# Crank has laser focus (mal)



## Baillif

Crank continues to impress me. His temperament is bomb proof solid in a way I haven't seen in any dog. He has stability in behavior that is incredible and it has been that way since he was very young. 

These are Mondioring style position changes with a naked dog and a high level of distraction. He will never have anything this bad during trial. This is pretty much a ridiculous situation to put a dog in and expect that dog to still perform, but that's going to be his life so it is what it is.

What really makes it crazy is he holds eye contact despite all the crazy stuff going on around him. This scenario was not trained. He just did it. The positions exercise was of course trained in many other scenarios but nothing like this. 












There was one blooper where one of my board and trains takes things a little too far and sucker punches Crank. Had to stop filming to go correct that dog. That blooper happened before the part 2 video so when the big tan dog took a similar run at him it shows off Cranks discipline to hold obedience and not even flinch. He technically did stand on command so no errors although that sucks he got hit while being in obedience.







Kind of boring in that this isn't bitework yet, but it is hard to film that when I have to either handle him, decoy him, and usually there isn't anybody around to get it. He will end up trialing this year though and I'm sure that will be filmed.


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## mycobraracr

Nice! I was at a Mondio trial this weekend. It was fun.


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## Baillif

The one in Corning?


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## mycobraracr

Yup that's the one. I live about a half hour from there. It was the first time I have seen a mondio trial in person.


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## Baillif

Lisa got her 3 on Maximus the dutch shepherd there. Kind of squeaked by but whatever it's a 3.


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## David Winners

Dude, that's impressive.


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## Nigel

That is awesome! Nice work


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## Susan_GSD_mom

Wow. That's all I can say--wow.

Susan


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## misslesleedavis1

! Awesome and stunning!


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## SuperG

That's a stunt dog..probably a human in a Mal suit....amazing what Hollywood special effects can do these days.

Baliff, you have to feel pretty darned good about your efforts and especially Crank's development....

These type of videos are inspiring to me...


SuperG


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## Gwenhwyfair

Love me some Crank vids. :wub:

Boring?

That would only be in the eyes of the beholder.

Agree with Super G it is inspiring.


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## mycobraracr

Baillif said:


> Lisa got her 3 on Maximus the dutch shepherd there. Kind of squeaked by but whatever it's a 3.



I didn't have a chance to see the 3's. I wasn't there on Friday, Saturday I must have missed her and Sunday We left just as they were setting the field up for her. My wife works Sunday nights, so I had to get her home to get some sleep before she had to work. I really liked one of the "2" dogs. 

I liked a lot of what I saw with Mondio. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but looked like fun. Since there are a couple clubs so close to me, I might dabble in it a little. 

Are you heading to any trials on the west coast?


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## Baillif

I will be at nationals in LA in about a month. I'm getting there at least a week before to work some dogs prior to the event.


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## eddie1976E

Very impressive Baillif. Love that focus. Good luck at Nationals. Are you taking Crank or another dog?


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## Baillif

Crank isn't old enough to compete he's only 10 months old and you have to be at least a year. I will take him there to train some because it's a long trip but I will be working 3 dogs that don't belong to me. I know for sure I need to work two dogs Fito Loups du Soleil and Vidin Ot Vitosha but I'm pretty sure I'll be working with last years national champion Stetson. Not really training him though as he is finished, just knocking the dust off him since he hasn't trialed since worlds in Italy.


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## Steve Strom

He's a nice dog. Good luck in his trialing.


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## Blitzkrieg1

Nice work. Some very nice dogs out of this kennel. The waiting period for a pup is bummer though.


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## Stonevintage

Wow - I had no idea. Amazing. I had you pegged for a tuff guy commando kind of trainer/handler because, I know nothing...

Hearing the tone of your voice on the video's made me want to sit up and lay down Awesome, you have achieved the highest levels and are not a marine drill Sargent about the whole process. Will be rooting for you and Crank - the future looks bright!


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## Nikitta

Great videos. Good luck at nationals with the other dogs.


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## Susan_GSD_mom

Stonevintage said:


> Wow - I had no idea. Amazing. I had you pegged for a tuff guy commando kind of trainer/handler because, I know nothing...
> 
> Hearing the tone of your voice on the video's made me want to sit up and lay down Awesome, *you* have achieved the highest levels and *are not a marine drill Sargent about the whole process*. Will be rooting for you and Crank - the future looks bright!


Uh-oh. Baillif--you're blowin' your cover with your videos 

Susan


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## Baillif

Stonevintage said:


> Wow - I had no idea. Amazing. I had you pegged for a tuff guy commando kind of trainer/handler because, I know nothing...
> 
> Hearing the tone of your voice on the video's made me want to sit up and lay down Awesome, you have achieved the highest levels and are not a marine drill Sargent about the whole process. Will be rooting for you and Crank - the future looks bright!


I teach them as clearly and as efficiently as I can and really the core of that is showing them both the emotional as well as the physical juxtaposition between what is right and what is wrong when it comes to behaviors. Once I know they know something I will hold them accountable for wrong choices to help them become very clear on what the right course of action is. 

I don't need to worry about yelling or being angry or anything like that because the consequence is what holds the power. I don't need to bark at them, and when they're doing the right thing great things happen. I don't run around all day punishing dogs and yelling and being mad, the majority of what I end up doing is positive reinforcement.

I do believe in the dog working for me though. It isn't about just getting a reward or the Jay Z F you pay me approach that many dogs take when they're over rewarded. They need to know they have to. The rewards are icing on the cake to sweeten the deal and keep spirits high, but in the end they do it because they have to.

When you make things clearly and consistently black and white, where if you do the right thing great things happen and you do the wrong thing you get punished and it sucks what creature out there in its right mind is going to choose the wrong thing?


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## Baillif

With a finished dog I should say anyway. The majority of what they get (the pets anyway) in the teaching phase of things is negative reinforcement, but when you're not usually using food or toy you have to emotionally support them in their successes. You can't fake it it has to be genuine.


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## Susan_GSD_mom

Baillif said:


> ....*I don't need to worry about yelling or being angry or anything like that because the consequence is what holds the power*. I don't need to bark at them, and when they're doing the right thing great things happen. I don't run around all day punishing dogs and yelling and being mad, the majority of what I end up doing is positive reinforcement....


This is such a powerful truth, so many people don't realize the damage they can do by losing their temper when training an animal, any animal. I learned that lesson hard when I was about 21. After working with a really skittish Morgan horse for close to six months, I got impatient at something I was sure he knew, slammed my heels into his sides in anger, at the same time turning my hands into iron on his mouth, and RUINED those six months of training I had put into him. Then had to explain to his owner why he wasn't ready to go home yet...

Susan


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## Baillif

Yup. When you are working with an animal and utilizing relationship over rewards you don't want to take things too far and lose them. Some dogs you can do that kind of thing to and they bounce back and don't take it personally, but it really is best to make your aversive consequences impersonal and have a neutral attitude when they're in the wrong. You can always get them back, but it can take a long time with some.

I can be dramatic sometimes though. I will push some dogs hard and as long as things are done clearly and I end it on a good note usually most of them bounce back stronger the next session after they get to "sleep on it." Getting things wrong is sometimes where the most learning is done. If they didn't experience some kind of stress why would they change their behavior?


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## Stonevintage

I would really be interested in seeing your training method. We see the results and they are fantastic.

Would you be willing to post a video on something real basic like a "sit" command with an untrained pup? Maybe something that shows the initial "no ditractions" training and then the "with distractions training? That would be awesome.


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## brembo

Happy Mal, has a job and everything else can bugger off. Put a high-performance dog in the hands of someone who knows what's up and anything is possible.

I've seen similar focus with a national/world class Border Collie frisbee dog, albeit with a lot more neurotic behavior bundled with it.


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## Moriah

Please bring back your old avatar after the Big Four!! Fantastic video--it's better with pink hair, though!!!


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## Susan_GSD_mom

Baillif said:


> Yup. When you are working with an animal and utilizing relationship over rewards you don't want to take things too far and lose them. Some dogs you can do that kind of thing to and they bounce back and don't take it personally, but it really is best to make your aversive consequences impersonal and have a neutral attitude when they're in the wrong. You can always get them back, but it can take a long time with some.
> 
> I can be dramatic sometimes though. I will push some dogs hard and as long as things are done clearly and I end it on a good note usually most of them bounce back stronger the next session after they get to "sleep on it." Getting things wrong is sometimes where the most learning is done. If they didn't experience some kind of stress why would they change their behavior?


Stress in that way is good--gotcha there. Personally, I come from an Italian family, impulsive, loud temper, hot temper, and I had to really learn to control that. I'm talking about losing your temper with an animal where the dog/horse/whatever is totally confused, perhaps frightened, and that's all they can possibly take away from a training session. That's what I did with the Morgan stallion I was working with. And I have seen (and heard of) people totally losing it with dogs. No training there. (Dogs are much more forgiving than horses in that way, even in the use of different voice tones.)

An Arabian stallion I trained and showed for several years was murdered (no other name for it) by a man who lost his temper. 

Corrections, yes. Moderate stress, yes. But the human has to keep it calm and cool in the process. As I know you do. Every video you have posted here, your dogs are telling us that! 

Please keep the Crank videos coming--they're inspiring, even for an old woman like me. 

Susan


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## Baillif

Stonevintage said:


> I would really be interested in seeing your training method. We see the results and they are fantastic.
> 
> Would you be willing to post a video on something real basic like a "sit" command with an untrained pup? Maybe something that shows the initial "no ditractions" training and then the "with distractions training? That would be awesome.


The problem is there isn't a set method to it. How I teach a puppy or a dog sit will really depend on the dog itself. It also depends on whether I want pet obedience or a sporty behavior. 

Some I might food lure a little first, but fade it quickly. A remarkable number of them will just do it to a quick motion and release into happy emotions party. Some I might slap a leash on them and just make it happen and then release into food play or emotions. Some I do low stim style e collar and leash pressure. Some I might combine some weird mix of everything. As long as it follows the rules of learning theory and it is done in a way the dog understands clearly what is going on I don't really have a clear preference as to what to do until I see the dog and start messing with it.

Crank for instance would do stuff for emotions so I very rarely ever used food. He doesn't even know how to lure. With dogs that are very socially affiliated genetically I tend to use myself an emotions as the reward and then pressure on the other side of things. If I give Crank an excited free cue to end a behavior he will throw himself into my arms and go for kisses. If I can reward him like that why would I bring food into it? Food doesn't build relationship and in fact it can hurt it. You can turn yourself into a pez dispenser in the dogs eyes. 

I use things like food and toy to maintain the emotional side of things to (get them past the weirdness.) They are used to condition expectation and energy and snappiness and be icing on the cake not as a primary motivation to get the dog to do its job. I often mix the play into the obedience because from an emotional standpoint they start to merge. The dog doesn't do it because of the reward, it does it because it has to (to avoid pressure), but I like the reward to be the added bonus.

Zebu was started differently. He lured he got paid a ton, and luckily he handled the transfer to "now you have to" pretty well. Think Michael Ellis style stuff, but then we gradually moved to what we are doing now which more closely resembles how Ivan would train. I've seen some dogs not handle the switch so well. There is a difference between Zebu and Crank though in that Crank values our relationship and the happy emotions much more than Zebu. Zebu doesn't party with me like Crank. If I release Zebu happily part of him in the back of his head is like yeah ok wheres' the toy though? Crank gets released into emotion party time and hes like **** YEAH WE DID IT! I WANT KISSES NOW! Even if he gets toy or food rewarded that part of him never goes away because that was his foundation. Zebu is great, but my relationship with Crank is stronger. Part of that is genetic social affiliation stronger on Cranks part but a large part of it is the big difference in how they grew up being trained.


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## Stonevintage

I understand. I guess I'm just wanting someone to solve all my training issues in a quick video Right now, I am a broken Pez dispenser. Was transitioning the last two weeks off treats and just praise for recall from the yard. She slammed on the breaks 2 days ago and now won't recall even for treats.

The recommendations have been the long line and leash. Back to square 1. I am so bummed. I didn't want to treat train her but I listened to others and it was so easy, now this.... and the clock is ticking - she's 11 months old today and so far behind.

I do not have any penalty or correction method all. What I have been trying is long timeouts which she evidently is not associating as a penalty for not recalling, or just doesn't really care. I snapped her on the butt lightly with the end of the leash one day (when she was pulling) got immediate good response, mentioned it here and everyone got all upset and said don't hit your dog. So I have not. So here I sit, with an 11 month old dog that I can't even recall from the yard.


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## Gwenhwyfair

whew that covers all the bases!

It's very experiential though, isn't it Baillif? Depends on the dog, the owner/trainer, what was done with the dog earlier in it's life, whether the dog has the 'pack' drive/biddability.

Smitty (you saw his video) was a 1 1/2 year old street dog who had learned to fend for himself when I adopted him. He didn't care about food, he didn't care about praise, he just flat out didn't care, he had his own agenda, period. What finally snapped him out of this 'send me a memo' attitude was the prong collar. THEN I layered in treats and all of sudden he liked treats. :crazy: Still could not give too much of a care if I'm happy or not though. He's just not a 'relationship' kind of dog I guess.

I guess, in general, call me pez 'cause I did use treats a lot at first with Ilda and Autumn (ME 'power of training with food' - Autumn has tons of food drive). Now I do not carry around treat pouches at all anymore though. I did do the 'party' as taught in the OB classes run by an IPO trainer. Ilda and Autumn are into it. Loved that aspect of training. *Love* a dog that digs being happy with you, though. That is the best. 





Baillif said:


> <snipped>
> 
> Zebu was started differently. He lured he got paid a ton, and luckily he handled the transfer to "now you have to" pretty well. Think Michael Ellis style stuff, but then we gradually moved to what we are doing now which more closely resembles how Ivan would train. I've seen some dogs not handle the switch so well. There is a difference between Zebu and Crank though in that Crank values our relationship and the happy emotions much more than Zebu. Zebu doesn't party with me like Crank. If I release Zebu happily part of him in the back of his head is like yeah ok wheres' the toy though? Crank gets released into emotion party time and hes like **** YEAH WE DID IT! I WANT KISSES NOW! Even if he gets toy or food rewarded that part of him never goes away because that was his foundation. Zebu is great, but my relationship with Crank is stronger. Part of that is genetic social affiliation stronger on Cranks part but a large part of it is the big difference in how they grew up being trained.


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## Baillif

Physical corrections help build relationship between you and the dog when it is done clearly and the right way. Lots of dogs come in with an I don't care about you or your emotions attitude until they get checked and then all of a sudden they're suckers and want to be your best friend. Play(done the right way), emotional support, and punishment are the three biggest relationship builders out there. 

You discovered that with that dog. If you just layered the emotions in and maybe food after you'd discover the dog would probably find value in the emotional part of things too


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## Gwenhwyfair

Can't hurt to try! He's getting up there though, 9 plus years old.

He had a rough start, no care, neglect, foraged on the streets. When I got him I was into PO and didn't use physical corrections, then gave up actually (disempowered I call it now a days). He was just a hang around the house dog for several years.

He's got an independent spirit still. 



Baillif said:


> Physical corrections help build relationship between you and the dog when it is done clearly and the right way. Lots of dogs come in with an I don't care about you or your emotions attitude until they get checked and then all of a sudden they're suckers and want to be your best friend. Play(done the right way), emotional support, and punishment are the three biggest relationship builders out there.
> 
> *You discovered that with that dog*.* If you just layered the emotions in and maybe food after you'd discover the dog would probably find value in the emotional part of things too*


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