None of us are extroverts so these events drain us pretty fast. Millie doesn't realize she needs to decompress but we have learned over the years that everyone is happier when we make that decision for her. We took her out to explore a park earlier this evening. All her needs have been met today and she is a happy and content doggo.

I've never been one to name things. Maybe I'll stitch "Frosty" to its underside in honor of you 

Yeah, you have to know your dog and make decisions for them. It's their place in the pecking order. Have you taught her a job? A dog with a job is a happy dog, they have duties to perform, a purpose and make their master happy. It doesn't need to be fancy, just some simple things like a good heal, sit and wait for your release to eat, etc. a solid down STAY is more important than a good recall. 

Situations come up when you do NOT want your dog to move, let alone come to you. Say something catches her attention and she follows it across a road. If you call her name or call her to you, she WILL run across that road without eyes for anything but you. Too many dogs get hit being Good Dogs. If however you shout the command Millie DOWN STAY! in a command voice. NEVER use a command voice unless it's no BS important she obey NOW and for certain.

If however she has a good Down STAY, she'll hit the ground on her belly and not move until you release her or come get her, depending on circumstances of course. One dog training facility used "puppy pushups" as a training exercise. Stand. Sit. Down. . . Sit. Stand. Up and down for IIRC 3-5 reps then it's happy praise and treat time.

Commands shouldn't be shouted or your dog will learn that's your normal tone of voice and when an emergency occurs and you need them to obey immediately a shout wont have the power you need. I just Tell the god what I want. I only yell if they're at a distance or I have to talk over something that has their attention. 

If a dog wants to pretend not to hear me I start whispering. Dog's learn quickly if there's something they want involved. So, if they don't know if I'm going to ask if they want a goody or do something for me they'll pay attention and if I whisper it they give me their undivided attention. 

A breathy whisper is also a good way to calm an overstimulated dog and bring them back. Not as in return to my presence but bring their mind back to me as their center. If that makes sense.

Dogs read our emotions from tone, volume, facial expression, body language, posture and gesture. AS the trainer you can prioritize their importance to suit the job your preference or the dog's amenability. 

A way to develop yourself as the alpha is to pretend to OWN the area around you. Ignore the dog, they're just a dog, I have important things interrupting me is NOT their station. This is really important when meeting a strange dog. NEVER offer them your hand, I talk to their person reinforcing their person's dominance in the dog's world. When the person and I get along for a little bit I'll drop a hand to my side, not in front and never behind, just a relaxed hand at my side. I wait for the polite nose bump, they'll get close and sniff but the nose bump is the request for your attention. If I'm not sure I slowly rotate my palm outwards and open my fingers slightly and touch the bottom of their jaw. That touch tells me if the dog is tense, relaxed or wants to say high and I take it from there.

NEVER reach over a strange dog's head to pet it! offer your palm, scratch their chin, then lower jaw and work your way up. Without knowing you, it can be hard to tell if you want to pet or GRAB them.

Remember, NEVER PUNISH or even speak harshly to a dog for doing what it's told. If you have to walk across the street and a parking lot, your dog is a GOOD DOG for staying. Always tell your dog it's good for being good. 

We don't use "Come" as our recall, everybody uses come so it's possible your dog excited from some good play will come to anybody who calls out "COME." The recall we've been using for the past 30 years is, "To ME." For example, "Baxter, To me, to me buddy! come on, good boy to me!" Your recall should be happy and excited in a high pitched voice. That way they know you WANT them and having them with you makes you HAPPY.

Dogs WANT to please their person, all you need to do is make them know what you want. Making them understand what'll make me happy has always been the hardest part of teaching a dog tricks. A "Trick" being the behavior to a command. Sit, down, to me, take, give, get, give to, etc. are "tricks." Also and this is important. No should NEVER equal or be associated with bad dog. No just means don't do whatever you're doing at the time. Period, that's all.  

Bad dog is as important as Good dog. I've found telling a dog it's being bad is much more effective if you say, bad dog, in a tone of disappointed sadness rather than anger. Just like you say Good Dog as if they just made you VERY HAPPY! Saying Bad Dog in a tone that tells them you're very disappointed and it makes you unhappy. Goes right to their soul. 

It's getting late and I'm really going off on a ramble. More about dogs another time. If you haven't noticed I LOVE dogs and they love me. 

Frosty The Lucky.

A delightful bit of felting work Shaina! The amount of detail you managed to get into that little one is really something to me. Think the one in the photo you were working from had the frowny face because someone put a Bozo nose on it, your's is much better.

--Larry

Thank you Larry! 

Frosty, Millie has her Trick title level Advanced. And tracking TD. She could probably easily do Rally if I cared enough to do it, lol 

I agree with the Come command. We decided on This Way. We unintentionally poisoned the command Stay as a puppy so her command for that is Wait, instead. Keeps her from running off into danger, and that's what matters. 

She's a very well minded dog for the most part. 

Deb used to take Abby to Rally but it was too physical for Deb and Abby missed a step or something and fell from the tall arch and was injured. Abby lost heart for Rally, she'd do anything Deb asked but it's supposed to be fun for dog and handler, not a test of courage. 

Baxter used to be a serious competitor in Agility and Rally till he got punted by a young moose. It was coming around the side of the house and Baxter couldn't see it through the grass, smell it yes but that just got him barking. Deb saw it as it rounded the corner at a loping run. Moose tend to run the direction they're pointed when flushed even if it's directly at what spooked them. Deb was dragging him clear when the moose came out of the grass. It's hoof just caught him about where his floating rib is and punted him 15' or so. The moose wasn't trying to get him or it would've stomped him to a grease spot. 

Anyway, Baxter still has a bit of a kink in his back and isn't nearly as fast or agile and lost interest in the sports he was so good at. We don't have enough wall space to hang his ribbons and titles. 

Funny thing is he doesn't seem to have any prey drive, I've seen a vole run almost under his nose once and he just watched it long enough to see what it was and went back to looking for a place to pee. I've never known a dachshund that wouldn't have had that vole caught and crunched before the handler could react. Deb tried but couldn't get him to show any interest in barn hunt rats at all. 

Rhonda on the other hand is maniacally prey driven, she lives to track, chase and locate. Isn't interested in killing and only shakes a toy once in a while. Years ago Deb was running her at a barn hunt practice and after Deb called "Clear" and the ref verified it. Ronny wouldn't stop hunting which is a down check on the score but she was so relentless Deb and the refs decided to see what she was after. It was very out of character Ronny knows the rules. Anyway, she'd caught the scent of a mouse that had died where they'd stacked the bales for the course. That was the only time I've ever seen her pick up the bait but she brought it back to Deb and the ref and almost threw it at the ground at their feet. The club members, officials, refs and few spectators cheered and applauded her. She wasn't penalized for time or going off target.

I'd have to ask Deb but Ronnie holds national titles and has an international following. For some silly reason nobody thought of a dachshund as a competitive sport dog let alone a barn hunt star. It was like all those dog experts didn't know what dachshunds were bread to do. The name means Badger Hound. They were bred to track, chase to ground and keep badgers in the burrow until the hunter arrived, THEN go into the burrow and chase it out so the hunter could bag it.

Dachshunds are scent hounds, bred and born, crazy stupid brave, muscular, fast, athletic hunting dogs. Dachshunds suddenly started dominating the various scent hound sports around the country. Unfortunately they ARE dogs and will happily eat themselves into sausages with toenails and a wet nose, if you let them. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Picked my ABUS 55/60 padlock for the first time. 

Tougher picking I assume?

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, isn't Rally basically obedience on steroids? I've only seen a few trials but both were all done on ground level. Just a bunch of stations with a sign at each one instructing what job was to be performed. I don't know what tall arch you could be referring to. 

John, achievement unlocked! Literally!

49 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Tougher picking I assume?

Nasty. Multiple security pins. My first Level 3 (Orange Belt) lock. 

Yes I believe "Rally" is obedience or dancing with your dog. A Nosework rally is a day of nosework. Different clubs play by "K9 Nosework" rules but name their meets, etc. whatever they want. This a good example of why one command should NEVER mean different things depending on context. Dogs don't do verbal context.

A number of dog clubs around here have sport rallies that have nothing to do with "Rally" except one that holds Rally rallies.

Frosty The Lucky.

JHCC, i was just thinking yesterday about your lock picking. Cool progress. 

 

The VFW I’m a Quatermaster of just set a New Stone at a Veterans Memorial that we built

That's awesome

Nice twisted! 

Been busy, just installed another flower bed and connected 2 others to fit 20 some odd new daylillies.  I had  been playing around with the design of a tattoo and got it done last Wendesday.  Bad part is no shop time until it's healed up a bit more.  

Picked two tough locks within an hour of each other: an ABUS 83/45:

And a Master 410 LOTO:

The former is an orange belt lock, and the latter is my first green belt lock. 

MAN am I behind on this thread!

Thank you for the memorial stone Billy. While I never served I'm genuinely grateful for those who have and feel reverence for those who gave all.

That's some tat Chad, how's it looking now? How are the garden beds doing?

How many green belt locks do you have to open before you ARE a green belt lock picker?

Have you thought about how you'd open one of the spring locks from 16-22 Coppergate site?

Frosty The Lucky.

TW, i missed that as well. Very cool. I have not been to the VFW in a long time, but ours is kind of a dive. Our Amvets though is pretty cool. They are the ones that do things like that. 

Chad, nice work. I used to work in a tattoo shop. Not an artist i was at the door, made needles, ran the auto clave, etc. I did learn branding though. 

I do not know if this is true or not but a while back ago, like  a few years, i remember reading that warded locks are good to use becuase they are so old nobody really knows how to pick them anymore. Not nobody, i am sure there are some out there that do but very uncommon. 

That’s one of those things that sounds plausible, but doesn’t stand up to closer examination. In fact, not only do people still know how to pick warded locks, the appropriate lockpicks are commercially available.

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

How many green belt locks do you have to open before you ARE a green belt lock picker?

The way the belt system works (at least in the lockpicking subreddit) is like this. First, it’s completely optional, and a lot of people don’t even bother. Second, it’s not something you can simply claim; you have to apply to the site moderators and provide evidence that you have opened at least one lock of the level in question. Third, the evidence required gets more stringent as the levels progress. For example, at white and yellow, a photo of the lock with a turned core is enough; at orange, you have to provide unedited video showing the lock being picked; and at green, you have to show video of the lock being picked, plus video of it being disassembled and reassembled. 

Thus, if I had filmed myself (or at least my hands) opening the Master 410 and disassembling and reassembling a different lock (because the 410 cannot be disassembled, video of a different lock is acceptable), I’d get my green belt. If I do this at all, it probably won’t be until I can consistently open it in under a minute. 

Interestingly, the higher levels of the belt system require more than just picking locks of increasing difficulty; they require working to help other lockpickers  and advancing the entire locksport community. That’s pretty cool. 

JHCC, that is what i figured. What i know about lockpicking is that if our lives depended on me doing it you better have a set of bolt cutters handy. 

 

At what belt color do you have to make  locks? 

Were I to have to open a pad lock I'd have to revert to Father's method and give it a bump with a pick or hammer and punch. How hard depends on the quality of the lock.

Frosty The Lucky.

John, have you had occasion to pick a lock yet "in real life," e.g. a need to get into something where you or someone else has lost the key?

G

The short answer is No. 

The longer answer is that the locksport community sees itself as separate from the locksmith community, to the extent that the lockpicking subreddit forbids discussion of picking locks that are installed and/or that we don’t own. I once mentioned that the first time I picked a lock was when I was little and made a tool that locked and unlocked the nineteenth century mortise lock on my bedroom door. That post got taken down, and I got a stern warning. 

The other day, a friend asked me to pick the lock to the storage area of her student apartment. I turned her down on three grounds: the locksport ethical code, the potential illegality, and the fact that the apartment is owned by the college where I work!

Heck, that's what the college maintenance staff is for, you bet you could've gotten in trouble on couple fronts.

And my question? Are you allowed to make your own locks?

Frosty The Lucky.

Certainly! There’s no requirement that one make locks from scratch, but the project requirements of blue belt and above can include making a “challenge lock”: modifying an existing lock to make it more difficult to pick, and sending it to another community member. 

How much can you modify a lock, completely different types of pins, wards, etc. requiring a very different type key. Modified?

Frosty The Lucky.