RFE practice (69)

Gimme  started out really distracted, so much that it took 5½ minutes to get her focused. It seems far too soon for her false pregnancy. Maybe it was because they had the big door open to the whole wide world. I shut it entirely for the second and third sessions and it helped a little with focus. However, then I saw she lost ability to work sooner than usual - perhaps we used it up when she was having to work so hard to focus earlier in our practice.

Warm-up video - This just shows a little bit of the doodling and focus work we started with. Having now reviewed some video, it was inordinately noisy, not screechy noise, but it still could have affected her.

"Fanny" video - Gimme tries to turn getting into "fanny" into an izzy/otto combo. Why doesn't this surprise me? Maybe because she so often tries to insert izzy or otto in other behaviors. Listening is definitely her weakest skill.

Circle Handler 3x video - Again with the "otto" offering - at least she's consistent. My intent was to work on speed. I don't know why, but Gimme is always lackadaisical in her circle behaviors. The chirpy yes-yes-yes worked the best. Me turning inside her circle and tossing treats forward as she comes back into position also improved speed.

Pivot dog-inside video - I want to try teaching her the turned-out-foot as a physical cue for "near" and "close". I think it would further her understanding of what I want. As it is, she can't do this without the pivot brick.

"Back" in center video - Gimme has this funny half-sideways back up that she does, but usually only the first time. Once she knows where the target is, then she doesn't have to look. I think this means I need to do a lot more freeshaping "back" without a target. One thing I'm working on here is "back" until I say "halt". We haven't done this before, so the "halt" is out of context; she picked it up fast. She does start throwing in a half-bow, so I make sure to reward when she's standing fully.

Distance behaviors video - The idea here was to work simple behaviors behind a minimal barrier. We've done it with wire guides and I thought the pole might be a good next step. Of course the session with guides was quite awhile ago, so maybe I should have done it again. She does well five times in a row and then thinks maybe she should get in an otto, which I manage to stop. I should bring rubberbands to wrap around the ends of the pole so it doesn't move so easily. The sit and down go well.

Backing in heel video - I am trying to work on backing in heel position against barriers whenever I can, to build muscle memory.

"Thru" to front video - This is more timing than training. Gimme certainly knows "thru". I just don't find this an attractive behavior, so not sure I'd ever use it. It doesn't flow to me.

Sidepass into dog video - This is still a work in progress. Of course, a certain someone tries to get in an otto. I still think I'm missing something.

Paw lift video - My big focus here was trying to encourage "low" (left paw) lift without the right paw coming off the ground. Her "high" (right paw) is indeed, very high without the other coming off the ground. I discussed this later with our chiropractor and he said she is more flexible in her right shoulder, but didn't have suggestions for how to increase flexibility on the left. My timing is really inaccurate, but I'm still seeing improvement. There were a number of times I clicked when both feet came off the ground (left highest), but then the right paw would go back to the ground and she'd hold the left up. Not exactly what I want but it was improvement in the right direction.

Speaking of the chiropractor, I scheduled this appointment nearly a month early. I was feeling a difference in warmth between her left and right shoulders (warmer on the right) and wanted to make sure we addressed it if there was trouble brewing. He could feel the difference too, but didn't find anything to account for it, so the appointment was just a fine tuning. Gimme doesn't mind, since she gets non-stop peanut butter from the go-toob.