Reply To: Curt & Mo

[Alana McGee]

Hi Curt
Mo Looks like he’s grown overnight!

Good to know about the 2nd trial. Mistakes happen that’s ok. Part of the learning process. Days that don’t go well are often more valuable in what we take away form the situation. What was the alert there that you clicked for?

Nice space Curt. You’re being very conscious here in directing Mo in the wind columns. well done.

He’s doing really well- as are you for not pressuring him when he pauses to investigate odor (houby or not). well done. The awesome news is when it’s not houby he moves off fairly quickly. Bonus Mo, cookies. That’s hard for a puppy. REALLY hard. rockstar qualities.

Well done Team.

Great click there around 0:59. You clicked right in the middle of the alert which was “head swivel” look. So that is what you were reinforcing as a behavior.

You edited it out (we understand why you explained) but we’re curious how the transition went from the first hide to the second. At 1:10 your joint energy seems a little off kilter and so seeing the transition gives a lot of information on what happens next.
Your connection is positive and genuine, earnest and lovely, but for some reason after the alert Mo seems either flat-stiff or intensely focused. It’s a little hard to tell without more context. His body posture isn’t loose but he is a pointer so we also think this may be part of his natural alert sequence. This is very nit picky, but it is information you can use. In ‘most’ dogs this kind of posture would indicate elevated levels of stress. Being a pointer and being Mo here it seems more natural but still we wanted to point it out as we haven’t see it much from him previously. See if he starts to do that more during/after an alert. Is his body tense in “pointer” mode. It’s not wrong and it is not bad in anyway, it is information, but good to know he does that as that will also help you tell more about the situation. It’s kind of like it’s a truncated pointing behavior- except his head swivels to you. What does he do for Quail currently?

1:07 and again at 1:18 you can see his muscles loosen a bit during the reward. Just interesting.

1:29 Bouncy! He’s got some leg to grow into! Nice searching. You did miss the initial here, but it was really nice alert from him, and Yay Mo for offering it again 🙂 He double checks it’s still there and does it again. That deserves Massive parties. Even though you called to pull off/ draw attention, he was dedicated to source. He even took a step towards you and was like, NOPE HOUBY. YAY mo. That shows a strong development in generalization of the game despite what my handler says ;). really pretty, and really well one Mo. This is why video can be such a great learning tool!

Here’s something to take away from this lesson. Mo is dedicated to odor. In environments that are not overly distracting he is incredibly solid and given enough time will choose Houby over novel odor. The first hide of this video you did great and allowed Mo on his own to move off of distraction/ other odor. On the 2nd hide you didn’t allow him as much time to come off of it himself (in fact it was houby) but as a handler allow him a bit of time to move off on his own. If he is not alerting on Houby after say 7-10 seconds of oddly placed interest then move away, but allow him to make decisions to move away if he can before you break his focus. He’s very receptive to you, which is what makes this incident an even better indication of how solid the foundation is with him and how he has generalized the game thus far. The learning experience is stronger in this fashion.And way to go team.

2:07 he seems very content.
2:34 Good Curt, this is nice moving in space and encrouaging considering the added distraction. Whether that was intentional or natural, it was well timed and well placed.

2:51 is a great example of what we are talking about above. You do generally give a nice amount of time for him to move away from other odors. 3:25 is another great example of well timed pulling off distraction. You generally have a very good sense Curt of when to do this. Your body positioning is good. You energy is on par with Mo.
4:04 nice working the space guys! This was the best reward sequence energetically from the two of you. If you watch it again see if you can tell the difference in between the rewards. Why was this one better/ more enthusiastic? Because you saw Mo working for it really hard and finding it through challenge?

It is one of the more complex skills in hunting, but being aware of your own genuine enthusiasm & engagement in finds can be valuable as your energy and enthusiasm is mirrored in your dog. Again, this is subtle to most but you two are doing exceptionally well and have a great relationship and we just want to point out these small moments

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Alana McGee.