Jennifer Michelson

I am training a 3 yr old gsd with a good amount of drive. We are doing wilderness with a bark alert as my goal was also to do disaster work (just recently made it on to a disaster team). He has always been very very eager to work. For runaways I basically had to wrap his leash around a tree to hold him! We (teammates and I) realized at some point that he should not be pumped up to work--he got way over excited and hectic. Initially when we started doing searching, he would immediately bolt, and go like a bat out of hell for several mins. Once his brain kicked back in, he would respond to me and grid well with me. His bark alert also had gotten hectic. He basically started getting too close to the victim and 'demanding' his toy.

I was fortunate to be part of a Brenda Aloff seminar and Griffin was used as an example of the Pushy Dog. His behaviour with her really cemented to me what my teammates were trying to tell me--he was very pushy and needed stronger leadership and direction. He is pushy, but very sweet, a bit handler sensitive, and a wonderful pet. So for the past year, Griffin has had a new regime.

His reward has also been changed. He LOVES his tug and his balls. He is also a food guy. His reward was originally a tug, but I stopped that because he liked the 'confrontation' too much and was too pumped up when he reached the victim to be polite. The balls worked better, but again, he was too pumped up when he reached the victim to give a clean indication. At this point I started hearing the phrase Self Reward. And his reward was changed to the less stimulating FOOD. I also got some 'bark and hold' help from T Floyd. Griffin needed to learn to think when he got to the victim. Being long lined and also taught to back up on command seems to have 'fixed' his pushyness at the victim.

I feel a little badly for him that he does not get to have a 'real' reward at the end of his search. I am getting that he is rewarding himself simply by searching and finding. I can see that he seems to NEED to search. But I dont think I am convinced that the search itself is a reward. He does love his food and gets very excited by it. His rewards are initially the food, then calm stroking with verbal praise. To me he looks like he is looking around for his balls and more fun.

Can anyone help me understand this self rewarding concept better?

Thanks,

Jennifer

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Jennifer