Cliff, you are doing a great job teaching Tasha impulse control!

Owl and Tasha mated again this morning. Then Cliff laid a track for Tasha, an AKC-type track this time, meaning Tasha tracked where Cliff walked; it was not a blood track. 

Graciously, Cliff invited me to run Viljo on the track first. And Viljo, who had not tracked in months, did a very nice job! After that, Tasha ran the track, too. It was becoming warm but she is one motivated tracking dog and her performance was impressive! Following are some photos I took of Tasha on this track, with captions.

What a phenomenal early-training concept!

I see in Comments that it is criticized quite a bit as being too hard on young bodies. I guess I have to ask those folks if they have seen puppies play!

My blogging, emailing, and Facebooking have necessarily been on hold for the past month. One reason for it was a large annual, work-related responsibility that required a lot of my time and attention. I have completed this project which is great to be able to say.

The other reason is that, on February 1, I began daily training sessions with all four dogs. I have not worked at this type of training in decades and I have been eager to revisit it for several years. But I had really been stuck on HOW? Training methodologies are important to me and things have changed a lot in the years since I was involved. Amidst the myriad of varying information available and my own often highly conflicting views, I had not been able to arrive at the HOW. Not until late last year, that is, when I bought a textbook on learning theory and behavior, ordered some DVDs that I hoped would be helpful (they were!), finally opened a set of excellent horse (yep!) training books I got at Equine Affaire a few years ago, and did some studying on the internet. All of this culminated in the training sessions that began the first of this month.

Things have really clicked (hah!) and my dogs and I are very much enjoying ourselves! But establishing the habit of daily training sessions, planning what to train (first, second, third, etc), how to train, when to train, when to go back, when to maintain, and when to move on, has required a lot of start-up brain power. I spent a good portion of my time at home devoted to this endeavor and I am so glad I did.

It is all coming to me more readily now. I have the basic training structure in place and it has become part of our day. And when I walk past the room where we have been training and see one or more of the dogs sitting there waiting and hopeful for a training session, then I know all the effort to figure out HOW has been worth it. My dogs have craved the training even more than I.

On the phone a couple of days ago, I commented about something that I have been seeing with Taya and that is imitation.

The habit in this house is that when the three adult dogs, Nexus, Owl, and Viljo, come in on lead, they sit nicely inside the door while I remove their collars and leads. They are all required to stay sitting until I tell them "okay." <Mad dash>

Sometimes the stay is for 10 seconds. Sometimes it is for 60 seconds. Sometimes I stay with them, other times I walk into another room, remove my jacket, take a water from the fridge, get a Kleenex...Then I walk back to them, tell them how good they are, and say "okay."  <Mad dash>

Taya has not been a part of this process. She is nearly always coming in without a lead because she nearly always doesn't need one. And in all of the many times that she has come in without a lead, she has just mozied around wherever she wants to go - until last week.

Last week, I saw Taya sit and stay with the boys when I left and went into the kitchen. She was still there when I walked back. She was looking at me intently but I didn't really think it was deliberate behavior on her part. A fluke. Yes, must be!

But the same thing has happened several times since then. And of course I am now aware that the behavior is deliberate. She sits with the boys. She waits with the boys for however long they wait. And when I say "okay" <Mad dash>.

The behavior is completely self-taught and she learned it by watching.

Then...today. Today, I gave Owl a bath. Afterward, I wrapped him in a towel and carried him outside. Taya was all happy that Owl had gotten a bath; she was jumping up and carrying on and she came outside with us. I rubbed Owl with the towel, then I removed it. As soon as I took the towel off Owl, he gave a vigorous shake. And you know what?  Taya, who had been bouncing around Owl being a nuisance and even vocalizing a bit, stopped right then and shook herself, too. haha! I believe the term for that action is "automatic imitation." I would love to have it on video!

That dogs can and do imitate the actions of other dogs is not a new concept to me. However, seeing such explicit demonstrations of imitation in one of my own - young - dogs is new.

This evening, I googled "canines imitating canines" and have read two interesting articles so far. The first, in the Washington Post, is titled What Were They Thinking? More Then We Knew. The other is Imitation #2 on Patricia McConnell's blog The Other End of the Leash. Some interesting stuff.

It is really very easy. This is how I do it.

From the very first time that I cut a puppy's nails, I reinforce her cooperation.

I hold the puppy on her back on my lap with a container of small bits of something very tasty - chicken! hot dogs! - on the desk or table in front of us. And this is what they learn:

Lie on your back. Get a treat.

Hold still. Get a treat.

Have a nail clipped. Get a treat.

Hold still some more. Get a treat.

Have second nail clipped. Get a treat.

Third nail. Treat!

I remember the moment when Viljo, as a young puppy, got the concept. He became very still like a statue and willed me to cut a nail so that he could get a treat! ha ha! That's the idea, little guy!

After a couple of nail cutting sessions, I will cut two nails between each treat. Then three. Then a whole paw. But sometimes I will cut one nail and give two treats!

After several sessions, they don't get any treats while their nails are being cut but they always get a treat afterward.

The result of a bit of patience and reward with young puppies is having adult dogs who ask to be next to have their nails cut!

Photos below are of Taya getting her nails done on September 7, 2012. She was 14 weeks old and not new to this although we were hours away from home at the time. I have wanted to put a post like this up for some time but needed someone to take the pictures. Diane Webb took these photos for me and did an excellent job of it! Thank you, Diane! And thank you, Taya!