Our breakdown is as follows:

Heel Free and Figure 8: -1.5
Drop on Recall: perfect
Retrieve on flat: perfect
Retrieve over High: -0.5
Broad Jump: -0.5

We'll be back in action on November 22.

Let's take a few well known competition obedience routines. First we'll start in novice. The most recognizable behavior chain is the recall. For those that don't know the exercise, you begin with your dog sitting heel. When instructed you leave your dog and go across the ring. The judge will instruct you to call your dog, who will come and sit in front. Then finish when instructed too.

First let's break the chain down.
Sit in heel -> handler leave dog -> call to front -> finish -> sit in heel.
That's the forward chain. Now the back chain.
Sit in heel <- finish <- sit in front/call to front <- handler leave dog <- sit in heel.

Good. Now we've broken it down, how do we use it? We start to put the chain together.
1) Begin with the first block - sit in heel. Get the dog in heel, reward. Repeat 4 -5 times.
2) Having done that, it's time for the next block - finish. Get the dog to sit in front, then finish the dog, reward. Repeat 4 -5 times.
3) Next block, leave the dog 5 - 10ft away or better yet have a helper hold the dog by the collar. Call to front, finish, reward. Repeat 4 -5 times.
4) Final block, sit at heel for start. Get dog in heel, instruct stay. Leave the dog, turn call front, finish, reward. Repeat 4 -5 times. End session.

They main thing we are doing in back chaining is making each step in the chain reinforce the one that came before it. If at any time the dog does not perform the chain properly, we abort. They have lost their chance of reinforcement. The chains that most frequently get broken are those that are in Utility. If you are working on Signals for example and the dog neglects to sit from the down, you would go in and correct the dog for not sitting, then redo from the beginning. Should the dog make the same mistake, you would correct again. What have we unknowingly done? The down has now become a predictor of punishment and makes the chain less reinforcing. You may begin to see avoidance behavior. The dog will not neglect to down from the stand because he is trying to avoid the correction. Now if this were back chained there would be no need for corrections, just abort. If you have to abort more than twice in any chain, that link is broken. Take that behavior out of the chain and retrain it, then place is back into the chain. In a proper chain, each continuing behavior reinforces the one that came before it. You will see an eagerness in the dog to complete the chain, rather than avoidance and uncertainty.

Side note: should the dog anticipate the next behavior in the chain, simply abort and begin again. There is no need for physical corrections. Having to start again in correction enough. Don't believe me? Try it!

Next time you see your chains break, rethink how you're approaching them!

Rules: no corrections maybe used, physical or verbal. Take the leash off the prong, put the remote to the collar down. Better yet take all collars off. You may only give the cue once. VERBAL CUES ONLY, NO HAND OR BODY MOVEMENT. Once the behavior is complete, release, and cue again. This is for a one minute interval.

Keep track of how many sits you can do in the first minute. Take a break three minute break and repeat again with sit. Then do the same for down.

Do this every so often and you should see your latency go up. The more latent your dog, the faster they are to respond.

Kayla did 18 sits the first trial and 22 the second. The down trial will be posted later.

Same goes for our dogs. If you saw the dog/puppy getting frustrated and coming back at you in protest, would you keep going in the same direction? Why? Why not step back and take a different approach? Think about it. Try it.

*******

On a separate note, our boundary training is holding strong. We had a few opportunities to see if the dogs, all out together would hold or break. They held strong. I'm happy.

The Dude is progressing well with his basics. He can hold his sit for 6' and can do a sit out of motion. His down is finally on verbal and his recall is shaping up nicely. Kayla and I will head out to our first AKC Agility trail this Sunday. We'll be in Novice for both Standard and Jumpers. Next weekend we're looking to finish our Novice Obedience title and then jump right into Open. Bailey won't show in CPE until late October.

I have also been playing with a wait cue for streets. I'm teaching this without physical corrections at all. My criteria are: the dog must drop out of motion and hold position until released. Right now it is a drop out of motion because the dog is on lead. I will play with it again when the dog in off lead and ahead of me. It's shaping out to be a stand and is rather impressive. Kayla will drop out and stick the stand no matter what pace I'm at. Only verbal no reward markers are used for breaking. I'm very happy!

Life is never dull around here and winter is right away the corner!!

This is the way I tend to look at training. If I've cued my dog to do something (I don't command) and they don't follow through I look at why. No the dog be dominant is not the answer - NEVER the answer. The why is the key.

Great example this morning. After the dogs had finished their potty outside, I told everyone "house" (go inside the house - for clarification). Everyone followed suit except Dude, he sat in the middle of the yard. So I waited - yes, many of you would cringe but my point is coming - and sure enough he began to retch. He puked up a wad of grass. Once done, he happily followed through and came in. Perfect example of deliberate disobedience. If I had gone and got him he would have puked inside - I'm much happier with him puking outside thanks.

If that's not enough of an example, here's one we all can see. Guide dogs practice deliberate disobedience all the time. When at a corner of a street and the human issues the cue for forward and dog does not move he's practicing deliberate disobedience. He didn't move because there was oncoming traffic and it was unsafe. The human on the other end is not worried about enforcing the cue, he's more worried with why.

I challenge you, everyone. If you issue a cue - or if you wish command - and the dog does not follow through, before you rush in to enforce it, ask yourself why.

Today Katie and I were out in the yard with four of the six dogs just playing and having a good time. A car drives by, stops, reverses and pulls back to our yard. The driver rolls down the window and shouts a question. Katie went over to see what she had asked. Turns out she asked if the flags were part of an invisible fence for the dogs. Proudly we said no, they're not. She was amazed that we could train that many dogs to stay in their yard without a fence - real or invisible - to which I happy mutter, "It's called training. You should try it sometime!"

I'm often surprised that people think it's a miracle when a dog is well behaved. It's time, energy, and a good relationship. That's why I get paid the big bucks, to most I'm their miracle worker.

Now it's back to reality, back to life. It won't be too bad - there's agility class today!!

We got the opportunity to play on agility equipment tonight and I'm super excited about our prospects. He climbed on the a-frame with no prompting and happy did it tow more times. He also did the tire and the tunnel, with a little help from his brother. He was able to do the tunnel with out his brother and in the other ring voluntarily went through the curved tunnel! I guess I should get to work on our one jump drills!

As far as the Obedience front goes, he's just working on watch in front and watch in heel with a few setups thrown in for variety. I did introduce him to a few finishes and he happily hopes into the swing - in true Basset style! Our main focus is Agility, but I think that he will be quite a good Obedience dog as well.

I almost forgot to announce that the other weekend Kayla got her first two High in Trials (HITs) with two scores of 199.5 out of the Novice class. Rock on!!!