Never Too Late

At almost ten years old, Maxie is certainly not a spring chicken. She's been slowing down a little the past couple of years, and has had her share of medical issues. It was Maxie's aggression problems that ultimately led me to the agility world. She was my steadfast companion as I muddled through obedience and agility classes, having no clue what I was doing. She was never a die-hard agility dog, more of a slow-and-steady (but always accurate!) dog, and very forgiving. Great for me as a novice dog handler, and a child at that. We moved solely to obedience after awhile, when I realized she liked that a whole lot more than agility. For years and years we went to weekly obedience classes, training up through Open. We showed at one UKC trial, and of course the biannual "Terrier Trials" but the complete lack of options for showing mixed breeds around here meant that we never did much.

When I was introduced to the world of clicker training a couple years back, I never really thought of applying it to her. I had always used almost all positive reinforcement with her, but I didn't know about shaping, transfer of value, all the great things that went along with the world of clicker training. Every new foster that came through our house was clicker trained. I became pretty good at it. Along with that I started learning more and more about agility foundation training, motivation, etc. I realized that I really just threw her into agility, not knowing that most dogs don't get innate enjoyment out of it. She always got a high rate of reinforcement in obedience classes, but in agility she only got rewarded after running an entire course. No wonder she didn't like it as much!

I decided to go back to basics with her. I figured, why not? She was so damn smart I bet she would catch onto this stuff fast. Clicker training went PAINFULLY slow at first. Most of the time we just sat there and stared at each other. She had no idea what I wanted, and was just waiting for me to show her what to do. Eventually she offered to lay down with her head between her paws, and I rewarded. Well for the next MONTH at least, that is the only thing she would do when I brought out the clicker. She would not move from that spot. After a while, I gave up on shaping with her.

I came back months later with a new approach to it. I realized that I could not wait for her to offer a fully realized behavior. To get her to be operant, I needed to reward for absolutely anything she did. So our training sessions consisted of me clicking for everything she did. An ear flick, a blink, a sneeze, a shuffle of the paws, or even walking away from me after losing patience. Soon a lightbulb went off in her head. I swear I could see the light come on! "OHH, you just want me to do stuff? Well why didn't you say so!"

I'm happy to say that now Maxie is a very operant dog. Her and Panic take on very different styles; he throws himself into it, crazily offering anything he can think of. Maxie is more thoughtful. She pauses, thinks about what I want, then slowly executes it.

More than catching onto shaping, I've been working on motivating her for agility and it has really paid off. She has a new found enthusiasm for the game that she never had before. Of course she's not the fastest dog out there by any means, but she's enjoying herself and that's all I could hope for. I can't wait to be able to show her in AKC next year. Yes, Panic is a blast to train and show, but the joy I get out of running Maxie (when she's enjoying herself) is completely unmatched. Even though she's getting up there in age, as long as she's a sound, happy girl I'll keep working with her and getting her excited about training. Never give up on a dog!