# No Cheating! DVD



## Dave_Verbyla (Dec 10, 2018)

Released in 2009, Smartworks "No Cheating!"
This DVD focuses on teaching retrievers to hold a line...do not run the shoreline, do not flare an obstacle, etc.

What is Cheating? A retriever's route diverted from the linear route by one or more factor,
1) Diagonal factors (road, shoreline, cover) natural to square
2) Flaring obstructions along the route(log, cover)
3) Suction (old falls, drag back scent, scented points)
Graham does not cover drift due to cross-wind in this DVD.

Handling as the language to teach dogs to maintain a straight route..Graham never exposes dogs that do not handle to cheating situation
Dogs are situational learners...handle to change their course..send a distinct message...no, not that way..this way message.
The instant the dog diverts from linear route, handle!

I like Graham's perspective from a dog's mind....
De-cheating..dogs do not understand the concept as they naturally run around, or to suction, or naturally drift.
Dog is not thinking about "cheating" like a human might, he is thinking logically to fastest route...the dog is not being defiant, he is simply untrained.

Graham explains the untrained dog's tendency for cheating:
Cheating water,cheating cover, cheating topography, cheating linear features such as roads and ditches, etc.
He demonstrates with an inexperienced retriever named Moose the typical untrained route running down to shoreline, 
then jumping in the water to a visible thrower and the mark.
This is contrasted with a Late transition dog Wimpy, with straight diagonal water entry,
a good line,and the dog puts himself on swim-by on return (bless his heart!)

CHEATING SINGLES on water:
Cheating singles are best early with helper and more visual excitement (in contrast to blinds where the destination is not clear to the dog)
Start with simple corner cheater on pond (angle entry, square exit). Handle to change route and swim-by...
Swim-by to teach no shoreline suction..no, more water message
Less dry-minded dog if consistent use handle for proper entry, swim-by. 
No cold burns!, toot-nick-toot (indirect pressure) then cast into water.

More complex water cheating singles:
Back up...distance erodes control and the dog has more time to think about running the shoreline instead of water entry.
Then work on angle entries/ angle exits
Landing early says "less water", handler response swim-by "more water message"

Complex water cheaters...scout out points,backside points, reentries with diagonal, distance effects.


Land Cheating:

Flaring in-line barrier structures such as cover, logs, hay bales,etc.
Be patient..not defiant..only following his canine nature...e-collar correction only for gross stop-go-come violations..

Law of Diminishing Returns:
"Patience but some dry minded dogs after clear black & white teaching,still have less water attitude, time to hold them responsible for what they know is there job otherwise forming bad habits but not changing dog's behavior."..Graham calls these corporal corrections for obvious lack of effort, not nagging, make a statement to change behavior to get the change desired...the dog's behavior will ultimately determine the appropriate ecollar level.
No change of behavior requires significantly more pressure
An indirect benefit of what Graham calls "getting religion" is the dog more conscious about all correct behavior.

The DVD then ends with several classic drills:

Cast into water drill--back/cast piles both on land, back to land pile, over across pond to over pile
Cast off point drill...similar pile-based over drill, with dog swimming to point, then cast over to pile on shore.
No-no chair drill---de-flaring slots with a person sitting in each chair and the dog must line in between the chairs.

I think this is an excellent DVD focusing on cheating ...why retrievers naturally cheat and how to train them not to cheat.
I think the DVD could be improved with expansion on cheating cover on land and fighting cross-winds. For example, how do you train a retriever on cross-wind water blinds. Or long cross-wind land marks (if the mark is thrown with the wind, the cheating dog fails to fight the crosswind and easily scents the mark, while a non-cheater may be upwind of the mark.) The demo on angle-exits is a down-the-shore blind to a pile orange bumpers planted on a diagonal shoreline. From that perspective it seems like the dog is learning more the pile location rather than the angle-exit concept. Perhaps a better teaching experience would be marks with a visible thrower the dog has to swim by for the correct diagonal exit. Another aspect not covered in the DVD is how prior training might make a retriever more water-minded, for example running many channel blinds prior to water cheating singles.

Overall I like this DVD and it's focus on cheating in water and on land. 
I like Graham's perspective that cheating dogs are not being defiant they are simply untrained. Graham is a big fan of swim-by...
At $25, it is a bargain for so much of Graham's training wisdom on this DVD. I purchased mine from Gundog Supply.


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