Nosework class (5/42)

This was an interesting class... for the first two searches, we had to say whether the dog was checking something blank, a distraction or odor. Both of these searches were blind.

Containers video - We learned afterward - there was only one blank container, the first four had distractions, and the last one was odor. The first three Gimme ignored so completely, I called them "blank". They were intended as distractions and contained doe urine, lavender and dirt. She smells lavender at home all the time and dirt on our walks, but I would have thought doe urine would catch her attention. The one she batted around had ground turkey in it. She gets it in her soup three times a day, so I'm sure she thinks it should be hers. She ignored the blank box and quickly indicated odor.

Exterior 1 - There is no video because I forgot to hand over the camera. There were 8 tins distributed among the big cement blocks (you saw them in the videos last week). Four distractions, one blank and three hides. Gimme did really well. She paid a bit more attention to the doe urine, but less attention to the ground turkey - both of them she left readily. She quickly found all three hides and indicated clearly.

Exterior 2 video - This last search was three hides along the front and under the portico of the building. There were four distraction tins. There is a slight breeze blowing from the far end of the search area and Gimme races down to get the farthest hide in just 13 seconds. It takes her 16 seconds to find the against-the-wall bench hide, which is always a very tricky hide.  I think approaching it from the other direction made it clearer. The other dogs spent a LOT more time sourcing it. She briefly sniffed the ground turkey tin again, but then got to the last hide in 16 seconds. She didn't pay any significant attention to the distractions. Even though she bypassed the first two hides to go to the one at the end, her search was still efficient. She did it in half the time of the other dogs, except August, who she beat by about 30 seconds.

She does love nosey-works.

RFE practice (112)

I'm still plugging away at getting the individual videos for the Intermediate/Advanced skills test. Got another one here - leaving just one to go. I also did two things to share with the MDSA list.

Opposite "otto" video - These three repetitions took 5:30 because her rewards took so long. I did two things different. First I did this right away, while she was fresh and I rewarded heavily even when it wasn't perfect to keep her motivation up. The first time she was confused on the second "otto", but got it with extra support, so it got a full reward. The second time she decided to offer another "otto", which I could use with careful trimming. The third time was perfect.

"West" video - I'm using the wall to guide her into a good position. I shouldn't use the cue until she's warmed up. She's getting better; remember, last time she was so fidgety. The last reps I moved over so I could use the wall mirror to check her position. At least this time I could feel her body against my leg. I almost need two mirrors - there is a pair on adjoining walls in the corner, so I may try them next time.

Heel starts in "Side" video - I did this video for the MDSA list. This month's workshop was on heeling, mostly lagging issues. I decided to use her techniques to repair Gimme's "side" position, which has become weak. I've brushed her toes a time or two there, so she's not convinced it's a safe place to be. I just need to do the work to get it back and this was good motivation.

16 position tests video - This video was also for the MDSA list. Ilona has a 16-point test to demonstrate the dog's understanding of the position. The test she shared was for "heel" position, but I modified it for "side". One place I got confused and said "heel" and she went right to it. I really like this concept, since it's very methodical and I think the dogs can learn soooo much doing it. I did it in "heel" last week with Gimme with five errors and now in "side" with just three errors. Interesting she did better in "side" which I consider her less fluent position. Possibly because she is more confident in how to win the game. I don't know what happened to the 16th test. I know we did it, but somehow it didn't get recorded - somebody had an itchy record finger methinks... You can't get good help for free these days.

It was a very good training session.  I think it helped a lot for me to have a plan. 
Who knew?

Field Tracking (63)

Nadine and I met at Flaming Geyser on Thursday, Feb 20th. I had a different plan, but when I got there after being held up in traffic, Nadine had already laid a track in the fields I planned to use. So we set this up in the spur of the moment. The black is the track I laid for Gimme, with an article-reward-point after every crosstrack. The red is a crosstrack laid by Nadine, which she ran with Ember.

Gimme started out okay, but found the crosstracks more and more attractive as we went along. She's done better with them. After watching how Ember "tracked" and the result with Gimme - I think it was far too attractive. Ember is largely all over the place, using her whole 15' line to check out everything. Plus her articles all contained food. So, while they were all gone (except one glove), the smell of food just a bit away lingered.

I didn't think Gimme did as well with this as she has in past exercises; it was just too much. On a positive note, she was very willing to give up the crosstrack contamination. She was very persistent about the extra glove - got the food in it and thought I should give her more. In her mind I'm sure she thought it smelled like Nadine, who most often lays her tracks, so she should get paid for finding it. I urged her to leave it and soon she found a better article, one with Mom-smell on it and she got paid for it.

Not a bad exercise, just not what I had planned. Next time we'll do my plan, which should be contaminated, but not too much. I say, "should" because we can't really control the environment, so you never know what you'll get.

Nosework class (4/42)

We again started with blank searches - two of them. The second blank search was very tricksie... Then we then ended with two searches containing hides.

Exterior 1 search video - Gimme was happy to search and her enthusiasm stayed at about the same level. Partly I think it was because it was a large area.  She didn't show any change of behavior, which was my only clue it was a blank search.

Vehicle 1 search video - We were told this was a blank vehicle search. We weren't told about the hide on the nearby building. The idea was to see if the dogs would be persistent, to get us to leave what we believed was the search area and take us to odor. Gimme was ready to go there almost from the start, but was willing to go with me. She's always loved the hunting as much, if not more, than the finding. Interestingly, the novice dogs were more persistent than the experienced dogs.

Vehicle 2 search video - The videographer missed the first few seconds of this search, but nothing happened there. Gimme was very efficient, going straight to the hide the moment she caught a bit of scent.

Exterior 2 search video - Gimme was again very efficient. She went straight from the start to the nearest hide. From there she headed toward the second hide and had it sourced in no time.

There is quite a bit of debate about whether to reward a dog after a blank search. Some are concerned about rewarding not-finding.  After thinking it through, I've decided to just quickly cue a behavior and reward it. If Gimme is off leash, I call her to me, put the leash on and then reward. If she's on leash, I cue her "with me" (walk loosely with me) and then reward it.

She can't find a hide without searching for it, so I want to find a way to reward searching even if she didn't find anything.  Rewards increase the likelihood of all the behaviors coming immediately before. Thus with unwanted behaviors you can get the I'll-be-bad-so-I-can-be-good-and-get-rewarded behavior chain. In this case, I'm happy to reward the behavior immediately before, so no worries.

Nosework class (3/42)

This was an unusual class. We worked as a group and recorded the changes of behavior by the dog and when they occurred. The idea was to compare the c.o.b. from one search to another. All searches were off leash.

There was another class in here earlier and Dorothy reported finding a lot of treats, so all of the dogs checked out food smells at one time or another.

Interior 1 search video - There were no hides in the first search. Gimme looked at me 5 times at :21, :32, :45, 1:05 and 1:10. She foraged in the main food smell area at :50 (near the ladder on the floor). Her first look was because I was catching up to her, coming close. After it, she looked at me several times. I think because I was verbally marking the looks and she was looking at me to see if it meant anything (which Dorothy comments on). Also note, to begin with she moves rapidly in the search area, scanning. When she doesn't find anything, she slows down and starts detailing.

Interior 2 search video - There was one hide. Gimme looked at me at :10, found the hide at :19 and then really looked at me to make sure I was coming to pay up.

Interior 3 search video - Gimme found all three hides quickly, without looking at me at all between them, at :18, :25 and :41. She only looked to see if I was coming - which is how she normally searches. There was actually a piece of hotdog on the floor under the second hide (bar stool) and she paid no attention to it. Instead she took the treat from me and then moved on to find the third/final hide. Talk about odor obedience.

Gimme doesn't usually look at me much in a search. Mostly just to make sure I'm coming with her reward. Sometimes she'll look at me when I'm moving into her space, just to keep an eye on what I'm up to.

This was all very interesting. The idea was to see if the dog's pattern of behavior related to behavior changes was notably different when there wasn't versus when there was hides. In Gimme's case, my talking in the first search (different than when I chatter, which she ignores), created a false high number of looks. On the second and third searches she went back to her normal behavior. The expected pattern change was much more obvious with the other dogs.

RFE practice (111)

I'm still focused on getting the individual clips for our Intermediate-Advanced Skills entry. I believe I have all the intermediate clips (need to review them closely in case there is one I want to improve) and the usual bow. Now I'm trying to get the three advanced behaviors.

"West" video - This will be our alternate position behavior, which Gimme has to hold for 3 seconds. I'm using the wall as a barrier to help get the behavior, without fidgeting, combined with our "get-it" game. I'm not opposed to her using "otto" to get into position, but with the wall, I didn't want her to hurt her tail. She does create a steady drumbeat against the wall. For our last session, we played "get-it" without the wall, and doing variable positions. Without the barrier, it takes a bit of shaping to get her aligned correctly, since she tends to swing her heiney out so she can watch for an incoming treat. We also did some "back" with the treat tossed behind her. At the end I was doing "west", then stepping forward so she had to sidestep her rear to keep in position. Nice!

"Back" to target video - Here we did some warm-up for backing to the target. It's for the advanced behavior where she moves to "center", "backs" up 4 feet, and then holds position while I return to her and assume the position we were in originally. Gimme had a case of the fidgets to start with, but then gets better.

"Otto" with handler opposite video - She's still avoiding "otto" in this building, which is why she gets her best treats for it. I know she's not uncomfortable, since we've been seeing Dr. Powell, her chiropractor and because she does "otto" without delay anywhere else. She just has a negative association here, so I am counter-conditioning it. Her training toy has three "arms" and I fill one with peanut butter, which she enjoys extracting from it; she's learned to push down with her paw so it squirts out. J'Anna suggested I do two opposite moves while she does two "otto", so there wouldn't be a change to my motion. It actually worked well, but J'Anna pushed the photo button, so it wasn't recorded. I'll be interested to see how it works when we start with it next time.

"Back" back-chained video - I decided I was messing up and should be back-chaining this behavior. We started with a warm-up and then went to it. It seemed soooo much clearer to her - duhh. I also used her peanut butter toy, which proved distracting, so we had to move it further away. Finally we got a perfect one. Yayyyyy...

We are getting there - just two more advanced clips to do.

Urban Tracking (157)

On Thursday, February 6th, Nadine and I met at Game Farm Park. I had planned overlapping tracks to further Gimme's understanding of sticking with her track, no matter what doggie contamination there might be. The blue diamond track is an article-diamond laid by Nadine as I was laying our track. Gimme's track started on the left side (by the reddish square, going along the curb of the sidewalk then turning left for a straight shot through the potty zone, then a couple of turns with 6 crosstracks of Nadine and Cricket (doing their article diamond).

Nadine and Cricket did their article-diamond track and as soon as they finished, I brought Gimme up to do our track. It was aged less than 30 minutes when we ran it. To help her sort out getting through the potty-zone and to keep her closer to the track, I placed a treat on the track every 6-8 feet. I set an article across the path, right as she got through the potty-zone. Gimme did well with this and found all her cheese.

One thing I didn't understand at the time was the three pink marks at the beginning of the second leg, where she'd just stop and stare. I'd get her attention back on the track, she'd go a bit further and then did it again, twice. After the first article (orange) she dithered a little bit, but then went on and did a nice job. Nadine told me later, as we were running our first leg and the first bit of the second leg, there was a man throwing a ball for an off-leash dog right on our second leg (light pink lines just below the playground). We were still coming up the tiny hill, so Gimme and I couldn't see this, but she must've sensed it. The man and his dog moved off right before we topped the little hillock. Gimme was slightly distracted by their contamination, but not enough to need re-scenting.

Gimme paid no real attention to Nadine and Cricket's first crosstrack. She was pulled off by the second crosstrack, but then caught the smell of her next article on the corner, which brought her back to her track. From there the end she wasn't fooled again.

This was a great exercise and I'm sure we'll revisit it. The off-leash dog playing on her track was an extra layer of challenge I hadn't planned on, but Gimme did a great job with it. Actually she did a great job with the whole track - I was very pleased with her efforts. The cheese on the track in the potty zone worked well too. I think this is a plan we can make good headway with. I'm encouraged.

Nosework class (2/42)

We had a heart shaped container search, made up of pink, purple and white containers.

Container 1 search video - For the first search we were to only use 3 feet of line and direct the search. I purposely kept strong pressure on the line, so Gimme wouldn't get a leash correction at the start - it seemed to work well. I did a front cross on the inside point at the top of the heart. Gimme gave me the look at the white container and I called "alert" and was told "no". I was also told she didn't alert, and it was because I wanted there to be an alert. In the video I can clearly see her sniff, stop and look at me. I did stop too readily, when my container plan is to keep moving, thus encouraging a false alert. There were no hides.

Container 2 search video - For this search we were to only use 3 feet of line, but let the dog direct the search. Gimme quickly finds the first hide. Then comes all the way around to find the second hide. Meanwhile the instructor moved the first hide across to another spot and Gimme was a little challenged to find it, seeming to get caught in fringe scent. I did a better job of moving and so she was able to work it out and not get "sold" on a false alert.

Container 3 search video - We were allowed full line length if we wanted and the dog could direct the search. Gimme found the first two hides in less than 20 seconds. We went back to check the containers we missed and then left. She had a nice clean, fast search.

Container 4 search video - This search was off leash, which naturally means I was left in the dust. Gimme raced to the first hide. She missed the one on the side, but quickly got the one at the point. It took her several passes to get the one in the mailbox-box. These were hard boxes to catch all evening; they were just too tight. Dorothy said she would modify them if they were being used in a trial.

Overall a good class. The instructors insist they've never told anyone to reward a look, but it's what I learned while training with them and continue to do with Gimme.  If a dog learns something unintended, we generally accept responsibility and change our training.  The instructors have never been able to tell me what her natural "tell" is and I haven't picked it out, despite studying all these videos. So, as long as I keep moving, her "look" is still the most reliable indication I have. Until they give me something better, I'm sticking with it.

By the way, do note she didn't bash any boxes - not one. Yay for Gimme.

Nosework class (1/42)

We had an interesting group of interior searches.

Interior 1 search video - For the first search we were restricted to 3 foot of leash, so naturally, Gimme got a strong correction at the very beginning as she dashed into the search area. We were to use the short leash to direct the dog up and down the lines of chairs/etc. I got a few choice "looks" from Gimme about my suddenly inept handling. Still she finds the first hide easily in 23 seconds. It takes her about half the search to get used to my over-controlling behavior - just in time for her to find the second hide. I even got a compliment on how I used a front cross to smoothly turn Gimme toward the chair we'd missed at the end of the prior row, which had the third hide on it. She was kind of funny on the fourth hide, since I wasn't ready with a reward, she tried to get her nose in my treat bag for a bit of self-serve.

There was a time in her life when Gimme would not have put up with this kind of handling without a lot of attitude. She accepted this better when I got a little bit ahead of her, which worked to create a loose leash.

Interior 2 search video - For the second search we were able to use as much leash as we wanted. All four hides were moved and Gimme found them almost 30 seconds faster. She does a LOT better without my interference.

Interior 3 search video - This is a good video to watch twice, once to watch wonderful Gimme and the other to listen to the background conversation (something I was unaware of at the time).

We searched on 6 foot of leash, following the dog's path, while the hides were repeatedly moved running-bunny style. Gimme found the first hide easily. Then at the table, my hovering increased her attempt to get paid for lingering odor. As soon as we moved away, Dorothy put a hide on the table. Gimme found a hide on a chair and shortly after on a beige cart. She found lingering odor on the wheelchair and then went back to now-lingering odor on the beige cart. She seemed to need me to look at it and when I said I didn't see anything, she moved over to the hide on the red cart. From there she got to the vicinity of the table hide, but was convinced it had to be on something else, since she'd already eliminated the table - "messing with her expectations". Once she let go of her expectations, she found it. Then when she comes by again, it's on the table again, but at the other end. She'd already checked the chair leaning against the wall multiple times, and then comes back to find a hide on it. When we go back up to the front, it takes her over a minute to suddenly figure out where the hide was on the grooming table. When she does, she goes straight to it. Hides on the grooming table always seem to be tricky for some unknown reason. She finds 8 hides in 7:15. She's always had a lot of resilience to search for long periods.

I was glad Gimme got a nice long search at the end, with less restrictions. She sure loves using her nose.

RFE practice (110)

We missed our last scheduled practice because of snow, so it's been a month. I'm still trying to get the last few behaviors we need for the Intermediate/Advanced skills test. Because we are working just one behavior at a time, instead of courses, some of them haven't been done in awhile and they are tending to deteriorate. Sometimes it seems like her memory is getting worse.

"Take-a" bow video - Last time Gimme was tending to swing her heiney out, so I wanted to work her on my right. She just wasn't sure what to do at all, so I had to go further and further back to basics. Much of the time I'd give the cue and she'd do nothing. When she did try, it was just a partial bow, barely lowering her front end. I brought out the peanut butter to increase her motivation and got a lot of verbal in response and she acted like the distraction of the PB possibility zapped her focus. The practice before we used peanut butter on "otto" and "izzy", so she gave me some of those too.

Heeling and "take-a" video - I did a bunch of "side" heeling with some "take-a". When she settled down, then we worked on duration. We finally got one really nice one when I didn't have treats or a clicker on me, so it might work for the skills test.

"Otto" video - "Otto" went very well on our last session, but she acted like she'd forgotten it when we started. The second one was perfect and would have worked for the skills test if I hadn't had the clicker in my hand. She did a couple nicely and then seemed a little resistant and was whining a little. The last one was the best.

"Otto" w/ handler opposite video - Gimme seemed hesitant to do any more "otto" and had been a little whiney on some of the other ones. So, we only did this twice. I thought to warm her up on some other behaviors and come back to this, but the camera died before then.

Later this same day Gimme had two of her squealing/fearful episodes with no apparent reason. It occurred to me she might need to see her chiropractor, so on Wednesday I made an appointment.  Since Pawsabilities has closed, I had to drive to Port Orchard to see him. He didn't find anything specific wrong, just general stuff with some stiffness in places. On the drive and at home, I noticed Gimme was so very relaxed and there haven't been any issues since.

Backward weaves video - I'm not having any luck weaning her off a barrier. She got a bit more interested using peanut butter for a reward. I should probably just use a go toob instead of the toy, since it's easier to handle and visually not as obvious. I have started putting my hand in her collar since one time she moved mid way into setting up and I almost fell on her. We got two instances of doing them with a reward after the first and second, but without moving out of position. A positive sign, eh.

"West" video - Gimme sometimes seems to really understand this, and then other times she is so fidgety it's as if she has no clue. This was a fidgety day. She wasn't being very precise either. After watching this, I'm thinking I need to make the position more concrete by requiring physical contact with the back of my legs. We were getting some better ones toward the end, but the camera battery died, so you don't get to see them.

Not our best training session, but not awful either. We did get 2 videos I think I can use for the skills test. I think the next will be better, especially if we keep up the chiropractor. Of course she is now in season. So, we have about 6 weeks before she goes into psuedo pregnancy brain.