# PUPPY Night work.



## Andres Martin (May 19, 2006)

Greg Long posted an article that refers to communication BEYOND a command, between a man or woman (I need to be politically correct, gender equivalent, non-discriminatory, etc. here :lol: ) and his/her dog.

I have found that training for aggression, obedience, stealth, etc. at night - when a puppy's - AND OUR - senses are hightened, is very valuable.

If anyone else on this board does significant amounts of nightwork...with puppies beyond the normal "let's get together, train our dogs, and chug some beers afterwards", could you please comment on what results you have obtained in you, your puppy, and the communication between you?

BTW, *there is nothing wrong with chugging a few cold ones.*

I felt the need to clarify. :lol:


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## Greg Long (Mar 27, 2006)

One of my favorite things to do is go out in a field on a cold quiet night and just sit there with my dog.Watching what the dog pays attention to.It is very true that both the dog's and handler's senses are heightened at night.
I know of one military dogman who is now long gone who I am told trained mostly at night.
I think the instinct must be relied upon more at night.Add a strange location and it intensifies even more.


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## melissa mims (Jul 12, 2006)

I have never had a puppy, but I have found it to be very useful to do prey/drive development work at twilight with my young adults. I have found that the prey response is MUCH more heightened during this time. The reaction time is also much faster (watch those fingers!). It is useful to teach a new dog HOW to play with you (I like speed obedience, and rocket recalls, keeps me from getting bored!).

Since the drive is generally higher, so is the resilience and hardness. My male (housepet with real prey, ie. he hunts to kill and consume) was very sensitive to the ecollar, no matter how low the stimulus, it just freaked him out. I needed the collar for off leash obedience, so I would take him to the park at night, send him for the hunt (like a send away with a search :lol: ), and then practice recalls. Much better tolerence, the drive work taught him to obey and prevented shut down and avoidance behaviours. I didn't have that response with the same exercise during the day.

I haven't done defensive work at night; however, when my watchdog alert barks aggressively, I will sometimes do a 'border walk' with her around the property (all 1/3 acre!). The pride she feels 'walking the beat' with the boss is palpable; she struts as much as if she had actually chased someone away. Good for bonding and working together as a team, and also controlling those responses under pack leadership.

Also a good way to test nerve and strength of defensive responses, I would imagine.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

When I was with SAR we did a lot of night training. the one thing I always noticed was how the night always seemed to bring out the "edge" on the sharper dogs. 
Even just sitting on my front porch, all three of my dogs react totally different to someone walking down the street when it's dark out. Much more readyness to challenge.


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

i'm certainly no expert in training at night, but given my dogs' night VS day responses to stimuli, if i can set it up w/brix's training i will.

the dogs are just *on* more at night (i'm sure it's genetic, going back to their wolf ancestors--but that's just my emotional--AS A FEMALE--feeling). there is, however, some logic behind my *feeling*: more prey moving at night, more competition for that prey, and my dogs certainly react to that. we have a lot of prey and competition here--deer/*****/possum/etc. + coyotes in abundance.

plus, with our human disadvantages in sight/hearing/scent, i think that we *promote* our dog's use of their natural abilities in this environment.

plus--breeding to enhance/decrease a particular breed's ability to use their any of the above. human interference, if you will. nature vs nuture in a big way. but it IS.

i'll look forward to hearing "real" trainers' responses to this, as i suspect that night training is only good for both dog and handler. i certainly rely a LOT more on the dog at night....


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

i'm bumping this b/c the days are so much shorter that i'm doing more training when it's dark. 

i've so far found that brix is sharper in the dark, but i wonder if that's environmental-it's colder, and he LOVES it. 

thoughts? in general?


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

I feel pretty sure that night training would increase the handler's reliance on the dog's abilities, as Ann experiences. And as others here have said, that would enhance the bond; there might even be a slight shift in the team's power structure, although I'm not sure about that part. Do the people who do night training have that experience?

Wanna see a couple of nice pictures?

http://www.volny.cz/k9dog/night training czech police.htm

Edited to say yes, I was just waiting for an appropriate place to post those pictures that I had liked and saved. :lol:


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

I was actually going to comment on how much more 'into it' Jak seems to be when it's getting dark. Before the time change, I would train when I got home from work and there was still a good bit of daylight, but now it starts getting dark within about 15-20 minutes of me getting home, and I've noticed that Jak seems more excited about training and also responds to corrections much better. Interesting that I logged on to find that someone else had already started a topic on this!

Oh, and Connie, nice pics. I really like those muzzles.


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## Ian Forbes (Oct 13, 2006)

Great observations. You got me thinking, so I tried this out.

With the nights drawing in here, I have been walking Smudge (1 year old rotty bitch) in the dark both morning and evening. I thought I would try out some drive building and obedience at the fields nearby. WOW! I very nearly lost my fingers a couple of times witht the speed at which she was trying to get the ball and her obedience was very fast (not that accurate, but right now I'm not too bothered).

I think we are now both lookin forward too these dark evening walks, as they are going to be a lot more fun from now on......


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## Woody Taylor (Mar 28, 2006)

Ian Forbes said:


> GI thought I would try out some drive building and obedience at the fields nearby. WOW! I very nearly lost my fingers a couple of times witht the speed at which she was trying to get the ball and her obedience was very fast (not that accurate, but right now I'm not too bothered).


80% of Annie's first 10 months of playing and training were done at night. Early mornings, late nights. And we're going back to that now that winter's rolling in. And yeah, it makes drive-building on small tugs kind of dicey. :wink:


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## Robert Blok (Jul 26, 2006)

> Bob Scott said:
> 
> 
> > When I was with SAR we did a lot of night training. the one thing I always noticed was how the night always seemed to bring out the "edge" on the sharper dogs.
> ...


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## Phil Dodson (Apr 4, 2006)

I also do roughly 90% of my PSD training at night. This also goes for my PSD course.


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

connie, i too think there may be a slight "power shift" when working at night, but very slight. and i'm not real sure that "power shift" is exactly the correct term.....it's like, i'm a LOT more dependent on my dog to see things in the dark, but i absolutely trust him/her to let me know about "out of place" things. 

and i think that dogs don't realize that we don't see in the dark as well as they do, simply b/c mine always recall as well as in the light, and i'm sure they realize that i'm just as clumsy in the light as dark (or they think i'm just handicapped in ANY situation--look at my arms.... :roll: ). 

so, if there IS a "power shift", it's probably just in our own minds, as more dependence on the dog (which the dog doesn't realize). 

i think..... :?


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## Lyn Chen (Jun 19, 2006)

We train at night...in the rain...in the cold...(because then we have the whole world to ourselves)...the only noticeable difference I've seen is the increased doggy scent and what seems to be arthritis affecting me afterwards.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Robert Blok said:


> > Bob Scott said:
> >
> >
> > > When I was with SAR we did a lot of night training. the one thing I always noticed was how the night always seemed to bring out the "edge" on the sharper dogs.
> ...


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## Jose Alberto Reanto (Apr 6, 2006)

Senses are seemingly heightened indeed. Work goes better. But I'd also like to think that the handler senses are up as well... making the dog work better? :?:

Best regards...


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