Parkour (3/3)

I actually got our mini-boardwalk put up last weekend - its 6" wide.  My plan is to work this until Gimme is completely comfortable walking and turning on it, then will take a saw to it and just trim down ¼ inch at a time until we are at the width she needs.  Gimme's approach to doing the "flip" (180º turn) is to pivot on her forehand, while hopping her back feet around.  She doesn't always get it and I'm not sure its a good habit to get into.  I want to catch it on video and then post it to the Parkour list to see what the experts think.

I left home by 4:00 and got to class in a reasonable drive, with a little bit of time left over for some manuscript review.  Class was great, as always.  One person wasn't there, so it was only us and the young BC mix.  Jo had us start with some warm up, so I used the time to review stimulus control between "hands" and "table" for Gimme. 

In class the first thing we worked on was a balance beam against the wall.  Balance beam against the wall video #1  The dogs have to learn how to tuck their butts under to turn, since the wall is in the way.  And, of course, since its low, they see no reason why they shouldn't put feet on the ground to make the turn.  I treated her the first couple of times even though her feet went on the ground, but then didn't unless she could do it with her feet up.  Gimme didn't seem to understand what the heck I wanted, so Jo had me block Gimme so she couldn't put her feet on the ground and then support her with the harness.  To motivate her to want to get turned around, I put a pile of cheese on the board behind her.  Of course, being brilliant, she thought it would be much simpler to back up on the board until the cheese was no longer behind her.  She did much better for the second session.  Watch her and you'll see her getting the idea to lower her bum.  Balance beam against the wall video #2
For much of class, Jo had us do sequences.  She adds on things and changes the route.  Of course by this time Gimme had forgotten all about stimulus control, thinking "why go behind or below when you can get on".  Sequence 1 video  I am always amazed by how quickly Gimme catches on.  Lure her through something once and she pretty much has it from then on, such as going through the sheet.  Through a sheet video  Then we repeated the exercise and had them go through in a different way.  More through video

We did more sequences and Gimme did well.  She remembered what she learned before and wasn't the least bit concerned by the rolling barrel.  Sequence 2 video  Gimme did a nice job on her next sequence too, though she momentarily forgot about going behind the chairs.  Sequence 3 video  You can't see the first part of this video on a balance beam, where she must stop, "sit" and "down".  Sequence 4 video  Jo added bars behind the chairs in the through at the beginning and a box was added under bench to make it a tighter "below". Gimme did much better "sit" and "down" on the balance beam you can't see.  She did an excellent "hands" on low item she'd done "table" on before.  I forgot to have her pivot.  As it turned out we never really got the pivot, since we've been working on "dumbo" ("spin" on a prop).  Plus it was hard because of the distracting noise from agility part of building.  Sequence 5 video

We ended with training Tic Tacs.  The other team used a toy and once Gimme heard it squeak, she was all about wanting to have his toy.  She thinks all toys are hers.  I got her somewhat interested in another toy and got some play there.  Then for the second session I got SkinnySquirrel from the car.  She wasn't as interested in him (tonight I'm seeing some evidence he may be the baby this time around), so we went back to the other toy.  Tic Tac video  For the third session (not on video) I used her peanut butter and it worked well.  I think next week I'll make sure I have some raw steak to toss for Tic Tac work.  I have a TicTac board made for her, just need to add traction strips to it.  Unfortunately there's a bunch of chaos going on, so probably won't get it done before the next class.

Gimme really likes Parkour and is always very content on the way home.