Category: The Grit Report

Scent Discrimination Part 1

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I decided to journal Grit’s scent discrimination training in order to keep myself accountable and follow through. I started a month or two ago, but somehow stopped working on it soon after. This time, we’ll keep at it – we want to get our TEAM 1 title soon, after all, and this is the last behavior we’re missing.

I’ve never taught scent discrimination before, so this is new to me. I’m going to use a mix of the method Denise Fenzi showed me when she was visiting in September (using flat articles the dog can’t pick up, and starting with handler scent rather than a food lure from the beginning), and the way Phoebe learned nosework in Melissa Chandler’s Introduction to Nosework class at FDSA.

I’m not using anything resembling an actual article for FCI obedience. If I screw up, it’ll be on a random object rather than a competition object – so I have nothing to worry about and can experiment. For now, my goal is just an indication of the article that smells like me. Until Grit can do this perfectly, I don’t worry about the retrieve required in FCI obedience. In fact, I use flat objects precisely because they cannot be picked up. The indication I’m going for is a sustained nose/muzzle target, as if it were a nosework hide. Once Grit can reliably find and indicate the object with my scent, I can then transfer the indication to actual FCI articles and add the retrieve.

Step 1: teach a chin/muzzle target with 5 seconds of duration (we’ve already got that).

Session 1: warming up the chin/muzzle target (only asking for very little duration).

Step 2: transfer the chin/muzzle target to a coaster held in my hand.

Step 3: get 5 seconds duration on the coaster target.

… to be continued tomorrow!

Grit and Game: Similar, but Different …

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I just LOVE seeing Game develop and thinking back to Grit at the same age. They are the same breed, after all – but from two very different lines, and two very different personalities. It’s fascinating how much variation there can be within one and the same breed!

Let’s look at them through the categories Denise Fenzi developed in Train The Dog In Front of You:

Grit (Igrit vom Heustadlwasser)
Austrian IPO line

Grit as a puppy

Grit as a puppy.001

Grit today

Grit today.001

In many respects, Grit is exactly what I’m looking for in a dog. I’ve never had a dog I found as much fun to train and live with, and I honestly can’t imagine I’ll ever love a dog as much as her. She has four qualities the person and trainer I am today loves in a dog: she’s a serious dog (as opposed to a goofy one), she is a one-person dog (as opposed to a very social one), she’s got a perfect balance between handler focus and environmental focus, is biddable and has lots of working drive, but medium energy (the perfect combination), and she is able to think when under stress (which can be eustress or distress – she can problem-solve even if her arousal is high because of a toy, and she is able to listen to me even if she’s in a situation she is overwhelmed by). She is extremely smart and learns well by shaping. Puppy Grit really was perfect. The one thing I’m not so happy with in Grit today is the fact that she developed a fear of people. She had one bad experience at a highly impressionable time in her life (when she was 6 months old), and having the wrong experience at the wrong time triggered a general weariness of people. We’re working on it, and it’s slowly getting better – but at this point, it’s hard to imagine her being happy in a trial environment (and I wouldn’t want to take her there if she felt bad). But we’ll see what the future brings. Step by step, I’m trying to help her re-discover her confidence.

Game (Ygame van’t Merlebosch)
Dutch KNPV line

Game as a puppy

Game as a puppy.001

Grit was a self-confident puppy – Game is even more self-confident. She is fearless when it comes to new people and dogs. Unlike Grit, who would challenge new dogs even as a puppy, Game is open and friendly to new dogs and people. Game is also my first environmentally focused dog since Snoopy: Phoebe, Fanta, Hadley, Grit – none of them are environmental. Game is interested in everything around her, particularly all these interesting sights and smells! Currently, the world is more fascinating than me – but we’re working on it, and I can see that she is able to engage better and better. I also haven’t had a nose-driven dog since Snoopy! Game loves to follow her nose and explore the scents of the world. I’ve promised her she’ll get to do nosework! She has more trouble learning through shaping, and learning in general, then Grit had at this age. But we’re getting there and improving a little bit most days. Game is higher power than Grit. That is to say, she is determined to get what she wants – and she’ll complain or fight back if she doesn’t get it. I also suspect that Game is what people call a hard dog (which is not unusual in KNPV dogs). She has a high pain threshold, and she works for the reinforcers rather than in order to please me. She’s still a puppy, so these qualities aren’t written in stone. I believe that biddability is at least partly built by means of the relationship we develop with our dogs. Since I’m plannin gon building a great relationship, I’m positive that her biddability will increase, and her hardness will not. She has already started caring more about my opinion than when we first met. For example, she will now let me redirect when she’s puppy-biting my sleeves or tugging on my pants: unless she’s overly tired and overexcited, she’ll be like, “Oh, I see, you don’t want me to tug on that or bite that? What can I bite or tug on instead?” And I respond by offering an alternative. Her attention span and her rate of auto check-ins has already increased, and I am starting to see her happiness to play and work with me awaken.

Training Challenges

I see two training challenges in Game’s future: her environmental focus, and her lower biddability, which – unless I change it – will make it hard to work when I don’t have access to classic reinforcers. Again, she’s a puppy, so this may well change completely in the course of the relationship we develop! Most of these categories aren’t really suited to be applied to puppies anyways. But it’s fun to do all the same: I’m taking a snapshot of the puppy in front of me right now.

I’m excited about this new training challenge, particularly the environmental part. When I had Snoopy, I really struggled with his environmental focus. I’m excited about tackling the same challenge with the knowledge and greater experience that I have today. I’ll keep blogging about how I work with it, since I think the approach I’m taking is non-traditional (and, like so many things, inspired by FDSA).

It’ll be interesting to see if and how both dogs change in the course of time. Personality traits are a result of both genetics and environment. There is a STRONG genetic component – it sets the frame of what is possible for a given dog. That frame is always a lot smaller than the entire scale – but it’s still a frame, not just a point. What point within this frame the dog falls on can change depending on her environment and her experiences. Think of human traits like introversion and extroversion. You’re usually born an introvert or extrovert and stay that way all your life. However, it’s entirely possible to start out as a strong introvert, and get more and more social in the course of your life. You’ll still be an introvert, but you’ll have moved away from extreme introversion and more toward the middle of the scale. You’ll surround yourself with people more often and need a little less time to recharge.

In Grit’s case, you can see that two values have already changed between her puppyhood and now: both her confidence and her handler hardness decreased. I’ve lots to say about these two factors and how and why they changed – but that’s a post for another time.

With Patience and Time …

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Grit has been nervous around strangers since she had to stay at a vet clinic at 6 months of age. We’ve been taking it slow and focused on doing the things we enjoy.

For the first time since her surgery, I took her to a workshop last weekend. The presenter was Denise Fenzi, which made it a perfect opportunity to see how Grit would do in a training building. I wouldn’t have taken her to an indoors seminar in a small space if it had been a different trainer, but with Denise, I didn’t need to worry about being pushed to work Grit even if she was overwhelmed. Grit ended up having a really good experience, and so did I. I’m really happy with how she has started to improve! Day 1 of the workshop was about engagement and play … So going from acclimation to engagement to a little personal play worked nice for us, and Denise’s guidance was very helpful. The second day was Handler’s Choice for Obedience. I didn’t know if Grit would be at a good place to do work, and Denise said it was okay if she didn’t – then we’d just stick with acclimation and engagement. Grit did well and got to work and play a little on day 2 – she had really improved! I’m so happy she is regaining confidence around strangers!

I don’t have a video of the first time I took Grit into the training space – the first time was very brief, just a walk-through before everyone had arrived.

2nd time in the training space. I have no food and no toys on my body.

3rd time. I have food in case I need it, but Grit doesn’t know.

4th time. I have food, but Grit doesn’t know.

Day 2

5th time. I have food and a toy, but Grit doesn’t know.

The only goal here is to give her the opportunity to acclimate and feel comfortable. I don’t care if I will work or even play with her, but I want her to learn that nothing bad happens in this room full of people. Yes, the space was small, and yes, Grit was obviously nervous – but she improved quickly. This is because she is given all the time she needs.

It would be easy to ask Grit to do things for me, or to play with her right away. I’ve tested this – she is able to respond to cues even when she is quite uncomfortable and stressed, and she will play even when she is desperate and scared. She is drivey, and it is easy to overwhelm her fear with toy play or work. But she’d be tense and on edge, and she’d have moments of checking out and then back in again. I don’t want to build these negative emotions into training or play, so I choose to not go down this road. In scary environments, I want to give her the opportunity to look around, explore, and see that the world is a safe place. I want her to learn that I won’t let bad things come near her, and that I won’t let her go near bad things. In environments that aren’t scary, on the other hand, I work with her, play with her, train her, and have fun. And as time goes by, there will be more and more overlap between these two kinds of environments.

Dogs – and insecure dogs in particular – need leadership in order to feel safe. It’s easy to confuse this with not giving a dog the choice to keep her distance from the things that scare her, or forcing engagement and not allowing her to look around at all. Appropriate leadership depends on the situation as well as on the dog in question. In the situation you see in my videos, leadership means mainly that I prevent Grit from making bad decisions and getting closer to a stranger than she can handle. I don’t need to jerk on her leash to do this, and I don’t need verbal commands to control her – I just use the leash to stop her when she gets too close to someone she shouldn’t get close to. I should probably have kept the leash even shorter and prevented her from jumping up on her friends, too. But she did okay.

You can see that I’m not leading Grit by intimidation or force … Quite the opposite, actually. I’m not big or scary; I’m just myself. I try to forget about the other people in the room … It’s just me and my dog, and Denise’s guidance. We’re in a new space, but unlike Grit, I know it is a safe space. So I act like I do in safe spaces: I’m relaxed (once I have managed to forget about the audience), I talk to her about the people in the room, the smells on the floor and the objects she investigates, and I tell her she is a good girl. (You can’t hear me because the camera is so far away that it only picks up on Denise’s microphone, and I’m not talking loudly.) I let her investigate the room whichever way she wants, as long as she doesn’t put herself in a situation she can’t handle. I sit down and scratch her ears and her chest, like I know she enjoys. I am gentle and playful, like we are in our own living room.

You can see how my relaxation eases her worries, and that she comes to me for comfort. She has learned that she is safe with me, and when she gets stressed, she asks for emotional support.

All dogs are different. Some don’t like to be touched when they feel insecure. Grit likes it – emotional support and our invisible connection are huge for her. This is what gets her through the situation and helps her relax more and more. It’s not something we just did for the first time in this space. We have built this connection since her puppyhood – not because I expected to use it in this way, but because it is one of the ways I like to relate to my dogs. I make sure to maintain this kind of relationship throughout a dog’s life, and not stop interacting this way as soon as she is grown up. It gets woven into everyday life, into cuddles on the couch and morning rituals. It’s strong enough that we can take it with us to a new space like this. I’m happy with what Grit gives me here!

(If you want to improve your play and handling skills, check out Denise Fenzi’s Relationship Building through Play and Amy Cook’s Bogeyman class at FDSA!)

Grit: the new arrival

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I picked up my 8-week old puppy! She already  makes me so happy! The drive home, stuck in the car crate, she took turns sounding like a crying child and an angry little raptor – for 1.5 hours. The moment I took her out, she was all bouncy, happy puppy love. She curiously explored the house and yard with me, sniffed and climed on everythign she could reach, tail wagging confidently. She met all three dogs, one after the other, and curiously approached each one of them without fear or hesitation. I introduced them outside, the adult dogs on a leash. Fanta and Phoebe were good. Hadley lunged at her with a bark. She jumped back and fled a few steps, then stopped and watched him hesitantly for a brief moment before she approached again. I put Hadley away and tried again later, separated from her by a baby gate. He gave her a cold, hard stare and a growl. Again, she jumped back and fled for a few steps, then was ready to approach again, all curious and waggy. I decided to keep them separate for now and treat and praise Hadley for hanging out in the same room (but out of reach) from her in order to change his emotional response.

 

 

Later on the first day, Grit was in her ex-pen and Hadley was lying in his favorite spot under the couch. After snoozing for a bit, he opened his eyes, stared hard and growl-barked while hardly lifting his head. This time, she did not jump back, but stiffened and growled right back without so much as a flinch. I was impressed by this 8-week old puppy’s confidence. She had been happy and curious about meeting him twice. He had told her he didn’t like her, and by the third time, she seemed to have decided that in this case, she wouldn’t like him either.

 

Luckily, there was only one other incident so far where he growled at her (and again, she stiffened and growled right back). Otherwise, I’ve fed him lots of treats and praised him for hanging out in the same room, at a safe distance, and I’ve given him time being out in the yard without her (he wouldn’t mind staying out all day anyways). Whenever given a chance and not growled at, luckily, Grit still wants to approach happily. He has started turning his head sideways and licking his licks when she walks past him, and has also chosen to simply walk away on several occasions. Of course, I’m making sure to praise and give him attention in order to honor his good decisions. This might take some management and work, but I’ll get them to get along just fine. I’m seeing little improvements in him already.

 

I wonder whether the audacity to growl back at a larger and older dog is what the breeder meant when he called Grit “a dominant female”. From what I could tell, Grit and one of her brothers were his favorites in the litter. In the right hands, he said, these two would make excellent working dogs – and they were, he said, the “dominant” ones in this litter. I never really know what people mean when they say that a dog is “dominant”. Depending on who you ask, the definition of the term will be quite different. Some people will even tell you that dominance does not exist at all. After buying in the alpha theories myself when I had Snoopy, my first dog, I read Barry Eaton’s Dominance in Dogs – Fact or Fiction? and took a dog trainer course run by Anne-Lill Kvam. Both of them convinced me that dominance and social hierarchies among dogs were, in fact, pure fiction – I became one of the people who denied its existence. But in the years that followed, I learned more, read more, worked with more dogs, fostered and owned new dogs – and changed my belief again. The attitude that dominance does not exist is a reaction to the fact that the term has been misused as a justification for highly aversive training methods – it has been suggested that owners need to “dominate” their dogs in order not to be dominated by them. If you ask me today, I will tell you that yes, I believe dominance does exist, and so does social structure in communities and families – both canine and human ones. However, the fact that there is a hierarchy does not justify aggression – in fact, the entire reason for hierarchies within groups of mammals is to avoid aggression and always know where one stands rather than having to “fight it out” time and again. In The Other End of the Leash (149f), Patricia McConnell defines dominance as “a relationship among individuals, with one having more status than others in a particular context”. It is “priority access (I get it first) to preferred (I really want it), limited (there’s not enough to share) resources (the best food, the best sleeping place, the best office […])”. If we go with this definition, being a dominant dog would mean that Grit is likely to rise in the social hierarchy above other dogs once she’s older – it means she’ll be the one who gets to sleep on the couch and greet me first when I come home. Is this what my breeder meant? I don’t know – probably not. Maybe he meant that Grit doesn’t tend to back down easily? That she doesn’t give up when she wants something? That she isn’t soft and sensitive? People mean so many things when they call a dog dominant, and depending who says it, it can be a compliment or an insult. In any case, the name Grit seems to fit my puppy, because she’s quite the gritty little person already. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s exactly what she is: a gritty little person. That’s a good thing, and all I need to know for now.

 

A technician came to fix something at our new house on her first day. Grit greeted him happily and confidently. She has, so far, not shown real fear of anything, and bounced back quickly from any little startle. She has played with me – she takes everything she can carry into her mouth and proudly runs around with it! -, she enjoys games of tug already, and she tries to engage Phoebe in play. Phoebe is not quite sure about how to play with her yet because she’s so small, but she’s starting to respond, inhibiting her exuberant nature in order not to hurt her little sister.

 

We’re letting Grit sleep in our bed at night. I believe this helps build a strong relationship and makes a puppy feel safe in her new home. Plus, when she wakes up, I wake up and can take her right outside to potty. And it spares any neighbors you may have the pain of listening to your puppy cry through her first night in a crate. I crate-train puppies as well, but during the day.

 

Speaking of crate training: this is going to be my first challenge. Grit does not appreciate being restricted in her freedom of movement. Whenever that happens, her inner baby raptor comes out in protest. She is fine going into her open crate to eat, but if I close the door – even if I remain sitting right outside, next to the crate door – she protests and complains in her angry baby raptor voice, interspersed with fits of crying child. I’d prefer closing the crate door, waiting a few seconds, and opening it again (with the puppy remaining quiet all the time), then slowly increasing the time the door stays closed. But Grit starts complaining the instant the door is being closed – so I’m waiting her out, even if it takes half an hour or more. As soon as I can count to ten without her whining, barking or growling, I let her out. We’ll see how this goes.

 

I’m less worried about frustrating her a bit, for example by keeping her in the crate, than I am with most dogs or puppies. She is the most confident puppy I have had, and she is not as soft and sensitive as Phoebe and Hadley were when they were little. So I doubt that a bit of frustration will dampen her spirit – in fact, I think it may even be good for her to figure out herself that her raptor impression does not open doors – but quietly waiting will. And better teach that now than when her voice is even stronger and her stamina bigger!

 

I’m more than happy with my choice of breeder. Grit has no problem stepping onto new surfaces, and figuring out how to get around or over obstacles. She’s not noise sensitive – Hadley found a balloon, bit it and popped it right next to Grit. There was a loud noise – Hadley fled. Grit didn’t even flinch. She’s also not overly sensitive to touch. When she is calm and quiet, I can play with her paws and toes, touch the toe nails, look into her ears and into her mouth, and she stays relaxed throughout the process. On day one, she figured out to sit politely to ask for something. She may have learned that at the breeder’s – in any case, she already knows sitting opens doors, gets attention, rubs, and treats, and restarts a game. She’s a smart and cooperative little girl. Getting to know her makes me think there must be an even bigger genetic component than I thought to many things we value in our dogs, such as confidence, sensitivity to touch and sound, play “drive” etc. Phoebe and Hadley both may come across as rather confident dogs these days, but neither of them was born this way. Phoebe was nervous, and her confidence and ability to optimistically approach new people was something I carefully built. Hadley was afraid of everything when Tom got him: dogs, loudish noises, skateboards, children … The first few months of his life, Tom wasn’t home much, so I took over working through his issues. I set up lots and lots of situations where he could meet friendly dogs and children in a way that made him feel safe and raised his confidence. I worked on desensitizing him to noises, sudden movements, and weird objects … You wouldn’t be able to tell today, but he was a very fearful puppy. If clients approach me with puppy problems, it’s usually also because they have fear-related issues: hiding, running away, freezing, or fear-aggression. Grit is nothing like that. She’s definitely one of the most confident puppies I’ve ever worked with, and I’m really excited about this!

 

So far, I’ve given her time to explore the house and yard, worked with the crate a bit, and played the name game Judy Keller and Deb Jones suggest in the Focused Puppy book so both her name and the clicker get associated with good things. Apart from that, I’ve reinforced asking for attention by means of sitting, and I’ve played, played, played with her – personal play and toy play. I believe the most important foundation you can build with a dog is a good relationship. If you have that, everything else will fall into place. And playing with puppies is the most fun way to a great relationship, if you ask me! Of course, I’ve also let her fall asleep on my lap, stroked and cuddled her, which she seems to enjoy, and informally practiced handling various body parts in between these relaxing massage sessions. I’ve let Tom play with her and feed her treats for sitting politely as well, and explained to him that lifting your feet when a puppy is attached to your shoelaces communicates to her that you’re playing tug of war. And while Grit was sleeping, I’ve not only found time to get some work done, but also spent a little quality time with Tom, who just got back from a conference in Baltimore. It has been a good first few days!

 

I’m just starting to get to know Grit, but I’m already in love with the little one. We’ll have lots of fun, and she’ll be a most wonderful, challenging companion and training partner.

Grit: on puppies, priorities, and not taking my own advice

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A new puppy is about to move in. In the last years, I’ve thought long and hard about my breed of choice. It was not going to be another Poodle or any other breed that required extensive grooming, stripping, or clipping. I hardly ever brush my own hair – I just don’t want to deal with grooming. I love Phoebe, but even when kept in a very short coat, Poodle hair is not low maintainance. I clip her hair about ten times a year – that’s about 9.5 times more often than my own.

For a long time, I thought my next dog would be a Border Collie: I was excited about learning about the fascinating sport of herding. I thought I might work my way up and compete in trials one day. I like the idea of dogs doing what they were originally bred to do, and it is deeply fascinating to see a good sheep dog know certain things about working a flock – without any training or previous experience. I was going to name her Fly.

 

But – life happened. Tom got Hadley, and Hadley is a BC. Hadley is a great pup; he made me want a BC even more. But Hadley is also the (one and only) reason Tom and I fight. I have all these ideas about the ways BCs should be raised and handled, and so does he – only problem is that our ideas are very different. It’s been hard for me to let Hadley be Tom’s dog, and not intervene. I’m pretty sure it’s been really hard for Tom to be with me, because I have very strong opinions about working breeds, and what they require to be well-rounded canine citizens. I think it would not be good for our relationship to add another BC to the family. I don’t know whether I could resist the temptation of telling Tom to do things this way and that way and using my dog to push my agenda. My job in our relationship is to be his girlfriend, not his dog trainer! Keeping this in mind is hard enough without having the same breed of dog. I don’t want to put additional Border Collie-related stress on our relationship. I’m a challenging enough girlfriend without having a BC, and I want to keep Tom for many more years to come. He is my best friend, my favorite person, and so, so much more. So – no BC for me! There are so many dogs out there, but there is only one Tom. Yep, I love living and working with dogs, but I have other priorities as well.

 

Still, I wanted a new challenge: I wanted a dog who was different than any of the dogs I had had so far. It didn’t have to be an easy dog – I have time, and I have patience, and the dogs I love most are the ones who make me a better trainer. I’m an “It’s all about the journey” kind of person. I needed it to be a dog I could grow with and learn new things with. A dog who would lead me out of my comfort zone. A dog who I could discover new sports with. A dog who would be the reason I connected with new trainers and mentors and grew as a person.

 

At first, I looked at other herding breeds. Working Kelpies sounded fun! I contacted a number of breeders. Unfortunately, there are very few in Europe – most breeders breed Australian Kelpies (the show line). The Working Kelpie breeders I found either didn’t sell to people without stock, didn’t have another litter planned, or already had full waitlists. I dropped the idea of getting a Kelpie – it seemed too difficult to find one.

 

Apart from BCs, Kelpies and Koolies (an even rarer breed in Europe), there was no herding breed I was interested in. I didn’t particularly like the sturdy built of Cattle Dogs, and I didn’t like the fact that they were mostly used as show dogs, not for herding. How would I know what I was getting?

 

I narrowed down my choice to working line BC (again) and Malinois. BC because I knew I liked them – a lot. Malinois because I thought I liked them – a lot, but I hadn’t known too many in person. So I ventured out, contacted breeders and owners, and met a few Mals. And – I fell in love. I loved their slim built and their intensity. Their looking right into my eyes with a bright, intelligent spark in theirs. It helped a lot to talk to an FDSA friend who breeds Mals – she told me she even takes hers herding! She’s in the US though, and there are all-breed herding trials, so herding Mals are more common than in Austria.

 

When I first started falling in love with Mals, I still held on to the idea of doing herding (and obedience). Two disciplines; this way we wouldn’t get bored. I also found an Austrian breeder and got in touch with him. I liked how straightforward and uncomplicated he seemed. I even found one (and probably the only?) Mal from this breeder’s kennel who did herding. I got in touch with her owner; she said her Mal was untypical – she didn’t know of any others in Austria who’d rather herd than kill sheep. There are no all-breed trials in Austria, and there are no trainers, she told me, who have experience working a Mal on sheep. She herself went to Hungary for her dog’s herding lessons.

Mals work differently than BCs, and if I was going to take my dog herding, I wanted it to be with a trainer who knew what she was doing. And it would have to be someone in Austria – I don’t have the time or the money to go to Hungary twice a week.

 

Anyways, herding or no herding – I had already fallen in love with the breed by now. What else were Mals doing? Of course, they were doing IPO. That’s pretty much the main thing they do in Austria. Looking at my pup’s pedigree, there were lots of IPO3 dogs on both her dam’s and her sire’s side. I hadn’t been in touch with IPO a lot – only via a friend who did it with her Giant Schnauzer. I had seen her train and not been very happy with the way her trainer treated dogs and people, and the methods they used. There was a lot of shouting; the trainer seemed rude and short-tempered. The sport as such was fascinating though: being able to control a dog “in full drive” is beautiful – if you’ve trained it without force, that is, if the dog isn’t obviously conflicted between choosing what he wants (bite that sleeve!) and the fear of your punishment, but happily obeys because he knows that cooperating with you will get him what he wants. Certainly, there were people who successfully trained for this sport without brute force? Of course there were, and not only in the US, but also in Austria. I watched videos, I ordered books, and I talked to my breeder. Wow – what a new world! What an intriguing sport, consisting of three disciplines: obedience, tracking, and bitework. Obedience and tracking I could train for via the FDSA. No worries here – it would be fun. For bitework, I needed a mentor. Someone who knew what they were doing, who had experience working with Mals, and who was a motivational rather than punishment-based trainer. Who would challenge, but respect me and my philosophy. Would I find that kind of trainer?

 

Back in Austria after the summer in the US, I finally met my breeder in person. I like him. He seems like more of an observer than a talker. He does what he loves: lives in the middle of nowhere with horses, sheep, Mals, and his girlfriend. He has lots of experience and does his thing without forcing his opinion on others. I like people like that. He told me about the things he was proud of in his litters, and about the things that had gone wrong in his breeding program. He told me of healthy, successful dogs, and about ones that got sick; about what seemed to be a genetic predisposition to obsessive compulsive disorders in one of the lines. About trainers who did too much too early, and ended up with problems. He told me about the temperament of the dam whose litter I was interested in – she’s not the friendliest dog in the world, and he didn’t try to conceal that. I liked his honesty. I’d much, much rather buy a dog from someone who is open and honest about what the parents are like than from someone who keeps telling me that everything is perfect. (“Everything” is never perfect – and that’s okay.) The dam has already had a litter – all the puppies turned out very well, as did the pups from the sire’s previous litters. I met one of Grit’s 1.5 year old half-siblings and watched her work. A very nice dog – intense, and levelheaded.

He told me, “You’re getting a very good dog. It’s up to you what becomes of her.” I believe him. He only breeds dogs who, to his knowledge, are both healthy and good workers, and he socializes them well. He pointed out four elements that make a good dog: genetics, socialization, the relationship you build with her in everyday life, and the skillfulness of your training. “World champions aren’t born, they are made,” he said, or something along these lines. I laughed; I’m not planning on any champion titles. But he was right, of course. His dogs are good dogs. With the right trainer, most of them have the potential to be successful. “A Mal is a great dog, but he’s not a toy.” I liked this guy. He didn’t lecture me. He would have been happy just observing me interact with his dogs and not talking at all – it was me who had questions. He was happy to share though. He said I had a strong training background; he thought that was good. He also pointed me to motivational trainers with Mal experience when I asked. I’m pretty sure he’s more of a balanced trainer himself, but he didn’t argue or challenge my philosophy, and I appreciated it. I felt like it would be okay to ask him anything Mal-related, and that if things went wrong, I could come back and ask his advice, and he would be helpful rather than judgmental. That’s what I’m looking for in a breeder: a person I feel like I can be myself with. An authentic person. A person who I want to stay in touch with and keep updated about my dog’s development, but not someone who’s trying to control what I do with her and how I work with her.

 

I went to see the motivational IPO trainer the breeder had recommended, and watched him work his own dogs and his students’ dogs; three Mals and a GSD. One of the Mals I saw him work with is Grit’s half-sister I mentioned above. I liked what I saw in the training session. I’m sure this trainer has lots to teach me – and I feel like he might be the kind of person who I will be able to disagree with every once in a while, and still keep a good relationship with.

 

The one red flag about Grit is her dam. She is not a friendly dog. She’s confident, she reigns supreme in the IPO ring, but she is not a fan of visitors. When someone comes to see the puppies, the breeder has to take her away first – she wouldn’t let anyone near her litter. He purchased her as an adult dog. She was for sale because her previous owner claimed he couldn’t handle her – he might have made a few training and/or socialization mistakes; in any case, when the breeder got her, he said, she was a “mean” dog. He took her because she had a great pedigree. He worked with her, he won her trust, he successfully trialled with her. I met her outside, away from the puppies. She checked me out briefly, said hi and then went about her business. No sign of fear or nervosity.

 

I’m not concerned about her temperament for several reasons. She is not fearful or nervous – this would be a no-go. Her issues might be related to poor training decisions in her youth rather than a genetic disposition – or not. In either case, she is not scared of people, which is important to me. She is okay with strangers in public, and she has no problem focusing on her work when there are people around the ring. Her issues are isolated to situations such as defending her puppies, and she probably would not appreciate a stranger making a fuss over her.

 

In any case, if someone else asked my advice about buying a puppy, I would still tell them the dam was a red flag, and I’d caution them against taking a puppy from a dam whose temperament is anything less than stellar. However, I rarely take my own advice. This might be especially true when it comes to puppies: the way I raised Phoebe was also at odds with many of the things I tell my pet dog clients. I also don’t think the dam’s temperament, even if she passes it on to my pup, will be much of an issue for me. Tom and I just left Vienna and moved to Lower Austria. We’ll be pretty much at the end of a dirt road – there’s really not much going on here. I’m not living in the city anymore where there are people and kids wherever you walk your dog. I don’t want kids myself, so Grit won’t have to tolerate my kids or their friends running and screaming. I also don’t necessarily need her to be a “take-everywhere” kind of dog: I already have two dogs I can take everywhere. I usually bring Phoebe or Fanta when I go out and want to bring a dog – one at a time, for a special you’re-the-only-one-who-gets-to-hang-with-the-humans-tonight evening. If Grit turns out to be a take-everywhere dog (I will socialize her well, of course) – great! If she doesn’t – no worries. I already have two dogs to choose from for these kinds of things. I also don’t necessarily need her to work as a decoy when I’m training clients with reactivity issues. Again, I can use both Phoebe and Fanta for these jobs. If Grit turns out to be well-suited for this kind of work, that’s great – she’ll get her chance to play the decoy. In either case, I will socialize her with friendly dogs of all sizes, ages, shapes and sexual statuses in puppyhood. But if she turns out to not be a social butterfly when it comes to dog-dog enounters, that’s okay, too, and I won’t force the issue. I already have two dogs who can do this kind of work, and I don’t necessarily need a third one. If she doesn’t get along with strange dogs, well, then she won’t come on hikes with dog friends either.

 

There is one job I want Grit to do though: I want her to be my dog sports companion. I want to try something new and train IPO with her, ideally twice a week at the training field. So I need her to be confident and able to work under distractions, and I need her to be a biddable, drivey working partner. I hope for her to be a little more serious than Phoebe, and I hope I’ll be able to find the right kind of balance between drives and control. As I do with Phoebe, Grit and I will do some training at home every day – we’ll go tracking and play obedience, we’ll just play and build our relationship. So even if she doesn’t go out to dinner with me and my friends, and if doggy playdates aren’t her thing, she’ll get plenty of physical and mental stimulation. I believe I’m getting the right kind of dog for these things. Everything else she gives me is just icing on the cake.

 

Anyways, so that’s the story behind Grit! I know, some people have heard me talk a lot about herding and about my dream of having a working BC. I did lots of research, met people, watched BCs work. But you know what? I love dogs, I love figuring out who they are, building a trusting relationship, and working with them. I can fall in love with anything that involves a training challenge. I love training challenges. I can find people I connect with in all kinds of dog-related activities – this has never been hard for me. It’s going to be IPO for us, Grit and me, rather than herding. Will I be sad that I didn’t get a BC and ended up focusing on a different sport? Highly unlikely. When it comes to dogs (and travelling!), I tend to embrace whatever experience I end up having, and I end up believing the path I took is the best one I could possibly have chosen anyways. So, R+ IPO, here we come! A new adventure. We’ll see where it takes us. And if it doesn’t work out? Well, then we’ll find something else to be nerdy about, no doubt!