Drive/Dance

[bonefinder]

Today was a pivotal day for Porter and myself......we have been at this training ( HRD but specifically, historic) for 26 months now, since Porter was 10 weeks old. He is now going on 2.5 years. With a more experienced handler than I, he would be way ahead of the curve, but he had to drag me along. He is the great teacher. It must be genetics. I'm definitely the student.

We are currently in Leadville, Colorado at the location of, what must be, one of the truly great pioneer cemeteries in the country, Evergreen Cemetery. There are over 5000 unmarked graves over 100-150 years old. It really is a step back in time.
I am learning the schematics of this cemetery and now am on my third trip here. I have the basic working skills of what is where, how the blocks are marked, how many graves in a row, etc.

Today, I wanted to do just a bit of exploring first, and of course, I had my dog and my wonderful husband ( along with two silly Pugs) in tow.

Porter knew we had arrived at the cemetery before we even stopped. He jumped up from the back seat and started whining and sniffing......such is a dog's nose.

Our morning started out as exploring but ended up in a true revelation.
My dog is toy obsessed. He could care less about food. He has a specific toy, "yellow man", that we use for scent work, and all he has to do is see it. I don't need a search command anymore.

Today, we started wandering, with no need for yellow man. We were just EXPLORING the area. No toy in pocket. Just dog and me, and the two silly pugs....oh, and the great hubby.
Within five minutes, Porter already started working independently. Although this did not surprise me, I was not sure he really wanted to work more than a minute or two. He did. I was wrong.
We worked for over an hour, knocking out about 20 plus graves
( I had not come prepared with flags because I was just perusing) and not one bit of reward.....either toy or a snippet of food ( he only cares for a bit of food if it comes from my hand...... a game in and of itself), but there we were.....working row after row of sunken depressions with no headstones. I could not keep up. He is very fast.

The revelation came, FINALLY, that my dog really is working like this BECAUSE HE LOVES THE WORK! He didn't really CARE about the toy reward. Definitely doesn't care about the FOOD reward. He was doing this work because he really LOVES the SCENT!

For two years now, I have been hearing Jim, and others, talk about "the dance." I have experienced "the dance" before.....that special relationship with you and your dog when working a problem, but never until today did it take on a new level. TODAY, the dog was the leader and I was the follower. THIS was a first.

This can not happen if the dog does not possess drive. Drive is inherently genetic but drive can/must also be built, over time. You can not take a dog who has NO drive and simply expect them to perform the way you wish them to perform. If they have an inherent drive, something you can build upon, then it is up to you, as the handler, to hone that drive and bring out the best in them. It does not happen over night. I have seen many dogs ( k9 prospects) who have overwhelming drive, yet that desire is channeled in ways that are not necessarily positive. The dog has all that energy but it is not channeled in a beneficial way. The dog loses and the handler loses. Some turn out to be "loose cannons." Can't have that in any SAR work.

Many dogs are expected to perform great feats at a young age. Dogs must mature and learn their job over time. Expecting a 2 year old dog ( and younger for sure) to "perform" in a meaningful way.......whether it is SAR, agility, aggression work, Schutzhund, etc., is unrealistic. Give your dog the time to really tap into all his/her talents over TIME. TIME is on your side. Don't force your dog into doing something that you have to back up and fix later.
Backing up, and keeping your dog going in the right direction, will enable you to reach "the dance" and develop drive the way you want it to be. You have the whole dog's life to get where you want him/her to go.
Bonnie
( who is STILL just a student)

[oksaradt]

I guess I should explain "the dance". This term came about when a bunch of us specialized in primarily historic for a couple of years. For those that hunt out in the woods with their dogs or do narcotics searches, working a cemetery sounds blase'. Working an abandoned, primarlily unmarked cemetery is like coming upon a mystery that is about to unfold in front of you.

In locations where there are lots of graves, say a target-rich environment, the handler may not realize it until after the fact. The handler has been training in cemeteries for a while and has been asked to come mark old graves for the town, historians, rabid genealogist (I can use this term as I'm married to one for some 27 years now). With the promise of lots of graves, the issue of reward-drive becomes critical as the dog may be asked to find HUNDREDS of graves in a couple of hours. Can you imagine how the dog is going to feel about that ball after 200 finds or that food treat? ( hey human...um...full up on chicken treats now...gonna take a nap in this nice mausoleum...)

Sooooooo, we learned to develop the random-reward system....random to the dog, not so random to us. With me it means the dog gets rewarded on the first find, the third find, the seventh find, the fifteenth find, etc UNTIL the dog demands a reward and then you start the sequence over. With the reward no longer breaking up the routine of finds, the handler and dog get into a rhythm. The alerts become more subtle because it can be tiring to give a full blown bark or to drop to a full down only to get right back up again. The DOWN can become a play bow. The bark can drop away to only the targeting touch with sometimes a chuff. My first dog would simply pause and give me "the look". If I ignored her then I'd get the chuff.
The handler is armed with lots of flags. I used to keep holsters on my belt full of utility flags and got remarkably accurate with throwing a flag at the dog's designated spot.

In this rhythm, the world drops away and it becomes simply you and the dog focused on a repeated task. The "dance" develops from this rhythm and is dependent upon your relationship with the dog. With Airedales and their sense of drama and humor, the dance tends to be a fun ride.
I should also preface this with handlers experienced in working cemeteries and burial grounds learn the patterns of grave placement. Judeo-christian cemeteries tend to be rows and columns with the heads to the west. Native american cemeteries can vary with nationalities, but often are circular and overlooking waterways. Thus, the handler learns how to walk backwards such that the dog has improved chance of making finds. The handler isn't cueing the dog as it's very common for their to be gaps in the rows and for graves to have been moved. The handler simply draws the dog along a lane to then lets the dog do its job.

The dances ends when you run out of flags, out of graves, or someone breaks the flow. At that point you look up and the cemetery rises out of the ground by the flags the dog had you place. It can be a very surreal experience regardless if it's in a peaceful meadow on a dewey morning or in the middle of a cowpasture on the lone prairie with 30 mph winds and temperatures in the teens.

That's the dance.

Because you can get so caught up in it. We often worked another dog team perpendicularly to another such that we could confirm graves. If there was a flag by itself then another dog team would come in to confirm or deny it. Thus, we were obsessed with our dogs being proved off of alerting on flags.


Jim

[bonefinder]

Thanks for your very detailed and eloquent explanation of "the dance." I didn't realize we were dancing until well into the dance
It was better than any two step I could ever do.

Your comment on the directional facing of graves really caught my attention. I had not thought much about this, while working this cemetery. There are HUGE variances with burials, in the Evergreen Cemetery.
There are many components.sections to this place. There is a 'babyland" ( headstones facing west), Oddfellows and Masons portions ( headstones facing east), the Jewish Cemetery ( headstones facing east AND west) and then the "Free Protestant" and "Free Catholic" areas.....headstones face NORTH OR SOUTH. ALL OF THEM. Of course, there is no telling which end was the head or pelvis but they SEEM to correspond correctly with the headstone itself.....regardless of east/west, north/south. Porter's flags line up pretty straight. He usually hits on the head, secondary to all the training we have done with teeth.

After talking with the surviving woman who plotted/identified this cemetery in genealogic fashion 28 years ago, I have now learned that the Free Cemeteries were not the same as a Potter's Field. The Free cemetery spots were mostly people from out of state and those who had a family member or friend who could afford the $10 to bury the person. All graves were five feet by 8 feet. Anybody with Marfan's Syndrome ( Abe Lincoln Disease) would be in a tough spot.

There are some burials outside of the cemetery lines. Some of these were done by outlaws or people who wanted no attention drawn to them. Those are a project in and of themselves.

There is a significant number of graves from 1917-1918. Some have very old and worn stones. Most have none. I now know there was a huge epidemic that winter and that pyres of bodies lay, awaiting to be buried. Leadville is one of the coldest areas of Colorado, year round. One can only imagine the harsh winters, and how these folks tried their best to bury their dead.

Most of these graves are from 1872 to 1920. The majority are before the turn of the century. By comparison, this is "young" compared to my native Massachusetts but there is NO comparison between Evergreen Cemetery and New England, in terms of true training ground. This place is special.
Bonnie

[rthonor]

This is very interesting, and I have not yet danced with my dog, though I understand the concept as I have "danced" while riding my horse and sometimes while sparring during boxing practice- I have occasionally danced.

thanks for the description guys. rt