Stuff About Susan
For a complete bio you can visit my webpage at Susan’s bio, for a more personal glimpse you can check out my post from Monday January 23 2009 here is the the readers digest version. I am a dog trainer that specializes in a co-operative approach to dog training. I apply scientific principles to my training with the dog’s well being at the centre of it all. Together with my partner John Blenkey, we own Say Yes Dog Training. Our business is located in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada but our students are pretty anywhere from the USA to Europe to Australia.
Dear Susan,
I know that you’ve met many, many “agility people” and students over the years. I just found out that my 12 week old puppy is blind on the left eye. Have you ever heard or met an agility dog with such disability? Any advice?
I’m keeping her no matter what and will work to see what we can accompish.
Natalia
Thank you for writing this blog. I’m really get a lot out of it. I’d like to share what I did with my 8 year old lab and the 2×2’s. I used a kong with a tiny amount of cream cheese spread inside it. Not so much that it would splatter when the kong hit the ground. She liked that so much better than thrown food pouches as she could immediately lick her reward. Eventually she would just chase the kong without food in it. Then we took the weave poles to the beach and she had to weave before I would throw her retrieving bumper in the water. (throwing it on dry land was not as exciting for her, so I couldn’t use it to reward the weaves. )
The transfer of value – from weaving at the beach was amazing. When she sees weave poles now you can see her light up and zoom through them.
When I first tried this at the beach she was so excited she just ran through a couple poles into the water, looked back hey! I smiled and held her toy… she ran back and I looked a the weave poles and said okay – she tried again, ran through 4 poles I threw the bumper in the water.
The next time she ran through 6 splash! and swam out to get her bumper.
One happy, trembling, barking, weaving, swimming lab.
Annie
I love it. I did the same thing with DeCaff and the weave poles going into our pond. I would caution the extensive use of the kong though as it is unlikely the toy will land on the reward line (way too bouncy:)). Glad it all worked for you though!
How do I sign up for your newsletter. I can’t find the link
The newsletter sign up link is either in the bottom left hand corner or the top right hand corner (it is going to move) of my webpage.
Hi Natalia. In case you didn’t see my reply posted to this blog in Dec, I will give you the “digest” version here. There is more than one great agility dog with a physical limitation. Alicia Nicholas’s amazing agility dog “Pickle” only has vision in one eye and he has placed at the top of many classes in the USA. The key is to your mindset and having a plan of action to helps your dog maximize what he has got, rather than focusing on what he is not.
Thank you! I didn’t see the Dec. reply.
The dog is almost 8 mo old and doing great with everything so far. One could never guess her condition. We’ll keep on working!
Hi Susan,
I just purchased a few of your books and dvds – they are great! I am going to implement the Ruff Love program in a few days – boy are my dogs in for a culture shock! I have 2 dogs – one recently turned 1 year in April and the other is 7 months. How do I implement the isolation/crate with 2 dogs? I do think that my 7 month old is more attached to my 1 year old dog than to me.
Will tethering my dogs on a leash inside instead of putting them in crates achieve the same goal?
Sorry Jane no I am not a fan of tethering dogs at all! Once you have played Crate Games the Crate becomes your dog’s on private condo which he learns to love. In my opinion tethering is far more restrictive and potentially very dangerous should the dog become tangled in the leash. Please never tie your dog up for any reason.
Hi Susan!
I’ve found very many videos of you and Encore at agility WM. I think both you and your dogs are amazing, its so fun and cool to watch, what a happiness, speed, control… i’m so fascinated !
I live in sweden with my dog Wilma. Hope you might checking in our site!
Good luck in the future!
Best regards / Ullis, Sweden
Bojours Susan, existe t’il un DVD 2×2 pole training en français ,ou avez vous un magasin en france ou je peux le trouver et le tug-it.
D’avance merci de votre reponse.
Bonjour!
Je suis désolé que je ne sais pas où vous pouvez acheter nos produits en France. Cependant nous expédions en France régulièrement sans le problème.
Great new blog look! I love it. And of course the info is still great.
Hey Susan, nice french…
I am trialing with one BC and training 2 other dogs.
Question: my shy BC is being very hesitant with offering the poles even after several weeks of 2×2 work using the dvd. Today, I decided that as the definition of insanity is to try the same thing expecting different results, I grabbed her by the collar, revved her up, pulled her back and let her go…. all of a sudden a little demon came out and she rushed at the poles like there was no tomorrow and even started succeeding at angles that she couldn’t do before, all in one session…. a torn t-shirt later, I was very impressed: am I creating something I might regret later by using the collar grab? Thanks
Chantal
Thanks Chantal, but I have to admit I had my french checked before I posted it:) What you are describing is a dog that goes into arousal. All animals including us will perform better if we are aroused first. There is nothing wrong with it, as a matter of fact that is why I tug with Trendi and Feature on the 2×2 DVD in order to get them aroused. I could caution you though not to always grab her collar as that may become a contingency for the behaviour. In that she may expect you to do it before every set of poles. Try other ways to get her excited and mix in the collar grab.
Yet another Aha! moment. To reach Trigger’s inner weavin’ demons, I have been pushing back on her chest before letting her rip through the 2×2 poles. Gotta be careful about that canine pairing thing! Great new blog btw Susan….
I have just discovered your blog tonight. I have been training in agility for three years and have much to learn. This site is very informative and I hope to learn how to get my 3yr old, sheltie, who is ready to compete, comfortable with new areas and venues. He is a reactive dog and easily distracted, yet where we train every week he is great.
Just wanted to thank you for opening up my eyes to the value of the Gentle Leader head halter. Previous to attending one of your camps, I had thought of head halters as solely a tool to prevent pulling on leash. When I purchased your articles in the store at camp, that is when I read your article about why head halters are essential if you want to teach your puppy to focus on you in the face of distractions, and do this in a reasonably quick time. I never thought I’d use one, as I taught my previous dog to walk nicely without one, but you’re so right – the straining at the end of the collar is just continuing the reinforcement for them, whereas with the halter, you can very easily and quickly turn their heads to focus on you, and THEN (the important part) give them the choice of whether to continue to focus on you or back on the distraction. I’m in the process of shaping my puppy to accept the GL and it’s going really well. It’s definitely a love-hate thing for her. She wants it on to earn reinforcement, but she doesn’t like the feeling of it on.
We went through a point where, when I started putting it all the way on and buckling it up, she’d drop and start to roll and rub it before I could get the clip done up (darn floppy Vizsla ears get in the way sometimes, but I’m getting better with the mechanics). Once, just to see what would happen, I let go when she did this (which I knew would probably be reinforcing for her). Much to my shock (and delight), she stopped trying to rub it off as soon as I let go of it, and she still kept it on her nose, and she shoved herself towards me, as if to say, “hey, you haven’t done it up yet – I don’t get my treat until you’ve done it up!” So I went to buckle it up again and she again dropped and started to roll. So I start to think, okay, she WANTS me to continue buckling it and fighting to get it done up as she rolls – for some reason that’s reinforcing to her. So every time she started to drop, I let go of the buckle ends, until she realized her rolling was delaying the buckling and subsequent treat delivery. Now she stands patiently. Amazing. For the first time today, I attached a leash to it and used it to walk around a bit. We had the inevitable ‘get this thing off me’ moments, but worked through it and she is learning very quickly how to earn reinforcement.
Thank you once again for the way you share your knowledge and experience. It has made a world of difference to how I raise and train this pup, who is quickly becoming ’super pup’!
Hi Susan. I first laid my eyes on you way back at the 2002 Agility Nationals held in Palgrave, Ontario, and I must admit I was very intimidated. I had my “wild child”, Sandy. You and Buzz were either directly before or after me in the running order. I had heard your name, but had not known the great insight you had into dog training & behavior shaping. If only I’d know then……She has left me, across the Rainbow Bridge. But I have some new friend now. Terriers.
I would love to read more about how to deal with dog:dog aggression, for instance what to do when your dog, on lead with head halter is being assaulted by a much larger, younger pup who is running loose and being rude but wants to play.. .let’s say is Weim-sized. I try to put myself between the two, but the terrier wants to protect me and is trying to lunge. Now I find he wants to go after any larger dogs without being provoked. What is the best way to work him thru this, keeping in mind that avoiding this type of situation is always my first step.
Dear Susan,
I am wondering about the breeding of your Border Collies? They are quite handsome looking and have great working ability. I would be interested to look at the web-site, if the breeder(s) have one?
Thanks,
Neil – Ireland.
Susan, I have a question. I have watched your Crate Games DVD and just love it. I have been in dogs for years and love your method of teachig them self control. My previous dogs have all been papiilons and they fit nicely in a crate with tons of room. My current dogs is a WILD Belgian Tervuren and she is hesitant to sit at the back of her crate or sit anywhere in it PERIOD,. She doesnt have alot of head room when she sits and doenst like her head touching the top and her ears out. She prefers to stand. Do I need to insist she sit even though she is crowded. And she is in a very large crate, just not one that is comfortable to her while sitting. Would it be advisable to let her stand instead of sit? How do you handle this with larger dogs?
I’m thinking about subscribing to Clean Run for the 2010 year- but only if you are going to have some articles in it. Do you plan to have articles in the 2010 Clean Run? Thanks!
So happy to find you as a resource! Thank you for so generously sharing your knowledge and lessons with us. My goal is competitive obedience without corrections (using R+ and P- only). I am odd man out at our local competitive obedience club. So nice to find support, ideas and insights from you. Thank you for showing it can be done without prong collars and corrections. You inspire me.
Hi Susan,
I thought that with your love of red dogs I thought you might get a kick out my new border collie puppy from working stockdog parents. He is partial split with mismatched eyes. A photo says a thousand words and there are some at http://www.freewebs.com/bethiejean/loki.htm
Feel free to laugh!