1-14-2022 Week 1, Day 5 - Roxanne and Hannah have 1st Marysville Adventure

Yesterday was quite fascinating and COLD.  I picked up Chonnie, then went to pick up Hannah, then left to meet Gayle/Olive at Marysville to train together. I also took Sugar. My surprise was lo'n'behold, I also had a dead duck in the back of my truck. 😎

Hannah is now eagerly wanting 'To-Go' and she is getting the routine of "Wait", "Ok", "Wait" (as I open the back door), then "Let's Go" "Slow" and again, "Wait" so I can close the back door. This routine (dogs are extremely good at memorizing patterns and sequences), then out the back gate to my car. She is getting "Wait" until I command, "Hannah - Hup" into her kennel. Smart dog for sure. This she has learned in this first week and done quite well. 

She's great at unloading also in a new location, but oh my, my, my she is JACKED UP - WHAT ARE WE DOING NOW? WHEN CAN WE GO TO IT - WHATEVER 'IT' IS?  Yesterday, we arrived, and I'm amazed at how 1000' of elevation can noticeably alter the amount of snow on the ground. Wow!  It was time to expend some of Hannah's pent-up energy, in the snow with Sugar, and man! she went and went and went at warp speed 100!!

She was being inappropriate with Sugar, doing a VERY young dog behavior, called Mobbing. I was surprised Sugar didn't correct her with his Ugly Face and teeth, but Sugar was more interested in the snow than Hannah's behavior. 

Hannah mobbing Sugar video:

Plus, Sugar knew I'd do Informal Recalls with Hannah AWAY from him over and over and over and over again. Really.  I did many Informal Recalls.

Multiple Informal Recalls to SSIF video:

ALEACIA, see her body position, see the power in her rear moving at warp speed to go elsewhere?

Hannah needs endless corrections (collar) for her to even listen to my command.

And I require her to do SSIF. This is field training, not for the beginner student to do. 

"Hannah - Here" + 4 sharp whistle blasts

"Touch"

"Sit" "ok"

And off she goes. Again, see her body position, the lowered head, the drive from her rear end? She's in full blown Prey Drive (you all will learn more about that in Week 2)

And heading for Sugar taking a snow bath, can't let her get to him,
"HANNAH -HERE!" + 4 sharp whistle blasts

She spins around (she's beginning to believe me)

"Touch" and another SSIF (Straight Sit in Front)

Time to shift gears so I worked her UP and DOWN the mountain of snow.

Make no mistake, training a working dog like Hannah or like Kara, is grunt work.  I use every part of my body and am moving CONSTANTLY to train her and keep the other distraction (Sugar in this case) and myself safe.  Hannah's body is changing daily, she is at the 'pre-teenager' stage and SURE SHE CAN DO WHAT SHE WANTS TO DO. Not so, Hannah, not so at all and I and Jessi are here to ensure that you DO obey us and learn some manners.  Sugar also will educate her as will Ace.

Aleacia, is there any way you could safely do this kind of work with Hannah with your knee the way it is right now? 

Then we switched gears and I introduced Hannah to a dead duck. Really. A dead duck. Boaz found it frozen (actually he found two dead frozen ducks, but one was shot to pieces, so I didn't want to use it again) up on Thompson Basin Road.  So, I kept the one good dead duck deliberately for Hannah to discover. I wanted to see her response to fowl. MAN, SHE HAS A PHENEMENAL PREY DRIVE! 

And of course, Sugar needed to retrieve also to show Hannah how it to do well.

LOVE THIS PHOTO!

Then, the real training began with ILL. Started with Inverted Longe Line with Hannah, then moved to the Week 1 (officially next week) LL in a larger space.  Worked Hannah against Sugar as well as against Gayle/Olive

. Then, worked a few more angles. Sugar is making sure he stays close to try to show Hannah that remaining close = comfort.

   

 Hannah was having a hissie fit over the constant collar corrections which she attributed to 'that dratted LL'. We WANT the dog to believe the line is causing the collar corrections, we DON'T WANT the dog to attribute the collar corrections to the handler. Hannah takes out her frustrations by attempting to bite the line and I just Walk the Line or Step on the Line or use my knee/leg to move her away from doing so. She's pretty frustrated-:)

Sugar is doing what I call 'Mirroring' in this video.  He did this once, a very long time ago, with another young yellow Lab, that was fighting working WITH me on the LL. He saw the young puppy didn't know what to do so he came up beside her left side, stayed beside her and 'mirrored' what she was to do. I was amazed as Sugar did this on his own when he was quite young, not even a year. So, I coined it 'Mirror' and worked it with ALL my Pack through the years. 

I no longer need to give Sugar a command (he can't hear it anyway), but Sugar has spent ALL his years as my 'right hand best hand assistant' and he knows what an unlearned dog needs to learn. So, he saw what needed to be done and on his own, mirrored Hannah to show her what to do. 

Now, at one point, she kept charging him, Sugar finally conveyed "ENOUGH of your shenanigans, it is time to work girl!" and lit into her with his Ugly Face and teeth. She dodged away from his yelling at her and promptly got under my feet, so she got stepped on. Well, THOSE TWO CORRECTIONS were enough to convince her to cease charging about like a lunatic and an unruly dog and get to work. Which she did. 

She's a hard head and like every field bred Lab I know and have trained, is nearly impervious to pain or discomfort.  Unlike Olive who is extremely soft and agreeable, Olive would dissolve into a puddle of mental mush if she got corrected like Hannah. Hannah will take many, many, MANY corrections, not bat an eye, and be ready for more.  Doesn't faze her in the least. 

Knowing the difference between a 'Soft dog' and a 'Hard dog' is understanding how much 'pressure' - that is collar corrections, each dog can handle and learn from. It is a balance and the excellent trainer knows how to train from a soft dog like Olive, to an even tempered coorperative dog like Sugar, to a hard headed dog like Hannah.

And then, I just did some LL work with Hannah working AROUND, behind, in between and through Gayle/Olive and Sugar as planted stationary distractions. I worked Hannah until she opted to ignore them. 

Aww....that is the point of LL work done well, the dog learns to choose 'comfort' means remaining IN the Safety Zone besides their handler. The dog learns anywhere else is choosing 'discomfort' outside the Safety Zone besides their handler.

And finally, success. Here I am doing Cool Down (notice the handle of the LL is on my left thumb?), Hannah COULD charge either dog, but the prior hour plus of work has convinced her that paying attention to me IS the wise choice.

LL Lesson Learned