I don't have a lot to report for this practice. I mostly used the time to do some videos for a skills test, sticking to things Gimme knows well.
Oddly she is still struggling with "turn" (CW spin), which she's been doing on cue for 8 years. This may be a residual from the seizure, although at the time it seems to be simple confusion, since she keeps offering "izzy" when she hears the cue. I want to watch the video clearly and see if I am unintentionally giving conflicting body cues.
Warm-up video - I thought she seemed to be more ready to work with me than she was last time. I had set up a line of four toys for a prop-weave video, so she was eager to check them out. I am not asking for much in the way of behaviors as I introduce this new warm-up routine. I'll increase my expectations gradually. Ilona, from the MDSA list, suggested I put the go-sniff on cue. I think it's a brilliant idea; it'll make it clear when we are approaching the sniff-worthy stuff as a distraction vs. as a reward.
When I let her check out the toys as part of her reward, she pawed at the feet of each toy trying to make them squeak. She was certain one would and despite my assurance they wouldn't, the fourth one did cooperate. Note how much faster her tail wags once she gets the squeaks. Also I found it interesting she only persisted with the toy with actual squeakers inside. Makes me wonder if she can smell the plastic. With her nosey prowess, I wouldn't be surprised.
Overall her attitude was much better than it was just two weeks ago. I'm not saying we are out of the woods though. She still went to the door a couple of times, telling me she had enough. I always get her to work a little more when this happens.
Looking back at Gimme's response to the toys, it occurs to me I should be using them as part of her reward. She was excited about having the toys as props to weave around. She was also very interested when I moved them off the floor to a chair. When she realized we weren't going to actually play with them, she was less enthusiastic about working. So next time I will bring some toys I can toss and tug to reward her efforts. Also, play is a better barometer of emotional state than food, so it'll help me gauge her progress.
I got a whimper from her when I brought my hand rapidly down to the floor next to her, trying to use treat placement to improve her alignment. Later in the day in nosework when I was told to get right in there fast with her reward, she did it again. I think it is a combination of startle and residual anxiety. Tuesday night I spent a considerable time contemplating different ways to help her get over this particular fast-moving-toward-her anxiety. There are also some residual anxieties around the house I want to see resolved.
On Wednesday morning I was thinking about it and gave myself a big talking-to. It's only been 2 weeks since Doc started us on the program of Adaptil and diet change for Gimme. He thought it would take up to 5 days to see a change and instead I saw a difference by the end of the day. Still, it may take a long time to get the full benefit. After all, Gimme was in her blue period for 2 months and 3 weeks - so there is a bit of history there to overcome.
I have to resist the urge to try and fix everything right away; she deserves the time to decompress on her own schedule.
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Urban Tracking (148)
On August 22nd, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema for tracking. We'd just come out of 2 days of rain in the area, so the air was about as clean of grass pollen as it could get. Also the ground was damp, making for better tracking. We did article circles again.
Nadine set an article circle, the reverse of what we did the prior week. The hardest part for Gimme was the start. The start sock was right up next to the curb and the first leg went 90ยบ from the curb. It was awkward to align with the leg, plus a turning away from a curb is the hard. It took Gimme a little bit to solve it, but then she did pretty darn good. There were lots of interesting articles to find. She found them all - only needing help with one. She noted it, but didn't stop to indicate, so she didn't think it was really an article.
We went straight from the article circle to a short track. Together they made up the approximate length we'd need for a TDU test. Now we just have to get the age back.
The first leg was an island serpentine and Gimme just motored right along. From there she turned out into the open and then turned again to go back to where the cars were parked. She did a nice job with all of this. It's good to see her getting her nose back.
Later we had a follow-up appointment with her chiropractor, Dr. Powell. He checked her over thoroughly and only found minor things to adjust. One interesting thing was a slightly jammed toe. It was on the same foot as the other jammed toes were, but this was an outside toe. He thinks it may have been stressed when she was favoring the sore toe/toenail. It wasn't much of a jam though, since it popped back so easily, she didn't even notice. It was nice to have an appointment with no ouches.
It's been a hard summer and it's quite a relief to be getting back to our normal, eh...
Nadine set an article circle, the reverse of what we did the prior week. The hardest part for Gimme was the start. The start sock was right up next to the curb and the first leg went 90ยบ from the curb. It was awkward to align with the leg, plus a turning away from a curb is the hard. It took Gimme a little bit to solve it, but then she did pretty darn good. There were lots of interesting articles to find. She found them all - only needing help with one. She noted it, but didn't stop to indicate, so she didn't think it was really an article.We went straight from the article circle to a short track. Together they made up the approximate length we'd need for a TDU test. Now we just have to get the age back.
The first leg was an island serpentine and Gimme just motored right along. From there she turned out into the open and then turned again to go back to where the cars were parked. She did a nice job with all of this. It's good to see her getting her nose back.Later we had a follow-up appointment with her chiropractor, Dr. Powell. He checked her over thoroughly and only found minor things to adjust. One interesting thing was a slightly jammed toe. It was on the same foot as the other jammed toes were, but this was an outside toe. He thinks it may have been stressed when she was favoring the sore toe/toenail. It wasn't much of a jam though, since it popped back so easily, she didn't even notice. It was nice to have an appointment with no ouches.
It's been a hard summer and it's quite a relief to be getting back to our normal, eh...
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Nosework class (5/39)
Sadly I forgot to take my camera to class, so no videos.
Exterior 1 search - Our first search was a long narrow and turning search with four hides. It starts at one end of the parking lot along a stack of light poles and a platform of cinder blocks (40'). From there it turns right along the face of the building (100'), then turns left down the sidewalk to the back of the building (75'). Naturally Gimme zooms into the search area and overruns the hide in the pallet of cinder blocks. When she gets to the wall I turned her back to re-search the first part of the search. When she gets to the cinder block hide she quickly alerts. Then she goes along the front of the building and speeds up to get to the second portico where she finds the hide in a bit of angle iron at the base of a column. From there she goes along the rest of the front, after thinking about snooping inside the open van containing a dog in a crate. As she rounds the corner she swings wide and quickly pees in the grass. I told her "no" and took her from the search area. For consistency, she always loses her turn if she pees in a search - though it's possible she didn't realize this was still part of the search area, because it was so long and narrow.
Exterior 1b search - Dorothy offers us the opportunity to come back and finish the search from where we left off. Gimme is quite funny - shunning the pee spot, as if to say she doesn't know what bad dog did it, but she doesn't want to be blamed. She races about halfway down the sidewalk and finds a hide at the base of the utility boxes. From there she gets to the end of the search area, having only briefly sniffed along the way. When I swing her back she very quickly went to the brick she had sniffed and alerted there.
Exterior 2 search - The second search was one hide very high (7') on one of the plate glass holders in the business across the street. There's a long stretch of them and it was in the first one. The wind was really strong. Gimme quickly followed the line of the holders all the way to the end, then turned and worked her way back up the line. As she got to the holder third from where the hide was she slowed down and started working more carefully. It became apparent, due to a lot of upward casting, Gimme knew it was a high hide. She put her feet up and sniffed high a couple of times on the nearest and then the actual holder, but she clearly decided it wasn't just there. When she got right under the hide she put both feet up, glanced back at me and then kind of kicked off with her back feet. I wish I had it on video, because for a second she was hanging by her front feet. She got lots of chicken- nuggets for such a lovely clear indication.
I didn't know if we had another search coming, so I put her back in the van with her harness on. When I knew we were done I asked her to come out of her space so I could take her harness off and she acted concerned, and wouldn't come out. I tried to bribe her with a nugget, but she wasn't having it. I probably could have lured her out with peanut butter, but I don't want to get in the habit of doing it and risk her learning if she acts concerned I'll bring out the peanut butter. So, I asked her if she wanted to "go potty" and then she came out without hesitation. I walked her briefly and then took her harness off before letting her get back in the van. I don't know why she had this bit of weirditude, but was happy we could resolve it without much drama.
Exterior 1 search - Our first search was a long narrow and turning search with four hides. It starts at one end of the parking lot along a stack of light poles and a platform of cinder blocks (40'). From there it turns right along the face of the building (100'), then turns left down the sidewalk to the back of the building (75'). Naturally Gimme zooms into the search area and overruns the hide in the pallet of cinder blocks. When she gets to the wall I turned her back to re-search the first part of the search. When she gets to the cinder block hide she quickly alerts. Then she goes along the front of the building and speeds up to get to the second portico where she finds the hide in a bit of angle iron at the base of a column. From there she goes along the rest of the front, after thinking about snooping inside the open van containing a dog in a crate. As she rounds the corner she swings wide and quickly pees in the grass. I told her "no" and took her from the search area. For consistency, she always loses her turn if she pees in a search - though it's possible she didn't realize this was still part of the search area, because it was so long and narrow.
Exterior 1b search - Dorothy offers us the opportunity to come back and finish the search from where we left off. Gimme is quite funny - shunning the pee spot, as if to say she doesn't know what bad dog did it, but she doesn't want to be blamed. She races about halfway down the sidewalk and finds a hide at the base of the utility boxes. From there she gets to the end of the search area, having only briefly sniffed along the way. When I swing her back she very quickly went to the brick she had sniffed and alerted there.
Exterior 2 search - The second search was one hide very high (7') on one of the plate glass holders in the business across the street. There's a long stretch of them and it was in the first one. The wind was really strong. Gimme quickly followed the line of the holders all the way to the end, then turned and worked her way back up the line. As she got to the holder third from where the hide was she slowed down and started working more carefully. It became apparent, due to a lot of upward casting, Gimme knew it was a high hide. She put her feet up and sniffed high a couple of times on the nearest and then the actual holder, but she clearly decided it wasn't just there. When she got right under the hide she put both feet up, glanced back at me and then kind of kicked off with her back feet. I wish I had it on video, because for a second she was hanging by her front feet. She got lots of chicken- nuggets for such a lovely clear indication.
I didn't know if we had another search coming, so I put her back in the van with her harness on. When I knew we were done I asked her to come out of her space so I could take her harness off and she acted concerned, and wouldn't come out. I tried to bribe her with a nugget, but she wasn't having it. I probably could have lured her out with peanut butter, but I don't want to get in the habit of doing it and risk her learning if she acts concerned I'll bring out the peanut butter. So, I asked her if she wanted to "go potty" and then she came out without hesitation. I walked her briefly and then took her harness off before letting her get back in the van. I don't know why she had this bit of weirditude, but was happy we could resolve it without much drama.
Veterinary visit
This has been a rough summer for Gimme. It started in early-mid June and continued through just last week. To recap:
He did say this could have something to do with the breakthrough seizure in early July. Sometimes the anti-seizure medications lose effectiveness over time. So the dogs can be anxious pre-seizure, even if the seizure doesn't materialize. With only the one known break-through seizure, he doesn't want to tinker with her dosage or add other medications.
We talked about anti-anxiety medication, but he wants to hold off, because they are tricky to use with the Keppra she gets for seizure prevention.
Instead he recommended an alternative based approach. I am using an Adaptil diffuser next to her end of the couch when I'm not home. Plus I got an Adaptil sprayer to put on a bandana for the days she's spending a lot of time in the car.
He recommended a calming food, but it was prohibitively expensive. A nine-pound bag was going to be $56! Instead I read the brochure and learned its benefit is because it's high in L-Tryptophan, which the body uses to make Serotonin. So I bought ground turkey and added it to her diet. There are many foods containing significant levels of L-Tryptophan, but turkey is an easy source. I made up 1.2-ounce balls of ground turkey and froze them. I am adding one to 3 of her 4 bowls of "soup" (the other gets egg, which also has L-Tryptophan).
Doc said it might take a week to notice a difference, but I was seeing increased calmness by evening. We also talked about my anxiety level from worrying about her anxiety/fears and how it could make hers worse. I noticed in the evening when she was starting to act anxious, if I talked silly to her about it, it dissipated. So I'm really monitoring my own reactions to make sure I don't buy into her drama and unintentionally feed it. I've also been blocking her access to other rooms when I'm not in them, to prevent her from practicing "hiding". My theory is if she's hiding, then it feeds into the emotion of needing to hide.
In ten days she has improved sooooo much. Sometimes I can leave open the access to rooms she hides and she doesn't hide. If she does I encourage her to come back out and then close off access. Her attitude is so much better. Today is the first time I could put her collar on without a treat in sight, though she still got a treat. I started out having to lure her with peanut butter to put it on, so this is a big improvement. For other things, I'm taking my time a little more, trying to prevent any tweaks for her to over-react to and feed the drama. For instance in the week before the vet visit, I barely moved my foot and lightly brushed her toe. She screamed and ran from the room. This might seem plausible given the sore toe/toenail, except I brushed against the other foot! Thus taking my time and being a little more careful.
So that's it for now. There has been a lot of progress and hopefully this will be a thing of the past before long. For training I'm sticking with basics, things she knows well and can get a lot of reinforcement for.
It breaks my heart to see her lose her zest for life - I'm thrilled to see it returning.
- Starting in June she was unfocused, whiny and showing avoidance during RFE practices. Later in the month this behavior also showed up, to a lesser degree, for tracking. There was also a day when we were doing the Rally-O course where Gimme suddenly yelped and then didn't want to work any more. At the time I thought it was related to her false pregnancy, which seemed to have gone on a little longer than I expected.
- Her chiropractor visit showed she had jammed 2 toes on her left front foot. Right after this she did a little better, but still not her usual. It was painful getting her toes adjusted, but she has a long history with Dr. Powell (and peanut butter which she licks as he works on her), so she was fine when he worked on the rest of her body and only a little tense when he got back to those toes.
- Five days later she had a grand mal seizure. Thank God I was home or I might have missed it entirely - 20 minutes later she seemed entirely normal. I blogged about this a month ago.
- At her next chiropractor visit, he found her atlas was misaligned. Dr. Powell said atlas misalignment (top vertebra where skull attaches to spine) is implicated in seizures, though it remains unproven. He said it also causes migraines in humans (I can verify this) and probably does in dogs.
- Her next RFE practice was about the same and I noticed her gait seemed "off", though not limping. I assumed her toes were bothering her again.
- At the next chiropractor visit, her atlas was only a little out and the toes were fine. Unfortunately her right shoulder was now stuck. Again a big yelp during the adjustment, but ready forgiveness.
- Almost right away Gimme came in season a month early. Normally being in season doesn't affect her attitude, but this time it seemed to. Probably the season just exacerbated the underlying anxiety.
- About this time I started noticing Gimme becoming afraid of things. The first thing was a cane we were working with - which I attributed to the shoulder issue. Then she became afraid of her collar, the couch, the living room and even me! She had lost all resilience, she would yelp and go into hiding in the house for the slightest reason.
- At the next chiropractor visit we learned her toe was still bothering her (toenail has a crack in it) and was probably causing intermittent and unpredictable pains when bumped or catching on something.
- Through this 2½ months, Gimme just had one thing after another. The pains she was experiencing must've seemed like she was being bitten by an invisible monster. At our last RFE practice Gimme was worse than ever, despite my efforts to help her and stick with easier stuff. I've been trying to counter condition the things she has come to fear with only limited success. During that session she suddenly became afraid of her harness, whimpering as I put it on her.
He did say this could have something to do with the breakthrough seizure in early July. Sometimes the anti-seizure medications lose effectiveness over time. So the dogs can be anxious pre-seizure, even if the seizure doesn't materialize. With only the one known break-through seizure, he doesn't want to tinker with her dosage or add other medications.
We talked about anti-anxiety medication, but he wants to hold off, because they are tricky to use with the Keppra she gets for seizure prevention.
Instead he recommended an alternative based approach. I am using an Adaptil diffuser next to her end of the couch when I'm not home. Plus I got an Adaptil sprayer to put on a bandana for the days she's spending a lot of time in the car.
He recommended a calming food, but it was prohibitively expensive. A nine-pound bag was going to be $56! Instead I read the brochure and learned its benefit is because it's high in L-Tryptophan, which the body uses to make Serotonin. So I bought ground turkey and added it to her diet. There are many foods containing significant levels of L-Tryptophan, but turkey is an easy source. I made up 1.2-ounce balls of ground turkey and froze them. I am adding one to 3 of her 4 bowls of "soup" (the other gets egg, which also has L-Tryptophan).
Doc said it might take a week to notice a difference, but I was seeing increased calmness by evening. We also talked about my anxiety level from worrying about her anxiety/fears and how it could make hers worse. I noticed in the evening when she was starting to act anxious, if I talked silly to her about it, it dissipated. So I'm really monitoring my own reactions to make sure I don't buy into her drama and unintentionally feed it. I've also been blocking her access to other rooms when I'm not in them, to prevent her from practicing "hiding". My theory is if she's hiding, then it feeds into the emotion of needing to hide.
In ten days she has improved sooooo much. Sometimes I can leave open the access to rooms she hides and she doesn't hide. If she does I encourage her to come back out and then close off access. Her attitude is so much better. Today is the first time I could put her collar on without a treat in sight, though she still got a treat. I started out having to lure her with peanut butter to put it on, so this is a big improvement. For other things, I'm taking my time a little more, trying to prevent any tweaks for her to over-react to and feed the drama. For instance in the week before the vet visit, I barely moved my foot and lightly brushed her toe. She screamed and ran from the room. This might seem plausible given the sore toe/toenail, except I brushed against the other foot! Thus taking my time and being a little more careful.
So that's it for now. There has been a lot of progress and hopefully this will be a thing of the past before long. For training I'm sticking with basics, things she knows well and can get a lot of reinforcement for.
It breaks my heart to see her lose her zest for life - I'm thrilled to see it returning.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Nosework class (4/39)
We had four searches, one for each element. They were supposed to be blind searches, but I asked to know how many hides there were. Gimme had been so anxious earlier in the day, so I wanted to be able to support her very well.
She had been afraid of getting her harness put on earlier in the day, so I really took my time with it and used peanut butter to lure her through it.
Vehicle search video - On the surface this looks like it should be a simple search, but... Did you see the drain right behind the big white truck? I didn't notice it at the time, but we know from other searches (and from tracking) how drains do weird things to scent. This one apparently sucked a lot of scent from the hide all the way over and onto the white truck.
Interior search video - Gimme was so fast in this search, getting both hides in 30 seconds. Sure shows what a difference it makes to work in an enclosed space with no breeze.
Container search video - Gimme did a nice job finding three hides in 43 seconds. Clearly I need to get back to work on her indication for boxes.
Exterior search video - She did a nice job here. She went down to the end where one hide was high, but didn't indicate. Instead she went back to the middle and found a hide in the pallets. Then she checked beyond the first hide before going back to the high hide. I liked how she took herself back to the one she'd caught from the start line.
This was a fun search. Grass pollen is starting to reduce and I think searching is becoming easier for her again.
She had been afraid of getting her harness put on earlier in the day, so I really took my time with it and used peanut butter to lure her through it.
Vehicle search video - On the surface this looks like it should be a simple search, but... Did you see the drain right behind the big white truck? I didn't notice it at the time, but we know from other searches (and from tracking) how drains do weird things to scent. This one apparently sucked a lot of scent from the hide all the way over and onto the white truck.
Interior search video - Gimme was so fast in this search, getting both hides in 30 seconds. Sure shows what a difference it makes to work in an enclosed space with no breeze.
Container search video - Gimme did a nice job finding three hides in 43 seconds. Clearly I need to get back to work on her indication for boxes.
Exterior search video - She did a nice job here. She went down to the end where one hide was high, but didn't indicate. Instead she went back to the middle and found a hide in the pallets. Then she checked beyond the first hide before going back to the high hide. I liked how she took herself back to the one she'd caught from the start line.
This was a fun search. Grass pollen is starting to reduce and I think searching is becoming easier for her again.
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
RFE practice (99)
Gimme has been getting worse with her anxiety and this morning was the worst of all, despite how I tried to make it easier for her. After this I scheduled her for a vet appointment the next day just to see if there was something medical wrong instead of my own theory that it's in her head.
Warm-up - My plan was to ask for a behavior, reward it and then her extra reward would be to get to snoop along part of the edge of the training area. I started out very easy with "sit", "down" and "touch". Second time was a bit of "heel". Third an "otto" and "touch"; fourth a bit of "side". This is the first time I've tried this, so overall I thought she did well.
Eye contact game - On the MDSA list the workshop has been about attention games. So Gimme and I have been doing the Eye Contact Game. My preference is the way Chris Bach taught it. Gimme likes it - it makes sense to her.
Eye contact game 2 video - Later on Gimme is badly distracted by a screeching puppy in the other ring. I used ECG to get her focus back on me and then was able to move on to another attention game.
Freeshaping backward weave - Gimme just couldn't get focused enough to freeshape this. She tried briefly, but then went into avoidance. The best moments we had were when I started with her in front of me and cued "close" (CCW pivot toward "heel"). I put her back on leash and was able to get a few "close" pivots around the bottle and I should have quit then. Then she got frustrated and started avoiding the bottle entirely, so I quit and we did other things.
Attention game - This is one of the attention games from the MDSA workshop. I messed up at the beginning. Gimme was distracted and I used "sniffing" the floor to encourage her to come to me, then tried to start the game. Unfortunately I was hovering too much in her space and she wasn't having it. When I thought to stand up straight and not be so creepy, then she did fine. The nice thing about this game is all the movement, which bleeds off frustration.
"Away" & "back" - I am again using the target stick with peanut butter on it, to maintain a little duration for Gimme's "away". She likes to turn it into a "spin". As goosey and concerned as she has been with unexpected touches, she's not the least bit concerned about me lightly touching her foot with my toe to get her to move it up on the platform. Of course she is licking peanut butter and she'll do anything for it. The third try she's anticipating and spinning, so I give her treats for waiting for the cue, to slow her down.
Backward Weaves w/ barrier - I got one really nice one, but J'Anna didn't get it on video. Then she kept trying to show me the way she thinks it should be done, which is a common approach (Ray Underwood teaches it), but it doesn't work for Gimme. The idea is to steer their butt, by treats on the nose. Gimme used to do this when she was very young, but when backing up became her super power, she stopped turning her rear. I think it's just an unintended lesson. I could probably teach her to turn her butt by luring her nose, but this would be the only reason for it and I don't see the point. Then again, maybe I will end up doing so - I don't rule it out.
Handler Discrimination - J'Anna set up a nosework Handler Discrimination exercise. I started training this once, but then I never saw any trials locally including it, so I stopped working on it. Apparently some trials are now placing it on the menu. We haven't trained this since some time last year, so I just exposed Gimme to it. I didn't have a fresh glove to use, so I just put my scent on a paper towel. I called "alert' and rewarded when Gimme stopped to show interest. I'm using a different cue, "find mine", to differentiate from looking for odor. I'm not sure she learned anything, though on the second and third runs she looked like she might have. Then the fourth time she just started indicating all of them - of course it's also when the pup in the other ring started screeching again.
BTW when I tried to put her harness on her in the car, she acted like she was suddenly afraid of the harness. I have no idea why. I lured her with peanut butter and then she let me put it on her. I lured her at nosework class too and now she seems to have gotten over it.
Anyway, this sudden fear of her harness was a large part of the reason I scheduled a veterinary appointment the next day. I was pretty certain this was all in her head, but since things were not improving and even getting worse in some ways, it seemed prudent to have Dr. Bell check her over.
Warm-up - My plan was to ask for a behavior, reward it and then her extra reward would be to get to snoop along part of the edge of the training area. I started out very easy with "sit", "down" and "touch". Second time was a bit of "heel". Third an "otto" and "touch"; fourth a bit of "side". This is the first time I've tried this, so overall I thought she did well.
Eye contact game - On the MDSA list the workshop has been about attention games. So Gimme and I have been doing the Eye Contact Game. My preference is the way Chris Bach taught it. Gimme likes it - it makes sense to her.
Eye contact game 2 video - Later on Gimme is badly distracted by a screeching puppy in the other ring. I used ECG to get her focus back on me and then was able to move on to another attention game.
Freeshaping backward weave - Gimme just couldn't get focused enough to freeshape this. She tried briefly, but then went into avoidance. The best moments we had were when I started with her in front of me and cued "close" (CCW pivot toward "heel"). I put her back on leash and was able to get a few "close" pivots around the bottle and I should have quit then. Then she got frustrated and started avoiding the bottle entirely, so I quit and we did other things.
Attention game - This is one of the attention games from the MDSA workshop. I messed up at the beginning. Gimme was distracted and I used "sniffing" the floor to encourage her to come to me, then tried to start the game. Unfortunately I was hovering too much in her space and she wasn't having it. When I thought to stand up straight and not be so creepy, then she did fine. The nice thing about this game is all the movement, which bleeds off frustration.
"Away" & "back" - I am again using the target stick with peanut butter on it, to maintain a little duration for Gimme's "away". She likes to turn it into a "spin". As goosey and concerned as she has been with unexpected touches, she's not the least bit concerned about me lightly touching her foot with my toe to get her to move it up on the platform. Of course she is licking peanut butter and she'll do anything for it. The third try she's anticipating and spinning, so I give her treats for waiting for the cue, to slow her down.
Backward Weaves w/ barrier - I got one really nice one, but J'Anna didn't get it on video. Then she kept trying to show me the way she thinks it should be done, which is a common approach (Ray Underwood teaches it), but it doesn't work for Gimme. The idea is to steer their butt, by treats on the nose. Gimme used to do this when she was very young, but when backing up became her super power, she stopped turning her rear. I think it's just an unintended lesson. I could probably teach her to turn her butt by luring her nose, but this would be the only reason for it and I don't see the point. Then again, maybe I will end up doing so - I don't rule it out.
Handler Discrimination - J'Anna set up a nosework Handler Discrimination exercise. I started training this once, but then I never saw any trials locally including it, so I stopped working on it. Apparently some trials are now placing it on the menu. We haven't trained this since some time last year, so I just exposed Gimme to it. I didn't have a fresh glove to use, so I just put my scent on a paper towel. I called "alert' and rewarded when Gimme stopped to show interest. I'm using a different cue, "find mine", to differentiate from looking for odor. I'm not sure she learned anything, though on the second and third runs she looked like she might have. Then the fourth time she just started indicating all of them - of course it's also when the pup in the other ring started screeching again.
BTW when I tried to put her harness on her in the car, she acted like she was suddenly afraid of the harness. I have no idea why. I lured her with peanut butter and then she let me put it on her. I lured her at nosework class too and now she seems to have gotten over it.
Anyway, this sudden fear of her harness was a large part of the reason I scheduled a veterinary appointment the next day. I was pretty certain this was all in her head, but since things were not improving and even getting worse in some ways, it seemed prudent to have Dr. Bell check her over.
Monday, August 19, 2019
Urban Tracking (146 & 147)
On August 8th, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema. Because of Gimme's mental state, I asked her to lay article circles again. She first laid an article-G in one lot and then an article rectangle in the other.
Gimme was very fussy in the car on the ride to Auburn, so she had a rough start. She didn't really get focused on the track until the third article from the end. I assumed the lack of focus was because of her mental state. I've since discovered she is really struggling with the grass pollen.
In one of our walks, I dropped treats for the last half mile before the turn around point so Gimme could find them on the way back. It's a fun thing we do and usually Gimme is great at it. This time Gimme had trouble finding the cheese pieces and would have missed a third of them if I hadn't helped her. She's still getting bee pollen, but bees don't collect grass pollen, so it's only a very little help for her. Bees only collect pollen from those plants that are pollinated by "winged vectors"; grass is pollinated by the wind. Clearly I won't sign up for any tracking test when grass pollen is prevalent.
On the second article rectangle Gimme did much better. I think by then her nose was more tuned to what she was looking for. I'd also given her coconut water after the first track, so her nasal passages were likely more hydrated, which surely helped. Gimme worked right through this, even despite the interruptions from a couple of cars driving through/over her track.
On August 15th, we met at Game Farm Park. I again asked for article circles and for all absorbent articles. I'm keeping things simple until Gimme is through all this angst. The day before I had taken Gimme to the vet and started using his suggestions. Gimme was quieter and calmer in the car and I could see she was much more focused. Nadine laid one track and I laid another when I got there. I made sure Gimme was well hydrated before we started.
I ran her on my track first, for two reasons. One - it was fresher and would be a good warm up. Two - Nadine had already run one of her dogs on her track and I wanted Gimme to warm up on a track without another dog's smell on it. It took Gimme a couple of legs to get in gear on this track. She missed the first article altogether and I had to bring her back to it. She was challenged to find the second one, but after that she did great. She even found the extra article
I'd dropped accidentally.
When we did Nadine's article circle, Gimme was already warmed up and did well on it. Nadine commented a couple of times "Cricket went there too." This is why I don't like reusing tracks, since you don't know if your dog is solving the puzzle in the same way as a prior dog, or if they have changed gears and are actually tracking the prior dog. So for the most part I avoid reusing tracks. Nadine is okay with reusing tracks, so she's fine with letting Gimme go first and letting her dogs follow. In seminars, Sil has us run article circles one after the other, so if it's good enough for him, I do bend this rule for article circles. They are about articles, not tracking.
I was pleased with her efforts this day. The grass pollen levels are decreasing. They were supposed to go down to light last Friday, but I just checked and they are still considered moderate, but it's supposed to go down to mild in the next two days.
Gimme was very fussy in the car on the ride to Auburn, so she had a rough start. She didn't really get focused on the track until the third article from the end. I assumed the lack of focus was because of her mental state. I've since discovered she is really struggling with the grass pollen. In one of our walks, I dropped treats for the last half mile before the turn around point so Gimme could find them on the way back. It's a fun thing we do and usually Gimme is great at it. This time Gimme had trouble finding the cheese pieces and would have missed a third of them if I hadn't helped her. She's still getting bee pollen, but bees don't collect grass pollen, so it's only a very little help for her. Bees only collect pollen from those plants that are pollinated by "winged vectors"; grass is pollinated by the wind. Clearly I won't sign up for any tracking test when grass pollen is prevalent.
On the second article rectangle Gimme did much better. I think by then her nose was more tuned to what she was looking for. I'd also given her coconut water after the first track, so her nasal passages were likely more hydrated, which surely helped. Gimme worked right through this, even despite the interruptions from a couple of cars driving through/over her track.On August 15th, we met at Game Farm Park. I again asked for article circles and for all absorbent articles. I'm keeping things simple until Gimme is through all this angst. The day before I had taken Gimme to the vet and started using his suggestions. Gimme was quieter and calmer in the car and I could see she was much more focused. Nadine laid one track and I laid another when I got there. I made sure Gimme was well hydrated before we started.
I ran her on my track first, for two reasons. One - it was fresher and would be a good warm up. Two - Nadine had already run one of her dogs on her track and I wanted Gimme to warm up on a track without another dog's smell on it. It took Gimme a couple of legs to get in gear on this track. She missed the first article altogether and I had to bring her back to it. She was challenged to find the second one, but after that she did great. She even found the extra article I'd dropped accidentally.
When we did Nadine's article circle, Gimme was already warmed up and did well on it. Nadine commented a couple of times "Cricket went there too." This is why I don't like reusing tracks, since you don't know if your dog is solving the puzzle in the same way as a prior dog, or if they have changed gears and are actually tracking the prior dog. So for the most part I avoid reusing tracks. Nadine is okay with reusing tracks, so she's fine with letting Gimme go first and letting her dogs follow. In seminars, Sil has us run article circles one after the other, so if it's good enough for him, I do bend this rule for article circles. They are about articles, not tracking.I was pleased with her efforts this day. The grass pollen levels are decreasing. They were supposed to go down to light last Friday, but I just checked and they are still considered moderate, but it's supposed to go down to mild in the next two days.
Friday, August 9, 2019
Nosework class (2/39)
Gimme was better at searching than the week before, but still not quite her usual self. I did discover this was her special day - she was flagging her tail as I was putting her panties on. She was really goosey about everything Monday and Tuesday, which is explained by it being her special day.
Since then we met Nadine for tracking and did article circles again. She laid two circles and Gimme was a bit blasรฉ for the first one, but got into what she was doing for the second circle. This makes me wonder if she is having trouble with the grass pollen, even though she's taking bee pollen. Perhaps her nose isn't it's usual excellent self and in combination with her other concerns, it's enough to throw her off her game.
Exterior 1 video - The search area was a large exterior, which was freshly bulldozed and trees removed. There were three hides. A dog before Gimme peed and I tried to avoid the area, but I marked it wrong in my head. She did a lovely job getting to the nearest hide so quickly. Gimme and August were the only dogs in class to go straight to the rock pile at the back after finding the near hide. Gimme got back there quickly, but it took her a little bit to source the hide since the breeze died down as we got there. It took her 28 seconds to decide exactly where the hide was, but then she was very clear. Unfortunately from there she got to the pee spot. The sharp "no" is just a reflex, but it's just as well and I ended the search and took her away from the search area - to make sure she always understands the rule. This is only the 6th time she's ever marked during a search in her whole career of 8 years.
Exterior 2 video - There were two hides in this area. The same person's other dog marked in this search at the very end of the area. You'll see Gimme moved wide of the spot, being careful to avoid it - she doesn't make the same mistake twice, even in her special condition. We quickly walked the length of the search area (with one brief diversion) and she went right up the side of the dumpster to indicate the hide. It was interesting that she went a bit past the mailboxes, then swung back. She sniffs high on the chainlink and must've caught some scent, since she went directly to the hide from there. Way to go Empress...
I'm glad to see she's getting her nose back, since she needs some positive outlets. She's been in a weird place mentally for several weeks and getting worse. I've thought it was this thing or another, but have come to believe it's really this whole period of time, starting in late June through the present.
I plan to keep her on relatively smooth surfaces, though my yard is anything but smooth. And, honestly she hasn't had any trouble field tracking. I am planning to make her a set of steps onto the bed, since hopping up has caused a few squeaks. I think as she "lands", her weight pushes into the soft bed, but the bedding forces the toenail upward, thus the pain. I have a lot of cinder blocks I can bring in to form a set of steps (left from when other dogs have gotten very old).
Can't wait for this nail to heal - just wish there were something I could do for it.
Since then we met Nadine for tracking and did article circles again. She laid two circles and Gimme was a bit blasรฉ for the first one, but got into what she was doing for the second circle. This makes me wonder if she is having trouble with the grass pollen, even though she's taking bee pollen. Perhaps her nose isn't it's usual excellent self and in combination with her other concerns, it's enough to throw her off her game.
Exterior 1 video - The search area was a large exterior, which was freshly bulldozed and trees removed. There were three hides. A dog before Gimme peed and I tried to avoid the area, but I marked it wrong in my head. She did a lovely job getting to the nearest hide so quickly. Gimme and August were the only dogs in class to go straight to the rock pile at the back after finding the near hide. Gimme got back there quickly, but it took her a little bit to source the hide since the breeze died down as we got there. It took her 28 seconds to decide exactly where the hide was, but then she was very clear. Unfortunately from there she got to the pee spot. The sharp "no" is just a reflex, but it's just as well and I ended the search and took her away from the search area - to make sure she always understands the rule. This is only the 6th time she's ever marked during a search in her whole career of 8 years.
Exterior 2 video - There were two hides in this area. The same person's other dog marked in this search at the very end of the area. You'll see Gimme moved wide of the spot, being careful to avoid it - she doesn't make the same mistake twice, even in her special condition. We quickly walked the length of the search area (with one brief diversion) and she went right up the side of the dumpster to indicate the hide. It was interesting that she went a bit past the mailboxes, then swung back. She sniffs high on the chainlink and must've caught some scent, since she went directly to the hide from there. Way to go Empress...
I'm glad to see she's getting her nose back, since she needs some positive outlets. She's been in a weird place mentally for several weeks and getting worse. I've thought it was this thing or another, but have come to believe it's really this whole period of time, starting in late June through the present.
- It started with two sore/jammed toes on her left front paw.
- Then her atlas vertebra (the top one) was out of alignment. Doc said this often feels like a migraine - I know I get migraines when mine is out. This likely contributed to what came next...
- I've already talked a bunch about the grand mal seizure
- I took her in see the chiropractor, Dr. Powell, to double-check her atlas, only to discover her shoulder was badly locked up and quite painful.
- Yesterday we went in for another checkup and found the atlas and shoulder were fine, but her toes are still bothering her. I already noticed one toenail has a bit broken off and Doc saw a long crack running the length of it.
I plan to keep her on relatively smooth surfaces, though my yard is anything but smooth. And, honestly she hasn't had any trouble field tracking. I am planning to make her a set of steps onto the bed, since hopping up has caused a few squeaks. I think as she "lands", her weight pushes into the soft bed, but the bedding forces the toenail upward, thus the pain. I have a lot of cinder blocks I can bring in to form a set of steps (left from when other dogs have gotten very old).
Can't wait for this nail to heal - just wish there were something I could do for it.
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