RFE practice (49)

We continued recording baselines of intermediate behaviors and then some work with Gimme with me in costume. I also did some work in the counseling room, getting ideas for the MDSA workshop backdrop.

Baseline C video - We started with some heeling warm-up. Due to her condition, it took a little bit to get focus, but when focus arrived, we went right to work. I started off with some work on the props J'Anna had gotten out. Gimme enjoyed playing with the paw pods. You can see she isn't entirely focused as she starts getting inventive, instead of sticking with what I'm clicking. Then again, maybe she was offering because the rate of reinforcement was falling off as I was trying to refine the behavior.
#53 Back Up in Center 4x ("back") - We haven't done this in a very long time, so it takes awhile for Gimme to understand what I want. Since her special power is backing up, this should come quickly.
#39 CCW Spin Simultaneous ("spin") - Done flawlessly.
#38 CW Spin Simultaneous ("turn") - Not recorded. I'm sure it's good.
#49 Through to Front 3x ("thru") - This is more challenging for me than for Gimme. I  have to remember to start by stepping back with the leg nearest Gimme. 
#52 Back Up in Right Heel 4x ("side") - Gimme doesn't yet understand I want her to maintain "side" and keeps trying to back behind me.
#54 Back Around Handler (from right "side" - "izzy") - We just started learning this for the recent entry. Gimme still makes it into a two part behavior.
#54 Back Around Handler (from left "heel" - "otto") - We haven't done this for awhile as we were learning "izzy", she's apparently forgotten it.
#51 Back Up in Left Heel 4x ("heel") - We were just working on this for the video entry, so she gets it much quicker than #52.
#50 Cross in Front Alternating 3x - Gimme can do this much better than what you see, but we'd already been working a long time and I didn't want to belabor it when we still had behaviors to do.
#41 Pivot Left 360 (dog outside) - Beautiful job, all she has to do is "side".
#41 Pivot Left 360 (dog inside) - This is much harder because Gimme's front feet now become the pivot point and all this time we've been doing back around in "heel". I need to review my notes from when we were taking class with KathyW - I think she recommended some footwork to make this clearer to the dog, to distinguish it from other behaviors.
#40 Pivot Right 360 (dog inside) - We have the same issues here as we did for #41.
I didn't record the right and left 180 pivots - if she can do the 360 she can do the 180.

Session 2 video - Our second session was focused on working Gimme while I was wearing my cape for the MDSA workshop. She wasn't bothered by the cape before, but this day she decided it was creepy. We were able to work through it, though I can't say she likes the cape. I tried some different variations on the routine. The best one was the one Gimme offered at the end, but I haven't been able to get her to do it as nicely since.

Since we'd already worked quite a bit, I didn't bring Gimme in for a third session. She'd already done quite a bit and given her condition, I didn't want to push her. She's a good girl for tolerating all this craziness.