A to Z Dalmatians

Nosework (6/3 and 1/4)

2012-03-08T22:54:00.000-08:00

Gosh, we've been so busy lately that I've really been remiss on keeping up with blogging. I never did blog about our last class and that was two weeks ago.

At our last class (2/22), Joyce had set up all the room dividers criss-crossing every which way, along with a bunch of stuff we each brought in from our cars. Obviously that had to be an off lead search. Gimme did great at it and all the others. She enjoyed having an evening searching off lead. She is so fast. That presents problems when she overshoots scent, but she is still usually the fastest in class to find the hides.

The following Wednesday we didn't have class, so I made it a point to do a search that day. Poor Gimme goes through withdrawal if she doesn't get to use her nose and find Birch oil often enough. I set up two hides in the parking lot behind my Shopko account. One was in a crack on Bonnie's car and for the other I used the tin to stick it up under the edge of an eighteen wheeler trailer. I started Gimme from a position where the breeze was blowing away from her. She still found the hide on the vehicle almost immediately. The tin on the trailer was harder because it was underneath, on the backside of a flange and about 8 inches over where the tip of her nose was when standing up on her back legs. Still she did find it - actually finding both of them within 3 minutes (which is what's allotted for one vehicle find). She was very pleased with herself - as was I.

Last night (3/7) since we had daylight when class started, we started out with a vehicle search. Gimme found the first spot right away. Then as we went around the side to look for the next one, Gimme squirted off to the side to check out something next to the building. I let her check it briefly then reeled her back in. Even with the distraction she was still among the two fastest dogs in our class to find both hides on the vehicle.

I found I had to remind Joyce of my decision to let Gimme check out the distractions and then gently bring her back to work. Joyce voiced the concern that Gimme should understand its all about the vehicle and not search elsewhere. I believe she clearly does understand that, but I don't think that means she won't be distracted.  Besides I don't see how its any different than when she is presented with an obvious container search and still gets distracted - which Joyce didn't seem to think was a problem.

Personally I just think Joyce has completely forgotten our discussion before. I'm going to continue doing what I think is best for Gimme. She has plenty of drive for nosework; however, she is still a very young girl. I believe it is more important to let her satisfy her need to check something out and then gently encourage her to come back to work. Of the times I've needed to do this since making the decision, we are talking a few seconds. I find that far preferable to having her frustrated and with divided attention. I think she will grow out of the distractibility with time and experience - that's my theory and I'm sticking with it.

While the light lasted last night, we also did an exterior search. The first hide was on the ground behind a piece of broken concrete. The second was stuffed in the end of a pipe over her head. By the time our turn rolled around, we were searching in the dark. It took Gimme about 45 seconds to find both hides and that included about ten seconds to gobble up treats at the first hide. She is really very good at finding things over her head - a skill that many dogs have trouble with.

After that we moved inside for two more searches. Gimme got to do those off lead and was very fast and persistent. One thing we did that was different was to set up three hides and then leave them down after the dog finds them and is still looking for the others. We are at the point where the dog learns that they only get paid once for each. Gimme did great with this.

The other thing she did well was for the threshold hide that was set up. As always, she tends to zoom into the room, passing by the hide on the fly. This time I saw her note it as she went by, with just a subtle little tilt of her nose in that direction. She did a quick swing around the room, found another and then after getting rewarded for it made a beeline to the hide at the threshold. It was very clear that she knew where it was. Gimme was very efficient last night.

There is a local nosework match later this month that we've entered.  Gimme is scheduled for her ORT on April 1st and I am so sure she'll do well. Then I plan to enter her in the trial in June. So far there are no Dalmatians listed with nosework titles - perhaps we can be the first. Cross your fingers.

BTW after the suggestion that I read Jeff Schettler's book on trailing, I ordered it and his other book through the library. "The Straightest Path" still hasn't come yet, but "Red Dog Rising" did. I've just finished it. Its a very compelling read - the story of Jeff and his K-9 police partner, Bloodhound Ronin. Anyone who is interested in any facet of canine scent work should enjoy it and will find a lot of useful information in it as well.

Gimme's Fast Nose

2012-02-19T17:13:00.001-08:00

After our walk today I was going do a Home Depot field trip, but Linda and I spent too much time jabbering. And since Linda had never seen Gimme do a nosework search - decided to set up a quick hide and let the girl demonstrate her prowess.

She started whining the moment I opened the jar - even though the car was all closed up and she was inside. Its amazing how quickly that scent permeates and how certain she is that its important for her to be searching for it RIGHT NOW. The wind was about 8-10 mph.

The first hide I set up was just about 40 feet from the car on the ground, with the tin tucked behind a scotch broom bush. Scotch broom has a particularly strong and obnoxious odor of its own, but isn't as bad this time of year. I started Gimme from a place upwind of it and let her head into the area and she had it in about 30 seconds. Boyoh she was all over it.

After that Linda set up two hides for us and I was careful not to watch. Gimme kept trying to peek around the car and see where Linda was going with her tin. The first hide was about 75 feet from us and I never even got to give her the "where-zit" cue. The scent was blowing across it right toward us and Gimme was at a dead run dragging me behind her, stumbling and tripping, as I tried to keep up. If she goes that fast for tracking -- I'm going to be in very big trouble. As it is, my knee is killing me from running on such rough ground. She was very persistent about that hide and really had to wait for me to get there.

The next hide I asked Linda to head toward and put the hide somewhere in an area on the near side of a big long pile of stumps. We approached from upwind and Gimme took me around the back side of the pile, then down the edge of the road and was moving away from the area I'd designated. In a search we have a clearly delineated area to search, so I let Gimme play out some line and then guided her back toward the area I knew it had to be in. She made a couple circles around me and then headed toward the downwind end of the stump pile. I knew she was in odor when she tried to climb onto the stump pile. Then she thought better of it and came around the edge as if to approach from a different angle. Suddenly snapped in the other direction and dived in under the edge of a stump to the tin... She was so excited and so pleased with herself.

That was actually a very hard hide because the tin was tucked under the edge of a stump and protected from the breeze on three sides by the stump pile and some long grass on the other side. Based on how Gimme acted, I'd say the scent was probably pooled right where the tin was and then some was drifting up and getting caught and blowing down the line of the pile.

There's a neat gadget called a wizard stick that is a hand held fog generator. Joyce brought one to class and it was cool to see how the scent moved and how it "follows" you when you pass through it. I'm thinking I'll have to get one just to see for times like this. Its under $25 including s/h. You can see the details at:

http://www.powscience.com/store/zerotoys/wizardstick.html

BTW this is only Gimme's second time doing an exterior area search. Her first exterior search was at the match back in January.

She was very persistent about these hides and demanding me to get there and pay up. I think the frustration she had going into and during the ORT may have been much more of a factor than her not understanding to persist. Time will tell. BTW at one of my stores I raided a cache of shoe boxes that were set to be crushed. I got several boxes - five of which are identical. They'll be very handy for our training here at home.

My Ahah Moment

2012-02-17T20:30:00.000-08:00

Tonight I suddenly figured out something that had escaped me before. I've been wondering why it is that Gimme is so good about stimulus control on some things and so awful on others. There are things that I've put a cue on that she never questions and sticks with me and then there are the others...

It occurred to me tonight that the behaviors which Gimme has difficulty ceding control are all behaviors we created through free-shaping. Every last one of them. I suspect that in her mind, part of the picture of that behavior is the offering of it. I'm definitely going to talk to Ursula about that. I've been diligently working on the things she and I discussed in that private, but we are only making a smidgen of progress.

Any behavior we created through luring, targeting or guides - those she generally is good with. Though if she gets frustrated during a training session, all listening goes out the window. Boy I'd sure hate to have to give up free-shaping. Gimme is so good at it and so creative. She's also mighty creative in coming up with clever embellishments on any behavior I'm teaching through other means as well.

We've been working on backing up using the guides. She figured it out so quickly. Now though she's in embellishment mode. Who knew there were so many ways to move backward. I swear she just sprinkles a little pixie dust around and that's why she is so bewitching.

Another project we have going is teaching her to close the door - after all, she is the one that keeps leaving it open. We are on day two and she already has a strong idea of what to do. What a character...

Nosework (5/3)

2012-02-15T21:53:00.000-08:00

Class tonight was very interesting. I realize now that Joyce doesn't quite "get" Gimme. She talks about her reactions as if Gimme is a sensitive little wilting flower, instead of a tough little tomboy who is also the Empress of the Cosmos. She is sensitive, but to frustration, not other stuff. She doesn't get her feelings hurt, she gets annoyed (read that royally p.o.'d). We talked a lot as a class about the ORT.

Joyce was much more focused on handling and teaching our dogs to commit to odor and stay there until we get there and pay up. She hasn't pushed that in the past, so I think she realizes that we should have been working on it sooner - especially those of us going to an ORT. She did say that her students that failed all had fast dogs and/or were testing two odors. So tonight we did a lot more moving around the dogs and were not quite as fast to pay up, letting them wait a second first.

So while we were working things, I kind of did what made sense to me based somewhat on Joyce's comments mixed with my own understanding of Gimme.

For instance, Joyce commented that when dogs hit the end of the line it feels like a correction, so we should be going with them. Of course, even with my longer than usual line (25ft), Gimme can hit the end in a nanosecond. Joyce is always saying I have too much line; yet, I find it very useful because I can play it out to let Gimme check out something briefly and then reel it in as she turns back to me. I looked at the video again and each time when she snapped at the line was just after she'd hit the end. Joyce thinks the unintended "correction" hurts her feelings and undermines confidence... my take is that it annoys Gimme and is frustrating to her. Snapping at the line is her way of telling me to get with the program.

The other issue at the ORT is that Gimme wanted to check out the room and I stubbornly stayed near the boxes and wouldn't let her go. Joyce still thinks I should keep her near the containers and not let her snoop, and kept telling me to move her back tonight. Given how easily frustrated she gets, I've decided to use that long line to give her more freedom, and then gently keep reeling her back to the boxes.

So tonight I really focused on my line handling. I let her have more freedom to snoop around the perimeter even though we were set up for a container search and when she'd turn back in my direction, I gently reeled her back. I also made it a point to keep tension on the line as much as possible, so if she did try to squirt off in some direction, she was getting the sensation of a steady pull as the line slid through my hand, not a jerk when she hit the limit. My impression was that Gimme seemed more content with this way of doing things.

When we had the threshold hide, I let her go a bit further past it and then gently used the line to encourage her back toward it. She did a really nice job.

I also talked to Joyce about how much freedom I have at an ORT or a nosework test to do management things once we enter the search area and before the search starts. Turns out I have more latitude than I'm used to from other sports. As long as I don't hold up things, I can use the time walking to the start line to play "whazzat" with her and I can be rewarding her as I go. So that would help to prevent a buildup of frustration and perhaps lessen her need to snoop once the search starts.

We can hold them behind the start line for up to ten seconds. Before I've just been holding her for a good long pause and then letting her go. Tonight I counted to myself "one-banana, two-banana, three-banana..." I couldn't stand it and sent her to search after six-banana. Ten seconds is really a very long time.

After class I explained to Joyce what I was doing and why I might have seemed to not being paying attention to some of her direction during class. She understood and said it was worth a try. In an ORT I could certainly let Gimme snoop, realizing that I'm on the clock and eating up time. Which, fortunately isn't an issue with Miss Gimme, the Nose That Knows...

A funny from class - Gimme's nosework search cue is "wherezit". So tonight after she found one of her hides and Joyce had set another, I gave her the cue and one of the girls in class started telling me where it is. We've been in class together all along, but this time I happened to be pretty close to her - I guess she'd never noticed our cue before. We all got a chuckle.

We came home and did a nice session on some skills. I am still seeing that Gimme just doesn't want to give up control of behaviors. Once they are on cue, she still wants to get paid for offering them and finds it very frustrating that I'm so obviously failing to live up to her understanding of how the world works.

It must be hard to be a genius surrounded by such gross ineptitude.

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T19:02:00.000-08:00

We here at Castle Baker,

abode of Gimme,

Empress of the Cosmos,

want to wish each of you a very

Happy Valentine's Day.

Persistence

2012-02-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

I did a little session tonight and it was interesting. My idea was to cement in her mind that she needs to keep telling me until I get my heiney over there and pay up...

I set up two identical boxes, one with odor and one without. We did 7 hides where I'd move them around and change up which one was the one she would get to first, where they were in the room, etc. Obviously I knew which was the correct box, but I purposely waited for her to be more persistent before rewarding her. She was right all but once and that time the boxes were pretty close to each other and I think she was getting frustrated. The next time I made it a little easier. I'll do this some more, though I won't repeat 7 hides in a row - I think that is probably too many.

She wasn't frustrated by doing the nosework or the difficulty of the challenge, more like by being taken out of the room between hides. She doesn't like that interruption and wants to keep playing the game. Sometimes at class after finding a hide if she is off leash she tries to keep playing the game and won't come to me. If she is off lead, I try to get my hand in her harness while I'm feeding her at odor to avoid that issue. Of course, she isn't going to be off leash very often in the foreseeable future.

BTW one thing I forgot to mention in the earlier blog entry was that she nailed the correct box in the practice area both before and after her test.

Bummer ORT

2012-02-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

As you may have gathered from the title - our ORT attempt was not successful. I am soooooo glad that Susan brought a friend who was able to tape our run, since reviewing it multiple times makes things clearer.

What you will see is that Gimme was distracted throughout. Early in her search she does sniff the correct box three times very quickly (the third one on the line closest to the camera position), but then immediately moved on. I wondered at the time if that was it and almost called alert, but then she moved on so quickly I thought maybe she was just catching a breeze of scent. You will notice that she never goes back to it. Later in that search as she is moving down that line again, she actually steps away and avoids that box. If I had called alert sooner we'd have gotten our ORT, but I don't think that would have benefited us in the long run as we moved into trialing... since this has pointed out some holes in our training.

Anyway, she finally goes to another box and is all over it, pushing it around the floor like she usually does - so I called "alert". That was incorrect and we are then directed to the correct box so she can be rewarded at it. You'll see how excited she gets when she gets rewarded there.

BTW in NACSW lingo, this is not called a "false alert" or a "failure", but rather a "miss". Ya gotta love politically correct stuff - felt like a failure to me.

After looking this over (several times) and reviewing recent events, I have some ideas about what went wrong to conspire against us here.

First, we've never done a blind hide (where I don't know the correct answer). I don't think I did anything wrong in my handling to pull her off and I don't believe I'm helping her in other instances. What I do think this shows is that Gimme has a different idea of what she is doing. When I didn't rush in to tell her that she was right, she moved on. She is normally more persistent in class/training and I think I need to build on that persistence. In class and training I am there very quickly (as fast as I can be and yet not so fast that I'm coming in too soon and not waiting for her indication). In this case, with the distraction and my not being there instantly, she decided that wasn't it after all and moved on. I think the fact that she tried showing me a box that was obviously not right, shows that she was toying with the concept of maybe just acting like there is scent there would work.

Second I do think she is experiencing some frustration now that things are a little harder, though certainly not too hard for her. On Wednesday our first hide was at threshold and Joyce wanted us to keep them on leash and in the vicinity until they found it. Because Gimme was persistent in her interest about the food kept there, Joyce moved in and stood there blocking her access. That put Joyce really close to the hide - adding social pressure. Gimme wasn't concerned about Joyce, but I can't help but wonder if that experience paired the feelings of social pressure to what was already a frustrating experience for her. Thus when she was frustrated by my staying close to the boxes today... perhaps it just added up. Three times I saw her turn her head and snap toward the leash (only one of which shows up on the video) and that is something she has done before when were are working on LLW and she gets frustrated.

And last, this was not a great week for our walks. Our last two walks (last Saturday and then Tuesday) were shorter than usual because my knee is giving me problems. We would normally have walked again on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday I ended up working an extra long shift and Saturday it was raining. Besides which Tonya didn't wanted her to have some rest time for a few days after her treatment yesterday. So that adds up to her being more restless than usual and thus more subject to distraction. She was more distracted this time than she was when we were at this location for the match early last month.

So this shows us training holes:

I've got some ideas of how to set it up so that Gimme learns to be more persistent, demonstrating the courage of her convictions, until she convinces me that she KNOWS she is right. I'll also talk to Joyce about ideas she may have.
Also we need to do some blind hides. Susan said she'd be willing to do them with me. We can set them up for each other and videotape each other as well. So I'll contact her and start adding a few of those into our training.

In the category of lessons learned:

I need to be certain that Gimme gets enough physical outlet in the days leading up to a trial/test so she can be at her best.
On a positive note I did remember to park further away and was able to get Gimme to do her business before her test.

I'm trying to have a positive attitude about this "miss". Still feels like a failure to me, but at least I have a fair idea of what went wrong and a training plan. I'm going to enter her right away for the ORT on April Fools Day in Oregon City, Oregon. If we don't pass that one, we have to wait until September for the next one.

Amazing...

2012-02-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Gimme got her chiropractic treatment today. Tonya didn't find anything that would affect the way she was sitting, but did find a vertebrae in mid-back that was seriously in need of adjustment. It took a bit of doing to get it to move. I'm sure that is a holdover from the reason she needed her first chiropractor visit last year. So we'll be re-checking that in a couple of weeks and will be keeping an eye on it.

What happened next is where the title for this entry comes from. Tonya also does energy work. I am a huge fan of alternative medicine, but had never experienced any energy work. Though, I've been told that when I do TTouch, I actually move energy (when I worked on a person that was sensitive to it)... but I don't know how that is happening. TTouch isn't designed as energy work.

Anyway, I asked Tonya to check Gimme's energy and let me know if there was anything she could do to help her calm down. Gimme is particularly wild this week. She said that any calming affect wouldn't show up right away and might take more than one session.

She checked Gimme and said her energy around her head, neck and shoulders were fine. She said to that point she was very balanced. Then about mid-back, right where the vertebrae had been out, there was a small amount that she needed to work on.

When she got farther back on her spine, her hands were just drawn to the hip and thigh of the leg that Gimme is holding oddly in her sits. She said Gimme had a "huge ball of stuck energy" on the inside of that thigh. Up to this point, Gimme had been her usual fidgety self. But when Tonya started working that area to release that stuck energy, suddenly Gimme got very calm (at least compared to what she'd been like thirty seconds before). She described the stuck energy as "very dark". I asked her if that meant dark as in Darth Vader. She said it means that it had been built up and stuck there for a long time. She said the stuck energy isn't uncomfortable or painful in any way, but that it can make some things feel "unnatural".

Anyway, when she finished, Gimme stood up and wagged her butt... and then offered a sit for the remaining treats. The sit was flawless, everything in its right place and perfectly balanced! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.

BTW cross your fingers and any body parts you can spare. We leave at o'dark-thirty tomorrow to drive to Oregon for the ORT.

Nosework (4/3)

2012-02-08T21:15:00.000-08:00

Class tonight was great as usual. The first hide was a threshold hide and Joyce wanted us to keep them on leash and keep them in the vicinity until they found it. Tonight Gimme was very interested in the food kept right there too. So Joyce went and just stood blocking her access, but that also put her really close to where the hide was - adding social pressure. Gimme certainly isn't concerned by her presence, but adding it to the restriction of being kept in the area when she wanted to explore just seemed to annoy her. It took her a long time to find it. She did better on the next two hides when I wasn't restricting her, even though she was still on lead.

The Empress of the Cosmos

does not like being interfered with.

Imagine that!

This video is from the last session, with another threshold hide. This time we let her go for it off lead and she found it in 16 seconds. And that included a 6 second delay while she sniffed a bone on the floor behind the plastic container.

Her next hide was great. I had it videoed, but sadly messed up and ruined it before I got it saved. One of the first things Gimme did was go over and step on a message board that was leaning on a plastic milk jug, crashing it to the floor. After a momentary startle, she was right back at it, checking it out - trying to see if it would make noise again. Everyone was commenting about Little Miss Fearless.

For that hide, there was a line of chairs down the center of the room and the tin was on a back leg. Because of the way scent was traveling tonight, the dogs were catching the scent from the front of the chairs. All the other dogs found it, but then had to puzzle through how to get to the actual odor. Not Gimme - she just kept pushing until things moved enough and she got to it. I about half expected her to send those chairs flying.

This video is of our buddy Grafton. He's a really sweet Boxer mix that was in pet classes the same time Gimme was. He's always been a very soft, shy guy - though he loves his Auntie Carla, cuz she's the Cheese Lady. He has really come out of his shell and gained a lot of confidence from nosework. Grafton and Gimme have some play dates scheduled and I'm looking forward to expanding her circle of friends.

This weekend (Sunday) is the Odor Recognition Test (ORT). I fully expect that Gimme will do a stellar job. I've just discovered that there are no Dalmatians listed on the titles list for nosework. So, with a little luck and a fabulous nose, Gimme could be the first one. Do feel free to cross any body parts you can spare.

Clickers Are Great

2012-02-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

I noticed a few days ago that Gimme is tending to sit with her right rear foot splayed a little out (no more than 20 degrees) and a bit far forward (the toes are about three inches further forward than the toes on the other foot, if you are looking down over the top of her). She is sitting back on her bum on that side, instead of over the hock. Its not completely a puppy sit and she's balanced nicely over the left rear. I suspect its something I didn't notice when she was at heel because I'd have to be looking for it. She sits so close to me that my own hip is in the way. I actually noticed it when she was sitting in front position.

She doesn't act like anything is bothering her, but I'm going to have her checked anyway. In the meantime we are approaching it as a bad habit and a training issue.

I started on my knees with her sitting in front of me (facing sideways). I just held off and then clicked any movement of that foot, which happens when she fidgets. After a few of those I switched to having her do tuck-sit-scoots around me. If the foot isn't where it belongs, I help her once or twice, and then c/t for it being correct. After that I just touch the toes to bring her attention to it and we try it again. She ended up doing 6 in a row of tuck-sit-scoots bringing the foot under her and sitting forward balanced over it. Isn't it amazing what you can do with a clicker!?!

I'm inclined to think its just a bad habit that I missed. Still I'll have her checked just to be sure. One of my Milestones Class students is an animal chiropractor, so I'm going to see if she can check her after class on Saturday morning.

Nosework (3/3)

2012-02-04T23:40:00.000-08:00

Class continues to be great. This time we did various hides, some paired and some not. There were q-tips in the tin, in a straw and in a plastic packaging thing (folded over and taped shut). They were placed in various spots in the room. Probably the hardest one - that all the dogs had a tough time finding was the odor under a leather glove. You've no doubt noticed that YOU can smell rough-out leather, so you can imagine what a strong smell it is for the dogs. It doesn't mask the odor of the birch oil, just complicates sifting it out of the scent potpourri.

I keep saying I'm going to take my camera and get someone to video Gimme in class and I still plan to do that. Wish I'd done it this time because she'd sniffed the leather glove twice and passed on... then another time she was streaking by it and suddenly skidded to a stop (a good 3 feet of skid) and snapped back to it. That building is so strange in that the air currents are just not predictable. Both of the other times she went by it she was going in the other direction, passing through the area where she caught the scent the third time.

One thing I really love about her scenting work is her determination and persistence. I did a field trip to Home Depot again. I placed one hide near the leather/canvas work bags in the tool aisle, another in the plant section of the nursery, and the last was in some plants on the sidewalk outside. Gimme seemed to not be up to par on her scenting that day, but she never gave up - she is a persistent little squirt.

It occurred to me that both of the other field trips we'd just come from our walks on Fort Lewis, where she drinks a lot of water from puddles. On this day, I'd been at work and she'd been in the car. Hydration is very important when a dog is doing scent work. So possibly she needed to have more water. I'll have to refill the water container I keep in the car for her. I hope to do another session tomorrow and will make sure she's had something to drink before we go - and for a comparison will set the hides in much the same place. Another possibility is that the q-tips in the jar in the car had been used before and maybe they were losing scent. So, I'll have to make sure I have some new ones out of the main jar.

We are continuing our walks on the fort and Gimme loves it. My right knee has been bothering me lately, so I'm sore afterward. Monday I have a chiropractor appointment and sure hope there is something he can do. I think I over stressed it on one of our first walks after the big snow when I was doing a lot of stepping over branches that had broken and fallen all over the road.

Today during our walk, I decided to spend a little time teaching Gimme to look at my index finger on my right hand. Been planning to do this for awhile, but just hadn't gotten to it. She picked it up very quickly, then when off to play. When she came back I was just walking along and she came over and nosed my left hand (where I was carrying treats) and when that didn't work, she went to the other side and licked my index finger - not the hand, the exact finger. She's just so darn smart.

Training is coming along nicely. We continue to have listening skills and control issues. Gimme is so smart, but she really thinks she should be the boss all the time; whereas I have this weird notion that I get to be the boss, at least part of the time. I put a cue on something and after that, she isn't supposed to get treated for it, except when I cue for it. Gimme is not convinced that is how it should work. She picks up the cues right away when I put them on, but then she wants to snatch back the control right away. Ursula says her dog Wyl-E is the same. I'm lucky because Wyl-E is about six months older than Gimme, so I have the advantage of Ursula going before me on this stuff. Basically the answer is to persist and be very, Very, VERY consistent.

I swear I'm going to get Gimme a little conductor's hat - since she always wants to drive the train.

Nosework (2/3)

2012-01-25T21:14:00.000-08:00

Gimme was sure glad to be back in class tonight. Her first session did not show off her innate talent, since she was all over the place after finding the first hide on the threshold. Second and third sessions were much better. Clearly two weeks off is too much time off from nosework for this girlie.

Our first session used the whole room. We each brought in "stuff" from our cars, which was scattered all over the room. The actual hides were pretty much on the perimeter. The second session we moved all the stuff and barriers so it was all against the walls and the hides were against the walls too and in the stuff. Both of these had threshold hides to start with and Gimme did a much better job finding them than she has in the past. I hope that trend continues as that has been her weakest skill. For the third session, all the stuff was moved to the center of the room, in one long line with 6-8 inches between the different things. The hides were hidden in the stuff and there; no threshold hide for this session.

One thing that was different was that about half of the hides used a little blue plastic container instead of a tin. It was an empty dental floss holder and even without any extra holes the dogs could still smell the odor through the cracks in the plastic around the top.

Also, though not planned for, each of the dogs was potentially tempted by food. I'd brought in my work bag and had forgotten it had a granola bar (sealed in wrapper) inside it. There was no sign that any of the dogs paid any special attention to it. Gimme and one other dog snooped around a bag of treats on the desk and Gimme took time to investigate the motherload, where we all leave our containers of treats for our instructor to use while setting up our hides.

Today between my two stores, it was nice enough that Gimme and I did a little heeling session in the parking lot. We haven't practiced outside in about two months and she did a good job. I'd lose her attention briefly as she'd see something, but she always stayed pretty much in heel position and brought her attention back to me on her own. She's a good girl and doesn't even mind sitting her heiney down on cold wet pavement.

Our snow is almost entirely gone. It rained a LOT yesterday. We'd gone to the fort's training area for a woods walk and fortunately were on the way back to the car when it started raining (from a 4mi walk). She really needed that walk, as did I. There was plenty of snow back in the woods for her to play in and she had a great time at it.

When we were about a quarter mile from the car, the driving wind, sleet and freezing rain started up. Gimme would run ahead and find a tree to stand under and behind and wait until I got close, then would run ahead again. She's no dummy. I pulled my hood down over my face and stayed on the road by looking down at the road and making sure I stayed in the tire "track". My chin wasn't covered and I discovered later that it has several scratches on it from the sleet hitting so fast due to the wind. I had to really lean into it. When Gimme's going ahead got her to the car... she started barking at me to get my ass moving. She dove into her crate and curled up in the very back, trying to get warm again. Brrrrrrr...

Ya Gotta Love It

2012-01-24T00:11:00.000-08:00

I've been remiss about keeping notes since before letting Michael go and decided tonight to get a baseline on behaviors I'd been tracking in my journal. There are other behaviors we've worked on, but this was enough for now. So averaging 10 click/treats per behavior and 12 behaviors... that was an hour long session as it was. I'm happy to report that even without focus on my part, the plinking around to keep Gimme from getting too bored has still produced credible progress. Some of her behaviors are coming along very nicely.

Gimme clearly wanted more and so we did a quick shaping session of 25 click/treats to get a very nice bow (which we call "take-a", short for "take a bow - I don't use "bow" because it sounds too much like down). I had to really fine tune my timing, because her start of the grape behavior is very much like a bow - she goes down in front and then rolls on one shoulder and its QUICK. So I had to catch the very beginnings of the head and shoulder duck to isolate it and keep the grape from happening. Once I got my timing right, she figured it out pretty quickly.

NOTE: During the plinking, one day last week Gimme suddenly "got" the cue for Grape. That has been one of the slowest cue attachments we have had. There is something about that behavior that seemed to use all her focus. I've tested it a couple times since then, outside training sessions, and while slow, she is doing the behavior.

So why do I say "Ya Gotta Love It".... because at the end of all that, while I was mentally wiped, Gimme didn't want to quit. She again went into this whole glued to my side in heel, "you can't get rid of me" routine. I had to lean down and encourage her to climb into my arms - that was the only way to get her out of heel position. Then I carried her into the office and she knows we don't train in here, so now she is sound asleep. I think the little booger was more tired than she realized - a bit like a kid that doesn't want to quit playing. Granted I don't normally train that long, but its interesting that by going from one behavior to another to another, I can.

The other reason to say "Ya Gotta Love It" is that I've somehow created a dog that simply loves to heel. Given how little I know about formal obedience and not having a positive trainer in the area to rely on - I'm verrrrrry pleased with that outcome.

Gimme is really quite happy to train a LOT and would train a lot more if I would. By her way of thinking, its all play, she's got my undivided attention and I'm giving her treats for playing... What better deal could a little spotted girl have? I suspect, especially given her control issues, that she thinks she has trained me and is verrrrrry pleased with the results.

BTW Gimme is not convinced that the bathroom couldn't be a training space - especially once I'm a captive audience in the tub. What a kid!!!

And just so you know... we are out and about now, even despite the snow. Got out the first time on Saturday. Between Saturday and Sunday I serviced all of my accounts. Also did some shopping, so I never actually had to resort to drinking water. Thank God.

Sadly Snowy disappeared the very next day. Gimme ran out first thing in the morning to check on her, sniffing all over where she had been. She was disappointed to see that Snowy was gone, leaving only a snowball to remember her by. Its probably just as well that she didn't have more time to get attached to her. Most of my friends and family have their power, internet and TV back. One friend and maybe my brother are still among those without power. Hopefully they will rejoin us in the 21st century real soon.

New Addition

2012-01-20T22:35:00.000-08:00

We have a new addition to our family. She's a sweetie, not too much trouble and totally has the default sit down cold. She hasn't learned anything else yet. So far Gimme seems to like her and they are getting along well. I was even able to feed treats with them sitting near each other.

Here is a picture showing Gimme with her new best friend, Snowy, (named in honor of Snowmageddon 2012).

People keep asking me where her spots are. Obviously she isn't a Dalmatian; I suspect Snowy is one of those very light colored Golden Retrievers. I have some concerns about her conformation and don't know if she will be able to jump well enough for agility. She doesn't seem to be very light on her feet and those feet are, quite simply, HUGE. However, on a positive note, she seems very comfortable with the training dogwalk. Also, she really has the coolest personality.

Clearly being unable to get my car out for the fourth day in a row has left me with far too much time on my hands. Fortunately I am not one of the many people in this part of the state that are without power, and even worse, without television and internet. Also I have plenty of food in the cupboards. Sadly I'm out of good things to drink and when the last of the wine runs out, I may be forced to drink <gasp> water.

As hard as this experience has been, it gratifying that many people are able to enjoy my snowed-in complete lack of a life...

Lightbulb Moment

2012-01-17T00:48:00.000-08:00

Realized today that I'm going to have to change one of my cues. I'd been using "around" for one of my cues - moving around me clockwise to arrive in heel position ("behind" is counter-clockwise to arrive in side position). Tonight when we were practicing heeling and fronts and finishes, a couple of times Gimme went into a down, instead of moving around me. It occurs to me that simply spoken (i.e. without an artificial voice inflection) "around" and "down" sound a lot alike. Years ago when I did more obedience I used to call it "finish", but I started using "around" and "behind" in agility. I think I did that because I mentally paired "finish" with "swing", both of which end up in heel position. So I'm going to do a session or two to change the "around" cue to "finish" and see if I don't get more consistent results.

I had to laugh tonight. I was training Gimme and she literally DEMANDED to do heeling. When she had enough of what I was doing, she just got into heel and I couldn't peel the little minx off of me. It seems I did something right to turn heeling into a preferred activity... Yeehaw...

And yes, she was in control. Laugh all you want...

How 'Wude'

2012-01-16T08:26:00.000-08:00

I am soooo laughing at Gimme.

She's developed this tendency to bark at me when she gets a little frustrated, which so often happens in free shaping. I'd been turning my face away when she goes on her barking jag, but it didn't help much and finally not at all. Then tried physically turning away - to no lasting affect.

Twice yesterday when she started in, I told her "enough", our cue for "stop that". When she didn't stop, I put the clicker and treats down out of reach and walked away. Both times she just stood there with her mouth open, clearly shocked by my rude behavior. He he he...

Nosework (1/3)

2012-01-11T21:25:00.000-08:00

Class tonight was too too fun. We started off with two rounds on containers. There were 25 boxes laid out in three parallel rows. There would be one hide, then we'd go back outside and wait for it to be reset. Gimme did well on this and was having a blast. She likes to "ski" on nosework boxes just like she does with her melon cube. There's definitely no doubt when she has the scent.

Her slowest find was the box that was near the threshold - since, as usual, she blasted past it. Joyce works a lot of threshold hides, so I know at some point Gimme will realize that she ought to look there too. Joyce doesn't want us guiding them, rather we let them think it through.

Our third round was a interior area search. The boxes were all taken up and piled in the corner. The first hide was right inside the door and we were to wait just outside the door with the door open until we knew they had the scent. I knew when Gimme had the scent, since she dragged me through the opening and already had her head cranked toward the hide before I was even ready. While she was getting her treats there, Joyce set another hide high on the wall across the room. I think Gimme was the fastest to find that.

Naturally I have to brag that Gimme is very likely to have her picture (maybe more than one) in the April/May issue of Animal Wellness. The article will be about nosework and I've been working with the author over the last few weeks. She's been reading our blog and loved the video's and pictures. So, I did a special field trip to get more pictures and sent them to her. The editor decides which pictures to use, so there is no guarantee. We'll know when it comes out.

I'm including some pictures here. The first one is a picture of the tin. That little silver disk inside it is the magnet that I've mentioned.

This first grouping is Gimme doing a search in the Nails and Ladder aisle.

"Hey Mom, its right here..."

This second grouping is from the end of a search in the Lumber aisle. I've since talked to Joyce, our instructor, and decided we'll be avoiding that aisle for awhile. As most of you have no doubt noticed, the smell of cut lumber is pretty strong for us humans, so its really going to be a challenge for the dogs. Plus, if you think about it - what are we searching for? Birch oil. What is Birch? A tree. What is lumber made of? Uhhhh trees... Naturally that is a pretty difficult distinction for any of the dogs to make, much less one as young and inexperienced as Gimme. To her credit - she does find it. Whatta girl...

"Got it!"

Busy Girl

2012-01-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

I've come to the realization that I'm just going to have to keep a separate calendar for Gimme's schedule. I keep running into conflicts between what I have planned and what I want to do. I feel like a soccer mom who is desperately trying to keep up. All Gimme wants to know is whether her new purple leash is in the car and do I have enough cheese.

We've been keeping busy lately with a little bit of plinking here and there on different training things. A lot of focus is going into nosework... which is how I discovered the calendar double booking. The trial I planned to go to in April is on the same weekend as the Sdao/Pouliot seminar we are signed up for. So now am looking at a couple other tests - March or June, both in Oregon.

We are playing with the Project behaviors again - which we haven't done since October. I have been working off and on with the target stick "wait for the cue" and its coming along. I still haven't fixed the "apple" box, so that will have to wait.

Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)

I wanted to do this since I now have interlocking floor matting to cushion Gimme from the hard floor (and provide better traction for other things). Since we haven’t trained this for three months and since it wasn’t on cue when we left off, it took awhile to get Gimme back to offering it. Even though she has been doing the Grape in my lap when she wants attention (which started 4 days after we let Michael go). She offered me a lot of "pretty" instead (we’ve been free shaping this), got frustrated and barked some. I kept clicking a "down" and when she was solid on that, I started clicking for movement while she was down. Finally in frustration she did a movement that was almost a grape and she got two treats. Next thing I knew she was throwing a LOT of grape behaviors at me. I started putting it on cue and will continue in the next session. She sure is cute.

Melon - push cube with nose

Again a project behavior we haven’t done in three months. Gimme knew what to do the moment she saw her cube. There was a short bit of skiing on the cube and batting it, but she settled down to using her nose very quickly. I started putting it on cue and following our earlier Grape session, she seemed to understand what I meant. She was even pushing it with her paw or using her mouth to get it out of corners and away from the walls so she could then push it with her nose AFTER I’d cued "melon". Smart cookie.

My friend loves to alter pictures and such and add sayings and stuff... so I usually get things from her that have pictures of Gimme that she's taken before. Just got this one...

Field Trip: Pics & Videos

2012-01-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

This picture shows where I had tucked the q-tips into the steel supports. Its not in good focus, but the cream blob is a piece of cheese.

The video that follows is Gimme finding the first hide in roughly 50 seconds. I found it very hard to keep her in the field of view and handle the line at the same time (I'll try to get a classmate to do a better video for us this week). Watch and you'll see an impressive "snap back" at around 44 seconds into the video. Its very clear that she'd smelled the scent at that instant and was all over it.

If you look carefully, you can see the edge of the tin sticking out from under the steel lumber support with a small piece of cheese on it. The tins have little magnets in them and the lid is perforated to let the scent out. So we stick them all kinds of places, such as on the sides of metal things and under the chairs, etc.

BTW after all our worries, Gimme has never once tried to retrieve the tin. Once I thought it through and realized all the different clues, I was certain she would figure it out.

Here's a video of her working this aisle. She did run over time by thirty seconds, but as I said, cut lumber is a strong smell for her to work through (especially given her limited experience). At one point she let me know that she didn't think it was there, so I encouraged her to try again and she then found it. I think that is a good experience in the overall scheme of things.

Home Depot Field Trip

2012-01-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

We did our first field trip today - I was so eager to do it that I did it before going to work. Gimme was eager too when she saw it was the Home Depot parking lot. She loves it there because the staff all pet her and some of them give her cookies. A couple are dog people and actually make her sit before giving up their cookies - which she humors them and promptly sits while dusting the floor with her tail.

The nosework went very well. I took a couple pictures and two videos. Sadly my computer is being uncooperative and is now insisting that it can't recognize my little removable drive. I've never had a problem before. I'm waiting for my computer guru to call and walk me through a solution.

Our first hide was in the lighting department, tucked into one of the steel rack supports and she found that one very quickly. The video was only 56 seconds and shows a great "snap back" at the end. That's where she goes quickly past the hide and then suddenly gets the drift of the scent and turns sharply back to it. I'd forgotten to take the painter's tape, so even though I'd put the q-tips in a spot I thought was inaccessible, she still got to them and ate two of the three along with her piece of cheese.

Our second hide was in the lumber aisle, underneath one of the steel supports. This video was 3:50, but there is extra at the beginning and end. I'd set a perimeter in my mind that actually covered a fairly large area. I need to check the rules and see what the test dimensions are. If she was over time it wasn't by much. I know cut wood can have a strong odor, so that may explain why it took her so long. Then again, it may be that eating odor q-tips interferes with her scenting ability.

After that Gimme went back to the car while I moved the hides and did some shopping. Ended up talking to some employees who were interested in what we were doing. I told them it was "search training", letting them make their own assumptions. They love her in that store, so I doubt it would matter - she has a sizable chapter of fans there, since they've watched her grow up from her first orange chariot ride until now.

We actually had an audience for her third and fourth hides. Everyone was naturally impressed with her abilities. One guy talked to me quite a bit after we were done and he thinks she is just beautiful - obviously an astute grasp of the obvious. I was telling him how everyone is always so attracted to her and he said its because of her eyes, describing them as "alluring". I wouldn't have come up with that word, but he's right, she does have beautiful eyes. Naturally Gimme and me think he's brilliant.

Our third hide was in the tool rental section - stuck to the side of a metal cabinet. Its not a very big area, but has a lot of tough smells - oils, fuels, solvents and general tool/machine smells. It took her a little while, but she did find the hide. Again she blasted by it and then there was the snap back...

The last hide was unpaired and in an appliance and cabinet sale area. I took her in from the opposite end and she missed the spot I'd stuck the scent during the first and second passes. When I gave her a little guidance coming back at it from a different direction she went right to it. I think that its possible during a test/ORT that if she hasn't found the scent during her first pass, that it might be a good idea to take her around the perimeter in a different direction (i.e. clockwise v.s. counter-clockwise). We can just never know which way the scent is flowing and how it eddies and pools here and there.

I've noticed that Gimme is slower to find scent that is close to the ground, so I did put all four of these close to the ground - the highest one was no more than 12" from the floor. I'll keep working on the video and see if I can get my computer to recognize the drive again.

Nosework (6/2) & Scent Discrim.

2012-01-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

Gimme has really been pestering me because she doesn't think she's getting enough training. Seriously, 4 training days a week and three 3 mile walks a week is not enough for her. She'd train every day, several times a day if I didn't have this ridiculous need to sleep and work and other foolish habits.

Tonight we did the scent discrimination with the Altoid tins. She did better at it. Still brings me some wrong tins, but less than last time. I've noticed the first time she always brings me the wrong tins first and then the right one. I think next time I'm going to start the session with just one simple retrieve of the hand-scented tin and see if that makes a difference. I do find it helps a LOT if I make her sit beside me and settle for a moment before letting her go get it.

After that we worked on her "foos" behavior, that's the paw whack on her yellow mousepad - the basis for her agility running contacts. It's just amazing how much she loves this. It doesn't matter where I put it, she still gets to it and paws at it. Sometimes she hits it with both feet and skis a bit on it - so I have to be careful not to set it too near the couch or loveseat, unless I have a burning desire to move furniture.

Nosework class was great as always. Gimme is very good and so fast at finding her hides. When the hides started getting harder, she initially spent extra time finding them, but has since gotten back to pretty close to her original speed. She does continue to have trouble with hides that are near the threshold, though she did a little better tonight - getting one of the two really quickly.

All the dogs continue to progress pretty steadily. Our friend Grafton is in the later class, but sometimes they come early and do a run in our class, so it was great to see him tonight. Gimme is easily the best and fastest of those in her class. As much as I hate a braggart - I am one (especially when it comes to the Empress of the Cosmos); it just can't be helped.

I have everything ready for our Home Depot field trip, which I plan to do on Friday. I'm really looking forward to it. On Sunday I'm going to try to find some place suitable to do an exterior field trip.

Gimme Splits a Seam

2012-01-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

I was getting the q-tips ready for our upcoming field trips with the level one scent, Birch oil. Naturally, just as I was swirling the few drops of odor oil around on the inside of the jar, Gimme came in from outside. She had her paws up on the table beside me in a heartbeat... letting me know she'd found odor and I needed to get busy and pay her. Her eyes were so big, huge, like saucers. You'd'a thought I was hiding a big grilled steak up there... There's no doubt that she knows what that smell is all about, eh...

Later when I was nowhere near it and I could still smell it. Probably got oil on my hands, so I washed up really good. In the future I'll wear gloves to handle the oil. For the most part the q-tips don't actually get oil on them, they just absorb the scent from being in the jar with it.

I'm planning some nosework field trips to Home Depot. I can go in and set two hides in different parts of the store. Then I'll go get Gimme and after she finds them and goes back to the car I'll relocate them. We'll wait awhile and then do another search.

I talked to Joyce, our instructor and told her what I wanted to do and am happy to say I was pretty much thinking the same thing she suggested. I also hoped to do some nosework field trips to Petsmart and she said that was a good idea, but suggested I should take Gimme there a couple times beforehand unrelated to nosework.

Sooooo we are busily gearing up for the ORT next month and trialing in April. I want her to be over-prepared so everyone can see her as the star I already know she is. I also need to get in gear and study the NACSW rule book so I'm not interfering with the acclaim she should get for her brilliance.

Nosework (5/2) & Match

2012-01-01T23:35:00.000-08:00

Gimme continues to do superbly in class - she really is good at this and totally loves doing it. When I was getting so excited about us doing one of our hides with just just the odor, i.e. not paired with food, our instructor asked why I was so excited about it since Gimme had already done one last week. Here we had a milestone moment and I missed it entirely. So, we did our first unpaired hide a week ahead of our classmates - not that I'm competitive or anything.

Today we drove 2:10 to Gresham, Oregon, for a nosework match that would simulate an Odor Recognition Test. The dogs have to pass an ORT for each level before they can enter a trial - much like they do in tracking. I started the day off exhausted, even though I went to bed early. Meaggi got up and very restless about 3:00 a.m. and I just never got any restful sleep after that. So now am very tired and running solely on excitement.

First I have to tell you it was very cold... mostly because the wind was unbelievable. I checked on line and it reached 29mph today. So while the temps were actually at 43/44 degrees, with wind chill it was more like 32-34 degrees. Half our our elements were outside and I worked a lot of classes so I could really watch what was going on and learn from the experience. I'm still cold.

Joyce told me during class to make sure I knew where all her hides were during the match and to ask the judge to pair them with food before we started. During the walk through when I asked how to work getting the judge to pair the food so that Gimme wouldn't see it happen, she said "awww don't worry about it, Gimme doesn't need it. And indeed, that proved to be true.

Our first hide was the interior element. The building is a training building, has a groomer's area and bath stations where people can come wash their dogs. Plus they had a lot of food, treats, toys and training stuff everywhere for sale. Gimme found all that stuff very distracting and so she ran out of time before she found her odor. However, when we got away from all the distracting stuff, she did find it and very quickly. I'll be buying her a bag of kibl and breaking it out into paper bags to set out when we are practicing. I'll have to do the same thing with other distractions between now and the ORT. Later on when I worked the class and watched the level II dogs work in this same area - they had similar problems and had it been an ORT only two of them would have passed.

Our second hide was the vehicle element. When we searched a vehicle in class, it was only one vehicle and indoors with no real distractions. For this element, Gimme had to find the odor on one of three vehicles with those 29mph winds. She was distracted a lot, but did find it and within the allotted time (3 minutes). Woohoo!

Our third hide was an exterior area element - again with the 29mph winds. Gimme eliminated herself by peeing on the grass, but Joyce let us continue searching for the experience. She was able to find the odor in a real tough spot. Later on I saw a lot of the level II dogs have real difficulty with that same hide location (they have two odors to find). I'd had Gimme out twice to pee before that, but I think she was too distracted by the presence of other dogs. So lesson learned that if need be I'll have to walk out of the property and down the street so she can take care of business.

Our fourth and final hide was an interior container element. Gimme sniffed one box and then drove off to the side toward something that caught her attention. We aren't supposed to guide them with the leash and can't touch anything, so I thought we weren't going to do well. On her way to the "thing" she caught a whiff of the odor and turned on a thin dime. She sniffed two boxes quickly and the third one was it - she was all around that box and very persistent. I called "alert" and we had it.

Gimme got that hide in 9 seconds! The fastest container find of the day - both levels!!! Of course I can't help but point out (Joyce bragged on her first) that Gimme was the youngest dog there and with the least training, having only been on odor for four classes. Everyone was suitably impressed, as they should be.

I learned a lot. First I LOOOOOOVVVE my new Biothane lead. I bought myself three of them for Christmas (6, 25 and 40 foot lengths). I used the 25 foot one for the match. Its a bit long for what we need, but its so easy to handle and so comfortable to grip that it wasn't a problem, once I worked out how to coil it so I could let it out and take it up readily. It was well worth the cost and I'm sure Gimme and me deserve it. One of the judges even complimented me on my lead handling and handling in general, going on to say that she sees a lot of level II and level III people that dont' handle their dogs and/or their leads as well as I was doing. So that was very nice.

As I said, we'll have to work with more distractions so that Gimme learns that "shopping" doesn't pay. I can't pull her off the stuff, because its conceivable that the odor could be tucked in among the distracting things or attached to the shelving. She just needs to experience more distractions so she can be successful at ignoring the enticement and finding the source.

I saw a lot of people pulling their dogs off the odor. The level I people did it a lot and I was just sure the level II people wouldn't have that problem. Not so. This seemed to happen for three reasons:

Often the handler wasn't reading their dog and didn't know when the dog was truly working the odor, so they'd move away too soon and the dog would go with them. The opposite problem of crowding the dog when they are working has the same effect, since the dog is pushed off the odor.
Sometimes the dog would give a very quick indication and when the handler didnt' recognize and support it, then the dog would move on.
There were also instances of sloppy leash handling. Some handlers had very long leashes and didn't use the available length, so the dogs were getting unintended corrections. Others had just 6 foot leashes and that's just not enough when a dog is moving fast.

I plan to do a lot more on leash searches in class. Today I did them all on leash, though I could have done one off leash and the other three were required to be on leash. So it makes sense to practice my leash handling.

We can pause for up to ten seconds before crossing the start line so the dog has a chance to catch the scent, so Joyce encourages us to do that. Gimme wants to go, but has learned to not pull too hard there. But, when I give her the "where-zit" cue, she just flies. That's great if she has caught the scent and certainly I can't help but love her enthusiasm. However, it will create problems if she didn't catch the scent and the hide is near the threshold - since we could easily be past it and she might not get back there on her own. I'll have to remember if she doesn't find the odor elsewhere to encourage her back near the threshold in case she missed it. They give us a thirty second warning - so that'll be my cue to get her back near the threshold if she isn't actively working a spot.

The other thing we'll need to work on is her indications. Right now she just acts persistent. Before she gets to higher levels she will need a more formal indication. So I'll be asking Joyce more about that.

Overall it was a great learning experience for both of us. I was very pleased with how Gimme did in her first strange location. I'll have to take her on some nosework field trips. I'm happy to have this sport for her to work in while she continues growing up - it'll help me to have this to do so I don't push her too much. And naturally, she'll certainly enjoy herself - she loves to use her nose.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T08:06:00.000-08:00

Gimme wishes you each a very Merry Christmas. Meaggi and I wish the same for you; however, we are not as photogenic.

Nosework (4/2)

2011-12-22T00:23:00.000-08:00

Class tonight was great - as always. We did some new things that really showed the dogs' skills emerging. On the very first hide of the first session the odor and food were placed on the desk, just 6 inches from two open bags of dog treats. About five feet away the instructor's jacket, with treats in the pockets, was hanging on a doorknob. All the hides were harder to find, obscured from view and more difficult to get to.

All of the dogs found the correct source, bypassing the food distractions. Given that they don't get tested on finding the odor while ignoring food distraction until level three - Joyce said this shows they already understand that finding the odor (not just any food) is the bigger payoff.

Because it was harder, all the dogs (except Gimme) were taking a very long time to find their hides. Class is 90 minutes with six teams and we usually get 3 hide sessions and tonight we only got 2 sessions each because we were running over time. Even though it took them longer, they were all enthusiastic and happily searching.

Gimme sailed through hers in the same time as usual - it really seemed almost faster to me. Of course there was some delay during the second session when Joyce and I ended up at one end of the room and Gimme suddenly dashed to the other end and stuck her nose into her baggie, polishing off all her garlic toast. She hasn't even tried to get to the motherload since the first night of class, but for some reason tonight decided to. So much for her outstanding work ethic and so much for baggies.

Anyway, we had a short discussion with the class about why Gimme is so much faster. Partly its because she learned to use her nose so young, having had her first baby tracking lesson when she was about three months old. So, she's had more practice using her nose before starting nosework class, understands the concept of finding things with her nose and getting paid for it and thus, has a lot more confidence. Plus I bragged on her relatives and all their tracking titles. It stands to reason that she has inherited excellent scenting ability.

I also discovered she knows how to count. She let me know in no uncertain terms AND all the way home -- that she was due one more hide session. She was quite emphatic!

Mistletoe Mistake

2011-12-19T23:38:00.000-08:00

Arf-Angel Michael

2011-12-17T10:05:00.000-08:00

A to Z Who's The Boss

Titles: MX, MXJ, AXF, AXP, AXJP, NAC, NJC, TN-N

Mar. 8, 1998 – Dec. 12, 2011

The rub with loving these wonderful dogs is: they leave us too soon. Old age sneaks in to rob them of vitality, taking away their quality of life and dignity. We who love them are faced with the most painful decision. Then we are left behind to deal with the guilt and grief, trying desperately to find our way back to all the wonderful memories.

Michael’s last day was filled with the favorites he still enjoyed. After his usual breakfast, breakfast #2 was at McDonalds - 2 sausage biscuits and hash browns. Then on to the woods for our last walk together. His nose still worked as well as ever and he had a blast sniffing and snooping. On the walk out I dropped chunks of cheese behind me, which he thoroughly enjoyed finding on the way back – so excited to discover they were growing cheese out there. After agility, McDonald’s was his favorite thing, so we stopped there again for lunch - McChicken, McDouble, fries and holiday pie.

At the clinic we sat and hugged until doc was ready. They had placed a big thick blanket on the table so he'd be comfortable and the lights were turned down low. Doc doesn’t want dogs to experience any stress when the time comes. He gave Michael a sedative and yet, thirty minutes later Michael still hadn't fallen asleep. Doc suggested it might have been the holiday pie, but I think he was just enjoying the non-stop petting, hugs and kisses too much to drift off. Doc gave him another sedative and he did finally go to sleep. When the lights came up, with all the tension and cares of the world gone, Michael looked so much younger. I know he is in heaven, young again and eagerly waiting on the start line for me to come play with him.

I’ve been looking at old pictures and remembering. Michael was such a scaredy cat when he was a pup, so afraid of other people. Agility was a grand discovery and a big part of helping him get past his fears. We dabbled in other dog sports, but it was agility he loved. He had so much fun playing the agility game that it was always a surprise to see his oh-so-serious game face in pictures. We never set the agility world on fire, but we always had fun. I learned too late how to be the handler Michael needed. No matter how clumsy I was, he always ran his best and we enjoyed the game together. We made it half way to a MACH before having to accept the inevitable retirement. His heart was still young and so willing, but his body just couldn’t cooperate.

Throughout his life, Michael was devoted to me and wanted only to please me. He was always watching me, looking for a clue to making me happy. He never stopped trying because he loved his Mom most of all. Michael was sent to be my teacher. I learned so much from him; he made me a better trainer and a better person. Like ripples in a pond, his life touched, and still touches, so many others.

Michael in Pictures

Though he loved agility, he was also very serious about it.

Our first and second Double Q's.

Michael loved riding in the car.

He loved it best when he didn't have to ride in a crate.

Walks in the woods were a lifelong fave.

Even the last walk still contained discoveries since

they'd started growing cheese out there.

I miss you Boy-san. I miss your Noodle-Doodle moments. No one else can be my Noodge. Wait for me and when we meet again you will be my Adja-Litty-Man. Rest well my beloved. Love, Mom

Breakthrough Imminent?

2011-12-07T22:00:00.000-08:00

We didn't train yesterday because Gimme up-chucked in the car on the way home. Obviously I didn't want to fill her up with treats. She seemed a bit "off" for a couple hours, but then got back to normal.

Tonight we did another session on scent discrimination. It went fairly well. She brought me an unscented tin a couple times, but mostly got it right. At one point when she brought me an unscented tin and got nothing for her efforts, the next time she went back to the pile she spent a little time sniffing the correct tin and one next to it. As it turned out she brought me the wrong one, but at least she is using her nose to try to sort out the difference. I realize she was likely just trying to smell a hint of food, but all the same I figure a breakthrough is imminent. Its only a matter of time until she realizes what the difference is.

We also did some heeling and front stuff, mostly the same things we did the other day. She didn't do nearly as well as she had then. That's not unusual for her. She often follows a really good session with one that is several steps backward. I'm not sure why that is, but I don't worry about it anymore.

Her learning pattern usually contains fairly steady progress followed by a leap forward and then her version of a plateau, which is several steps backward. I've never had a dog that does it that way - most seem to have a plain plateau, whereas Gimme backs up a few steps. Then again, I've never had a dog that takes such large leaps in performance. If I factored those out, perhaps her progression is more "usual".

Unless I miss my guess, she will have another session much like today's and then the next session after that will either resume steady progress or take another leap forward in understanding. It is what it is.

Happily using the little gates really helped her "around" behavior (clockwise circle around me ending up in heel position) - its been nice and tight ever since we did that. Now its time to work on "behind" (counter-clockwise circle around me ending up in "side" position).

Cool Happening

2011-12-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

It was a long weekend. Went to my parents' yesterday afternoon. Then drove them to Seattle (they don't drive in Seattle and seldom at night) to meet with my brother, Sam, and his family. We did some light sightseeing (my Dad can't do much) and then headed out to dinner. My other brother, Mark, and his girlfriend Dana joined us for dinner. It was fun and there was a whole lot of laughing going on. By the time we got back to Auburn it was almost midnight. Spent the night and then joined Mom for church this morning. I was going to help her get her tree up, but basically the afternoon got dawdled away. I made them a big pot of chili for supper before leaving. Just got home an hour ago.

Naturally the dogs didn't get to do much and spent far too much time crated. When I got home here, Gimme was fit to be tied and wanted ATTENTION. So I decided to do a training session with her. I had thought before I might do scent discrimination tonight, but since I wasn't sure how focused she would be, having been cooped up so much over the weekend, I decided to hold that until tomorrow.

We worked on the forehand "pivot". I've worked on it several times recently really reinforcing the front feet on and tonight she finally seemed to understand I really didn't mean for her to put the back feet on at all. She's gotten so reliable about keeping the front feet on during the pivot execution, so I started putting the cue on it.

Then we did some heeling work. She was already getting the 90 right pivot, but the last time I tried to pivot left, she wasn't getting it, so I moved on to other things. She really seemed to get it tonight that if I pivot in either direction, she can swing her butt and stay in heel. Now all the sudden, its like she invented it. One of the things that has been hardest for her is staying in heel for the first couple of steps. So tonight I did a couple of one-step-halt and after the first one she got it. She claims she invented heeling, but I seem to recall hearing someone talking about it before Gimme was even born.

After that we did some front work. I could leave her on a stay and walk away, stopping either with my back to her or side to her, cue "front" and she did a very credible job of getting into front position. Once I tweaked my own treat delivery it got even better.

I was mighty happy with all that and yet it was clear that Gimme wanted to do more, so I decided to do some of our nosework homework. I have to confess I haven't done any nosework outside of class until tonight. But I know we need to do a bunch of it to get going on the pairing of the level one odor with food. I shut Gimme in the office, got our tin and a treat, put them in a shoebox and hid it in the walk-in closet off my bedroom. Here's where it gets cool...

When I let Gimme out of the office I gave her our nosework cue "where-zit". She had come out bouncy and ready to play and when she heard that she paused to look at me as if to say, "you mean it?" Then her nose instantly and OBVIOUSLY went to work and it took her no time to find the hide in the bedroom. I really didn't think she'd learned that cue and was assuming she knew what to do in class based on the location. So to see such an demonstrable understanding was just waaaaay cool.

We did three more hides, one in the bedroom, the bathroom and the living room. It was really neat to see her look for them and find them. Her nosework scenting behavior is getting clearer for me to see, which is also waaaaay cool.

This nosework is lotsa fun and I highly recommend it. Gimme seconds that recommendation.

Nosework (2/2)

2011-12-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

We had nosework class on Wednesday night and it was great. She did a fine job of finding the hides on the vehicle. She's really very intent about the car and more deliberate than she is in a whole room search. She's been tending to put her feet on the car, which isn't something they should do, so Joyce showed me how to discourage it with leash handling and without using a verbal cue.

The dogs in this group are doing so well that we were introduced to the level one odor a week early. The way you get the dogs to find that scent is by repeatedly pairing it with the scent of food. I love the smell of birch - who knew... I'd love to use that smell for room freshener... but I guess that is out of the question.

Yesterday I did the second session of scent discrimination with multiple tins (not on tape). I saw an interesting thing that I thought I'd seen in the previous session. However, after reviewing that tape I realize it wasn't the same at all. Gimme only brought me an unscented tin one time during the first four repetitions. But then the fifth try, she basically brought me every tin other than the one I wanted. I'm not sure what to make of that. My thoughts of what it could be:

the scenting is hard work and four tries was too much, except I don't really think she is picking them by scent yet
maybe she was already tired when we started, since we'd gone walking on the fort
or she was doing a bit of "are you sure you don't want this one, or this one, or..."

I know she saw me put them down, so that should have been a big clue. I'll try it again on Sunday when she will be more rested.

We are back to walking on the Fort Lewis training areas. They've had area 22 open and it has a nice open area where we can walk in plain view. The bow hunting and grouse hunting season continues, but those are both hunting sports where they tend to be closer to the prey and so would see that we ain't critters. I still plan to make Gimme and me neon-orange vests before next season.

It was fun walking out there again. And it was clear from her behavior that Gimme finds that much more fun than the place we walk near home. I'm sure walking on the wild side is more to her liking.

Academe' Performers pictures

2011-12-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple close-ups of Gimme during the recent performance. I have to admit a bit of concern regarding the last one - I don't care for her choice in bedfellows. I sure hope that doesn't mean she'll want to go into politics when she grows up...

Academe' Performers

2011-11-29T16:52:00.000-08:00

It seems that Gimme and some of her feline friends have been busy putting together a short performance. I don't know when she found the time to participate, but I do so hope you enjoy it.

Plan Change

2011-11-26T19:21:00.000-08:00

Only a small part of this entry is about a change of plans, but I have to call it something...

This first video is our first session with many tins. Overall Gimme did about as I expected. Based on what I've been reading, I was intentionally letting her see me put the scented tin down. However, in this particular session, I don't think it helped her. The reason was, I think, my choice of treats. I was using popcorn and she is just crazy about that stuff. So I think the possibility of the popcorn was distracting enough that she wasn't focused - especially as compared to previous sessions. So we won't make that mistake again, though I'll continue to use popcorn for other things. I like having so many tins, since I don't have the non-rewarding aspect of not taking the tins when she brings them to me.

The second video is the second session today on "pivot" (the camera didn't record the first one). Based on what I was seeing when I edited this video, I've decided to abandon training the rear pivot ("twist") until I have this on cue. Then I will also probably go on to teach the forehand pivot in the other direction, which I'll name "tivo". (chose that name because it uses letters that are in its companion behavior) The thing I was seeing that got me thinking this way, was her tendency when frustrated or unsure to start putting her back feet on. In the video there's a fair amount of bouncing back and forth between front and back feet. Since I'm trying to teach her to use her front feet in a specific way during this behavior, it means I have to withhold clicks for what she may think is a good enough version. When that happens, I don't want her just throwing some other behavior at me. After "pivot" is on cue, I'll start on "tivo". Then later after "tivo" is on cue, I can start the pivots on the rear ("twist" and "twirl).

Of course I hadn't really come to that decision until I did the editing of the pivot video, so I have this short video of the last (for now) session of "twist". At times I think she is getting the idea and then I don't. Since the camera angle provides a new perspective, I see two issues. One, when I do resume training this, I really will have to put up the mirror so I can see that both back feet are on the brick. Two, I think I also have to do a session or two of just rewarding her putting both back feet on, to get that behavior more solidly. And three, I've got to do something about the brick sliding all over the place. I have some scraps rubber shelf liner, so am going to glue that to the back of the brick, as well as some other platforms. That way they will stay put and when I get this floor refinished, I won't have to worry about it being scratched.

A confession: I have had more difficulty with teaching Gimme to refrain from jumping on people than any dog I've ever owned or worked with. Its clear in watching her that she really does try to be good and stay down, but then people start petting her and its more than she can handle, so she jumps up out of exuberance. She really loves people, so I don't want to dampen her enthusiasm in teaching her to keep four on the floor. Add to that the frustrating tendency for people replying to my instructions not to let her jump up with, "oh, its okay". She's so dang cute that many people really encourage or, at the least, don't discourage her.

I have friends that have worked with her, following my instructions, and it just doesn't seem to sink in. This week I decided to try something a little different. Given how quickly she learned to come to me when she sees bicycles, I'm taking the same tactic with people. When she sees a person, I call her to me and give her treats until they pass. Then if interaction is mutually desirable, I'm at least there to reward her when she has all four on the floor.

What was so incredibly cool was seeing the light bulb go on - flashing brightly - when she realized, see people = go to mom. The first time you could see the light, she ran up to and around a stranger, then looked at me and came running for goodies. Then he wanted to pet her and she got lots of treats for four on the floor. The next person she saw, she went running toward them, then stopped and looked back at me, then came running. The same thing for the person after that. My non-dog friend that was walking with me even recognized what she was seeing as Gimme "got it".

She's such a smarty... I love seeing her figure things out.

Thanksgiving Wish

2011-11-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

Gimme here: I am thankful that I only have to wear this dumb thing once a year. I'm also thankful that Mom has promised me many delicious things for being so long-suffering. I hope you have much to be thankful for, now and in the years to come.

Because Talent Knows No Bounds

2011-11-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

Awhile back I talked about Gimme's forehand pivot behavior... don't recall if there was a video or not. I don't have one on file, so probably not. Here is a video composite of two short sessions. I was trying to get her to both start and end with her front feet on the brick and I do think we are getting there. I want this to be a true pivot on the forehand and especially don't want it to to devolve into a spin in place. I started by withholding the click until she got her feet back on the brick after the pivot... very quickly she figured out to keep them on to get the click and treat faster. I also talked before about holding off putting a cue on this behavior, since I'd planned to name it "get in" and realized there was a conflict with another cue, "get it". I was going to rename the "get it" behavior to "yours". However, in the meantime, I've discovered that that cue is too entrenched, so decided to go with "pivot" for this behavior. In editing this I was doing some slow forward and noticed there are places where she is actually crossing her back feet. I never expected to see that. Enjoy my cutie...

As much training as I do with her, she's still bored. I've just learned that hunting season goes through the end of the year. Arrrrrgh. So will have to use the local walkway until then. We are having a really wet spell locally - landed over an inch of rain in last twelve hours. It rains a lot here, but often it doesn't really get going until afternoon. Of course, that doesn't apply to the last 48 hours where it hasn't let up.

I've also just started working on teaching her a rear pivot, which I'll call "twist". It takes her a bit to drop the insistence on a forehand pivot. That will probably go away once its on cue. It may be a bit too soon to start this since I don't have the forehand on cue yet, but I figure she needs a bit of a challenge to puzzle through.

She goes through several interesting concepts here - what she believes I may want vs. what I actually want. First there was – pivot then walk your back feet onto the brick. Then the same behavior with a barking embellishment. We had a few times when she thought it was put the back feet on, then back up until the front feet are on the brick. You can’t always clearly see what I’m clicking – in addition to back feet on, any sideways movement from the front feet. Often there was a backward component to that – so I tried to click where the sideways was the more prominent movement. She moves so dang fast, its like clicking a chicken and unfortunately that means I miss good opportunities or am late. Gimme holds strong opinions (boy I totally get that, doncha know) and she gets frustrated when I don’t click when she thinks I should. Barking is her default expression for frustration during free-shaping only (for which I’m eternally thankful).

BTW have emptied and washed up 6 Altoid tins. There have also been some interesting follow-up posts about the method. I'm eager to get back to it.

Second Tin Day

2011-11-21T17:53:00.000-08:00

Today is the first time I've introduced a second (unscented) tin for Gimme. I really need to have several more to do it exactly how Denise showed it. I'll have to empty several of them into some Tupperware and get them washed up.

Denise dumps a bunch of unscented tins on the floor and then places a scented tin in among them. If the dog brings the wrong one, she takes it and the dog gets no treat. That tin is set aside, since it now has Denise's smell on it. She only rewards the retrieves of the correct tin.

Since I only had the one unscented tin, I just ignored her attempts to bring it to me and heavily rewarded her bringing the right one. Since she has gotten so good about bringing it to my hands, I think not giving her hands to put it in, serves to non-reward that attempt and tell her try something else.

I started out with just the one tin and you'll note she very neatly brought it to my hands. After that we worked with two tins and you can see how it went. I didn't think she's realized yet that there is a difference between them. A couple of times, I think she saw me moving the unscented tin as I was trying to mix it up... so I made a special effort to work faster and get them out while she was still turned away. She really likes to ski on the tin before she picks it up - that's a silly behavior that started with the Melon cube. It will be interesting to see how this progresses. She has a damn fine nose, so I'm sure she'll get it figured out.

A pleasant side affect from this showed up yesterday. While I was doing some yard winterizing, I gave Gimme a good stick to chase (so she'd stop trying to steal and/or play tug with the ones I was putting in the yardwaste bin). Always in the past she's brought them back and dropped them about two feet from me. In all fairness, my attention is usually divided between what she is doing and what I'm trying to accomplish, so it isn't like I've really worked on a retrieve to hand. Anyway, yesterday, she brought the stick back and dropped it and when I was ready to throw it again, I just stopped and pointed at it. It took her a couple of tries and then she picked it up and handed it to me. Before long she was bringing it to me every time. If I was ready and paid attention to her quickly, she'd hold it until I offered my hands. Otherwise if it took too long she would drop it and wait for me to turn my attention to her - then she'd pick it up and hand it to me.

I'm sure she is thrilled that the training she is doing with me with the tins is paying off for the important stuff of throwing sticks. She's a pretty smart cookie.

A Conflict?

2011-11-19T19:59:00.000-08:00

Just got home from my parents' house. I was there to clean the oven. Last time Mom was asking me how to clean an oven. C'mon, she's surely cleaned many more ovens than I ever have. So I took that as a hint (despite her denials) that she'd like help with the oven. Today or tomorrow were the days I had available to get it done before Thanksgiving. Since we woke up with a light snow on the ground, this seemed as good a time as any - perhaps tomorrow will be nice enough to spend some time winterizing my own yard.

So what's the conflict? Apparently they use small tins in teaching nosework when you get the dog on odor and we won't want her retrieving those tins. We'll start that in about two and a half weeks. Joyce and I have discussed it at length and will make a few changes to the way we use the tins in nosework and hope that it won't be a problem. Some things are already big clues that there is a different expectation. The differences are:

she'll be in harness for nosework; just a collar for scent discrimination
we're at the training building for nosework; at home for scent discrimination
we can use smaller tins for nosework; Altoid size for scent discrimination
plain tins for nosework; printed tins for scent discrimination
no scent of mine on tins for nosework; with my scent for scent discrimination
we'll hide tins off the floor for nosework; tins will be on the floor for scent discrimination
tins for nosework will be secured making them hard to pick up; not secured for scent discrimination
I move in to reward her for finding them in nosework; I remain stationary for scent discrimination
"where-zit" cue for nosework; when its on cue will be "find mine" for scent discrimination

With all those differences, I think she will figure out very quickly that these are two different behaviors with different expectations. After all, Gimme is a canine genius. She'd probably only need a few of those cues to realize it was different, doncha know...

Tonight we did a quick session of retrieving the tins. Five retrieves with me kneeling on the floor and then five with me sitting on a couple of cushions. Took her a couple tries to figure out that she still needed to bring them to my hands when I moved off the floor, but once she did figure it out - she nailed it repeatedly.

Besides, we were using her favorite treat in the whole world - pieces of hamburger bun. This dog loves bread more than anything.

Nosework (1/2)

2011-11-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

Tonight was our first class of the second session of nosework. Gimme was soooooo glad to be back for this. She really likes this work and the first time in always imitates a freight train, dragging me into the building as fast as she can go. She's a little less intense about dragging me after that - thank God. I realized after class on the way home that she was completely quiet riding in the car both to and from class and I didn't even hear a peep from her when we were there and she was waiting her turn. Sure am happy she's getting past most of the whining.

This time they had driven a vehicle into the building and we introduced the dogs to vehicle searches. The dogs will only be searching the outside of vehicles. For our first hide we started by holding the dog back while they watch the instructor put food on the bumper and then get to go and get it. Repeated that and then the third time the dogs were mostly very focused on the bumper and didn't necessarily see the instructor place the food there.

For the second hide, we pretty much repeated the process, but without the dog getting to watch the instructor and then encouraging the dogs to continue around the vehicle to find more. It was interesting to see that when Gimme finally found the little bit of food that was stuffed in the crack around the headlight - after that she became very aware of the cracks/seams on the vehicle and checked them all thoroughly.

The third hide was more of the same. Gimme did a great job and worked her way around finding all but two of them. Then on her own she decided she should make another pass and was rewarded by finding the other two.

This girlie looooooooves to use her nose.

Scent Discrimination work

2011-11-15T18:04:00.000-08:00

My internet access was out starting Saturday night... so I've felt deprived and out of the loop. Finally received the replacement modem this afternoon and got just short of 500 emails that I had to plow through.

Sunday we did another session with the tin. I started with letting her get it twice with the food still in it, then went to no food inside. There was no sign that she thought that was a problem. She was doing pretty good at picking up the tin and then dropping it into my hands. Then one time she picked it up and turned away from me before she dropped it. I waited and she picked it up and dropped it again. The third time she picked it up and turned toward me, so I was able to get my hands under it. After that she started picking it up and then seeking my hands to drop it. SMART GIRL!

This time we started right out with no food in it. Twice I accepted just picking it up get the ball rolling, then after that I wanted her to at least try to get it in my hands. You can see how twice she'd pick it up, but kept missing my hands. I just waited and let her sort out how to get it in my hands and get the reward. Clearly she has figured out what gets the reward, because after two times of taking multiple tries to get in in my hands and get the reward, the next time she was more deliberate about getting it into my hands. The final time I resisted the urge to make it easy for her and she brought it to my hands on her own!

I just can't help but love working with such a Smart Girl.

Learning All Day Long

2011-11-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

Today has been especially busy.

After teaching agility, I let Gimme have a
play session with Sadie (boring old BC)
and Izzybella (young Beardie). Normally
I wouldn't let her play where I expect her
to work at other times, but for now this is
the priority so I'm willing to bend the rules,
knowing I'll have work to do later. Sadly I
don't have enough friends with appropriate
dogs for her to interact with, so I especially
treasure these opportunities.

It was a good session and I see Gimme

improving all the time. At one point she

did get mad at Izzy (a very rough playing

girl) and the flash of anger was quite

obvious, but it very quickly passed. I

could have missed it, it was so brief.

Later even Sadie played with her for

about a minute and then gave a clear

cut-off signal, which Gimme instantly

accepted, going back to play with her

Izzy-buddy.

After that I did a few errands, then

headed to Elma for some agility

watching (hence the pictures). Elma

is a really great place to do this

because its not as crowded. Since

Gimme has just come out of season,

I used one of the side doors that let us

get into the stands on the far side

without being near any dogs - just in

case there was any residual odor.

Gimme did very well and was more

relaxed compared to other times. We

watched for well over an hour and she

did well the whole time. Of course she's

convinced she could start out at the top

level in agility. Another way I knew that

she was more relaxed is that she didn't

sleep on the way home as she usually

does.

The video at the end of this blog entry is
our first session introducing scent
discrimination, using Altoid tins. I saw it
demonstrated on Denise Fenzi's blog.
What she showed seemed so simple
that one of today’s errands was to go to Costco and buy a 12pack of Altoids. I guess I’ll have great breath for awhile now.

Denise’s puppy had already been doing a lot of retrieving and I haven't worked that very much with Gimme (my bad). I started just praising her and letting her eat the food out of the tin for any interaction, then gradually waited for more. Within just 2:45 she was picking up the tin. With a little quick action on my part, she was mostly dropping it in my hands. The original video was eight and a half minutes, but Gimme pushed the tin under the couch, so I cut out the sizable portion of time that it took to retrieve it. On the very last one, the little sneak managed to drop it out of range of my hands and it popped open and she got some of the treats. Fortunately there were enough left for her to end by dropping it in my hands one last time. You can see the tail never stopped wagging. She really does love to train me...

Today's Training

2011-11-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

Since our schedule has been off for the last couple of days, I decided to do a couple short sessions today, even though Friday is normally our day off.

I started with "around" using the guides. As soon as I set them up Gimme jumped in (edited out). I was sure she'd be eager to get in there when she figured out that was where the rewards happened. I opened the guides and had her go out and re-enter, wanting to reinforce how she should enter. This session was really short - only 7 click/treats. Do note two things... first, she never left until I indicated the session was over (unlike prior sessions) and as soon as we were both in the circle she started moving around me. I think the idea of the guides is becoming clear to her.

This next session is a bit of target stick training related to waiting for the cue. The idea is to present the target stick and give her the cue. Then toss the treat and wait before giving the cue. If she comes back and touches right away, I do nothing and just wait her out. The moment she pulls away, I give the cue and reward her for doing the behavior with a click/treat. This is something I think I am slow to do and the video confirms my impression. If I give the cue and she doesn't do the behavior in a reasonable time (for now I count five) then I am lift the stick out of range to indicate a loss of opportunity. I also lift the stick out of range when she bites on it, which still seems to happen a lot, though it is diminishing. At some point I can also start clicking her for not touching the stick when she begins hesitating more often. I think her touch-touch-touch and then sitting is an indication that she is starting to figure out the game. There are clearly some missed opportunities during this session; Gimme will just have to figure it out in spite of me.

Then we did a bit of noodling about stays and heeling around food on the floor. I haven't done it for quite awhile and obviously we need to go back to it. It wasn't training so much as testing.

Because life isn't exciting enough around here... now that Gimme is coming out of season, Meaggi has decided to give it a go, for the first time in several years.

More Guides

2011-11-10T19:09:00.000-08:00

Its been a busy couple of days. I was invited to a Veteran's Day celebration in Auburn that was set for early today, so we went up last night. We were supposed to resume nosework classes last night, but our instructor had to make the decision to euthanize one of her old dogs and obviously wasn't up for class.

Today after the celebration, I went back to my parents' and performed some minor repairs. If only I could get them to stop trying to fix things themselves, it would be so much easier not having to fix a twice-broken. After that Mom and I spent a lot of time burning brush, getting kindling made, yard winterizing and other outside tasks. I'm very tired.

Gimme was her usual angelic self... She had her first experience seeing fire and found it spooooooky. Naturally within minutes she was acting like an old hand and swore me to secrecy (I had my fingers crossed behind my back). Her help with the brush burning (stealing many of the things I was trying to get into the fire) was, shall we say, less than helpful.

Here I have two clips of training with the guides. The first one is practicing the "around" behavior (clockwise circle around me). Gimme still tries to jump out now and then (edited out of this clip), but I'm encouraging her to come back in and believe that will fade once she realizes that inside the circle is where the rewards happen. You'll notice the first click it looked like she was thinking of jumping out, but since she had moved in the right direction, I preempted her exit with the click/reward. I think I may have pushed her a bit too much for more and that caused the barking. You'll see I was able to demonstrate spinning the opposite direction and it didn't faze her at all. Note: This was only 8 repetitions, but when I watched the timing... it slowed down between reps after the fifth one. Again, I see evidence that 5 good repetitions does seem to be optimum for Gimme.

This second clip is a short sample of how you could teach the dog to go around the cane. I've edited this down to just the best repetitions. I realize it was far too soon to introduce Gimme to this idea (I just did it for demonstration purposes), since she'd only had two sessions with the simple "around" using the guides. The first thing she did was get "stuck" sitting and I used a click of her stretching her neck out to get her moving. Once we got past that, she seemed to think I was shaping her for position relative to the cane. I can see in the video that I missed a few good click opportunities. I used treat delivery to get her past the hump to move between me and the cane. Clearly Gimme hasn't made the connection to moving in a circle inside circular guides. Still once she figured out what I wanted, it seemed to go well, which I think bodes well. Do note that her tail never stopped wagging, no matter how confusing she thought I was being.

We have a lot on our plate for the weekend. I plan to drive to Elma and let Gimme watch some agility from the stands after class on Saturday. Then on Sunday we are going to an obedience/rally training session where you can buy personal ring time (PRT). I'm buying 15 minutes and have asked them to break them down into three 5 minute sessions. After that I plan to come home and do some winterizing of my own yard.

Monday is the one year anniversary of my nephew Josh's death. Its going to be a hard day.

Freestyle Seminar

2011-11-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

The weekend proved to be a real learning experience and not just about freestyle. I learned just how much seminar excitement Gimme can handle and what the best way is for her to experience it. After how well she did at the agility seminar this summer, I expected her to be able to handle this better. But in hindsight, there are several notable differences.

agility seminar was outside, this was inside
at agility seminar I was able to position us further from the other people/dogs and still be able to see and hear everything that was going on
about a dozen teams at agility vs 20 teams and 10 more auditors at the freestyle seminar
at agility only one or two dogs were out of crates at a time; here there were often all 20 teams out at once
agility seminar was quieter overall
this weekend she was in season - obviously not by plan, having come in almost a month early

By the end of Saturday Gimme was just about shut down. I had tried hard to keep her up and happy, but it wasn't working well. I made big changes in how I handled things for Sunday and it worked much better. At the end of Saturday I was about ready to cancel our working slots for the seminar in April. At the end of Sunday, with the changes I made she did much better, so knowing that she won't be in season again, I decided to let things stand. However, I do plan to email both seminar presenters (Sdao and Pouliot) and ask them some questions before I make a final decision.

I was really disappointed in the people attending this seminar. Many years ago when I was taking Michael to freestyle seminars, people were much more respectful of others' space needs. Most people back then were fairly novice dog owners, whereas this group was more experienced owners. I asked the seminar host to make an announcement and remind people to be more respectful of other dog's space needs, but it didn't seem to make any impression. I repeatedly asked people to keep their distance and not crowd us. Only two people got the idea that I was asking for consideration for the weekend, not just a few minutes. Other people I had to remind over and over and over again. I asked one lady to move herself and her dog so we could get to our crate, explaining that we needed more space. She moved and then moments later walked her dog within inches of my crate with Gimme in it. Fortunately I happened to have Gimme distracted at that moment. I really had the best spot that was available - had anyone shown even a smidgen of common sense and courtesy.

Naturally I think the person who allowed their dog to pee on my cooler, which was sitting next to my car -- well that's just well beyond R-U-D-E...

I chose to work off to one side during the working sessions and gradually got further and further away until I could find a place where Gimme wasn't too distracted by the other dogs and yet not too close to the food tables, which she also had a huge interest in. Unfortunately this meant we got ZERO personal attention from the seminar presenter, Julie Flanery. Ordinarily I think Julie is very good, but a couple things conspired to make this one the least positive experiences of the several seminars I've taken with her. The fact that the seminar was being taped made it a logistical pain. Also almost all the exercises for the second day were geared toward people with much more experienced dogs. Since that wasn't made clear in the information about the seminar (and since I expected her to run the seminar as she had in prior ones), I don't think we got our money's worth as a working team.

Since I'd paid to be a working team, I made the best of it. I worked on as many of the exercises that we were supposed to be doing as I could. But once I hit a snag, without any help, I couldn't go any further. I learned between day one and two a bit better how to "read" Gimme and know when she is done. She is not obvious in the way she shows it (remember what we went through when we were taking classes with Ursula and she had the false pregnancy to go through). For much of the time we worked on other things, things I knew Gimme could do getting a high rate of reinforcement, so she was having a positive experience. On the second day I kept her out in the car when she wasn't working, except for one brief time in late in the afternoon. Often this meant by the time I went out to the car, got her "dressed" and got back inside, the working session was half over.

Still, for all that, I learned a lot. Julie has some interesting new ways to teach the freestyle staples in ways that the dog learns very quickly and so can get a higher rate of reinforcement while they are learning. She makes these "guides" out of ten 12" x 12" grids (the ones you normally snap together to make little shelving sets), put together with zip ties. Using those the dogs learn some really quick concepts, so you aren't teaching the same thing over and over, just using a different "prop".

For instance, if you set up the guides to form a circle and stand in the middle with the dog, you can just wait and the dog will move around you. Click and treat that and soon the dog will really be going around. Within two or three sessions you'll have a very solid behavior that you can put on cue. Then you can do it again, but position the dog facing the other way and since the dog already knows the concept of moving in that circle of guides, you can get the other direction on cue even faster. Then there is always backing up in each direction. You can stand outside the circle with just one leg in and the dog will quickly figure out to move around that one leg. Or stand outside the circle with a cane held in the middle of the guides and in no time you'll have the dog going around that too. As you can imagine, there are any number of things you could teach the dog to go around in very short order. Develop a routine that has a prop you need the dog to go out to and circle around - no problem, you can teach the concept to your now more experienced dog in a single session and that's likely including a cue.

The beauty of this is that there is no luring that has to be faded later and its faster than free-shaping, because the dog learns that the guides in a circle mean one thing. And in particular, for getting the dog to move around one leg, since you aren't luring or using your hand target, you aren't leaning over the dog, which means you aren't crowding them socially while trying to teach them something. The guides can also be used to form a channel, a u-shape or a v-shape and any number of other configurations (limited only by your own creativity).

We did our session at the seminar in a 36" expen, since I wanted to be able to have Gimme off leash and know she wouldn't jump out. Here I have a short video of a session that we just did with the set of guides I made. You'll see that Gimme jumped in and out a couple of times. I think she felt crowded because I hadn't made her circle big enough. You'll see that she stopped jumping out and was more conformable moving around after I make the circle a little bigger. She even tried backing up, she does love moving backwards. To stop her all I had to do was briefly step back so I was in her way. Sadly the camera battery died so you don't get to see the end of the session. Another thirty seconds and she was going around me in one direction while I was spinning the other way. It never occurred to her that there was anything for her to do other than continuing in a circle, something that often happens when you try to teach this part of the move without the guides.

Gimme already knows "around", but its not very tight. So I'll be interested to see if using the guides makes it a cleaner move.

A Big Fat Negative

2011-11-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

Gimme finds being in season a big fat negative.

She's not getting the walks she's used to, adding to the frustration she feels. Last time she was in season we were able to go to the fort's training areas for our walks. However, its hunting season. The last time we were there, on a day when the area was supposed to be "open" for general recreation, we found deer entrails from a fresh kill. Clearly someone isn't honoring the schedule, so to be safe, we won't go back until hunting season ends.

The local place we walk is pretty busy with other walkers, bikers and dogs, so I only feel comfortable using it at its least busy times, given Gimme's "condition". Unfortunately it has been raining every chance I had to get there during quiet times. Today we got a walk and Gimme practically split a seam trying to check out everything at once. She was noticeably happier when we finished.

I was going to give an update on the whining front, to say how much better she is doing. However, that progress has evaporated since she's been in season. She was only a little worse until the day we were heading home from the bank and there were two deer trotting up the sidewalk. I guess they know its not safe in the woods. There's a small green belt near here, but they were several miles from any place they could be living. They didn't seem too concerned about their new digs. Gimme, however, was very concerned and has been on deer alert every time we've been in the car since then. This too shall pass.

To keep her happy and entertained I've been trying to get in some extra training. I haven't done much with the fruit behaviors. Instead have been trying to put together some behaviors for our freestyle seminar weekend. We've got some cute stuff. Nothing ready for cue attachment, but good enough that I can get the behavior when I want it.

We continue to work on backing up. I taped two lines on the hardwood, making about an 18" wide corridor. Gimme didn't seem to be making headway with that and was clearly frustrated. I don't think the tape stripes were noticeable to her, so it wasn't clear enough and the reinforcement levels were falling off, dampening her enthusiasm.

Since she is very comfortable with backing up to a target from the apple behavior (back into a box), I decided to use that. I got one of my small rectangular platforms and quickly shaped her to put her back feet on it. Then I moved further away and after each click dropped the treat in front of me. After that she would back to the board. Right now she is at a stage where she is backing up so fast (and verrrrry straight) that she is overshooting the board. I'll try to get this on video.

She has a very sophisticated awareness of her back feet. Its interesting how the fruit behaviors I picked were things I chose because I didn't want them to resemble any "important" behaviors for later… and yet, the dividends from them keep growing.

The weekend should be interesting. Julie Flanery is the seminar presenter and I know her from past seminars. It should be really good from that aspect. I don't know how well Gimme will do, since her emotions are really right at the surface. My independent girl becomes very needy when its "that time".

I talked to my veterinary and given Gimme's history with a false pregnancy before, he wants to wait three months after she comes out of season before spaying her. That will put it about mid-February, which is right at 18 months, the time I was aiming for.

Copier Pictures

2011-10-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

I've already sent off the 4 best pictures from the 9/11 photo shoot. I had to tidy the office before taking pictures, so it looks better than any time in the last five years. Of course now I'm sneezing my head off from stirring up all that dust.

Gimme was very good about getting into position and sitting there waiting through all my picture taking nonsense. She really does have an excellent sit-wait. In the first picture, Gimme is patiently waiting after I pushed the button for the copier to take the picture of her cute little tushy...

In the second picture, she is clearly impatient to see the final results and is actually watching the paper come out of the copier.

Afterward I spread her pictures out on the floor and let her look at them. She spent quite awhile examining them, before tearing a couple to shreds. I should have gotten pictures of her doing that.

There's another picture I would have loved to get, but needed someone to take the picture... I didn't want to risk Gimme breaking her stay and jumping off to get to me since its a long way down. I may get that picture some day, simply because Gimme is so photogenic and it would be a cool shot. But obviously not until I have another set of hands to take the picture so I can make sure she stays safe.

I have a great Halloween costume idea for her, but was too busy with other things to get it done. Maybe next year.

We've only done a little training in the last couple days since I was fighting a cold and needed to work some extra rest into my days. The second session with the target stick went really well, so I attached the cue. Next time I'll start working on the exercise that I learned from Ursula. I'll try to videotape it.

We have a working slot in a freestyle seminar next weekend. I have been so focused on the fruit project that I wasn't even thinking about it and now here it is almost upon us and I really haven't taught her any of the behaviors I wanted to have ready.

So, I'm also using free shaping to teach Gimme to back away from me. The hardest part seems to be getting her to understand that I want her to go straight away from me. On the hardwood floor, I lined up with the strips and started by clicking any time she kept one foot between the strips, then two and finally three. Still, I'm not sure she is getting the idea and it was kinda frustrating for her. So I'm going to lay down two strips of duct tape to form a corridor for her. Then as she gets the idea I can cut away at the edges making the tape narrower and narrower to fade it.

Private Lesson & Target Stick

2011-10-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do one of the exercises we did in our private lesson, but needed to attach the cue to the target stick behavior first. Silly me, I thought Gimme would remember how to do her target stick behavior, even if we haven't done it for at least six months. Whereas Gimme thought it was really nice of me to bring a stick in for her to chew on.

So I quickly dropped the idea of attaching a cue to the biting-the-stick behavior. I basically had to free-shape it from the start. By the time we finished she was doing really nice nose touches on the end. So if she does that again next time from the start, I will attach a cue to it.

PRIVATE LESSON...

We started with some discussions, based on some questions I had been thinking about.

Q1a. Are we complicating the wait-for-the-cue process by using her two default behaviors (sit and down) in the mixed sets? When we did so much work on her relaxation protocol in classes, the down turned into a second default.

Maybe we shouldn't use them in the mixed sets for wait for the cue training. Its possible we'd get better stimulus control, but lose them as default behaviors.
However, just because they are defaults, doesn't mean we shouldn't expect some level of stimulus control, we just may not get all four elements.
If I cue sit or down, she only gets click/treat/reward if she does what I cued.
If she offers either default I don't have to click/treat it, but could do so randomly. I can also reward in other ways.
If she offers a default in place of the behavior I cued, no reward.

Q1b. (based on the last question) What are the four elements for stimulus control?

If I cue X, you do X
If I cue X, you don't do Z (or others)
If I cue Z (or others), you don't do X
If I don't cue X, you don't do X (doesn't apply to defaults or naturally occurring behaviors)

Q2. Are there times when we should change the training order for the last three of the six stages of learning?

Yes, there are times when we would. Actually the last four stages are what makes up stimulus control.
Those last four are usually on a circular cycle where they are each being taught over and over, or in random order, as understanding and difficulty of behavior increase. Its important to specify, that when I say random here... that doesn't mean within one training session. It merely means that between different sessions, these don't have to be in a specific order.
Different behaviors have a different logical order for teaching.
Plus, some dogs do better with a different order. For instance, a dog as smart and active as Gimme will be bored with most duration work, so it works better to teach her distraction and/or distance first. Then the duration develops along the way without boring her.
And, which "stage" you are working on may depend on the environment in which you are working at any given moment. IE. What I train and expect in the living room will be different than what I can train and expect in a parking lot. I would be more likely to train for distance or duration in a familiar environment, while distraction is present in a strange environment, so initially that is what you are training for.

Q3. In classes we discovered that stopping after 5 good repetitions gave us the best results. Am I doing too many reps at a time and is that undermining the process?

Probably yes – even though the sessions are still relatively short, 3-5 minutes, there may be too many reps in a set. It's better to focus on repetitions rather than time.
We did a plan for this private lesson, where for the most part, after 5 reps we'd break off that set and let Gimme relax and refresh. Then after a minute come back for another set. In this way Gimme was able to stay with us for a session that lasted 30 minutes, even despite the distraction of a new location (never been in that room before), despite her knowing that nosework was happening elsewhere in the building, despite the brain intensive nature of some of the work and despite the fact of her being in season. Woohoo Gimme…

Q4. Does Gimme know the behaviors (peach and orange), does she simply believe she should do whatever prop she is looking at, or is it still a listening skills issue?

We didn't really address this issue in depth, rather went into training and working on listening skills. We initially found she couldn't do a number of well known behaviors, as well as the two fruit behaviors, in that distracting environment, so we had to show her that it still applied there too. Then she did much better.
When we set up a different chair (folding no less), after just a moment of attaching the cue to that chair, Gimme went right to work, if slowly, so she does know the cue. Initially the quality was lower, nose under instead of head under. Then as the lesson progressed she went back to putting her whole head under the chair.

In other blog entries I'll talk more about the exercises we did. There is much to do and it has become quite a fascinating process. Gimme always keeps me on my toes.

Nosework Graduate (6/1)

2011-10-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the last of the six weeks of nosework class. All of us that were there got this cool bumper sticker for our graduation.

We had some different finds again tonight. Now that Gimme is further into season, you can see the effect it has on her ability to focus. We actually had a private lesson upstairs before class (more later) and she spent a lot of time trying to convince Ursula and I that we were in the wrong part of the building. Since we were working on distraction regarding the fruit behaviors, it worked out perfectly as a built in distraction.

She was pretty funny going up the metal grate stairs, which I'm sure were uncomfortable on her feeties. On the way back down she was very careful to make sure that at least her front feet were stepping on the 2" wide solid metal strip on the leading edge of the stairs.

Each week Nosework has gotten steadily more difficult and all the dogs are doing a great job. Our buddy Grafton is so methodical and really takes his time. We were discussing whether him being timid about things, actually works to his advantage, since he started out taking his time (unlike someone we know who is all gang busters in her approach). Pete, our BC friend did really well, he's also methodical in his searches. The other BC (who's name I can't remember) is more like Gimme; they both find all the searches just fine, but tend to be much more "busy" in the way they do it.

The blind dog is out for awhile. She'd had surgery for cataracts and then developed glaucoma. Apparently they've discovered that the glaucoma is giving her considerable pain, so there is surgery in her future. She's a great nosework dog and I hope we'll see her come back soon.

Monday night we joined rally class in Tacoma. Its the same class we'd taken before, but they won't be starting another class until January. So they said we could do a walk-in for the last two nights. Gimme did very well and I was quite pleased. Being away and then coming back like this made it very clear how much progress she is making, which is sometimes not as evident in the day to day of things. Between her first and second run-through she showed good improvement too.

Maybe after the next set of classes we can start looking for a really small show... then again, maybe I'm being overly ambitious.

All Fruits Look The Same

2011-10-22T18:49:00.000-07:00

I thought I might try something different today and got results that cause me to question whether Gimme actually knows the cues for peach (head under chair) and orange (sit on perch) as individual behaviors or whether she has a different understanding.

I set both of them up and tried randomly cueing between those two and sit and down. The first issue was where I was standing and whichever I cued she went to the closest one. Once I moved to where I was an equal distance from them she was giving me both of them.

For a bit I thought she just wasn't in listening mode. When she gave a wrong answer, I turned and walked a few steps away, as far as needed to get her to abandon the incorrect behavior. But as the session went on - her responses to sit and down got more and more correct. Still the peach and orange behaviors were really variable. I thought for awhile that she was simply giving me the one of those two that she did last. However, as I closely watched her, it became clear that she was giving me the one that she was looking at when I gave the cue.

This makes me wonder... is it still a listening skills issue or does she not know those two cues. Is it possible she believes those two cues both mean interact with whichever prop is present, so that when two props are there she takes the cue to mean interact with the prop that is in her line of vision. I just don't know the answer and Gimme isn't talking.

I had already scheduled a private lesson with Ursula for before our nosework class this coming Wednesday. So am not going to train these two in the meantime. Ursula says she has another listening skills exercise that will help Gimme to understand when she should and when she should not be offering behaviors. I'll send her an email and let her know about what I saw today and we can perhaps add that to the session.

This has been an intriguing training process. At times its very frustrating, but I know in the end it will be very valuable. I know Gimme is a canine genius, but there is clearly a hump of understanding that we aren't getting past. I wonder if her being so super smart isn't a bit of a liability in this situation. I've always said no one ever needs help training a dumb dog and obviously the opposite is also true. Clearly I need to raise my game - sure am thankful to have Ursula to train with.

Free Shaping a Silly Trick

2011-10-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

There's a contest for a picture of a dog sitting in the most unusual place. Has to be safe and the dog has to get up there by themselves. The prize is a book I want from Australia, that I wouldn't be likely to pay for.

So knowing Gimme loves to free-shape, I decided to set her on it. My goal is a picture of her sitting on the copier while its cranking out a picture of her lovely tushy. It took 22 treats to get her to get into a chair and from there to the copier stand and then on top of the copier and sitting. Then I turned it on and off a couple times while giving her treats to get her used to the noises. Even did a copy while she was sitting on it. She wasn't bothered in the least. At one point she looked down at the copier bed in the cutest way - if I can catch that moment on film its a sure thing.

Naturally she found that so rewarding that as soon as I was done she leaped from the floor to the top of the copier, just in case I wanted to give her more treats. I'll have to get that picture and then never reward that behavior again! Its going to take longer to clean up around the copier so the picture has an uncluttered background that it took to get her up there. Have I mentioned that she is part monkey?

Not Sure Who's Winning

2011-10-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Peach - head under a chair
We just did another session.

While Gimme's listening is improving (her accuracy in actually giving me what I asked for is up quite a bit from before our private lesson), she is still unwilling to give up offering. I want to give her more cues to do things and earn rewards, but she won't stop offering long enough for me to get in a cue. The idea of stop-do-nothing is just not in her plan of action. With her its all about a plan of ACTION. We got four shorter extinction bursts, but they were still there - two to five minutes each.

Upon Ursula's suggestion I tried clicking any time she was still for even the tiniest moment. And for a couple of minutes I thought I was getting somewhere, until I realized what little Miss Smarty Pants was doing. Every time after getting a treat, she was returning to exactly where she was when I last clicked. She was trying to turn it into a free-shaping game. I probably wouldn't have caught on, except one time she happened to be under the table when I clicked, so when she returned to that spot under the table, it was pretty obvious what she was up to.

Makes me wonder if I should put free shaping on some kind of cue. Maybe that would make it clearer to her when we are and when we aren't playing that game. She loves free-shaping with a passion and I'm happy to do it with her, but we need to get over this hump in understanding as well.

While I'm fiddling with some projects tonight, I'm going to try something with her. I'm going to put a bowl of treats where I can reach to it on the kitchen counter, so its not where I am and thus not an obvious cue for training time. Then occasionally will give her a cue and if she does it, she'll get click/treat.

I can also give her the occasional click/treat when she isn't doing anything. That doesn't happen very often if I'm up and about, she's either trying to work me or laying on the couch waiting and watching for an opportunity to start working me. (good Lord, I think I just described a Border Collie!) If she thinks I'm working on a project, she may settle in a bit more.

She's a pistol...

Nosework (5/1)

2011-10-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

As is my usual Wednesday plan, we got in two short training sessions between accounts. The first one was behind Shopko, where we practiced some heeling and sit stays. The heeling went well, but she's still popping up out of those sits. I just need to work the plan on that more consistently. I was pretty pleased with her sit stay, once I set appropriate criteria. The other thing we need to work on with stays is her holding position when I return. We had that, but haven't been working this enough and lost it. In the next session we worked on pretty much the same thing.

Gimme is getting on board with the new plan of not doing the check-in clicks. I give her about 3 minutes of walking around after my first account and a little less after the second account. When I think she should be satisfied/comfortable with her environment, then I cue "ready" which only means "time to work". I've noticed if she really is ready, she moves into heel. Smarty pants.

When we got home we did a couple sessions with her fruit stuff. Since we have class later I didn't work the two fruit cues that I'm trying to get stimulus control of. That I feel is a little brain taxing right now. Later when she's done that process a few times and "gets" it, then it shouldn't be so hard.

Melon - push cube with nose
Today she went back to skiing across the room on it and a lot of foot action. For the most part I ignored those and only click/treat for nose pushes. She got jackpots for the best pushes. By the end of the session, she was really doing some nice pushes. I think this behavior will start to come together soon.

Apple - back into a box, back feet only
She was certainly enthusiastic about this. I've decided that I have to fix the box. The sides are too soft and when she hits them with her foot, they fold over. So its not clear to me when that is "back feet in the box" and when it isn't. Thus, I'm sure I'm not consistent with my clicking. If it isn't clear to me, it can't be clear to her either. As much as she loves to back her feet into/onto things, we should be further along on this. Sooooo, I'm going to modify the box to reinforce the sides with thin plywood. Then her foot will be in or out and nothing in between. I think that will make a big difference.

BTW Gimme is so funny when she gets frustrated with my obtuse refusal to click what she thinks is surely a clickable moment. If all else fails, turn and bite the box.

Nosework class
As always it was fun. Since Gimme just came in season, she had to wear drawers and wasn't too pleased about it. During her first run I could see she was very distracted by them. She still found her hides in good time though. During her second and third runs she paid no more attention to them. Please do not construe this as any suggestion that she was cooperative about having them put on her - she is not! I'm sure they offend her fashion sense, though they are nicely patriotic in red-white-blue stripes.

Tonight's challenge was having the hide in things other than boxes. During the first run they were set up around the perimeter of the room. During the second and third runs they were clustered in piles. For the third run, one of the treats was hidden in a crack in the floor and the instructor tried to use treats that blended in. Also there was a cone with a treat under it, where the dog could smell it through the hole in the top, but not get to it unless they knocked the cone over.

Gimme continues to show great enthusiasm. I hope she moderates it a bit and develops some patience as the finds get harder to detect. I believe she will. She's pretty funny when she's pinging off in one direction and suddenly catches the scent and then skids to a stop to turn and get back to the source.

Last Class with Mr. Dinosaur

2011-10-18T21:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the last class of the CGC class and not surprisingly, none of the students felt they were ready for a shot at getting their CGC.

Also tonight the instructor forbade me to use the clicker in class. So I asked if I'd be able to use it in the rally class and he said "no, no clicker, I hate clickers". So I just said that I wouldn't be joining the rally class and he said, very loudly, "good!" This exchange took place in front of the whole class, while we were heeling as a group - I thought he was very unprofessional.

In any case, thus ends the quandary about whether I will take any of his rally classes. Chip's next rally class won't be until January. I may have to check with another local instructor and see if she is still holding classes. I could also see if there are other classes where Chip holds his classes that might work for us. Gimme really needs to work around other dogs.

I am considering approaching the recreation director and offering a different dog training program. My friend Chris and I are discussing the best way to present the idea. I wouldn't do it until after the first of the year.

Tonight all the dogs seemed worse (except Gimme who excelled). The poor little Sheltie that is so afraid of the other dogs really lost it time and time again. His owner said last week that he thought he was better, but admitted the dog was still afraid. Hopefully tonight's experience will give him reason to contact Ursula.

For the graduation party, I made up little doggie goodie packages, including a business card directing them to where You Can Get Something For Nothing. The card gave them the address for our new training blog that is geared toward pet owners. I've been working to put all my dog training handouts on line and am about half done. I'd taken each one and broken it into smaller chunks and added examples and detail. I'm also hoping people will ask questions and I can answer those and give advice. Plus, Gimme has been expressing her thoughts throughout. As you know, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. I listen to these students and they really drank the koolaid. Hopefully they will go to my blog and learn something.

In all your copious spare time, you are certainly welcome to peruse our training blog: http://www.gimmefuntraining.blogspot.com/ I welcome your comments.

Gimme hopes I find another class to go to, she likes all the peanut butter and other cookies. BTW she is coming into season as we speak about a month early. I hope that doesn't mess us up for the freestyle seminar we signed up for.

E.Bursting Away

2011-10-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

Peach - head under a chair
I started with a session of peach. Gimme did well enough for the first couple of cues, but then went into doing her own thing, which got a big fat nothing from me. So then we had another extinction burst. The first time was 8 minutes, then 5, then 1. That's a huge improvement over what she did Saturday evening where it was a solid 24 minutes.

At one point she was headed toward the chair when I said "sit" and just a moment before getting there, registered what I said and turned to sit instead. I thought that showed she is developing some understanding of this new criteria. Good girl Gimme...

She's lessened the insistent tone of her burst, while adding two new features:

She apparently wondered if opening a crate door and going in to lay down might restore me to my prior functionality. She pulls the door open with her paw and walks in - never saw her do that before. She did it once each with the two different crates in the living room.
She also tried more barking, but not at me. She'd sit or stand in front of me, turn her face about 60-90 degrees away from me and bark several times really loudly. Meanwhile she has her eyes cranked toward me, so she was watching for my response, but not facing me. Another thing she's never done before. Apparently she thought I might be offended by her barking at me. She does get funny ideas.

I also decided that when she does a peach that is better quality, with her head (not just the nose) under the chair, that she'll get a jackpot of two pieces of peanut butter toast. Decided that close to the end of the session, so it's too soon to see if I got results. Also noticed that if I cue peach and she only gives me nose-under, if I wait she'll offer head under. Tells me that the concept is in her brain. She's a peach, eh...

Orange - sit on a small perch
Gimme continues to believe that backing on or side-stepping on is a better option... she does that about 75% of the time. This went well, we got three short bursts, a 4 minute and two at 2 minutes.

Her clarity in responding to "sit" and "down" dropped off a little during this session, but overall it was still an improvement over a few days ago. I may have confused her by also working on the limited hold of her down during this session.

Her new offering for the burst this time was, naturally, very clever:

She discovered that when you jump on and immediately off the perch while kicking it with your back feet, it'll tip over. The first two times I righted the perch. Then decided that she might be getting some reinforcement from me fixing the perch. So then I didn't and she still jumped on it, actually from the other side and when she kicked off, that kick pushed the perch right side up. Given how unstable the perch is when she does this, I'm amazed she'd do it more than once... no one ever said she lacked confidence.

Her eyes are bright and she clearly wants to train-train-train. She'd do it much of the day if she could. Even this mentally challenging stuff, she's eager to get to it. She'd like to train a LOT more, but I am trying to stop before she gets confused or mentally fatigued.

Later, just to keep her happy, I may do a short session on some simple behavior. She is the Empress of the Cosmos, doncha know. Its my duty as her human to accede to her wishes...

4,000 Views

2011-10-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed I put a gadget in our blog that shows the number of views. I am proud to announce we have just passed four thousand views. Thank you to everyone who has so faithfully followed our journey.

Carla & Gimme

Peach Extinction Burst

2011-10-15T18:14:00.000-07:00

As I said I would, I did a training session using peanut butter to increase the value of the peach behavior. I made some toast, put PB on it and then cut it to crouton sizes, making 20 pieces. I had cheese and steak bits for anything else I wanted to reward.

Gimme quickly decided that peach was THE behavior of the century. I spent a little time refining it and asking for better peaches. Sometimes she only puts her nose under and other times her whole head goes under, the whole head is what I want. I didn't want to belabor the point though, since I think my click timing is part of the problem.

When I had 6 toast treats left, I started asking for other behaviors. That is when the extinction burst for peach happened. Twenty-four minutes later...

I defined the extinction burst as finished when she was no longer:

offering any form of peach
walking around the peach chair
sitting as demand
barking
whining
cooing
talking
screaming
putting her paws on the table to see if there was any toast left
nose bumping my hand
stomping her paws around the room
pouncing on the couch
sitting at heel
mouthing my hand
licking my fingers
trying to steal leftover toast
whomping into a down
stomping her feet while down
anything designed to get my attention

Needless to say, that was one impressive extinction burst. Too bad I didn't get that on tape.

Once it was done, she didn't offer me the peach behavior except when I cued it. I did have to help her the first two times, but after that, she was right on it. A surprising side benefit, suddenly the sit responses tightened up a lot as well. I'm sure we'll go through this again, but right now I'm leaving her to percolate on what just happened. I'm sure she thinks there is something seriously wrong with her person.

Private Lesson

2011-10-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

Our lesson didn't turn out quite as expected, since Ursula got distracted by late arriving guests and forgot to bring her dogs. So, she gave me a free lesson on the "wait for the cue" issue we've been struggling with. Remember, this is the third stage of learning - the one referred to as true obedience. Ursula sees it very much as a listening skill, one that very smart and very confident dogs often have difficulty with.

We first discussed what the consequences should be for a wrong response. I knew I didnt' want to give a no-reward-marker because of the overall behavior suppressing affect of NRMs. Still I wasn't clear on what to do that wouldn't be an NRM. Ursula said to just calmly walk away until Gimme gives up the behavior and joins me, then turn back and give her a new chance to be right by repeating the cue.

Something Gimme had been doing and I'd been rewarding was - I'd say "sit", she'd give me a down (her new favorite behavior) and I'd wait, then she'd ponder and say, "hmmmm that's not getting a treat, now what did she say, oh yeah it was 'sit', I'll do that". By rewarding that, she is still getting rewarded for a) not listening, b) not giving me what I asked for and c) poor latency. So from now on I'll do the turn and walk away until she joins me - which will make it clearer and won't reward stuff I don't want.

Ursula suggested that I sometimes play a listening game with Gimme -- in particular when she is not in training mode. I can give her a cue for a behavior she knows well without any other prompting (i.e. not saying her name to get her attention first) and then if she does it, say "good" and give her a treat, petting or some other reward. I won't use a clicker since that gets her in training mode and I can't have the treats on or near me. So, if I want to reward with a treat, I can repeat "good" on the way to where there are some treats. BTW we are using "good" specifically because it is not our click-word (ours is "yes"), so if my timing is bad, I'm under no obligation to pay up. For instance, I told her sit and when I said "good" she had started to lay down. I didn't want to reward that so she got nothing and it wasn't a case of breaking the click=reward bargain. (obviously you won't muddy the water with this approach for a dog that was a clicker novice)

Then the second thing we worked on was to get Gimme to give me a behavior only when I cue for it. Ursula suggested that I might get better results if I tried the extinction approach, with a bit of the mixed sets. I had worried about using extinction, since I didn't want to risk weakening the behavior. In reality, using extinction won't weaken the behavior. The moment she stops offering the behavior, then I'll cue it and she'll get rewarded for it. At that time, its essentially on a variable schedule of reward, which makes the strongest behaviors of all. Well duh...

We tried this with her orange behavior (get on a box and sit) and it worked well. We were starting to get some good results. We tried it with peach (head under a chair) and it didn't work as well. Although Gimme clearly knows peach, she doesn't seem to be that fond of it. I think that's because its not a particularly active behavior, which is Gimme's preference. So before we work on that again, I'm going to train the behavior and raise its value by using Gimme's favorite reward. You know the one - peanut butter.

So that's some work cut out for us in the next few weeks. Ursula agreed with me that Gimme has difficulty with this because its not on her agenda. Gimme's agenda is "its all about Gimme-me-me-me". We talked a bit about this, because Urs wanted to be clear that we aren't talking about dominance stuff - which she and I both agree has nothing to do with dogs.

Rather, its about giving up control, which has to do with all species. A dog that wasn't clicker trained or lacked confidence won't have as much of an issue because they've never really had any control, so there isn't much to give up. THAT certainly doesn't describe Gimme.

Nosework (4/1)

2011-10-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

We got in two short training sessions between my accounts. The first one was behind Shopko and when I went out to get her, I didn't realize the big 18-wheeler had just pulled in. So sure enough, just as we walked by (about 40 feet away), he released his air brakes and Gimme and I were both startled by the loud hiss. Her bounce back was nearly instantaneous (probably 1 second). Gotta love that! He released the air three more times while we were working there, the second time she looked, third time flicked an ear and fourth time no detectable notice.

In that and the next session we were working on Gimme's understanding of heel. For awhile now I've been unable to convince her that we can take more than two steps of heeling (we used to be able to go quite a distance). We've also developed a problem of her popping up out of her sit the instant after the click. It FINALLY occurred to me that I'm doing all the clicking on the halt/sit, so she doesn't see the value in heeling itself. And of course, I knew the answer for the sitting was rapid fire clicking/treating before she can get up out of that sit, I just needed to do it.

So our first little session started with the rapid fire and she very quickly figured out to stay planted. Then I ended that session with clicking for the moving part of heeling. Seemed to be going beautifully. You can imagine my surprise when I came out after my second account to discover Gimme had since decided that there was no automatic sit with halt. You can just never be sure if what you taught them is what they learned, eh. At first I thought I just didn't have her attention, but then realized she was stopping with a stand in perfect heel position and just waiting for me to get on with the business of moving. So I had to go back to cuing the sits each time and within 4 treats they were coming automatic again. Then went on with clicking the halt/sit and moving randomly.

Again, it seemed to be going beautifully. Ya gotta wonder what she's gonna think up for tomorrow. I sure wish I had a better resource locally for obedience instead of having to figure this out by myself each time. Ursula says Gimme is the kind of dog who will require me to become a better trainer.

In nosework class tonight, Gimme was back to her usual focused self (the instructor even commented on it). She did a great job. All the dogs are progressing so nicely. Our buddy Grafton is getting more confidence all the time about poking his nose into things; he's more methodical than Gimme. The blind dog is gaining more confidence and drive all the time. We had an interesting discussion about things her person could do to help her be safer, especially with her faster and more persistent searching.

Tonight the instructor introduced hides that weren't all in boxes and a threshold hide right inside the door. That hide was in a box, but most of the others were in weird places. On the leg of a room divider, on the leg of a chair knocked over on its side, on the under seat support of another chair on its side, on the wheel base of a mop bucket, on the base of a cone and on a 2x4 nailed about 3 feet up on the wall.

It took each of the dogs a minute or so to realize they should check out something besides just boxes. But once they did it was interesting to watch them light up as they discovered new possibilities. The 2x4 on the wall was the last challenge and it was interesting to see how each dog worked through it. Gimme got it fairly quickly once she slowed down enough in that area to catch the scent. Can't help but think her recent find of a 2.5 pound roast on the counter gave her an edge.

I've started introducing her nosework search cue "where-zit". I wanted it to be distinctly different from the cue I've used in tracking, which is "track-on". She also wears a different color of harness; pink for nosework and blue for tracking. We've already committed to another six weeks of classes and were told tonight to expect to start vehicle searches on the second night of that six weeks. There is an ORT after the first of the year and a nosework test relatively close to us in June of next year.

Nosework is loads of fun and I highly recommend it to anyone who can find a decent instructor. I've been going early and watching about half of the class before us. Gimme wants me to add that she recommends it too.

Mr. Dinosaur's Class 5

2011-10-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

Our day was pretty quiet. We did get a 1.5 mile walk, but otherwise just hung out most of the day. Gimme had a little tummy issue, having stole groceries off the counter last night (2.5 pounds of meat). Nothing bad, just too much at one time.

She did well in class; she gets better each week. Gimme has about five minutes of working brain at a time and then needs about 10 minutes of crate time (w/peanut butter) to recharge. Given how distracting that environment is and how stressed all the other dogs are, I'm completely satisfied with how she is doing.

Sadly the lady with the black mini poodle came back, hopefully she will still call Ursula some day. I passed another card to a white haired guy with a fearful Sheltie, saying "when you want to work on her fear issues, call this lady - she's the best". He replied that, "oh she's doing much better in class now". To which I said that she might be behaving better, but you've only suppressed her fearful expression, she's still fearful. He admitted that, yes, she is still fearful, just behaving better. So hopefully he too will contact Ursula some day.

Leading these horses to water - can't make 'em drink.

I have to say, attending these classes and seeing how stressed these dogs are is like a church revival meeting for my dedication to reward based training. My heart aches for each and every one of them.

Busy All Day

2011-10-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

Gimme and I had a very busy day. After church a bunch of friends came out and had a little petting fest with our girl. As always we had a good time and I'm blessed to have good dog friends that are willing to work with her every week.

From there we drove to Auburn and spent some time at an ASCA agility trial. The first time in the building she got to sit outside the elite ring watching the dogs and eating peanut butter. She did a nice job remaining calm the whole time. She'd watch the dogs and then when they were coming in our direction, she'd turn to me and say "mo peanut butter please".

The novice ring was running when we came in the second time, so we stayed away from the rings and spent a bunch of time getting petted and trained by my agility friends. The big moment was when a family of four came and their daughter asked to pet the Cutest Puppy on the Planet. So I hooked my thumb in her collar and we both petted her. Then her brother joined us in the petting, then dad and then mom. Gimme almost split a seam she was wiggling so much; she was wiggling so hard I worried she might wriggle right out of her skin. She's never experienced nine hands petting her at once and I think it gave her a whole new perspective on the possibilities of people. Of course, she's always loved people, but this took it up to a whole new level. We hung around for awhile and then she got another break in the car.

The third time in the building we couldn't get a good place to sit and watch the other elite class. The only spot available put us in a direct line with the start and first two jumps. So we moved further back from the rail and that put us on the other side of the aisle. Gimme could see what she needed without the potential of distracting dogs in the ring. We also had the experience of three dogs passing down the aisle and right in front of her. She handled it all very well.

From there I went to my parents' house where we were having a family get together because my Aunt Anita was visiting from Missouri. Before heading home, Gimme got out to sniff, snoop and seriously cramp my nephew's style. Every time he'd move to find a secluded spot for some "quality time" with his girlfriend, in no time Gimme was there. Who knew she could do such a great job as the fun police, though I'm sure she thinks of herself more as the activities director type. She's not a dog lover, so I think he should dump her anyway.

On the way home we stopped at Home Depot and Gimme got even more petting and some training from the dog savvy employees. One woman she saw for the first time two weeks ago, who had insisted she sit for treats, was there - Gimme saw her and trotted over and sat right in front of her. She also got petted from other customers. She's back to not jumping up on people… and instead looks around going, "hey, mo hands, mo puppy petters please". It seems she thinks the function of people in her universe has been altered for the better.

Nosework (3/1) & The Project - Day 19+

2011-10-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

Its been a full week.

About half an hour after my last entry, I got the beginnings of a migraine. Its still with me, though milder. I was unable to sleep Tuesday. Finally about 5:30 a.m. after a long hot bath, I was drugged enough and relaxed enough try again. Michael chose that exact time to get up and leave a pee trail from one end of the house to the other! Having pulled all the carpet, it didn't take long to clean up, yet enough to get me wide awake. I spent most of Wednesday taking drugs and laying around. Around noon fell asleep, but 90 minutes was all Gimme could stand. She thinks that since entertaining her makes her feel good, it should do the same for me. Got up, had lunch, took more drugs, played tug for awhile and even had a training session on apple.

Apple - back into a box, back feet only
I discovered toward the end of the session that Gimme does better about backing in if I'm careful how I treat her. If I throw the treat too far, then she turns and approaches the box head on - which means either walking through or turning and side stepping in. If I drop the treat between us, then she only takes a step or so forward and so just backs into the box. I'll do that each time for the next few sessions and see if we can get backing in more solid.

That night in nosework class, Gimme couldn't get focused during her first two runs, flitting around the room and having a devil of a time finding her hides. I'm sure being cooped up all day was the reason. Her buddy Grafton was the best overall that night; though all the dogs are improving. By her third session, she was back in the swing. We had three piles of boxes and the food was in one of the lower boxes, so the upper boxes were in the way. Gimme and Grafton found their goodies in equal time, but Gimme excelled in getting to hers. Grafton is a little timid about pushing into the boxes, whereas Gimme was more than happy to pounce on the pile and scatter them in all directions.

Thursday I ended up working my Wednesday stores and when I got done decided to get Gimme and me out to the fort for a walk. She was very quiet until we got on Rainier headed out there and then she fussed up a storm. Even though the rescue remedy has been wonderful for everything else (and since), she was just fit to be tied. I don't know what sets her off. I think she may have a little homing pigeon in her and somehow senses when we are approaching that area of the county. I'm going to try some different routes, but the last mile has to be on the same road. I'm thinking in the future when she starts in as we are going out there, if she doesn't settle fairly soon, then I'm just going to turn and head home. Even if it does take forever to get there, I can't help but think the behavior is still being rewarded.

Since it took so long to get there, by the time we walked and were heading home it was getting dark. I rounded the corner and just barely had time to slam on my breaks, there were cars scattered every which way and just at the last moment I swerved to miss the cause of this mayhem. Myself and another lady managed to catch the fattest Pug I've ever seen - wider than he was tall. Since I had crates in the car, I took him. Went to the nearest well lit home and after about an hour was able to figure out where he belonged and drive him home. The owner was a piece of work. He was more interested in making excuses for how Bob got out, than expressing appreciation for the efforts of those of us who saved his dog's life and for my bringing him home. Some people! Bob was just very lucky that he stopped traffic when he did, since minutes after I stopped it was pitch black and no one could have seen him in time to stop.

Thursday and Friday I did some parking lot sessions. I'm revising how I'm doing that. Gimme gets about a minute to look around and satisfy herself about the environment, then I'm pushing her more to get to work. Basically if she doesn't turn her attention to me, I just keep moving her around, so that she doesn't have time to look around. I think the behavior is too self-reinforcing. Naturally this requires me to accurately assess why she is looking around. If she has a real reason to be distracted that would be a different matter. If not, my plan is to interrupt the self-reinforcing aspect.

On the way home Friday we stopped by Home Depot to pick up something I needed. Took Gimme in for her usual cookies. She'd been doing so well with LLW that I didn't put her EasyWalk harness on her - 30 seconds after getting in the door we returned to the car to correct that oversight. HD is a great place and we get some nice training in. Plus, as luck would have it, they have some of the most dog savvy employees at my store. If they aren't busy, they are more than happy to work with her. She always gets lots of attention and is finally getting used to the bizarre concept that some people actually don't want to pet her. She turns her nose up and walks jauntily by when she realizes its one of those really aberrant types. She's just sure they need medical attention.

Peach - head under a chair
Friday after work I did another training session. Gimme is having a real difficulty getting the idea of waiting for the cue (stage three of learning). My thinking is either I'm doing something wrong or I'm doing something wrong. When I cue Gimme, its like she isn't really listening to me because she's only right about which behavior to give me out of the four I'm using (peach, sit, down, touch) about 60% of the time, whereas her accuracy is around 95% any other time. I swear she gets it in her head which one comes next (I'm working hard to keep it random) and then doesn't listen to what I'm actually saying. I've emailed Ursula and we may add this to our upcoming private lesson. She says that Gimme is just the type of girl she would expect this kind of problem and that she needs to improve her "listening skills". She mentioned having the same difficulty with two of her seven dogs. I re-checked my notes to see how to work on this part. I'd been doing a combination of extending the cue and the mixed sets. So I'm going to try clicking for waiting and see if that makes it clearer for her. And if not, we'll add it to our private lesson next week.

Gimme was less focused today in agility practice. So I'm making the same changes. She gets a few minutes to snoop around while I set up the exercise, then if she isn't ready to work I put her on leash and do the drill of moving her around, so that she doesn't have time to look or snoop around. Again I think the snooping is just too self-reinforcing, so I want to interrupt the self-reinforcing aspect. After I did that, she got right down to work and did some really good stuff.

I did some yard work today, pushing through the remaining migraine. What should have taken an hour, took twice as long with Gimme's "help". I've been unable to convince her that its not really helpful when she runs off with my tools, the weed eater line (while balling it up into a big knotted mess), and the big pieces of ivy I've been cutting down. She says she only does it to air them out. I maintain that since the ivy, the tools and the weed eater line have all been outside all along, they don't actually need airing out. She remains unconvinced.

Orange - sit on a small perch
Since this is her other behavior we're trying to get waiting for the cue, did this today. I selected this because its a little harder behavior than peach, so thought she might not leap right to it as readily. I started clicking for her not doing anything and at first thought it was working... but as we got into it, she went back to "not listening". She'd wait for me to give her a cue, but then about half the time give me some behavior other than the one I asked for. If I waited, then she'd give me the right one. So clearly this isn't going to be the magic fix. I did notice that when I did a rapid succession of cues in tertiary reinforcement style... then she gives me the right behavior almost every time. Curious thing and I'll be interested to see what Ursula says about it. When Gimme gets frustrated she gives me a nice bark fest.

Afterward I tried easy stuff. We got out the brick and did some "get in" (counter clockwise forehand pivot). Gimme didn't seem convinced that I wanted her front feet on it and kept backing on. I wonder if that's a carry over from apple or if its because of our playing with two small platforms for a stand. The other thing, once I got her doing it was that when I say the cue as she is doing the behavior trying to get this on cue, she breaks off the behavior. After I was done training it suddenly occurred to me why. I have always used "get it" for a tossed treat and now "get in" for this. They sound so much alike, no wonder she is having problems. Smack my forehead!!!

BTW at one point she started pushing the brick (octagonal 7" diameter board) around the floor with her nose. So I expect that next time we do melon, she'll be the push master queen...

I really want to use the "get in" for the forehand pivot because its in my head and the first thing that comes out of my mouth for that behavior. So will leave it alone for awhile and have a few sessions of just using "yours" for the tossed treats. Add to that all the times I'll use that when tossing her treats for resets, it should switch pretty quickly. Then in a few weeks will come back to this and see if she's able to accept the new meaning for the cue. It'll be a challenge and we'll just see. She's pretty smart, so I think she will. If not, I'll make the cue an elongated "innnnn" and then later start putting "get" in front of it. You know I'll let you know how it goes.

We also did some work with our single stand platform, ala Michele Pouliet. I need to go back and watch the video again to get clear in my head about how to teach it before I go any further.

You know, it occurs to me that she has so many behaviors that are well on their way. I think as soon as we get past the hump of "wait for the cue", she is really going to take off in her understanding. Training my little genius is such a fun adventure.

Well, drugs are wearing off, so must be time for the next dose and I'm sure I hear the couch calling me.

Melon - push cube with nose
Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)
Not trained.

My Little Bootie Queen

2011-10-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is easily the funniest dog on the planet.

You may remember early reports of how much Gimme likes to admire herself in mirrors. Then there is the whole photo essay I did of her admiring the pretty puppy in the mirror at the end of the bed in my parent's motor home. Of course, she didn't miss any opportunity to admire herself in the mirrors in her early rally classes.

Tonight, I decided to break out our stand platforms and play with them for a few minutes. One of the problems I've had is accurately seeing what she is doing with her back feet so I'd know when to click. I have three narrow tall mirrors I bought, planning to find a way to put them together into one larger mirror. Not having done that yet, I just got one out and laid it on its side near where I needed to see.

Gimme ran right up to pose in front of it. She was noticeably dismayed that the damn thing was too short for her to pose and admire herself! She'd pose, look at it and only see her feet/legs. Then her head would go down to look in it, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Then she'd start over with posing. She did that five times before giving up with a big theatrical sigh. She is so put upon.

It was too too damn funny and I'm sure my description doesn't do it justice.

Still in Class & The Project - Day 18

2011-10-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was kind of a quiet day overall. It was a bad day for whining, so I decided to pick up and try Rescue Remedy. I've also done what I said I would, to block Gimme's view outside the car. So far it seems to be going well. I'm still doing the thing of stopping the car if there is active whining. Once or twice of that and then she settles in for the rest of the drive. Not sure at this point whether its the Rescue Remedy or blocking her view that is helping, but either or both is fine with me. What an interesting process this has been - especially since I can't figure out any consistent pattern.

After work today, we went through all our fruit training... Gimme was happy as a clam. I think she'd like to do all of them almost every day. Today she was quite barky. The only-on-cue part really frustrates her. She was also throwing other behaviors at me that werent' part of the fruit grouping, so that seems different. As soon as I get the last strip of carpet pulled up then we'll be able to train more consistently again - since its raining almost every day now, we absolutely have to have an indoor space.

Melon - push cube with nose

We started with this and boyoh was she giving me some really good pushes. She was rolling or pushing the cube about 2 feet most of the time. Occasionally she'd get her feet into it, but I just ignored that. She tends to get it pushed up against something and that definitely brings the feet into play.

Peach - head under a chair

I just did the white chair and was waiting out her insistence on doing it on her terms. That's where the barking started. She seemed to be getting the idea of waiting for the cue by the end of 20 treats.

Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)

Gimme doesn't really like doing this on the hardwood floor. I got some once I threw the comforter on the floor, but by then she was already frustrated. I think I'll back up and encourage her to do this on a spare couch cushion or other soft surface. Its still every bit as cute, when she stops barking at me long enough to do it.

Apple - back into a box, back feet only

This was the first time I didn't use the leash and it went really well. She only stepped through twice. Did about 25% sidestep and mostly backing in. She has decided now that she can put one foot in and then have the other resting on the edge (smashing the edge is more like it) and that I should just accept that. Not! That really pushed her barking button.

Orange - get onto a small perch with all four feet

This went well as before. She still hasn't made the connection that she only gets clicked for it when I cue it, so more barking. She was quite the little jabberwocky today, but she was having fun telling me off.

When I got to class Mr. Dinosaur said he needed to talk to me. He "reminded" me that I'm not his employee (duh) and that as such I can't give instruction or help the other students (because of insurance concerns). Seems he didn't know I gave that other lady a card. I think he is referring to when I was talking to the owners of the fearful Sheltie who is barking any time other dogs get too close. It was a continuation of a conversation that started outside about 45 minutes before class.

The lady with the black poodle wasn't in class tonight. I don't know if that is just coincidence or if she has decided not to come back. Hope she goes to Ursula. The GSD in the prong collar is getting more aggressive acting and tried to fight with another dog. His owner got special instruction after class so basically he's on 10" of leash and a constantly tight prong collar. That should do wonders for his disposition. Two more dogs are in prong collars that weren't last week. One is the dog that whines all the way through class, which he still does even with the new way of correcting him. After class two students were telling the Dinosaur that he really knows his dogs and how amazed they are at how much calmer their dogs are in their new collars (prong). I resisted the urge to run over, throw myself down on the floor and do the grape.

The Dinosaur made it a point to tell the class how much he hates clicker training. That is, of course, right after Gimme did some of her best work in the class. The next time we heeled I went right back to clicking and heard an audible sigh from him. Oh darn. For me and mine, the clicker stays.

For Gimme's part, she did better tonight - with moments of sheer brilliance. Working in the alcove for much of class is a big improvement. The office we'd been using was occupied, so we couldn't use it, but still did well. Gimme is sound asleep as we speak.

'Nother Trial to Watch & The Project - Day 17

2011-10-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

Thursday we walked on the fort's training areas. That may be our last walk there for several weeks as they close off the training areas for hunters. We almost didn't go, since it had been raining all morning and I didn't have gear in the car for a long walk in the rain. Guess its time to get out my winter wear. Fortunately we had a nice sun break for our walk. We didn't do any training on Thursday.

Friday, we went for a drive after work and Gimme is back to being whiny. Her behavior remains inconsistent and unpredictable. Sometimes she is really bad, other times she is really good and the rest somewhere in between. Overall, I do think the behavior is reducing. I am going to screen off the back of the car as I do find that sometimes she seems to be doing really well and then seems to see something and suddenly is whiny again. I never would have thought of doing that, but Victoria Stillwell uses it to great effectiveness on It's Me or the Dog.

Since we couldn't use the fort Saturday, we went to a USDAA agility trial near where my folks live. Stayed there about 90 minutes. It was good to watch agility again - didn't realize how much I missed it. Gimme did pretty good overall. She was showing some good self control around all the people and the dogs going by. However, dogs running on course was a bit much for her. So when I brought her back in the second time, I brought lots of peanut butter and she got to watch and eat PB. She did much better that way. She was clearly noticing the moving dogs, but more interested in the PB. Toward the end of that 20 minute session, I was able to let her watch the dogs when they were on the far side of the course and then just give her PB when the got in the 1/3 of the course closest to where we sat. She was able to keep in her thinking brain throughout. I was happy with that.

After that we went to my parents' and despite my prayers for rain, it was dry enough to mow. So that's what I did. I figure I walked 3 miles behind that mower. Ordinarily it isn't that bad but it was just wet enough that the driving wheels were slipping, so I did a lot more pushing of that heavy thing than usual. That left me really tired and sore.

Thus Sunday I didn't do much of anything. About mid-afternoon I finally got in gear. Took Gimme down to Capitol Lake for a walk. I've decided not to do that walk for awhile. I notice Gimme spends the whole time scanning the horizon for dogs. Our worst loose leash walking happens there. This is particularly noticeable after seeing how much better she does at the show and trial. She tends to have her focus out-there somewhere and we need to practice having it closer to where we are. I think that site just promotes the wrong thing for her.

It occurs to me that its also a bit like what I've seen with fearful dogs working in distracting places. One Tervuren I worked with was a complete angel at a trial or show. She acted so normal (only showing the most subtle of calming signals) that it was hard to believe that she was a real basket case. Anywhere else and her hyper-alert fearful behaviors were in full swing. When a dog is faced with a lot of what scares them, all their behavior tends to be suppressed. In that case, its like they are trying not to attract attention to themselves. I've seen similar behavior in anxious dogs at seminars when a dog or person leaves the area and then comes back, an anxious dog will react about them all over again. There's a technical name for this, but I forget what it is.

In Gimme's case, she certainly isn't fearful or anxious. But she does tend to be hyper-vigilant in watching for dogs. When she only has to watch in one direction, like at Capitol Lake, then she can really obsess about watching ahead of us for the first sign of a dog. Whereas at shows/trials, they are everywhere, so since she can't watch in every direction, she ends up more settled. Anyway, that's my theory and I'm sticking with it.

So will probably do more shows/trials and leave Capitol Lake walks off our itinerary for awhile (though I could walk the boardwalk, since there are seldom dogs there). I could go down to the park on one side and just sit with her, clicking/treating for attention. There is a place that I think would be suitable for that and so I may try that.

Another reason to not go there is that people are S-T-U-U-U-P-I-D.... What part of the picture of someone with a dog moving well off the side of the trail with their dog and giving it a constant stream of treats as you approach in the opposite direction is an indicator that you should bring your friendly dog up to them, saying, "she's a puppy and loves to play" or "she's friendly and wants to say hello". The idiot gene is alive and well... Good grief!

Peach - head under a chair
We did a short session of this Sunday afternoon. First with the white plastic chair and then with my kitchen chair - 15 treats each. You may remember that last time, Gimme didn't think the cue applied to a different chair. This time Gimme got into this so fast and did so well. She started right off doing better than we ended with the last time. What a good example of latent learning.

Apple - back into a box, back feet only
Orange - get onto a small perch with all four feet
Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)
Melon - push cube with nose
Not trained today.

Second Nosework Class (2/1)

2011-09-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

First an update. Its been cooler here, so I've taken Gimme to work with me more often. Yesterday was a cool day and when I came out to the car between and after stores, I indulged in short training sessions.

The first time I first walked her around behind my Shopko account. Remember this is where she once showed a lot of concern about the large truck noises on the freeway. We walked right up to the edge of the behind-the-store parking lot and she showed no sign of even noticing the truck noise. She was too busy sniffing and eating blackberries. Then we walked back toward the car and she found a squished and rotting bag of garbage that she wanted to investigate. I took her past it closer to the car and did check-ins, then some eye contact. After that decided to use that distracting garbage (never let a good distraction go to waste) to work leave-it and heeling with distraction. She very quickly figured out that the goodies I have are far better than garbage - who knew....

After my TopFoods account we did more check-ins and then more eye contact. We also did some heeling and I discovered that her duration in the sit between movement needs work. Gee, wonder who's fault that is...?

I have to report a wondrous discovery. Remember I lamented in an earlier post how the good behaviors never globalize like bad behaviors do? Well I've discovered one of Gimme's that has - to a certain extent. She was taught early in life to wait for permission to eat her meals. I can set her full food bowl down and then put all the makings away, wash my hands, gather up the other dogs' bowls and go through the door, before sticking my head back in and giving her the "okay" to eat. It is, without a doubt, her best self-control behavior -- showing that she obviously is capable and I just need to train more of it.

Well the other day we were going somewhere after breakfast, so I put her outside and got breakfast ready for everyone. I set Gimme's breakfast outside the back door expecting her to find it and eat it. Two minutes later I looked out the window to discover her standing there waiting for an "okay" to eat. What a good girl she is!

After that I started paying closer attention and realized that when she is fed in her crate, she's doing the same thing, after a fashion. She runs in and out of her crate, even though the bowl is already in there and I was thinking she was evidencing that she didn't want to get in the crate. I've been putting her in and walking away. Now that I've watched her, I realize she is waiting for me to give her permission to eat. No telling how long she's been sitting there ignoring her uneaten breakfast all this time. Bad mommy for not noticing good Gimme's good behavior.

There are also rules to this behavior that I probably need to work on, rules that Gimme invented and that are too too funny. First, Gimme thinks this only applies to her meals in her bowl on the floor. It does not apply to dropped food. It does not apply to her bowl on the counter. It does not apply to Meaggi or Michael's bowls. That's my girl - Queen of Hoots...

On the way to class last night, Gimme was fussy, which surprised me, since we had trained twice already. I had to stop five times on the way to Albertsons - which promised to make it a long trip to class. When I came back to the car, she was clearly still primed to whine. So I got her out of the car and did a short training session there. Again check-ins (interrupted by a child that had to come and pet and hug Gimme), then eye contact. There were a lot of comings and goings and so this was very hard for her.

When we were done she got back in the car and was completely quiet for the rest of the drive. This lends more credence to my thinking that she is happier and calmer when she gets plenty of training. Is there such a thing as a training-junkie? Could she be developing train-aholism? Hmmmmm.

Once we got to class, she whined briefly, but quickly settled down and was quiet for the rest of the time. Woo hoo... Next time I'm going to get her out when we get there and do a set of check-ins and eye contact and see how that works. If that's what it takes to keep her happy and contented - its certainly a system I can live with.

Nosework class was great. Now that the class is broken down into smaller groups, we are in the later group of five teams. Gimme is far and away the best in the class. My buddy, a Boxer-mix, is the next most enthusiastic. There are also two Border Collies and a blind Aussie. One of the BC's is fairly enthusiastic.

During the first set, there were less boxes than before and more spread out. Gimme was all over the place and just wild to find them. She is verrrrrry busy and verrrrrry fast. This week we were to follow them and add food to the box when they found the hide. That was hard for me because Gimme would snarf up the food and be gone so fast I couldn't catch up some of the time.

During the second set, the boxes were more spread out and again Gimme was little miss speedy. The instructor was trying to distract her by moving around the room and past Gimme with other boxes, but she only fell for that once. She is very into this game and thrilled that so many people went to so much effort to invent it for her enjoyment. It's great being the center of the universe.

The third set was done on leash. The boxes were set up around the perimeter, with one up on a chair (the box opening was to the front, not up). Gimme raced around the room and found all the hides. She missed one the first time around that was in the first corner, since she was going so fast and rounded that corner. Denise Fenzi would call that an error of enthusiasm. The instructor said that as the finds get harder, she may slow down to do what she needs to in order to find the hides.

She came home and slept without moving until it was time to go to bed.

I'll Probably be Kicked Out of Class -- The Project - Day 17

2011-09-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

First, the good news. My plan for Gimme to get better benefit from the class worked very well. I had planned to prop the door open so I could work in the hallway, but the instructor objected. As it turned out, the room we use has a door that adjoins to a small conference room, and the connecting door is right there in the alcove where I set up tonight. So I propped that door open and Gimme and I spent much time in there. I kept her in the car until all the dogs had settled down and stopped their barking and growling and such. Then after she came in the only dog noise she had to contend with was the one that whined through the whole class (the owner has been training with this instructor [Mr. Dinosaur] for over a year, her dog knows almost nothing and is not a happy worker by any stretch of the imagination).

Gimme was able to do a lot of work in the conference room and was showing me some of her best stuff. Then we'd come out into the alcove just off the main room and work. Gimme got some peanut butter bones, but didn't need as much as before. She was able to do some relaxation protocol. And she was able to play tug with me, which she couldn't do last week. At one point, we even took one turn heeling around the room "with" the class. I hugged the wall where I could and was very careful not to get too close to the other dogs (mostly stressed out and handled by clueless people). When they did fast heeling, we sought a corner and practiced one-step-sit heeling. Gimme did pretty good. Overall I was very pleased with how she did.

So, why am I gonna get kicked out of class? Tonight was problem solving night.

The instructor is, at best a dinosaur - and I'm only there to take advantage of the opportunity to train in that environment. I wouldn't use his methods for anything. I hate that I'm supporting him financially, but I need the environment and there is no place else to go.

The instructor thinks because he no longer trains using the strict Koehler method that he's a gentle trainer. He promotes himself as a reward-based trainer, but then on the first night of class said that a prong collar is the original "gentle leader". He used his 15yo limping dog in a prong collar as the standard to which the class should aspire. He taught the class how to do a "motivational leash pop", again using his old dog to demo the technique (my heart breaks for poor old Eddie). Of course, the instructor is completely clueless about how stressed his dog is and makes excuses for his dog aggression problem.

I've told him before that I thought a "motivational leash pop" makes about as much sense as a "motivational face slap" --- "here, let me demonstrate". But it doesn't sink in. He's so far behind the times it would be funny if he wasn't screwing up the relationship between so many people and their poor innocent dogs. He's been teaching for the City of Olympia parks and recreation for 20 years and hasn't changed a thing. I keep hoping he'll retire...

I managed to stay silent through all the stupid advice he gave out. Even though some of it gives the owners a 50-50 chance of getting bitten. Even though one very young GSD who came to class just out of control, is now coming on a prong collar (upon Mr. Dinosaur's advice), is still out of control, dragging the owner and is now exhibiting the beginnings of aggressive behavior. I have to admit I almost lost it when he told the woman with the 5 month old miniature poodle, that nips her children when they try to pick it up that, "You should get rid of him and get another dog. That's inappropriate behavior for a poodle and can never be tolerated. I'm serious, you should get rid of him." The kids that are trying to pick the dog up are 5 and 6, so you can imagine the picture of what being "picked up" is like for the dog.

Anyway, I hung around a bit longer after class than I needed to and gave the poodle owner one of Ursula's business cards and suggested she contact her. Unfortunately the owner of the whiny dog saw me talking to her and will likely report back to Mr. Dinosaur. I know that's a fo-paw to refer his students to other people, but I'm willing to take my licks. Actually he probably won't even say anything to me, since he's been enamored of me for years. I think I could kill someone in class, leave a dead body laying in a pool of blood in the middle of the room and provided I cleaned up the mess at the end of class, he wouldn't say anything. Honestly I'm not going to test that theory... <eg>

We walked on the fort today, which Gimme thoroughly enjoyed, not having gotten any walks over the weekend. Since we got to class earlier than necessary, we took a short walk on the boardwalk before class.

Peach - head under a chair
Gimme still didnt' think the cue for this behavior applied to my white plastic chair. So we shaped it over again and went through the drill of putting it on cue again. Then I switched to another chair and started over. It went a little faster this time, but I realize in hindsight that I didn't go through the drill of putting that chair on cue. Also I think the session may have lasted too long, because she was acting confused when I tried mixing in other behaviors. I do know that I sometimes push forward too fast. So will drop back a bit next time I work this. Take my time if shaping is needed and re-attach cues to each of them.

Its good that I get to re-learn this stuff on behaviors where it doesn't matter.

Apple - back into a box, back feet only
Orange - get onto a small perch with all four feet
Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)
Melon - push cube with nose
Not trained today.

The Project - Day 16 and Dog Show for Distraction

2011-09-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

My plan had been to go to the Gig Harbor Kennel Club show after church. We had a church membership meeting and by the time that ended it was pouring rain in Dupont. I know most of the Gig Harbor show is outdoors, so I didn't think we'd be going. However when I got near home where I'd have to take the exit, the sun was out and the sky almost clear, so headed for Shelton. Naturally, right before we got there it started raining again. As we arrived it was drizzling, but I decided to get out and at least do ten check-ins and some other stuff so it wasn't a total waste of gas.

When we got there it was already 2:15, so many people had already left. We took our time wandering in to the grounds. We watched the last of the Basenjis from a distance of about 30 feet. Then sat and watched a couple groups from about 60 feet. Gimme was excited and interested in all the goings-on, but not out of her head excited. She couldn't work, but did give me check-ins and the occasional offered sit. Then the tear down crew came and removed the gates between us and the group ring, so we moved a bit closer.

We started at about 30 feet from the group ring and Gimme was doing really well. Even when the whole group would run around the ring together, she didn't get too distracted by it. She'd watch it quietly and then turn to me and say, "well aren't you going to give me peanut butter or something?" We moved around several times and by the time the terrier group was in the ring, we were within 5 feet of the ring's corner.

Gimme did really well. The only time she expressed concern was when someone walked by with an English Setter that was pulling on its lead and seemed to be trying to hack up a lung. There were other dogs she took an interest in, watching them intently. A very young pointer held her interest for quite awhile - she was just certain it would play with her if she could just catch its eye.

From time to time she would get bored and then would pester me to work with her. So she'd get a few cues to respond to and be treated. There were times she'd lay on her belly with her legs stretched out behind her and calmly watching some activity or another. I was very pleased to see her be bored - that's a good thing in my book. I think it made a big difference that most of the dogs she was seeing were experienced show dogs, so they were really well behaved and fairly calm. The ones that didn't fit that category were much further away.

The funniest thing was that Gimme really does believe that the whole world revolves around her, of this, she has no doubt. So every time the group winners were selected and the spectators erupted in applause, Gimme would leap to her feet and strike a pose, the better to be admired, doncha know. She has the most wonderful natural stack I've ever seen - at least 90% of the time her poses are ring ready. She'd be ring ready 100% of the time with just a hint of training on that.

After we got home and I was working in the yard... Gimme was just sure there must be local people who would need to admire her. So she spent quite a bit of time striking a pose on the baby dogwalk in the front yard. She's always done that when people walk by, but tonight she was just doing it and then holding it for several minutes without pedestrians. I'm going to have to stop wearing sweats when I do yard work so I'll have pockets to put the camera in.

As we left the grounds heading to parking, we practiced some heeling and overall she did a really nice job. Since we'd been there 2:30, I wouldn't have been surprised to have her be too tired to work. She loves to work and she loves to be admired. Once she realizes that the Rally and Obedience rings all have spectators, there'll be no stopping her.

Apple - back into a box, back feet only
After finishing the yard work, I did a short session (20 repetitions) of the apple behavior. I've been doing this on leash to help her "get" the concept of backing in. I decided tonight to not use the leash (okay, really I couldn't find it with the mess my living room is in as I'm reorganizing and ripping up carpet). Instead, I took a page from what I'd decided before, I think on Melon, to:

ignore bad attempts - stepping through front feet first
minimum reward - side-stepping in
jackpot - backing in

Naturally, she very quickly figured out which efforts paid the most and soon the vast majority of the attempts were backing in. It seems she has also figured out that the base board tells her when she is aligned with our little box. She will then back up until she feels the side of the box with her hocks then neatly step her feet in - most of the time. Once doing this, she hopped both feet in together. I love that and if I see it again, she'll get the biggest jackpot she's ever seen. I'll make sure to have a big piece of chicken ready just in case we need that super jackpot.

Right now she is sound asleep. Its been a pretty full day for the little munchkin.

Orange - get onto a small perch with all four feet
Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)
Peach - head under a chair
Melon - push cube with nose
Not trained today.

The Project - Day 15 and Horses...

2011-09-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

Our day started with a short training session at the arena (after a completely quiet ride over). Gimme took a little longer than last time to get focused, but I'm sure that was because the two barn dogs kept hanging out by the arena gate. On a positive note, even though she was frustrated by the gate keeping her from them, she didn't act as frustrated, so that shows some improvement.

When we did get to work, she did nicely. I decided to get started teaching her to rear cross. I've taught her to spin away from me on both sides before and she'd done well with it stationary. When I tried to do it with some movement today, well lets just say my hands took quite a beating. She's always loved to be mouthy with me and is so good and gentle about it, that I've let her continue (especially since she isn't mouthy with others). Something about the movement and the hand signal (like the hitchhiker thumb) I was using, she took as an invitation to jump up and play with my hands. It took awhile to sort it out. Once she was doing better, we added in a jump (bar on the ground still), approached at a slice and she did well. For some reason, when we added the jump she stopped trying to get my hands. I have no explanation for that change.

Toward the end of the session I lost her attention and focus altogether. I was pretty certain we had simply used up her baby brain. I waited for her to choose to re-engage. She tried a couple times and just couldn't pull it together. Since she wasn't stressed, I waited some more. The next time she came, we got through the simple exercise one more time and I jackpotted her with every treat I had. She thought that was waaaay cool.

My plan for the day had been to go to the Shelton Kennel Club show, which is only 25 miles from here, and do some training and counter-conditioning there. But, as I was headed to find the barn manager, one of the ladies who has just started as an agility student (lovely GSD) told me she was about to work her young horse in the round pen and I was welcome to bring Gimme over to train her near the pen. That was an offer I couldn't pass up.

Gimme has only seen horses that were standing or walking. Seeing one trot and canter was LOT for her to take in. We basically stood there and watched and she got lots of peanut butter. Her eyes were HUGE for most of the time. At times she would leap away during the cantering approaches or bark and lunge toward the horse. This told me I needed to adjust how close we were and when we were a bit farther away she was able to watch and suck peanut butter.

Then Anine came over and just stood there and petted Gimme and gave her treats, while her horse was right there too (through the fence). We've been unable to convince Gimme that a horse snorting isn't a death threat and she barked back her, "you and who's Army" response. I may have to get the horse snort on tape so I can get her used to it. They just don't do it often enough, so if I had it looped on tape I could work with the sound a bit better to get her used to it.

When she was standing there with her horse, Gimme went into this cycle of barking at the horse and so Anine was cuing her to sit and then would reward her with the treats I'd given her. Very quickly the barking got worse. In the past I would have called this I'll Be Bad So I Can Be Good And Get Rewarded syndrome. I'll probably still call it that, but I realized very quickly that this was a perfect example of the flip side of tertiary reinforcement. We stopped cuing the sit when Gimme was barking and quickly the barking went away.

Tertiary Reinforcement is when a cue for a known behavior acts as a reinforcement for whatever behavior came before it. We are using this a lot in agility, where cuing the next jump reinforces completion of what came before. It is the opportunity to continue on course and get closer to the reward at the end that makes the next cue reinforcing. Likewise, what Ursula wanted me to get to is the point where I can have a series of multiple behaviors on cue and use them in much the same way where:

the reward for behavior one is the cue for behavior two
the reward for behavior two is the cue for behavior three
the reward for behavior three is the cue for behavior four
the reward for behavior four is the cue for behavior five
the reward for behavior five is click/treats

I did this a little in class and it was clear that Gimme thought it was a lot of fun; her eyes got very bright.

Anyway to continue, in the case of barking at the horse, cuing a sit was essentially rewarding the barking by giving her an opportunity to do something for which she would be rewarded. Hence the name I'll Be Bad So I Can Be Good And Get Rewarded syndrome, and thus the barking behavior increased. Once we waited out the barking and only cued the sit when she chose to be quiet, the barking rapidly went away. That was such a cool example of tertiary reinforcement, as well as a perfect example of how people unintentionally reward undesirable behaviors.

After Gimme was completely calm with the horse just standing near by, Anine did some more trotting and cantering in the round pen and Gimme did a lot better. We were able to be much closer and she didn't need the peanut butter, though she still got some. So we made some good progress. Which, by the way, Anine got training value with her young gelding who showed quite a bit of concern about the strange dog in the beginning.

Since that was a lot of mental/emotional work for Gimme, I decided not to go to Shelton. We may go after church tomorrow. After a few errands, we came home and goofed off for most of the day.

In recent re-reading of some of my Project entries, I could see where I have sometimes repeated "learning something" related to one or another of the fruit behaviors. So I copied the entries all into a word file and cleaned them up. I'm reorganizing them under the individual behaviors, so I can quickly check the last couple of entries about training a particular behavior and know what I decided last time. That's one of the things I have loved about blogging, is how it works for me as a training journal. I am much more inclined to blather on endlessly about what we did to share Gimme with the world, than I ever would be to take notes in a private journal.

Melon - push cube with nose
We have not trained any of the fruits in 2.5 weeks, so I started today with Melon because its our weakest behavior of the five. I sat on the floor and each time reset the cube on its smaller end. I also was tossing the treats more, which gave me a moment to reset the cube and it also meant that Gimme did a bit less of the pushes while laying down. We had at least 60 treats and one large chunk of freshly boiled chicken. I've found Gimme finds it very, Very, VERY reinforcing to bite off a piece chicken.

She actually did very well. I saw a lot less foot action and when we did see it, it always followed an accidental foot touch. For instance, if she nose touched and I clicked and tossed the treat, if she happened to hit the cube with a foot when she dived after a treat most of the time she would come back and bat at it with her foot right away. I figured out this pattern toward the end of our session, so didn't have time to deal with it, but next time I think when she accidentally hits it with her foot, I'll pick it up and pause so she sees me resetting it and see if that resets more than just the cube.

When she did good nose pushes I gave her several treats tossed one at a time. A few times I held out for multiple touches and when i got those, again she got several treats tossed one at a time. Her best efforts were rewarded with nibbling the chicken. At the very end, she did a very nice push tumbling the box more than a foot, so she got all the treats I had, one at a time, and then got to nibble the rest of the chicken out of my hand. Hopefully that will be a big reinforcement that percolates in her little doggie mind.

This has been our best session on Melon thus far. And I have to add, the container I was fishing the treats out of was sitting next to me on the floor. Gimme never tried to help herself... there's that great work ethic again.

Apple - back into a box, back feet only
Orange - get onto a small perch with all four feet
Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)
Peach - head under a chair
Not trained today.

Frustrating Friday - New Lesson Learned

2011-09-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

I expected that Gimme would be fussier on the drive today. So, I made it a point to play with her some before we left, but oh good Lord, it took 2:10 to drive 2.5 miles!!! By the time I tumbled to just how long it had been, we were already past the halfway mark and I was getting lower on gas. I thought that at least once we got to the park and walked, I'd be able to drive home without a lot of stops.

The weird thing about tonight was that she was much fussier than she has been all week. And there were a few short tantrums during the stopping breaks, before she would settle down. We haven't had that during the drive -- only at the end when she was insisting that it was time for Gimme to get out and play RIGHT NOW. Once we got there, she fussed for about 20 minutes and then finally settled down a bit. Then I had to do the reach, pull away, reach, pull away drill for a bit before she remembered that the way we get out of the crate is to sit and that pawing at the door and whining are not part of the sit behavior, even if she is so multi-talented that she can do all three at once.

When I got her out, she just couldn't focus well enough to walk decently, even though she was wearing the EasyWalk harness. I finally got so fed up with having my arms jerked out of the sockets that I sat down on a bench and tied the leash to it. Then just clicked her for any sign of attention, any check-ins, any default sit, etc. That helped some. I got her in my lap and tried doing some Ttouch to settle her, but it didn't help.

Weirdly there were very few people in the park at that hour and she was even more distracted than usual. I don't know if that was because she was still keyed up from the drive. Or possibly because there was so much less going on, it was easier to focus on really minute things that she'd never noticed before.

Since we weren't making any real progress, I decided we might as well head home, cuz if it was going to take two hours... it would already be past midnight before we got home.

Walking back to the car she was still flinging off in all directions. So I started doing what I do in the arena, only this time on leash. If she went left, I went right. If she went forward, I went back... whatever she did, I did the opposite. I have to admit it felt sort of Koehler-ish. Probably because I was frustrated by this time (and I always found training that way frustrating), though Koehler was always trying to set them up for a big leash correction. Since Gimme was in a harness she wasn't getting any corrections.

In no time at all, I had a super attentive dog on the other end of my leash. She was into this and thinking it had GAME POSSIBILITIES. Not being one to disappoint her, I turned it into a game. I was dashing all around, changing directions and constantly making it more challenging to her. When she'd catch me, she got clicked and treated. I changed directions a LOT, but still generally heading toward where we'd parked.

It was fun for both of us and has given me pause for considering things... but, I am sooooo going to pay for that tomorrow with sore achy knees. So the drive home was absolutely silent. Gimme went from crazy dog on the drive down to the contented puppy on the way home. She is dozing right now, contented.

So I've rechecked my blog (which doubles as my training log) and I see that when the whining went from annoying to much worse was after our classes with Ursula stopped. It increased again after started doing the distraction training at the beginning of the month and then when we stopped training the fruit project 2 weeks ago to try to spend some time on tightening up her responses to sit and down cues. Each of the noticeable differences seems to coincide with changes in our schedule that resulted in less training and/or less mental challenge. And now that we've been working on the whining, she is getting even less training, but the sharp uptick tonight seems late - unless you consider that the extra exercise in the form of walking around Capitol Lake and on the boardwalk may have bled off some of the mounting frustration.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but its certainly something to explore. Gimme has always loved to train and I've often thought she needs the mental exercise. I think she is the kind of dog that has to have a job. We learned during classes with Ursula that Gimme doesn't do well when stuff is too easy cuz she gets bored. When its hard to puzzle through and do, that is when she thrives. So it may be that while I've been focusing on stuff she knows, trying to tighten up her responses, that I've unintentionally been boring her during the training that we have been doing.

Anyway, that's kinda where my mind is right now. So will play with that over the next few days and see what we get. On the fruit training, I'll work on the three behaviors that aren't on cue yet. And with the sits and downs, I think I can make them more interesting for her if I throw them in with a bunch of heeling games.

First Nosework Class (1/1)

2011-09-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

Last night's Nosework class was a LOT of fun for the Cutest Nose on the Planet. Gimme comes from a long line of excellent Dalmatian noses, so she took to it like the proverbial duck to water. The moment her nose told her there was food in one of them thar boxes, it was all over but the gobbling.

There were twelve dogs in class; they come in one at a time. The 12 will be broken into two groups for the next class. Each dog got three turns throughout the class. The first time they come in and there's about a dozen smallish boxes on the floor and food has been put in five of them. As they clean out a box, the instructor put more in a couple of them, so the dogs get 7 finds. Gimme was so fast it was almost like not getting our money's worth. Of course her little bit of tracking experience helped, since she knew the moment I put the line on her tracking harness, its time to use your nose. The second time we came in there were only three finds - it went by so fast I almost missed it.

Most of the dogs were slow and tentative. Two others were eager, one was a Yellow Labrador that was almost as fast as Gimme. There were several shy and fearful dogs. A couple red bandana reactive dogs. Nosework is set up with these dogs in mind, so everyone can play and be comfortable and successful. One of the dogs in class is nearly blind and by her third turn she was really getting it and was quite methodical in her search for the food. They all showed clear improvement by their third turn.

On the third turn, the instructor flapped the lid closed on one of the Yellow Lab's boxes. For Gimme's third try, the lid was flapped closed and that box was set inside another deep box. It never even slowed her down. She was so sure she was the best, I fully expected her to break out in a high five. We are both looking forward to the next class.

Catching up on other things that have been going on

Last Saturday when I brought Gimme in to train after I taught agility, she got over the distraction much faster - in about half the time. She did well focusing on what I wanted for most of our little session, except at one point where she kept losing focus. I was trying to help her, but she finally just threw her little paws up and said, "Mom, I can't do this." Before I could stop her she ran to the far corner of the arena and pooped. After that she came right back to me and was ready to give me her all again. She really is such a good little worker.

Afterward we went to the fort to walk and had a nice time. It had been lightly raining earlier, but it stopped long enough for us to walk and then started again as we were driving away. The rest of our day was spent working on the living room. I think I mentioned that we are tearing out the carpeting and needless to say its a big dirty job. I'm reorganizing and getting shed of junk while I'm at it.

On Sunday I played hooky from church and Gimme and I spent the whole day working on the living room. She isn't nearly as much help as she thinks she is, but its not for lack of trying. I needed to run some errands too, so I broke them up into groups. Thus we were home for awhile, then in the car and running errands and then back home again and repeating... For the two earlier trips in the day, the DAP worked very well for Gimme and she was quiet and peaceful. For the last trip, around 4:30, she was fussy again. It was a quick run to Home Depot and I stopped twice on the way. But when I came out of HD after about half an hour, she was all settled in and quiet. I thought for sure that meant that I simply needed to give her more time for the DAP to take affect.

Monday is one of my longer work days, so I expected Gimme would not get much help from the DAP. Still I gave her a good fifteen minutes to settle in and she sure seemed that way when I got in the car. Still I didn't get but a block and a half, with four stops along the way, before she was whining again. That put us by the park. I tried several variations on a theme to figure out what would get the message across to her. Sometimes they seemed to work, but only for a short time or one or two repetitions and then she was back to full force whining. The moment I moved the car or sometimes even started the car, she started in again. I basically wasn't making any forward movement, now and then a few feet.

Since I was so close to home, I buttoned up the car to keep her safe and walked home. There I picked a book, as well as the earplugs I use when I run my saw. When I got back I got in the car, plugged up and read a couple chapters. Gimme finally settled down after which I read a couple more pages. Then I started the car and drove about half a block before needing to pull over again. Turned off the car, plugged up and started reading again. The next try I got almost a whole block before having to pull over. I repeated this, but soon had to leave off the reading because it was getting too dark to read, so I practiced my deep breathing exercises while I waited.

I did a few things different than what I've been doing before - other than the obvious. I did change the criteria. She has to lay down and stop whining - no cue, just do it. Then I did 15 deep breaths (takes just under a minute) before starting the car and taking off. I thought that gave her more time to be solid in the behavior and the deep breathing on my part might change the "energy" in the car. It also gives me time to scan the mirrors and pick a time to start up the car and re-enter traffic.

I also relaxed my standards for what constitutes whining as far as it relates to stopping the car. I just wasn't sure how much of what sounds like whining to me, she is even aware of doing. Obviously some of it she is, since she has shown some conscious control of it. But then some of the squeak-breathing type whining may be a stress thing that she doesn't have awareness of. So my criteria for pulling over was a subjective judgment call on my part of when it sounded like she was "actively whining".

Each time, the distances got longer and the time it took her to settle down seemed to get shorter. I used the breaks while waiting for her to settle down again to put my jacket on and get my food pouch on and leash ready. Then the last segment of the drive was FOUR BLOCKS and into parking at Capitol Lake. I was practically dancing in my seat and literally singing and yakking at her to distract her for the last half block and into a parking space so she wouldn't whine before I could leap out of the car and get her out. I wanted her to be successful and to get an immediate payoff.

I think the reason this worked is that by waiting for her to do a behavior that physically simulates calmness and then having her hold it... she was actually getting into to a calm state before we moved on again. There is scientific evidence that acting like a specific emotion causes people to feel that emotion, so it stands to reason it would work for dogs as well. Before, by responding so soon, she was never actually calm - just quiet. For instance, if I tense up and hold my breath, I may be quiet, but I won't be calm... and I can't be quiet that way very long.

I took a back way home and only had to pull over twice. That's huge. But then, she's always done better on the way home.

Tuesday night is our CGC class. Earlier in the day, after working one of my stores, we went to the fort to walk. Gimme did well on the ride to my store and then afterward toward the fort. I made it a point to stop before she could recognize where we were going and let her out of her crate. I'm giving her peanut butter in her ball to distract her, like a pacifier. Had to stop twice to refill it, but at least she was able to arrive in a more relaxed mindset. She was relaxed and quiet on the way home.

On the way to class, we only had to stop twice and Gimme very quickly settled down again. I was very pleased with how much progress she's made in such a short time. However, once we got there she was very whiny, wanting out of the car right away. Fortunately we were about half an hour early (I'd left home with a lot of time to spare in case we had to stop more often), so I had a lot of time to sit and wait for her to get calm again.

Class was even more chaotic this time around, the dogs were "heeling" (read that being dragged and jerked around in a circle). Gimme and me aren't doing anything the way the class is being done. I'm just there to use the environment and the instructor knows better than to even suggest anything to me.

Next time I'm going to change how I do things for Gimme. The class is just too much for her to take in. I'm going to set up in the alcove near the far door. That will have us a little farther away and the lighting there is a little dim. I'm going to set her crate at an angle so when she comes out, she can work behind her crate - acting like a visual barrier. Plus we can go out that door periodically to give her a complete break from the chaos. I can't use the other door because the two stupidest students keep parking on either side of it and they haven't mastered the concept of getting their dogs to come in close enough so someone can actually come through there with a dog. (imagine me rolling my eyes to heaven)

After class we went for a very long walk along the Percival Landing boardwalk. Its a nice way to relax after class and Gimme thoroughly enjoys the sniffing and snooping. She was quiet as a little church mouse on the way home.

Wednesday is another long work day for me, though it wasn't too bad this week. Not much merchandise came in, so I had a shorter than usual day. I left home with Gimme in plenty of time to allow for a lot of stopping on our way to nosework class. But then didn't need to stop even once!!! WOOHOO!!! I was so proud of her, that was a huge improvement and especially on a day when she'd been cooped up for most of it. I was so happy with her I had goose bumps all over me.

Naturally once we got there she was insistent that she had to get out RIGHT NOW. I sat with her for awhile until she got quiet and calm again before getting out of the car. It didn't really help long term since she resumed carrying-on the moment I left. She knew where she was and was just sure class couldn't start without her. When her turn came, I went out to get her a little early so I could wait out any whining, but she very quickly figured out the drill. Interestingly after her first turn, she was quiet for the remainder of class (two hours), only fussing a little when I went to get her. So we'll see how it goes next week. If the same pattern is present, I may try taking her out of the car for a quick walk before class and see if that satisfies her.

Today, Thursday seemed to start out quiet on our way to the fort. But then halfway there she started whining and I ended up stopping three times without getting to the place where I intended to break out the pacifier. I was close enough on the last stop, so once she was whine-free again, I let her out and we used the pacifier to get to the fort. Naturally when we got there, she immediately pooped, so I'm wondering if that was the problem all along. Bad mommy.

Since it had been a stressful ride, I opted to leave the treat bag and clicker in the car, planning to just walk. Never do that. Even if you don't plan to train, always be prepared for the possibility. Naturally, even though we haven't seen a horse in over a month, today we did and I didn't have anything to reward her with.

So the rest of our day has been uneventful. Still puttering on the living room project from hell. Still enjoying snuggle and play time with the Cutest Puppy on the Planet.

Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud

2011-09-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

About a thousand years ago, when I was a teen, an adult friend told me "Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud". At the time I was "in loooooove" and she was trying to explain to me that all those things I most loved about the guy would reveal the things that would most annoy me one day. Basically, the flip side of the traits you love are the things that are most likely to be crazy-making over time. The idea was to consider it from that point of view to be sure you'll be able to live with both sides of those traits. As it turned out, the object of my affection didn't feel the same way, so I didn't really apply or learn the lesson.

Later when I married, I didn't even think about what she said. Six years later when I divorced the guy, I thought about it a LOT. Sure enough, many of the traits I enjoyed when we were dating, were right there in the middle of what drove me bonkers. I won't go into detail, since 17 years later it still makes my blood boil to remember life with the ex-butthead.

I've since looked at that lesson with fresh eyes and it really applies to almost anything. I can apply it to friends and I see that the things I love about them are revealing to traits that are not so lovable (to me - other people will have different loves and annoyances). This works for the friends that stay and those that don't. It definitely works for any relationships.

It also works for puppies. When I first began to wonder if Gimme was "The One", she was less than 24 hours old and had just climbed over her mother to look for faucets on the other side and not finding any, made the more arduous climb back. I loved the no fear attitude and persistence she showed - AT LESS THAN ONE DAY OLD.

Later she was the puppy that was caught motoring down the hallway after having her nails done, while the other puppies were sound asleep in the basket. She was among the first to escape confinement from the puppy pen. She was the puppy that ruled the roost and told the other puppies what to do. She did have some difficulty with one puppy, but the others pretty much let her have her way. The puppy who is now named Grace is also strong willed, while the other puppies are more mellow in temperament, more like their mother. In any case, the signs of who Gimme would be were plentiful.

When I was there to get her, once she decided I was acceptable and adoption-worthy, she also decided none of the other puppies were allowed to get in my lap. When one of the girls came back a second time after being run off and Gimme discovered her in my lap - to say the least, her response was not endearing and it took quite awhile for her to settle down again. She screamed bloody murder for the whole very long drive to the airport when she experienced her first real confinement in the carry-on luggage. These were definitely signs of who she would be.

What did I expect from Gimme? I expected her to be brilliant, definitely too damn smart for her own good. I expected her to have a mind of her own. I expected her to be both very confident and very persistent, in good and in bad ways. I expected Gimme to have a Queen of the Universe attitude. I also suspected she would be over-the-top in how she approached things, but didn't really know how that would manifest itself. I already knew how cute she was and how hard it would be to resist that little pixie face.

She is ten times smarter than I ever anticipated - after all, she did invent 'sitting to demand things' after just one bite of cheese-n-cracker. She has also invented an impressive and sophisticated freestyle move that other people spend months teaching their dogs. If I want her to do things my way, I let her think its her idea and make sure it pays very well. She always thinks she is the one training me. Her confidence and persistence is a challenge OFTEN. I really have to work hard to set limits for her because most of the naughte' things she does are also too too funny. (Note the European spelling for naughty - its so much better that way) I put her toy basket up out of reach, so she redefined her reach and then I caught her perched on things 6 feet off the ground getting into her basket. [She had already dumped most of her toys on the floor and was just waiting up there so I'd have a chance to notice her stellar accomplishment.] She is part monkey and she has no fear. It doesn't occur to her that I meant for her to not get in the basket and spread her toys all over the place - rather she believed I must have wanted to give her a new challenge to work through and she doesn't want to disappoint my faith in her abilities. I work hard to stay ahead of her. Gimme actually thinks she was Queen of the Universe, but now she is Empress of the Cosmos.

Although the signs that she would be over-the-top in how she approached things were all there, I had no clue what that would mean in our life together. This has become the area of our greatest challenge. Some dogs (Gimme is definitely one) would be a disaster in the average pet home, and yet in the right home they get their needs met and the training they need. Living with Gimme is a lot like living with a gifted child. She gives 200% to everything she does. And that applies to getting distracted and wound up as well as it does to outsmarting me and playing with me and loving me and training me. When she gets aroused, she has real difficulty getting back to a normal state. When she is frustrated, she has difficulty dealing with those emotions too. She tends toward reactivity. These are all things we work on.

The reason I often don't talk about this side of Gimme is because the terminology used to describe these aspects of her personhood have become so emotion-laden among dog people and I don't want to give the wrong impression of my darling girl. These terms have been applied so often to dogs with serious aggression issues, that they've almost become synonymous with aggression. That's not the case with Gimme and I'm sure its not the case with many dogs, though I suspect it could be if they are not taught to deal with these emotions constructively. I've worn out a few Thesaurus looking for different words that are still accurate, but haven't found any. The dictionary defines these terms as:

Aroused: aroused to action, emotionally aroused and brought to a state of great tension.
Frustration: the feeling that accompanies an experience of being thwarted in attaining your goals.
Reactive: participating readily in reactions and tending to react to a stimulus.

These definitions describe Gimme more accurately. Whining is just one manifestation of this side of her personality. While whining drives me to distraction and is a safety hazard when I'm driving, teaching her to ride in the car without whining is about more than that. Gimme needs help learning to calm down - its not her first choice. So I've always tried to promote behaviors that have her in a thinking brain state as opposed to a reacting brain state. Ursula has helped us a lot with this. Since the whining behavior was getting worse (when it first started it was quite insignificant) and other approaches didn't work, she wasn't in a thinking brain. I don't know if it started out as stress, but I think it was becoming a stressor. Even a good stress is still physiologically stress, causing the same physical wear and tear on the body and mind.

BTW -- Ever notice how behavior problems are like weight gain? Its starts out so innocent and insignificant enough. Just an ounce here and a whine there. Then one day you notice a pair of pants feels a little tight across the beam and the whining is starting earlier and earlier on the drive. But you make an excuse for it. Must be water weight gain. Or, oh jeez, she's just excited to get there and spend time with me. Then it gets a bit worse, sliding straight into annoying. Your wardrobe shrinks because of all the clothes you can't fit into. The whining is now applied to other outtings. Damned annoying, but still livable. Then one day the airlines charges you for an extra seat and the dog is shrieking in your ear while you are trying to focus on traffic. Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration... but you get the picture.

Hmmmm, did you ever notice that good behavior doesn't mushroom and bloom in quite the same way?

Moral of this segue -- Don't beat-up on yourself (or anyone else) for not noticing a developing problem. It happens. Be glad you noticed it before the dog-abuse-police (or the fat police) came to drag you away. Get good advice, knuckle down and commit to solving the problem and doing better from here on.

Now where was I? Oh yaaah.

If Gimme is going to be all that she has the potential to be, then its my job as Mommy to shape and mold her to adopt behavior patterns that tend toward a thinking brain. We are making headway and still, it may take years to get "there". Is it sometimes frustrating to me? You betcha. Is it a challenge? Most definitely. Is it a lot of work? Absolutely. Is it satisfying when we achieve snippets of success along the way? Without a doubt.

Do I still love Gimme with every fiber of my being? Is Gimme still my darling? Is Gimme still the center of my universe? You are nuts if you even have to ask.

You know, how over-the-top would manifest itself isn't the only thing I didn't anticipate about Gimme.

She was always too cute for words and that hasn't changed. She continues to be the most incredible people magnet. So if there are people around, I'm going to have to allow extra time, a lot of extra time, to answer questions and let them all pet her. At the specialty, people who are used to cute Dalmatians still had to touch this one - even if they didn't say a word to me. There is a quality about her that simply draws people to her.

I've since noticed something very unusual about her magnetism. Last week when we walked at Capitol Lake a man struck up a conversation about Gimme, pronouncing her beautiful. I'm so used to people wanting to pet her that I unconsciously started moving closer to him, then he asked me to stay back because he is afraid of dogs! I thought that was odd, since most people who are afraid of dogs don't even want to talk about them or talk to you if you have one with you. Then on Sunday night when we were walking, it happened again. A man asked many questions about her, said she was gorgeous and then asked me if I could keep her really still. You see, he too is afraid of dogs, but he still really really reeeeeally wanted to touch her. Gimme was completely happy to get a non-stop stream of treats and he petted her for quite awhile, saying she was every bit as nice to touch as she was to look at.

I think this means she has the gift of healing and I'm as thrilled as I can be about it. Gimme and me are having some talks about how much more healing she can do if she learns how to be a little more moderate in her behavior toward people. I'm not sure she is convinced, but I'll just have to show her how persistent I can be.

Gimme isn't perfect, she doesn't have to be. She is perfect for me.

Want Some Cheese With That Whine?

2011-09-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

Gimme has developed a troublesome whining behavior. The only thing I hate worse than whining dogs is whining kids. We've been sorting through approaches to this to find some things that will work to modify (read that eliminate) that behavior.

She was great in the car, until about six months ago. I am certain she doesn't experience car sickness or anything like that. She seems to genuinely enjoy car rides. I think this is "anticipation whining". I'm guessing its related to her over-the-top response to frustration.

I got her in the winter and would take her to work with me, so she rode in the car a lot. She stayed crated in the car, between my visits during breaks. She never fussed in the car, never, not ever. Then as it warmed up and she had to stay home... I noticed she started whining as we got close to where we go on the fort for our long off lead walks (three days a week). The whining started earlier and earlier during those drives. Then this summer during the four nights a week classes, by the end of the first week she was whining on the drive to classes. It has gotten to where she starts whining as we leave the driveway and its now pretty much non-stop on the way to anything. It used to be that she never whined on the way home from activities, but now she's starting the whining as she realizes we are getting close to home!

As with most behavior problems... it starts out as no big deal, but over time the problem escalates until its unmanageable or intolerable. I have a very low threshold for whining - rather noise sensitive. In any case, since the behavior had no consequence to it, it was free to develop. Essentially it was on a schedule of apparent reinforcement because of the lack of consequence.

None of my own ideas to eliminate or even reduce the whining were working more than a day or two, so I sought counsel from friends and I am trying a multi-prong approach.

She gets DAP on a bandana around her neck as soon as she gets in the car. Hopefully this will help her create a new calm association with car rides.
She's never allowed to get out of any confinement until she is both sitting and quiet. She gets nothing she wants if a whining type utterance is coming from her. She must be whine-free for five seconds to get what she wants.
Stopping the car any time she whines and only move forward again when she is quiet. Again, she gets nothing that gets her even closer to what she wants if she is whining and again the five second rule applies.
Taking her along to run errands where she never gets out of the car, to try to break her association that all rides are for activities. As soon as the weather cools, I'll go back to taking her along to work several days a week.
Sometimes peanut butter bones as pacifiers/distractors for acute situations, with care taken for timing it so she gets them before the bad behavior.

The first time I tried the DAP it worked very well (that was Thursday). Then yesterday (Friday) it had no affect at all. Today it worked beautifully again. So the challenge is to determine why it works sometimes and not others. Based on what the days were like when it worked - I wasn't working, so we left home early in the day. Probably she had no frustration built up, plus had just eaten breakfast both those days. On the day when it didn't work, she'd been crated all day and, while she had been out for 90 minutes before we left, she may already have had a fair amount of frustration built up.

I'll be testing both those theories. First of all, we'll continue using the DAP and see if the same pattern holds up. If it seems to, then at some point I'll give her a lighter breakfast that day and then a light dinner before we take off. That should show if having a meal is a real factor or if it just seems that way. Another thing I can try is to have a couple short/fun training sessions and a play session with her before going anywhere, which should bleed off some frustration and if that changes the pattern, I'll know I'm on the right track.

Tonight and tomorrow night, as well as on Thursdays, I'll be making sure we have a short trip in the evening that doesn't go anywhere. There is a small park near my house and I can go there and drive around it making all right turns. If she whines, it'll be easy to pull over until she stops. Then I'll come home without letting her out, to break up the pattern of every ride leading to an activity for Gimme.

I also plan to make it a point to get to places earlier, so she has to wait in the car for a minimum of five minutes before she gets out. Today when we went to the fort for our walk, when we got there, I took a 30 minute nap before we got out to walk. And when we got to my friends' house later in the afternoon, Gimme didn't get out for an hour. The idea is to break the association in her mind with arriving equaling activity for Gimme.

Its been frustrating, to say the least. Its a definite challenge to my patience to not let her push me. Wish I could find those old noise cancelling headphones for the times I am waiting her out. There have been some pretty impressive extinction bursts. Her tantrum last night when we got to Capitol Lake park and she didn't get out right away, well, its the stuff that legends are made of. Still we are making some progress, though right now I'm sure she thinks I'm broken.

Walking for Distraction

2011-09-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

Today we walked the Capitol Lake area again - took just over an hour.

I handled Gimme's leash differently. I noticed that sometimes when she pulls I stop immediately when the leash gets tight (straight), other times my concentration slips and I allow my hand/arm to get pulled forward and only realize what is happening and then stop when its fully forward. Realistically that means she is on a variable schedule of reward for pulling. So about a third of the way through our walk, I put the loop through my belt and only used my hands to keep the leash up off the ground and from getting tangled/wrapped around her leg(s). That seemed to work, because when I felt the tug on my belt it really caught my attention and so I was more consistent. I think we did better that way.

Gimme is much better about the other dogs. I noticed that when we were walking the path that has a green between it and a parallel path 40-60 feet away, that Gimme only really paid attention to the dogs that were coming toward us on the path we are on. Before she paid attention to all of them. She also pays little to no attention to dogs that come from behind and pass us, going away. Of course, I pay attention to them no matter where they are coming from, so she isn't getting any surprises.

The most interesting thing I realized today is that she shows some concern about big black dogs. She's never had a bad experience with any, so I'm not sure where that comes from, but its pretty noticeable, especially now that she's responding less in general to the presence of other dogs. Statistics show that more people are afraid of large black dogs, so I wonder if that same bias is true for dogs. Curious. I'll make sure that when we do our dog group with Ursula, that I mention the need for her to interact with a solidly sweet large black dog if possible.

Toward the end of our walk we finally saw the dog walking group I've been hearing about. No one who mentioned it seemed to know what it was about. Today they were meeting near where we parked, so I got a chance to talk to someone from the group. A local veterinarian (local means 45 minute drive to his clinic) meets here with some of his clients on Wednesdays and gives a short "good thing you can do for your dog" talk. Then the walkers each get to say something about their dog, based on a selected topic. After that they all go walk around the lake. The lady I spoke with was very nice and invited us along, but we'd already finished our walk and I thought it might be too much for Gimme to go again, even following from a distance.

I think it would be a great experience for her to follow them some time, unfortunately this was their last scheduled walk for the summer. On a positive note, Gimme was able to observe the group relatively calmly from, first 50 feet and gradually as close as 25 feet. There were probably 30 people with their dogs, all types and sizes. So I was very proud of how she did with that.

We did another session on the sits and downs tonight. I continue to use touch now and then to break it up. One of the problems I've noticed is her tendency to drop from a sit to a down if it isn't clicked soon enough (and vice versa). She used to have a really good limited hold for her sits and downs, so I'm guessing I have failed to continue rewarding that aspect. Also, its a common problem for clicker trained dogs, that many of them view lack of a click as a failure, so will throw another behavior at the trainer. While initiative is great, in this particular instance its a problem. I think this is a result of the dog not having that sophisticated understanding of the phases of learning that Ursula mentioned as being at the root of some of the problems we've had. (see my August 17, post called I'm So Psyched). I suspect I'm not the only clicker trainer out there that enjoys creating behaviors more than naming and getting stimulus control over them.

Another thought I had was that since she is so responsive to down by a hand signal, that perhaps she is anticipating a down based on random hand movement. I know there have been instances of her dropping when I've moved my hand for some other reason.

So in tonight's session I focused on two things. First, absolute stillness in my hands. I should do that anyway and it is one of the things Ursula always nagged me for. So I will strive to be much more aware of my hands. For the time being I won't use any hand signals with either cue, until we've worked this out for verbal cues. Second, I used my keep going signal to encourage Gimme to hold a position and wait for the click even when delayed. I use an elongated "yessss" as our KGS.

It started out slow, but really went well once we got going. I wasn't sure what to do when she fails. A lot of people use no reward markers and supposedly they are okay to use for confident dogs. But, Ursula was saying that studies on the topic have shown no significant value to them and all dogs, even really confident ones show some calming signals when NRMs are being used. So for now I am simply giving her 2 seconds to respond and then turn and move away. After which I turn back and give her the same or another cue, in random order.

The sits were the best and the KGS helped to get her to hold them. By the end she was pretty close to 95%. The downs are not as strong - keep in mind that she has been most responsive to hand signals for downs, so it should be expected that it will take a few sessions to build it up on verbal alone.

We are effectively working on duration with the KGS. Before long we'll incorporate them back into the distraction training when its low distraction and she can be correct more often. I'll have to figure out how to teach her to sit or down where she is instead of moving toward me before doing it (distance). If anyone has any ways you've taught this, please share.

So that's it for today... I'm off to do some paperwork while watching John Wayne movies. Gimme will enjoy it since we are watching True Grit tonight and that has lots of horses... she will watch with great anticipation in hopes of spying a cow. BTW the other night we saw another movie with lots of Indians. Gimme found the whooping noises very intriguing, but decided she didn't like the Indians when she saw them being mean to John Wayne. Some day I really must get a video going of her watching TV... it really is funny.