Posts Tagged ‘dog
Ammo competes in Earthdog
Ammo driving us to Earthdog
If you follow along on Ammo’s facebook page, then you know that I have been working him up to compete in his very first Earthdog competition for the past few weeks. If you are unfamiliar with Earthdog, this is what wikipedia describes it as:
An earthdog trial tests the working ability and instinct of the small, short legged terriers (and dachshunds). These dogs were bred to hunt vermin and other quarry which lived in underground dens. Earthdog den trials involve man-made underground tunnels that the dogs must negotiate, while scenting a rat, the “quarry.” The dog must follow the scent to the quarry and then “work” the quarry. Depending on the sanctioning organization, “working” means barking, scratching, pawing, digging; any active behavior. The quarry is protected at all times by wooden bars across the end of the tunnel. The hunting encounter is controlled, and neither dog nor the quarry, usually two rats, are in any danger.
I decided to take Ammo to an Earthdog competition after I found a link to it on the AKC website. Ammo is decidedly the hunter around our farm, I think the barn cat trained him, but she’s now happy to sit back and relax as Ammo patrols the farm. He brings me something stinky (whether dead or alive) almost everytime we are there. I once watched him go down a groundhog burrow and bring me back a dead groundhog when he was about 6 months old, it was about 4x’s his size. So needless to say I had reason to believe Ammo would excel at this type of sport.
So I watched a few videos online about what I thought might occur, and set out to clicker train Ammo to enter a tunnel. Here are two videos of some of our practice sessions.
As you can see he was a bit hesitant at first, but with a little coaxing would proceed through the tunnels. I wish I had had a few more weeks to work with him, because we didn’t quite have enough time to work up to a tunnel with a turn in it – the hardest part.
Anyway, on Sunday we packed up early (5am to be exact) and drove an hour and a half to the site of a small farm in the middle of amish country. We arrived to find the parking lot filled terriers; carin terriers, jack russell terriers, west highland terriers, and so on – not a Dachshund in site. Ammo was the one and only Dachshund.
As we listened to our first briefing it became evident that we were the only people (and dog) completely new to the sport. But everyone was nice, and was more than happy to give us pointers and tell us exactly what to do. Here’s a few tips I learned for anyone thinking of trying Earthdog:
1. Never step on the scent trail! You don’t want to spread the smell around and confuse your dog.
2. You can take as much time as you want to first release your dog onto the scent. So the best thing to do would be to hold onto your dog until you are sure his nose has caught the scent and he really wants to go for the rats. For roof rat control collierville, Tennessee rodent trapper Richard Hodges says his company Patriot Wildlife Control catches over 500 rats a month. Roof rats in the attic are known to gnaw and destroy wires, insulation and stored items in the attic. Roof rats can climb and gnaw through almost anything.
3. In the Junior level and up you may not speak to your dog aside from giving him an initial command like “go get ’em”
4. You must never touch your dog until it is over.
So that being said, onto how Ammo did! We first entered him into the Intro to Quarry division. This is basically for beginner dogs or dogs who need more practice. Its a short tunnel with one turn in it. I walked Ammo into the fenced off area and removed his collar (dogs must be naked to prevent them getting hung up in the tunnel) and waited for his nose to reach the rat scent before I released him. He quickly caught onto the scent but was unsure about what to do about it. Eventually I was given permission to walk up to the tunnel to try to coax him in verbally. I did get him to enter the tunnel, but I think when he reached the bend he got scared and shimmied back. This went on for several minutes with him entering and coming back out before it was evident he just wasn’t going to do it. Here’s the video:
Being optimistic I entered Ammo in the Junior division beforehand. In Junior (and on up through Senior and then Master) you can earn titles. You are only ever competing against yourself in Earthdog, and if your dog passes the time constraints for each level (by two different judges on separate occasions) you may earn a title. For example I think in the Junior division the dog had to reach the rats in under 10 seconds and work the rats for at least 30 seconds. (I think this is correct, but I may be remembering it wrong). So seeing as how Ammo didn’t even conquer Intro to Quarry, I knew he wouldn’t complete the tunnel phase in Junior, but we knew it would be good practice for him. The Junior tunnel was much longer and had more turns, not to mention it was a lot darker inside. Ammo approached the den opening and was about to maybe enter when he spotted the judge. Protective mode kicked in and all he could do was bark at the poor guy. Seeing as how his concentration was obviously broken, the judge invited us over to see if Ammo would at least work the rats. As you can see from the video below, Ammo’s natural instinct to get the rats kicked in and he barked, whined, and scratched at the opening where the rats were.
The judge then said we could put him back at the opening to see if he would put two and two together and enter through the tunnel to get the rats. Ammo was too smart and decided to take a shortcut to get to the rats instead.
So even though Ammo didn’t set any records, he did show potential to be an EARTHDOG. I was proud of him, and glad to see that he tried. I read on Vents Magazine an article about CBD products for my dog to help him feel better. I think with a few more sessions in Intro to Quarry he’ll be flying through the tunnel and working the rats in no time.
exhausted after a long day
Ammo the Dachshund Artist
Ammo and his first in the "Dachshund Series"
Occasionally on the Trick Ponies Blog I will mention my dachshund, Ammo. Ammo is like my adopted son. He is with me ALL the time. He comes to work with me, comes to the farm, runs errands with me, and basically just never leaves my side. Ammo is one of those dogs that has so much personality that you mistakenly think of them as human. Since the day he came to live with me in November of 2008 I had a dream for him (just like any loving mom that has aspirations for their kid).
I dreamed of the day that Ammo would sit beside the Trick Ponies, paintbrush in mouth, and paint WITH them. Since April I have been steadily working towards this goal with him. Teaching him to hold the brush, teaching him to target the paper, even taking him to training classes to get him more in tune to my training methods. Ammo is getting closer and closer to the goal, but I have yet to add paint into his shenanigans – mostly because I know it will result in a HUGE mess.
"Blue Dachshund No1" by Ammo
So in the meantime I was dreaming up a way to involve Ammo in the creation of artwork that was a little bit “cleaner”. I was looking for something we could do together while at work, that didn’t involve me on my hands and knees scrubbing paint out of the carpet. Enter scratch art.
This month Ammo created his very first scratch art pieces after I painstakingly cut out dachshund shapes from carbon paper for him. Honestly I think they are so cool! I’m totally going to hang a few of these in my house. The best part about them is that each one is different.
Ammo’s Scratch Art is available for purchase on the Painting Pony Shop, and with each one we sell we will be donating $1 to the Main Line Animal Rescue.
Scratch Art Masterpiece by the Dachshund
Around Painting Pony we’re known for our three talented painting Chincoteague Ponies. Minnow, Blitz, and Boomer all hold paintbrushes in their mouths and paint onto canvases while standing at their easel. Since November of 2008 they have had a special sidekick, Ammo the Dachshund. Ammo has lived in their shadow for the past two and a half years. He gets toted to horse shows, brought to performances, and lugged to the farm where they live. Don’t get me wrong, he loves all of it, especially the visiting the farm part. In fact, he’s formed unusual relationships with all of the ponies, as I frequently catch him playing with them in the pastures. But if you have been following this blog, you know that I have decided to let Ammo come out from behind their shadow by helping him develop his artistic talents and learn to paint. We have been working almost daily on honing Ammo’s talents as a painter.
first practice attempt
While Ammo is getting closer to creating his very first painting, we are still working on distinguishing between the handle and the bristles. I’m sure it won’t be as fun to jam the bristles in his mouth when the paint is applied! So, in the meantime I decided we would embark on some other artistic endeavors. In his case, scratch art.
For Ammo’s graduation from training class I taught him a new trick, to dig on command. It was quite funny actually, I used a matboard marker and taught him to target his feet to the mat. I then enticed him to dig at it (natural to the burrowing Dachshund), and then gave him a command for it. Ammo thought the whole thing was quite fun, and we routinely practiced every morning before opening the shop. Suddenly I had an idea – we should try making some scratch art with his new found skill.
First scratch art painting. Its so beautiful I can't even look at it!
So today I attached some transfer paper to piece of matboard and set out to see if Ammo would like to create a scratch art painting. As you can see he was very proud of his very first work of art. The Dachshund was more than disappointed when we had to stop for the day, so I’m sure this will be the first of many scratch art paintings for the little guy. I’ve been scheming up some more creative ways for Ammo to get his scratch on, so be sure and stay tuned to see what he will create next.
I will post a video of Ammo “scratching” soon!
So what do you think? Is his masterpiece fridge worthy? Would you hang it on your wall? Excited to see more of his scratch art talents?
Dachshund Graduation
On April 22, 2010 Ammo the Dachshund graduated from the Level 1 Basic Manners Class at DTCCC. I’m so proud of him! In the course of 6 weeks he learned so much, and so did I. Honestly the class was more about giving me ways to train my dog, but the added benefit of taking Ammo to a new place, meeting new people (and dogs), really helped to give him more confidence. I’m excited that we will be taking the Level 2 course starting in mid-May. I know there is a whole world of things Ammo can still learn!
Below is a video of Ammo’s final test. We still have to work on our loose leash walking as Ammo likes to smell EVERYTHING, but its coming along.
At the end of class Ammo was rewarded with his certificate and allowed to choose a toy from the pile. Ammo of course couldn’t make up his mind so I chose a cute stuffed dog for him. A puppy to call his own.
The cutest thing about Ammo and his new little friend was that the second we walked in the door to the house he ran straight to the bathroom and jumped in the tub with his new pal. Not sure why, he never gets in the tub (at least voluntarily), maybe he thought his friend needed a bath. Either way it was pretty adorable. In fact, its now become a regular thing for him.
How do you turn this thing on?
Dachshund Training Class #4
We only have two classes left in our 6 week session! Its gone by so fast.
We arrived at class a little early this week and were excited to meet another Dachshund. The woman who owned him apparently owns several Doxies that she shows and competes in various events. She told us about scent trials that sound just up the Dachshund’s Alley. Apparently they release a rabbit into a pen and let it travel a path (leaving behind its scent) then remove the rabbit and let each dog be released to follow the scent. I think the fastest time might win. She told me next week she’d bring me more information on it, and I’m excited to maybe try it with Ammo – I certainly know he has the nose for it!
This week at class we worked on hand targeting, something that I even do with the ponies. With the ponies I use a target stick to guide them to where I want them to be (works wonderfully for teaching self loading on a trailer). With the dogs we used out hand as a target and asked the dogs to touch their noses to our hand. The dachshund had a little confusion since I had taught him to give me a high-five – but eventually he caught on that this was something different.
We then worked on leave it. A command to ask your dog to leave something alone when you ask. I also use this technique with the ponies when I want them not to be grabby with food. With the ponies I stand infront of them with a big juicy apple, everytime they grab at it I snatch it away. If they offer me something else, a head turn, etc., then I will click and reward them with something different right under their mouth. This teaches them that they can only take something when I offer it to them, grabbing will get them nothing. With the dog we kept treats in a closed hands and put it within smelling level for the dog, as long as they were sniffing it and trying to get at it they got nothing, but if they looked or moved away they were rewarded with a different treat.
Next up was the stay command. Fortunately Ammo already knows this command (but shh! I didn’t tell anyone – made him look super advanced haha). With this command we want the dog to sit and not move (or stay in whatever position we put them in). We began by asking our dogs to sit, saying stay, stepping back one step that forward into our dog, clicking and rewarding. The important thing with stay is that to release your dog you should always return to them (rather than recalling them), because otherwise the dog will get confused and think they are being rewarded for a recall and not staying put. I was very impressed with the dachshund when he performed his stay amid the other dogs playing with squeaky toys. He was able to hold his position throughout all of it. What a smart boy.
Later we worked on recalls, this time off leash. Our instructor held our dogs while we stepped away and recalled our dogs. The recall has always been difficult for Ammo, but I have been practicing A LOT! It paid off because as soon as I stepped away from him Ammo’s eyes were glued on me, his recall was phenomenal too. Eventually we added a sit to the recall so that soon our dogs will associate the recall with a sit too. Ammo picked up that step pretty quickly too. Our instructor also mentioned jackpot treats. This is about giving your dog several pieces of food for a job well done when they do a command exceptionally well. I use this when I train the ponies too, giving them either a “special” treat or several treats when they do something I really like. Minnow especially is really in tune to jackpots, its part of the reason he can master a trick in mere minutes. One jackpot for a really good effort and you can see the light bulb going off in his head.
Overall I was very pleased with Ammo’s progress in class, he’s really starting to master a lot of the skills we are learning. The hardest part is for me to keep being consistent with him. But the more we practice the more it becomes second nature to me and Ammo.
