Subject: box training for racing Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 10:04:51 -0500 From: Adele Monroe To: TWA-L@yahoogroups.com You can start box training at any age. I know someone who used a cardboard box to train her pup. I know somebody else who used a plastic dog crate, so you don't need access to a starting box, just some ingenuity. Your goal is a dog that walks into the box on your verbal cue and stays quiet in the box. Dogs that are quiet in the starting box are typically much better at breaking from the box than rowdy dogs that paw at the door. Also, quiet dogs do not wear themselves out in the box before the race starts, or injure their paws from frantic pawing at the door. It is much easier to train a dog to be quiet in the box from the start than to try to correct rowdy box behavior through retraining. Get the pup interested in chasing things, including white plastic bags, in separate training sessions NOT associated with box training. For box training, I recommend that you set up something to serve as an open tunnel to teach the pup to go through a tunnel. You can use a cardboard box or you can get fancy and buy a 6-foot long cloth tunnel from a toy store (looks like a miniature agility open tunnel). At some point you want to advance to a cardboard box or something similar. Your training box does not have to mimic the sliding rear door or even the swing up action of the front door of a starting box. Rig the box (duct tape & string) so you can close the front. Cut a small window near the bottom of the front door. Rig to box so that you can fasten the front door closed with some type of a latch. It could be as simple as tying a slip knot in string holding the door closed. After the pup is walking through the open door with confidence, close the front door, tell the pup to enter, and close the back door. If the pup paws at the box or makes any noise, wait until the pup is completely quiet. It is very important for the pup to learn that the box opens ONLY when the pup is quiet. Initially, open the door as soon as the pup is quiet so the pup learns to associate quiet behavior with the door opening. Gradually increase the time you ask the pup to stay quiet before opening the door. Work up to a time span of at least two or three minutes. Loading 6 dogs in a starting box should take less than one minute, but can take longer if there are complications in the loading process. You want your pup to be patient in the starting box. After your pup is quiet in the box, put the the lure (white plastic bag on a string) in front of the box so the pup can see it through the window. If the pup gets excited when it sees the lure, wait until it is quiet before opening the box. When you open the box, let the pup pounce on the lure and play tug with it. Initially, open the door as soon as the pup is quiet, even when it sees the lure. Gradually increase the time you ask the pup to stay quiet before opening the door. At some point, you will want somebody to shake the lure in front of the box, and you want the pup to stay quiet even when this happens. If you've laid the foundation for quiet box behavior at home, this last step can happen at a club practice with an actual starting box. Just make sure you work with your pup individually and you tell the person operating the box to open the box ONLY when the pup is quiet. If you do your homework at home, I expect a confident whippet could be completely box trained after only one practice session, consisting of several repetitions, with a starting box. You can use the described technique with adult whippets, you'll just need a larger cardboard box. Happy racing! Adele -- Adele C. Monroe, DVM, MSPH North Carolina, USA GraceGift Whippets, Naturally Reared whippets@gracegift.net http://www.gracegift.net/