Below are some articles I've written for Susan Garrett's blog about my experiences with her "Puppy Peaks" training videos.
Puppy Peaks – Month 1 Junior Reporter
October 13, 2013 Libby Rockaway
I was so excited to join Puppy Peaks and get an inside view of Susan’s training; to see what she does with her dogs to make them so obedient and well trained, and also what she does to instill such a love of learning. The first month was amazing. I learned so much from just watching her – how she talks to Swagger and maintains an upbeat environment while training and, at the same time, pushes through the struggles, even if it means she is playing with the tug by herself. The most helpful videos are sometimes the ones where Swagger is not cooperating and Susan is a little frustrated, this helps me see that even Susan Garrett’s puppies aren’t perfect, but it is important to push through the “Don’t Wanna Don’t Hafta” moments.
Everything she does is a game, which creates an enjoyable learning environment for both the trainer and the dog. She somehow manages to work on multiple behaviors with just one game. An example is when she tugs with Swagger. It seems like one game, but then sometimes she will make him change tugs, teaching him to play with a particular toy. Then sometimes she will stop tugging and wait for a sit – teaching the pup to calm down and offer a behavior. Other times, she will occasionally let Swagger have the toy, and wait for him to bring it back, thus teaching a retrieve. That’s four lessons in one game!
After watching some of the videos, I decided to go try a few things out on my two-year-old Border Collie, Elliott. We worked on the restrained recall around the pole as well as the retrieve.
I had never done a restrained recall with Elliott before, so when I put his leash around the pole he was a little confused. With one of his favorite stuffed animals in hand, I released his leash and ran. In no time at all he learned the game, and now he loves it. As soon as he caught up to me we had a good game of tug and then played a few more times. He had a blast and he began to improve. I’m looking forward to transferring this to a formal “Come,” which he previously didn’t enjoy.
The next thing we worked on was the retrieve. I never noticed a problem before Puppy Peaks. Elliott always runs for the toy, and then comes back. Most of the time he mouths on it for a second or two and then comes trotting back to me. It is a little annoying, but he always returns in a decent amount of time. After watching Swagger’s video of retrieving, I realized my standards are not high enough for Elliott. Swagger drove out to the toy, and then returned to Susan with equal speed and drive.
So, I decided to give Susan’s retrieving game a try. At first I was a little skeptical; so was Elliott; he was confused and trotted to me trying to catch up. But after 4 or 5 of these, he started to understand the game and get faster, having more drive back towards me. I’m so excited to continue to work on these games and watch Elliott’s improvement as well as my own as a trainer.
Watching Susan train Swagger has let me pinpoint areas that I need to work on, as well as given me a method to improve on them. Puppy Peaks allows me to watch her train, and then imitate her training. The games make learning a great experience for both the dogs and me!
Puppy Peaks – Month 1 Junior Reporter
October 13, 2013 Libby Rockaway
I was so excited to join Puppy Peaks and get an inside view of Susan’s training; to see what she does with her dogs to make them so obedient and well trained, and also what she does to instill such a love of learning. The first month was amazing. I learned so much from just watching her – how she talks to Swagger and maintains an upbeat environment while training and, at the same time, pushes through the struggles, even if it means she is playing with the tug by herself. The most helpful videos are sometimes the ones where Swagger is not cooperating and Susan is a little frustrated, this helps me see that even Susan Garrett’s puppies aren’t perfect, but it is important to push through the “Don’t Wanna Don’t Hafta” moments.
Everything she does is a game, which creates an enjoyable learning environment for both the trainer and the dog. She somehow manages to work on multiple behaviors with just one game. An example is when she tugs with Swagger. It seems like one game, but then sometimes she will make him change tugs, teaching him to play with a particular toy. Then sometimes she will stop tugging and wait for a sit – teaching the pup to calm down and offer a behavior. Other times, she will occasionally let Swagger have the toy, and wait for him to bring it back, thus teaching a retrieve. That’s four lessons in one game!
After watching some of the videos, I decided to go try a few things out on my two-year-old Border Collie, Elliott. We worked on the restrained recall around the pole as well as the retrieve.
I had never done a restrained recall with Elliott before, so when I put his leash around the pole he was a little confused. With one of his favorite stuffed animals in hand, I released his leash and ran. In no time at all he learned the game, and now he loves it. As soon as he caught up to me we had a good game of tug and then played a few more times. He had a blast and he began to improve. I’m looking forward to transferring this to a formal “Come,” which he previously didn’t enjoy.
The next thing we worked on was the retrieve. I never noticed a problem before Puppy Peaks. Elliott always runs for the toy, and then comes back. Most of the time he mouths on it for a second or two and then comes trotting back to me. It is a little annoying, but he always returns in a decent amount of time. After watching Swagger’s video of retrieving, I realized my standards are not high enough for Elliott. Swagger drove out to the toy, and then returned to Susan with equal speed and drive.
So, I decided to give Susan’s retrieving game a try. At first I was a little skeptical; so was Elliott; he was confused and trotted to me trying to catch up. But after 4 or 5 of these, he started to understand the game and get faster, having more drive back towards me. I’m so excited to continue to work on these games and watch Elliott’s improvement as well as my own as a trainer.
Watching Susan train Swagger has let me pinpoint areas that I need to work on, as well as given me a method to improve on them. Puppy Peaks allows me to watch her train, and then imitate her training. The games make learning a great experience for both the dogs and me!
Puppy Peaks – Month 2 Junior Reporter
November 17, 2013 Libby Rockaway
Last week I was asked to train a dog, Riley; he had a few behavioral problems and was not receptive to certain things. Riley had been trained by his puppy raiser for a year to be a service dog, but did not pass his test to receive further training – basically he flunked out. He hated both his head halter and the vest that he was required to wear. This past week, I have been using Susan Garrett’s games to help Riley begin to overcome his fear of the vest and head halter, as well as teach him necessary commands and behaviors.
I started first with head halter games; he had received some head halter training in the past, but I decided to start from the beginning using Susan’s methods. Within the first day or two he began to love putting his nose in the head halter. Then I tightened the nosepiece as he tried to get his cookies, and he responded very well to this – he continued to eat the cookies without a problem.
I then tried to apply Susan’s head halter methods to the vest in order to teach Riley to love having the vest on. We were told that when Riley was a puppy he had no problem with his vest, but one day when he was older he started to freak out when it was put on. He ran around, trying to get the vest off, then would stand still and refuse to move. I began by shaping him to look at the vest, and gradually had him offer different behaviors that had to do with the vest. He caught on very quickly and had no problem with it. We then got to the point where he puts his head through it, and gets lots of tasty cookies.
Next, we worked on putting the vest on his back. He doesn’t freak out when it is put on, only when he has to move when he is wearing it. So, I have been resting it on his back and delivering LOTS of cookies, as long as it doesn’t fall off. When it falls off, the cookies stop – just like the head halter game. He is doing well with this – he is beginning to associate the vest with the cookies and seems to sometimes want the vest back on once it falls off. We are trying to work up to him being able to walk around with it resting on his back; as of now, he will take a few steps, but it is very awkward and it’s obvious that he doesn’t like it on. The head halter games taught me how to teach a dog to love something that they normally would not
Recallers - its just fantastic! I have been working with both my dog, Elliott, and Riley and they love all the Recallers games! Elliott’s favorite is “Smoke Ya!” and Riley’s is “Cookies in the Corner”. I have seen amazing improvement in Riley’s recall. He was never taught a recall, so when I brought him home seven days ago I tried calling him and he looked at me then walked away. We are still only practicing with minor distractions, but I can call him and he will actually turn and run to me! I would not have thought that these quick games would have been so effective in such a short amount of time. These games are Riley’s favorite thing to do during training, and afterwards he is elated!
Lastly, a very major thing I learned this month was the importance of play. I hadn’t realized it, but I have not been playing with my dogs while training obedience nearly as much as I should. When I realized this and started playing with Riley more I saw a difference in him, he learned better because was much happier throughout the session.
November 17, 2013 Libby Rockaway
Last week I was asked to train a dog, Riley; he had a few behavioral problems and was not receptive to certain things. Riley had been trained by his puppy raiser for a year to be a service dog, but did not pass his test to receive further training – basically he flunked out. He hated both his head halter and the vest that he was required to wear. This past week, I have been using Susan Garrett’s games to help Riley begin to overcome his fear of the vest and head halter, as well as teach him necessary commands and behaviors.
I started first with head halter games; he had received some head halter training in the past, but I decided to start from the beginning using Susan’s methods. Within the first day or two he began to love putting his nose in the head halter. Then I tightened the nosepiece as he tried to get his cookies, and he responded very well to this – he continued to eat the cookies without a problem.
I then tried to apply Susan’s head halter methods to the vest in order to teach Riley to love having the vest on. We were told that when Riley was a puppy he had no problem with his vest, but one day when he was older he started to freak out when it was put on. He ran around, trying to get the vest off, then would stand still and refuse to move. I began by shaping him to look at the vest, and gradually had him offer different behaviors that had to do with the vest. He caught on very quickly and had no problem with it. We then got to the point where he puts his head through it, and gets lots of tasty cookies.
Next, we worked on putting the vest on his back. He doesn’t freak out when it is put on, only when he has to move when he is wearing it. So, I have been resting it on his back and delivering LOTS of cookies, as long as it doesn’t fall off. When it falls off, the cookies stop – just like the head halter game. He is doing well with this – he is beginning to associate the vest with the cookies and seems to sometimes want the vest back on once it falls off. We are trying to work up to him being able to walk around with it resting on his back; as of now, he will take a few steps, but it is very awkward and it’s obvious that he doesn’t like it on. The head halter games taught me how to teach a dog to love something that they normally would not
Recallers - its just fantastic! I have been working with both my dog, Elliott, and Riley and they love all the Recallers games! Elliott’s favorite is “Smoke Ya!” and Riley’s is “Cookies in the Corner”. I have seen amazing improvement in Riley’s recall. He was never taught a recall, so when I brought him home seven days ago I tried calling him and he looked at me then walked away. We are still only practicing with minor distractions, but I can call him and he will actually turn and run to me! I would not have thought that these quick games would have been so effective in such a short amount of time. These games are Riley’s favorite thing to do during training, and afterwards he is elated!
Lastly, a very major thing I learned this month was the importance of play. I hadn’t realized it, but I have not been playing with my dogs while training obedience nearly as much as I should. When I realized this and started playing with Riley more I saw a difference in him, he learned better because was much happier throughout the session.
Puppy Peaks – Month 3 Junior Reporter
December 19, 2013 Libby Rockaway
So I have this passel of dogs. Actually I only have four and since you all are dog lovers four probably is a rather small group. But, anyways, every time I let one of them outside, they all rush the door, barking, and getting hyped up making it a miserable experience. Now, I know this is wrong and always have known, so, I decided that since I have this great resource, Puppy Peaks, I should use it and find out how Susan fixes/prevents the problem.
I found the relevant video in Month 2 Week 1 of Puppy Peaks. I started Susan’s strategy with the dog that was the worst because I wanted to fix it ASAP; so Elliott the Border Collie was up first. We began with tugging to get him focused on me. Then we worked on the fast sits that we did for Recallers when I stopped tugging. He did well with both of these, so I moved on to the door. I started off by tugging and as soon as I put my hand on the door I stopped tugging, hoping to transfer over the fast sits. He did great! Occasionally he would have a few slow sits, but he seemed to learn that slow sits didn’t get him a cookie or tug.
Next was Riley. When Riley came to me a little over a month ago, he didn’t know how to have fun with people. He loved playing with other dogs, but was not affectionate towards people at all and when I first tried to engage him in a game of tug he was very confused and uninterested. He has gotten extraordinarily better at tugging and we now incorporate it into training as much as possible. I trained Riley the same way as Elliott, starting with tugging/fast sits and then transferring it to the door. I noticed that he actually was more excited when I rewarded him with the tugging then when I rewarded him with food – YAY!! Huge accomplishment for this very food motivated guy! We still have some things to work on with tugging like regripping, but he is enjoying it and I am thrilled with the progress!
I then worked with Zoe, my 8 year old Corgi. I think I trained her this a few years ago, but didn’t continue to require the good behavior at the door. When I began training her she caught on very quickly and was thrilled to be getting cookies.
The big test was putting the dogs together since they are especially bad when it’s time to go outside and all the dogs are wanting out. I started by working with Riley and Elliott together. Riley’s first sit was a little slower than I would like, but once he understood it was the same criteria he was much better. We played a lot of tug and they did very well when I switched dogs and asked the other to play. This was a news flash for Elliott because he thought he was the only dog that gets to play tug J But, he did much better at taking turns than I expected.
Then, I added in Zoe and they all did great. The video shows a little bit of the training and adding each dog. It is wonderful to have them not barking obnoxiously and running out the door all at once!
Puppy Peaks – Month 4 Junior Reporter
January 22, 2014 Libby Rockaway
It’s been pretty cold and nasty out lately, so I haven’t done much training outside with the dogs. But, we had an oddly warm day and I was itching to go outside, so I decided to work with the dogs for a little while.
I didn’t have anything in mind that I wanted to work on, so I decided to get an idea from Puppy Peaks. I was scrolling through the site index and saw “Self Control: Learning Sista’s Turn Part 1” in Month 6, Week 3. It “peaked” my interest and as I began watching it I realized that it is the solution to the problem I have been having with Elliott. It shows how Susan teaches Swagger to stay on the table while she is working with another dog.
When I work with another dog at the agility field Elliott becomes obsessed and wants to be included. He ends up being in the way, causing problems, and his obsession increases because of the lack of structure. I don’t want to put him in a stay because it would set him up for failure (I need to work on the stays so that eventually we can have rock solid stays, but it will be a long process). Also, I’m okay with him moving a little as long as he is in one general area, so putting him on the table is a perfect solution.
Elliott’s been taught the table for agility, but we hadn’t practiced it in a while and his drive to the table wasn’t quite as fast as I wanted, so I started off by building value for it. We did some tugging on the table first, and later I incorporated food rewards as well.
After we built value for the table, I started adding distractions. Starting small, I just walked away from him and would return with a cookie or a game of tug, gradually increasing the distance. This part went very quickly, he had no problems with it. Next, I started throwing his toy around in front of him, trying to get him to jump off and fail, but he stayed put. So, I decided to add a much bigger distraction – Zoe going over some jumps. He jumped off the first time, but after I corrected him he stayed on the table. I was actually happy that he had failed because I wanted him to know what the boundaries were.
I followed the same procedure with Zoe, except her high value reward is food rather than tugging. She stayed on the table through almost all the distractions. Occasionally she would reach to try to get a cookie that I had put in the grass beside the table and would end up jumping off. Other than that she did great.
The big challenge for Zoe and Elliott was when I put both dogs on the one table. Elliott had problems being with Zoe on the table; he would jump off whenever I told Zoe to go get on, I’m still not sure what the reason was and am trying to figure it out. After a few mistakes they both realized that the same criteria applied even when they were on the table together.
The hardest part for Elliott was staying on the table while I called Zoe to go over a jump, but this is the reason why I was so eager to teach them both to stay on the table. Elliott improved greatly though, and by the end was sitting politely watching Zoe go over jumps, I was very proud!
Zoe’s biggest challenge was watching Elliott do obedience. She is the one that I did all my obedience competitions with, so she had a hard time when I was heeling with Elliott. Zoe also would sometimes just look at me when I told her to go get up, so I think I need to work more with her on building value for the table. We still have a lot of work to do to get them both reliable on the table, but they both did great and I am looking forward to continuing this training and having a solution to Elliott’s obsession!
Puppy Peaks – Month 5 Junior Reporter
February 22, 2014 Libby Rockaway
I am the obedience trainer for our local 4-H Dog Club. The club meets each week and teaches kids ages 9-18 how to train their dogs in obedience, rally, showmanship, and agility. I try to introduce different trainers to the kids so they can learn more about training in general. This week I thought I would talk to them a little bit about Susan Garrett. All the kids love doing agility with their dogs, so when I told them a few of the things Susan has accomplished in agility, they started paying closer attention J.
The majority of Susan’s training is pretty complicated, so I tried to think of a basic exercise that the kids could try with their dogs, and something that would make it possible for a few of them to have success. Because ItsYerChoice is important and not too complicated, I decided to teach it to them and see how it went.
At first, almost everyone was standing up, holding the cookie in his or her hand, above the dog’s head. This either made the dog jump up in an attempt to get the cookie, or the dog gave up and ignored it since it was too far away. Once the kids put their hand at the dog’s nose level, they started catching on and understanding the process. There was one dog who was very food motivated; he was trying to get the cookie out of the girl’s hand using multiple methods, but the girl did great and kept her fist closed while he was trying to eat her entire hand. After some practice, the dog was sitting and waiting attentively until she delivered the cookie to him. It was great to see how happy she was after the dog succeeded, and how happy the dog was, since he figured it out!
Waiting for your dog to make the right choice is not the typical method for dog training. Usually a kid’s first thought is to bribe or force a dog to do what they want, but this is not as effective or nearly as fun for the dog. ItsYerChoice reframes the request so that the dog is on your team and is doing what you want because they want to do it as well. But it definitely takes more thought on the trainer’s part and requires a new way of thinking – quite a challenge for young kids.
All the kids ended up doing really well; they enjoyed watching their dogs think and problem solve. ItsYerChoice helped show them the importance of letting the dog use it’s brain, and how letting a dog think for itself will help create a dog that enjoys working for you.
