The DOOM Spaniels

My spaniels are companions, and I think they are the most perfect dog for the job if you like cuddly and playful. We walk together outside, we cuddle inside, they learn and practice tricks, it's perfection to me. I've had a number of excellent cocker companions now, who have all done that job magnificently. Lately my disability has been worse and we have had an extraordinary cocker, who has also been helping me in many ways.

Tristan knows many tricks that help with my various disabilities, like handing me things I drop (and drop again, and drop again... good grief), bringing me stuff I have left out if it's not obviously a dog toy, bringing me named items like the supper dishes, and finding things I have lost. Tristan is a superbly clever boy, probably the only one of our previous cockers who could manage much of what he does, but I expect Gwyn will probably eventually learn a lot of it too.

When we got him, I was looking for a companion, not a helper, but probably if you look you can find someone breeding spaniels who are already known to be steady and extra trainable.

Spaniels are extremely sensitive to handler emotion. I don't doubt that they could recognize panic attacks, but they'll probably need to have a lot of practice in advance to respond when it happens, otherwise they may be too upset by your distress. If you have experience training you may still want to consult with a service dog trainer online or in person for specific task training[*], and if you don't have much experience there's probably a local trainer who can help you get started in-person with a good foundation for helpful tasks and then help you work on expanding.

...

Now, having had nothing but good to say so far... my cockers have been very, very clever. And like an intelligent child, if they run out of things to do, they'll find something themselves. Several of Tristan's tricks grew out of redirecting his mischief[**]. For the first few years I spent part of every morning devising puzzles (taping cardboard to a spinner puzzle, stuffing tissue into empty parmesan jars, putting paper towel tubes over sticks and hanging them at nose height) to keep Tristan occupied. Spaniels who get bored will disassemble your house to see if they can.

Tristan is mostly content now to do the helpful tricks he knows, learn more, and practice fun tricks like spin or touch when I have the opportunity to play. I'm going through spaniel puppy again with Gwyn, of course. Today I stuffed large toys tightly into a bucket with a strip of cloth hanging out the side, then tucked the bucket under a chair, so she can squirm in, pull all the toys out, and eventually get the strip of cloth.

There are more easygoing breeds if that doesn't sound doable. That part of spaniel life is understandably not for everyone.

Gwyn practices a "leave it" with a carrot. She knows it, but does need to practice until it's automatic.

Sad, sad baby. Life is tragic and mournful.

It's difficult to see The Spaniels after dark. There's a lot of space in the fields where we walk them. I have reflective collars on them, but light has to hit those just right for them to reflect anything.

We're trying the Nite Ize NiteHowl LED collars. They're much more substantial than they look in photos. Those tubes are solid and feel durable. They plug very securely into a short silicon tube with a light in it. The collars do slide right on and off of The Spaniels, and those spaniel ears hold the LED collars securely in place. It would be easy to pop one end off and reconnect it if the collar needed to be too small to go around the face easily. (I don't know if that would eventually wear out.)

We can see the lights from across a 2 acre field. It's about 200 yards (~180 m) to the far end, and we can always tell where they are in the field. Under the porch light or the flashlight they're more visible with the LED collar.

I have had these collars 3 days and they're already indispensable. And look, even the "pretty necklace" trick has a practical use. Much like science, when pure science research is frequently done just to see what the results are... once it's complete, sometimes there are surprising applications.

This. Boy.

Tristan started learning to "go find" with carrot chunks hidden around the house.

Then he started volunteering to bring the Supper Dishes at mealtimes, and we encouraged this with "go find the Supper Dish, bring the Supper Dish," and "okay, we have this one, where's the other one? Go find the other Supper Dish, bring the Supper Dish."

This was expanded to "go find the Good Candy" and "the other Good Candy" for some extremely stinky cow hooves that I sealed into ziplock bags when they were done chewing. Tristan handled the generalization of "go find" really well.

But I was honestly not expecting that when he stole one of my gloves, and I was walking around holding one and jokingly asked, "Tristan, where is the other one?" that he would bring it to me. That would have been a bit much to ask, I was just talking to him because, well, we talk to the pups fairly often. But he DID bring me my other glove. I was astounded. And it rained good candies on the excellent good boy, let me tell you.

Now it's another one of Tristan's games. I show him one half of a pair of gloves or socks; "Tristan, where is the other one? Go find the other one!" He's very good at finding it. And when he brings it, he wags his whole body so much that the cloth sways in his mouth.

~Rattle the Bones~

[Video Description: Tristan, a black and white cocker spaniel, stands furiously wagging in a kitchen. A hand rattles two large 10-sided dice, and offers them to Tristan, and a voice says "rattle the bones." Tristan takes both dice and drops them on the floor, looking at them as if to read the numbers. The voice says "Good boy!" and the hand gives Tristan a carrot, which he munches.

After Tristan finishes his carrot, he looks at the dice again and boops them both with his nose. The voice says, "Hand them to me." Tristan picks up one and kicks the other. He drops the first die but picks it up again, and places it in the hand. The voice says, "Good boy! And the other one." Tristan looks where he kicked the second die, picks it up, turns around mouthing it noisily, and drops it into the hand. The voice says, "Good boy!" A carrot is broken with a snap sound and tossed to Tristan, who catches it.]

~Tristan rattles his brain cells like dice, then consults a lookup table to determine what he'll do next.~

A new trick for Tristan! From the end of our first session, where he was shown the dice and started to learn to take and drop them. He's doing so well already. I'll eventually teach him a phrase for the whole trick. "Rattle the bones," perhaps?

[Video Description: A hand holds two large ten-sided dice toward Tristan, a black and white cocker spaniel. A voice says, "Take." Tristan takes one die; the voice says "and drop," Tristan drops the die with a rattling sound. The voice says "Good boy!" and the hand offers the second die, voice saying "take." Tristan boops the die instead of taking it. 😁 The hand rattles the die and offers it again, voice saying "take." Tristan takes the die. Voice says "and drop." Tristan drops the die, voice says "Good boy!" and Tristan immediately snatches up the first one from the floor. 😂 The voice says "take, and drop!" Tristan drops the die again, and the voice says "Good BOY!" Tristan looks at the dice like he's checking his roll 😉 and begins to sit.]

Tristan and I practiced his "retrieve the thing I dropped off the bed" trick. He's such a very good, helpful boy. He used to bring the dropped item to the kitchen, where I would swap it for a carrot, but we've now got "bring it directly to me" just about perfected. Oh, and then he gets an Especially Good Candy from a box on the bedside table. [Sound is muted.]

August 20th was our 9th Yvaineversary, but she's not feeling great so it was a little difficult to be enthused. I am really glad to see the meds starting to work, though.

So let me celebrate some good parts of the year. I have these videos from several weeks ago (before Yvie started limping). We started teaching this trick after Yv's surgery in February. She turned 12 last December. Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks?

Such clever munchkins. We started with tapping the box with front feet, then added pausing, then eventually pausing and waiting for an "off" command.

[Video Description: Two cocker spaniels sit behind a low box. A hand beckons to the dog on the left, another hand uses a "stop" gesture toward the dog on the right. Voice: "Tristan, stay. Yvie, wave your hands in the air." Yvaine puts her front feet on the box. The beckoning hand changes to a "stop" gesture. Voice: "Aaand wait. And wait. And wait." Yvaine rests on the box. Voice: "And off." Yvaine hops backward and sits on the ground. Voice: "Good! Good job!" Both hands give a carrot to each dog.

A hand beckons to the dog on the right, another hand uses a "stop" gesture toward the dog on the left. Voice: "Yvie, stay. Tristan, wave your hands in the air." Tristan puts his front feet on the box. The beckoning hand changes to a "stop" gesture. Voice: "Aaand wait. And wait. And wait." Tristan rests on the box. Voice: "And off." Tristan hops backward and sits on the ground. Voice: "Good job! Well done!" Both hands give a carrot to each dog.

~Words the Spaniels Know~

“Wave your hands in the air” (like you don’t care) (glide by the people / as they stop to look and stare)

Been working on duration too (“wait”), so eventually they can pose with their feet up on a block.

Next step: cue phrase “Word Up” (jump up onto the block)

[Video Description: Sound is muted. Two cocker spaniels sit behind a box. Yvaine bounces up, taps the top of the box with her front feet, then sits again. Video cut. Tristan has his feet up on the box; he enthusiastically tappity-taps the top of the box, then returns to sitting.]

We started a Very Difficult exercise yesterday. Generally when the Spaniels come inside, they both do a trick or several tricks, then get a carrot. This time, they had to do *different* tricks. Both sat, both laid down (carrot). Then Yvie laid down while Tristan sat (carrot). And then Yvaine sat while Tristan laid down (carrot).

I want them to feel confident in their own interpretation of what they're told, not just look at each other and copy their work ;) I want them to each be watching me for cues. I want them to learn that sometimes they don't do the exact same things, but they still both get to be good and get their rewards. They're very good puppies.

Every time the Spaniels come inside, we go straight to the kitchen and they get a carrot. But they practice a trick, first, to "earn" that carrot. Usually it's "sit" or "lay down," but it might be anything they know well.

Most times when we go to the kitchen for anything, we have the Spaniels do a trick then they get a carrot.

If we're idle in the kitchen for a few minutes (say, waiting on the microwave), we may work on a new trick or expanding an existing one, or mixing them in new ways.

In this way we practice both attentiveness and trick training all day long, but without anything like focused training sessions. They're more... opportunities to find reasons to give carrots to the Spaniels. We all have fun, and they get told they're VERY GOOD, and they get carrots.

Some days I'm not capable of much, so the attentiveness is really useful. Some days we work on several new tricks throughout the day. It all works out.

This trick is "hup": jump up in place. Yvaine does a tidy, responsible, adorable hup. As usual, Tristan is an overachiever. Melodrama Puppy has to be extra.