We've just learned about another dog parkour organization, All Dogs Parkour. Its similar to International Dog Parkour Association in some ways and different in others. We are already busy preparing our first entry.
Class continues to be a lot of fun, with lots of new challenges.
Board work video - I'm so glad I taught Gimme to "flip" on cue, it really simplifies things. She's rarely bothered by things underfoot.
Learning "perch" 1 video - We worked quite a bit on teaching the dogs to back onto something, stopping with just the two rear feet on. Gimme and I have worked quite a bit on backing all feet on, so it took some time convince her to only put on two rear feet. Part of the solution was to start putting it on a separate cue, "perch"; while "bacon" is to back all four feet on. On this first video I put most of the time into building value for being still with just the back feet on.
Sequence 1 video - Gimme always loves sequence work - she just likes to be moving and doing. She was a little disconcerted when the bone-shaped fitness ball flipped on its side. She was hesitant to step on it again, which made me wonder if she hurt her foot as it bumped the table when she slid off.
Sequence 2 video - The fiddling at the end of this was to get her to step on the bone-shaped fitness ball again. Partly she doesn't see the point when its so easy to step over, and then it DID flip on its side the time before.
Sequence 3 video - Part of the challenge on this sequence was to send the dog out around the cone from the other side of the boardwalk. Gimme has had difficulty with this ever since her seizure in March, when the "cane" and "orbit" behaviors were lost. We've struggled to get them back since then, with minimal success. So my solution here was to toss a treat for Gimme and then use my body movement (mostly not needed) to get her to come around the cone before returning to me - kinda pulling a fast one. ☺
Learning distance "out" video - I wasn't happy with how this worked out. We were supposed to be introducing the dog to doing the go-around-something behavior from the platform. Gimme's platform wasn't stable and while it normally doesn't bother her, this night it was bothering her. I didn't like the creepy association she was getting for her "cane" and "orbit" behaviors, which are already a trouble spot.
One other problem I see in hindsight was having her work facing the open door, where she sometimes sees the students with their dogs waiting for the next class. In fact later in this class, someone came with their dog right up to the door. Since then I've taken to closing the door partway through class. I always set up our place in this spot because its gives us a private space away from the other class dogs.
As it turns out, over the weekend while I was teaching her to weave non-weave-pole prop sequences for ADP parkour (called Hardscape Weaves), I fell onto using the words "out" and "in" and she picked it up in mere minutes. Of course it doesn't resolve her "cane" and "orbit" issue, where those behaviors are more of a loop (CCW and CW). If anyone has a solution for getting those behaviors back - do let me know. But at least we have something working for class.
Learning "perch" 2 video - You can see her really getting the idea of what behavior I want here. I need to get some similar props to practice this on. She was getting the idea of turning with me and keeping her back feet on. Then Jo had us do the same thing with another prop and Gimme had no issue with the change. My attempt to lure the turning was completely unsuccessful.
Jo thinks Gimme needs more rear end muscles. I had a really hard time wrapping my mind around the idea, since rear end muscles is one thing Gimme has in abundance. In thinking about it since then, I think Jo is looking for a different "type" of muscle (for lack of a better word). Dalmatians are bred to run with a coach all day - essentially they are built like human runners. They won't naturally build bulkier muscles, like a weight trainer. This isn't to say they couldn't build them, rather its something we'd have to work toward specifically.
Learning "perch" 3 - After our discussion, during which Gimme got paid for "chillax", we did another short session right before class ended. We also did a couple "take-a" bows.
Gimme continues to love these classes. And I like how Parkour encourages me to interact more with her during our walks.
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