Something that I think people can often forget when it comes to training dogs is us. We forget how integral we are to the training process. This is not to say that you are expected to be able to know how to handle and train every scenario, sport, discipline, etc. but how you handle those (possibly temporary) shortcomings is more important than people may realize. I have heard from a very knowledgeable canine trainer (@Paul Bunker ) that what makes a good dog handler/trainer is knowing when to ask for help and then actually asking for that help. Dog training is not by chance or magic. It is dedicated time and effort. So, this leads me into the topic I would like to discuss this week: reframing "failure" in training. I personally do not like to use the word “failure” or “fail” in dog training or other areas of life, but that is not what this community is really about haha. I prefer to frame “failure” as a “learning opportunity”. This just means that you and your dog encountered a situation or scenario that he was maybe not ready for yet or you were not prepared to counter/reward and so the learning opportunity was lost and/or maybe you and your dog lost some progress. THIS IS OK AND CERTAINLY NOT THE END OF THE WORLD!! Our dogs are constantly learning so every encounter or situation is a learning opportunity. It is optimal to go out with all of the tools we will need for whatever we encounter with our dogs which I am sure most of us do. We have a training goal in mind based on where our dog is and we do our best to set them up for success for the next step. If something were to happen that was not part of your training goal and it isn’t too difficult for your dog then you may just have to shift training goals for that day and that is ok. I know sometimes I have gone out with minimal or nothing for my dog because “we are just going to go over there real quick what could happen?” and that is when I am reminded why you should always be prepared. This is something that, thankfully, does not happen to much anymore haha.

The Papillon (French for “butterfly”) is a breed of dog that is not a traditional working breed but they do have the ability. A member of this community @Liz Ott has a couple that earn their biscuits with the responsibilities that she has trained them for. I have also heard of a Papillon being trained for human remain detection. They are not a common breed and I have only met a few in my life but each time their owners had a nothing but wonderful things to say about the breed and their level of intelligence. One description is “This breed is not a Barbie without a brain; it is Miss. Universe with a PhD, an M.D. and a Miss Congeniality title too!...Think of a ballet dancer: very athletic, but still ethereal looking”. The Papillon breed is a toy breed that is dated back to the 16th century. They are thought to be a really small spaniel (which could explain the intelligence and work capability) with some researchers believing they are a modern Continental Toy Spaniel. If you do an image search of the CTS you will see images of the Papillon. While some researchers believe they are their own breed related to a dog called a Phalene (French for “moth”). Phalene’s have ears that droop which apparently resemble a moth with their wings folded and Papillon’s ears are erect which more resemble a butterfly with their wings out. When this ear change occurred is unknown, but you can still find some of the drooped ear variety in litters of Papillons today. Unfortunately the true origin of the Papillon is one that is lost to history so let’s talk about what we, as humans, have more confidence on in their history. Marie Antoinette loved the breed so much, and specifically her Papillon Coco, that she apparently held Coco while being beheaded. Not to worry Coco lived on, survived the French Revolution and passed away at the age of 22. The house that Coco lived in and was cared for in is known today as the House of Papillon. Coco’s velvet “kennel” can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City according to one source.

Bavarian Mountain Hounds come from, you guessed it, Germany where they are known as Bayerischer Gebirgsschweisshund (no a cat did not just walk on my laptop). They are said to be descended from a breed called a Bracken which is “the original hunting dog”. The Bavarian Mountain Hound was bred to be lighter for more versatility and agility and this was done in the late 18thand early 19th Centuries by Baron Karg-Bebenburg when he crossed Red Mountain Hounds with Hanoverian Scenthounds. The Bavarian Mountain Hound was bred for tracking game, both wounded and bloodied, and has an amazing “cold nose” which means they possess an amazing sense of smell that they can detect older trails better than other dogs. This breed is even tempered, agile, robust and versatile. They have the stamina to pursue game until the game cannot run anymore even in mountainous terrain. They are still used for tracking game to this day but can also be used for tracking/trailing for search and rescue groups like their bloodhound counterparts. The Bavarian Mountain Hound was recognized by the UKC on January 1, 1996. The Club for Bavarian Mountain Hounds, which is headquartered in Munich, came about in 1912. The FCI published a breed standard in 1996 and they were included in the AKC Foundation Stock Service in October 2016. Sources: https://www.ukcdogs.com/bavarian-mountain-hound, https://pulsarvision.com/journal/the-original-hunting-dog-bavarian-mountain-scent-hound/, https://gundogcentral.com/hunting-dog-breeds/Bavarian-Mountain-hound,https://www.101dogbreeds.com/bavarian-mountain-hound.asp

A big part of predation substitution is counter conditioning. In order to understand what it is we are looking for it is important to be on the same page of what counter conditioning means. AlleyDog.com describes it as “…a type of therapy based on the principles of classical conditioning that attempts to replace bad or unpleasant emotional responses to a stimulus with more pleasant, adaptive responses.” As a refresher lets also define classical conditioning. As found on SimplyPsychology.org “classical conditioning is a fundamental form of associative learning in which an organism learns to connect or associate two stimuli that repeatedly occur together.” With the groundwork now laid let’s talk about how to approach this with our dogs. Many dogs, even nontraditional working breeds, can have strong reactions to certain animals or objects in the environment such as bicycles and skateboards. These reactions can be anywhere from overarousal to fear. How we, the human, respond with our dog is also important. In short we must also remain calm for the majority of encounters (exceptions are those of self-defense if something were to happen. You and your dog’s safety are #1) and how you respond to those encounters (even the ones of self-defense) do impact your dog. If your dog sees his trigger, starts to become emotional and your reaction is that of frustration and punishment then your dog may decrease his behavior, but no learning will have occurred for what to do instead. All the dog will learn is that his human will be upset with him and it will have a damper your relationship with your dog. Overtime this could lead to either your dog not enjoying going on walks (and you won’t either) and/or your dog taking out his frustration on something else such as your fence, yard, pillows, housemates, etc. This cycle is something that will have a handful of outcomes: a dog that is locked away most of the time, a dog that is “forgotten” about in the backyard, a dog that is surrendered to a shelter or a dog that is abandoned just to name a few. This is obviously very sad and for those of us that understand and enjoy dogs with more energy and drive is especially heartbreaking because more often than not it isn’t the dog’s fault.

The Irish Red Setter showed up in the early 18th Century and is the result of a mix that likely consisted of: English and Gordon setters, spaniels and pointers. They were bred to be a hunting dog and would point and freeze at game using their snout and would hold position, i.e. be set at the prey. Some early forms of the breed were trained to either sit or lie down in the direction of the game. The original Irish Setter was red and white although the mahogany (so fancy sounding) or chestnut brown are the desired coat color for the Irish Setter while the red and white counterparts are now their own distinct breed. In 1882 the Red Setter Club was formed and shortly after a breed standard was established. The red and white setters were then seen as cross breeds as the red setters gained popularity. After WWI the red and white setters were near extinction. Thanks to a Presbyterian minister named Rev. Huston and his cousin Dr. Elliot, they found a few remaining red and white setters not to far and began breeding them. Rev. Huston was alone in his desire to reinvigorate the breed and the decades between wars did not help. It was not until the end of this life that a woman named Maureen Clarke nursed a sick red and white setter puppy back to health and bred her to one of Rev. Huston’s males. There are working and show lines of the Irish Red Setter and an easy way to tell which one is which is with coat density. The show line has a thicker and longer coat while the working line has a thinner and shorter coat. It is thought to help with thermoregulation and collecting vegetation in the fur while out in the field. In 1962 the Walt Disney movie called “Big Red” debuted and the breed’s popularity went from 4,000 AKC registrations to 60,000+ per year. Due to the “demand” low moral breeders jumped on the trend and in no time at all bred the “…brains and hunting instinct out of what had once been a glorious breed in the field.” The Irish Red Setter gained a new nickname “Irish airheads” during this time. Thankfully for the quality of the breed the trend died down, registrations went down to just above 3,000 pups per year and responsible and genuinely passionate advocates for the breed were the ones solely responsible for the breed once again.