The Aha Moment

Monday I took Tag and Chicklet to their groomer. Kris has groomed my dogs since I got them. In addition to being a groomer she trains and raises American Staffordshire Bull Terriers.
My dogs love her and we get to sit and talk. Of course we talk about dogs and training. We were discussing that moment in training where the dog realizes what you want them to do. Kris said that she refers to that as the “Aha” moment.

That is a perfect description. And this week we had a couple of Aha moments including one very special one.

One of the dogs at Neighborhood Pack session last Wed was Billy. Billy is a Dutch Sheppard. Billy is a retired military working dog. His back legs were injured in an explosion in Iraq.

Billy was a trained explosives detection dog but like most military dogs he is a jack of all trades. Among the things he was trained to do was never let another dog near the troops since that dog might be wearing an IED.

Dogs are very particular about their space. Two dogs will negotiate any time they come in close contact to each other, if they have learned to do so. In the dog world if you fail to negotiate contact or even passing close by, there can be conflict.

Billy didn’t negotiate. He was trained not to. So he is literally the most dangerous dog I am working with now. However he is also the best trained. I have to watch him like a hawk. If another dog gets too near him, he will grab the dog. However he will stop if I see him in time or will release immediately if I tell him to do so.

I was working another dog, a very nice Siberian Husky. I was letting him go up and sniff and great the other dogs in our Neighborhood Pack session if he used body language to ask permission and if the other dog let him know it was okay.

All the dogs were on lines and in the control of an owner. I was answering a question and had turned to talk to the questioner. I could see Jack and Billy out of the corner of my eye.

Jack started to approach Billy but failed to negotiate. Just as I was getting ready to use the line to correct him and tell him to “leave it” Billy ducked his head. It was a clear warning. Jack reacted instinctively and backed up.

There was no conflict.

And both dogs had just had an “Aha” moment.

Doug