HULA DOGS: TRAINING SCHOOL

Karl's Training Diary

by Nicola Coote

WEEK ONE

Our trainer Angela said that due to Karl not having had the right start in life he has learned to be quite independent and decides for himself how to behave in certain situations, however, his choice of behaviour can often be inappropriate especially when he is feeling unsure of himself or stressed. So our main aim is for Karl to learn to look to his handler for guidance on how to behave rather than making that decision himself.

The first thing Angela did was to issue each handler with a clicker, she explained that by using clickers it means that anybody should be able to work with each dog. This will be especially important once the dogs go to their new homes because, as the dogs understand what the clicker means, their new owners will be able to continue their training without the dogs having to learn to understand different voices.

As soon as Karl learned that each click of the clicker meant he got a treat we could start work, and this is what Angela taught us:

Touch – Karl must touch his nose to my hand, we started with my hand quite close to Karl's nose as he learned what he needed to do, we now have to practice with my hand further away so that Karl has to move to reach my hand. This technique is going to be useful for distracting Karl and getting his attention focussed back to his handler.

Down – Karl is quite good at down, but he needs to be guided into the down position from the sit position. We need to practice Karl going straight into the down position from standing on command, we also need to practice Karl doing stays in the down position gradually increasing the length of time he remains in the stay.

Come away – Karl sometimes stops and focusses all his attention on other people and dogs passing nearby, we practised getting Karl to move away from the passers by and return his focus back to me. To begin with Karl got a click and treat even if he only looked away for a split second, and after a couple of goes he did come away from what he was looking at which was excellent.

Just before the lesson ended Angela asked me if there was any area on Karl's body that he didn't like being touched, I said 'No' and mentioned that he loved being massaged. Angela said this was a good thing and advised concentrating on his back muscles as it will help Karl release tension. She said that any tension would cause Karl to be more reactive in situations he finds stressful – so now Karl is now going to have a nice back massage before each training class!

WEEK TWO

At the start of the lesson Angela set up a time-out post for Karl. This meant that if Karl did choose an inappropriate behaviour, something like grumbling or lunging at someone walking passed, I would be able to quickly and calmly clip him to the post, I would then turn my back on him and walk a short distance away, ignoring him completely. After a few moments I would return to him, unclip him and we would continue with the lesson. The time-out method is a very clear and calm way of letting Karl know that certain behaviours will not be tolerated - I am very pleased to report, though, that Karl was so well behaved in the lesson that we did not need to use the time-out post at all!

This is what we learned in this week's lesson:

Walking through doorways – Angela introduced us to the correct method for dogs and their handlers to pass through doorways where the dog remains under the complete control of the handler. The dog and handler walk up to the door and the dog is asked to sit and stay, the handler passes through the door using their body as a block to prevent the dog rushing through, the dog is then called through the doorway and asked to finish in a sit by the handler's side. Karl had no problem with this method as he is always very willing to respond to the 'Sit' command.

Walking to heel – we practised walking to heel and Angela showed us how to manage the dogs when they pulled by slackening the lead and changing direction so the dog has to concentrate on staying by the handler's side. Karl walks beautifully on the lead anyway so he found this a doddle.

Walking passed other people and dogs – the walking to heel exercise gave us a great opportunity to also practise walking passed the other dogs and handlers in the class. This is the exercise that Karl would normally find the most stressful and where I thought we would probably need to use the time-out post, however, Karl remained pretty relaxed and calm which is terrific.

At the end of the lesson we all gathered in a group while Angela gave us our homework. Karl just lay by my side in his most relaxed position (back legs stretched right out behind him and his front legs crossed one over the other). This shows how much progress Karl has made in just two lessons – I am very proud of him.

Karl's Homework:

Give – we need to practice the 'Give' command by swapping something that Karl has for something even better. We practiced swapping a toy for a squeaky toy and then swapping the squeaky toy for a piece of sausage, this is working really well. By always swapping for something better Karl will learn to readily give up what he has on command.

Improve Down Stay – Karl has been doing well practicing his down stays so Angela advised making them more difficult by me doing distracting things while he is in the down, eg. turning away, walking around him, and picking toys up and putting them down somewhere else.

Leave – we've been practising the 'Leave it' command. I place a piece of sausage in front of Karl and tell him to 'Leave it', I slowly move my hand away and after a few second Karl gets a click from his clicker and praise and then told to 'Take it'. Karl seems to quite enjoy this game, he's really getting the hang of it, and for a dog that enjoys his food as much as Karl it shows great self control!

WEEK THREE

We had a bit of an adventure this week, it was our first lesson off-site at Angela's training field and involved a journey in the car which Karl took completely in his stride, he was very well behaved and sat calmly for the whole journey.

This is what we learned this week:

The tunnel - The training field was full of lots of distracting smells, so we started off with something fun – the tunnel. Angela held Karl at one end and I crouched down at the other to call him through, at first Karl was reluctant to go through the tunnel as it meant he had to crouch down, so we made it less daunting for him by scrunching the tunnel up to make it much shorter, this time Karl went through and was rewarded with a piece of sausage. We then made the tunnel a little bit longer and Karl went through easily. Finally we extended the tunnel to its full length, and Karl knew exactly what he had to do now and went straight through, in fact, he was so relaxed in the tunnel he decided to have a little lie down in there before coming out the other end!

Walking through dooways - We then went on to do some more practise on walking through doorways which we started in Week 2. Angela has some special practise gates that make the task more realistic but we have also been practising with the doors and gates at HULA as well. Karl does this quite well, he is happy to sit and wait, but he does have a tendency to rush through once he is given permission to come through the door, with a bit more practise we'll have the exercise under total control.

Being off-lead around people - Angela asked me to get Karl's attention focussed on me and then to remove his lead. I then had to walk a short distance away and call him back to me, however, Karl was more interested in investigating the new smells, so Angela and I walked away from him in a calm, assertive manner, Karl then came running after us but then ran in front of us to take the lead, as we don't want Karl to make the decisions we ignored him and changed direction, Karl followed us and we kept walking around the paddock occasionally changing direction and walking passed other people as Karl continued to follow us. Once we were sure we had his attention I called him to heel using the 'Close' command and we practised walking through the practise gate off-lead. During the whole exercise Karl was really quite responsive considering the new environment and was completely unphased by the other people there which was excellent.

Karl's Homework:

We need to continue practising what we've learned so far, in particular, walking through doorways.

We also need to pretend that each pathway and track at HULA is a road and practise sitting before crossing.

Karl's progress so far:

Leave – Karl understand the leave command completely now. He will even leave a piece of sausage placed on his paw until his is given the command to 'take it'.
Give – Karl learned this really quickly as he's happy to trade anything for a piece of sausage!
Touch recall – this is coming on really well, Karl will move several metres to touch my hand but we do need to practise more when there are distractions.
Down – Karl no longer needs to be lured down with a treat, he's now able to move into the Down position from standing.

Karl is making terrific progress and continues to improve week by week – he is a very willing learner.

WEEK FOUR

This week Holly was the only other dog in the class as Molly and Sam have now gone to their new homes. We mostly practised what we had learned in the previous three lessons, but some of the exercises were made a little harder.

Walking through doorways – we started off practising walking through doorways using Angela's practise gate, we have been practising this at Hula as well, and Karl has improved loads. Where previously he would tend to rush through the gate when given the command to come through, now he will pass through in a much more controlled manner.

Sit Stay – Karl was instructed to sit and I unclipped his lead and turned and walked five paces away, Angela timed us for 30 seconds before instructing me to return to Karl, he was excellent and did not budge until I released him from the stay. We tried again later in the lesson and this time Karl managed 45 seconds perfectly.

Walking past people and dogs – in this exercise everybody in the training paddock, including Holly, had to walk backwards and forwards and around and about each other in a random fashion. This went very well and Karl took it completely in his stride. To make it more difficult for Karl, Angela asked me to get Karl to sit while she jogged past him, she then came past waving her arms about and talking in a loud, excitable voice. Karl was clicked and treated each time Angela went past, he behaved beautifully with no reaction at all.

Greeting another dog – Karl has always behaved very well around the other dogs in class, but up until now he hasn't had the chance to greet any of the other dogs properly. With both Holly and Karl on the lead we started walking side by side, Karl needed a little encouragement to actually approach Holly but then he did sniff her politely, however when Holly grumbled Karl immediately grumbled back. Angela said that of the two dogs Karl was the most polite but does seem to have a low tolerance when faced with a negative reaction. Next lesson we are hoping to introduce Karl to a much calmer female who will hopefully help him be more relaxed.

Off lead around people – the final exercise involved Karl being off lead again. All the humans (there were 4 or 5 of us) walked around the paddock in a group changing direction regularly, this is so that Karl learned that to stay with us he needed to walk behind us and not in front of us. Once he was walking happily behind us, Angela instructed us all to walk off in different directions to see what Karl would do, he seemed unphased by this and took the opportunity to go and investigate some smells at the side of the paddock. While he was on his own Angela approached him to see if he would react in any way, and although he did seem a little worried, he was a very good boy and sat nicely for a treat.

This was an excellent lesson and we're really looking forward to the next one!

WEEK SIX

Karl really enjoyed this week's class. This was quite a surprise as Karl is actually a pretty lazy dog – a flaw that just adds to his character – and today's lesson was all about learning agility!

Photo of Karl the dog with his trainer Nicola

While we were waiting for our turn to use the agility equipment we had a go with some puzzle toys that Angela had brought along. These toys involved hiding treats in compartments and the dog then has to move a sliding cover or a cup to get at the treat. Karl enjoyed these puzzles, mainly because they involved eating which is one of his favourite occupations.

It was then our turn on the agility equipment, we started off gently by having Karl sit and wait before a low jump, I then held a treat in front of his nose and encouraged him over the jump. He knocked the pole off, but we didn't mind as he had made the effort and we I rewarded him with loads of praise and treats.

We tried a couple more jumps and then went on to see if Karl remembered how to use the tunnel. As it has been a few weeks since Karl last used the tunnel, Angela took hold of his lead and positioned him at one end while I went to the other and called him through, Karl remembered exactly how to do it and went through no problem.

Photo of Karl the dog going through hoop

Next we tried the hoop, as before, I got Karl to sit and wait on one side while I went round to the other side and encouraged him through with a treat. At first Karl seemed a little unsure, then suddenly his face lit up and he dashed around the hoop to join me on the other side, as far as he was concerned he had done what was asked of him, that is make his way from one side of the hoop to the other! I asked him to try again, and this time he jumped through the hoop perfectly.

To finish off, Angela asked us to do the tunnel followed by two jumps. I pointed Karl in the direction of the tunnel and he ran towards it with enthusiasm, he ducked inside while I ran round the outside ready to greet him as he came out the other end, but he didn't appear. When I looked inside, there he was lying down making himself very comfortable and looking very pleased with himself – did I mention that he can be quite lazy – I called him and he came bounding straight out and he went on to do the two jumps to complete his round in true Karl style (by knocking them both down!).

Karl may not be a natural agility talent, but he had great fun, and this week's lesson seems to have given him a boost to his self-confidence the opportunity to show off his sense of humour!