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.
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