Nosework class (1/44)

Blogger has changed their interface and the links to videos aren't working correctly.  I can't get any help from their help/support.  So, for the time being I will include the youtube links directly. 

 

A fun class for sure.

 

Interior 1 video - https://youtu.be/tY8kfVXwteE

The challenge was for the dogs to get up and under tables - to source. One table had nothing around it, one had some chairs, and the other had chairs and was against the wall. Gimme trotted around quickly scanning the area and it seemed to take her awhile to actually catch scent. I think she was a bit dehydrated - I'd given her coconut water when we got there, but maybe it hadn't hydrated her nasal passages yet. She was almost a minute into the search before she found the first hide. It takes about half a minute to find the second hide. She found the general area of the last hide in 25 seconds, but then spends another 45 seconds getting to source. I think with the fans on and the open door nearby, the scent was moving more - note she checked each chair carefully.

 

Interior 2 video - https://youtu.be/2npQiKG4vIo

Dorothy tipped the tables over so the dogs could dismiss the lingering odor easily. She quickly found the hide under the edge of the tote. Gimme was very happy to see there was a puzzle this week - she loves them. It took longer to find the third hide - again up front. Between the fans and the heat from outside drawing scent toward the open door, it was just a big challenge. Note how much stuff she checked out between the hide location and the open door.

 

Water hides video - https://youtu.be/CHsGvmjxtCc

There were two water hides - one in the pool and another in the water dish. A couple of dogs had never done water hides, so the shallow water in the dish was a chance for them to have easy success. Gimme has done this before, in class and in trials, so it was easy for her. The breeze was coming from where the camera was, so it made sense for her to check out the area of the portico. She indicated in 20 seconds, even though the water was 6" deep and the hide had only been in there a couple minutes. From there she went directly to the water dish. This was a fun refresher.

 

We'll be getting bee pollen tomorrow and hopefully it'll help her scenting abilities, though it does take a few weeks. Cross yer fingers...

Nosework class (6/43)

Exterior 1 - no video (technical difficulties) - The first search was the same hides as the second search, but all the chairs were laid flat. Gimme was super fast. I don't know why, but all the other dogs really struggled with this search. I understand with the more inexperienced dogs who hadn't searched over here, but a couple of dogs had and shouldn't have had such difficulty.

Exterior 2 video - Three hides. I'm not sure what Dorothy meant by her making it hard on herself. I thought Gimme was really bold to continue searching the stool after she touched it and it sprung open and toward her. The breeze was blowing from the right, which is why Gimme overran the last hide.

Interior video - Dorothy set up puzzles, which Gimme loves. The first one was easy-peasy for her. For the first puzzle, Gimme made her own entry, but then had a little trouble finding her way out. Since she didn't come in the way it was designed, it was a confusing visual for her. The third hide just had something in the way - well it would be in the way for anyone but Gimme.

Gimme thinks we should have puzzles every week - just so she can show off her incredible puzzle solving skills.

Nosework class (5/43)

These two exterior searches dealt with converging odor. I'm not sure it was really converging in the first search, but clearly was in the second search.

Exterior 1 video - Three hides along a sidewalk. Gimme found the first hide in seconds. The second door is the exterior storage where Dorothy keeps odor and used boxes. So she put a hide in a brick at the base of the door so the dogs wouldn't think it was an inaccessible hide and be told "no". Gimme had no trouble finding it. It took her a little longer to find the hide off the sidewalk under a rock. I think the air flowed up the side of the building, making the first two hides more obvious.

Exterior 2 video - Three hide exterior. Gimme started to pass the first hide and then whipped back to it. It was stuck in a crack on the wood upright for the mailbox. Gimme was the only dog to pay any attention to the rock hide before going to the second (high) mailbox hide. The breeze was blowing from the road, so the scent was surely stronger coming from that direction. It took her a little bit to find the rock hide, but she did. As Dorothy mentioned, the breeze blew across the mailboxes right toward it. Gimme likes to follow lines of scent out and I think in doing so she got close enough to find the rock hide.

Interior video - This turned out to be a long and challenging search and Gimme thoroughly enjoyed it. The hardest hide was the one behind the cabinet and some dogs never found it. Gimme did well finding the chair hide. From there she went straight to the stool hide. Dorothy had the overhead fans on, which I think dispersed the scent for the cabinet hide in a weird way. It was interesting to me, when she re-visited the chair hide, she checked it, but knew better than to indicate it. From the second hide until she decided and indicated was 2:40, which is a LOT for Gimme. I think it would be interesting to revisit this search, but just with the one hide behind the cabinet.

One thing which is so very cool about Gimme is how she just never gives up. One of the other dogs got frustrated and stopped searching. One got frustrated and they ended the search. August found it just a bit faster - he's a GSD so he resorted to perimeter searching, which took him right to it.

RFE practice (114)

This is our first time in back at Winstar after four months. I knew Gimme would be distracted and want to investigate new smells. So I started by just walking around and waiting for her to engage even a little bit. It took just over a minute, which is better than I expected.

Voluntary Work video - She quickly went into following mode. Shortly she got almost into heel, so I rewarded it and some more heeling. From there we did some other behaviors. Naturally we had to tune up her listening skills. She lasted 2+ minutes and then I needed to go back to walking around and waiting for engagement. I was pleasantly surprised at how much she remembered after 4 months.

Stays for Back Thru video - Note the difference between the first attempt, where I simply moved my feet apart versus the other attempts where I stepped back/across with my leg on the other side. You can see how anxious she is. I can assure you I never kicked her, stepped on her or otherwise hurt her doing this; still she's really worried. I think the real issue has to do with the "summer from hell" last year. Actually it started in the spring and lasted about 6 months and we didn't start finding our way out of it until I went to the vet in September. Anyway, my theory is: since I started teaching Gimme the backward weave in earnest early last year, she has connected the move and anything reminding her of it with all the random pains and issues and the lengthy period of anxiety. I think it may take a looooong time to get past it - if ever. She absolutely won't do her "paw" behavior. I've tried shaping it from the start and she just won't try anything like it. So sad.

I discovered I really need to break it down. For starters I need to be at least 6 feet behind her to move my leg back/across and have her successfully hold her stay. Also starting with a couple smaller steps is helpful. I think she would do it for peanut butter, but I don't want to bribe her. Candy and I discussed it and agreed it's not a bribe if I bring out the peanut butter before I ask her for the behavior, as opposed to getting it after she fails. So I'll start with it next time.

The Un-Paw video - Here's a short clip that shows how she acts if I ask her to "paw". This used to be a really strong behavior. Just one time of doing it when she had a cracked toenail (unbeknownst to me) and tweaked it - and the behavior is gone. I tried to free shape it and she won't do anything even close to it. Sad.

After the un-paw, I had to walk around and wait for her to re-engage. She really wasn't interested in coming back to work. I'm wondering if I should put some DAP on her scarf at the start of training sessions. I may try that.

Doodling to Music 1 video - This is music J'Anna brought to work with her dog. So I played it and danced around. Once she decided to work with me it went really well. Her demeanor changed dramatically. Note the difference in how her tail wags at the beginning before she decided to work with me and then later when she's into it.

Doodling to Music 2 video - This is clearly more fun for Gimme. I'm thinking, if we don't start making obvious progress on the backward weaves, then I may abandon RFE (it's the one behavior holding us up for advanced level) and start working on freestyle instead. I really had no plan and so was just throwing in behaviors as they came to me and she still did pretty well. Just imagine what she could do if I had a plan with flow and we were to actually practice it.

We did some more doodling to end training on a positive note.

Field Tracking (67 & 68) and Urban (163)

On Thursday, July 2nd, Nadine and I met at Flaming Geyser. I asked her to recreate the track from June 18th; the one where Gimme had some issues. The track she laid was very similar, but not exact. The temperature was about 65º and we only aged it for 60 minutes.

Gimme did a great job on it. She was slower to make the first turn and cross the road. From there she followed the track almost exactly. She did a great job on the second road crossing.

The track she had difficulty with was 75º and we aged it for 1 hour and 15 minutes. The other issue is pollen at this time of year. I've talked to my honey man and he is trying to get me some bee pollen. It won't be as good as what I've gotten from him, but it is regional and I hope it will help some.

On Saturday, July 4th, I laid a simple track for Gimme at my mother's house. It was 68º and aged for 1 hour. It was just a simple square around the house, with articles on every leg.

The main purpose for the track was to see how she would do with the distraction of all the firecrackers going off in the neighborhood. It sounded like downtown Chicago. Gimme has always been really solid on noisy stuff, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to track with all the popping noise. She was every bit as good as I expected. She was sitting in the car for an hour listening to it, so when she got to track, she paid no attention to it. She took her time getting started on a bit of gravel leading right across asphalt. Once she did, she was like a tracking machine to the end.

On Thursday, July 9th, we met at the Auburn Cinema. It was taped off (probably to prevent it from being used for illegal fireworks), so we used parking lots on the backside of the mall. They had been taped off, but the tape was down already and while we were tracking, mall personnel removed the remaining tape.

The track was mostly island serpentines, with a few short crossings. Gimme was not as skilled as she's been in the past. In her defense we haven't been practicing much urban tracking. It had drizzled the night before and early morning, so I hoped it would hold scent better and help with the pollen. If it helped, it wasn't evident. Gimme really had to work to solve this track.

We need to get back to including the parking lot tracks, but it may be awhile. The reason we left off was the potty issue. In the past here, I've been able to go to a nearby McDonalds to use their restroom (and buy a drink), but right now we can't. Likewise at Game Farm Park their restrooms are locked. Oddly the restrooms are open at Flaming Geyser, so I guess the China virus is not as great a risk at a state park, vs. a city park. Who knew?

Nosework class (4/43)

We are continuing to work through the NACSW skills tests.

Container 1 video - Eight boxes with 2 hides: The idea was to demonstrate how "methodical" the dog is - i.e. does she find the hides in the order presented. I was certain Gimme would bypass the closest one, especially since this was her first search of the day. I was right. Fortunately she searches very fast, so she ends up with a good time even without being methodical.

Container 2 video - Eight boxes with 3 hides: Right away you can see her time is better on this second search. It just seems to take her a search (sometimes two) to completely get her head in the game. In our early trials I used to stop somewhere close to a trial and set up a container search in a parking lot - otherwise she did poorly on the first search. You'll note it only took her 5 seconds to find the first hide (as opposed to 30 seconds in the first search). She was much better about quickly getting back to a hide she passed. Then she went back and got the first one she'd passed. As Dorothy comments, this was a "methodical Gimme search".  Gimme has her own style and tendencies.  Dorothy encourages us to improve, but doesn't push us to fit some mold - I sure appreciate it.

Container 3 video - Twelve boxes with 4 hides: You can see right away she is getting a little rougher with the boxes, which is normal for her on multiple container searches. At least she was only kicking them around and not pouncing on them. She gets to the first hide in 13 seconds. She bypassed the first box, a threshold. I knew it was there, which is why I paused at the startline - it sometimes draws her back to the threshold. However in the last few weeks we did searches where I wasn't supposed to leave the startline until she found a hide (independent searching skill), so perhaps she didn't respond to my pause because of those searches. Then again, I didn't pause very long. She almost picked the wrong box for the second hide, but corrected herself nicely. She kept lifting her head on the fourth box, it seemed she just hit it wrong on a stride. There were distractions this time, so perhaps they were a factor.

Inaccessible Interior 1 video - This was the easiest one. It's considered easy because she can get all the way around it. Gimme really scans the area and then when she gets close to the chair, she gets serious about it. It was a nice job, especially since we haven't done inaccessible in about 6 months.

Inaccessible Interior 2 video - This was a little harder - she couldn't get all the way around it, but it also wasn't very deep. Even though this was a little harder, Gimme was still a little faster. She loves a good puzzle.

Inaccessible Interior 3 video - This was the hardest of the three searches - she couldn't get all the way around it and it was under the seat of the chair toward the back. She was a little faster again, on her first indication, which I didn't respond to. She was a good girl, persisted and indicated a second time. I don't count the extra 2 seconds since it's not her fault I'm obtuse, eh...

Gimme sure is happy to get back to class and so am I.

Six New Titles!!!

Gimme has six new titles! They are:
ADP-1(Th), ADP-2(Th), ADP-3(Th), ADP-4(Th), ADP-5(Th), and ADP-CH(Th).  This gives her a total of 81 titles.

All Dogs Parkour created a special event for Themes titles, designed to be completed at home, so people could have something to do with their dogs during the stay-at-home orders. There were five levels. I learned about it late, so Gimme and I had to rush to get them done by the June 30th cutoff date.  Naturally as soon as I was ready to submit them, they extended the cutoff date.

I actually recorded them in reverse order. The higher titles required more unique behaviors, so I wanted to make sure I reserved our more behavior-rich themes for the higher levels. Before I started recording, I went through the entire list of ADP behavior descriptions to make a list of all those Gimme can do with no more than a warm-up. Plus there was the option to make up original behaviors. As it turned out we had twelve unique behaviors from the original list for all five levels.

LEVEL 1 - Pre-Remodel Kitchen video - I saved this for last as I prepared my kitchen for the remodel. There was a lot of clearing out of stuff and cleaning to be done. So knowing I had a deadline kept me working on the not-so-fun deep cleaning. I brought the rug in to give Gimme a safe surface (non-skid) to move around on. This was challenging to video because I had such limited space to work with and kept chopping my head off. Many behaviors were taped multiple times.

LEVEL 2 - Carport Junk video - See, there is a reason to keep junk. Who knew... I positioned my van alongside the driveway and stretched expens across the driveway so we'd have a secure "fenced" area to work where Gimme could be off leash. I used the door mat with the jumps so she could land on something safer and softer than concrete.

LEVEL 3 - Agility EFs video - While we can use agility equipment as Environmental Features (EF) for All Dogs Parkour, we cannot use them the way they'd be used in agility. Fortunately Gimme is both bold and talented, so it was easy to find unique uses. I love the way Gimme's tail wags outside the tunnel when we used it for a Get Inside. For this special event some of the usual behavior requirements were relaxed, which saved me on a couple things. In the Between (Backward), I needed to show Gimme was completely outside the Between EFs at the beginning and the end. I could tell she was, but the judge wasn't sure (you have to look at her left rear foot). Fortunately the relaxed requirements made it a pass anyway, so I didn't have to resubmit it.

LEVEL 4 - Chairs video - This is my favorite one, just because I enjoyed showing off my little Dalmatian chair. I actually used the Dalmatian chair to block Gimme from going under the brown chair when we did the Loops behavior. I didn't think it through and we had just recorded her Go Under with the brown chair and Gimme was just convinced she should be doing Go Under more. Note she also thought she should Go Under the chair when I was asking her to do Get On (4).

LEVEL 5 - Yard and Garden video - This was the most frustrating one to video. Almost all the stuff we used came out of my garden shed and had to be hauled to the front yard to video. Then it had to be put back when I was done, so it wouldn't be stolen. Because the LED screen on my camera is cracked, it was often hard to know what I had in the field of view. So, I had to haul all the heavy and awkward stuff out four times. I hope Gimme appreciates my efforts on her behalf. Normally Get Inside requires the edges to be at least hock height, but we were able to use the garden hose with the relaxed requirements. Note how Gimme leaps out like she has springs for legs. I was so pleased with her willingness to do a Jump (Assisted) using the lawnmower deck. This entry was the first time we ever did the Loops behavior, so I had to train it first (we also used Loops in our Chairs theme).

I hope you enjoy watching these videos; Gimme and I sure enjoyed creating them.

Nosework class (3/43)

Around noon, Gimme and I joined a couple other students to run some searches for Dorothy, for use in her webinar. Gimme did a great job and had a lot of fun, since they were pretty easy searches. Dorothy said she'd share the videos, but I haven't seen them yet. <pout>

This first part of class was about indications - does the dog communicate their find. Gimme always does, but sometimes too vigorously (especially with containers), so I tried to get in quickly with a reward. She really did a nice job... batted a couple boxes aside, but didn't paw or stomp them.

Container 1 video - Gimme worked really fast, she indicated in ten seconds, without bashing the box. She tends to get more and more forceful with repeat container searches.

Container 2 video - I forgot my camera, so Dorothy taped our runs with my phone (Paul thought of it). You miss Gimme zooming off the start because she had her finger in the way. I was really proud of Gimme for catching the threshold-first-box hide - she normally zooms by really fast and outruns her nose. She indicated in about 2 seconds. For a couple seconds she noses around the box near the second hide (fringing), but then moves to the correct box on her own. She's such a smarty.

Container 3 video - This time she does bypass the threshold-first-box hide, but gets right back to it. Then she goes on to find the second hide. Her indications were so clean.

These last two searches were about high hides. Gimme loves high hides. There were three height choices and we started with the highest, then went lower for the next search.  Gimme was the only one to do the highest choice first.  Two others did it as their second high hide search.  Since Gimme already did it, it makes it easier for them, since she would leave scent clues.

Interior 1 video - This hide was 8 feet high and on the external point of a wall, making it even harder. Right at 1:06, you'll see her nose tip up as she passes by the hide location. Then she starts doing a bunch of searching in the area of the hide. She does move away for 8 seconds before coming back. I take this as her making sure about what she is smelling. Once she's back it takes just 12 seconds to go right up the wall. She was so very proud of herself and got a lot a treats for her efforts.

Interior 2 video - For our last search I chose the 6 feet high search. She scans the room and when she's ready goes right to the ladder and puts her feet on it. She's really very good at high hides and enjoys them.

She likes high hides so much, during one period of her early training I needed to toss treats on the ground for her to find while we were walking, just to encourage her to check for low hides too. I put a lot of effort into making sure she understood low hides pay too. Now she uses her nose to guide her decisions.

She's brilliant. Just sayin...