POSITIVE ARTICLE INDICATION:
RIGHT ON TRACK WITH DYNAMIC DOWNS!
FROM HONEY’S HAPPY TRAINING FOR THE TRACKING DOG
By Honey Gross-Richardson
Most dog owners are definitely nature lovers, and of the hundreds of Obedience Trials
enthusiasts that we meet at training, there are always a handful, yes, only a handful, who have
taken up the challenge of spending even more time in the great outdoors, having fun with
tracking!
These intrepid folks brave the weather, rain hail or shine and enjoy the wide open spaces of the
forest, of bushland or paddocks, what ever their area has to offer in the way of unspoilt land
where a track can be set and an eager dog put to work, showing us how their keen senses enable
them to follow a scent unerringly to lead them to a find, an article dropped or carefully placed, a
tracklayer well hidden behind a far away bush, a lonely tree or simply a higher or thicker, clump
of grass!
Of the many hopefuls who start out in tracking, only the elite reach the top! They have put in
the time and effort, enjoyed the challenges of the various types of track design, change of
vegetation, perhaps a complete change of terrain to accustom the dog to whatever challenges a
Tracking Trial may bring! They have travelled for miles, seeking out new venues, giving their
four footed partners in the game all the experience required to turn an eager beginner showing off
his prowess into a seasoned tracker who can cope with all types of conditions and stay keenly on
track no matter how or whence the wind may blow!
We see many ways of marking the beginning of the track, we see many different styles of starting
the dog on track. Some handlers will find the style that suits their dog best, others will be
bound by the Tracking Regulation of their country. Here in Australia, the Rules are very non
restrictive, and we, the clubs, judges, stewards and competitors have a great freedom of choice in
our sport. This has its definite advantages, for it means we can develope our own style!
In this chapter, we are going to develope a positively dynamic style of article indication that
would fit into any country’s rules and every tracking dog’s style!
I have seen many types of article indication over the years, from the dynamic down in front of
or next to the article, to the enthusiastic and riotous retrieve, from the sedate picking up of the
find, either meekly standing or conscientiously delivering to hand, to the solid sit or wiggling
pounce! Some dogs will slowly drop to indicate, others will stop and sniff with interest, and yet
others will give the article a cursory sniff, a passing glance and lead their nervous handlers along
the track, the hopeful handler being quite oblivious to the fact that a major chance of passing the
test has just been casually cast aside!
Where a handler has reached the end of the track and his triumphant dog has found the track
layer, the cold feeling of dismay, terror even - that steals over the handler as he praises his dog
for finding the end of the track, and frantically thinks of reasons why his dog failed to find the
articles - perhaps the tracklayer has forgotten to place them, perhaps the crows have stolen them
or the foxes have spirited the sock away, can only be imagined by a fellow tracking enthusiast
whose dog has also missed an article once in a while!
The solution sought is usually to teach the dog to indicate the articles and the methods of
teaching this are manifold! Most methods will eventually work! So will most dogs!
We are going to develope a positively dynamic style of article indication!
What we hope to see, is not a dog who drops sedately next to the article because he must, but a
dog who throws himself down next to his find, eyes laughing, tongue lolling, tail wagging with
excitement of having made the find!
How can this be achieved?? By using a dog’s instincts and drives! Our dogs are hunters born
and bred, and with just a little guidance in the right direction, we can develope a dog who thrills
to find an article, and indicates with gusto! We just have to learn to channel that drive!
When do we start this training for the positive article indication?
A long time before we even THINK of starting our obedience dogs in tracking training! A long
time before we have even put him onto a baby track! That’s right! Our dogs have learned the
positively dynamic puppy downs and these are the first of the building blocks used for the joyous
and certain indication of a find!
Here’s how: We are using positive reinforcement right through our training and our dogs,
puppies or adults, all enjoy the same lessons! Why should an adult dog have less fun in training
just because he IS an adult?? All our Puppy Training is loved by matrons and veterans alike, at
least by the four footed variety! With the dogs having so much fun, it figures that their owners
must enjoy the training too - even if initially they do not wish to use food in training! One handler
actually told me that she did not want to force her dog to work for food!
Food Motivates Thought! Ask any fox as he skulks around the hen house!
We shall lure or foodlead the dog into a down!
We are NOT about to work on an “Obedience Exercise”! This is a HUNTING GAME!
Dogs of all types, absolutely LOVE foraging for food! If your dog does not show any interest in
the food, it means that you have not found a type of food that absolutely thrills him, and of course
your dog may simply be overfed!
We LOVE our dogs!. Loving them often means we think we spoil them! Actually, if we give
them too much food, we are not spoiling our dogs at all, we are spoiling their LIFE!
A dog that does not thrill to the scent of a deliciously exciting type of food, is like one of us who
remains uninterested and cold at the thought of a new classy restaurant!
WE love going out to dine in style! We all have our favourite foods, be they a barbecue meal or
a Smorgasbord, a sirloin steak, medium rare, with all the trimmings, a serving of Minestrone or
“bangers and mash like me muvver useta make”! Perhaps a French Restaurant is more your
style?? Our dogs too have many preferences, and if you want your dog to work his best for
you, wouldn’t it be a jolly good idea to take the trouble of finding out, what he LOVES BEST?
I reckon it’ll pay off, don’t you?
Whenever you are training and whatever you may want him to learn, be FAIR to your dog!
Dogs LOVE foraging games!
We can utilize this! Pups and adults alike, will “thrill to the kill” if you roll a morsel of something
delicious teasingly across the ground, and let them pounce on it! For the youngster it is a great
game, developing their eyes to jaw or nose to paw coordination, to the mature dog it is simply
good fun to find that they can “hunt” for their prey!
Cover a morsel of something yummy with your right hand and roll it across the floor, let it
scoot away, let him try to catch your hand as you make exciting noises, kss, kss, and let him nose
around, as he chases your hand until you release the food! A few moments spent with this new
game will give even your old dog a new thrill!
Now he is INTERESTED in food! He will HUNT for it! This is the time to start our training
game! We hold a morsel of cheese or other absolutely delicious tid bit, something that your dog
would be willing to lie down and die for, to his nose, and saying absolutely NOTHING, we guide
our Happy Hunter's nose down to the ground. Our hungry, healthy pup or adult, it matters not
whether young or old, will follow the food down to the ground and as his elbows hit the deck, we
say GOOD, and release the food! Your timing of the MARKER “GOOD” or the CLICK is
VERY important! It must come a split second BEFORE the food, so that the GOOD or click
becomes the secondary reinforcer that tells him the primary reinforcer, the food, is on the way!
What a game!
No command, no force,
nothing asked for, yet everything gained!
Before you know it, your dog will be trained!
We repeatedly lure the dog into a down without a word, and the dog will throw himself into the
down quicker and quicker, because he KNOWS: as soon as he hits the deck, we say “GOOD” the
hand opens and he get that food, Food, glorious FOOD! You may chose to "click and treat!"
What's in a name? It's a similar game! After only a few repetitions, your dog will THROW
himself to the ground the moment he sees the slightest move of your food-leading hand, your
signalling hand, because this move PROMPTS him to throw himself down in anticipation of the
gaining his reward, that precious morsel he's hunting for!
This is repeated 8, 9, 10 times or more, with the dog absolutely thrilling to the new way of
earning mega treats! Fade out the foodleading move as soon as you spot his anticipation of your
next move! Give a series of downs with smaller and smaller prompts and finish on a high, when
he drops as quick as he can! It is best to then work on something else, but should you be training
for a whole session, on all sorts of exercises, then it is a good idea to throw in a series of dynamic
downs just before you call it a day!
When the dog lies down to rest, and has a little snooze after training, the last exercise worked
on will be replayed in his mind! It happens to us as well - that’s why students who cram for an
exam, will study just before they go to sleep, and may even place their book under pillow! It’s not
the fact that this book is under the pillow that has the magic effect, it’s the accelerated learning
produced by the “latent learning” affect of the brain digesting the last exercise worked on before
coming to rest!
Our next step, is to " lure", signal, or cue our dog with the empty right hand, and reward with
the other! When the dog drops with gusto, throwing his paws out and hitting the deck every time
we prompt him into that down, it is time to tell him what he has been doing! The DOWN, or if
you prefer, The DROP! We tell the dog WHAT he is doing when he does it flawlessly almost
every time! We make sure that:
The Quality Goes In Before The Label Goes On! Then we give the cue, which we call the
command, just a split second BEFORE the usual signal and the dog will drop every time! On
every down, we say GOOD and release the food! All we need to do for "obedience", is to
phase out the extra prompts! We use precise schedules of reinforcement to accelerate the
learning! Pay up on about every 2nd Down, and your dog will drop with gusto!
This positively DYNAMIC Down, is the basis of POSITIVE ARTICLE INDICATION!
What’s more, we don’t even need to teach the complete down as we shall require it later, in the
obedience ring, we only use this as our first building block for greater things to come!
Having learnt the stationary down, we now proceed to foodlead the dog into a DOWN on the
move! Easy! Simply have your dog on lead, tell him “let’s go” or “come along” or whatever, tells
him that he is free to walk with you, and enjoy himself.
You are not playing the heeling game! Your super dog is walking with you to play the “Dynamic
Down Game" again! As you walk along, foodlead him into a series of downs, the quicker the
better, excitedly calling GOOD and releasing a morsel of food EVERY time he hits the deck!
He is hungry! He enjoys the game! He will watch you like a hawk, and perhaps give you some
unsolicited downs! His choice! Clever dog! Anticipation of your next command shows that he IS
LEARNING! That's what you want, so PAY UP!!
Gradually fade the prompt soon, after another 8 to 10 repetitions in rapid succession, when he
is ready to thrown himself down to get his treat for the joy of the game, you give the cue or down
"command" just before you signal the move, and in next to no time, you have a "Dynamic Down"
on signal or voice command! Now that he knows what he is doing, “the down”, it matters not
whether you work him silently or tell him DOWN as you cue or command him to " down " like a
flash! You are building up what the scientists call a “Reward History” and your hungry hound
digests the knowledge that his behaviour of throwing himself down with gusto, gets positively
reinforced with GOOD and FOOD, or click and treat! Don't spend too much time on this, we are
just using it as a warm up game!
Now the REAL FUN begins! Completely divorced from any tracking time, perhaps in the
lounge, the kitchen, the corridor or in the back yard, we are going to place a line up of tracking
articles or a collection of Sunday Best Socks if you like, about 8 to 10 of them, about 1-2 m apart,
in a straight line!
Hungry Hound Harry is going to be in doggy game heaven when you walk him towards the line
of socks and lure him into a down, SILENTLY! You need great self control for this, it’s not
easy you and I know, refraining from telling our dogs what to do , even when we KNOW, that we
want their instincts to take over! Silence is golden!
In this game, we are building up the dog’s DRIVE to THROW HIMSELF DOWN when ever
he sees a sock! That’s why it’s best to work silently except for the word GOOD, when he hits
the deck and we release the food! The "GOOD" is our marker that tells him he's RIGHT!
Click, or tell him good, and he knows: YES! That's what we want, THAT gets paid!
By the time we have reached sock number 5 or 6, our Hungry Hound Harry is going to THROW
himself into the down even before our hand touches the sock on the ground! GOOD and we
release the food! Or "click and treat" Now simply play your part and you will soon:
“Marvel at the ease with which your dog
has learned to please, with Happy Training!!”
What’s more, even your Hungry Hound won’t be able to tell you, who is more pleased, he,
the Intrepid Hunter who catches his prey every time he throws himself at a sock, or you, the
skilful trainer who is letting the dog’s Instincts and Drives teach the dog what you want him to
know! You are not teaching him, you are not training him to do anything, you are allowing him
to learn that dropping at a sock brings mega rewards! That is a pretty powerful concept!
From here on, you may find, that your dog is going to drop - WITHOUT A SOUND FROM
YOU at every sock, and always, as soon as he hits the deck, there is GOOD and FOOD!
Why are we not telling him to drop? Because we are NOT training him in an obedience exercise
where he MUST drop! We are assisting him in learning that “drop at the article” is VERY
rewarding! We are simply CONDITIONING him to view a sock on the ground as a meal ticket!!
We are building up his DRIVE to drop and earn treats!
To be continued