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.
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