[gigya width=”215″ height=”230″ src=”http://www.blogtalkradio.com/BTRPlayer.swf?file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eblogtalkradio%2Ecom%2FDogDoctor%2Fplay%5Flist%2Exml%3Fitemcount%3D4&autostart=false&bufferlength=20&volume=100&borderweight=1&bordercolor=#999999&backgroundcolor=#FFFFFF&dashboardcolor=#0098CB&textcolor=#FFFFFF&playlistcolor=#999999&playlisthovercolor=#333333&cornerradius=10&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx?referrer_url=/Profile.aspx” quality=”high” wmode=”transparent” menu=”false” ]
Mushing
Training Leaders: An Overview
Training Leaders
By Robert Forto, PhD
I have been a professional musher with Team Ineka for the past fifteen years and I am just getting back into it full time after a hiatus of several years for what I like to call, life getting in the way. I have moved from northern Minnesota to Colorado and there just isn’t enough snow here so I will probably move back in the near future or maybe to Alaska where, as they say, the real mushers live. I cannot say if that is true or not but I am willing to find out.
Each week I bring you a short article about the sport of dog sledding. In the past few weeks I wrote about sled dog psychology and that was a lot of fun. Now we are going to get into training. There are many ways to train a dog team and the mushing greats will tell you it’s all about knowing yourself and knowing your dogs. I have had the pleasure (and the pain) of literally living with a pack of sled dogs and what an experience that was. We will discuss that in later posts. But now, here is a brief overview of training leaders.
Training Leaders
A leader can make or break a team. Many dogs can be trained to lead, but the best ones are born for it. Ideally, a potential leader is responsive to praise. This dog has a sense of responsibility and pays attention. He commands respect from other dogs and is intelligent enough to solve problems, but not a smart aleck. This dog is enthusiastic but able to handle pressure. He sets a fast pace, but one that the team can handle.
A musher can train a leader in two ways; one-on-one, or with another leader. One-on-one training develops a stronger rapport, especially if the training begins at puppyhood, but this method is very time consuming. The musher begins training a “green” dog by harness breaking him. The driver first teaches the dog to hold the tug tightly as the dog stands ahead of the musher. Then, commands are taught by associating “gee” and “haw” for right and left by the driver running behind him and pulling the dog in the correct direction as the command is given. Frequent, short sessions are much more effective than long, tedious ones. A puppy has an attention span of about fifteen minutes. This amount of time works well before burnout begins and the pup loses interest.
Once the dog knows “gee” and “haw” they should be taught to “come, gee” and “come, haw” and to go “straight ahead” past a fork in the trail and “on, by” another team or obstacle. When the dog performs consistently, he can be run with a couple of steady team dogs to build his confidence. At that time the musher can add more dogs, as the dog learns to handle them.
Another leader instead of a person trains most leaders. If a musher sees a dog with potential, this dog can be placed in swing (point) position right behind the leaders for several weeks to a year. The dog picks up commands by taking clues from the leaders. After the dog has learned the commands, he can be placed in a double lead beside a good leader. Until this dog has the ability and confidence to do it alone, many mushers run the trainee on a shorter tug so that the leader is slightly ahead and can easily shoulder aside his protégé.
Many mushers train their leaders with a three-dog team. The driver will first choose a dog with the drive to stay out front. Then the musher will simply stop at each fork and either wait for the dog to guess the correct response to the command, or pull him in the correct direction while giving the command. Whichever method the musher chooses it is vital to reinforce a correct response by the potential leader. For many reasons skijoring is a great way to train a leader; the dog is not pressured by fire-breathing teammates, and the musher’s proximity is close enough that the dog pays more attention to him. A simple tug on the rope gets his attention and turns him right away.
When training a leader, the musher must have absolute control over the team so that he can correct mistakes immediately. To train a dog to always obey the commands; the dog must never be allowed to get away with disobedience. Forto’s leader Yak was spoiled because he was running a team of untrained dogs and none were formally trained. As a result, Yak got away with some things. This dog became too smart for his own good. He would go where he thought the team should go. With stricter discipline he would have likely turned out better. A dog like this needs retraining in a smaller, more controlled team.[i]
If a musher has to stop the team because of a missed turn, the driver must not just stand on the runners shouting. The team should be anchored and the leader should be dragged sternly around while reinforcing the command. This consistency shows that they cannot go where they want to go. The musher is the boss and the team must follow his commands.
Aside from teaching commands, the musher must encourage new leaders to bravely pass obstacles like water, ice, crowds, stray dogs and other teams. If the leader will not go forward, the team will also refuse.
The musher must understand that dogs are not perfect. If the driver cannot perfect a dog, he should work around his limitations. These dogs should not be punished for being unable to exceed their potential.
Double leaders share the pressure and have more power over a bigger team. Often one is fast and the other is sharp, therefore, the strengths of one make up for the weakness of the other. In sprint teams, a young dog that leaves the chute quickly can be paired up with an older one that might start more slowly but come home quickly.
Single leaders do have some advantages. Some dogs perform better alone, plus there is only one dog to make mistakes. A single dog can break a trail more easily, and the musher can trade with his partner back in the team as he tires. Long ago dog punchers sometimes ran a loose leader. Because a single dog could plow a snowed-in trail without worrying about the dogs behind him. This is rarely done today.
If you would like to receive a copy of my dissertation, I sell in .pdf format for $9.10. Please give me a call at 303-578-9881 or train@denverdogworks.com. Please visit our website for our team training and school tours as well at https://teamineka.com
Next week: The Gee-Haw Problem
[i] Forto, R., Interview by James Myers 16 May 2005. Interview 1. Burlington, Colorado
Dr. Robert Forto is the training director for Denver Dog Works and a professional musher at Team Ineka. Dr. Robert Forto hosts a weekly radio show, The Dog Doctor Radio Show, every Saturday. Dr. Forto can be reached through is website at http://www.denverdogworks.com
Training the Adult Team: A Brief Overview
Training the Adult Team: A Brief Overview
By Robert Forto, PhD
I have been a professional musher with Team Ineka for the past fifteen years and I am just getting back into it full time after a hiatus of several years for what I like to call, life getting in the way. I have moved from northern Minnesota to Colorado and there just isn’t enough snow here so I will probably move back in the near future or maybe to Alaska where, as they say, the real mushers live. I cannot say if that is true or not but I am willing to find out.
Each week I bring you a short article about the sport of dog sledding. In the past few weeks I wrote about sled dog psychology and that was a lot of fun. Now we are going to get into training. There are many ways to train a dog team and the mushing greats will tell you it’s all about knowing yourself and knowing your dogs. I have had the pleasure (and the pain) of literally living with a pack of sled dogs and what an experience that was. We will discuss that in later posts. But now, here is a brief overview of training an adult team.
Training the Adult Team
The best teacher for an untrained dog is a trained sled dog. Dogs communicate in ways that humans cannot comprehend. This is done mostly by body language and slight gestures that only a dog can understand. They learn from each other. It is nature versus nurture. It is innate and ingrained as pack behavior.
For a musher to start with a number of untrained, inexperienced dogs and mold them into a united, obedient team, is an awesome task. By placing a “green” dog with a well-trained mate the driver’s job will usually be reduced from teacher to overseer. The dog sees his companions working eagerly and often catches on with very little prompting from the boss on the runners. Even a single good leader can work wonders with a scatterbrained bunch of trainees. The musher should introduce the untrained adult dog carefully into the team because it might be confused or panicked by the speed, power and a tight, unrelenting towline.
The musher should use a very small team until the dog catches on. The driver must be patient and reasonable. Some dogs do not have the drive to be sled dogs. Just because he is as Siberian Husky does not mean he can cut it in a team—any team.
These new additions to the team should be broken in gently. Even if the dog is a leader, he should be placed in the middle of the team to let him settle in before trying him up front. The training should start slowly, not very fast or far at first. A dog needs time to adjust to his new home, his comrades, to the pace of the team and to the musher’s commands and voice. Some dogs fit right in, but older dogs might take a year or more to adjust. Dependable leaders will teach the musher as well as his crew. Older leaders that have grown too old for racing make excellent trainers for yearlings and new adult dogs.
If you would like to read my complete doctorate dissertation, Chasing the Dream: A Study of Human-Canine Communication in the Sport of Dog Sledding (2005) please contact me through my website at Team Ineka. I offer the dissertation for sale in .pdf format for $9.10 plus shipping.
Next Week: Training Leaders
________________
Dr. Robert Forto is a professional musher and the training director for Dog Works Training Centers. Dr. Forto hosts a weekly radio program, The Dog Doctor Radio Show every Saturday. Dr. Forto can be reached through his website at https://teamineka.com
Sled Dog Psychology: Attitude and Burnout
Sled Dog Psychology: Attitude and Burnout
By Robert Forto, PhD
This is a weekly series in which I explore a different topic relating to the sport of dog sledding and its impact on the social fabric of America and our canine companions. I have been a professional musher for fifteen years and was given the privilege of writing my doctorate on the sport of dog sledding: Chasing the Dream: A Study of Human-Canine Communication in the Sport of Dog Sledding (2005). In these weekly articles I will showcase the sport, the history, how a dog team prepares for racing, and many more topics. If you have a story you would like to share about dog sledding please send me an email anytime at train@denverdogworks.com and be sure to check out our new website at https://teamineka.com
This week’s article is about a dog team’s attitude and burnout. Many mushers will tell you that they try their best to keep stress down in a kennel. A stressed dog is a slow team and a slow team is no fun. I teach a course at Denver Dog Works on training people to become certified canine obedience instructors. In doing so we spend an entire session talking about stress and your dog and how important it is. There is a very close parallel to human stress and canine stress and you would be surprised how many people deal with it in a way that is detrimental to their dog’s well-being. Well, now take that and multiply that by 50 (the typical size of a professional racing kennel) and you have a big problem on your hands.
Attitude
Many mushers believe that attitude is critical to a strong team. Others feel, that compared to physical potential and training, attitude is much less significant; that is, a dog cannot run on heart alone.[i] Since every team takes on a unique character, often complementing the musher’s character, the importance of attitude probably varies among teams.
At the same time, most mushers today run dogs primarily because they like dogs. They want their dogs to be happy. For the recreational musher, attitude is rarely a problem unless severe disciplinary or training problems arise. Hard working dogs, however, can get so tired of the daily grind that they slip into a depression, provoked by fatigue. The problem may affect a single dog, called burnout, or the whole team, most commonly referred to as slump.
Burnout
All mushers should learn to recognize depression before a major burnout, and rest their dogs before they have a chance to go sour. Symptoms of a sour dog include a reluctance to be harnessed, irritability, anxiety, apathy, lack of appetite, decreased performance, rebellion, a refusal to take commands or a change in character. Whereby a sober dog might act goofy—looking backward, leaning on his partner, or plunging off the trail and the hyper dog may turn sober, apathetic, and sluggish. Again, mushers must know their dogs.
If the dog is just trying to avoid responsibility, he needs discipline, but if he is truly burned out, discipline will only depress him more. A musher can not cure fatigue by whipping, kissing, or giving drugs. Only rest can cure it. After a tough race a dog needs time to recover. It may take as much as three weeks for him to truly regain his vitality. If the musher demands too much, or tries to bring him back to soon, he may never completely recover psychologically.
Sometimes a dog tries too hard in a team that is a little too fast for him. Perhaps new dogs outclass him this year and he is burning his heart out to keep up. Or maybe he is older and slowing down. It is not fair to drive this dog. The musher should put him in a slower team before he burns out, or retire the dog altogether.
A dog that is simply bored is usually helped by time off. The musher can also run this dog in a different position, behind other dog teams, on different trails, or even the same loop in reverse. The musher should convey to the dog that he really does care. Spending extra time with the dog, bringing him inside and making him feel good are excellent ways to remind the dog of this.
Some mushers will take a burned-out dog on a private walk. After the dog entertains himself for awhile, the musher will call him with open arms, hug him and let him go. Soon most of these dogs are flinging themselves into the musher’s arms, and wriggling with joy. Afterward, when the musher cries “Let’s go!”, that fatigued, depressed dog, is running in circles of insane joy.
Just playing with a dog on the picket line or in the kennel can help stimulate him. When men are caught in survival situations, experts recommend play periods to relieve stress. Dogs are the same way. Play relieves their tension and helps to reestablish the musher’s rapport with the dogs.
Next Week: The Slump
[i] Pilón, A., The Universe of Sled Dogs. Montmagmy, Quebec, Canada: Edition Marquis LTD., 1999.
Pg. 63.
___________________________________
Dr. Robert Forto is a professional musher and is training for the Iditarod. Dr. Forto is also the training director of Denver Dog Works and The Ineka Project in Colorado. Dr. Forto is the host of a weekly radio program, The Dog Doctor Radio Show, every Saturday. Dr. Forto can be reached through his website at http://www.denverdogworks.com
Sled Dog Psychology: Communicating
Sled Dog Psychology: Communicating
By Robert Forto, PhD
This is a weekly series in which I explore a different topic relating to the sport of dog sledding and its impact on the social fabric of America and our canine companions. I have been a professional musher for fifteen years and was given the privilege of writing my doctorate on the sport of dog sledding: Chasing the Dream: A Study of Human-Canine Communication in the Sport of Dog Sledding (2005). In these weekly articles I will showcase the sport, the history, how a dog team prepares for racing, and many more topics. If you have a story you would like to share about dog sledding please send me an email anytime at train@denverdogworks.com and be sure to check out our new website at https://teamineka.com
Sled dog psychology is an interesting area of study. In order to be a great musher with an exceptional team you need to know everything you can about yourself, but more importantly your dogs. Any musher will tell you that you must become “one of the team” in order to be a successful dog driver. While this means different things to different people, I have found out over the years that “one of the team” has made me a better musher and a better person at that. I have literally lived with a pack of dogs for most of my adult life and that co-habitation has given me a different respect for my dogs (and them for me, I can only hope) but also made me one great dog trainer. You see, I understand how dogs think. I have literally spent thousands of hours observing them and working with them and in doing so it allowed me access into a world that few dog trainers can attain.
This week’s article is about communicating with your dogs. I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to leave any comments and feedback. If you have any questions about the sport of dog sledding or training in general please give Denver Dog Works a call at 303-578-9881 or email at train@denverdogworks.com
Communicating
You can communicate with dogs in two ways—your way and their way.[i] Dogs can learn a number of words, even the names of their close companions. They also respond strongly to tone and inflection. They pick out key words and let the rest of your sentences slide, as in “You want to go out?” or “Stay out!’ (This is why you should not say, “You cannot go out”—the dog will not understand.) The natural human tendency to repeat short phrases helps dogs pick up words. We say, “Good boy, yes, what a good boy.”
If you also understand how dogs communicate, you have an extra edge in training them. Body language and physical contact play a greater role here than the voice. Drooling, panting, and shivering are natural processes, but they can also occur at other times, such as when a dog recognizes a friend that he admires (you). A dog will also shake off a bad experience. If you have just freed a dog from a choking tangle, and he does not shake off, suspect a possible problem, such as shock or depression. But a musher must know the dog—not all dogs will reliably shake off even when they again feel great.
Tail wagging can indicate either friendliness or aggression, depending upon whether the tail is waived loosely like a flag or in a slow arc, taut as a wire. Eye contact, or avoidance of it, shows full attention, dominance, subordinance, or confusion. No musher likes a dog that constantly looks backward, but unless it has become a habit, the dog is trying to make eye contact for some reason.
Howling brings dogs together and appears to relieve stress. Most mushers like to make their dogs howl (by intimidating a howl) during long trips; it revitalizes the teams and keeps the dogs happy and secure. Vocalizations are often the sign of a dog’s mood as well.
Physical communication on the musher’s part includes petting for a reward, or putting a dog to the ground, as punishment, or to establish your authority. Pinning down a rebellious dog proves your authority by sheer physical control. A dog understands this—you are talking its language. Some experienced mushers bite a dog’s ear to punish him, and they feel that it is a natural form of communication. While it is effective, most mushers would hesitate to inflict sudden pain with their face so close to a dog’s jaws.
When you resort to your own language, you can only expect the dogs to obey what they know. Teaching them a few extra words helps you communicate with them better. For example, on a long trip many dogs learn the words, “We are going to camp now.” They will leave the trail to struggle through deep snow to the campsite if they know the reason for it.
Most lead dogs learn that “Trail!” means a broken path to follow. If they lose the trail and we spot it, most mushers say “Gee, trail!” and the dogs watch for it on the right. With just a trace of the trail in drifted snow or ice, the dogs may wander away, but a sharp “Trail!” command wakes them up and gets them back in line. When breaking trail across an untrammeled field, most dogs cross animal tracks without a glance, but if the track is going the way of the team, the command “Trail!” makes the dogs stay on it.
Most mushers also say, “Let’s eat!” at feeding time. Even if we say it at an odd time, the dogs are up and yowling. Mushers often use this, or a similar command, to lure in runaway dogs. Some mushers will use this command to gauge how tired the dogs are. If a musher stops to snack, and the dogs do not respond to the words “let’s eat!”, they know that the dogs have been pushed too hard.
By communicating with your dogs, you will build a stronger rapport with them. They will also better understand what you want. Dogs, especially young ones, sometimes disobey simply because they do not understand what you want.
Next Week: Attitude
[i] Collins, M., and J., Dog Driver. Loveland, CO: Alpine Publications, 1991. Pg. 46
___________________________________
Dr. Robert Forto is a professional musher and is training for the Iditarod. Dr. Forto is also the training director of Denver Dog Works and The Ineka Project in Colorado. Dr. Forto is the host of a weekly radio program, The Dog Doctor Radio Show, every Saturday. Dr. Forto can be reached through his website at http://www.denverdogworks.com
Training Sled Dogs to be Good Citizens
Dog Sledding 101: Training Sled Dogs to Be Good Citizens
By Robert Forto
Dog Sledding 101 is a weekly series in which I explore a different topic relating to the sport of dog sledding and it’s impact on the social fabric of America and our canine companions. I have been a professional musher for fifteen years and was given the privilege of writing my doctorate on the sport of dog sledding: Chasing the Dream: A Study of Human-Canine Communication in the Sport of Dog Sledding (2005). In these weekly articles I will showcase the sport, the history, how a dog team prepares for racing, and many more topics. If you have a story you would like to share about dog sledding please send me an email anytime at leaddog@teamineka.com and be sure to check out our new website at https://teamineka.com
Training Sled Dogs to be Good Citizens
This article is an excerpt from my dissertation.
Socialization is the key to making sled dogs safe for kids, adults and other dogs. Every dog is equipped physically and mentally to bite under the right circumstances. In fact, dog bites are the second leading public health hazard in the United States with over one million bites reported annually. Every year several children are killed by dogs, some even sled dogs, and several more are hospitalized with injuries.
Dogs raised in a group are naturally socialized with each other and learn through interaction what is acceptable behavior among dogs. Sled dogs will be expected to interact successfully with many other dogs during their lives, so it is imperative that they learn how to behave in a group. Sled dogs need to learn manners around people as well. Ideally this is done during the first three months of life, when all experiences are new to a pup and a trainer can have maximum effect on a dogs personality and temperament.
This researcher encourages trainers and sled dog enthusiasts to socialize their dogs. At minimum these dogs should be socialized at least to the point of accepting handling from strangers and at maximum training the dogs to pass the Canine Good Citizen Test offered by the American Kennel Club. The purpose of the Canine Good Citizen Program is to ensure that our favorite companion, the dog, can be a respectable member of the community because it has been trained to be well behaved in the home, in public places, and in the presence of other dogs.[i]
Can sled dogs be overly socialized? Many mushers prefer their dogs to remain slightly wild, fearing that too much socialization could make the dogs soft or less willing to work hard in harness. But taken to that extreme, these dogs can be unruly and downright dangerous to other teams and mushers. By contrast, four time Iditarod champion Martin Buser often lets his dogs loose as they come out of the dog truck and they stay right with him until they are hooked up.
To some extent the amount of socialization is a personal preference, but it is certainly time that sled dogs can be treated as pets and still be hard workers. As all mushers know, a dog’s life on the trail is relatively short. If these dogs could be socialized, they may even become A.K.C. Canine Good Citizens.
Further research should be conducted on the feasibility for sled dogs to become well-trained pets. This would save thousands of dogs from euthanasia, death by the musher, or worse.
My Dogs
I have been a professional musher for the better part of 15 years. I have been out of the race circuit for several years because, I say, life got in the way. I followed by wife, Michele, to Denver for her to pursue a paralegal career. She hated it and after five years she quit and is now working for Denver Dog Works full time and couldn’t be more happy.
All of my dogs from teams in the past have retired and placed in new homes. Many of these dogs became ambassadors for Siberians everywhere. Many went into homes with families and children, while others continued to race. But I was always mindful of what my dogs were and what their role would be after a relatively short racing career, often about six to eight years. This is what prompted me to earn my certification as an American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. Many of my dogs passed this test over the years and in one case, we adopted and trained a dog-aggressive Siberian named Juneau. With the help of my kids and their hard work we rehabilitated Juneau and he passed the C.G.C. test! This is a testament to the breed and what a bit of hard work can do for an otherwise unwanted dog.
At Alaska Dog Works we always use a Canine Good Citizen Test as a pre-cursor for any working dog that we place in a training program for service work, therapy dogs, our breeding program or any advanced obedience programs such as agility, tracking, rally or protection. While we don’t always do this to our sled dog at the beginning we do it afterwards so that they can be well behaved companions. We are conscientious of our role as training professionals and the handlers of exceptional canine athletes and this is why we strive to live up to our motto: We have the best and train the rest every day.
If you are interested in learning more about canine sports, mushing, working dogs or the C.G.C. test please contact us anytime at 907-841-1686 or contact us through our website at www.alaskadogworks.com
[i] Volhard, J., and W., The Canine Good Citizen: Every Dog Can Be One. New York, NY: Howell Book House, 1994. Pg. 3
Robert Forto is a professional musher racing under the Team Ineka name. Forto is training for his first Iditarod in 2017.