This practice session was on November 30th and it's now the 10th of December, so you can see I am really far behind on blogging again. I'm busy making Christmas gifts and they need to be mailed to the recipients, so I'm under a time crunch to get them done. Naturally they are taking five times as long to do as I expected. The facility was particularly noisy with a lot more screeching dogs than usual, which is distracting for Gimme. Hopefully this next time will be quieter, since we'll be taping for an MDSA video.
"Can" & "spin" video -
J'Anna thought maybe the reason Gimme is reluctant to "spin" now has to do with her foot position on the can. She noticed Gimme often has her back feet right in the middle of the can, leaving her less room to move her feet when I ask for a spin. So I was then wondering if this could be caused by how she mounts the can. Most of the time when she does "bacon", it's followed by "sit", so it stands to reason she might bring her back feet more up under her out of habit. Video does seem to support this idea. You can see at 2:30 how far forward her back feet are. I plan to encourage her to approach the can front feet first and see if we can get the spin again. I'll need to go back to the basics of get-on-stand-stay. I'm thinking if I always make her mount it coming from either "heel" or "side", then she'll turn toward me, practicing half a spin, but I'll have to be quick to interrupt any variations. Case in point being her new tendency to walk on with her front feet and continue until only the back feet are on, then back the front feet on again. Clearly I should never have encouraged "bacon" onto this prop.
Pivoting-turn dog-inside video - The idea is to use our "brick" as a foot target, so we can make a pivoting turn with Gimme's front feet as the pivot point. Since I originally taught her to pivot around me, this is a challenge. Using Kathy Weaver's approach, I'm hoping to create the behavior with stylized footwork on my part. I think we might need to go back to basics so Gimme can "brick" without immediately starting an independent "pivot". I need to put some money in the get-on-be-still bank account. Once I convince her we aren't doing an independent "pivot", she does beautifully. I can also see I need to feed lower so she stops standing half crouched in her rear.
Backward weaves (no video) - We continue to struggle with this. I have tried so many things. Sometimes they work a couple of times and then stop working. I believe Gimme is brilliant, so I'm sure she just doesn't understand what the heck I want from her. I think the very specific way RFE wants it done adds to the challenge. It seems counter-intuitive to me. I'm not at all happy with any of the options I've tried and certainly don't like the negative affect on other behaviors. I know she's trying very hard and we are both frustrated. Obviously this is not where I want to be with my bold and bodacious girl.
I have an idea to create a channel of guides with a double bend in it, mimicking the s-curve movement, so I can get her completely comfortable with the move, with me out of the equation. I'll put a platform in it and have her start on the platform, take one step forward, then back onto the platform. I'll do this incrementally until she's taking many steps forward through the two bends - then backing down the channel to the platform. When she is doing this boldly, then I'll change my orientation until I'm in "heel" (or "side") when she's forward in the channel. Over time I'll move until she's backing through my legs using the channel and platform. I just think I need to take this soooo much slower than I've been doing. It's an advanced behavior, so we have plenty of time. If we never get it, so be it. I'd rather take a zero on the behavior than to have my sweet girl be so frustrated. It's not fun for either of us.
"Pivot" video - Gimme does a great job on her counter-clockwise "pivot". I did see her step on the brick with front feet, walk forward until her back feet are on, then back again until front feet are on - just as I was seeing in her "can". It seems her favorite backing behaviors are contaminating other behaviors across the board, so we need to go back to basics here as well. She can do "tivo" (clockwise pivot), but only if my hand is over her head. I want to play with free-shaping this to get my hand out of the picture. I think the basics work has to come first.
Sidepass into dog video - I discovered Gimme watches both of my feet, not just the one closest to her. So if I can remember to stop with my feet apart and then close the foot farthest toward the near foot, she starts stepping away right away. I think this is a feasible cue - all I have to do is remember my part. It's not as smooth when she's in "side", because I've pinched her toe when she's on my right so she tends to swing out, just to be safe. I'm still clicking if she swings from my right, but feeding in proper position. She needs to know her feet are safe there too and it's gonna take time. For now my feet are obviously far apart, but I'm sure I'll be able to stop with them closer as we refine this signal. I love-love-love figuring out what cue works for her.
Backing in heel video - This is still a work in progress. Gimme does best with a foot target (carpet square or platform) or a channel (wall or guide for barrier). Otherwise she tends to swing her butt from side to side. I've been watching these videos and trying to figure out why one is better than another, even though all other factors are the same. Between the first and second time, the first is noticeably better, but I can't tell why. There has to be a reason, I just can't see it yet.
"Izzy" & "otto" video - These two behaviors have deteriorated and I blame it on trying to teach backward weaves. It takes me just a couple of tries to refresh them when we first work on them. Then when I want to practice them during the next session, "otto" seemed to fall apart badly. I didn't realize it, but it's clear on the video - I was cuing "izzy" when she was in "otto" position. Poor Gimme. It must be so frustrating for her to be unable to communicate why she can't do something I keep asking for over and over. She really deserves better.
"Scoot" & "grape" video - I love Gimme's "scoot" (crawl backwards). So when I try to change her to another behavior cuing "grape" (rollover) and she gives me a "scoot", chances are pretty good I'll click and treat for it. She's really good at sucking me into her game especially when she's doing something this cute. I'd like to have more distance and am thinking of trying a foot target to back to, like we do with other backing behaviors. You have to admit, this trick is way beyond cute.
"Around" & "under" video - Right as we started it one of the daycare dogs squealed like it was being killed. Gimme was startled and stopped. Then as I got her positioned to try it again, there was some major barking. It's a lot of distraction, so I helped her succeed and paid very well. Fortunately we got a few quiet moments, so she was able to do it without help. I wish there were a better option for training, but this is what we have and we have to make do with whatever is happening when we're there.
"Away" & "under" video - Gimme doesn't really know "away" yet, so mixing it with "under", followed by "heel" was totally unfair. I was just trying to see what it was going to take to get one of the advanced behaviors. Actually I think it'll be pretty easy. I just need to teach the individual parts and then put them together.
Gimme is amazingly tolerant of my shenanigans, especially as I try to figure out how to teach something neither of us has done before. I try to look stuff up on the internet, but often can't find what I'm looking for. Case in point, the backward weaves. I found several examples, but they are all done with different footwork, so it requires a completely different training sequence.
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