after working them on the field and a guy ( just so happened  it was the Master trainer's brother)  with his little something hairy dog was walking towards us on the path. I made uly sit and Hella down to wait as they were going to pass and all was good until this dog was exactly passing us, it was pulling on the leash and whining and growling of course Uly tensed up went to stand up and started to feed into the bad energy. I stepped in front of him, grabbed his lips plopped his butt down into a sit and got right into his face. A growly Phooey was all that he needed to snap him back into a calm reality.  

I have started last week on some similar techniques ( just not as forced as with Uly) in 2 of my group classes to get the dogs passed the excited energy that comes from other dogs that pass by or show this behavior. So far so good and it is working like a charm. 

I can relate when people say but I correct and correct and correct with the prong collar and it does not phase my dog.   

Sometimes the level of distraction is too great for the dog to come out of the zone alone with just a prong collar.  I can attest that even my Boxer Uly no matter how many or how fast my change of directions were he would do everything in his power to keep his focus towards the distraction. My corrections, trust me, are quick, clean, firm and timed properly, my change of directions were fast and many.

So the normal method was not working in the real world situations, on the practice field he was perfect and not a problem but while awaiting our turn to go on the field and also being "out and about" in public he was a nightmare!    As I said the conventional methods did not work, nor did knee bumping into his side stop him from zoning out, no this made him protest and usually try to take a little snap at me.

Most of the time it is during this phase ( the first little snap) that the mistakes are made and the situation escalate into a tantrum with both dog and owner struggling against one another to see which is going to win and give in first. I was not about to do this with uly as boxers do have a tendency to become defensive aggressive when over corrected.

So I had to figure something else to do to stop him from entering that excited energy zone when seeing other dogs and such and something that would not end up with both of us struggling against each other.  I did notice that dogs passing by that were  quiet and scared and showed very soft body posture would not excite him to the level of a dog passing by with the bad excited energy. So it really is true that excited energy from one dog does bring excited energy from another.

We were out walking one day when we were staying by mom's house in her senior leisure community, one of the grandma neighbors  were passing by with their little yippy, barky dogs (which of course was triggering his energy) I had hit the end of my leash (so to speak) I was so tired of nothing working, I was so tired of this display, that I reached down and grabbed him by both side of his face ( including those overly large lips he has) and hung on forcing him to stare me in the eyes. Oh I was just so angry!

But I did not go any further! I just held him still by the cheeks as I slowly raised him up to a standing position so I did not have to be so uncomfortable bent over while waiting for him to calm and relax while the dog passed by. Now mind you this happened all with in one smooth motion. O.k. I thought this was good no fighting no struggling no escalating and it got him to stay calm and be controllable at least. Good I thought I can now try this! ( I should also add I tried the whole "poking in the neck" with a noise as the way one trainer tells people to do this did not work for uly as the distraction was too strong and the poke not consequential enough.

So here we are out walking on another day, here comes one of the grandma neighbors with another yappy dog, I pull hella and uly and hexen off to the side Hexen and hella automatically sit and wait calmly, Uly starts in with growly and whining I said his name and gave him and invite to come up and I once again took him by the cheeks in both hands. This worked he stayed calmer yet he still did try to keep his gaze on the dog while it passed and I had to force his attention on to me. This habit of  coming up on me when we would see another dog because so conditioned and very fast. And it worked to keep him from zoning on other dogs, and both sides displaying that excited energy which was becoming less and less the more we went to the boxer club to work. The first 2 moths however I did get some weird looks! They would hear uly start to growl and zone I would say nine then all of a sudden up him would come and stand on me.

But over the past year Uly has come around and advanced allot and only needing to be reminded through at first the use of the prong and now through the normal collar not to zone even if the other dog does. That was until yesterday!

So what to do when the tables finally get turned? Yesterday I was out walking and up ahead on the path was an elderly man (Late 60's) walking a young what too resemble a  hound of some sort dragging a long line. I saw him recalled uly and proceeded to continue to walk a little further. As we neared each other he did what I do and pulled his dog off the path into the grass and made him sit and wait for me to pass!

Hey wait a minuet that is my habit to see someone and pull up off the side and wait for the other to pass! I was not quite sure what to do at this point and had to do some pretty quick thinking's to figure out how to pass calmly by when this dog was showing the excited energy and of course so was Uly. I was walking and nicking uly with the e collar and at a distance of 10 meters this worked well. But as we neared and the dog was not very far into the field (less then 5 meters) the e collar was making him protest more and become defensive so I stopped. Of course I did not have a prong collar on him as I had to trade his collar to the owner of the other boxer Bella and I did not get her collar in return yet to have one in the house for our walks.

So anyway we are trying to walk by this dog, I am touching Uly by giving tugs on his ear, Nope no reaction, no looking at me, I reached my limit again and just as he was pushing himself to the top of the zone and no corrections were working, I quickly took him up short on the leash and matter of fatly stuck him into a sit and stepped in front of him took hold of his cheeks/lips and this time got into his face ( and close) and gave him NINE! Uly looks up at me then his eye balls stretched all around (like a dog possessed) to look where this other dog is I once more say Nine and then he looks at me and relaxes. At this point I slowly release my grip on his cheeks and he stays calm but his eyes once more started to drift to the other dog ( which is still showing excited energy) and this time a  tap on the snout with look at me and he did. It was at this point that I told hella to move on passed and I walked Uly slowly passed the other dog, I gave a waive to the man and thanked him and off I went praising the heck out of my dogs for that very calm ending ( As my back was turned I could hear for about 30 seconds behind me nine, nine, nine coming the gentleman.   

The screaming was because I had a really good blog started then got timed out as I was not quick enough to crate! (I HATE THAT). 

 I have been getting quite a few dogs of late that are falling into the catogory of tantrums and protests, Give me a puppy any day that is going to try throwing a tantrum then a full grown dog.  One thing to keep in mind that it is habit for the dogs as well as the owners,The dog is not cooperating the owner is getting frustraited tense which only makes the dog more frustraited. Bad energy brings more bad energy. 

 I will say I actually adopted this to a more then full extent with my current boxer Ulysses, Uly by no means is an easy dog, Couple that with the fact that I myself like a dog with lots of attitude and one that does push the limits. Thankfully we both trust and respect each other to the fullest extent. He accepts his consaquences very quickly,meaning that all he really needs is "That Look with, HHHHEEey". 

But teaching this to others and getting normal   pet owners to break the cycle of tantrum brings struggle or even protest brings struggle ( as Oh yes there is a difference between a tantrum and protest).

I have currently Precious a 18 month old very large rottie Thankgoodness she is a sweetie and actually soft tempramented  .

Then we have Boon almost 1 year old un-neutered male border collie mix Plus pregnat owner).

Prince 3 year old american cocker with clingly issues to the owner and seperation to its highest. 

Dexter a shepard mixed with ? over dominated by a very fat  female yellow lab.

To this we add 5 year old English cocker princess but she is not a dog training dog but a grooming dog.

The rest of the dogs in class are an easy fix. 

All these dogs have toenails issues. The only one I would say not with nay conformation problems is the rottie. Her problem is just that if she does not want to do it she is not going to let you do it. Until she met me! I am really keeping my cool with her she is a dog that would be all too easy to let the bad excited energy level build and build. But I am prevailing! I refuse to fight and struggle with her  so she has no chance to escalate into the tantrum phase. 

 Ah so now we have gotten to the difference of tantrum V protest. I would catogorize the protest level always comes first, they may twist and turn as an alligator, they may bite at the leash or fight the collar. 

The tantrum is the next level where the dog starts to try to correct you the owner or the person doing the proceedure. Norally the tantrum comes because you refuse to give in and stop during the protest phase.

Unfortunatly it is getting late and I will have to finish this tomorrow after dog club. Where in stead of issuing a consaquence for rushing into the blind we are no longer struggling with the dogs and instead remvoing them promptly out of the blind ( I always add a knee bump to their sides so I am givng a consaquence) and restarting the exercise. This is supposed to be the idea of remove the reward of what the dog wants most (to bite) we do this each time the dog does not comply and tries to bite the helper with out barking and when the dog complies and enters the blind and just barks at the helper then the dog is rewarded with bitting. Is it working? YES!

So today of course it decided to hold off raining until 1/2 hour before class! I sat in the car thinking oh boy here we go no one shows up in the rain.

 (to which I work my dogs in the rain and we do alot of hiking in the rain this helps with having them use to storms and taking care of business when it is wet)  

I told one student to show up early as what she had described to me over the phone about her Rat terror's behavior and her coon hound mix behavior I thought I was going to have snapping snarling mess on my hand. Nope totally the opposit. Yes they were very untrusting but no problem. They do not need to be on anything more at the moment then flat nylon collars( the small coon hound mix  might move up to a small prong.

Then I had an 18 month old rottie in class she is super friendly but she knows how strong she is............... Prong collar, but the owner is going to be the hard one to break on some bad pulling habits! as it really is a tug of war habit between them. To which the wife will not walk the dog because of her pulling.

I had a young Cocker spaniel that is not aggressive just knows he can get away with too much expecially trying to display seperation anxeity and a general wheiner about it. Also he has the owner trained so she  gives him people food mixed in with his dog food to eat if not she claims the dog will not eat anything and if she leaves the room he absolutly will not eat. (She claims he went almost 1 week with out eating)  I will give her that when I went to groom him he was too under weight that just looking at him my blood sugar dropped!

then I had Conan the  golden retriever! A monster of a dog! I say over weight by at least easy 5 pounds. "But I thought that was all hair!" she exclaims.  

She kind of grimmissed when I was talking about prong collars. Ah she said "those are the things with the stakes?" "No that would be what you kill vampires with, not stop a dog from pulling and dragging you all over"

So I fitted one of Uly's prongs on him and what a champ he is such a soft dog that his protest is trying to grab the leash while walking. All I had to do was stop tell him now then get walking once more. 

 No sorry both the rottie and the golden are the  width of pulling coffee tables!

Further on is a yorkie young female that the owner carries everywhere! Put her down she is a scardey mess all she needs is to not be picked up and she should really start to gain her own confidence. Part of it is when the dog gets scared she runs to the owner the owner picks her up thus reinforcing the idea of lack of confidence. So I instructed the owner to push the dog off firmly and tell her no! By doing this the owner is reclaiming her space to the dog just a part of taking the leadership position. This worked very well and she also is just a flat buckle collar.

Well that is all for today. I thanked everyone for all showing up in the pouring rain as it was and telling everyone that the classes will get more interresting.

I went up an evening early as I hate to have to drive a long distance then to have to part take in something. I showed up first at the dog club and I of course was very friendly. "Hi Im am the American out of the klub berg strasse" the short older gentleman smirked at me and smiled when I said this. So good no work I ask for directions to the motel. The motel was actually a very old house with a restaurant in the first floor. The owners were a wife and her jager (not meister) hunter. He did have the daily catch dressed and getting inspected by the hunting master (this would be the jager meister). So I get settled in and go walk the dogs after then get lost trying to find my way back to the dog place. found it after 20 minuets of getting lost on the 4 different ways out of our side of town. Having just arrived was another member from our club setting up the caravan she was going to be staying in for the weekend, I helped a little set up then back to the hotel. Saturday was 9:00 A.M start and this day the master trainer and the breed warden were to arrive.

The instructor was of course stuck in a traffic jam and late to arrive so we could begin, no matter, good excuse to exercise the dogs a bit before the festivities went underway. The instructor showed up Supposed he is one of the "purely positive crowds" that does  not  believe in prong collars and consequence. yeah what ever, as I had the prong collar on Uly. But actually better wording would be a trainer that does not advocate "force" training.

Less corrections and more motivation Do not forget we want our boxers to stay crazy and over zealous! We did 1/2 a day theory and discussing conditioning to achieve the desired behavior, applied positive and negitive stimuls to recieve the desired training effect. In other word when to apply force for a corrections as a negitive and when to train with out force and by use of more positve methids like reward and praise.

He started with young dogs first about 6 to 10 months old. The list to get onto the field got all screwed up and jumbled I had no clue who these people were so it was difficult to know when I was supposed to get onto the field. So the Master trainer was there to help as Hella's problem was very puzzling to him! While hella has made the most progress the quickest under his direction of training WE had still hit a road block with her and she did not want to consistantly hold her head up to look at me while holding the barbell (or to sit close enough to me for that matter). We entered the field he asked me what we wanted to try what the problem was, we told him but then I added that what others have tried and we could not fix! That hella get's stressed out  and a force method was not a method that was working for her to get her to hold quietly. 

The instructor watched me work with hella then he took the leash and worked with her he rewarded her with a bit of the tug and when he said out she did not! Of course he wanted to know did she know the command? Of course she does but you are a man and she does not 100% respect men and only listenes to the female gender.

O.k so good so far! it did take a good part of 20 minuets for hella to copy the idea of just hold the barbell quiet! weather you use food or play reward as a positive it has to be a high dollar value to the dog in other words the rewards has to be something that gets the dog excited. With Hella this would be her bite toy! Instructor man prefers balls (don;t ask why I did not question becuse tomy dogs high dollar worth is bite toys with a game of tug,

So hold the barbell look stright or down no reward comes, look up at me and I drop your favorite rewards... Easy? However this method takes much longer then most others. In the begining timing has to be spot on Look up drop the toy which by rights she was supposed to release the barbell to grab her favorite. Nope my GSD is a greedy cow ( Can I say that?) ! Of course not releasing the barbell but jumping up and grabbing the bite toy also,so having 2 toys stuffed in her mouth (which was not the idea)

She is now learning the quicker I look up the quicker I get rewarded with my favorite (the same goes for focus exercises). Start with the dog in the heel position do not give a command or do not make a noise but when the dog looks up at you because they are wondering what comes next give them a reward, then make a new begining point such as start over so it is fresh, Also let's say your dog drops the barbell pick it up walk the dog a few paces in a circle then restart you ground point (or sit) Then repete the exercise once more. So what we are working on is her learning with the bring command and me holding the barbell about belly button hight when she hears the command jump up grab the barbell sit close look up, then I drop the bite toy to you. This is seeming to get her excited and it is not as stressfull on her. Also in the same respect chew or mouth the barbell you get a negitive weather it is a command (to which she does understand) or a tap on the snout (not hard but a simple tap with my finger). O.k so with everything gooding good and us on our way to having to practice practice practice for the next test in November, I will now kind of switch the subject......

After 1 year almost of being a member of this Klub, and after a few months of really realizing I have found a good fit for me personality wise in the board members and most of the other members at the klub. Now I really know I have found a good match for my personality in order for me to learn and grow as a trainer to become a better trainer. My point to this is as soon as we stepped onto the field to start working with our dogs and the seminar instructor hands on Master Trainer is sitting on the fence he hears something the instructor says and pipes up to add a but this can happend in which case you need to train this way (as an example) The instructor shoots him a glaire OOPS! to say this is my seminar! I had to laugh because during the whole day the Master trainer was jumping in and "helping" out the instructor!

Not to say that the instructor did not or was not good, but t was more of a fact that we are a pushy loud opinionated group of people and if we do not agree then we speak up!

Just as I do not agree with the Master trainer that you should really not start formally working a puppy until they become a young dog at the age of 8 to9 months old, This I have proven in Ulysses my boxer and Bella my friends boxer. I started Uly and bella learning how to walk properly at their competition heel through the use of food conditioning methods at which point by the age of 8 to 9 months old then you can add play methods instead of food rewards. I can take hold of bella's leash and she now automatically will start to walk in her competition heel by my side. Should be very interresting to see from my videos dated from April's competition to the competition in November how much improvment hella has made,

Of course I was also asked why I did not get uly out onto the field to work him with the instructor I boldly stated that I was very happy with the way he was comming about in his training through Master Trainer and that why mess with anything! The master Trainer heard this turned to look at me and gave me a big smile. All in all for my first experience being not able to under stand the German language 100% perfectly so what I should say is being handicapped I was very happy with how well the seminar went.

I know it has been a long time and I also know that our last encounter was for me anyway a "brain fart moment" (As my husband likes to call them). I realize now that I did not finish my last blog, Wow big brian fart!  

Well As many that read this might or might not know is I have just recnetly ( 9 weeks ago) have been very sick with breathing problems and have  just quite smoking!

 I decided as this is a hot summer to take a  vacation or long weekend to Garmisch or more percisely Oberau Germany. I stay in a lovely gast haus( motel) that offers breakfast every morning and for those adventurous enough to Ascend or desend the "Bergs" a Hot tub and Physico Therm, this is a  Sauna type device, a wooden closet with heaters you are supposed to lean your sore back against. The heaters get warm and are targeted red heat against the 2 back musles (I am just now thinking they need a  re-design and giving a heater to lean on for the whole body not just the back area! Sadly the Hot Tub was broken and this was of great disapointment!

I have returned home to now, decideing I have QUITE SMOKING  and should fill every spare moment with hiking the area in the oldenwald where I live. This should also be classifyed as a dog training and weightloss  program.

Yes, I said it weightloss program! I was thin enough the last time I was here! Germany really does give every opertunity to walk ,walk, walk for her folks or bike to which I am a little frighten of. The fact that I am frighten to ride bikes in it'self is a story worth listening  to but for the moment we are going to discuss my new found desire to loose weight and workout.

My ultimate desire truth be told is to hike the Garmisch-Partenkirschen part of the alps, this would inculde the Zugspitzs.  Follow the ridge line and stay at the Gast Hauses along the way top that off with 2 dogs! That is a long way off and I am thinking next summer if my husband is in shape also after 1 year and 3 month deployment to Iraq.

I will try to post a story and pictures when I can, but as there is just one of me and trying to be dog trainer/ Competetor/groomer/"Berg Wanderer" can be difficult but worth my try.  

Look for the pictures of my transformation!

The past week current week and comming week are very relaxed in the way of training  for us at the club. I finially asked what type of work the Master trainer does for a living as the European Meistershaft of football is going on and he has had to work very much. The Master Trainer Mischel is a policeman in charge of keeping the rules inforced in his town. I think he was very suprised that it has taken me 1 year to get courious about what exactly he does for work.

Anyway, He is busy at the towns local stadium keeping the peace during the public viewings for the football games he has been putting his son or another member incharge of motivating the "green" members to get out and work their dogs. Yester we were working on keeping Hella from walking so far infront

 First I want to apolguise to everyone for not blogging in quite some time. Preping the house for my husbands vacation visit, then his vacation coupled with having an upper respatory virus has found 8 weeks  gone by very quickly.

I find that I am getting busy with more and more grooming and training customers comming my way for business, now that is, that I decided to just start handing out my business cards and not wait for the army to finish up the red tape.

Yesterdays groom was one that would build the EGO of any person in the profession. Here is the story.

I met the owner in one of the army run stores on base handed her a business card and said give me a try (this was over 2 months ago),on another visit the owner came to me and said I think my dog has ear mites what do I do? I explained that also ear infections would cause problems and perahps a visit to the vet was inorder. Each time I ran into this lady she inquired about schduleing an appointment each time  I told her to call and set up an  appointment, but no E mail or call came.  She did at this time tell me that her dog is very nervous and excitable on the table and quite the handfull.

 To be continued..........

06/07/08

This past week I was at a business metting as I am getting ready to teach a pet first aid class and I ran into this lady once more. Oh I lost your card (I gave her one on each run in)  and I have a groomer comming tomorrow to shave her down. But maybe I will cancel with her and book with you if you have time this week?

I almost said no but I did not stop myself in enough time and said yes I have a slot available Thursday. as I am thinking what did I get myself into with physco dog and did I have the mentality after being sick for 1 month to deal with such a dog.  Oh good She say see you Thursday at 3P.M. This past month while I have been sick I have been forgetting my grooming arm ( a valuable asset to any groomer)  but knowing I have a physco dog I quickly ran up 3 flights of stairs back to my appartment before driving off to retrieve the once more forgotten grooming arm.

I arrive at her house get everything set up, pop the arm into the hole attach a noose slip it over said dogs head and begin to groom. a few seconds go by and the customer says "Oh she is choking herself on that leash thing!"  the dog was leaning into the noose and if she were to back up and stand normal the noose would not look as it were choking her, and thus I moved the backwards and she saw it was the dog leaning causing the "look" of the noose being too tight.  I then explained to the customer that I am a groomer but also a dog trainer,and I am and firm but fair in handling of pets and I was not about to let her dog walk all over me and get it's way during this grooming.  Saying this put the owner at ease a little and she let me get on with my work.

A few more minuets and the owner says to me "the other groomers have all been dripping sweat by this point into the groom and your super relaxed and much further into the process then they have ever been."  I quickly said back "And look your dog is being behaved, not panting and stressing".  She was so pleased with seeing her dog when handled properly is not the physco monster she thought the dog was!

This day was an Ego booster! and I have 2 new customers out of the deal (as her friend wanted to also sign up with me)