Nosework (5/1)

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.