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.
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