In case you wonder why we've been quiet, it's because our last 3 nosework classes have been cancelled due to excess heat and there was no class the week we had the NW3 trial. This RFE practice is the first thing we've done and we didn't work very much at this. Gimme is not appreciating the break.
I was rear-ended by a careless driver on the way to practice. Gimme seemed fine, totally unconcerned by the experience. But, I wasn't and she sensed it. So we only practiced a little bit, then I headed home hoping to get in to see my chiropractor. I saw him the next day and have seen him several times since. I assumed she was going as slow as I was in the stop and go traffic. Now I think she may have let a gap open between us and then sped up to close it before some other car moved in between us and then couldn't stop fast enough. This is the only explanation for over $6K in damage to my car.
I have whiplash in two directions in my neck (she hit me TWICE and by the second hit I was turning my head to see what the heck was going on) and in my mid-back. Fortunately I'm making good progress restoring my parts to normal. Unfortunately, although she admitted fault to the state patrol, she hasn't admitted fault for insurance purposes, so restoring my van to normal is taking longer. I'm just lucky I can drive it without issue.
I apologize in advance for the background noise in these videos. J'Anna wanted to video from near the big doors, which are open for ventilation, otherwise it would be too hot. The noise you hear is from one of the big rigs sitting behind the building running its engine.
"Wait" on platform video - I started with reinforcing her staying put on the platform, hoping this would make it easier to maneuver around her to set up for the "beep". I just did a little moving around her on the platforms, which I hoped would help stabilize her position. They were a little help. I found I had to repeat the reinforcement of stay when she was positioned facing the other direction (not in the video).
I was reminded today while teaching parkour about how to teach "wait" as a function of rewarding the release. This concept is something I learned from Chris and is actually how I taught Gimme to "wait" when she was a puppy. I thought it was really successful. Over the last year her "wait" has lost much of its reliability and I've been trying to repair it by rewarding the wait. Maybe I need to go back to the original process of rewarding the release.
"Beep" w/platforms video - I was hoping using platforms here would help Gimme feel comfortable knowing where she needed to go. I didn't see any big improvement.
"Under" video - I have decided part of Gimme's problem with this move is a bit of discomfort with being "under" me. All her experience with under is with me straddling her where she can look up and see my face; she's been fine with this. I think doing it from side-to-side is just different enough to be weird. So I've been focusing since this practice session on doing "under", the old way (from behind-facing-forward) and both side-to-side directions. It occurs to me I should also teach her to do it from the front-facing-back - though this might need a different cue. Anyway, it seems to be helping, so I need to just keep doing it for awhile.
"Spinotto" & "Turnizzy" video - I wanted to end the session with some fun stuff. So we did these two combo moves. They work because the "spin" ends with her rear moving in the right direction for "otto" to begin, and "turn" ends with her rear moving in the correct direction for "izzy". We haven't done these combo moves in awhile, so I kept the cuing separate. I don't put them together very often or Gimme starts thinking every "spin" and "turn" are just the start of her backing moves. You know how she is.
"Around" video - I have stumbled upon a way to get Gimme to tighten up her "around" and "behind" circles. She goes wide on the far side of the circle, away from where the treats are delivered. So for the short term, I will reward her there, have her finish the circle and immediately cue another. I hope this will create a habit of tight circles, then I plan to be variable about when and where the reward comes.
Even though this was a short practice compared to what we normally do, I still picked up some good stuff.
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