Playing with fire...

Inspired by my Hero training blip yesterday, I decided to continue the series today.

When I talk about stress here, then it is not meant in the bad and unhealthy way. Stress is just the body's way of preparing for putting in an extra effort and it only becomes unhealthy if we remain in the stressed state of mind over a longer period of time.

Hero is a very keen dog. He loves training and performing. He is easily excited both in training and in competition, but he knows the difference and competing always makes him excited in a way that I don't usually see in training.

This is challenging as his different state of mind in competition makes him react differently from in training.

There is one way to get the same level of excitement and stress in training as in competition though - by rewarding his work with chuckit and chasing ball over long distances.

Running makes your body release chemicals called endorphins, which triggers a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine. By running and chasing the ball, Hero literally become euphoric. The chuckit is the best thing in Hero's life - and thinking that I will throw the ball so he can run for it makes him work so hard and at high speed - exactly as in competition.

The advantage of working this way is, that we both learn to perform the routine at the pace and stress level that will be normal for Hero in a competition. The danger is that the chuckit is a very very powerful reward and the behaviour that is rewarded this way will be strongly reinforced. Also because Hero is working faster and at a higher level of stress, the risk of making mistakes is bigger... so I risk reinforcing mistakes.

I can only use this method if I combine it with a lot of precision training, where calm and accurate work is rewarded. And even when I do that, it still feels a bit like playing with fire. I don't work this way very often.

But... it is very hard for Hero to sit still and concentrate on the quiet and slow chain of moves that we perform around the safe in the middle of our robbery routine - especially when he is in his high-drive competition mode, so today I worked on this by using chuckit.

I got the wanted effect - and saw the same difficulties as I have seen in competition, so it was very good training and Hero got to practise performing the chain of moves in a higher level of stress.

And then we finished by using lots of treats as chewing and eating is a calming behaviour and reduces stress, so we could finish with a calm and relaxed Hero.

See you tomorrow!
Emmy and the Hazyland Boys