Clean Run Magazine - May 2009 - 25

line behaviors in heel and stationary positions, and she was familiar with shaping, and with my control of easier Premack reinforcement (Go Sniff). I worked well away from other dogs or people, handled the line neatly, set up each exercise methodically, wore long pants to prevent rope burn, and wore sneakers to tap on the line if necessary. Response to name (I teach my dogs to respond with eye contact) at first seemed like a reasonable criterion for entering the park; but after several visits, it was clear that eye contact around squirrels was too much to ask. Tigerlily easily went into a sit- or down-stay on cue, but as though in a trance, she couldn’t take her eyes off the squirrels. So, I changed the starting rules. At first, as long as she would respond to simple cues like Hand, Target, Sit, or Down, I decided she should be given a chance to run up to a squirrel-infested tree and sniff (I have training videos of this on my video blog at www.wholedogcamp.com). Once she’d mastered this, I began to require more eye contact and other behaviors. Our starting game looked like this: I cued a down or sit, and stretched the long line about 20' in a straight line along the ground until it was within 10' of an ancient squirrel-inhabited oak. The dog was frozen, quivering, staring at the tree from her distant down-stay, the longline on the ground between us. I cued Okay, so she exploded out of her stay and ran to the tree, sniffing and snuffling intensely. I’d let her sniff as I gathered the line from the heap at my feet and looped it. Next I’d have her sit again, and lay out the line to send her to the next squirrel tree. This game entertained both of us. Sometimes we’d run together. Once, she went 15' straight up a trunk and slid back down like a cartoon dog. The performance enthusiasm and joy that she expressed for water retrieves on the beach looked like it could become a possibility for longline tree-sniffing in the park. She began to be able to perform some easy flatwork and freestyle tricks for the opportunity to blast to a tree. She was starting to act sane around squirrels! I also found a couple of fenced and gated spots in the park (tennis courts, ball field) where I could sometimes work her off leash. And as long as she was recalling from the fence, the long line stayed off and hot dogs, toys, and cues were randomly served. When she didn’t recall promptly, the long line would be snapped back on. Interestingly, she didn’t even attempt to evade capture, maybe because snapping on the long line is always paired with delivery of some sort of reinforcement, including (sometimes) the immediate removal of the long line. Distractions Aren’t Quite So Compelling Any More We haven’t made our way through Noah’s ark entirely. Next month Tigerlily will have her first exposure to wild goats, lizards, burros, monkeys, tarpon, manatees, feral dogs, and whatever other distractions we manage to find during our first trip to Puerto Rico with her. But I’m not as worried as I would have been two years ago. Once a dog is convinced that his human can match reinforcement available in the environment, no distraction is quite as compelling anymore. D Jenny Ruth Yasi is head trainer at Whole Dog Camp in Maine. For more information go to www.wholedogcamp.com. May 09 | Clean Run 25

http://www.wholedogcamp.com http://www.wholedogcamp.com http://www.FlatCreekStudios.com

Clean Run Magazine - May 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - May 2009