The view from "over there"

I came across this little bit in the NY Times. It expresses so accurately what I have frequently observed: citizens of non-US countries often believe they see conspiracy-theory levels of manipulation. Well, actually, a lot of people everywhere seem to have that tendency, but it is particularly helpful to remember when looking at areas of the world where there is friction for the US.
I quote:

. . . The North Koreans may know a lot about the outside world, but they don’t know everything, even about the United States, their main adversary. In one meeting, an official asked, “Why do the president and secretary of state keep saying that the United States will not allow North Korea to have nuclear weapons when in fact you are not doing much to stop us?” He deduced that there must be a hidden agenda. “It’s because you want us to have nuclear weapons as an excuse to tighten your grip on South Korea and Japan, your two allies.” We responded that there was no hidden agenda and that the United States really did not want the North to have those weapons. I’m not sure we convinced him.

from  How ‘Crazy’ Are the North Koreans? by Joel Wit, who's been involved in gov't work like this for 25 years.

I would think the conclusion the North Korean negotiator reached sounds crazy. But to him it was rational.

My point is, though, that I see conclusions I think are irrational on a regular basis. I hear it more often as conspiracy/manipulation theories when the person is from a country where personal liberties are not regarded as highly as they are in most of the 1st world nations today.

We do certainly have plenty of such imagination right here in the US, no question. I won't get started about people seeing the FBI as the real power behind the Boston bombers. Or the belief that 9/11 was an "inside job".

It gets back to persuasion, and emotional reactions. Scott Adams explains that well:

If you have been following the Master Persuader series in this blog, you know that the influence stack goes like this:
Identity beats analogy
Analogy beats reason
Reason beats nothing
 . . .

Which has a lot to do with why folks here get worried about Syrian immigrants.  Many other places in the world look at us and see something we do not. And they get to see us that way on a regular basis. A friend of mine, a Russian immigrant, makes calls to old friends who are still in Russia. And to hear what they have been thinking and hearing, since the whole Ukraine business started, is nothing short of amazing (or appalling, depending on how you want to phrase it). Just like Trump, playing emotional identity themes here, powers over there are playing those emotional identity cards.

And I still find it jaw-dropping unbelievable, how people manage to look at the same world I see, and come to such different conclusions. Which is not really where I meant to take this thought. But it is where it ended up. Most things people do are not based on rational thought. Governments like North Korea and Cuba do not collapse of their own weight, even though we often have to wonder how they can survive, if what we read in the news is true. But there must be enough people who believe in those governments, for whatever reasons, to keep them operating.

The only conclusion I have is that one must keep this in mind when looking overseas. I'm certainly not sure that there is anything that can be done about it.

Continued: Thoughts on Amy and Andy

Back to Amy and Andy, and their training.

Before we move on to that tho, given the long nights this time of year, and the fact that these two disappear in the dark? I sewed up a couple of safety vests for them. Cut one of my old work safety vests in two and sewed on some velcro. Absolutely increases their visibility on these dark winter nights. Pretty nice, huh?

But talking about training, and personality. All that jazz. I feel like I'm repeating myself a lot. My initial impressions of their personalities from the first weeks continue to be validated, and strengthened.

They both have a large resistance level to cooperating when they do not consider something fun. And a large level of resistance to performing some basic, but essential, obedience tasks. They are much happier when they can do what I want without me ever giving a command. The problem is, when they do this, I am no longer directing the action. It IS interesting, but I am not comfortable trying to utilize this ability. When there were just "farm collies", this kind of independence was prized. E.g. The "Lassie" or "Lad" who opened the gate in the morning, led the cows to pasture, brought them home, and then closed the gate - with no direction. But, when I allow it, it means I am trusting their judgement to act wisely and correctly. In today's non-farm world, this would only be acceptable if I were able to immediately halt any action they took, and redirect them to where I want them.

When I got in touch with the English Shepherd people, the first significant comment I got back, as I said before, was that they should have been adopted out separately. And, failing that, the way to train them was to do as much separately as possible.

I can see this. When I train them separately, I get small step results. Meaning you start with the best response you can get, and work on that, building it up an inch at a time if necessary. I put them together, and, as I said, they cue on each other, and sometimes the training goes out the window.

But I don't want to train them completely separately. It's no fun for me for one thing. It would mean making two trips out per day - and that is beyond what I want to do at the moment. Also, it means doing something to manage the dog who gets left behind.

They both show signs of fairly intense separation anxiety, both from me, and from their sibling. The one who is active shows only a little separation anxiety, but the one left behind? Intense.

I can not just leave them in the house, as, in their agitation, they will tear some things up and knock others over. Only trying to see us out the windows - but doing so constantly and energetically. When left in the house, Andy forgot himself, and ate the cat kibble that he had left alone for weeks. All kinds of stuff near windows was knocked over for both of them. So, the typical solution offered is to crate the one left behind. Andy, in the crate, barked continuously from the moment we left the house. Amy does not bark as much, but is equally agitated and nervous. And if she catches sight of us, she is extremely agitated, and vocal - barking a lot. They are both distressed by the experience. Some might say "they will live through it". And, yes, of course, yes, they would. But it is also a very negative experience. And certainly does not fit in the positive feedback training model. These two are NOT good at self-calming.

As I've said, I think I've repeated myself a lot in my descriptions of these two. This, I think, represents two things. First, I am very much trying to understand how to successfully train these two. Second, I am very much trying to understand exactly what is happening. The questions, for me, have been: 'what is breed instinct?'; 'what part is down to these dog's personal behavior?'  I have to answer those questions. I also have to figure out how to label their behavior patterns, so that I can communicate those patterns to others, so that I can understand the behavior and act to counter or encourage it.

So, let me see what we have. (This list is disorganized, more like train-of-thought.)

• An ES trainer says they should have been separated, or 2nd best - train them separately - "a lot" 
• An ES owner says that 75% recall (and working to get better) is not good enough. They need to "earn" the right to go off-leash or to otherwise do fun things.
• The comment from the ES people was "they have each other, they don't need you". 
• I think we can definitively label their separation behavior as separation anxiety. 
• Ian Dunbar (famous trainer and training author) suggests two things: offering graduated rewards for behavior (higher value for better work), and points out that walks and runs themselves can be a reward, as the dog regards the value of each quite highly. 
• Outside of food, my two pooches regard play time, and "free woods play time" as very high value activities. 
• Amy is exceptionally delicate and sensitive to negative responses - even when it does not concern her. E.g. when Andy gets a "NO", Amy feels hurt. Amy is the emotionally delicate part of the team - the hyper-sensitive one.
• Andy is exceptionally hard-headed, and resistant to negative responses. E.g. it takes a LOT of "NO" to get a reaction from Andy. He is also resistant to most positive rewards that I, as a trainer, can give. E.g. food. He responds well when the food is right there, and is the obvious reward. But we quickly get to the "no food, no correct behavior" syndrome there, when food treats are subsequently withheld. Andy is, relatively, the goofball, not the thinker, and not the emoter. Andy is the one, who, when faced with fresh cornbread put out on the holiday table, and no one around, got up on the table and started chowing down on the cornbread. Intelligent, on the goofball side.
• I do not want to separate the two. We got the two because we wanted two dogs.
• The bonding that is a negative in training is also a positive for them as a part of the family. Watching them play is incredibly entertaining.
• The bonding that gets in the way of their training is one of their endearing points. 
• Their bond it likely what got them through their first two years still "sane", in a doggy way. They revert to play to counter both boredom and stress, and this tool works well for them. I see them revert to play when they get excited due to a training accomplishment. If they were, indeed, essentially locked in a shed for most of their first two years, that play would have given them the exercise and mental stimulation they need to survive. 
• They follow me constantly. They are my shadows. 

I don't explain all this particularly well. They are each very complex individuals, with many nuances in their behavior. Klinger and Sara were quite straightforward and simple in comparison. And my powers of description show themselves to be commonplace at best!

I've been focusing on making them do tasks separately, even though we are all doing things together. So they have to "down" (and stay) while the other takes their turn. This has been a difficult thing at times, but we are making progress.

I focus on doing tasks, for them, that build self-calming. I make them wait for their turn to get a reward. I make them down and stay while I go out-of-sight (particularly difficult), and WAIT before we go on a run. I'm using the run, and the play-time response, as rewards for good behavior.

Even though they do have each other, as the ES people said, they also have a strong need for human companionship and guidance. But, it is like what another trainer on my reading list wrote, "You have to make yourself fun to the dog" (paraphrased). They have a very strong desire to bond with a human. What I should do is try to make sure that whatever option I offer is more desirable than what they see as the alternative. E.g. "Which is more fun, running with Andy? Or doing tricks for Mark?" I have to make sure they understand that "running with Andy" only comes after they show responsibility and take care of tasks. And, I have to make sure that the activities I offer can compete with "running with Andy".

Even though it sounds harder, I CAN compete with "running with Andy". When I send these two on agility tasks, they have a BIG feeling of accomplishment. It may not be better than "running with Andy", but it is in the competition!

2015: The year of broken glass

I planted some grass seed in October. I thought it had a couple of weeks to sprout and get a start before we had a solid freeze. But here we are, more than two months later, and today is a perfect growing day for grass!

Walking outside today, it's cloudy, and raining, and the temp is mild. I'm in a sweater, and its the end of December! No way I thought things would happen this way, but it is what it is. Come January, or maybe February, we will get slammed. I have no doubt.

But off the current surprise of the weather, I titled this post "The Year of Broken Glass". And, that is what 2015 was. Pyrex casseroles, bowls, all that. It seemed like we lost one or two a month! I didn't actually count, you know, because its not something I keep records of! But we sure swept up bits and pieces, and then vacuumed for splinters, more than once! Not to mention mopping when were done with all that, to make sure we had all the tiny sharp bits!

I don't know what it was, or why. We've gone years and years with these same pieces, and never broke a thing. All of a sudden, one drops on the floor and shatters. Another drops into the sink (a SHORT fall!), and absolutely explodes into bits! Then we take another out of the oven and it explodes. Open a cupboard, take out a round casserole and lid, drop the lid? Boom, smash! Put a nesting bowl in the fridge, then open the fridge, and the bowl jumps out and falls on the floor. Boom, smash! We lost half of our nesting bowl sets, and more than half of our casserole dishes. We lost the glass stovetop.

Had to replace the stovetop, of course, since you can't cook on a glass stovetop stove without the glass top!

Coincidence, surely. Glad that we got all thru this year without a serious splinter event!

Getting a few Christmas family newsletters, the title "The Year of Broken Glass" popped into my head. Great title! Now I only need to write a novel to back it up!

Thoughts on Amy and Andy

I've been thinking about writing a message to the adoption people locally, and in Kentucky where Amy and Andy's current journey started. I have been in touch with both, and contacted the head of the KY agency to try and discover a little background on A&A.

By the way, all in all, they are doing very well. Their health is excellent. They are happy, and their appetites are great. Their training is making progress, although sometimes it seems to be exceedingly slow. And sometimes we have moved backwards. A lot is dependent on the task.

Now that their fur has grown out, they are beautiful. I did not take them with this thought, but it is nice, when walking in a public place, and people's eyes get big, and they say "What beautiful puppies!". I can't say that doesn't do something for my ego! But they are still very nervous around strangers and in strange places. When talking to a new person on our runs, Andy will often literally hides behind me, like a child hanging on to Mother's skirts!

The reason I have been thinking about writing to the agencies is to put forth a "lessons learned". And basically, that may be this one message: it might have been better to adopt them out separately.

They are very affectionate to each other, and I suppose one could say they are "bonded". Which is certainly true. However, that same bonding, which probably kept them "sane" while surviving the previous adoption home, now works against them. When together, they have a significantly larger reaction to their sibling than they do to me, their human and their trainer. Which means that days and weeks of progress can be undone in a second.

Ideally, for me, would be to send one out to a rural family for 3 to 6 months, for socialization and training. If it were only 3 months, I might have to switch and then repeat with the other sibling. I don't exactly know. Never done the like before.

But the English Shepherd trainer that I got in touch with, second-hand? The comment I got used the word 'idiot' when talking about adopting the dogs out as a pair. Pretty harsh, eh? Well, they had not seen the dogs together, so that was certainly a generic comment. Meaning it applies in general - maybe not so much to this specific couple.

But I can see the truth in what they said. I mean, what is the most important objective here? The dogs' happiness? Or that they are happy and develop to something like their potential to work with their human compatriots? Obviously, a dog whose happiness is considered the highest priority by his humans is a spoiled dog. We don't want that.

But figuring out where the lines lie after that - that is the hard part.

Anyway, sorry, but I will have to finish this post tomorrow or the next day. See ya!

Latest photos of Amy and Andy

You can see their fur is coming in nicely! They are some of the most agile dogs we have ever had. Today Andy was squirrel-chasing and went straight up the tree when he got to it - more than the length of his body - it was amazing. I've seen little terriers do the like, but they are small! He was over 6' up that tree!

Amy and Andy, upping the training ante.

It blows me away, how much food these two eat, and don't put on the pounds. Or, at least, not in fat. As of today, Amy is up to 43.5 lbs, and Andy is a solid 48. But they are still lean, lean, lean. I have kept bumping up what I feed them by an ounce or so. They are now eating what I used to feed Klinger and Sara for maintenance.

But they do go out and burn those calories. If I ride 3 miles, they must be covering 5, anyway. Today I walk - it's raining and ugly - not primo weather for my bike. I cover just over a mile and a half. Amy goes more than 2.5 miles (she has the GPS at the moment). And some of that was at top speed, chasing rabbits.

They've been chasing after squirrels, but Amy discovered that we have rabbits a few days ago.  I will have to get control of this at some point, but they do have fun! We have plenty of rabbits, so I'm not worried about them. And so far, none have been caught (I think).

Letting them run like this does them a world of good. They really get to exercise their bodies and their instincts, and it is the only time in the day they get to do that. For sure they love it.

But I titled this post "upping the training ante". And, that is what I have been doing. I contacted some English Shepherd (ES from here on) people. The initial advice was that the best option was to separate them and put one in a separate home. Second best option was to train them separately, quote, "a LOT".

I can see why they would give this advice. They are smart dogs who need a lot of activity. They have already bonded to each other. What this means is that I am not "the boss" - they have each other, and thus I will never get them to work with me properly, not so long as they are together.

Let me give you an example. They "crib" from each other when I give a command. A couple of nights ago I told them to "leave the kitchen". Nobody is paying attention at first, and so I get nobody leaving the kitchen. I focus on Amy, and tell her to "leave the kitchen". I can see her thought pattern: "Oh, he's asking me to do something, but I wasn't really paying attention, so I'll sit. That usually works!" And she sits.  But I can see Andy's thoughts, too: "I wasn't paying attention! Whadhesay? Whadhesay?" But Amy is sitting, so then Andy sits. I never mentioned "Sit"!

They compete with each other, too. If one is going to get something, the other is right there trying to get the same thing. I've started putting them in down/stay position when I feed them. And they don't get to eat until I've put the food down and release them. I've been releasing them one at a time lately, and they find that exceedingly difficult. If one just budges a tiny bit, the other is up and dashing to the food.

The way the ES person put it: "They don't need you. They have each other. And to get good training results they have to think you are the sun and the moon and the source of all existence and anything good that is in the world." Or something like that - I do have to paraphrase a bit. I don't remember the conversation verbatim. The way some of the training gurus put it is I don't have their respect as the "leader of the pack".

The ES person also mentioned that they will not achieve their individual potential so long as they are together, as they will continue to crib, and/or follow the other's lead. And I see them "following" each other all the time.

Now, none of that is exactly true for these dogs and my situation, but there is a bunch of gold in there. I don't think anybody would be happy if we separated them - so I will have to train them separately. I've already begun to do this.

But, to get better results, I knew I needed to up my training ante. I spent literally years getting Klinger fine-tuned, and some things he never got. But we had a relationship where he would reliably work close enough to my boundaries so that I could reliably keep him safe and healthy. It has struck me that this looser target isn't quite optimal for this pair. They are too intelligent - but they still think like dogs. They are too independent - like Sara was - but they have a much higher social need than Sara did. Still, they are stubborn in that independence, like Sara was!

And these guys are adults, who came to us with a lot of habits already. Klinger was still a pup. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks, but it takes time.

So, I've been reading. Border collie stuff, Australian shepherd stuff, working dog stuff, shepherding dog stuff. All these farm collie types - the Border Collies (BC), Aus Shepherds (Aus), old Scottish Collies, etc, have a lot in common. BC are more driven, and needy that way, but they have more in common than not, I think. They are certainly none of them Labs, retrievers, hounds, or greyhound types! ES are a "landrace" breed. Meaning they were just a dog, a "farm collie", and farmer Joe over in the next town might have let in some off-breed blood so long as the pups still worked well. Or, the female got out when she was in heat, and picked the sire herself. Etc. I don't know how much free play there was, but they weren't a show breed. They were working dogs, and the personality and ability came foremost.  Some people think the Aus may be a descendant of ES bloodlines. So all these collie types are pretty closely related, with similar abilities and instincts, which is why I was going to these other breeds for training tips and behavior advice. There isn't much when it comes to English Shepherds.

As a result of my studies, I am understanding better what these two are doing - when they are being rude - when they are being insecure - etc etc. They are more complex personalities than any of our recent dogs. For instance, one thing these two seem to need to know, at least a little more than average, is "why". E.g. "You want me to sit? Why?" And anybody who has raised a teenager knows how that goes! So, if they see a car coming, they know "why", and they sit. No car coming? Forget sitting while we sniff over here. Or over there. So, I think you can see - I have to up my ante on the training front.

Back to the "separated training" advice. I have, for the past several years, only trained on an ad hoc basis. Wherever I happen to be when there is an opportune moment - we spend a minute or two on training. As it turns out, this practice  is recommended by at least some training gurus. Good for me!  :D But very difficult with these two, since they are usually together when they are with me. And they do NOT train well separately when the other is close by. I've tried that.

I have a sufficiently tolerable level of compliance to take them out off-leash. Ideally, I should start taking them out separately. However, that would just take too much time. So, I've lately been working on name-specific commands. I don't let them go out the door together - they have to sit and stay, and I release them one at a time. They don't get released together from a stay to eat dinner - they get released by name. When I go out to the shed, I might take one, not both.

Also, reading all these training gurus: Ian Dunbar, Suzanne Clothier, Nij Vyas, I've got a better handle on positive training methods. Clothier, in particular has an excellent writing technique which makes the concepts very accessible. So I'm getting better at positively reinforcing the tiny steps.

So, they are enjoying life, and they are healthy. I am enjoying them. We still have a ways to go with the training, but I do see some progress!

Amy and Andy - more fittin' in

As I write this, Amy lies on the downstairs couch, doing her yoga. She is currently in her inverted airplane and a half, which makes her look like her rear end is completely separate from the front. Flexoskeleton!

Start with a typical doggie inverted airplane: lie on your back, with legs stretched into the air in split positions. Good for begging belly rubs. Next, turn forelegs until they are lying on the ground, as they would be if one were just lying on the ground, but leaving the rear legs in full stretch into the air in airplane position. There you have it! If she could only do judo, she could be a master!

Progress continues. They have only jumped the fence one more time - when I left them at home to go run errands. Apparently this really upset them, and they were climbing the taller section of fence in order to try and find me. Amy got over. Andy was caught mid-climb, but both came back inside.

They are settling in well to thinking of this place as their new home. That definition of home includes riding in the car. When we go somewhere else, then outside the car is "not-home", and they do NOT like to leave the car. Although today, they DID get out of the car at a friend's house. So small steps!

Amy has tried again to explore beyond the yard when outside the fence. Although I am not overly concerned that she will wander far, in part because of the devotion they show to "home", to wander outside the yard is considered bad manners at the least. We have neighbors who do not like dogs, who are allergic to dogs, and who are afraid of dogs. And we also have neighbors who DO like dogs, and who are doggie people themselves - just so I don't make our neighborhood sound hostile!

But I've taken her with when I go out to the back shed and/or walk around the yard. And reprimanded her for going too far. It is a struggle, but I think she is getting the idea. I may go with the underground fence option yet. We will see.

They are very devoted - so long as I include them in everything I do! Upstairs or down, inside or out, they want to be with somebody at all times.

We had a small interesting experience on our evening run tonight. I mentioned Bandit (a rat terrier, and a nicer one you could not meet!) once before. We were on the road passing the building where he "works". About 20 yards away. Bandit senses us and starts yap-yapping. This is the dog who had both Amy and Andy in panic mode when they first met - because he started barking up a shit-storm. He was only barking up a minor cloud this eve, but Andy went up the street in double time to make sure he got away from the monster causing that ruckus! Amy was quite a bit calmer, but Andy was definitely on the edge of panic. I have to think a small yappy dog has caused problems in their past. 'Cause they normally like meeting other dogs. And Bandit is extremely friendly - so that is not the issue.

They've started playing while we are on our runs. They will chase down and bowl each other over, at full speed. We are moving along fast enough I got out my helmet for the first time in, oh, 3 or 4 years, and put it on. Sometimes they get out ahead of me, and I am not sure they fully understand they need to stay out of the way of the bicycle!

It is interesting what they DO understand. I've been practicing this routine when cars pass: "stopping", then "get right" as I come to a stop, and they proceed to the right of the bicycle. Then "get left", and "let's go" to get moving again. I think they know that the car has gone past, and they are moving in to "get left" before  being told. If they are paying attention to the cars, that could be fine. I would rather they just trusted me to give the orders, but if they can think that far ahead - and if I can see my way into working with their capacity - it could work out.

Btw - Andy likes sour apples. Amy does not. We passed a crabapple tree today on the ride. I picked one to taste it. It was sour! The definition of original "sweet-tart"! Then offered the remains to Andy - he ate it up! I nibbled a bite off two more, and offered one to each. Amy sniffed and turned right away. She said "none of that." Andy ate them both! Funny!