“Loose Leash Walking Made Simple” On Sale at Clean Run

Learn how to transform your dog’s leash from a source of conflict into a telephone line

If your otherwise well trained dog can pull on a leash all day long and doesn’t seem to mind the physical sensation created by pulling on the leash, this class is for you! -Dev Sperber

This new class is available through Cleanrun.com
Special Pricing $99 through September 2022 with the option to receive personalized feedback through OCEAN4Dogs.com

Loose Leash Walking Made Simple does not teach dogs to walk on a 100% slack leash. It teaches dogs to respond to the tactile experience of leash pressure the moment it occurs instead of pulling steadily on the leash.

How this class came to be:  In 2020, my Border Collie had orthopedic surgery and was restricted to leashed walks for many months.  To keep us both sane, I started experimenting with different ways to make heeling as fun as possible on our increasingly long walks.  This led to the development of a fast and fun way to teach heeling which I now refer to as “Channel Heeling.”   The techniques I developed provided me with a huge insight about why I couldn’t teach my otherwise biddable dog to walk on a loose leash unless he was focusing on me or heeling.    

The first thing I had to do was change the way I was thinking about loose leash walking from being a duration behavior I needed to train my dog to do to a split second trick that would be cued by the leash itself, rather than by me.  The techniques I share in this class will take you on the step by step journey I embarked on with my dog that led to us both being able to take in the world around us while maintaining a light connection through a loose leash.  

In this class, you’ll learn the skills necessary to transform your dog’s leash from a source of conflict into a telephone line with communication flowing equally in both directions.  This class exemplifies OCEAN style dog training from the inside out and how simple actions produce astonishing outcomes when you know what simple actions you need to take to get those astonishing outcomes to happen!

As is the case with most training methods, the dog’s job is easy and the handler’s job is more complex.  I sincerely hope you enjoy working through this program with your dog as much as I enjoyed developing it with my dog.   -Dev Sperber

Loose Leash Walking Made Simple is one of many OCEAN Specialty Classes available for Free to OCEAN Members.  As an OCEAN Member you also have unlimited access to personalized coaching, feedback on videos, course analysis, access to monthly live Q&As, a private Facebook group and more.  If you have not already set up a free account on www.OCEAN4Dogs.com, click on the link, enter your name and email address to learn more about OCEAN and to view membership options that start as low as $24 per month.

Have a question?  Contact  Dev@ocean4dogs.com

Seeing Symmetry

Eye-centeredness along the horizontal axis creates a type of symmetry that scientists have studied and concluded that humans are hard-wired to recognize.

This blog is named Art-and-Dog-Blog for a reason. My two main passions in life, Art and Dogs intersect in surprising ways, often relating to the art (and neuroscience) of seeing. As a visual artist, I cannot think of a topic more stimulating and yet so basic than the act of seeing—how the human brain makes sense of the visual world. – Devorah Sperber

The following excerpts and images are from a catalogue for my traveling exhibition that debuted at the Brooklyn Museum.

Interested in the links between art, science, and technology through the ages, New York artist, Devorah Sperber deconstructs familiar images to address the way the brain processes visual information versus the way we think we see.

The Eye of the Artist: The Work of Devorah Sperber includes three thread spool installations which debuted at the 2005 International Ljubljana Print Biennial, where she represented the Brooklyn Museum and the USA, including full scale re-creations of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper (29 feet wide) and Mona Lisa (30 x 21 inches).

After The Last Supper, detail view of thread spools behind the viewing sphere, which inverts imagery like the human eye.

After The Last Supper, life-size recreation (29′ wide), installation view at the Brooklyn Museum

After the Mona Lisa 1, a life-sized recreation consisting of just 425 spools of thread so the resolution is very low. The viewing sphere shrinks and condenses the image to create an image the size of a postage stamp. The reason you recognize the Mona Lisa is because your brain is projecting / filling in what it knows about the Mona Lisa.

Also on display are Ms. Sperber’s recreations of art historical portraits based on a scientific survey of 3/4 view portraits over the past two millennia which revealed that one eye of the sitter is commonly located at or near the vertical center of the composition. The study suggests that the human brain is hard-wired to respond to symmetry and that the centering of one eye is appreciated at a subconscious level in the brain. Ms. Sperber stumbled upon this survey while researching the Mona Lisa and Last Supper, both of which happen to be perfect examples of eye-centeredness.

Examples of eye centering (study by Christopher Tyler):

After van Eyck (Self-Portrait) thread spool installation and a Swarovski crystal work based on eye-centeredness in 3/4 view portraits.

After da Vinci (Lady with an Ermine) is not quite eye-centered, but when I divided the image and mirrored each side, the resulting visuals were so compelling, I had to create a work based on this painting.

detail view After da Vinci (Lady with an Ermine)

Link to view more images from the traveling exhibition: “Eye of the Artist: The Work of Devorah Sperber” http://www.devorahsperber.com/brooklyn_musuem/index.html#

Home page for art: devorahsperber.com

Home page for dogs: ocean4dogs.com

Learning by Observing Wise Dogs

I recently attended a five day meditation retreat led by Loch Kelly at Esalen. The entire experience was extraordinary. It helped me shake off the feeling of living inside a cocoon that had developed as a result of 2+ years of COVID constraints.

One big insight was inspired by my dog Lil who was a wise and benevolent leader and the best puppy teacher on the planet. Even the most rambunctious puppy was no match for Lil’s kindness, patience, and clarity when it came to teaching puppies how to BE.

The first video is a clip from a recent OCEAN membership Q&A. I talk about what we humans can learn by observing neutral dogs like Lil and what I mean when I say BE LIL. 😉

The following videos are of Lil teaching puppy Takoda how to BE. The last video is of Lil playing with adult Takoda.

(below) The first two videos are low-res but worth watching Lil’s teaching style. The yellow chicken was Takoda’s favorite toy. It’s no coincidence that Lil expressed so much interest in that particular toy when Takoda was around…and only when he was around. Towards the end of the first video, you can see Lil tossing the toy up in the air, in what looks like a test to see if Takoda is going to try to get it. Eventually Lil appears to be done with the game and lets Takoda get his toy. 🙂

(below) Takoda doing something new and Lil patiently figuring out how to undo it.

(below) Lil teaching Takoda that her toys are her toys… and his toys are her toys… until she says they are not. 😉

(below) First time Lil played tug with Takoda

(below) Lil playing with full grown Takoda in 2018

A Simple Way to Train Lateral Lead Outs

I hosted agility run throughs at Marin Humane yesterday afternoon and a few teams struggled with lateral lead outs so I decided to share a couple of training videos from the OCEAN Membership. If you don’t currently have this tool in your tool box, here are two videos that show a super simple way to train lateral lead outs.

If your dog is not Mark Trained, you can have your dog drive to a placed toy or remote feeder to start. You can also set up your dog closer to the jump (than what you see in the video) if lateral lead outs are new to your dog.

The video below shows the various lateral lead out lines and positions I train. You may never use them all, but the more ways you teach dogs to take the obstacle you set them in front of, the easier it is for dogs to generalize the behavior.

Be sure to expose your dog to the mirror version of this exercise but save that for another session. Repeating the same sequence while you change your handling position will help your dog be successful through patterning. .

These videos are two of many training videos OCEAN Members have access to. If you like this style of training, there are many free videos on Mark Training and what I call dog training from the inside out in OCEAN Foundations or become an OCEAN Member for access to oodles of training videos and unlimited feedback. Members tell me it’s by far the best bang for your buck in terms of on-line classes. http://www.ocean4dogs.com

Using Tai Chi Style Energy to Connect With Your Dog

Using Tai Chi Style Energy to Connect with Your Dog

Last week’s agility class began by inviting students to experiment using Tai Chi style energy to move their dogs (ever so slightly to start). Why? Because I recently became aware that I’ve been using this type of energy as a form of communication with my dogs for 15 years through freestyle, agility, and in day-to-day life.  Attuning to what I’ll call universal energy puts me and my dogs into a flow state that makes interacting completely addictive and insanely fun for dog and people. 

After students played around moving their dogs with energy, we went on to agility training and handling. I think the energy moving experiments helped students support their dogs along the path rather than pull or lure their dogs along the path. One key difference is supporting with energy acknowledges the dog always has a choice to either GO ON or not. Pulling or luring is an attempt to remove the dog’s choice.

Instruction and Tips:

Start with the basics: stand face to face with your dog, pull the energy towards you (wait for your dog to respond just a smidge and verbally mark / communicate that you like it), then push the energy towards your dog (marking the tiniest weight shift away to start) then pull the energy towards you again. It may help to think of the space between you and your dog as containing a large, jello-like bubble (like the giant soap bubbles made with rings dipped into a bucket of soapy water). 

Gently push and pull on that bubble, feeling the connection with your dog and invite your dog to respond. This is not the same as pushing into your dog’s space with marching feet. While that might be an effective way to teach a dog to respect your space, the method I’m describing emphasizes giving dogs the choice to respond to subtle movement in energy rather than making the dog respond to your taking space. 

Giving your dog a choice is an invitation to dance with you and the energy field that connects you. I love doing freestyle “dancing with dogs.” The reason I never competed is because in competitive freestyle, cues are predominantly verbal. Any movement cues are supposed to be so subtle, the average viewer wouldn’t recognize them as cues. I tried using verbals alone with Jake and Lil but they’d bark, which is a big NO NO in competitive freestyle.

By recently becoming aware of the ways I move energy with my body to dance with my dogs, I now wonder if by training freestyle moves using sound waves / my voice as the main form of communication, if that inspired my dogs to use sound waves/ their voices to communicate back to me? Fun thought to ponder.

I’ve been using energy like this with 3 different dogs for 15 years. The video shows “me doing me.” Find your own way of playing with energy and your dog that is “you doing you.”

Why on earth would anyone put a traffic cone inside a barrel?

A spontaneous decision turned out to be a great way to introduce a barrel to puppy Takoda.

Blast from the past: A post about puppy Takoda’s first exposure to a barrel. The following text is from a post I wrote in 2015 and saved as a draft.

It so much fun to be working with a puppy again.  I recall being crazy excited watching Lil learn new stuff so my enthusiasm is not breed specific. 😉

Over the past weeks I’ve done a few short sessions clicking and rewarding Takoda for slivering around a large traffic cone. The slivering part was his idea.   🙂   I could see he was foot targeting the base of the cone but that was fine with me because the end result was a very tight circle around the cone.  This afternoon, I was trying to think of something different to do and decided to bring out the traffic cone for the first time in a while and Takoda’s understanding of the behavior had progressed so much I decided to transfer it to a barrel.   When I put out a barrel in the past,  Takoda didn’t show much interest in going around it, so I didn’t push it.  I figured I have plenty of time to introduce barrels since Takoda is just 12 weeks old.

However, today I figured since his cone circling was so strong, why not encase the cone with the barrel since the barrel is translucent and BINGO he slivered around the barrel the first rep just like he did the cone.. nice and tight… and thoughtfully. He was looking at the cone inside the first set of reps but then started looking around the arc of the barrel where my hand would appear with kibble. Very nice reps in both directions at a thoughtful pace which is totally fine with me.

Takoda’s learning style is to move slowly at first “to test the waters” and then his speed kicks in as he becomes more experienced/ confident and it happens quickly, which you can see in the video below. The same thing is happening with mark buckets, pivots, and everything else we are working on.

I like this style of learning because it allows me to mark and reward precise movements at just the right moments because Takoda is not flinging himself around wildly like he does when he is amped up. He is a thoughtful and calm learner and I’m loving working with him. GUSH GUSH GUSH… which is different than BLAH BLAH BLAH. 🙂

On a related note, Lil is a thoughtful learner too but her natural movement is much more staccato like BING BANG BOOM. Takoda is more like smooth jazz.

STOP LEASH PULLING: Use the Leash Like a Telephone Line

How I cracked the Loose Leash Walking code with my Border Collie

(above) In this 2 min clip from a recent OCEAN Live Q&A, I talk about the benefits of thinking about the leash as a telephone line…a form of 2-way communication rather than something you need to get your dog to stop pulling on.

The final letter N in OCEAN stands for Never Stop Learning. I think it’s easy to fall into the habit of training what is easy and avoiding what is hard. My Border Collie, Takoda has always loved performing precision heeling and this works well enough to get to and from the ring at agility trials. But when he was not officially heeling, he didn’t seem to care or even notice how hard he was pulling on the leash.

Last year, I finally got serious about solving Takoda’s leash pulling puzzle and shared the method I developed in the OCEAN Specialty Class: Loose Leash Walking for High Drive Sports Dogs because I see this as a common problem with many otherwise well trained, sports dogs. After months of learning how to communicate back and forth through the leash, I realized we had developed a shared language that had become second nature for both of us. We didn’t even need to think about doing it. It just happened. It wasn’t until I was explaining and demonstrating how I walk Takoda on leash to a new dog sitter that I became aware of how subtle and nuanced our leash conversations had become.

(above) Example of how I can use lateral movement when walking behind my dog to communicate drift to the right or left.

This technique of incorporating lateral movement developed organically by feeling and responding to each other through the leash. It’s a good example of how the leash allows me to see and feel my dog’s response to the world, so I know what is interesting to him and how interesting it is. The leash also lets me know how connected we are to each other, through the subtle tactile sensations the leash provides. The core foundation skill is “releasing feather weight pressure” which I share in my Loose Leash Walking Class on OCEAN4dogs.com. Click on link below to access this free class.

Free Class for a Limited Time: Loose Leash Walking for High Drive Sports Dogs

This free class is still in BETA form. It’s not highly polished but all the information is there for the taking.

Example of one method I use to hold the leash so it functions like a telephone line with a dog who likes to walk in front.

Exposure to Distance vs Training Distance for Agility

Recently a member of OCEAN asked a question about teaching distance skills to her new puppy who will be too fast to run with. I see this as a common and fabulous problem to have.

I wrote: Regardless of the size or speed of a dog, the most important foundation skill I expose dogs to from the start is: “My dog has his job and I have mine…. and those jobs are different.” My job is to move from one key point to the next so I can show my dog the path ahead in a clear, timely, and consistent manner. My dog’s job is to follow my handling, stay committed the path, and perform the obstacles independently.

I expose versus train my dog to recognize and respond to handling regardless of where I happen to be. I use props to make the right choice easy while exposing my dog to a wide range of handling pictures (handler position, motion, and moves) up close, at mid range, and at a distance.

(above) Puppy Takoda’s first exposure to a pinwheel. I started handling inside the pinwheel supporting the path with standard post turns. Takoda’s path remained the same every rep while I gradually added more lateral distance and forward sends by making my handling path smaller. Patterning (on the part of the dog) creates a high likelihood the dog will be successful, even as the handling picture continues to change every couple of reps.

NOTE: If you expose your dog to too many reps of the same handling picture, you can stunt learning because your dog might think this must be it since nothing is changing rep after rep after rep and the dog keeps being rewarded.

(above) Once Takoda was running confidently with me on the inside, I moved to the outside of the pinwheel and began exposing him to tandem turns. After a couple of days of numerous, short sessions, I started fading the expens from a full semi-circle to narrower and shorter barriers connected to the OUT hoop, before removing the expens entirely.

You may have noticed Takoda had higher drive with the toy than when sending to a Mark Bucket but higher drive was not my goal. I think of toy play (used as a reward) as just another thing to expose a puppy or dog to. In general, Mark Buckets create more thoughtfulness and toys create more drive. Both have benefits so I mix things up and never stop mixing things up throughout my dog’s career.

OCEAN is about dog training from the inside out AND human training from the inside out. To expose versus train, you need to be aware of what you are thinking and feeling especially when stepping outside your comfort zone (literally and metaphorically). This awareness allows you let go of hopes and expectations releasing that inner-tension most of us feel when we don’t know what our dogs are going to do. Since dogs are so good at reading our emotions, when we are fully present, relaxed, and light hearted, our dogs are more relaxed and light hearted, which makes learning more fun and less stressful for all concerned.

Clearer Seeing: Non-attachment to outcomes makes is easier to observe your dog clearly, which makes it easier to know what adjustments to make next, based on your dog’s attitude and actions. Acceptance of whatever happens, happens creates a light hearted, relaxed mental and emotional state and who doesn’t want that?

http://www.ocean4dogs.com

If you like the OCEAN approach to dog training from the inside out, I invite you to take a dip into OCEAN. -Dev Sperber

Seeing Jumping (and Bar Knocking) with Increased Clarity

What do you do when your dog knocks a bar when you are practicing handling? 

1. Do you stop to reset the bar, ask for one successful jump to make sure your dog doesn’t think he can “get away with” knocking bars? 
2. Do you stop to reset the bar, ask for one successful jump and then continue practicing handling until you achieve your handling goals?
3. Do you ignore the bar, finish the sequence and then end the session or take a break to watch video playback to see why that bar came down?

In this short video clip from a recent OCEAN Live Q&A, I share my thoughts on the pros and cons of various handler responses, and the importance of seeing our dogs actions through a clear lens versus doing what we always do because that’s the way we’ve always done it.

www.ocean4dogs.com

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Meredith and Geordie’s First Fun Match!

Meredith has been a member of OCEAN since August 2020 so Geordie was exposed to OCEAN principles and Mark Training from the start… but it’s never too late to add OCEAN Foundations or Mark Training to a dog’s tool box.

Meredith shared a few video clips and descriptions of Geordie’s debut runs with fellow OCEAN members. I love seeing happy, engaged dogs running agility. I hope you enjoy watching these videos as much as I did.

First Clip: Geordie’s first run at his first ever Fun Run event.

Second Clip: Novice Weavers was the last run at the fun match. This fun match was being held in a horse barn (Victoria Therapeutic Riding Association’s barn) and the footing was thick and loose and contained a lot of loose fabric/felt in it. A little bit of a hard slog for a little dog (and my 68 year old knees). I think that Geordie was laboring somewhat running in this material as the day progressed. He however impressed me by not being a terrier and going to check out every corner of the barn for critters or horse poop, and by coming back when he was called when he did get distracted.

Third Clip: Novice Grounders (Barrelers). Two run throughs. His first introduction to barrels on a course. I’m still working through which verbals to use to get the appropriate different exit from the barrel. But considering this was our first time working barrels with him, he did pretty well.

Prior to each run, while we waited to go into the ring, I had him up on his mark bucket; he was very animated and focused, bouncing up and down with his front paws on the bucket while I rewarded him for his focus.

Fun observation: every time I came out of the ring, there were other handlers using Geordie’s bucket! – Meredith Reeve

Meredith and Geordie: Distance Training Using Mark Buckets

Puppy Geordie

I have been a member of some of Susan Garrett’s programs (Canada), One Mind Dogs (Finland), and Absolute Dogs Training Academy (UK)—those were all dealing with clients numbering in the thousands.What I like about OCEAN is that it is a much smaller group where you don’t feel lost in the crowd, you get great feedback, and that feedback isn’t a bonus that you have to pay extra for—it’s all part of a very reasonably priced package.

Dev is flexible, responsive, insightful and genuinely encouraging. I can honestly say that of all the online courses and programs I’ve taken over the years, OCEAN has definitely given me the BEST bang for my buck. – Meredith Reeve

http://www.ocean4dogs.com

Click on the link to learn more or to sign up for OCEAN which includes the Complete Guide to Mark Training and many other OCEAN Specialty Courses.