The El Cajon FD aquired two new USAR dogs

Short on details but nice notice about two new USAR dogs fro the El Cajon FD

Discovery Learning

Have you noticed how excited a child gets the first time they discover they have the power to make a room go light or dark by flipping the light switch? Often they will laugh or giggle as they throw the switch repeatedly.

This excitement in the moment of discovery, often called the “aha!” experience, is one of the keys to this new approach to e-collar training.

Throughout the training program presented in this series I have designed each learning situation so that your dog can “discover” for himself how to control the slight sensations he receives from the e-collar and "stop the tap" in each new situation. Just as the child is excited with her newfound power at the light switch, your dog will be excited to discover that he has real control over his situation. Your dog will become fully engaged in the training process.

You will be amazed at the positive attitude and speed of learning possible with your DOGTRA e-collar when your dog learns to work in response to the e-tap and that he can control the tap by his actions.

Some of the benefits of using Discovery learning approach in dog training:

1.       Your Dog’s mind is actively engaged in the training process.

2.       Your Dog’s emotional state is positive. This colors training and working with you in a positive light.

3.       Lessons are rapidly learned through Discovery Learning.

4.       Lessons are not quickly forgotten.    

I’m not sure yet if I will put this course on static pages too or keep the individual posts in the blog  only. I’ll work that ouot as we go. For now here is the outline of the cousre to come. 

Course Contents

E-Collar Introduction 

1. Choosing the right e-collar - Equipment needed
2. Understanding the Training Approach
3. Guidelines for Structuring Training

Getting Started

Here

Heel

Sit

Kennel or Place

The Formal Recall

Add Distractions

Kennel on Top

Introduce the Finish

Add Distance on Kennel

Automatic Sit

Finish on Command

Sit-Stay; Left Turns at Heel

Down; Kennel Into Car

Polishing

The “Tap” Dance

Problem Solving

E-Collar Training

This is the first is a series on Obedience Training using the e-collar.

We will cover basic obedience commands first then look at some problem solving. 

Whether training companion, working, or sport dogs, we all want a happy and willing worker that responds quickly to direction at a distance under distraction. The modern electronic training collar is a versatile training tool that can help you reach that goal.

I use and sell the DOGTRA collars. There are a couple of other makers of sound reliable collars and there a couple of e-collars out there that are just not versatile enough or reliable enough for daily training use. Investigate your options before buying. If you have any questions about the DOGTRA collars I’d be happy to help.

 DOGTRA electronic training collar (e-collar) is a safe, reliable, and effective training tool. With it, you can make corrections suited to your dog’s temperament and the distraction level of the moment, at the proper time, for maximum training efficiency.

However, correcting to stop unwanted behavior is only a small part of what you can do with your e-collar. More importantly, the e-collar is a powerful tool for encouraging desired behavior.

 Before you can use your DOGTRA collar for teaching new behavior, you must suspend notions about the e-collar being only for correcting. Your dog also must learn from experience to act in response to the e-collar and that by his actions he can control the sensation of the e-collar, what we call the “e-tap.” Once those two things happen, you

can use the e-collar to teach and encourage desired responses and yes, to discourage or eliminate undesirable behavior.

You will find this system of using the e-collar is even gentler than traditional leash training methods, offers increased reliability and, because the e-collar provides instant feedback to your dog, accelerates his learning.

E-Collar Requirements

1.      Your e-collar must be adjustable for variable intensity from the transmitter.

2.      Your e-collar should offer both preset timed stimulation and a continuous option from the transmitter

3.      The buttons on the transmitter must be easy to find and use, if you need to look at the transmitter to find the buttons you are not looking at the dog.

4.      I prefer that both transmitter (you carry this) and receiver (The dog wears this) be water proof.

5.      I prefer that both transmitter and receiver have rechargeable batteries.

Other equipment needed

1.      You will need a choke chain that fits. A flat buckle collar works but is not as safe, many dogs can slip out of the flat buckle collars.

2.      You will need a fifteen foot length of line. Depending on the size of your dog this could be as light a cotton clothes liner or as heavy as 5/8 inch nylon line.

3.      You will need a six foot leash, I prefer leather.

4.      You will need a small table or bed that will work for a target to send your dog to. This can be a piece of plywood elevated on 2×4’s or ½ an airline shipping crate. The target needs to be large enough for your dog to lie down on. The elevation is to make sure your dog can see it and then it must feel different than the surrounding area so he knows for sure when he is on it.

This is the last of the big three for the working dog, Tracking , Obedience and now Protection work. The pup VI is now twelve weeks old and she has been introduced to the work she will do later in life. 

This puppy protection is based on play, prey and fight drive.

I’ll post a bit on some detection work and  then  we might look at  principals of training and core concepts that have been introduced in each of the venues.

The adult working /sport dog will train/test/ in obedience. Obedience helps set the foundation of a solid relationship with your pup. 

Here is a short clip of VI working on obedience. More clips will follow with post on how to get started right with obedience training your pup.

For now you can find a list of our puppy training articles at the Ponderosa Kennels main website.

The Puppy obedience article has tips on getting started training in obedience your pup.

Vi is 11 weeks old in this clip. She is a Malinois pup and is being started for detection and Schutzhund sport work. The Schutzhund dog is tested on tracking, obedience and protection work. At twelve weeks of age she has already been introduced to a variety of venues she may well train for as an adult. 

Puppies that are exposed to early training have an increased capacity to learn new information later in life.  

One question posed in my first post was "do we need to train puppies? " This is part of the answer to that question.

Of the What we present,  When we present it and How we present it statements this is directed to When we present it. 

The following is from a paper titled "Cognitive Neurorehabilitation"
Edited by Donald T. Stuss, Gordon Winocur and Ina H. Robertson
Cambridge University Press 1999
ISBN 0 521 58102 8 hb 
Written by Brian Kolb, Robin Gibb

I have cited the work as completely as I know how.

This paper/book is about what happens in the brain during the processes of recover from brain injury in people. There are some very interesting points made and research projects mentioned that apply to puppy training that I want to point out.

On page 10 they state two assumptions: the first is not relevant to puppy training but the second is very important and it is this

"Structural changes in the brain underlie behavioral changes."

Page 12 they make two points: the first we all sot of know the second is the one I want to look at. 

1.Neurons in the normal brain change their morphology during development and ageing. 

2. Neurons in the normal brain show specific changes in response to specific environmental experiences.

Theses are the two principal types of changes in the normal brain, changes during brain development and experience-dependant changes.  

Normal Developmental Changes in the brain

The authors go into detail about brain development, covering dendrites, synapses, axon terminals and more. I don’t pretend to understand what it’s all about.

I think of it like a tree the early brain has trunk, as it develops it branches out and the branches branch out and those branches branch out and so on.

When mammals are born their brains are not fully developed. As the brain develops it becomes more and more finely complicated with a higher number of synapses and dendrites.

 Scott and Fuller say that the puppy brain is turned on at 49 days.

Experience-Dependant changes in the brain. Pg.10

Here is where it gets interesting. The authors show that rats raised in enriched environments have a large increase in dendrite length, spine density and changes that suggest a substantial increase in the number of synapses as opposed to rats raised in empty cages. What the heck does that mean?  Rats that are raised in the enriched environments have more fully developed brains than other rats.  

And they exposed rats of different ages to the enriched environment and found that rats that weren’t exposed until they were juvenile showed different changes then the rats that had very early exposure.

They say of the differences: "This capacity presumably reflects the increased potential for these animals (the rats that were exposed to an enriched environment early in life) to learn new information later."   Pg 14

The rats that were exposed very early in their development had the most profound changes and these changes are positive from a trainer’s point of view.

The animal that is exposed to an enriched environment very early in it’s development has an increased potential to learn new information later in life.

My take away is to start training early for smarter puppies.

All puppy training should be designed to build the drives we want in the adult dog, it should encourage the formation of desirable character traits, and develop fundamental skills the pup will need to excel in it’s life work. 

I believe that by the time a pup is 12 weeks old she should have been introduced to the key components of her life’s calling. Hunting retrievers should be marking and handling in some fashion by this time. The Schutzhund sport dog or working police dog candidate should be tracking, doing obedience and some little form of bite work by the end of this period. Puppies destined to be detection dogs should be finding target odor by twelve weeks. 

Since Clarence Pfaffenberger popularized the information on the critical periods in the development of pups with his book "The New Knowledge of Dog Behavior" the importance of socializing pups is widely understood.