# Raising young Xena.....



## Gary Garner (Jun 30, 2007)

After a request from Colin Chin, here's a thread on how I raised Xena. The nurturing and such like, to enhance the nature...

I've described elsewhere how I chose Xena.....so when I arrived home with her, she went straight outside. She was going to live outside, to no point in starting anywhere else.

I'd still got Max's kennel who had only died the week before (RIP). So that's where she would be sleeping. She seemed to be immediately drawn to the kennel and seemed to find comfort in the 'doggie' smells from within.

I spent about 2 hours with her, in the garden/yard, playing with her and messing about with a small ball. She immediately showed prey drive and chased after it, or jumped at me, if I had it.
Secret 1: never chastise or correct at this age. I let her bite my hands, clothes or whatever without a correction (verbal or physical). What I did do, was get her interested in something else at the moment she didn't something bad.. so if she was pulling on my shirt, I'd move the ball about and she'd quickly move her attention to that.

The first night, I left her with an old t-shirt of mine in the kennel. Perhaps with the thought that it would give her some comfort or reassurance. I don't know if it did.








She seemed immediately happy with her own company and didn't whine, yelp or bark for attention... even on the first night.

I walked her through many environments from 10 weeks old, slippery surfaces, noisy shopping centres, echoing buildings etc etc. She seemed to take them all in her stride and the only portion where she was a bit jumpy was heavy traffic - especially noisy goods vehicles. She jumped a bit and then moved on to trying to lunge at them and bite them! This required several hours of walking alongside busy roads to rectify.

The ball was used every day to good effect. Building drive, building focus on me and enhancing her balance and co-ordination. I also used puppy tuggers too. Lots of action, then stillness, then action - making the fight and encouraging her with spoken words. Additionally, I'd regularly tap her on the body with my spare hand, building up the strike and the pressure. This had positive effects on her from the start and I strongly believe this is what has helped later protection training.

With obedience, it was a slow process at first. She was very eager to please and this meant lots of mistakes before she realised that if she did certain things, it resulted in her getting the ball.

With that, bite reward started. If she released something, she quickly got it back again. No struggles, no compulsion, easy. I didn't want to be pinching lips/cheeks onto teeth etc at the start, so I used to simply tap her tongue with my finger, though the gap in her mouth whilst she was holding something - just as I gave the command "OUT". Then as soon as she released an "OK" command would be given, so she could bite the item again.

She was introduced to the decoy staff at the club at an early age and this progressed her confidence further. She was rewarded for showing controlled aggression. At first that could be just looking in the direction of the decoy, resulted in him turning away. Then it was built up, so a step forward from Xena, would turn the decoy away. (He was just looking at her, no noise). Then when a bark was heard, he'd turn away.. It was built up and up like this. He'd carry a bite rag/roll and this was then the reward..so sometimes he'd turn away, others he'd present the bite roll. When she first took the roll, her and I would run around and the obvious praise. This was increased to where the decoy was holding and tugging the toy gently.



















At about a year old, things started to fit into place. She became more reliable and a lot more predictable. Her response to things could be guessed quite accurately beforehand - this led to structured training, where we'd know how fast to proceed, by how much she learned.

She never showed any fear of humans in the slightest - almost challenging anyone from an early age to 'COME ON'. She'd stand in front of someone to investigate them and practically stop them from passing. No matter how big or intimidating they where, or what noise they caused or how much the lent over her etc - she didn't seem fazed at all by humans. By the same token, this wasn't aggression - it was almost cocky confidence, a total unblinking self confidence by her.
Yet I was reluctant to test it too much, for fear of buggering thing up early in the game. I wanted the first couple of years to be win, win, win (I obviously still do).

We started retrieval training early....and she was all for it. Very keen to pick up anything, but also not possessive of it. She'd be happy to hand it over, which obviously helped retrieve training. I think the bite reward early on in her training, helped this also.










Agility and balance were also something we started early. All low level stuff, no impact on joints etc - but learning her that jumping on or over something and then waiting for the next instruction meant she got a reward. She quickly got the hang of this and would balance on trash bins, tents, chairs etc... she soon trusted me and this built to a point where she'd attempt anything, if I asked her to.

Training her has been easy in that she's wanted to be trained. What's been hard has been keeping up with her quick development and also being consitent.

I've had lots of help from some brilliant people, without who we've have struggled, big time. Damian O'Donnell, Colin Huskins, Ron Stanley, John Davidson and Ian Walshall have all played varying parts in both Xena and my own development as a team.

I'll keep adding to this thread as I remember other things...

She's just over 2.5 years old now and of course, still a young dog with much learning and developing to do. But I'm extremely proud of what we've achieved in the last couple of years and what an awesome dog I'm lucky to have;


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## Thomas Barriano (Mar 27, 2006)

Hey Gary

Thanks, this is a very timely post for me. I pick up the wife's new GSD puppy tomorrow


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## Andrew Rowley (Nov 3, 2008)

Nice little write up there Gary, thanks.


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## Gary Garner (Jun 30, 2007)

Andrew Rowley said:


> Nice little write up there Gary, thanks.



Thanks Andrew.. it was a bit rushed, as I needed to go out.

I'll add bits to this thread once any queries or questions start...


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## Gary Garner (Jun 30, 2007)

Thomas Barriano said:


> Hey Gary
> 
> Thanks, this is a very timely post for me. I pick up the wife's new GSD puppy tomorrow



Excellent. Good luck with it. Keep us informed.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

When did the beatings first start ?? LOL


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## Gary Garner (Jun 30, 2007)

Jeff Oehlsen said:


> When did the beatings first start ?? LOL


:-$

She's not had enough, some might say. She'll occasionally challenge me, in the form of a snarl and continous snapping. Usually when I issue a correction which she feels is unwarranted or if she's in very high drive. It's obviously without real menace...but I make sure I don't back down, or else I'd have had real problems with her by now.

I must admit though.. I like a dog with mettle. I wouldn't want a dog that cowered to me.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Quote: I must admit though.. I like a dog with mettle. I wouldn't want a dog that cowered to me.

No wonder you don't do Sch. LOL


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## Candy Eggert (Oct 28, 2008)

Gary this was super to read and see the pictures of young Xena  She's so fortunate that you have her, raised her right, allowed her to grow up with confidence and power! You're both one in a million


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Gary Garner said:


> :-$
> 
> I must admit though.. I like a dog with mettle. I wouldn't want a dog that cowered to me.


 Otherwise you'd be her bitch. LOL Nice writeup Gaz.


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

I'm suprised you didn't video the whole process Gary 

Kidding of course.


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## Colin Chin (Sep 20, 2006)

Morning Gary,
Thank you for your write up. I am using you and Xena as my mentor. Gonna digest bit by bit. Yummy. Thanks once again, mate. Cheers.

Colin


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Gary said;
"We started retrieval training early....and she was all for it. Very keen to pick up anything, but also not possessive of it. She'd be happy to hand it over, which obviously helped retrieve training. I think the bite reward early on in her training, helped this also".

Gary, This struck home with me. Right or wrong, I'm a big believer in that a dog who willingly retrieves from the get go will be more amiable to the rest of the training. IMHO it shows a desire to work with the handler.
A natural desire in retrieve is near the top of my selection process. As we all see in Xena that willlingness doesn't mean a weak dog.


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## Erica Boling (Jun 17, 2008)

Thanks for sharing this information! I had been wondering what her early training was like. I'm also curious to hear more about her training, the role of corrections in her training, when you decided to start adding more pressure on her, etc. Sounds like you were pretty much all positive in the beginning?


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## Gary Garner (Jun 30, 2007)

Erica Boling said:


> I'm also curious to hear more about her training, the role of corrections in her training, when you decided to start adding more pressure on her, etc. Sounds like you were pretty much all positive in the beginning?


There's not been a whole lot of corrections involved.... as she's picked up things very quickly, including if she's doing something wrong, how to rectify things.

Certain things work very well. For example, a 'throw chain' is something she finds unpleasant. So when she used to hesitate and take ages to drop into a DOWN following an agility item, a 'throw chain' aimed in her direction gets her to drop quicker. I only use this method in the couple of weeks prior to a competition.

In protection, there wasn't much correction needed to deal with the OUTs as I'd have originally thought. This was partly due to the excellent decoy in our training, Damian O'Donnell. He was able to offer her so little 'enjoyment' in the bite, when an OUT was called that she lost a slight bit of interest, so would respond to the OUT. He'd then "come alive" and make it exciting and interesting again for her. So she quickly realised that if she didn't OUT, it would get boring.
To countermeasure this, once the OUT was proofed and she was good at it....(it always meant either a ball reward or a re-bite), we set about making sure the bite was ok, even when the decoy was passive. This was to prevent her coming off in the future in the event of a decoy not being 'active'. 

As for pressure, she demanded 'pressure' from an early age, but it was obviously applied slowly and over time. She appeared to be unfazed by anything, from 10 weeks old, so there was a real temptation to 'run before we could walk' with her training. I remember people on here, IIRC, saying I might "burn her out" if we do too much etc... but it doesn't appear to have been a problem, all the early training and stuff.

It's true that with age, it becomes easier. All the hard work dealing with her when she was a pup is starting to pay off now. They endless hours of training around distractions, consistency in rewarding correct behaviour and not nearly correct behaviour etc.... means life is much easier now, with a 2.5 year old Xena.

I think that if I'd not been consistent and thorough with her as a pup, especially the control around protection elements and had not listened to those who knew more than me, giving me advice - Xena would have been a liability now....


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## Gary Garner (Jun 30, 2007)

One thing that the training really has brought to a fore, is Xena's trust in me. Her willingness to tackle anyone or any object, solely on my command is humbling at times and comes with great responsibility on my part. Her unquestioning loyalty and 'devotion to duty' is marvellous and it's great never to have to tell her more than once to do something. 

Her willingness to please and to be part of a team, I believe would make her capable in any dog role. Be it military, police, search and rescue, personal protection, SchH, ringsport or whatever. I believe if she'd never been introduced to bitework, she'd have still worked just as hard as a S & R dog with the reward of a ball at the end of it.

Like I've said, she's the 3rd GSD I've owned, but it's like having one for the first time - as she's totally different in almost every conceivable way to the other two. It's going to be interesting to see what further maturity is going to bring in her. I'm hoping that she's going to be even harder/tougher, but also more clearer thinking. She's very clear now, don't get me wrong, but it's like most things - you still strive for better and improved, don't you? 

One thing's for certain, I think I made the right choice of pup a couple of years ago...


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

Gerry Grimwood said:


> I'm suprised you didn't video the whole process Gary
> 
> Kidding of course.


actually gerry, he pretty much did, lol 

nice little article gary. and you're breeding her next spring, right?? now that jeff has a houseful + of dogs, you won't have to worry about him hounding you for a pup \\/ just me...


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## Erica Boling (Jun 17, 2008)

This is all very informative. Thank you! Please keep posting!  I love hearing about the training side of things, especially during the early foundational work.


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## Gary Garner (Jun 30, 2007)

One other thing that all this bond building has meant, is that she's happy to have me close up during training.

For example bite work, she's happy to have me in the fight with her - right alongside her.. Me hitting the decoy etc.. Too often I've seen dogs, even hard dogs, drop off the bite or appear very uncomfortable once the handler gets close. [we know or can suspect why this is often the case]. But also, it's because of the lack of familiarity by the dog having the handler in the fight. So that's why we've done that from early on.

Also, with the agility aspect of things, there are many obstacles in life which a dog wont/can't be able to tackle alone [safely] and need our help. That's not the time to find out your dog is uncomfortable being picked up, or on your shoulders etc. So that again has been trained and practised...with the command "CARRY". So upon that command she'll look for a way to get into my arms, be it jumping, flopping or simply leaning on me and relaxing. There's the jokey "SNAKES" command also, where she leaps from ground level, apparently scared of 'Snakes' :mrgreen:



Again it's a trust and bonding thing... especially with Xena, who doesn'tparticularly like to be petted, stroked or cuddled...
So the 'CARRY' is simply a command to her, an action.

If you've not seen this video before, this demonstrates;


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## Gary Garner (Jun 30, 2007)

Just a couple of pictures to glam up the thread a bit..

On the subject of getting Xena to climb on anywhere and be comfortable, here's a few examples:



















































With regards to the confidence with aggression - she does quickly switch on and off... 

So you can go from this;

























to this;


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## Esther Chai (Feb 18, 2009)

Hi Gary,
Enjoyed reading your synopsis of raising Xena. I wished I knew you when I had my Genie. She is roughly the same age. I struggled abit finding my own way being as she was my first GSD. I raised her abroad and brought her back to UK when she was 10 months old. The emphasis abroad with regard to the out command is forbidden with puppies and young dogs. I was adviced not to do it instead play on possession instead. Genie is pretty possessive in the first place so as you can imagine I am still using 2 balls with her at this age emmm! I haven't given up yet and I am still working on it with the occassional success.

I liked the "snake" command. I will use it for my next pup lol. Hope to catch up with you both someday.

Xena is looking great and a true ambassador for the breed and credit also goes to you.


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## Gary Garner (Jun 30, 2007)

Esther Chai said:


> Hope to catch up with you both someday.
> 
> Xena is looking great and a true ambassador for the breed and credit also goes to you.


I'm glad you like her. Thanks for the compliments.

It was great to meet you at the service dog 09. I wish we had spent more time together...but you were busy with the photographs and I was busy watching me competition...

The drinks are on me, next time we meet up....:wink:


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## todd pavlus (Apr 30, 2008)

It's nice she is a small dog, it would be tough to do all that carrying with a 100# dog.


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## Gary Garner (Jun 30, 2007)

todd pavlus said:


> It's nice she is a small dog, it would be tough to do all that carrying with a 100# dog.


True. She's was about 65 pounds I think.

Although, she's packed some muscle on in the last few months, so I'm not too sure.

I'll weigh her next week.

I'm hoping her athletic and smaller size is going to ensure longevity and also several years being able to work/trial her...


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

todd pavlus said:


> It's nice she is a small dog, it would be tough to do all that carrying with a 100# dog.


Funny you mention that, I did some of the same stuff earlier this week with my mastiff and thought the same thing when I saw the post. It's not that bad though, but sure would be easier and probably a bit more fun with 30 less pounds especially when taking her out of the truck which sits on 40s. \\/


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## Colin Chin (Sep 20, 2006)

Morning Gary,
Do your family members handle and/or play with Xena as a pup ? 

Colin


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## Colin Chin (Sep 20, 2006)

Gary Garner said:


> One other thing that all this bond building has meant, is that she's happy to have me close up during training.
> 
> Again it's a trust and bonding thing... especially with Xena, who doesn'tparticularly like to be petted, stroked or cuddled...
> So the 'CARRY' is simply a command to her, an action.
> ...


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