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User:Lindsay Ridgeway/Reward-based Field Training for Retrievers/Marked Retrieve

Prerequisites
Though you won't be relying on previously learned cues, you may want to train attention and hand-targeting to establish a foundation for you and your dog training together before training "give it".

Another prerequisite is that the dog consistently rushes to the thrown article (such as a knotted sock) and picks it up. That is natural behavior for many retrievers, but not necessarily for other breeds and possibly not for some retrievers. If your dog does not show that behavior yet, it is too soon to train "give it". First, you need to shape the dog to do that.

Training the Behavior
Should this section use "fetch" or "give it"?

Once the prerequisites above are met, here are the steps to training "give it", the foundation for a reliable reward-based retrieve to hand:

 * 1) Use an article your dog is highly interested in and can comfortably carry in his mouth.  A knotted sock works well.
 * 2) Snake the article around on the floor or in the air to get the dog interested in it.
 * 3) With the dog in front of you, toss the article into the space between you.
 * 4) The dog pounces to take the article in his mouth.
 * 5) At the same moment that the dog picks up the article, grasp the article with one hand.
 * 6) Hold onto the article until the dog voluntarily opens his mouth to release it.  Do not attempt to take the article away from your dog.  Important The worst thing you could do would be to pry the article from the dog's mouth.  That trains resource guarding and keep-away.
 * 7) At the moment that the dog opens his mouth, click and treat.
 * 8) Immediately toss the article again.
 * 9) After a few reps, throw the article so that the dog must turn away from you to put his mouth on it.  When he lifts it, he should turn his head at least slightly back toward you.  If he does so, grasp the article, hold it until he releases, click and treat.  If he does not turn his head back toward you, go back to throwing a shorter distance for additional reps.  Don't increase the distance of your throws until the pup is turning his head back to you.
 * 10) After a few reps of throwing the article just past the dog, gradually add distance, so that the dog has to move a bit away from you to get the article and then bring it back to you.  As long as he is doing that, grasp, hold, and click and treat for the release as before.
 * 11) As you slowly add distance, if the dog stops bringing the article back, reduce distance as much as necessary to get back on track.  It is normal in this and all training that the dog will seem to learn a behavior and then, in an instant, forget how to do it.  Simply retrain as necessary, starting at the first step again if that's what's required.
 * 12) At you proceed, when a time comes that you can predict the moment that the dog will open his mouth, say "give it" the instant before.  After doing that several times, you'll find that if the dog is not about to give you the article and you say "give it", he'll suddenly turn toward you and offer the article.
 * 13) It's exciting that the dog is now returning the article to hand on cue, but don't constantly attempt to test how much control you have with the cue.  Instead, continue to say "give it" in the natural flow of the training.
 * 14) Gradually move the cue to earlier and earlier in the process, until you are cueing "give it" as you are throwing the article.  But exercise caution not to inadvertently associate the cue with incorrect responses.  Observe where your dog is in the learning process, and if you're not willing to bet $100 that he'll retrieve the article and give it to you, don't use the cue.

Note

The description above sounds as though the entire learning process occurs in a single session. That is unlikely. Limit each session to about ten clicks and treats, and use as many of those short sessions per day as you have time for, but only when your pup shows great enthusiasm for the game. Always quit while the dog is still anxious to play more, so that that is the attitude he carries with him into the next session.

Extending the Behavior

 * Train each of several objects separately, generalize for location, proof for distractions
 * When ready, practice retrieves with several different kinds of articles in the same session to generalize the behavior (see Laddie's "give it" video)

Carrying the Article
A retriever should carry the bird, or any other article she retrieves, fully in her mouth.

Some dogs do that naturally, at least for some articles. But many dogs do not carry all articles that way. For example, many dogs will pick a bird up by its head or a wing. Many dogs will also pick up a winged dummy by one of the attached wings.

Some trainers use a special kind of retrieval dummy called a Dokken (after its inventor) to help the dog learn to carry birds correctly. The Dokken looks like a bird and is available in a variety of "species". It's the correct size and weight, and its body has a soft texture that's comfortable in the dog's mouth. But the head and feet are hard and uncomfortable for the dog to hold, so the dog learns to carry the Dokken by its body.

Here is a drill for training the dog to carry any article correctly:

 * 1) Throw the article a short distance and send the dog with her name.
 * 2) If the dog picks the article up correctly, simply wait for her to bring the article to you.  But if the dog begins to pick the article up incorrectly:
 * a. Say "stop" in a gentle tone while walking quickly to the dog.
 * b. Gently pry open the dog's mouth and place the article into her mouth in the desired position.
 * c. Say "wait", run a short distance, then spin around and call "Here!"
 * 1) When the dog arrives, gently take the article and immediately go back to Step 1.
 * 2) Repeat until the dog is consistently picking the article up and carrying it as desired.

Reinforcers for Fetch
A time will come when your dog will return the article to hand because he has learned how exciting it is to do so, as a result of your throwing a "hey hey" dummy or initiating a game of tug. But in the early weeks of training "give it", he may not find those activities sufficiently reinforcing to return the article to hand, or he may not have been sufficiently conditioned to understand the relationship between return to hand and the reinforcer.

If that is the case, you can develop a strong habit of your dog returning the article to hand with sessions specifically devoted to exchanging the article for food (see Laddie's "give it" video).

You may also find that you don't need to use treats for land retrieves, but that the dog won't retrieve to hand from water. In that case, again, you can use food to build reinforcement history for the retrieve to hand wherever needed. Eventually, the dog will refuse food and will just want to play tug and/or for you to throw the article again.

Remember that for the game of tug, the toy you use matters. Your dog may find one toy significantly more reinforcing to play tug with than another.

Practicing Fetch
For a reward-based trainer, "give it" is the equivalent of the traditional trainer's force fetch. The purpose of both games is to instill in the dog the reflexive response of picking up the retrieval article, bringing it to the handler, and holding it until the handler takes it. For a retriever, this is a make-or-break skill, so it is not something to train for a few days and then consider done. Even after the dog is retrieving reliably, any time you notice the fetch element of his behavior slightly less reliable than you want, it's worth devoting several yard sessions, perhaps in the evenings, to a "give it" drill.

Pile Work
Here's one example of a fetching drill:

 * 1) Put dog in a sit.
 * 2) Place several articles in a pile.
 * 3) With the dog sitting at heel, cue "give it".
 * 4) If the dog races to the pile, grabs an article in his mouth, races back, swings enthusiastically to heel, sits, and holds the article gently but firmly until you take it, that's the behavior you want.  Let him know verbally, and in whatever other way you've found to be reinforcing for the particular dog.  Although many trainers do not train retrievers with food, you may find that food is a great way to build enthusiasm for "give it" with particular dogs.
 * 5) If the dog is lacking in some aspect of the ideal picture described above, take the article quietly, gently bring him to sit at heel again, and again cue "give it".  Whether you see an improvement or not in this next rep, reinforce it.  Here's why:
 * — If you see an improvement, obviously you want to increase the likelihood that you'll get the new version rather than the previous one.
 * — If you don't see an improvement and don't reinforce, you now have two reps in a row without the version you were looking for. That may mean that you've set your criteria too high for this dog in this session, so you need to lower your criteria or your rate of reinforcement will drop too low.  In the meantime, you can give the dog a little reinforcement for staying in the game while you figure out what to change in your behavior.
 * 1) Your goal is to reinforce approximately 70-80% of the time.  When you first raise your criteria, your reinforcement rate will drop to 70%.  As the dog begins to respond to the differential information you're giving him and improves, his correct responses and reinforcement rate will increase.  When it gets to around 80%, you can again raise your criteria.

Building Style
A dog grabbing a bird without even seeming to slow down as he races past it has visual appeal, or "style". Some dogs seem to naturally do this, but here's another "give it" drill that lets your dog learn a stylish pick-up, and builds his drive for fetching at the same time:

 * 1) Instead of having the dog start at heel, have him sit facing the pile some distance away.
 * 2) Then you go to the other side of the pile, again some distance away, and cue "give it".
 * 3) Instead of running out to grab the article, now he grabs the article as he runs past the pile.
 * 4) As before, use differential reinforcement to increase the version of the behavior you prefer.

Retriever Zen
A crucial phase of a retriever's training is putting the retrieve on stimulus control, that is, training the dog to retrieve when cued to do so, and to not retrieve when not cued to do so.

In other words: To train the dog to retrieve, train the dog to not retrieve. Lindsay Ridgeway calls this idea retriever zen.

An obvious reason why the dog needs to be able to make this distinction is that in advanced tests and some hunting situations, the dog must ignore diversions and retrieve only the article the dog has been sent to.

But this phase of training cannot wait until needed for advanced work. The reason is that retrieval articles, especially birds, and most especially warm birds, can become extremely valuable to retrievers, with the result that they dog would rather stop out in the field for some alone-time with the bird instead of completing the retrieve. This can happen with any retriever, but it's an especially difficult problem for one being trained with reward-based methods. Retriever zen is vital to preventing that from becoming a problem. (Note: An explanation, or at least speculation, of why this is the case would be nice here.)

Three drills can be used in combination to train this concept:

 * 1) Proofing Drill
 * 2) Speed Drill
 * 3) Confidence Drill

Each is discussed below.

Proofing Drill
The purpose of this drill is to proof the dog's recall for distractions.

It's a valuable recall drill for any distraction — food, toys, other dogs — but for the purpose of training the retrieve, progress through retrieval articles of increasing value and excitement to the dog. For example, you might progress through the following sequence:

 * Dummy (also known as a bumper): canvas or rubber, 2" or 3", with or without streamers, with or without throw cord, various colors
 * Winged dummy
 * Dead bird
 * Live wrapped bird (wings bound and head hooded)
 * Live shackled bird (feet tied and head hooded)

Here are the steps for the Proofing Drill:

 * 1) Place the distraction article on the ground.
 * 2) Walk the dog past the article, so the dog knows that it's there, then continue until far enough away that the dog is no longer glancing at the article.
 * 3) Throw a treat, such as a cube of freeze-dried liver, for the dog.
 * 4) As the dog runs to the treat, sidestep toward the distraction article.
 * 5) As soon as the dog has the treat, call "here" to bring the dog back to you.
 * 6) Immediately throw the next treat and again sidestep toward the article.
 * 7) Continue until the dog is running right over the article while running to the treat and returning to you on "here".
 * 8) No-glance rule: If at any time, the dog glances at the article, you are too close.  Move away, then begin inching closer again.  The dog may actually trip on the article when you get to the end of the drill.

Important The reason for the no-glance rule is that without it, this can be a frustrating game for the dog. Even if the dog is successful, frustration might give the game an unpleasant association, which could result in a deterioration, rather than improvement, in the dog's recall that may show itself in subtle ways, such as trying to play keep-away, in the days after the training.

The Proofing Drill may only be needed once with each article. In later sessions, if the dog is still able to be sent and called over the article, you can skip the Proofing Drill.

Cued/Not-Cued (CNC) Drill
The purpose of the CNC Drill is for the dog to learn that "back" means "retrieve". The goal is to refine that learning until the dog's performance of that complex behavior chain called a "retrieve" is unquestioned, reflexive, and performed with speed and exuberance.

Unfortunately, the CNC Drill can also be confusing to the dog. In earlier training, the dog discovered in herself a deep love of retrieving. Now she must discover the joy of retrieving only when cued to do so. That confusion may manifest itself if a variety of ways, such as the dog starting to run out to retrieval articles in field work and then looking up at the handler, apparently not sure what to do next. For that reason, the CNC Drill is used in combination with the Confidence Drill, which repairs that confusion and is described in the following section.

Here are the steps for the CNC Drill:

 * 1) Use a combination of the articles you've already used in the Proofing Drill above.  Using a combination is important.  Otherwise, you may discover later that the dog is no longer comfortable with some articles.
 * 2) Place the articles in a pattern.  Some trainers use a straight line or a circle, with the articles separated from one another by about 20 feet. Some place the articles in a wide zigzag pattern, separated by about 10 feet from one another.  Use a configuration, and enough distance between articles, so that the dog shows no inclination to skip the next article and go on to the one beyond it.
 * 3) With the dog on leash, walk the dog right over the top of each article.  Shorten the leash to prevent the dog from retrieving any article, without jerking.  Important On occasion, you may be unsuccessful in preventing the retrieve.  It is essential that these not be unpleasant experiences for the dog.  An uncued retrieve can be repaired — in fact, that's the purpose of the CNC Drill.  A negative association with retrieving may never be completely reversed.
 * 4) When the dog is able to comfortably walk over the articles without attempting to pick them up, begin to occasionally cue a pick-up.  Always cue the pick-up with the dog's name, using the same inflection as you use for sending the dog to a mark.  Cue several feet before you get to the article so that the dog leaps forward and pounces on the article.
 * 5) When the dog is ready, try running the drill without the leash.  If the dog attempts an uncued pick-up, gently put the leash back on and continue.  Eventually, the dog should be able to run the drill confidently without the leash.  Many people take off the leash too soon, complicating and slowing the dog's learning process.  Continue to use it until it's completely superfluous.
 * 6) When the dog is fluent with this drill, you should be able to continue walking at a brisk pace, or even running, and the dog should be able to pick up each article when cued and deliver it to your closest hand without stopping.  In the earlier training, you may need to slow down, stop, or even loop around and retrace your steps in order for the dog to be successful with the pick-up.
 * 7) As soon as the dog delivers the article, praise the dog, transfer the article to your other hand, and toss it behind your back, so that it lands back where it was.  Note: With a live duck, you need to place the duck on the ground rather than tossing it to prevent injuring it.
 * 8) Eventually, make whether or not you cue for each article as random as possible.  If the dog has difficulty either retrieving, or ignoring, a particular article, include that problem more often in the mix until the dog is equally fluent retrieving, or ignoring, every article.
 * 9) At the end of each circle, reward the dog with enthusiatic praise, tug, happy dummies, and/or food.
 * 10) Practice in both directions.
 * 11) Always follow the Speed Drill with Confidence Drill (see below).
 * 12) When the dog is able to work fluently with widely spaced articles, begin to work to walk with the dog through articles that are scattered around near one another on the ground.  When the dog is able to enthusiastically pick up the cued articles, and calmly ignore the uncued ones, the Retriever Zen training is complete and need no longer be practiced.

Confidence Drill
As mentioned above, although the Speed Drill is vital to the dog's understanding of the retrieve, it can detract from a dog's confidence and exuberance for the retrieve, especially when the dog first experiences it. To counter the demotivating effect of the Speed Drill, follow it with the Confidence Drill:

 * 1) Place the same articles used for the Speed Drill in a pile, that is, a small grouping.  Note: The articles should not touch one another or the dog may pick up more than one article at a time, either intentionally or by accident.
 * 2) Walk some distance from the pile.  Use whatever distance seems to be most fun for the dog.
 * 3) Using the dog's name, send the dog to the pile repeatedly until the dog has retrieved every article.  Eventually, it should not be necessary to re-cue the dog to pick up the article when the dog arrives at the pile, but it may be necessary to do so in the early going.
 * 4) It is unnecessary for the dog to swing to heel and sit for each delivery.  The goal is to maximize the reinforcing quality of the retrieval game, so use whatever form of delivery to hand seems most fun for the dog.
 * 5) For some dogs, you can build enthusiasm for the Confidence Drill by offering treats after some or all of the retrieves in the early sessions.  These should be discontinued as the dog gradually shows high enthusiasm without them, because you want the dog focusing on the self-reinforcing quality of the retrieve, not on the treats.
 * 6) If the dog picks up all articles uncued and without hesitation, and enthusiastically brings each article back to you, you can do another Speed Drill in a subsequent session.  If the dog does not do so, skip the Speed Drill and continue to run more Confidence Drills in future sessions until that is the case.

Important The sequence of Speed Drill first, then Confidence Drill, is significant. Since the dog enjoys the Confidence Drill more than the Speed Drill, you want the dog to learn that the Speed Drill predicts the Confidence Drill, not the other way around. That will give the dog an increasingly positive association with the Speed Drill.

Doubles, Triples, and More
Once the dog is running singles nicely, you can begin working on multiple marks.

Initially, they are run as multiple singles. That is, one mark is thrown and run, then the next, and so on. Later, two marks are thrown in a sequence, then the dog retrieves one, then the other. Eventually, as many as five marks are thrown before the dog begins to retrieve them one after another.

For two marks thrown as singles, the short mark is usually thrown first, then the long mark. For two marks thrown as a double, the long mark is thrown first, then the short mark is thrown, then the short mark is retrieved, then the long mark is retrieved.

A dog must have a chance to practice multiples, but many trainers believe that even for the most advanced dog, 90% or so of the dog's retrieves should be singles. While memory for the marks is a valuable skill, the skill of highest importance is the ability to see where the bird (or dummy) has fallen and run straight to it.

Start doubles at 180 degrees, and if necessary, use a barrier as you reduce the angle. Dog must retrieve article sent to, and not switch to another article during send-out or return.

Obstacles
When the dog is running multiple singles, but even before he is running multiples, you can begin to introduce obstacles such as a log. In competition, the dog will need to go over those obstacles, not around them.

To train confidence with the obstacle, you can begin in the house using a narrow passage, and place an obstacle all the way across it. With you and the dog on one side, throw a favorite retrieval article to the other side, then cue "give it" and be ready with a click and a treat when the dog brings the article back.

Once the dog is bringing the article back over the obstacle, gradually move the obstacle into a more open area, so that there is more and more space on either side of the obstacle. You may find that the dog will go around the obstacle either on the send out, or the return, or both. If that happens, you may have given too much space. But you can also help the dog understand what you want with your clicker:

 * If the dog doesn't go over the obstacle both directions, don't click or feed, just take the article and throw it again. Stay close to the obstacle as you throw it to make over the obstacle the shortest path, and reach your hand partially over the obstacle as a visual target for him to come to when he comes back with the article.

 * If the dog does go over the obstacle both directions, click and treat, perhaps adding some enthusiastic praise, then throw the article again.

That procedure may not work for a dog for whom the opportunity to retrieve is so valuable that he doesn't care whether he gets the click and treat. But if you are working with a dog who is food motivated, and who has not eaten for several hours, he will realize within a few reps that he gets to retrieve again whether he goes over the obstacle or not, but he only gets food when he goes over it.

Continue progress in your home until the dog will go over the obstacle in a completely open room. Then generalize for location (initially, near the front or back door, later in various training areas). As you move outdoors, you'll probably stop reinforcing with food and start reinforcing with active games such as tug and "hey hey" dummies. As always, tug is preferred because it's better for developing the relationship, but also as always, the dog is the sole arbiter of what he finds reinforcing.

The dog will have more difficulty with some placements of the obstacle than others. For example, he may tend to go around obstacles that are mid-way between you and the retrieval article, or he may tend to go around obstacles that are more than a certain distance from you. Learn his weaknesses by trying everything, and practice until the weaknesses are cured. For example, if he goes over the obstacle when it's ten yards from you but goes around it when it's fifty yards away, then over a period of days, set the obstacle at ten yards, then fifteen, then twenty, and so forth.

Cover
In a session to practice entry into cover, you might proceed as follows:

 * 1) Select a finger of cover you will want the dog to cross through when the training is complete.
 * 2) Stand a yard or two inside the cover and throw to a point along the eventual path, but only a yard or two away from you, so that the dog retrieves entirely within cover.
 * 3) Lengthen those retrieves.
 * 4) Throw to the edge of the cover.
 * 5) Throw to just outside the cover.
 * 6) Throw to well outside the cover, the end point of the desired behavior.
 * 7) Move back to the edge of the cover yourself and throw to the same location.
 * 8) Move back to just outside the cover.
 * 9) Move well back outside the cover, to the starting line for the desired behavior.

Retrain in several locations, until the dog habitually angles through cover rather than cheating around it. Avoid asking for retrieves the dog is not ready for, since once he practices cheating, it will be more difficult to untrain. It's better to ask for something "too easy" and let the dog have an easy success, then to dig a hole by accidentally having the dog rehearse an incorrect behavior. And of course, reinforce the dog's successes well.

Water Re-entry

 * Dog needs to be able to cross a point of land and re-enter water in both directions

 * Also, double re-entry, that is, across two points of land

Flapping in Face

 * Use large, stuffed toys
 * Use moving toys

Dokkens

 * Train dog to carry a bird by body rather than head, wings or legs
 * Available in various sizes, "species"

Decoys

 * Dog needs to practice running past decoys
 * Dog needs to practice retrieving an article near a decoy
 * Decoys on land
 * Decoys on water

Boats

 * Dog needs to be comfortable in a boat, both out of water and in water
 * Dog needs to be comfortable retrieving past and near a boat, as with decoys
 * Dog needs to be comfortable with boats out of water as well as in water

Retrieving a Dead Bird
Once your dog is reliably retrieving dummies to hand, the next thing you'll try him on is retrieving a dead bird, such as a duck. If possible, use a freshly killed bird. If the bird has been frozen, give it several days to thoroughly thaw.

Before trying a retrieve, simply throw the bird for the dog run to run to. Then one of these things will happen:

 * The dog will run to the duck, pick it up, and bring it right back to you.
 * The dog will run to the duck, possibly bring it part of the way to you, but before completing the retrieve, start to chew it or play with it, possibly dragging it off in a different direction.
 * The dog will run to the duck and refuse to pick it up.

If the first of those happens, you're in business. Simply begin to mix in practice with both dummies and ducks.

If the second one happens, the dog loves ducks. That's a good thing. It will provide motivation when difficult challenges arise. But he has to be retrained to retrieve with this new article. Patiently retrain "give it" for a dead duck the way you previously did for a knotted sock or plush animal. If necessary, have the dog drag a long line while you're doing this so that you can catch him. Remove the line when he becomes reliable.

If the third one happens, assuming the dog is a retrieve, he probably still loves ducks, but not cold dead ones. So shape a retrieve for this new, difficult article.

Here's a description of how that might be done:

To be edited

On May 17, 2007, at 6:04 PM, Linda Conrad wrote:

> So, Lindsay, care to share how you got her to love to pick up > birds in 4 weeks time? I only ask because I'm struggling with this > issue right now - I jokingly said as soon as they start running hunt > tests with bumpers and Dokken ducks, we'll be MORE than ready!!!

Hi, Linda. Aren't Dokken's cool? We have a bunch of them, all different "species".

I should mention that it didn't take four weeks to get Lumi to love to pick up ducks, that took only a few minutes, but it took those same few minutes several times over a period of days, during which we had to start at the beginning of the process each time. Eventually, we didn't have to do again, since now Lumi seems all too ready to pick up ducks, but who knows, we may need to do it again some day if she loses that.

Other barriers also needed to be crossed in those four weeks. The actual progression was: 1st week, she wouldn't pick up a duck; 2nd week, she dawdled coming back on land retrieves; 3rd week, she picked up her first flyer (flier?); 4th week, Katie bar the door.

As for picking up ducks, we used shaping, or as it's also known, freeshaping. Although Lumi is a clicker dog, I didn't use a clicker because I felt that for this it would be superfluous. In addition, I didn't shape with food as I usually do (though perhaps I could have) because I felt we needed the best possible reinforcer, and for Lumi, that's swimming (an example of Premack reinforcement).

So each session went like this:

(1) Take a dead duck (preferably not too cold and in the best possible condition) plus a dummy and/or Dokken (I used both, I'll explain below) to the shoreline of some favorite swimming location. We used a fast-running creek, deep enough for Lumi to swim in, one of Lumi's favorite places in the world, about five minutes drive from home.

(2) Toss the duck on the ground near the water.

(3) Shape increasing interaction with the duck, reinforcing each correct response as follows:

(a) At the very instant of the response, Lumi receives a rousing send-out into the water (cue as marker), followed by me throwing the Dokken into the water just ahead of her, or upstream, or somewhere to make the swim the most fun possible. I used the Dokken for the water retrieves to help Lumi practice how to carry a duck.

(b) When Lumi comes back with the Dokken, bring her to heel, take the Dokken, and toss the dummy in the grass a few feet away, cueing "shake". In theory, this should keep me slightly drier than if she shakes as soon as I take the toy.

(c) When Lumi then brings the dummy back to me (again coming to heel), suddenly offer a game of tug (we use only the dummy for tug) for a few seconds.

(d) Finally, toss both toys on the ground, cue "leave it", and draw Lumi's attention back to the dead duck.

(e) Occasionally, I'd reverse the game of tug or the send out, or use only one of two. Lumi likes tug almost as much as retrieving. I don't want Lumi to know what reinforcer she'll get -- her motivation seems highest when I surprise her. (NOTE: Pretty much every field trainer I've met has warned me not to play tug with a retriever. Maybe I'll regret it someday. So far in our brief time in field training, I've seen no disadvantage and it has always had huge motivational benefit in other training.)

(4) As with any shaping I do with Lumi, the key is how I define "correct response" from one successive approximation to the next. For Lumi and me, it was something like:

repeat this definition of a "correct response" or others two or three times, or go immediately to the next level on the next rep.) stops giving the current level of response, and we'll back up to an easier level and resume from there.) ever happen, after seeing how Lumi felt about the duck at the beginning. But she had a strong incentive -- those go-outs, to figure out what it was going to take to be sent out again.) that it would be smooth sailing from there, and it was.) until I reach my throwing distance limit distance away, send Lumi to retrieve (by now, she's coming to heel with the bird) sit, walk back to her, give her a treat her for waiting, then send her luck finding a bird boy, that's one of my biggest problems)
 * Glance in general direction of the duck -- "GO OUT!" (I might
 * Glance at duck itself without lowering head
 * Glance at the duck, lowering head slightly
 * Seem to sniff the duck a little
 * Touch nose to the duck -- (Sometimes after some progress, Lumi
 * Place mouth on duck -- (When starting, you wonder if this will
 * Drag the duck one inch -- (When Lumi finally did that, I knew
 * Drag the duck three inches, five inches
 * Slightly lift the duck
 * Lift the duck higher
 * Put the duck in my hand, which of course I made as easy as possible
 * "Retrieve" the duck after a toss about one foot away from my hand
 * Retrieve after a toss two feet away, then longer and longer
 * Put down a "sight blind" with Lumi beside me, walk a short
 * Put down a sight blind with Lumi waiting some distance away in a
 * Increase the distance on sight blinds
 * If available, recruit a bird boy for some longer marks (good

I should mention that one of my criteria for correct response is enthusiasm. I might reinforce one or two tentative responses if necessary, but I want to extinguish those (by not reinforcing them) as quickly as possible.

I have no idea if that exact progression will work on other dogs. Lumi and I have done a good bit of shaping in other activities over the years, so she knows this game well. That is, she knows that reinforcement is contingent on her own actions. I suspect that dogs who have not been shaped in the past may need time to learn that concept, but maybe I'm wrong, maybe any retriever would respond as Lumi did to the above sequence regardless of training background.

I know from other lists that people often have questions about shaping, such as, What if the dog just looks at me?, or What if the dog gets interested in something else instead of interacting with me? I'm sorry if no one on this list has such questions, but I'll give a brief answer in case someone does.

First, I'm not a shaping purist. Dogs (and all animals) are most drawn to salient stimuli, so I'm not above moving the duck around to make it more interesting, even though that's not pure shaping. I'm also not above moving around myself, such as moving to the other side of the duck, so that Lumi might brush the duck as she comes toward me. ("You touched the duck! YAY! Go OUT!")

Perhaps most important, I set my criteria at whatever level it takes for me to get a response I can reinforce quickly. I don't want twenty seconds to go by with Lumi just wondering what's going on. Did her eyebrow flicker? Good enough! "GO OUT!"

Then there's timing. Sometimes I watch people trying to shape and there's too much delay between the moment the dog committed to whatever the current criteria are, and the reinforcement. I consider half a second too long. At the very instant Lumi does whatever it is I'm looking for, that's the moment I burst into motion and voice.

So if the dog is just looking at you, move around, move the duck around, take any glance away from you as your criteria until you're getting some fluency with that. If the dog isn't in the game, make the game as easy as necessary by lowering your criteria so that she can get reinforcement quickly (three seconds is what I aim for), and of course use a high value reinforcer.

Sorry if I've given too much detail, just trying to answer as best I could. I hope if you try it you'll let us know how it goes.

Retrieving a Live Bird

 * When the dog doesn't bring back the bird
 * Long line
 * As soon as dog releases bird, throw it again (repeat several times, so dog learns that is most likely outcome)
 * To strengthen the pattern, do this with all retrieves, not just live birds

Intrinsic Reinforcement
Lindsay: verify this paragraph, use a quote, give a page number In Susan Garrett's highly acclaimed Shaping Success, a time comes when Buzz, the Border Collie whose training history she is relating, sometimes chooses to play on the agility equipment rather than respond to Susan's cues. Susan sees that as an unacceptable decision on Buzz's part, and relates how she effects a diminished interest in the agility equipment and an increased interest in the handler within Buzz's psyche.

While that may be the perfect approach for training agility dogs and those in a variety of other canine sports, agility dogs do not have to swim 300 yards in ice cold water to get to their dogwalks. Since a Field Trial dog may need to do exactly that, along with overcoming other highly challenging obstacles, most FT trainers avoid any training method that risks diminishing the dog's motivation for birds.

But a dog that loves birds can also be a problem. The novice dog is at significant risk of running off with the bird, especially a fresh-killed or crippled flyer, rather than retrieving it to hand as he may have been trained to do with a bumper and even a dead bird.

What is the solution? The answer is not to diminish the dog's love of the bird, but to integrate that love with a love for retrieving that bird to hand.

Helping
Once you've begun working on handling with the dog (whistle sits and hand cues for overs, angle backs, etc.), you may be tempted to help the dog on marks if he gets off line on the way to the fall.

Some trainers disagree with the handler helping the dog in that situation. In the first place, handling the dog on a mark can affect your score in competition. In addition, the dog can develop the habit of "popping", that is, turning to you for guidance instead of running to the mark with confidence, hunting with sight and scent as necessary.

Yet sometimes a dog will get too far afield for the retrieve to be successful if the dog is left on his own. One way to avoid handling the dog is to call him back, then reset his direction and send him again. Another way is to call "Help!" to the gunner who threw the mark. The gunner can then use a bird call, or "hey hey hey", or an arm swing, or actually throwing another article near the first one, to assist the dog, while you as the handler wait quietly at the line, as you would in competition while the dog is running to the mark.

Group Training
Discuss the importance of training with a group of experienced trainers with competition goals similar to your own. You may find it impossible to find such a group that uses methods similar to your own, in which case, it is still essential that your dog experience the kinds of set-ups, for years on end, that will only be available if you train with such a group.

Test Series
Because the problems that the dog learns to solve occur somewhat haphazardly when training with a group, you may find it beneficial in your private training to follow a more carefully designed sequence of events. For example, you may find that your dog has difficulty with increasing distance, with choice of a retrieval article (birds being more difficult to retrieve correctly than dummies), and momentum-inhibiting terrain (MIT), also known as "factors", such as cover change, water, wind, etc. (discussed above).

To train for all of those considerations in an organized way, you can use a series of "tests". The dog runs one test per session, typically one per day. If the dog passes the test, then you go on to the next one. If not, you train to repair the difficulty, then try the test again.

(Describe the "Field Training Test Series", including phases, individual tests, and criteria for passing. Include a link to L&L's blog as a sample journal.)


text:
User:Lindsay Ridgeway/Reward-based Field Training for Retrievers/Blind Retrieve

Sight Blinds

 * Gives dogs confidence that a bird is out there, useful for multiple marks as well as for blinds

 * Lets the dog run with confidence, rather than developing a tentative send-out

 * Re-use the same sight blinds at various training locations day after day and help the dog develop memory skills, which may improve his memory for multiple marks as well

 * Sight blinds to a pile, to condition both "back" and "over" cues

The Send-out

 * The locked-in stare
 * The cue: "back"

Back

 * Straight away from you
 * Used for send-out
 * Used from whistle sit
 * — Spin either direction
 * — Why use it? The dog is already going that direction
 * You anticipate that the dog is about to veer around a factor

Over

 * Left and right

Angle Back and Angle In
Although it is traditional to train "back" and "over" first, a case can be made for training the angle back and angle in first:

 * Let's think of directions as a clock face, with 12 o'clock being "back" and 6 o'clock being recall. Your visual cue is the hour hand on the clock face, and the dog's direction is that clock face lying on the ground.  So, for example, you point directly to the right, 3 o'clock, and your dog is to run directly to the right.  You point to the right but on an upward angle, about where the hour hand will be for 1:30, and your dog is to run toward 1-2 o'clock.  You point to the left on an upward angle, and the  dog is to turn away from you the other direction and run toward 10-11 o'clock.

 * Besides recall (6 o'clock), by far the most common directions are 10-11 o'clock on the left, and 1-2 o'clock on the right. These are called angle backs.

 * The second most commom directions are 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock. These are called overs.

 * Somewhat less common are 7-9 o'clock and 4-5 o'clock. These are called angle ins.

 * In terms of usefulness, it might seem best to train angle backs and overs as the highest priority since they are most common. But angle ins are much easier for you and the dog to discriminate from angle backs than overs are.

 * Therefore, you may find it best to train angle backs and angle ins until they are solid. At that point, you may find that the dog automatically knows what an "over" is without having to train it.

Prerequisites

 * "Give it"

 * Whistle "sit"

 * Steady sit until released

Training the Behavior

 * 1) Place a single dummy at between 1:00 and 2:00 on the clock face, and another between 10:00 and 11:00.  Put the dog in the center of the clock face and stand directly in front of him, so that he is facing you and toward 6:00.
 * 2) Fold your hands into a prayer position and whistle "sit" (one tweet).
 * 3) At the very instant that the dog sits, reinforce his response by rapidly lifting your left or right arm straight out to the side, but at an upward angle.  Use an open hand with the palm facing forward.  While moving your hand, also move your body in the same direction, as though you were about to run toward the bumper on that side.
 * 4) If possible, do not use a verbal cue.  Ideally, the dog will respond to the visual cue of your rapidly moving arm.  The reason you'd like to skip using a verbal cue is that eventually your dog may be competing at distances where he can't hear you.  If necessary, send him with the verbal cue "back", but fade that as soon as possible.
 * 5) When the dog picks up the dummy, whistle recall.
 * 6) When the dog returns the dummy to hand, reinforce well, with treats, praise, a hey-hey dummy, tug, or whatever maintains and increases the behavior.
 * 7) If necessary, put on the dog's lead so that you can throw the dummy back where it was and set up for the next rep.
 * 8) Practice both sides.
 * 9) Keep the sessions short and fun.

Switching
Some dogs will see that two dummies are out there and will want both of them. They may run to the one you send them to, but then, instead of returning to you, they'll head over to the other dummy.

When a dog interacts with a different bird/dummy than the one you sent him to, it's called "switching", and it's important that the dog not develop that habit. If you find that your dog switches during the initial training of angle backs:

 * 1) If possible, increase the distance between the dummies.  The best situation would be where the dog is aware of, but not distracted by or attracted to, the dummy that is out of play.
 * 2) As soon as you release the dog, run behind him so that you are quite close to him by the time he picks up the first dummy.
 * 3) Then cue "give it".  Because you are so much closer than the other dummy, and because he knows that "give it" will be highly rewarded, he'll return the dummy to you.  At that point, you can throw a hey-hey in the opposite direction or reinforce in other ways, but block him from running to the other dummy or catch him if he gets past you.  After reinforcement, put the leash back on him to set up for the next rep.
 * 4) Another method is to work with a barrier between the two dummies, such as a fence or hedge, starting the dog at a gap in the barrier.
 * 5) Over time, gradually reduce the distance you need to run with the dog to prevent switching, until you don't need to run with him at all.
 * 6) Then over more time, gradually reduce the distance between the dummies.

Lining

 * The send-out:
 * — Lining up the sit on either side
 * — Focusing the eyes
 * — Sending out with "back"
 * — When to challenge the line:
 * – – In training, no sooner than 75% of the way if possible
 * – – In competition, as soon as dog is off line

 * Holding the line

Training the Behavior
A drill known as the wagon wheel is used to train lining:

 * 1) With dog watching and waiting, throw out a number of dummies in various directions.
 * 2) Choose one of the dummies.
 * 3) Walk with dog at heel toward the dummy.
 * 4) Cue "sit".
 * 5) Use hand on dogs side to focus dog's eyes on dummy.  Train him that your hand tells him when he is looking the correct direction:
 * — Once dog is looking at dummy, keep hand in position while dog maintains stare.
 * — Remove hand when dog looks away.
 * — When dog looks back, replace hand.
 * 1) When stare is locked in, send with "back" cue.
 * 2) If he gets off line and goes to the wrong dummy:
 * — Occasionally, you can call him back to heel without letting him finish the retrieve, but that is highly de-motivating to some dogs.
 * — Instead, you can let him finish the retrieve, then use a gentle, neutral tone to cue "sit", take the dummy, and throw it back where it was, without reinforcing the retrieve.
 * 1) If he goes to the correct dummy, reinforce in one or more ways (remember, the dog's behavior tells you what he finds reinforcing), such as:
 * — Whistle recall as soon as he picks it up.
 * — Cheer as he returns, such as with applause and/or "Yay!".
 * — Play tug after he returns the dummy to hand.
 * — Throw a happy dummy when he returns the dummy to hand.
 * — Give him a treat when he returns the dummy to hand.
 * 1) Throw the dummy back out to its position.
 * 2) Repeat to a different dummy.

Extending the Behavior

 * Increase the distances of the dummies.
 * Decrease the angles.
 * Gradually work with dummies that are different distances. Dogs tend to swerve off line to retrieve the closest dummy, so be patient.
 * Retrain in different and increasingly distracting locations.
 * Introduce more difficult distractions. For example:
 * — Send to a dummy when a dead bird is on either side.
 * — Scent an area with a dead bird and then send the dog through that area to a dummy that is not in sight until the dog has gotten through the scented area.

Handling 101: Pinball Drill
Here's a drill Lindsay Ridgeway used to strengthen Lumi's handling skills in the late summer of 2007. Lindsay liked the drill so much that he ended up using it as the initial method of training handling to Laddie, then four months old:

 * 1) Prerequisite: Whistle sit.
 * 2) Use six surveyor's flags in a zig zag pattern leading away from the "start line".  Space the flags according to your results over a series of training sessions.  An initial spacing of 10 yards may be about right.
 * 3) Spend as much time as needed, possibly a few seconds, possibly a few sessions, to train the dog to run to between flags 5 and 6, and sit on single tweet of the whistle as he reaches the flag.  Click and treat as he reaches the flag and responds to the whistle sit.  If the dog bites the flag, don't reinforce that rep, and make a point of whistling "sit" well before he reaches the flag on future reps.
 * 4) When you start the training, you may find it most effective to run with the dog, then send him the last few steps as he locks onto the flag.  Gradually reduce the amount of distance you are running with the dog, until you and the dog can start near flag 5, you can send him to flag 5, and then you can send him to flag 6 with minimum movement yourself.
 * 5) Continue to train, moving your starting point closer to flag 4.
 * 6) Add flag 4 to the training.  Now the dog runs to flag 4 and sits on cue, then flag 5, then flag 6.  As he sits at flag 6, sometimes you can run to him to reinforce, other times you can call him running to you and reinforce as he reaches you.
 * 7) In the same way, add flags 3, 2, and finally 1 to the training.
 * 8) As you practice this drill in session after session, the dog is learning the pattern of an actual cold blind, a narrow zig zag between the start line and the article being retrieved.
 * 9) Use as many sessions as you need to develop this invaluable skill.  Keep each session short and always end while the dog wants to keep playing.
 * Continue editing here
 * 1) Over several sessions, make the diamond larger and larger.  Soon, the dog should not be able to see the flags when he first goes out on each cast.  This is especially true if you use orange flags, which are difficult for a dog to see until the dog is close.
 * 2) Add more flags to the course, enabling you to practice all the casts from a variety of distances.
 * 3) When the dog is ready, add a dummy or bird at the far end of the course.  Place it so that the dog cannot see it until he is on the way from the last cast.  Having the dog complete the retrieve takes extra time but builds motivation.
 * 4) To make the drill even more challenging, train the dog to ignore distractions and take the cast.  Add distractions such as dummies or dead birds, first so far from the dog's line of travel that he barely notices them.  Over time, move them closer to the dog's line.  If the dog goes off line to one of the distractions, walk out to him, bring him back to the flag, walk back to the start line, and try again.  If he again strays, you've moved the distraction too close too soon.  If he gets it right, find a way to immediately reward him for his success.
 * 5) Similarly, gradually proof for other factors: obstacles such as logs for the dog to jump over, crosswinds, hills, and so forth.

To build the dog's love of the game, you may find it beneficial to occasionally and randomly leave the start line at the instant the dog sits and run out to reinforce, with food, petting, a game of tug, a thrown dummy, or anything the dog loves. Then put him back in his sit, go back to the start line, and give the next cast. You may find it best to reinforce a lot at first, then gradually introduce intermittent reinforcement, keeping the dog guessing as to whether this is the time that you're going to come running out.

Why Surveyor's Flags?
Here's a post to the PDG list describing the reasons behind using surveyor's flags for this drill:

On Aug 25, 2007, at 4:53 PM, Lindsay Ridgeway wrote:

Lumi and I started working on cold blinds about a month ago, and when we tried one with a Field Trial training group Wednesday afternoon, I realized that we needed to train more on our own before trying one with a group again.

As background, I began training Lumi overs and backs, angle backs and angle ins, months ago, and we've got a dozen or more schooled blinds we practice daily, one or two per location we happen to train at. We've also done many sight blinds at various distances up to 300 yards for months.

But when it comes to cold blinds, Lumi exhibits some of the same characteristics I've seen in other, more advanced dogs, all of whom are trained with e-collars:

 * "Do I really have to sit and/or change directions when I think I already know where the dummy/bird is?"

 * "I saw your visual cue to send me after the whistle sit, and here I am on my way, but am I going the right way? Gosh I hope you don't stop me and throw another cue at me, I'm doing the best I can."

 * "First you send me to the right, then you send me to the left. I'm starting to wonder if you even know where the bird is yourself."

 * "Whistle sit? Oh, I remember that.  I was in the middle of a delicious run toward a dummy/bird in clear sight, but before I could get to it and bring it back to you, you made me screech to a halt, turn to face you, and sit.  That was no fun.  And not just once, but over and over again, every time we practiced handling.  Every time you did it, that whistle sit became less and less appealing.  Sure you'd send me again after the sit, but I was already on the way.  Why couldn't I just keep going?"

BTW, Lumi has HD and arthritis in both hips. Sitting has never been her favorite thing anyway.

I could see from the beginning that sending Lumi toward a dummy and then stopping her before she got to it, so I could cast her in a different direction as in a baseball diamond, was de-motivating, but at first I figured she'd get over it. In reality, I think the opposite may have been happening. I think stopping her on the way to the visible dummies at "second base" may actually have been cumulatively undermining Lumi's reinforcement history for the correct response.

We also trained on carved out paths. I could send Lumi straight down the path, whistle a sit at the fork, and then cast her to one of several dummies on the various spokes from there. But I never found anyplace to practice that drill with much distance, and even that seemed to be de-motivating. "All those dummies out there, but I have to stop and turn to face you."

Trying to find a way to build motivation, I also tried sitting her in place, throwing dummies in different directions away from her, and then walking away to a "start line" at some distance from where I'd left her sitting. I think that drill improved her understanding of the casts, and it seemed to be fun for her, but it was such a different scenario from a cold blind that it only helped so much.

What I really wanted was a pin-ball set up, where I could send Lumi from target to target, and reinforce every sit in some way, such as throwing a dummy or running out to give her a bite of food.

But the first time I tried it, I realized what a disaster it was if I used dummies as the targets. Either she would pick the dummy up, meaning that she'd either want to bring it to me or she'd have to carry it to the next one, and THEN what would she do? Or I'd have to persuade her not to pick it up. Just great, training a dog to run to a dummy and NOT pick it up. After one session, I could see that using dummies as targets for pin ball was a mistake.

A couple of days ago, I hit upon what may be a solution for all these difficulties. I tried it that morning, with Lumi and even with little Laddie, and was pleased with the results. It trains the remote sit and the casts, and it's FUN. No running toward dummies and not being able to pick them up. Instead, both dogs were excited the whole time. At each sit, Lumi's body language gradually became, "I'm sitting, I'm sitting! What's next, Daddy, what's next?"

I used the same technique a couple more times for Lumi, stretching the pin-ball course out to 100 yards so far, and for the first time I have a dog running from target to target and throwing herself into a sit each time I whistle.

The solution was surprisingly simple. What I did was to set up my pin-ball course with surveyor's flags. Those are thin wire poles with small flags attached. You can buy bundles of them at the hardware store. I use the orange ones because I've heard that dogs can't see orange.

These were the advantages I was looking for:

 * The dog has no particular inclination to retrieve the surveyor's flags. Laddie (4 mo) wanted to bite them some, but it was pretty easy to show him that running to the next one was even more fun.

 * The further they are apart, the harder they are for the dog to see. At some point as you stretch out the distances, the dog is running the right direction based on your cast, trusting that eventually the target will come into sight, and sure enough, it does.

 * With no dummies in the field, you can focus your training exclusively on the cast and the whistle sit, and use any method you like (or rather, that the dog likes) for reinforcing each success. Lumi's favorite version of the game was the session when I had our "start line" next to a creek and sent her into the water as soon as she came racing back from the furthest flag.

 * You don't have to make the dog not pick up a dummy.

 * The dog has the satisfaction of knowing with confidence that she's given the correct response, because the flags provide a physical representation of the remote sit concept. By analogy, a novelist might describe a character carrying a knife, rather than just saying that the guy looked dangerous.

 * Once you've stretched your patterns out far enough, you can add a dummy at the end, out of sight until the dog has been cast from the last flag. Now you've got an actual cold blind, and a precise course in which to train the exact whistle sits and casts you wish to.

 * One day, the flags play such a small role in running the course that they become superfluous and are used only for tune-ups after that.

The idea of using surveyor's flags seems so obvious to me now, that I have to believe other people also use them. But I haven't heard or read of anyone else doing it, and when I mentioned the idea to a couple of my new training buddies, they looked at me like I had two heads. Since they use -R and aren't worried about building a +R history for their dogs' behaviors, they might not have much use for the idea.

Well, my goal was to have Lumi fall in love with whistle sits and remote casts. The surveyor's flags seem to be giving that result, so I thought I'd pass the idea along.

Maybe it will help someone else. Maybe someone can suggest an even better way to train remote casts. Or maybe someone can warn me of some shortcoming to the method I've described that I haven't realized yet.

Handling 102: The Loopback Drill
While the angle-back is an excellent initial handling cue, one of the most common situations that requires handling is when the dog is tempted to "cheat", that is, to detour away from the direct path to the bird. He may detour:

 * To avoid an obstacle
 * To take a land route instead of a water route ("bank running")
 * To touch a land point instead of swimming past it
 * To avoid a headwind
 * To climb upward or downward on a hillside
 * To check out scented ground
 * To get to a diversion bird
 * For other reasons known only to the dog

In those kinds situations, using an angle-back may not be satisfactory, because the dog's score will be reduced, or the dog may be dropped from the competition, if he does not take the required route. Instead, you may need to undo the detour by sending the dog "over", directly to his right or left, often just a few yards, and then using a back or an angle-back to send him toward the bird on the original line. The dog's ability to respond correctly to "over", for each of the factors listed above, is a key handling skill.

One way to train "over" specifically to erase an attempt to cheat is with the loopback drill. Once trained, it looks like this:

 * 1) Place the dog in a sit next to an obstacle.  For example, the obstacle could be an agility jump bar, a log, the shoreline of a water feature, a stiff crosswind, or halfway up a hillside.  Eventually, the dog should practice all of the obstacles listed above.
 * 2) Place a dummy or bird behind the dog at 12 o'clock, some distance back, perhaps 20 yards.
 * 3) Stand in front of the dog at 6 o'clock.
 * 4) Cue "over" both with voice and visually. The dog runs directly to his left or right and overcomes the obstacle.
 * 5) When the dog has overcome the obstacle, whistle "sit".  The dog sits, facing you.
 * 6) Cue an angle-back to the dummy (to train an angle-back, see "Handling 101: The Pinball Drill").  The dog runs to the dummy and picks it up.
 * 7) Whistle recall.  The dog runs back and delivers the dummy.
 * 8) Reward the dog.

Training the Behavior
Although your dog may be able to learn the loopback drill in a single session, he may not be able to do it correctly if you simply set the loopback course up as described and try to direct him through it.

To solve that, take as many sessions as necessary to train each of the individual components:

 * "Over" through jump bars or over a log in either direction, perhaps with a dummy on the other side for the dog to retrieve.
 * An angle-back to a pole where the dummy will eventually be placed, first halfway from the corner where you'll be whistle sitting him, then 3/4ths of the way, and so forth.
 * "Over" through an obstacle to a pole at the corner where you'll whistle sit the dog, followed by an angle-back to the pole where the dummy will eventually be placed.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Deathly Hallows/Epilogue

Synopsis
The epilogue is the final chapter of both Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and the Harry Potter series. It is set 19 years after Voldemort's defeat at the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny are married and have three children, James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. They are at King's Cross to see off their two boys to Hogwarts, where Neville Longbottom is now the Herbology professor. James, the eldest, is already at Hogwarts, while Albus Severus, 11, is starting his first year. Lily, age 9, is moaning – very much as Ginny did in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone – about being unable to go. Also present are Ron and Hermione, likewise married and with their own two children, Rose, who is also just starting Hogwarts, and Hugo. Ron tells Harry he has just passed a Muggle driving test after confunding the examiner – but he does not want Hermione to know. In passing, Harry sees Draco Malfoy and his wife with their son, Scorpius. Malfoy acknowledges Harry with a curt nod. Teddy Lupin, Remus' and Tonks' orphaned son, is spotted kissing Victoire Weasley, Bill and Fleur's daughter. Albus is worried that he will be sorted into Slytherin, but Harry reassures him and says that he is named after two Hogwarts Headmasters; one was a Slytherin (Snape) and possibly the bravest man he ever knew. Harry also confides to Albus that the Sorting Hat takes the student's own choice into consideration, as it had done for Harry when he was Sorted - something Harry has never told his other children. After the Hogwarts Express leaves, Ginny comforts Harry, saying their children will be fine. Harry reflects on his scar: it has not pained him for 19 years. The epilogue ends with: "All was well."

Analysis
Rowling's epilogue provides a sketchy update on the characters' post-Voldemort lives. However, in post-book release interviews, J. K. Rowling has given additional information. Harry and Ron are Aurors for the Ministry of Magic, although Ron also worked for a time in George's joke shop, which has become quite successful. The Ministry has radically changed from what it once was, and both Harry and Ron have been instrumental in overhauling the Auror department. Harry is now its head. Kingsley Shacklebolt is the Minister for Magic, with Percy Weasley working under him in a high position. Hermione also works for the Ministry in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and has also done much to improve life for non-human magical beings. Luna Lovegood pursues her interest in biology, and searches the world for magical and unusual creatures. She eventually marries Rolf, the grandson of the noted naturalist, Newt Scamander. Curiously, although Draco has married and has a child, Rowling does not identify his wife in the book. In the "J. K. Rowling... A Year In The Life" documentary created by ITV in the UK, the author does draw out family trees for the Weasley family, and a small tree for Draco, showing that he is married to one Astoria Greengrass, who did not appear in the books, and his son is named Scorpius Hyperion. The same tree indicates that George married one Angelina (quite probably Angelina Johnson), and has children named Fred and Roxanne. It is from this family tree that we learn Harry's eldest son's full name; in the book, he is only ever called James.

Review

 * 1) Who did Harry name his second eldest son after? Why did he choose these names?
 * 2) What might Harry and Draco's relationship be today, based on how they interacted at King's Cross Station?
 * 3) Why doesn't Ron want Hermione to know about his driving test details? Based on this experience, do you believe the two have changed much over all these years?

Further Study

 * 1) Overall, how have the characters lives changed after Lord Voldemort's death, and could it be said that they've all changed for the better?
 * 2) Are Harry’s children related to Draco’s children?

Greater Picture
Many fans have expressed annoyance at this epilogue, and at the post-publication interviews giving extra, and perhaps extraneous, details regarding the characters careers after the series' end. It is not this work's place to criticize the epilogue in this manner. It is part of the published work, and we should not debate the merits of its inclusion. However, it does seem to show the characters' ongoing development in the series. Neville, for example, has played to his strength, becoming a Herbology professor, his best subject at school. We see that, rather than remaining sworn enemies, as presumably their parents had been, Harry and Draco apparently maintained a truce that has grown into at least a nodding acquaintance, signifying that Draco has mellowed over the years. We see that Ron still retains his immaturity in small ways, though in others he has grown significantly. While he appears to still lag behind Harry and Hermione somewhat, he has grown beyond his previous "second fiddle" role, comfortable within his own independent niche in life. Hermione, meanwhile, has fulfilled, if not surpassed, all expectations that she would become an influential force within the Wizarding realm. And we also see that Harry has gained what he had always craved, what he saw in the Mirror of Erised in the very first book: a loving, stable, and supportive family. Harry's character development confirms what we surmised he would become, and we are reassured that, while our long attachment to these characters perforce has ended, they have prospered during the intervening years, and so our pain in parting with them is eased.

Details given by the author in post-publication interviews, however, seem less pertinent. In particular, the small facts given concerning various characters' futures, while true to the characters themselves, often feel contrived merely to appease the fans, rather than organically reflect the characters we know. For instance, in one interview, the author mentioned that Neville had married Hannah Abbott, now landlady of the Leaky Cauldron. This information could have been fabricated on the spur of the moment in order to provide a pat answer to the question. For the sake of completeness, Neville should marry; Hannah Abbott is as good a choice as any. But making her the Cauldron's innkeeper seems tacked on, rather than truly adding anything new to Hannah's character beyond what limited information we previously were provided. For this reason, while we have reported some small "revealed" details following publication, we feel these revelations generally add nothing to our understanding of the series, and so should not be cataloged here.

There is a flip side to all this. Though Rowling has stated that the series has ended, she could always decide later to write more novels in this universe. In that event, she may purposely have left information sketchy enough so that future plotlines are unencumbered by too many known details. Fan pressure (and disappointment) may have prompted her to provide the additional information that she did.

Concerning any possible sequels, one small point should be raised. With the soul shard within Harry having been destroyed, any connection between Harry and Voldemort has ceased to exist, meaning Harry's scar can no longer detect Voldemort's presence. We believe that all six intentional Horcruxes have been destroyed, as Voldemort had been heard enumerating them; the soul shard within Harry, which was an accidental Horcrux, was also apparently destroyed. So it is extremely unlikely that Voldemort remains in the world. If, by some mechanism, Voldemort survived, Harry's scar failing to hurt would not be an indicator that "all was well". There are, however, other Dark wizards and witches lurking about, otherwise Aurors would be relatively useless. Any future books would likely feature a new evil character causing mayhem in the Wizarding realm, and could also center on a different hero, possibly one or more of Harry and Ginny's, or Ron and Hermione's, children.


text:
Intelligence Intensification/Memory Techniques/Memorizing Numbers and Digits

Numbers are frequently encountered that a person would do well to memorize, and yet the fact that numbers involve abstract and usually random patterns can make this difficult. However, using the following system (known as the mnemonic major system) they can be converted into much easier-to-remember words and phrases:lemmy is the WWE 13 song

 * Similar sounds are grouped together. Since you do almost exactly the same thing with your mouth to produce the s sound as to produce the "z" sound they are treated the same. Likewise for the other groupings
 * This system uses sounds, NOT spelling. So "Pitch" will be 96 not 916 because "thc" makes a "ch sound" like "peach","funny" is 82 not 822 because the double n is pronounced the same as a single n, and "mix" is 370 because "x" makes a "ks" sound.

Words Into Numbers

 * hindquarters=2174140
 * major system=3640013
 * daffy duck=1817 (the double f is 8 not 88 because it is phonetic)
 * Tax dodger=170164 (X has the KS sound dg has the j sound)
 * "Motherhood will be no joy. All my life-puke!" =3.1415926535897- the first 14 digits of pi
 * "Motörhead will be a no-show. Lemmy helluva puke!" =3.1415926535897- another mnemonic for pi- imagine the band canceling because the singer is sick.

Numbers Into Words

 * 3141592 = "meatier tailbone" (first seven digits of pi)
 * 6535897 = "Shalom live big" next seven digits of pi
 * 9323846= "bemoan movie roach" (next 7 digits) -visualize PETA feeling sorry for the 6-legged animal actors who got stomped
 * 90210 = bassinets

 * notice I broke pi into 7 digit sections- that is to demonstrate what this can do for phone numbers.

Flexibility
For an example of this system's flexibility, consider the sequence 5121734395 (the numbers were taken from a lottery draw 5-12-17-34-39-mega5,but could just as easily represent any 10-digit number)

Breaking it as 5121 734 395 yields: simply combining the words listed above yields 4x7x8=224 possible phrases such as "latent camera employee", "Aladdin would come here humbly", or "Old Ned came here immobile". The fact that this list is far from complete and only shows one possible way to break the numbers demonstrates power and flexibility of this system.
 * 5121 = latent,lightened,Aladdin would,Old Ned,etc
 * 734 = camera, Gomorrah, Gomer, gamer, comer, come-here,came here etc
 * 395 = ample, employ, employee, humble, humbly, immobile, impala, imply, etc

Uses
The major system can make otherwise random numbers surprisingly easy to remember, and as such it is useful for memorizing phone numbers, PIN numbers, addresses, dates for world events, etc. Using just such an approach it becomes possible for some people to construct epic stories that catalog thousands of digits of pi, or hundreds of telephone numbers, or whatever else might be needed or desired out of the system.

This system is particularly powerful when combined with the pegword system. It can be used to generate pegword lists longer than are possible with rhymes. It can also be combined with a pegword system to memorize more structured data such as charts.See parent module for an explanation of pegwords. See A Longer Peglist for a major-system derived peglist. See Memorizing Playing Cards for a technique that applies this system to cards. When combined with peg systems it can be used to memorize more organized and structured data such as charts seeThe Periodic Table for an example (currently under construction- you can help).

Practice

 * Take words from any source and convert them into numbers. Continue until you no longer have to keep looking at the chart.
 * Take 20 phone numbers, come up with words for them, and visualize the words associated with the person. Images that are funny and/or insulting work best.
 * With a little practice this system becomes automatic.

Lottery Examples
As lotteries involve random number patterns, they can be used for practicing this system. They also allow more advanced practice by linking the numbers of the draw to the date. For example on February 5, 2003, right after the destruction of Space Shuttle Columbia the lottery numbers were 5-26-30-14-33 with mega number 5. This translates exactly into the phrase "a launch mystery, my oh my - oh well". Since lotteries involve sets of single and two digit numbers and the draw order does not matter, you could just as well imagine saying to a parent: "Well mom, I enjoy dreams." which yields the same set of numbers, but in a different order, i.e., 5-33-26-14-30 with the same mega number 5.

On February 20, 2008, the day a total lunar eclipse was visible over much of the world, the numbers for the California Super Lotto were 2-6-17-41-45 with mega number one. The sequence 261741451 would be easy to remember, and associate with the eclipse as the phrase "I ENJOYED A GREATER LIGHT".

With practice it becomes straightforward to link news events, to lists of numbers, to specific winning combinations. Consider for example the Laci Peterson missing persons case. The phrase "my love may be near the bay" yields the sequence 3-5-8-39-24 with mega number 19, which was actually drawn on March 5, 2003 - about the time that the Laci Peterson case was officially classified a homicide. Likewise the June 28, 2003 draw was 1-5-11-13-18 and 22 which yielded "die - he will die die die - he might have no one."

Another example of flexibility
For demonstration, another set of examples for the California Super Lotto will be presented, using the results from the draw on Valentines Day 2004. As can be seen, is is often possible to construct a rather large variety of grammatically correct English sentences or phrases which will cipher into an indicated set of numbers. This is especially true when memorizing numbers where there is some flexibility in which the numbers are ordered, i.e. for most Lottery type games. There are of course situations where the numbers must be remembered only in an exact particular order, and the system will not be as flexible in those cases.

For the numbers 31-21-36-22-45 mega 10

ANYONE MAY WISH - HE MIGHT KNOW WHAT REALITY IS. I IMAGINED REALLY MAD INNUENDOS. A NEWTONIAN MESH? REAL METHODS. A NEWTONIAN MESH - MATH REALITIES. I MADE A NEWTONIAN MESH. REALITY IS. A REAL NEWTONIAN MESH MADE WHAT IS. WE ARE ALMIGHTY NEWTONIAN MIDGETS. HE WONT MATCH ANYONE. REALLY MAD AT US. YOU REALLY MIGHT NOT MATCH ANYONE: WHO DOES? I MIGHT NOT MATCH ANYONE - WHO REALLY DOES? YOU REALLY MIGHT NOT MATCH ANYONE WITH US. I WANT A MATE. MY WISH: A MATCH. NO ONE REAL? I WOULD SIGH. ANYONE REALLY WANT A MATE? A MATCH DOES. IN TIME SHE MIGHT KNOW WHEN REALITY IS. MY WISH? - I WANT A REAL MATE. ANYONE? NO ONE REALLY MADE MY WISH - I WANT WHAT IS! I REALLY MADE A MATCH IN ONE NIGHT. TWICE! IN ONE NIGHT I MADE A REAL MATCH. DO YOU SEE? EARLY ON, ONE NIGHT I MADE A MATCH. TO US!

Making Exceptions to the rules
Sometimes situations will arise where it is better to deviate from the system. If a perfect phrase comes very close to fitting the numbers, or if certain number combinations just will not yield good words, you may choose to make exceptions to the rules.

For the first example, the phrase KATRINA IS NOT OUR CONCERN would translate into the sequence 7142021472042, which would ALMOST match the winning numbers for the another winning combination that actually came up on the California Lottery some time not too long after hurricane Katrina, i.e. as the set 7,14,20,21,47 and 42, except for the fact that that the mega number on the California Super Lotto only goes as high as 27, and the actual mega number when that particular set came up was 24, not 42! However there is an extra leading zero inserted into the stream that contains the comment about hurricane Katrina, just before the 42. Thus, this phrase serves as an example of how it is sometimes useful to bend the system slightly. If a pass phrase is discovered that is too good to resist, but it otherwise involves a nonsensical transposition, then it is often best to use the nonsensical transposition anyway - because the mental image is so strong.

Another case often arises with difficult telephone interchanges such as 838 or 552, or with repeated numbers such as "55" or "00" combinations. Sometimes it can be very difficult to make meaningful words out of these numbers. If you live in an area with one or two "problem" interchanges you may wish to make special rules for these particular numbers. For example, if the list of phone numbers you wish to remember has a lot of 552 numbers, then for those numbers you may choose to memorize only the last 4 digits. When recalling phone numbers, if the catchphrase only yields a 4-digit number, you will automatically know you are dealing with a 552 number. Some people may wish to reserve the letter "x" for double-zero combinations. While the sound produced is "ks" (70), if a person were to reserve words SPELLED with "x" for the double-zero sound, that person would have an exception which works for him or her. Some words (for example "ing" verbs) can be intentionally mispronounced turning words like "fishing", and "fighting" into "fishin'" and "fightin'".

There are of course other examples where it is important to remember a lot of numbers quickly, but it is not critical to remember the exact order. Lottery numbers are one example where the exact order is not always important, and some of the examples on this page show that. Another example is in playing cards. When keeping track of which cards have been played and which cards remain, the order is not important. On the page Memorizing Playing Cards the section destroying shows a method to track dealt cards without regard to the order.

As this system is a memory aid for your own mind, it is generally better to use whatever works best yourself than to insist on rigidly following the system's rules.


text:
Literary Criticism/Reading Poetry

Poetry is one of the oldest art forms; together with music and some religion, poetry is found in every human culture. And poetry is often found combined with music and religion in most cultures.

A pragmatic definition of poetry is that it is rhythmic speech with heightened meaning. This is, poems follow some kind of meter and the words are especially meaningful.

To understand a poem, we must appreciate its genre, its form, and its meaning.

There are many poetic genres. Each genre deals with different themes and each has different conventions that we must be aware of. Epic poetry tells stories with great deeds, often connected with war. Lyrical poetry is highly personal, focusing on the emotions of the poet from a subjective point.

A poem can take many forms. The form is determined by the rhythmic patterns of each verse, and how we put these verses together. The form of a poem gives sets the mood of the poem through the musicality that it imprints on the poem. Different languages associate certain rhythmic patterns with different moods and genres, and it is good to be aware of these.

The semantic meaning of the poem centers on its poetic image, which is achieved through descriptions and figures of speech. Rhetoric has classified many figures of speech, and understanding the most used in poetry helps to discuss the topic with others.

Also important to know is that the meaning of a poem is often indefinite. That is, there are -and if it is a good poem, should be- a multitude of interpretations from which a reader may make meaning.

title: Literary Criticism/Reading Poetry


text:
Talk:Literary Criticism/Reading Poetry

The page has nothing right now, but I am going to be working on it.--Hugo Estrada 01:13, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Literary Criticism/Reading Poetry


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User talk:JeffStickney

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User talk:Hugo Estrada~enwikibooks

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You're welcome!
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User talk:AuctionTheorist~enwikibooks

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User talk:Maryanninmiami

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User talk:CastroFox~enwikibooks

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User talk:Angular~enwikibooks

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User talk:Mjohn113

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