WIMONE

My leads are right here. I got it, thanks. OK. OK. Good girl. Now come on, go see Kim. Let's try it again. Here, here Kim. [SQUEAKY TOY] You ready? Yeah, you're ready for your entrance. Am I ready for my entrance? OK. Hi. We're going to focus on movement, understanding gait, and how to train puppies to gait in the ring. We're deliberately not going to be introducing the judge a lot at this point, because people, like dogs, can only learn one thing at a time. So I don't want you to get caught up in ring craft and presentation. I want you just to be able to feel free to concentrate just on the puppies and movement and understanding that. So I'm going to begin this discussion with the most basic conversation about gait. Dogs are judged at the trot in the show ring. And the first question is, what is a trot? I think there might be some people out there, especially new people who've never had any horse background that don't even really understand what a trot is, as opposed to a canter or a walk. Dogs have three basic gaits-- walk, trot, canter. Now, there are these other in-between gait-- there's the amble, the pace, the gallop. And then I think there are a couple of other things-- there's some kind of shuffling walk that some dogs have. But basically, it's the three gaits. The walk is what we call a four-beat gait. Each foot strikes the ground independently. And I'm going to bring a dog out to show this to you, but I just want to lay the foundation for you first. So it's 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. At a trot, two feet are striking the ground at the same time. It's a two-beat gait and it's diagonal. When we say diagonal, we mean the dog is using the opposite side front and back legs. On the first beat of the trot, Daphne is striking the ground with her right front and the left rear. In the second beat, she's striking the ground with her left front and right rear. Again, the trot is a two-beat gait-- 1, 2. 1, 2. 1, 2. 1, 2. What you as a viewer probably could see easier than the diagonal from the side, what you can see is that you'll see the legs that are closest to you, the front leg and the back leg will be like this, and then they'll be like this. Like this, and like this. So it's like a V and a pyramid, a V and a pyramid. So that's the trot. Then the canter is a three-beat gait. We're not going to be concerned with a canter today, but I am going to show you what the difference is and what a canter looks like. In the first phase of the canter, one rear leg strikes the ground-- in this case, the right rear. In the second phase, the other rear leg and one front leg strike together-- in this case, the left rear and the right front. Third, the remaining front leg strikes-- in this case, the left front. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. Notice how this last front leg appears to reach ahead of the other legs. This is called the lead. In this case, Daphne's on her left lead. That last front foot to fall tells us what lead the dog is on. Even though dogs have different functions and different purposes in life that they were bred for, and there are some breeds that are what we call galloping breeds that are sight hounds that are meant to gallop at a fast speed, that the gallop or the canter is their primary gait. And then there are dogs that are endurance trotters where they're supposed to trot for a long time. There are speed trotters. They're all different. There are some dogs that were not really built for movement at all, like terriers that are built to go to ground. Not that they shouldn't move well, but their entire construction is a digging front, it's really not a trotting front. So even though there are all these different specialized forms, at root, the trot-- you can judge, a good judge can judge how the dog would do at his other functions by looking at the trot. That's why we use the trot. I'm using Daphne-- stand-- because she has pretty generic, good structure. And what I mean by good structure-- and we talked about this in the last program-- the last program-- but I'm going to say it again because some people might not have been here-- is that this bone and this bone have a good angle. It's almost like a 45 degree angle. This is lay back of shoulder, this is return of upper arm. And those angles are matching her angles back here. That these angles and these angles are about the same. So what that means is that when she trots, try and watch-- when her front foot strikes and she moves forward over it, this rear foot is going to take the space that she just-- as she's lifting this paw, this paw is going to come in here. That is a generic, good trotting movement. So come here. Come on. I want you guys to look again. Come here. You ready? All right, let's go. Good girl. Good girl. Come on, Daph. Good girl. Now, I'm talking to her and she's looking at me, which is not ideal, because it tends to throw their front a little bit. But you'll be able to see, that's your generic good trotting. Come, come. That's what the judge is looking for. They're looking for that balance. So there will be some breed variations depending on the dog, particularly in the front coming and going. But for now, let's just take it-- this is your goal is to have just a generic good trot like that. So now, when the dog is first setting out-- I know, I know, I know. Sorry, Daphne. When the dog is setting out, sometimes you'll notice-- take it easy now, please-- you'll notice that they'll sort of amble or pace a little bit. And you're going to see maybe the puppies doing that when we train with them. We don't want that, but I don't want you to worry about it today, because-- oh, and I should explain what an amble or pace is, I guess. That would help. So an amble or a pace is, sometimes the dog-- and I don't know if I can get her to do it. Will you do it? Come here. Come on. No, she's just going to walk. She doesn't do it much. She doesn't do it much, because she has nice-- you know a good-- enough length and balance that she's not going to-- she's not going to amble, or pace. But pacing is when these two feet move at the same way. So they move kind of like this-- like both feet on one side and both on the other side move. The pace is also a two-beat gait. But instead of using a diagonal pair of legs, as in the trot, the pace uses both front and rear legs on the same side of the dog and they strike the ground at exactly the same time as this Chinook demonstrates. Amble is sort of like a pace. It's like somewhere between a pace and a walk. An amble is basically a pace, where the front foot falls a fraction of a second after the same side rear foot. It's a four-beat gait with the same foot cycle as a walk. The chief difference being that a walk has a regular 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 rhythm. And an amble has a 1-2, 3-4, 1-2, 3-4 rhythm. And actually, for some breeds, like Old English sheepdogs, this is a very not only acceptable gait, it's a desirable gait for them. But that's the exception. Normally in the breed ring, you want the judge always to be seeing your dog trotting. You're going to see that maybe some of the puppies pace at the beginning as we're setting out. I don't want you to worry about that, because that's really ring craft and that's presentation to the judge. Let's just get the puppies to the point where they can move the way that we want them to. Don't be fussing too much on either end. We're going to catch the good parts and not worry about the parts that aren't perfect. You're a good girl. Do you have to teach trot, verse that amble or pace? Well, yeah. We're going to show-- I mean, trot should be a natural gait for the dog. And come here, Daph. [KISSING SOUNDS] So the bull terrier is supposed to have a short back. And it's not a square breed, but it should have a short back and it should be short coupled, so it should be ribbed back. Like Daphne is very well ribbed back. But she also is what we would call Dalmatian style. She is not a super cobby style dog. She's done very well. She's a very good dog. But it's just her particular type. Not to get too into it, but we really have three distinct subtypes-- bull, terrier, and Dalmatian. She's what you would call Dalmatian. Now, with some of the more terrier types where they might be a little shorter in back and a little more towards square, they will tend to want to pace. And it's probably to avoid foot interference, because they're so square and relatively up on leg that it's difficult for them to get out of their own way. Dogs that are a little bit longer-- a little bit longer than tall-- are going to have a prettier side gait. They're going to a better gait. But not every dog is meant to have that perfect gait. So it's not-- I'm not saying it's faulty if a dog is square and has to-- will tend to pace. What you want to do is move the dog just enough so that they reach that place where they have a little bit of suspension, there's that moment when all four feet are off the ground and those two feet, you know, the rear foot is taking the place of the front foot. The best way to do that is to have someone video you. Like in the stacking videos, we recommended the mirror, the mirror, the mirror, and to go in front of the mirror. With movement, you really need to have someone video you. So in this case, that was fast enough for Daphne. Some other dog might have to go a little faster or not that fast. What you will see in the breed ring a lot of times, unfortunately, is handlers running their dogs off their feet, which really shouldn't fool the judge. And it's not-- it's flashy, but it's really not right. What you really want to show is the movement of the dog. And it only needs to be fast enough to show that foot fall being correct. As a very general rule, a dog should be able to achieve suspension without moving too quickly and without lifting his feet very high. Moved at a higher speed, the same dog overreaches with her rear feet and her legs are much higher off the ground. Certainly, there are some breeds that need to demonstrate an ability to trot at a faster speed. And not every breed is meant to trot in a typical movement such as this. But for the vast majority of breeds, there should be no overreaching with the hind legs. And all four legs should travel smoothly and closer to the ground, more like the image on the left than the right. So now we're going to talk a little bit about fronts. Fronts, I would say, vary more as far as movement, than sides even-- than the side gait even does. Because, there is basically two different styles-- one is single track and one is parallel movement. Now, Karen, who's going to come out and be our judge, and her daughter Jenna breed very successfully Vizslas under the Carriage Inn Kennel. They've done very well. And the Vizsla's a single track breed. So when they're coming toward you, their legs actually should be converging and moving in this way, underneath them. The bull terrier calls for parallel movement in the front. They want to see those legs coming straight at you. So I'm going to demonstrate Daphne's movement. And then I'm just going to editorialize a little bit on that. I know, here's your food. She's like, and we're going to get treats before we do that. Because she says, all my stuff is over here. And this has been a long time I've been sitting around waiting to demo. So you come with me. Come on. So-- so here we go. Come here. So let's go down and back. You ready? Come here. Good girl. Come on. Good girl. Yes, very nicely done. Dee-Dee. [KISSING SOUNDS] Good girl. OK. So OK, so a couple of things. Normally, because-- come-- because dogs' legs will tend to converge at higher speeds. So especially in a breed like this, where the standard calls for parallel movement coming toward you, you really don't want to be-- you want to go a little bit slower on the down and back because it's going to tend to make them not converge as much. I think even-- now, Karen, correct me if I'm wrong-- even with a single track breed, you will tend to go slower on the down and back then on the side gait. Correct, yes. So-- good girl. So there is that difference. Don't worry about it right now because, again, that goes to ring craft, but just to know that there is a difference. Now-- [SIGH] --the reason why some breeds are supposed to be single track is generally if their center of gravity is higher and they're narrower, in order to maintain stability they have to do this. I mean, I'm not going to get into the whole physics, but they need to be single track if they're taller and thinner. It's almost like a tall bus as opposed to this dog, which has the-- come on, stand up, babe-- which has the heritage of the bulldog. So you can just see her width compared to her height. She does not need to single track. It would be-- if she were single tracking, she would be whippity and very off type, because they just, they don't. Where I think that maybe our standard is a little ambiguous and there is some misunderstanding about this is that, if a dog has a good return of upper arm, there-- the dog-- the arms-- the legs are going to come in to some extent. I mean, it's not going to single track, but it's not going to be perfectly straight like this. The only dogs that do this are things like fox terriers that have the very short upper arm which allows them, because they don't have that arc, because they don't have as much reach on the front that way. So unfortunately, in the show ring a lot of times dogs with short upper arms will be rewarded for good, clean movement coming and going, which is not correct but that's just the way it is. Just something to be aware of, that if you look at your dog and you see that your dog has beautiful return of upper arm and then you look at it coming and it's not perfectly parallel, don't feel bad, it's right. It's correct. What it should be is parallel straight from the elbow down. There shouldn't be any of this or this or turning or twisting as it's doing this. But it should come-- it can come a little bit in. So that's my little editorializing on that point. Karen is going to come out and help us demonstrate our patterns. And again-- come on out, Karen. Let me introduce you, first of all. Karen it's just the best. [CHUCKLING] She is. She is. I've known Karen for a very long time. Karen teachers our handling class every week. I've been going to her handling class like forever. She teaches Junior Handling, because she loves it. I do. And I judge them. She judges it. And she could be a judge like ten times over a breed, but she loves Junior Handling, and that's all she wants to judge. Isn't that great? It's really great. So Karen is going to come out and help us demonstrate the patterns. And again, we're not going to be concerned with training this so much with the puppies today, but I want you to understand where we're going with it. So the first pattern, I would say, is all the way around. Right. And actually, there's an A and a B to this. Because, there's the all the way around that you do at first when you're going-- and then there's the one that you do after examination, where actually the judge is looking at more sides of the dogs. The initial one is to make sure that you don't have any lame dogs in your class. OK. That's what we do. OK, so-- Yes. But now, so-- and normally, you would probably be looking more at one area and just-- right. Yeah, it's just to make sure that they're all sound as they're moving around. But definitely, there's an impression being made there-- Absolutely. --at the time. Yes. You're always judged. Absolutely, yes. So now, so then, Karen, you would be in the middle, right? And we would just-- so we would be taking off right here. So at all times, in this pattern, at all times Karen's going to be looking at the side gait of my dog. Come on, Dee-Dee. Good girl. Good girl. And I'm going to cut it a little bit short, because I know I'm number one. I win. You are. Now, so then comes the individual exam. So then, I would be set up over here. The judge would look at my dog. And now-- And now I'm going to send you a pattern. You want to do down and back? Down and back? OK. So now the judge is going to look at-- but we're going to actually do it right in front of the camera so he can see it. So now the judge is actually going to look at my dog's-- I'm going to go straight down this way so he can see it. Come on, Daph. Dee-Dee. So now here is down. Gitchee, gitchee. And back, straight at the judge. Beep, beep, beep. [KISSING SOUNDS] Good girl. Nice. OK. So that's down and back. And then, triangle, right? Yes. So then-- and increasingly, the AKC doesn't like triangles, because they feel they may take too much time. So most of the time, you're going to have around, down and back, and then they'll send you around again. But let's just do the triangle. So I can do it right here, yeah. So now with the triangle, the judge actually gets to see all sides of the dog. Because when you're-- you're being judged the rear, and then the side gait-- good girl, yes-- and then the front gait. Very nice, Jane. Oh, thanks. Dee [KISSING SOUNDS] good girl. Very nice. Good girl, nice. Good, good catch, Daph. Wait, so now-- so then-- at the end of whatever, whether it's the down and back or the around or the triangle, at the end, we're going to come in. So now we're here. And again, this is a bull terrier thing that we tend to present the side. But we'll talk more about whether you would present the side or the front in the next-- for this dog, definitely, I would present the side, just because she's good from the side. So then you're finished looking. And now you're going to send me around again. Yes. But the difference is, what? The first time we went around, what were you looking at? I was looking at your side. But the second time, you're really going to see all-- Everything, yes. Everything, OK? So she's going to see going away. So even though it's technically-- OK-- the same pattern, again, we'll talk more about it next week, you just have to be aware that you're being judged separately each time, each side. Good. So my speed going away is maybe going to be a little bit slower. Yes. If you're-- if the judge is standing in the middle, I'm going to maintain a good speed all the way around. Exactly. If the judge sends me around from here, I'm going to be a little slower going away, speed it up on the corner, and then hit my full stride coming around. Exactly. So those are your basic-- thank you, Karen-- OK. Those are your basic patterns. Now you know, basically, what we have to train our puppies to do. The only other thing I'm going to talk about is leash handling. And it's really a question of style and your breed. And there are really two strategies. One is to-- and I tend to show you this because this is what most people are going to do-- use a lead right behind the neck right here. And what you want to do is, you want to give them-- hold just enough pressure so they have almost just a little something to lean into, which will kind of shift them forward a little bit over themselves as they're moving. And they'll tend to move out very nicely with this. Again, you're not pulling. You're just holding it like-- I mean, literally, I could hold this in two fingers. Come here, Daph. [KISSING SOUNDS] Good girl. Come on, I know you don't-- you're sick of this. So I'm literally holding this in two fingers, but it's giving her just a little something-- she's getting tired of it-- it's giving her just a little something to lean into. Now, what will happen is, when you do that and the dog leans forward, it creates a little instability in the dog and they'll tend to move out more, move forward. It will increase speed and stabilize the dog moving forward, which for most breeds is great. However, our breed is one of those breeds that has a non-typical movement. Ours calls for what they call jaunty movement, which-- it doesn't mean sloppy or wrong. It just means that they aren't moving forward with their head down with really, like, this incredible purpose and drive. They're sort of swaggering, for lack of a better word. So let me have the other-- let me have the other leash. So for our breed, and again, for some other breeds where maybe the standard is calling for a non-typical movement, you might not want to be actually stabilizing them that way and pulling the leash tight. So on a grown up bull terrier, this is the way I would show the dog. Come here. [KISSING SOUNDS] Daph-- I know. I'll give you a cookie in a minute, OK? I would just have a loose leash. Come on, girl. [WHOOSHING SOUND] Dee Dee. So I would just-- again, this is a fully-trained, adult dog, moves well. Good girl! I'm just going let her do her own thing. And it's a much more typical movement for our breed. But again, all the puppies I start them the same way, which is with a little collar like that that fits just behind their ears where I can stabilize them and help them until they're able to either go on a long leash, or whatever, depending on the breed, however they're-- they're going to be going. OK. Good girl. Leash position-- you might have noticed that-- come here, [KISSING SOUNDS]---- that, when I-- so I covered that, the drape. Hey, Dee, I know, I know. She's like, man, this broadcast is getting really long and I'm not getting food. Come here. So I talked about the drape, which is, again, you know, this is a really nice bull terrier look. And then we also have the leash here. Now what I do with this-- oh, now my hand's greasy so I can't get it. So what I do with this, and this is typical, what you'll see a lot, is when you have it on right-- I'm sorry, Sweetie, but you have to wear the clothes. When you have it on right and you put it right here and you just pull it just tight enough and go like-- it will stay right there. That's going to stabilize it and you'll only have to use two fingers to hold it. And turn? Oh, turn her around? Yes, please. Yeah, so they can see that. Stay. So see that? So that's going to stay right there. And again, I'm not pulling on it, but I have just enough tension-- I mean, you know, this is something that people go crazy about. Oh, your leash is hanging. I don't care about the hanging leash. As long as it's not hitting my dog, I'm totally OK with it. So you see that. Now what you would have to do if you had a shorter breed, because you don't want to pull the dog off a balance, OK? But I can just keep this right here and she's tall enough, but if I had a short dog, I would need to have it like this. And I'd probably need to have my hand more over the dog, just because if she was super short she wouldn't-- she wouldn't be out in front of me. I'd be over her all the time. And that's what they do with the Martingales. And some people find that doing this on the down and back is better. I have not found that to be so. I find this to be a very good way to stabilize the dog at all times with under here. What's your experience, Karen? We just use whatever the dog moves better with. Some of them do move better-- With it behind? Up top, yes-- Yep. Yep. --rather than below. Do you find with the Vizslas you like to have a little bit of pressure so they have something to lean in? Or do you do move them on the loose? Yeah, same thing. How do you feel it changes their movement? Just gets them like up-- up into the-- Up into the-- so, yes, moving more correctly. They're not as stressed. They're not as-- yeah, yeah. So it works really well. So, oh, excuse me. And we don't powder our dogs or anything. OK. All right, so we've had enough of you, Daphne. You've done very well, thank you. We're going to have Mina out. Now, come on, go see Kim. Goodbye. No, no. Thanks for shopping. Go, go, no, no, you're you done. That was your turn. So I'm going to show you how we have started training Mina and Bijoux. So I'm going to assume-- this whole demonstration assumes that your dog at least has loose leash walking. And if your dog doesn't have-- in other words, that if you walk, your dog is going to walk next to you and not pull and go all over the place. If you don't have that, go back to my book "When Pigs Fly" or "Puppy Culture"-- we give instructions. They need to be able to just walk by your side on a leash. And then your task just becomes to teach them head position and to hold a steady pace. So hi, I know, it's very exciting. So here comes Mina. So all right, so let's just grab a bunch of these, [INAUDIBLE].. So now-- so Mina's thing-- because Mina is not like a huge food dog, and her thing is that she really wants to move looking at me. Come here, sweetheart. Come here. All right, you're doing fine. I know, I know. You're just killing yourself, here. Here. She really wants to move with her head turned toward me. And so why don't we want to have dogs looking at us? I mean, not that I really care much, but-- Mina, can you come, Mina, come here. All right, I'll take the toy. I know, you're a toy dog. I know you're a toy dog. Come with me. [KISSING SOUNDS] Come. Because, when they-- when they turn their head to the side, especially a heavy, stiff-bodied breed like a bull terrier, it's going to tend to throw this leg out this way. And even the best moving dog-- and I probably have some footage I can show you when I edit this-- even the best moving dog when they turn their head like that, they're going to throw this leg out. They'll put it down in the right place, in the sense that the footfall will be correct. But you're still going to see that almost like windmill action when they're looking at you. Now I'm going to go crazy about it, that the dog might look at me a little bit to start out with. But the point is, that's our goal is to get the dog traveling with their head forward. So for starters, what I want you to do is take a totally loose leash. Let me just put this-- hold on. I'm going to take this away, because that's way too much for you. I'm going to put it right here. That's for, OK? So totally loose leash. So I'm going to just walk until she trots. And then, here, I'm going to throw it down there. Now the reason-- now everyone's probably worried. Oh, my god, the dog is going to sniff. See her want to look at me? Come here, sweetheart. Come on. Good girl. Nice job. So I'm throwing it forward for her, and I'll explain why in a minute. Do you have to pee-pee? I know, it's very exciting down here. Come here. Yes, good girl. Nicely done, come on. Yes, good girl, nicely done. So I'm not worried about anything except that I get that head moving forward. Yes! Good. Good, good, good. Now this dog is not wanting to sniff a lot. [CLICKING] Good. I don't do a lot of clicking for the head to move forward. And the reason why is that it tends to get the dog looking back at you a lot. Come here, Meens. But your first step is just, again, if your dog is trained loose leash walking, you're just totally loose leash. Come on, let's go. Yes, good girl! And again, with her, I'm throwing it forward and down. Because A, she's not a big sniffer. And B, she really wants to turn and look at me a lot. So that's why we're doing it that way. With another dog, that might not be the strategy. And in fact, Bijoux is the example of why that would not be the strategy. So now, I recommend that you do a number of sessions of that. Come here. So now once you have that, and again, what I just did right there is a training session. I would put the dog away. That's enough. That's how much I train are just those couple minutes. Come here. So now I'm going to give her her collar in position. And again, she's going to want to look at me. And I'm still marking it. I mean, even though I have a clicker, I'm saying yes and she understands the verbal marker. So pup-pup. [KISSING SOUNDS] Come on. Yes, good girl! Nicely done. So I'm starting to get that head forward that I like. Really nice movement, Meens. Come here. Yes, good girl! Yes, that's really good. Come on, Meens. Come, Meens. Yes, good girl. Yes! Good girl! Really nice. Good girl! You're doing so good, I'm going do the fancy leash on the other side. Come here. Come on. It's harder that way, huh? Yeah, it's harder that way. She's not ready for the fancy leash on the other side. You're a good girl. You're a good girl. OK. So you see how that works with her-- how that's beginning to work. So now-- hi, baby girl. Hi, baby girl. You did really, really, well. Do you want to show more? You're doing so good, OK. So again, she's pretty feral. I mean, you know, like if I took her to a show right now, it would be wild. She would not be all that well-behaved. But you know, we just have to keep working on it. You just can't-- it's not like-- Rome wasn't built in a day. And it takes-- it takes years to make a dog a true show dog, so-- Question. Yes? How old are the puppies when you start them in the ring-- start training them in the ring? Can that person flush that question out? Meaning to say, when I start training them on a lead to show? Or when I take them to a show and train them in the ring? Do they mean-- I believe, just training in the ring. Well, it starts at four weeks with us. I mean, five, actually, five weeks. It starts at five weeks. Killer free stacks, we introduce the leash and just walking on the leash. And then I would say real gaiting, you know, maybe, probably like 8 to 10 weeks we would start that. You know, certainly by 12, 16 weeks we're definitely hot on it. I mean, by 16 weeks, 12, 16 weeks, we're definitely, definitely training them in movement already. So OK. So you're going to show a little bit more, OK, Meens? Good girl. Good girl. So come here and let me let you-- let me let you show a little bit more. So now, I'm condensing months of training down into one single session. So you would spend many sessions just having them look forward, look forward, look forward. And by the way, you know, I wouldn't worry too much if they look at you, or if they look back at you when you click, because to be honest, anybody who has trained a dog in obedience knows it's pretty hard to get a dog to really travel looking at you all the time. I mean, their natural tendency is going to be to look ahead and not look at you. You have to train them to look at you. So it's really not difficult to just sort of pick out the times when they're looking forward and just click and treat them ahead. So once you've gotten that, they're moving forward, and then you've added the leash-- you know, you've done it on a loose leash, then you've added the leash a little bit, now you can start moving around in a circle. And come here, Meens. [KISSING SOUNDS] Come here, girlfriend. And so here's what happens when you move in a circle is that-- come here-- as I'm moving away, I'm going to be moving slower than as I get to the corner and I want to start rounding. Because I have to, as I come kind of around the corner, I'm going to have to speed up, because she's on the inside. And as you start gaining ground on them and moving faster, they get really excited and they're going to tend to jump around and not-- you know want-- they're going to look at you and stuff. So you really have to pay special attention to reinforcing them for keeping their head down and moving forward on the corner. So let's, I'll show you. She'll probably demo it-- how that works. Come here. You ready? Come on, let's go. See, she wants-- see how crazy she wants to get? Because I have to go faster around the corner. Good girl. That's very good. Yes. Yes. Come on. Yes! Good girl. See that was a nice corner. She was starting to get that. Come on, let's do that again. So you have to teach this piece. That is, because it excites them. Come here, sweetheart. Come on. Mee. [KISSING SOUNDS] I know. You'd rather play with the toy. So this is good. Nice! Good job! See how she's beginning to get that? I mean, you know, it's not perfect, but it's something that you really have to work on and reinforce. Because when you start moving faster, they're going to start getting all excited. Good, good girl. All right. So now I want to bring out Bijoux and just-- as a compare and contrast kind of thing-- to show you the difference in my strategy with training Bijoux, because she has a different set of circumstances. Here we go. Thank you. Yes. What is the question? [INAUDIBLE] asked if you take Mina to shows anyway, even though she may not be-- Oh, yeah. That's a really great question. So yeah. So somebody said, well, do you take Mina to shows anyway even though she may not be ready to show? And absolutely, I do. So I take both girls. For what it's worth, this is what we do, is that all our show puppies-- I should say the bitches. The dogs, sometimes we really will hold out. But the bitches, they go to sweeps. I mean, even if I keep two litter-mate sisters, or I have-- I'll compete against myself, I don't care. I want them to have those early experiences at the shows. When they start being arguably even a little competitive, which at 11 months old Bijoux has already gotten a major so-- at a specialty show, so she is somewhat-- you know? I still don't think I'm going to finish her like that at 11 months old. But I won't show against myself anymore with the two girls. But I always bring Mina, because I want her to get used to the whole experience so that when I do walk in the ring with her, the only thing that I'm working against is just actually being in the ring, that she's so used to the whole show thing. Bijoux, your time has come. You can take off her collar and just let her come in. Just take it right off. You ready, Mom? Yes, you are. Bij, you ready? OK. OK. OK. Here you are. I know. Here you are. And I don't know how you got that chalk on your back, but you did. You got some dirt on your back. OK. So now Bijoux presents a little bit of a different picture. And I'm going to show you. Right away you're going to see it. Come here, sweetheart. Let's get some of these. And by the way, when I do free stack training, I tend to want to use-- ow, ooh. I tend to want to use pieces of jerky or large pieces of bait that I can just hold and break off little pieces. But with this, it's different, because I want to be able to throw-- I want to have ready pieces to throw. So I'm going to just show you-- come here-- her movement. And I think you'll see, I think, if she-- if she's true to her usual form, she'll show you why I do this differently with her. OK, come here. Give me these. So all right, come here. Now you're going to have a regular collar, because you already know this. All right, come here. Come on. [KISSING SOUNDS] You ready? Let's go. Yeah, there she's showing you right now. Yeah, there it is. So Bijoux is a sniffer. Good girl. She's got a good nose. Yeah. Yeah, I know. She's got a good nose. So Bijoux is a sniffer. So, yes. that's what I said, Bijoux is a sniffer. Say, that's me. So my strategy with her is going to be different. I'm not going to throw the food ahead of her, because I do not want to actually shape her to be looking ahead and down that way. Here, have a cookie here. We have a saying in dog training, which is you click or mark for behavior and treat for position. So with both girls, I'm going to mark the exact same thing. All right, sit-- just relax for a minute, please. Come here. I know, you're so rambunctious. I know. She's like, I've been waiting all day for this. Now, just hang a little while longer. So you click for the behavior. And in both cases, the behavior was exactly the same-- the head forward, straight, driving, nice pace forward. We're going to click for that. But in Bijoux's case, what I'm going to do is I'm going to have one piece of food in my right hand, I'm going to do with my right hand-- it's a little tricky because I have to actually also click with my right hand-- and hold my extra food in my left hand. And you'll see, I'm going to feed her straight out in front of her head, OK? So come here, Mom. Come here. Come here. All right, we'll do it this way. Come here. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, you're a big pain. I have to put it all in one hand. OK. I changed my mind. I'm going to put the clicker in my left hand. So let's go. Come on. [CLICKING] Oops, I didn't-- that was a mistake click. [CLICKING] Good girl. Come on. Come on. So anytime that that head is not down, it may take her a little while to lift it up. But any time, if I can get it to come up and not be sniffling-- the head is still down a little bit more than I'd like-- [CLICKING] there! Good girl. But I'm going to try and feed her as much as possible in front. Come on. [CLICKING] Yes! Good girl! I don't want to feed her looking back at me, because I don't want to encourage that. [CLICKING] Nice! Good girl! So see how that's getting her nose right out of the grass right away? Good girl. Come on. Yes! And now, ideally, I'd like her to travel with her head a little higher. Come on. Yay! That's doing so good! That's good. That's good. Come on, Bee-Bee. So now what I'm doing is-- that's really good. So she shaped down pretty quick with that. So she was sniffing, sniffing, sniffing and we got to lift up her head. Here, you can play with your toy a little bit. Come on, you're a baby, you can play with your toy. So she shaped down really quickly to get her head out of the grass. And I think that is testament to the fact of how well shaping works. That you really don't need to correct it-- what's the matter? Yeah, you really don't need to correct it and be doing this. And there's no-- I don't see any reason why anybody needs to do this in the showing. I know it's hard to believe that you never need to correct a dog for sniffing. But here's Bijoux at 15 months old showing at our national specialty, just eight weeks after this broadcast aired. She's clearly learned to keep her head up, and she's never been corrected for putting her head down. Even outdoors, where the temptations are much worse, you can see the Bijou's learned to keep her head up. Although I'm keeping the leash short, it's not tight and I'm not using it to control her head. Now, [TOY SQUEAKING] all that having been said, there are times when you're in the show ring and your puppy is just going to want to sniff. And you almost have to just anchor your lead to your-- [TOY SQUEAKING] you have to anchor your lead to your hip and just go and just almost tether them to keep them from sniffing. But at that point, you need to say to yourself, OK, I need to go home and train more. That this is not-- this is not a fix, this is not training. This is not a solution, it's management under the situation. Yes, is that really good? OK. So again, to review, Mina, I clicked and I threw forward, because she's not foraging in the ground. So I clicked for the behavior of looking straight ahead, fed her ahead of her to keep her going straight ahead, because her big thing is she wants to look at me. This dog wants to put her nose in the ground. So I'm going to click for the same exact thing that I clicked for with Mina, which was going forward, but I'm going to treat out of my hand, and as much as possible right in front of her. It's tricky with all the stuff that you have to carry, probably easier if you don't use a clicker, if you just use a verbal marker. Yeah. Thank you for that serenade there. OK. Let's take some questions. You can play with that. At what age do you start showing a female or a male, not just in sweepstakes? Well, I always enter them in the regular classes if I enter in sweeps. And the male, I mean, you know, it really depends on the maturity level. I think people will, just my opinion, not hold it against a bitch as much. Can you guys hear me over that? Or is that too loud? I think people will not hold immaturity against a bitch as much. And you can bring her back once her ribs spring and no one's going to say, oh, she didn't have-- she didn't have substance. But a dog, unfortunately, they expect the dogs to come out like a million bucks. And it's very hard to live that down. So to be honest, yeah, I do wait longer with the dogs. I do. I mean, I wait until I really feel that they're almost competitive before I show the dogs. Yeah. What about you, Karen? Do you feel that way? Exactly the same way, yes. Yeah. It's a shame, but it's just the way it is. Oh no no, no no, do not run off. Come here. Do not-- here, there you go. You can give that to Kim. I think we have some more questions. OK. We can take some questions. And then I do have a little bit more to show you. Can you put a regular leash on and just hold her over there? It's easier than having to deal with her. Easier for me, that is. Not for you. Oh, no, lea-- oh, OK. Well, you could have left that on. It's OK, it's OK. So the questions? Go ahead, Karen. Yeah, I do. Do you bring a clicker in the ring? Do I bring a clicker? Do you bring a clicker in the ring with you? No. No, you can't do that. Look, I mean, the clicker is-- should only really be used in the beginning to point out to the dog what the correct behavior is. And once you've shaped the correct behavior, you lose the clicker very quickly. And it's actually a great question. And I meant to say it, and I probably didn't emphasize it enough, is that I lose the clicker very, very quickly with this. I probably only do one, between one and three sessions, actually, with the clicker. And more likely one with the clicker. Because my dogs are pretty operant. They pick it up quickly. And once they've got it, I also have a verbal marker, and I just don't even use the clicker. And then when you go in with the ring, you know, you really can't bring a clicker in. I don't know if-- legally you could, but you wouldn't. And you know, you shouldn't. I mean, if you're in a place where you still need the clicker to get the behavior, you're not ready to show the dog yet. I want to show you one more thing. And actually, I can show it with her. OK. I think I can show it with her. I might have to have Daphne. And you know what? I think we actually-- Do you use a verbal marker in the ring? I do, yeah. Well, OK, so the question is, do I use a verbal marker in the ring? And I will use a verbal marker in the ring. But again, part of the problem is that when you use a marker of any kind, the dog feels that the behavior is over. That they are now going to be entitled to some kind of treat, or reinforcer, or toy, or whatever it is. So again, you know, by the time you get into the ring, you can use encouragement, you can mark, certainly stacks and things like that, you should be feeding and marking that because you want to maintain that behavior. But with the gait, you kind of want to have gotten it to the point where you don't really have to be marking it anymore. Because if you're marking it, the dog is going to stop and want food. And that's a great question. And also, what about treats? What treats [INAUDIBLE]. Right. I mean, you know, this is a big-- well, I mean, this doesn't go so much to movement as it does to stacking, in that-- OK, so what happens is, is that we do kind of OK in training as far as understanding ratio of reinforcement. That we have to reinforce what we want. So when the dog is stacked right, you know, we feed them. We keep doing that. And then we get to a show and what do we do? We get the dog just right and then we don't feed them ever when they're stacked up right. And then we lure them and let them nibble when they're wrong. So they learn very quickly not to stack right. That when they stack wrong they get lured and they're allowed to nibble on the food. You must maintain the behavior. So the judges are only really going to be looking at your dog for a few seconds. You have plenty of time, when your dog hits that good stack, you feed them. You bait them, the judge goes by, you feed them. You have to reinforce the behavior. You have to maintain it with something. People bring puppies and they just-- I don't know if they're nervous or they're just not able, really, to multitask mentally that way. But it's something you need to work on, that you are always training your puppy. And again, you know, I mean in a lot of countries, I believe in Europe, they can't even get a championship till the dog is what, 18 months old? Maybe Margo, or somebody from Europe is going to write in on that. It's ridiculous to take a six-month-old puppy and just expect them to be perfect, demand it, and think you're going to finish the dog. I mean you may, you may. But it's a bonus if you do finish the dog. And we have a couple good questions. Yeah, a couple of good questions, OK. I know it's a bit off subject, but what do you do with a dog that keeps jumping on you even in the ring? No, it's not at all off the subject. I mean, you saw Mina jumping at me. And you do exactly what I did, is you just ride it out. 0's and 1's, like I always say, 0's and 1's. Dog training is not about corrections, it's not about right and wrong, it's about 0's and 1's. 1's are things that produce a result for the dog, as in a treat or a toy or whatever they like. 0's are 0's. Nothing. So if the dog jumps at me, I just keep moving along until the dog isn't jumping at me, I mark it, and I give food. They figure it out very quickly. I think I probably do have footage of the first time that that dog showed in the ring. And she was a bronc. I mean, but now they're great. So it's just-- it's a question of not expecting it to be all perfect the first time you show. It's a process over time. And actually, you know, I'm going to say something a little bit out of order. It was really going to be more what I was going to close with, but it's so apropos to this question, which is that you can-- don't be in a hurry. Take your time. Even sporting breeds that, you know-- I had a cattle dog, I had two cattle dogs that I showed. And you know, cattle dogs are shown all the way at the end of a very long leash, and the handler runs fast. And that dog should be flying. But even those dogs start as puppies with your hand low and the dog right next to you. It doesn't happen overnight. Take your time. There's no substitute for time. Let's talk about leash handling for puppies. Now, I talked about how sporting breeds, you're going to be-- the dog is going to be way ahead of you, you're going to be running behind. I mean, you've seen the German shepherds. They wear hot pants and they run. For puppies, and actually for most of the dogs, your leash should be short but loose and your hands should be low. So what do I mean by that? I mean that-- stand here, baby-- I'm right here. I have a very short leash on this dog, but it's not tight because my hand is low. Well, what does this do? This gives me the most stabilizing and control over the dog so that she has very little play to move side to side. So when I move-- come on, baby [KISSING SOUNDS]---- she actually-- come here, sweetheart, come here. Come on. Come on, good girl! Nice job. Very well, done! Come here. Come here. Good girl! Beeda-beeda-beeda-bee. And then I'll let out a little bit for that. But now, I want you to contrast that to this. If I have a tight lead and it's long, she can wobble all over the place. And this is what you'll see. People will have a very tight lead and it's long and I have no control over where this dog goes right now. And I'm not saying that you pull hard on the dog, but just having it low but loose does not choke the dog, does not throw her off. But it gives her that little bit of stability she needs to stay in line. See this? This is not tight. See this? Two fingers, that's what I got right here with this dog. Come here. [KISSING SOUNDS] Come on. Now watch, she'll pull right out of my hands. Yeah, I know. She still wants to put her head down. Come here. But I can literally just-- see, my hands are open so I can close my finger-- Beej-- and I have that much control. But if your hand is all the way up here, you don't have that, OK? So it actually is the same for anything, any kind of training. I mean, this is the hardest thing to get people to understand. A loose lead, but short and your hand low, you have the most control over the dog, because you also now have-- you know, if your hand is all the way up here, I mean, you have no place to go with it. If your hand is down here, you can actually move her more. I know. You're such a good dog! Let's see. OK, so you know what I want to do is show you guys about how you should be moving, how it works. So good, good, good, good girl. Good, good, good, good girl. Can I do this with you? I don't think I can. Yeah, you're going to have to hold her for a second, Kim. Here she comes. Just hang on to her for a second. OK, so movement-- your movement in the ring. And I'm going to do this without a dog so you can see it. So you'll notice that handlers have a very particular way that they move and it's a heel/toe. And generally speaking, they'll start out just slowly heel/toeing and then very gradually ramp into it, and then they do this kind of like flat-footed heel/toe movement as they run. And I want to show it to you on the side. So you're going to be-- and again, it's a heel/toe, heel/toe. And the reason that they do that that way is because if you're up on the balls of your feet, you're going to see that I bounce a lot more. So if I do this, see how I'm [LAUGHING] bouncing? I mean, I'm laughing because it seems silly to me, because I would never show a dog that way. But you want to stay smooth yourself, as much as possible. So the heel/toe, you can start walking this way. And then you should start out-- when you start-- you know what? Bring me Daphne. I'm sorry Bijoux, but but you're a pain and we don't want [LAUGHING]. So you should start out walking, walking, walking. And then just only break into a run when you have to. But again, it's going to be heel/toe. And it's like they say, a ballroom dancer, ballroom dancers say, the floor is your best friend. So you want to keep your feet low and you want to roll off your feet so you have as smooth as possible a gait going around, as opposed to-- you don't want to be-- you don't want to be bouncing up on your toes like this. You want to be down on your heels like this. So I'll bring Daphne and I'll show you. And especially with puppies, when you're starting out, you want to start out just rolling very slowly off your feet. If they amble, if they don't gait right, that's not a problem, but you want to slowly work into it. Come on. This is the last thing. All right, Daph, so let's do a real one. Yes. You have to have-- she says, if it's real, you have to have a cookie. So here we go. [KISSING SOUNDS] So you ready, babe? So let's show them. So if I were going to go off, you ready? Good girl. Good girl. Nice job. So now I'm going to show how when we go around I'm going to accelerate around the turn. And if she remembers her stuff, she's going to keep moving forward. Come here. [KISSING SOUNDS] You ready? Good girl! Good girl. Yes. That's very, very good. Very, very good. OK, I have some questions? That's all I have to show you today. Any questions? Yes. Actually, you know what? Would you bring out to Mina one more time? I'm going to take some more questions and I'm going to show one more thing. Yeah, I have a bonus thing I'm going to show you. Just Mina. I'll take some questions. OK, this is also a bit off topic, but how would you go about building confidence during examination, specifically dealing with what I call contortionists during an examination? Yeah. Oh, you know, I wish-- unfortunately, we covered that last time. And I am going to be coming out with-- that DVD is going to be available for purchase. No, really. It's her turn now. You've had a turn. But-- [BARKING] --the best thing to do, as far as the examination, is "Attention is the Mother of All Behaviors." If you haven't seen that yet, you should see it. This is what we do with all our puppies. is we train them to hold the stack and hold the attention on me even as they're being touched by somebody else. That is really the-- the best way to do it. Is the attention is the mother of all behaviors. Disruptions are cues for attention is our motto. So they learn that when hands go on them, it's just a cue to give you more attention. So come here Daphne. I just want to show-- because I just want to demo this, how it looks with a puppy, again, because I don't want people to expect a lot of their puppies. I want people to understand that it might-- it's a messy process in the beginning. You have to be able to accept that shaping something, it's like a lump of clay, that you slowly shape it down. It's not like it just-- Whoa! You, Mina, take it easy. Take it easy. Whoa, whoa. Mina bo Beans, OK. So are you going-- are there more questions? Yes, Jane. What do you mean when you say "finish the dog?" Oh, why, goodness. Thank you for asking that question. Finish means get their championship. Is that something from Europe, I wonder? Yes, finish is get their championship. Any other questions? Come here, baby. You're a good girl. Oh, this is-- this is a good question. Do you train any differently for showing inside on concrete versus outside on grass? Wow I don't-- I wouldn't say I train any differently, except for the fact that it's always going to be harder on grass just because there's so much more good stuff. I mean, there's goose poop and whatever else. There's going to be-- hey, Meens, do you want some cookies? See this dog does not love food. Yes. Here, Meens. You know, the only thing I want to say, though, about-- go ahead and look at the rest the questions. But the only thing I want to say about training on indoors is that if you are ever shown all day at a breed show that's indoors on mats, you know how your feet hurt at the end of the day? Your dog's feet kind of hurt too. So it can be, their gaiting can get less good, especially like if they go to the group. Or like sometimes we'll have independent specialties where it's a show in the morning, you do the group, and then you have a show at night. And by the last class, I mean at night, your feet hurt, the dog's feet hurt, they just they don't move as well. But that's just more a fact of life than it is-- more questions? OK. Come hear, Mee. So, Mee, I just want to show people how we do this. Come here. Come here, Mina. I'm just going to show people how we do this and then we're all done, because you're such a good little girl. So again, come here, Mimi. [KISSING SOUNDS] Ready? So see how I'm not going to-- oh that's awfully good. So you see how I'm going to let her carry me on the speed. I'm not pushing her at all. I'm going to start with just walking. Come here, Mee. Come here. Good girl. Come here. Come here. Look, look, look, look at what I have. Look what I have. Look what I have. So I'm going to start with just walking. And then as she trots, I'm going to just go and catch up with her. Good girl. One more time. So I'm going to roll off my feet till I-- that's awfully good. Now that's a really nice trot! I really liked that, Mina. That was really good. I'm out of cookies. So again, you see how I'm just going to roll slowly into it. I'm not going to do a shocking, quick move. Next time, we're going to talk more about ring strategy and how to make sure that when your judge is looking at the dog you are presenting the dog in the correct gait. But for now, for the training, we just want to make sure that we were training it and not-- not startling the dog with a sudden movement. Yes, Karen. Jane, if a dog does both performance and conformation, how do you teach her to know which way to walk-- Right. --on the handler's side or moving out in front? Wow, that's a great question. And you know, there's a couple different things-- context. So this leash becomes a cue for doing breed stuff. And a regular leash becomes a cue for doing performance like obedience or rally. Plus the fact that-- come here, Mina. Do you want to show some healing? So if I'm going to do breed stuff-- come here. Come here with the cookies. Yes, I know you don't love them. So this is my posture, and I want you to-- you can see it better from the front. Mimi, come here, darling. So ultimately, this is how I look. So I'm going to be, first of all, my shoulders are open to the dog somewhat, because I'm watching her as I'm going along, and my hand is low, and I'm like that. Now if I were going to be doing obedience-- come here, sweetheart-- this is what it looks like. And she really hasn't done a lot of obedience, but this is what obedience looks like-- come here, babe-- which is something completely different. Come here, Mum. [KISSING SOUNDS] Sit down. Sit. Can you sit? Good, stay. So this is obedience. Mee-- Mina-mee. Good girl. Good girl, Mee. She's like, wow, yes, good girl. She's just a baby puppy, but it's not-- it's not confusing to them, at all. And especially if you click and treat them a couple of times for doing healing. Come here. They're completely-- like, dogs are much, much better at picking up contextual cues than we give them credit for, because just being who we are, having language and a lot of things that dogs don't have, we are not as tuned into contextual clues the way that they are. Come here. [BARKING] Mee. [KISSING SOUNDS] Are there more questions? Mimi. Mina is like, I just want to get critters. Let's heal. You want to heal a little bit? Mimi. [CLICKING] Good girl. Nice job. Good girl. That's it. Oh wow, that was really fun. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. OK, goodbye. Goodbye. Mina says, goodbye. Goodbye. [KISSING SOUNDS] Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Kim. [KISSING SOUNDS] You're such a good girl.