Public Dog (28-29-30)

I've been remiss in keeping up with the blog.  Classes have been good - though challenging.  The goal of these classes is to get the dogs to work reliably off leash and without treats on our person.  These three classes met, twice in Ursula's new training room (above the kennels) and once in a tennis court.

We do a lot with the dog dragging the leash - in fact virtually the whole class is with the leash on the ground.  We also station our treat bag... in the building the first time mine was on the floor behind a divider and across the room, the second time was up in the window sill.  At the tennis court, I started with it on the ground, but my back was bothering me, so I hung it on the fence so I didn't have to keep bending over.

Gimme is into the concept of helping herself... and each time Ursula needs to remind me to use body blocking instead of a hand signal (for wait).  I can use the hand signal and Gimme will wait, but have to use it every time.  When I do use the body blocking, it only takes once or twice and she remembers it for the rest of class.  She completely gets what it means.  It just is not my first inclination.

Class is following a pattern.  We let the dogs drag the leash and then one by one walk out to the center of the training area, cue a behavior, verbally mark it and then go to our treat station to reward.  Gimme is completely fine with working without the treats on me - she gets the concept of delayed reward since its something we've done before.  Once or twice we unhook the leash, letting it fall to the floor and do the sequence completely off leash.  Over a few repetitions, we advance to asking for two and then three behaviors.  In that case we only verbally mark the last behavior - the reward for the first (and second when there are three cued) is another cue.  This is called Tertiary Reinforcement which you can find by following the link - the explanation is about halfway down in the entry.

Anyway, once we've done several repetitions, then we start going out in pairs and later threes and finally all of us (4 or 5).  The pairs don't bother me, but more than that I find stressful.  In addition to going out on the floor with another team that is moving at the same time, we are supposed to go someplace different than the middle of the room.  Each time after that we are supposed to go someplace in the room we haven't been before.  This usually means passing each other.  When we get to three or more teams going at once, its quite a circus.

That is a lot of chaos and stimulation and moving dogs in close proximity and Gimme does okay with it, she really tries so hard. Sometimes it just amazes me how much progress she's made.  I think its more stressful for me than it is for her, because:

• There are two dogs in class who's owners don't have good control AND are so slow to react.  When those dogs get out of control they always seem to rush in our direction.  So I have to pay attention to instructions, work with Gimme and watch both of them all the time.  Both are friendly dogs and I certainly appreciate their owner's efforts to continue with training; still it adds a lot to my "job" while in class.
  • In the tennis court, Echo (smooth collie) came rushing at us and the owner barely got her back before contact.  Gimme had just realized the dog was there when it was already being moved away.  I gave her treats and congratulated her on being such a good girl.
  • Then yesterday in the training room, Lily (labrador) went out on the floor for her first exercise and immediately rushed over to us.  I grabbed Gimme’s leash to do an emergency u-turn, just as she hit the end and it flipped her on her side.  She scrambled up and ran with me, not seeming any worse for wear.  Though I noticed a bit later she had that look in her eyes telling me she was having difficulty.  So I took her outside for a potty break and to decompress.  She didn’t potty, just sniffed around.  When we went back in she was ready to work again.
• When we are out on the floor as a group, it seems there is always someone sneaking up behind us.  Okay, I realize they aren't "sneaking", still they are often crossing so close right behind or to the side outside my view.  Even if they aren't right there, when I verbally mark a moment of good behavior and turn around to head back for our treats, there is always someone within one step.  I can literally feel my blood pressure spike at these moments!

So for me, the class is stressful and I'm always tired afterward.  I'm happy with Gimme and certainly thrilled with her efforts and progress, I just have zero moments when I can let my guard down.  I feel like I need a couple extra sets of eyes.  I have come up with a couple ideas to take the pressure off me a little bit.

• When we are waiting our turn, my tendency is to have Gimme sitting on the side of me,  between me and the nearest well-behaved dog (Tor or Tucker).  Which means when I am focused on her, my eyes and attention are turned away from the dogs that have been an issue.  So in the future, I'll have her on the side that is closer to them... so at least I'll see them coming with my peripheral vision and have more time to react.
• And when we are doing the group exercises, when I mark a behavior, I always do a sharp 180° turn.  So effectively I'm turning sharply into a blind spot.  My plan is to try more of a wide arcing turn, so I'll see what's behind me with my peripheral vision before I'm stepping right into it.

I had something else to talk about, but this is already quite long, so it'll have to wait.  Besides its late and Gimme and I are due for a couch snuddle...