Denise Fenzi seminar: Drives and Motivation, day 1

Denise Fenzi is a top-notch, force-free, local competition obedience trainer. My friend Crystal had a working spot for this same seminar in Minnesota a few months back, and she was thrilled with the progress she's made with her dog Maisy since then, so I decided to also sign up for a working spot. The focus of the seminar is on building your dog's interest in playing with the handler, both with and without toys, and taking advantage of that in training and competition. This was Dragon's first seminar, and he's only been asked to work/play around other dogs in a handful of places, so I expected him to be nervous about it. Turned out that I needn't have worried!

Initially Denise asked us to potty the dogs, and then stand still and watch them. We were to read their body language and judge what kind of dog we had in that moment. Was the dog tense and nervous about his surroundings? Was he curious and eager to explore? Was he tuned into the handler, and wanting to engage in work or play?

Dragon was most interested in exploring the environment. He wanted to watch the other dogs and the people to gather information on them, and he sniffed the ground, though with perked-up ears and tail and a relaxed body, which was how I knew that it was curious-sniffing and not stress-sniffing. I let him potty and gather information for a minute. (And he had already walked around and sniffed for 15 minutes before the seminar started.) When it was time to play, he was willing to immediately engage and wrestle with my hands. Denise liked that I started off playing with Dragon without toys (she calls it "personal play") and then switched to his tennis ball-tug. Since the ball is his very favorite toy, we want to start with the lower-value play first, because it's much harder to switch from the #1 bestest play to the #2 than vice-versa. He was willing to drop the ball into my hand on cue. He brought it back to me when I threw it or let him "win" the game of tug, but the return was a bit slow. She advised me to do more throws of the toy in one direction and then running in the opposite direction as soon as he picks up the toy, to encourage speedy returns. We should also practice switching back and forth between the two play styles more often, to make it easier to substitute one for the other when needed.

Later in the day, after he'd been crated for a longer period of time and I asked him to play without letting him look around and gather information again, he was not able to focus on me. Good information for me, and tomorrow I'll make sure to always give him that opportunity.

Unfortunately he would cry in his crate every time I put him away. Poor guy. He would settle down after 5-10 minutes most of the time. He was better when I covered the door with my coat.

Denise gave us many wonderful tips to help us understand how dogs play, how it is based on the predatory sequence, and how to get our dogs to play with us. Here are some tidbits:
- The drives you use are the ones you build. If you've only ever rewarded your dog with treats, you'll have a hard time switching to using play as a reward.
- Different dogs will be most interested in different aspects of the "hunt" or prey sequence. Some dogs love to chase but don't care about catching and possessing the toy. Some like the "fight" of biting down and trying to pull the toy away when tugging. For others it's all about possession. Dragon used to be more into the possession part -- he would take his toys away and chew on them, or if he had a ball, he would roll it around and play with it all on his own. I've put plenty of effort into building his tug drive and teaching him to bring the toy back to me, so I've transferred more value to the "fight."

- 8 week old puppies have abnormally high food drive because they've been fighting with their littermates for their food. Often resource guarding seen at this age fades away once the puppy is given ample resources in his new home.
- Start playing tug when your dog is a puppy (if you have him at that age) and maintain that skill into adulthood. All puppies play, whereas it's harder to teach an adult to play.
- Use the correct tug toy -- an underconfident dog just learning how to play does better with long, floppy, soft toys with real fur, whereas Denise's dogs are used to tugging hard on short, rigid, tough tugs.
- Use the opposition reflex. Don't push the toy into the dog's mouth or slow down as the dog is getting close. Use constant tension and motion. The toy should act like a rabbit trying to escape a predator.
There was lots more info, of course!

I bought two toys from Denise. One was a real rabbit fur tug on a long rope, that I knew would be a sure-fire hit. The other was an eight-inch, thin, round tug made from a soft wool-like fabric and stuffed so that it held its shape but had some give when bitten onto. I wasn't sure that he would be interested in this one right away, but I had a hunch that I'd be able to build drive for it. We tried it out at home and played the longest game of tug ever. Initially he didn't know how to bite down on it the best way to keep hold, but every time he lost his grip I would whip the toy away and make him do a trick to get it back. But it wouldn't come straight back -- it would dance around on the floor and run away from him and he had to work to catch it. After about five reps he clamped down hard on it. He liked it when I would partially let go of the toy, as if he had ripped it from my hands, and when I moved toward him as if he were yanking me off my feet and winning the game. I also tried letting him win full possession of the toy, but that actually put a damper on the game. He would bring it back but very slowly. Usually he's faster; maybe he was unsure since it was a brand new toy? Also I didn't have room to run away from him and encourage chasing. We'll work on that. In the meantime I am thrilled with the toy! The game was so long because I was waiting for him to "mess up" and lose grip on the toy one last time before I ended the fun, and it's like he read my mind!

We're looking forward to Day 2, in which we'll discuss play without toys again, and getting ready for competition!