Flying Poodles

Proofing Waits

If one is proofing bread dough, one is letting it rise (which, I suppose, proves that the yeast is growing well); if one is proofing dog behavior, one is making sure that the dog understands what is expected of him (her) no matter what distractions there are.

Let us take a particularly egregious example: Dancer is incapable of attention to me (or anyone) in the presence of a cat. Cats fascinate her. She desperately hopes they’ll run, so that she can chase. How would I proof Dancer’s behavior against cats? I’d have to start with a cooperative cat (perhaps a stuffed one?) at a distance where Dancer could pay attention, reward heavily for attention, then move slightly closer… and repeat over and over and over.

At this point, with Dancer almost six and that distance at over 100 feet, I’m not sure I’ll do anything other than manage the behavior. Thankfully, I have never seen a cat at an agility trial.

However, I am proofing Rush’s waits, the same way I proofed Dancer’s (having learned from Elly). Wait to me means: pay attention, stay in exactly that position, and wait for me to release you. It’s an attention behavior. (Actually, having learned from Dancer as well as Elly, I am going back and proofing Dancer’s waits too.) I started with a sit-wait for Rush. Sit there, wait while I take a step back, step forward, reward for the wait, say “okay” as a release word… The classic three D’s of any dog training: duration, distance, distraction. Once I thought Rush understood sit-wait, I started training stand-wait and down-wait. (Down-wait is the weakest at this point.)

I kept training waits (in any position). I added distance, I added weird behaviors (like dancing and singing before I said “okay”). I pounded on the tunnel with his toy (and put it away and took him back to his original position when he broke his wait). I walked in a circle behind him; I dropped his toy… He’s getting really good at waiting to be released.

I’m almost ready to try again asking him to wait while I do something with Dancer…. The last time I tried that, it was a spectacular failure; I ended with two poodles happily playing with each other and ignoring me.