Mental stimulation can double as relationship-building.

Here is the second installment of our discussion on mental stimulation. As I mentioned previously, we can go beyond food dispensing toys to give our dogs a daily dosage of mental stimulation.
Some people get it right and understand the importance of a “sniff walk” for their dog. Indeed, for how we use sight to understand the world, our dogs smell it. Smell being their most reliable sense. By a “sniff walk” I mean taking your dog for a stroll where the distance covered is irrelevant in which we allow the dog to move at its own pace- taking as much time as he wants sniffing. This could be challenging for some folks because they do take their dog on a walk (yah!) but they have their own agenda. The walk must double as their fitness routine, so they just want to get it done fast. My advice to this bunch is to take their dog’s sniff walk as a bonus within their mental health.  To see this as an opportunity to experience the surroundings in Slow mo.  Wow!  What a concept!  We can also re-frame and think of our workout time as our workout time, aside from allowing it to be during the dog sniffing opportunities.

 

 In addition to the sniff or slow walk, there are other ways we can hang out with our dogs and provide a rich environment for their brain and well-being.  Here is an idea that I have witnessed to be very beneficial to dogs:  I teach owners how to do some simple TTouches on their dog as part of my Developing the Confident Dog class.

This past Saturday, every participant in the class saw how quickly their dog went from alert (and some a bit stressed) to totally relaxed, choosing to lie down on their mats to receive the benefits of their human’s touch. Engaging your dog with TTouch can teach your dog’s nervous system to oscillate from fidgety to relaxed. The more your dog experiences these different modalities, the easier it will be for your dog to recuperate from an upsetting event or just to be able to relax when you are busy at home and can't concentrate on your dog. TTouch is not a massage and is not petting either. It is its own modality that is relatively easy to learn and worth exploring. To learn more visit: www.TTouch.com.

One of my favorite things to do with my dogs is to play with them! We have all sorts of games and most of them involve an object or toy. I am defining play as any activity in which participants engage voluntarily and the only purpose is to have fun.  The topic of play has been well researched and as a result there is ample information about what constitutes “good” play. Also, quite relevant is how can we play with our dogs in a manner that they find enjoyable and not threatening.  If play is your “thing”  look up the work of Marc Bekoff,  www.marcbekoff.com - a leading authority in dog play and who has done tremendous work surrounding the emotional lives of animals.

I personally like it when my dogs invent their own games.  I mostly follow their lead when they come up with a new activity that we can do together. Here are a couple of examples:

After their breakfast both Deuce and Rio go to our long hallway just off the kitchen.  They both lie there with either one ball (more fun for Rio- perhaps less fun for Deuce) or a ball a piece.  The game consists of one of us kicking the ball so that Rio goes after it.  She gets tremendous pleasure in this. If Deuce was not that interested in balls I tend to wonder if Rio would enjoy the activity.  For this particular game, I changed some of Rio’s “rules” and I make sure Deuce has another ball to keep as his own, or we take turns tossing the ball in such a manner that Deuce gets it sometimes too- not only Rio. Being able to get to a ball that lands unpredictably is where the fun is at.

Deuce and I have our own special game that consists of Deuce taking my sheepherding cues (we actually do go sheepherding) inside our home as he “herds” a ball.  Not only is this game highly reinforcing for Deuce, but our herding practice with “real” sheep has improved tremendously.

I encourage you to be open to your dog’s definition of “games” and “fun”.  I promise you that you will also reap the benefits as you see your blood pressure drop and your breathing become more fluid. At least mine dose whenever I choose to play with my dogs.

In closing, I strongly suggest people think of mental stimulation as a dog’s ability to problem solve. Again, the activities that can promote this are truly amazing, but here I want to refer to one that is so accessible to anyone willing to invest in learning how to shape behavior with a clicker. In essence shaping behavior is teaching a behavior by approximation.  Think of it as a process similar (yet much more complex and interesting) than the popular game of “hot” and “cold” in which someone is getting clues as to the proximity of an object or a specific action it must do. To learn more visit: www.clickertraining.com

If you live in the Santa Fe area, I encourage to enroll in one of my classes. Yes, your dog will learn new skills but equally important you will learn how to adequately teach your dog to problem solve. In addition, you will learn training skills and games that you can incorporate at home as part of your dog’s mental stimulation routine.

Mindlessness

Rio comes with Deuce and me sheepherding and waits in the car until we are done. This morning she and I took a walk while Deuce rested in the car. Besides, I like to do different things with each one of my dogs on occasion.

Rioja is so good at recall that I can let her free to explore without much worry that she will not check in or take off. So we walked on a wash and headed to an open area for me to throw some rocks and have her chase them. In the process I came up with a new game to encourage her to check in with me when off-leash as well as for her to continue thinking of me as a major reinforcement on our walks and with other distractions present.

Not only is the manipulation of the environment a “trainer thing” but it really helps in teaching the dogs to stay somewhat close to us when needed and, besides this engagement is fun for both parties.

The name of the game is Recall (with a Twist) in essence it consists of engaging with the dog in such a manner that they are happy to run back at you just before being sent off for more exploring. There are three basic behaviors that the dog must have learned: come when called (at least some recall is needed!) Sit /stay or just stay and drop it. By playing this game they get to practice all these behaviors a ton and we all know that practice makes… permanent.

Here is how the game works:
With Rio in my proximity, I start to egg her on with anticipation as I have a rock or a stick in my hand. After a few seconds of this I throw the item for her to go get… as she is returning to me, I begin to run away from her, engaging her predatory instinct of chasing. Once she gets to me, I ask her to drop the object. When she does, I take the object and ask her to stay (sometimes I ask for a sit too but not always). Stay for me and my dogs means keep your butt on the ground.

I proceed to move a few steps sideways while watching her. As I am saying r-ee-aad-yyy??? And I see her anticipating… I throw the item always in a different direction. Now she has learned that if she comes to me quickly we get to do it all over again. It only took her two trials to drop the item on the ground before I even asked her to do so. A clear indication that she is enjoying the game and has learned the "rules of engagement."

We played this game for a while and the proceeded to the car. Rioja was still off-leash smelling here and there and grabbing the occasional cow patty… No damage done... I let her carry the patty and have her drop it just before getting into the car (I thought) as I saw her happily prancing with her special find.

On our way to the car my mind wandered. I was thinking about what I needed to do next or… who knows – I sure have a "monkey-mind." My voice brought me back as I heard myself calling Rioja’s name once, twice… and then I stopped. Feeling a little bit embarrassed as if I had done something “bad” and was caught red-handed.

Ah… mindlessness. I don’t know about you all, but I am aware now that it is often that I fall into a mindless mode and I begin to ask my dogs to do something - most of the time to come to me without really needing them to do so because they are “right there”! This morning as I called her name I realized that this type of mindlessness dilutes not only our recall cue (which is bad enough) but in some way it points to a lack of connection with the dog.

Food for thought: Instead of just repeating cues as monotonous mantras or prayers why not remain quiet, observant and connected with the dog and only ask them to do something when is really needed? Besides, we must be ready to follow up with a consequence if our (mindful) request falls unattended otherwise our verbal cues will become irrelevant to our dog.

Playing Games

Now that Rioja has been with us for a few weeks, I am getting my groove back about how to arrange my day so that I can get in some “formal” training with both dogs. Yesterday I put Rioja in her crate for dinner with a bunch of Kongs™. She is getting so proficient at them and less frustrated. In the meantime, Deuce and I spend some fun time playing Deuce’s favorite games: Tug and recall with tug (Aka: Rocket recall). All right, all right, I am lying here a bit because these games are not only Deuce’s favorite games, but they are
also one of my favorite games. I noticed that while playing a new version of Rocket recall, I was really having a good time myself. No matter that I was tired after a day of downhill skiing with almost every inch of my body being sore.

Ah, each dog an individual thus they have different learning needs and how to go about it. All my dogs have taught me a few things about the learning process. Deuce, for example, gets uninterested very quickly if I ask him to repeat any behavior more than say three times in a row. Laika, on the other hand, could stay with me for as long as I wish to train her – recuperating from distractions very readily. Her tail full swing after repetition number… (?)

I guess both types of training and learning have benefits and deficits. What I have also realized is how easy it is to have expectations about how the dog that we are working with should respond. A mistake that will set any training program back… way back. Other differences between Laika and Deuce are that Laika was VERY food motivated and not so motivated by toys - she did love playing with me our little games, but toys
where not really “her thing”. Deuce, on the other hand, is quite selective about when he eats and how much of it. Always a tossup as to if he will respond to working for a treat. The dog must be really hungry. But approach the magic drawer where the tug toys are kept and you have his full attention. One day the closet door where I hang the whippet toys out of his reach had been left open. I noticed that Deuce was laying in the living room for a while- a new spot I thought, but I also noticed that he was not relaxing but in attention mode. I came close to find his eyes glued to the hanging whippet. Ahh, I said to him, you are acting like a border collie- again! Since it was in the middle of my work day, I just closed the door so that I could unglue obsessive Deuce from staring at the passive toy.

One of my main goals with Deuce is to have him interact with me - happily by choice in all sorts of inviting environments. We play with his tug toy or whippet daily incorporating soccer games as well where he gets to be the goalie. I play these games with him in different places and with different size balls. Initially he would only mind the “sanctioned” balls- balls that would disinflate and were difficult for me to kick far enough to make the experience sort of exciting for me. Now we have progressed to: all balls are fun to chase and stop - Border collie style.

When it is cold outside or dark, I love playing soccer with Deuce in our long corridor. I use softer balls so that they won’t damage the walls. Funny because I noticed that I can get a pretty good workout by just playing with him inside the house. I have also caught myself several times laughing or smiling wildly as he dives for the ball in a funny fashion. I guess that is another thing about games, your partner’s enthusiasm is
contagious… who likes to play with a bore?

Get this, our sheepherding is also improving big time. Now, for the first time in the year that we have been taking weekly lessons, we are beginning to think and act as a team. Last Wednesday as we finished a very rewarding lesson for the two of us, I ask Deuce to lay down; a behavior that he must do immediately upon request if there are to be any chances of us competing in future sheep-herding trials. Deuce not only laid down on a dime, but his mouth was relaxed and open and he gave me a fantastic tail wag!! This is
from Deuce a dog that is too cool to wag his tail but whom would much rather keep you guessing as to how much he is enjoying your company or your directions.

I know I'm playing mind games pretending that I know what he is really thinking or what his motivation might be, but in reality what I did experience was the satisfaction of explaining to him more clearly what I need for him to do by the way I moved in relation to the task at hand and the sheep. So here you have us: a perfect team, not only enjoying an activity together but minding the rules of engagement to make that activity
more collaborative.

On our session yesterday afternoon, I decided to do something different - to keep him guessing. No more than one or two reps of the same behavior- I promised myself. We began by playing a fierce game of tug in the living room gravitating as the excitement of the game progressed to the parking strip.

Tug, sit, tug, lay down, tug wait, tug, tug, tug, stay….Here, Deuce here, take it more tug, tug.

Now I moved around the large space, going downhill on the driveway- poof, taking off - as I requested that Deuce stays put on a down. The request for him to run furiously after me only when I say: here, Deuce, here (this is called stimulus control) and hopefully I will remember to keep the rules of the game intact and ask him to: take it (the tug toy that is) just before he presses the jaws on the rope.

As I stopped to catch my breath (who is exercising who?) I noticed that Rioja was still quiet- hopefully in her crate still working on those Kongs and oblivious as to how much fun Deuce and I are having. It is possible, I thought, to have your cake and it eat it too? If you plan things right and you work - keeping in mind that each dog (each learner) is an individual.

This afternoon I might go back to our new game or just vary it a little just to keep Deuce guessing and both of us happy to spend this time playing some favorite games.