RFE practice (97)

On July 16th, J'Anna and I met at Pawsabilities for our practice every two weeks.

Cane play 1 video - The collaborative video for this month involves using a prop and in this case a cane. So I was doing a bit of experimental work to see what Gimme might be interested in doing. I didn't come up with anything exciting.

Cane play 2 video - In this session I tried using two step stools and stretching the cane across them to see if it would prompt a new behavior; instead I got several "hands" and "table" on the stools. Probably shouldn't have click/treated those to begin with, eh. At about 2:00 she starts doing a big of pivoting in the handle of the cane. I think we could start there and create something interesting. I have an idea for a way to alter the prop to teach the pivot and that I can easily move during a routine. We do a couple "orbit" combined with "around" or "behind", then J'Anna walks in and Gimme gets distracted. The video ended itself (it sometimes does this?).

"Orbit" video - I was trying to get "orbit" while I circle in the opposite direction. I couldn't figure out why Gimme kept back turning after the "orbit". One thing I did see - she would back turn if I said "yes" before she committed to the next "orbit", but there were other times she did it when I didn't say "yes". After noticing the premature "yes", I watched this video again and noticed she responded to any verbalization before she committed by turning back. There was only one back turn without a verbalization. The one time at the end when I got three "orbits", I did say "yes" after she committed. I would never have figured this out without the video.

Platform work and "away" video - We've struggled with getting more duration in the "away", so I decided to try having a bit of peanut butter on our target stick to hold her in position while she licks it off. Naturally she instantly discovers the open jar of peanut butter on the chair. [even without daycare we still got to listen to constant yapping from the new grooming client - very annoying and distracting] She's clearly getting the idea of spinning for "away" and the PB target really solidifies the stop in away-position. She gets so eager I have to reward "wait" so she listens for the "away" cue. This is the best progress we've gotten in awhile on this.

"Bucket" video - This is coming along so nicely. She clearly has the idea about what to do for "bucket", now I want to be able to put it in a sequence. As is her usual, listening to the actual cue I said versus doing what she thinks comes next, continues to be a challenge. I see in this setup, going to the bucket from "heel" creates a more natural segue into the CW pivot than it does from "side". I'll have to play with it setup off to my left or right side, as if for a free choice behavior in RFE... it may make a difference. Good to see it in video or I might not have caught this.

"Can" and "brick" & "pivot" video - We haven't done this much while we've been training "bucket". Never fear, Gimme never forgets anything with a good pay:performance ratio. Yep, "can" and "otto" sound so much alike, a girl should be excused for confusing them. I don't notice any issue with the approach side affecting the segue into the CCW pivot, probably because it's her more natural turning direction. It was Gimme who decided to do a CW pivot "tivo" on the "bucket" as opposed to her usual CCW "pivot" on the "can" or "brick". J'Anna said she thought the brick was slippery - it isn't, I textured it on both sides. The problem - it's smaller than other props and Gimme gets going so fast she spins her feet right off of it.

Paw lift, "low" (no video) - Gimme keeps giving me "pretty" instead of a paw lift and so she gets no treats for several tries and then wants to quit. I get her to come back and the next try she hurts her toe (I think) and then reeeeeally doesn't want to play and thinks *I* hurt her. I can't see where she got hurt - it's also possible she just got hurt feelings because nothing she was offering was paying off. About the toe, I think it might be a cracked toenail, since a bit of it broke off. Anyway, I end up changing gears to do other behaviors so we end on a positive note.

Miscellaneous video - We do a bit of different behaviors: backing in heel position, backing in side position (with foot target), center front pivot, and sidepasses.

We've since done paw lifts and there was no problem. I think I want to get it further along at home and on a verbal cue, before we do it in practice at the facility. Annnnnd, because it's a behavior we are working on and thus it's harder, we should do it earlier in the session, while she's still mentally fresh and more confident.