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 very much 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, its called Sudden Environmental Change.
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.
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