I've been busy cleaning and repairing gutters. Not a formidable task, but my foot limits how long I can stand on the ladder, as well as the number of trips up and down it.
I've been working on Gimme's fence running and barking all summer. She's gotten so much better, now seeing it as a big game that she plays with me. That's good because she doesn't bark as much, plus the attitude is better, thus no risk she'll decide to not-like what she's barking at. Though she does still have 'tude about people who walk dogs past our house (we'll do set-ups to train that separately).
Gimme now stands eagerly watching from one of the two front corners of the yard, looking up the street for something bark-worthy, wagging her tail in happy anticipation. She had to learn that stuff 2 blocks away, doesn't qualify for cookies. She is always trying to game the system. She sometimes doesn't bark, but then if I'm not paying attention has to bark to show me that she's not barking, doncha know.
Anyway, she's making headway. However being up on a ladder puts a kink in the training, since there is no way to give her the favorite - anything peanut butter - from up there. Multiple trips up and down the ladder really shortened my ability to make headway on the gutter project. And coming down the ladder to reward her is not timely.
Then I hit on the brilliant idea of buying her Nutter Butter cookies, since they have real peanut butter in them and would be a big enough chunk (even broken in pieces) to throw down to her. So I bought a bag of Target's generic version and had them in my work bag when I came home. Gimme is really good about not getting into things, so I didn't think anything of setting it down with the cookies in it.
I didn't think anything of it, until I went looking for them and discovered the plastic bag and cookies were missing. I figured she'd gotten out the dog door with them when I wasn't looking and made short work of them. Imagine my surprise to find she had stashed them in the corner behind my sewing table, without opening them. I think she put them away for safe keeping, especially after seeing me give Grafton one of her rawhide chews (for his birthday). I guess she didn't want me to get carried away with the whole gifting thing.
Anyway, the PB cookies are working great and she's made good progress over the weekend and today. I've even started tossing her the random cookie for just hanging out near me without scanning for bark-worthy things. A couple of times when I saw her in time, starting to run up and bark at something, when I called her she turned on a thin dime to get back to me. Yay Gimme...
Showing posts with label Grafton - the Boyfriend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grafton - the Boyfriend. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Public Dog (23) & Pictures
Class today was particularly good, though I admit I had some serious doubts to begin with. To start Gimme had no focus, but then when we started working she got into it and did well. She hates to be bored and loves a good challenge. The challenge that caught her attention was LLW from the asphalt of an open tennis court onto the grass, without going into sniffing mode. We've worked on cement or asphalt pads a lot lately, so some of the dogs have decided that they work there and are off duty on grass.
The thing that worked was a change that Ursula suggested. When I walk forward and Gimme forges or sniffs, I stop and start backing up. Ursula suggested I turn and walk the other way to make it clearer. I don't know that it made it clearer, so much as it was just different. We've done the backing up technique a lot and its always worked, but sometimes Gimme just isn't inclined to focus. This basically puts the responsibility on her to pay attention, because I walk further and faster.
Its like a cross between my oppositional walking (going the opposite direction that the dog is pulling, but while still facing in the original direction) and the Koehler method. The way it differs from Koehler is that he recommending turning and running, so the dog got a substantial correction. This is just calmly walking. Anyway it worked. I won't abandon what I've been doing, but will certainly keep this in mind for when it doesn't work. Sometimes it helps to change things up.
Then we moved into the fenced in tennis court. I went the long way around to close the gate at the other end and glad I did, since Gimme pooped on the way. Which probably explains her earlier distraction. Once inside we practiced our cued turns to warm up.
Then we did a solo exercise. We all stood at one end and then one at a time, walked our dog on a loose leash (butler style) to a spot on the side of the court (about 25 feet from where the teams were waiting), cued the dog to sit, c/t, took off our treats and left them there, then walked a large p-shaped pattern, returned to where the treat bag was left, cued a down, c/t, then walked back to our place in the line-up. The second time we did it without a leash. The layout looked like this...
The first time Gimme did it flawlessly. The second time, she started to stray toward the poodle as we were returning to our place in line, but returned to me when I called her by name and finished without a hitch. So all in all it was a good class and confidence building. Gimme is improving a lot in these classes.
BTW Ursula told me my task in subsequent classes is to maintain the same pace and not adjust to Gimme. If Gimme gets going too fast, I'm supposed to slow down or stop. I wasn't aware that I'd been doing that, but don't doubt it. That's a real common tendency.
Later we got a call from Mary and met her and Grafton out on the fort's training area for a nice long walk. Gimme and Grafton thoroughly enjoyed each other's company.
Here is a couple of cute pictures from our weekend at the hotel.
This would be Gimme hinting that its time for another walk (mere minutes after returning from the last one).
This is Gimme disgusted beyond words that I can't take a simple hint. Seriously!
This is her lounging across the foot of the bed after we did a short training session. Finally some attention paid to her.
Yah, right...
The thing that worked was a change that Ursula suggested. When I walk forward and Gimme forges or sniffs, I stop and start backing up. Ursula suggested I turn and walk the other way to make it clearer. I don't know that it made it clearer, so much as it was just different. We've done the backing up technique a lot and its always worked, but sometimes Gimme just isn't inclined to focus. This basically puts the responsibility on her to pay attention, because I walk further and faster.
Its like a cross between my oppositional walking (going the opposite direction that the dog is pulling, but while still facing in the original direction) and the Koehler method. The way it differs from Koehler is that he recommending turning and running, so the dog got a substantial correction. This is just calmly walking. Anyway it worked. I won't abandon what I've been doing, but will certainly keep this in mind for when it doesn't work. Sometimes it helps to change things up.
Then we moved into the fenced in tennis court. I went the long way around to close the gate at the other end and glad I did, since Gimme pooped on the way. Which probably explains her earlier distraction. Once inside we practiced our cued turns to warm up.
Then we did a solo exercise. We all stood at one end and then one at a time, walked our dog on a loose leash (butler style) to a spot on the side of the court (about 25 feet from where the teams were waiting), cued the dog to sit, c/t, took off our treats and left them there, then walked a large p-shaped pattern, returned to where the treat bag was left, cued a down, c/t, then walked back to our place in the line-up. The second time we did it without a leash. The layout looked like this...
BTW Ursula told me my task in subsequent classes is to maintain the same pace and not adjust to Gimme. If Gimme gets going too fast, I'm supposed to slow down or stop. I wasn't aware that I'd been doing that, but don't doubt it. That's a real common tendency.
Later we got a call from Mary and met her and Grafton out on the fort's training area for a nice long walk. Gimme and Grafton thoroughly enjoyed each other's company.
Here is a couple of cute pictures from our weekend at the hotel.
This is her lounging across the foot of the bed after we did a short training session. Finally some attention paid to her.
Yah, right...
Monday, August 19, 2013
Public Dog (18)
The break week has passed and we were back in class today, in the park. Gimme did really well. She was well focused from the moment we got out of the car. I let her walk to the working area using the whole leash, provided she kept it loose. Once we got to where everyone was gathered, she was ready to get to work.
Most of the class was working on our secondary reinforcers. They are reinforcers that we have conditioned so we can reward behavior without using food (not to be confused with a reward marker, which is also technically a secondary reinforcer). Our best one is me saying "woohoo" in a really excited tone. We are also working on slapping my thigh. Basically you condition a SR the same way you condition the clicker, being careful to pair with a primary reinforcer at least 80% of the time.
Our task was to do a sequence of three:
Then we repeated the sequence, again three times, and with an instructor observing, but using another of our secondary reinforcers. This time I used the thigh slap. Ursula observed us and noted Gimme wasn't very excited by the thigh slap - I told her we were only in the beginning stage of creating it as an SR. She also noted that I was reaching to my treat bag too early and suggested I turn it to the side or the back (soooo awkward). Anyway, we got that right.
For the last exercise they set up two distractions about 30 feet apart and we indivdually got chances to loose leash walk our dogs around the distractions. We started walking a race track with the dogs on the outside. Then as they showed they were ready for more intensity, we changed up the pattern to sometimes put the dog on the inside.
The two distractions were:
The crying baby stroller distraction was not that hard for Gimme. I don't recall that she's been around strollers before, she was more intrigued by the weird sound than anything. So she was driven by curiosity and that wasn't too intense for her.
However, Ursula sitting on the ground level was REEEEEEALLY HARD for Miss Gimme. She has always adored Urs and having her down at face level was about the highest intensity distraction she has ever experienced. She was wagging her whole back end so hard at the mere thought of the possibility, I feared we might loose some of her spots. Once Gimme figured out this was just more of Ursula being naughty, she did a good job mostly ignoring her.
Then Ursula started talking "Hi girlie girl, aren't you the cutest ever". I thought Gimme was going to split a seam. She wanted to smother Urs in kisses sooooo bad. She was able to restrain all of her body, except her tongue. She'd turn her head about 20 degrees and repeatedly did "air kisses" toward her as we'd pass by the front of Ursula. It really was very funny.
Overall she did great in class and is really learning a lot. She has interestingly learned to not pee while we are working, though when the need arises, she gets really distracted and will pull to the side. We did this whole class on the park lawn and she never peed there. I've gotten really good at reading when she needs to go. I used to think all her "marking" was just that. But I do notice in classes and such that she needs to go more often and more urgently, so I think she also has stress pees. As long as I am tending to her needs for pee breaks, she does really well. The last time we had class, I twice saw her start to squat and then catch herself and stop without peeing and then just let me know that I needed to take her "over there" so she could do her "business". I'm really pleased to see this, since it will take some of the angst out of the situation for exterior nosework searches.
Another thing I've realized... You'll remember at the beginning of the Public Dog classes, Ursula suggested I needed to teach Gimme to not be so familiar in her affections when we are out in public. The thing to do was the body blocking - i.e. moving slightly into her space when she intruded on mine. Urs suggested that I make sure to give her plenty of tactile rewards to satisfy her needs, but in a more appropriate way. So I've basically taught her squishing - standing perpendicular to me and leaning against my legs and I scratch her chest with one hand while petting her side with the other.
Ursula assured me that restricting our PDAs would not affect how Gimme behaved with me at home. Actually that has not been the case. I've noticed recently that she no longer insists on giving me hugs and kisses when I am putting on my socks and shoes each morning. She now brings me toys and tries to engage me in play, but no hugs and kisses. That made me really sad because I love those moments with her - its something we've done since she was a little bitty puppy. Fortunately I have learned that if I lean back half laying on the couch and throw my arms open wide, she will come in to hug and kiss me. Gimme just needs the invitation now. This hasn't affected our evening cuddles...
After class we went over to visit Mary and Grafton. We had planned to take the kids to the fort's training area this morning, but they were all closed down. They haven't gotten to play together for at least a month. Mary said that Grafton has been mopey for a couple of weeks and she thinks he misses playing with his girlfriend. Gimme was happy to see her boy and especially thrilled to pointedly ignore him. She really liked his Kong Wubba, more to keep him from having it than to actually do anything with it.
I'm going to get her one to toss around in the yard. I figure there is a good chance she won't want the one I buy, in which case Mary and I have worked out a deal. We'll let her steal Grafton's and then I'll give them the new one. Who says I'm not smarter than a dog?
Most of the class was working on our secondary reinforcers. They are reinforcers that we have conditioned so we can reward behavior without using food (not to be confused with a reward marker, which is also technically a secondary reinforcer). Our best one is me saying "woohoo" in a really excited tone. We are also working on slapping my thigh. Basically you condition a SR the same way you condition the clicker, being careful to pair with a primary reinforcer at least 80% of the time.
Our task was to do a sequence of three:
- cue "sit", word marker, food reward
- cue "touch", word marker, secondary reinforcer
- cue "down", word marker, food reward
Then we repeated the sequence, again three times, and with an instructor observing, but using another of our secondary reinforcers. This time I used the thigh slap. Ursula observed us and noted Gimme wasn't very excited by the thigh slap - I told her we were only in the beginning stage of creating it as an SR. She also noted that I was reaching to my treat bag too early and suggested I turn it to the side or the back (soooo awkward). Anyway, we got that right.
For the last exercise they set up two distractions about 30 feet apart and we indivdually got chances to loose leash walk our dogs around the distractions. We started walking a race track with the dogs on the outside. Then as they showed they were ready for more intensity, we changed up the pattern to sometimes put the dog on the inside.
The two distractions were:
- Ursula sitting cross-legged on the ground. At first quietly and then as the dog showed they were ready, doing sweet talk to the dog.
- A baby stroller with a lifelike doll in it and a phone playing a crying baby app.
The crying baby stroller distraction was not that hard for Gimme. I don't recall that she's been around strollers before, she was more intrigued by the weird sound than anything. So she was driven by curiosity and that wasn't too intense for her.
However, Ursula sitting on the ground level was REEEEEEALLY HARD for Miss Gimme. She has always adored Urs and having her down at face level was about the highest intensity distraction she has ever experienced. She was wagging her whole back end so hard at the mere thought of the possibility, I feared we might loose some of her spots. Once Gimme figured out this was just more of Ursula being naughty, she did a good job mostly ignoring her.
Then Ursula started talking "Hi girlie girl, aren't you the cutest ever". I thought Gimme was going to split a seam. She wanted to smother Urs in kisses sooooo bad. She was able to restrain all of her body, except her tongue. She'd turn her head about 20 degrees and repeatedly did "air kisses" toward her as we'd pass by the front of Ursula. It really was very funny.
Overall she did great in class and is really learning a lot. She has interestingly learned to not pee while we are working, though when the need arises, she gets really distracted and will pull to the side. We did this whole class on the park lawn and she never peed there. I've gotten really good at reading when she needs to go. I used to think all her "marking" was just that. But I do notice in classes and such that she needs to go more often and more urgently, so I think she also has stress pees. As long as I am tending to her needs for pee breaks, she does really well. The last time we had class, I twice saw her start to squat and then catch herself and stop without peeing and then just let me know that I needed to take her "over there" so she could do her "business". I'm really pleased to see this, since it will take some of the angst out of the situation for exterior nosework searches.
Another thing I've realized... You'll remember at the beginning of the Public Dog classes, Ursula suggested I needed to teach Gimme to not be so familiar in her affections when we are out in public. The thing to do was the body blocking - i.e. moving slightly into her space when she intruded on mine. Urs suggested that I make sure to give her plenty of tactile rewards to satisfy her needs, but in a more appropriate way. So I've basically taught her squishing - standing perpendicular to me and leaning against my legs and I scratch her chest with one hand while petting her side with the other.
Ursula assured me that restricting our PDAs would not affect how Gimme behaved with me at home. Actually that has not been the case. I've noticed recently that she no longer insists on giving me hugs and kisses when I am putting on my socks and shoes each morning. She now brings me toys and tries to engage me in play, but no hugs and kisses. That made me really sad because I love those moments with her - its something we've done since she was a little bitty puppy. Fortunately I have learned that if I lean back half laying on the couch and throw my arms open wide, she will come in to hug and kiss me. Gimme just needs the invitation now. This hasn't affected our evening cuddles...
After class we went over to visit Mary and Grafton. We had planned to take the kids to the fort's training area this morning, but they were all closed down. They haven't gotten to play together for at least a month. Mary said that Grafton has been mopey for a couple of weeks and she thinks he misses playing with his girlfriend. Gimme was happy to see her boy and especially thrilled to pointedly ignore him. She really liked his Kong Wubba, more to keep him from having it than to actually do anything with it.
I'm going to get her one to toss around in the yard. I figure there is a good chance she won't want the one I buy, in which case Mary and I have worked out a deal. We'll let her steal Grafton's and then I'll give them the new one. Who says I'm not smarter than a dog?
Friday, July 12, 2013
Public Dog (12)
Yesterday was our 12th Public Dog class. Since it was Thursday, the day we are all crammed in the training building (last night 7 teams), I gave Gimme some supplements designed to help with stress. Its hard to say if it worked, since every class is different and thus, its hard to gauge whether its better or not.
They didn't have any barriers up for this class. As I'd said, I set up in the area closest to the little door and parked my car right outside that door. During class, on an as-needed basis, I took Gimme out for brief breaks. We went out 5 times, and just long enough to visit the grass strip and have an opportunity for a pee break.
First, Ursula on crutches and then Elizabeth in a wheelchair came around to visit each of the dogs. Gimme is totally unconcerned with the medical equipment... her biggest problem is no greetings until cued and then calm greetings. Anyone wanting to bask in the fullness of her glory is just so very exciting. I could have worse problems, eh.
Later on, Ursula came by with a broom sweeping around us and then asking us to move so she could sweep under the dog. Gimme thought this might be a new game that her best friend Ursula wanted to play with her. She's never paid any attention to my housecleaning efforts.
Then we worked on teaching the dogs another secondary reinforcer (besides clicker and marker words). The goal is to have 3 additional secondary reinforcers. Fortunately we already have one that I never intended, but works anyway because I'm in the habit of using it at the end of weave poles (a holdover from agility with Michael) and its always followed by very generous rewards. Its the word "woohoo" said with enthusiasm - it gets Gimme's tail wagging faster every time.
The idea behind these other secondary reinforcers is that we can use them as rewards, to wean the dogs off food... just being sure that we continue to pair them with food 80% of the time. Unlike the clicker, which should be paired with food 100% of the time to keep the association pure. I first heard about this concept the day I audited Public Dog Class. Since then I read that Ken Ramirez promotes this method. I plan to also condition a thigh slap. Gimme is very tactile, so any touch is possible - though I'm finding that she's especially fond of deep ear rubs.
After that we worked on toy play. I hadn't brought any toys, so was happy to see that Ursula had a Skinneez, which is Gimme's favorite toy. She played with it long enough to demonstrate that she's an avid tugger AND has an awesome "release" on a verbal cue. Then she noticed other dogs watching her play and wouldn't play in the building again. However, I took it outside with us on our next break and she was quite happy to play with it outside. BTW she's also fine with HER watching them play with toys, just doesn't want THEM watching her - kinda like the way most kids think, eh.
The last part of class was more greeting practice. We set the dogs on a sit-wait and stood beside them. If they broke the sit-wait when the "stranger" approached, then we moved to body block, followed by resetting them in the original spot and trying the stranger's approach again. Gimme broke on the first two strangers, but on the third one she started to and then caught herself. So, on that success we partied all the way to the car (it was the end of class in any case).
Overall I thought the strategy of setting up near the door went well. I do still need to improve my own skills. I believe I'm too slow to interrupt when she gets stuck (like watching the other dogs play). Also, I need a better gauge of when she needs a break than just noticing that her ability to reliably/promptly respond to cues is falling off. Ideally I want to give her that break just before she needs it.
We had walked 3 miles on the fort earlier in the day. Then after class, met Mary and Grafton for another 2 miles on the Capitol Campus. I did notice that Gimme's LLW was nowhere in sight, but I figured her brain was gone from class. My feet still hurt today...
BTW I'm reading Temple Grandin's book, Animals in Translation. Temple has autism of a high functioning type. She believes that the way people with autism view the world is very much like the way animals do - with visual thinking. Everything she says rings true with my experiences and I expect to learn a lot from the book. It is a very interesting read and one I highly recommend to anyone who works with and/or loves animals.
They didn't have any barriers up for this class. As I'd said, I set up in the area closest to the little door and parked my car right outside that door. During class, on an as-needed basis, I took Gimme out for brief breaks. We went out 5 times, and just long enough to visit the grass strip and have an opportunity for a pee break.
First, Ursula on crutches and then Elizabeth in a wheelchair came around to visit each of the dogs. Gimme is totally unconcerned with the medical equipment... her biggest problem is no greetings until cued and then calm greetings. Anyone wanting to bask in the fullness of her glory is just so very exciting. I could have worse problems, eh.
Later on, Ursula came by with a broom sweeping around us and then asking us to move so she could sweep under the dog. Gimme thought this might be a new game that her best friend Ursula wanted to play with her. She's never paid any attention to my housecleaning efforts.
Then we worked on teaching the dogs another secondary reinforcer (besides clicker and marker words). The goal is to have 3 additional secondary reinforcers. Fortunately we already have one that I never intended, but works anyway because I'm in the habit of using it at the end of weave poles (a holdover from agility with Michael) and its always followed by very generous rewards. Its the word "woohoo" said with enthusiasm - it gets Gimme's tail wagging faster every time.
The idea behind these other secondary reinforcers is that we can use them as rewards, to wean the dogs off food... just being sure that we continue to pair them with food 80% of the time. Unlike the clicker, which should be paired with food 100% of the time to keep the association pure. I first heard about this concept the day I audited Public Dog Class. Since then I read that Ken Ramirez promotes this method. I plan to also condition a thigh slap. Gimme is very tactile, so any touch is possible - though I'm finding that she's especially fond of deep ear rubs.
After that we worked on toy play. I hadn't brought any toys, so was happy to see that Ursula had a Skinneez, which is Gimme's favorite toy. She played with it long enough to demonstrate that she's an avid tugger AND has an awesome "release" on a verbal cue. Then she noticed other dogs watching her play and wouldn't play in the building again. However, I took it outside with us on our next break and she was quite happy to play with it outside. BTW she's also fine with HER watching them play with toys, just doesn't want THEM watching her - kinda like the way most kids think, eh.
The last part of class was more greeting practice. We set the dogs on a sit-wait and stood beside them. If they broke the sit-wait when the "stranger" approached, then we moved to body block, followed by resetting them in the original spot and trying the stranger's approach again. Gimme broke on the first two strangers, but on the third one she started to and then caught herself. So, on that success we partied all the way to the car (it was the end of class in any case).
Overall I thought the strategy of setting up near the door went well. I do still need to improve my own skills. I believe I'm too slow to interrupt when she gets stuck (like watching the other dogs play). Also, I need a better gauge of when she needs a break than just noticing that her ability to reliably/promptly respond to cues is falling off. Ideally I want to give her that break just before she needs it.
We had walked 3 miles on the fort earlier in the day. Then after class, met Mary and Grafton for another 2 miles on the Capitol Campus. I did notice that Gimme's LLW was nowhere in sight, but I figured her brain was gone from class. My feet still hurt today...
BTW I'm reading Temple Grandin's book, Animals in Translation. Temple has autism of a high functioning type. She believes that the way people with autism view the world is very much like the way animals do - with visual thinking. Everything she says rings true with my experiences and I expect to learn a lot from the book. It is a very interesting read and one I highly recommend to anyone who works with and/or loves animals.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Public Dog (11)
We had class at the park today. We started with parallel walking. Where the class was held, we were walking around a track and there was very little space outside the track... so I took the inside position so I could manage the distance. I made a joke was that everyone that parallel walked with us must feel like they are walking alone. They changed pairs frequently. When we started, Gimme just couldn't focus enough for cheese. So I pulled out the peanut butter. Initially I lured her to get her brain engaged and remind her what was available to win, and then made her work for additional licks. We started at 35 feet away, but by the end we were at 12 feet from our last walking partner.
After that everyone just sat down with their dogs and encouraged them to lay about calmly. We were on the outer edge and the nearest dog was 10 feet. I would have liked to have more space, but that would have put us sitting out in the hot sun. Gimme would do okay for short bursts, but then she would pop up again. She wasn't misbehaving... just couldn't get relaxed. In hindsight, there was another shady patch about 60 feet away and I should have moved over there. That was much more space than she needed, but it would have made it easier for her to relax and made it a more positive experience for her - next time.
After that they had us all move one-by-one to another dog. Gimme didn't do as well as she has in the past. I think it was too much at the end of class and with 7 other dogs in sight, to be left with a stranger. She didn't do badly, just never relaxed, even though Elizabeth was shaping her to lay down. The second stranger resorted to non-stop treats and that pretty much got her all amped up again.
Mary called later and we met to walk the kids around the lake. Gimme did pretty good with her "whazzat" work and got admired and petted by a lot of people. She also got petted by a number of small children. On a positive note, she was able to relax enough during some of our "whazzat" stops to lay down all stretched out. It was closer than she's done before and I'm thinking it probably seemed easy compared to class - at least she didn't appear to be trigger-stacking, so that's good. I do think that I need to improve my game and do the "lets-go" much sooner when she gets stuck... In the future I plan to count in my head during "whazzat" and when I get to three if she hasn't looked back to me, then we'll do the "lets-go" and increase our distance.
I sure wish there was going to be an opportunity to get Gimme and Grafton together out at the fort for an off leash romp before Sunday. That's our trial day (second NW2 attempt) and I'm sure she'd benefit from a good rousing play session. Its going to be a verrrrry long day, since its almost a 4 hour drive to/from where the trial is held, so we'll be leaving home at 4 a.m. Its a resort town and, being summer, all the hotels within a 2 hour drive are booked solid (and expensive to boot).
Dang hormones - I know I've mentioned that Gimme's dog-dog threshold has gotten significantly larger since her false pregnancy and we're working to recover lost ground. I've also noticed a couple other things that she's gotten "weird" about since then. Neither of these are huge, but I don't like it that she has these concerns in her own home. The one is an old issue, that I hadn't really worked through, since it was not that much concern to her, and easy to avoid. Of course, now it and the other have become a bigger deal, so they are moved to a front burner.
After that everyone just sat down with their dogs and encouraged them to lay about calmly. We were on the outer edge and the nearest dog was 10 feet. I would have liked to have more space, but that would have put us sitting out in the hot sun. Gimme would do okay for short bursts, but then she would pop up again. She wasn't misbehaving... just couldn't get relaxed. In hindsight, there was another shady patch about 60 feet away and I should have moved over there. That was much more space than she needed, but it would have made it easier for her to relax and made it a more positive experience for her - next time.
After that they had us all move one-by-one to another dog. Gimme didn't do as well as she has in the past. I think it was too much at the end of class and with 7 other dogs in sight, to be left with a stranger. She didn't do badly, just never relaxed, even though Elizabeth was shaping her to lay down. The second stranger resorted to non-stop treats and that pretty much got her all amped up again.
Mary called later and we met to walk the kids around the lake. Gimme did pretty good with her "whazzat" work and got admired and petted by a lot of people. She also got petted by a number of small children. On a positive note, she was able to relax enough during some of our "whazzat" stops to lay down all stretched out. It was closer than she's done before and I'm thinking it probably seemed easy compared to class - at least she didn't appear to be trigger-stacking, so that's good. I do think that I need to improve my game and do the "lets-go" much sooner when she gets stuck... In the future I plan to count in my head during "whazzat" and when I get to three if she hasn't looked back to me, then we'll do the "lets-go" and increase our distance.
I sure wish there was going to be an opportunity to get Gimme and Grafton together out at the fort for an off leash romp before Sunday. That's our trial day (second NW2 attempt) and I'm sure she'd benefit from a good rousing play session. Its going to be a verrrrry long day, since its almost a 4 hour drive to/from where the trial is held, so we'll be leaving home at 4 a.m. Its a resort town and, being summer, all the hotels within a 2 hour drive are booked solid (and expensive to boot).
Dang hormones - I know I've mentioned that Gimme's dog-dog threshold has gotten significantly larger since her false pregnancy and we're working to recover lost ground. I've also noticed a couple other things that she's gotten "weird" about since then. Neither of these are huge, but I don't like it that she has these concerns in her own home. The one is an old issue, that I hadn't really worked through, since it was not that much concern to her, and easy to avoid. Of course, now it and the other have become a bigger deal, so they are moved to a front burner.
- One is that she's very concerned about the bathroom - that stems from something that happened a long time ago and it used to be just a very mild concern to her. Since the false pregnancy, she doesn't want to go in there at all. I'm letting her spend a minute or two once or twice a day licking peanut butter in there... and also tossing cheese in there when she isn't looking, so she can find it later. These I hope will desensitize her to the concern she feels. I'm thinking I may play the name game in there as well... I'm sure it won't take too long to resolve this.
- The other is that she's acting concerned every time I take a deep breath or make any blowing sound. She's the only dog I've ever known to notice my breathing. I first realized she was tuned into it because she picked up on the fact that I take a deeper breath when I'm about to get up from the computer (other dogs keyed in on me sliding the keyboard in), but she wasn't concerned about it. Well, during her false preggers, I think I must've taken a deep breath and then coughed or sneezed and startled her, because now she is more vigilant about it and actually concerned. I recently read something that said when a dog is pretty anxious about something, that your goal should be to work on it no more than every other or every third day. So I'm taking it slow with this and trying not to breath in the way I know concerns her (i.e. no blowing on a spoonful of hot soup, etc).
Friday, July 5, 2013
Crate Games (1)
Last night I spent some time getting a crate ready by blocking the bottom below the door with duct tape, so no foot could get caught, and wrapping the area above the door with fake fur, for padding. I wanted to be able to do stage 1-3 tonight, because that is supposed to be done all at once. SG said it could take as much as an hour to go from stage 1 thru 3. In our case we ran through all three stages in 25 minutes.
The DVD said to use the all time favorite treat and we know what that is. I got some peanut butter in a snack container and would dip my finger into it and then stick that through the top of the crate and let Gimme lick it off. So the girlie was highly motivated to win. I don't know if this will help her learn to calm down as suggested, but if it doesn't - she'll sure enjoy the peanut butter and no harm done.
Stage 1 - I Love My Crate
This was too dang easy. On the fourth try, Gimme saw hand reaching for the crate door and immediately was looking high and to the back for where the PB would appear. We did fifteen repetitions.
Stage 2 - Are You A Gambler
At this stage, you start working through distractions. Gimme is too smart for that - just one time of starting to move out and seeing the door close and she knew what the game was. She never budged again, no matter what I did. We ran into the same thing with puppy recalls in Ursula's classes that first year. Ursula would try to distract her and kept having to get more and more creative, because Gimme understood how to win the game. I think that is part of why she still has such great recalls to this day.
Stage 3 - Yer In Yer Out
The second time she went back in and got more peanut butter and that was all it took. After that I had to really encourage her to come out and then she was trying to turn around in the doorway to get back in. Sadly for Gimme the doorway isn't wide enough and being a metal crate has no give... so she got wedged for a second and couldn't decide what to do. But then she did. After that she realized she had to have three feet fully out before turning to get back in. It was funny to watch...
I do think I'll do this with the crate in the car. She gets a bit noisy there and has a hard time settling down. I never let her out until she settles down, but it can take awhile. So I think Stage 1 and Stage 2 with peanut butter might teach her how to do better and thus, get out sooner.
So, the crate games was after getting home from a walk around the lake with Mary and Grafton. Gimme has a harder time with LLW when the boyfriend is there, because she thinks she has to be in front and so does he. Overall she did well with WHAZZAT. I have to say every village idiot that owns a dog is out in force this month...
One time was really cute, we were doing WHAZZAT with a big dog that was moving by really fast. I cued her and Gimme thought it was too much trouble to crane her neck all the way around to look at that dog - so instead she looked at Grafton and then back to me. I'm not sure she agreed with my reasoning for not paying for her creative approach. I certainly appreciated it... I just didn't pay for it.
The DVD said to use the all time favorite treat and we know what that is. I got some peanut butter in a snack container and would dip my finger into it and then stick that through the top of the crate and let Gimme lick it off. So the girlie was highly motivated to win. I don't know if this will help her learn to calm down as suggested, but if it doesn't - she'll sure enjoy the peanut butter and no harm done.
Stage 1 - I Love My Crate
This was too dang easy. On the fourth try, Gimme saw hand reaching for the crate door and immediately was looking high and to the back for where the PB would appear. We did fifteen repetitions.
Stage 2 - Are You A Gambler
At this stage, you start working through distractions. Gimme is too smart for that - just one time of starting to move out and seeing the door close and she knew what the game was. She never budged again, no matter what I did. We ran into the same thing with puppy recalls in Ursula's classes that first year. Ursula would try to distract her and kept having to get more and more creative, because Gimme understood how to win the game. I think that is part of why she still has such great recalls to this day.
Stage 3 - Yer In Yer Out
The second time she went back in and got more peanut butter and that was all it took. After that I had to really encourage her to come out and then she was trying to turn around in the doorway to get back in. Sadly for Gimme the doorway isn't wide enough and being a metal crate has no give... so she got wedged for a second and couldn't decide what to do. But then she did. After that she realized she had to have three feet fully out before turning to get back in. It was funny to watch...
I do think I'll do this with the crate in the car. She gets a bit noisy there and has a hard time settling down. I never let her out until she settles down, but it can take awhile. So I think Stage 1 and Stage 2 with peanut butter might teach her how to do better and thus, get out sooner.
So, the crate games was after getting home from a walk around the lake with Mary and Grafton. Gimme has a harder time with LLW when the boyfriend is there, because she thinks she has to be in front and so does he. Overall she did well with WHAZZAT. I have to say every village idiot that owns a dog is out in force this month...
One time was really cute, we were doing WHAZZAT with a big dog that was moving by really fast. I cued her and Gimme thought it was too much trouble to crane her neck all the way around to look at that dog - so instead she looked at Grafton and then back to me. I'm not sure she agreed with my reasoning for not paying for her creative approach. I certainly appreciated it... I just didn't pay for it.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Confession Update
We have no classes this week - no agility, nosework or Public Dog. So I've had lots of time to work on our little discombobulation. When last I talked about this, Gimme had learned to lay down and wait whenever I sit and had even offered the behavior when I stopped to talk to someone. That continues still.
We've had four walks since then. Monday we walked around the lake mid-afternoon and she did great with LLW, but was getting stuck still. Tuesday we had a very long walk out on the fort and it was delightful. Yesterday we met Mary and Grafton for a walk around the lake. I decided to only walk on the wide-side of the lake - the park area where we have distance that we can use to create space. The other side is a sidewalk sandwiched between a 5' wide strip of grass and the street (with traffic). I'd hoped that Grafton's presence might be comforting to Gimme and that she'd be less concerned about other dogs, but that didn't prove to be the case.
I did discover, not surprisingly, that my own reactions do indeed feed hers. We were walking and a couple let their dog out off leash. It was about 50 feet from us sniffing and peeing and then made a beeline in our direction. Mary stayed put with Grafton and I quickly back-pedaled to add distance. I got to where we were about 60 feet from where the dog was with Mary and Grafton... I really couldn't get Gimme's attention and had nowhere else to go to increase distance. I was startled and alarmed... and then annoyed that we were stuck waiting for this person to remove their dog. Even after they moved away and we resumed our walk Gimme stayed aroused and kept scanning for THAT DOG.
Mary told me what the idiot owners had to say - completely clueless, stupid, liars. They did try calling the dog, but it paid no attention to them. First they defended their off leash dog because she's so friendly. Mary reminded them that its the law and they could be cited. Then they said they don't have a leash for her. After which they went on to say, she's a therapy dog for dogs, because her presence puts other dogs at ease. Seriously! Where do people get this junk?
Anyway I wanted to make sure we got in another walk today, but before doing so decided to take a hot soak to loosen up my foot. That worked and while I was at it I did some more reading in the BAT book. Decided to go to the back and read in Appendix 1 the clicker info about basic behaviors to teach. I was mostly interested in how they taught the basic u-turn for LETS GO.
Of course, that led me to check out part of Chapter 7 for walks outside of training. And then back to the appendix. Part of my issue is that I often can't turn and go the other way, since there can be a dog behind us as well - so eventually you get sandwiched between two dogs (not a good place to be). I've decided to restrict our lake walking to the far side of the wide side and just back and forth over that half mile for the time being, thus we can use the 30-60 foot wide green to our advantage.
In the course of reading about how to train the u-turn, I wasn't done soaking so read on further about the LLW advice and came upon something that gave me an ahah moment. That is using the hand touch as a target, which I had thought of. But she suggests backing up to teach it. That caused the ahah-duh... because Gimme does not react to dogs that pass us from behind.
So I'm thinking when we do start walking all the way around the lake, when we have a dog approaching from in front, we'll LAT a couple of times and then have two choices.
Anyway, today's walk went very well. We were able to use the distance very nicely. I taught Gimme the LETS GO in just two clicks. Honestly, she had probably already picked it up, since its the kind of thing I might say not intending it as a cue. We did a lot of WHAZZAT and her loose leash walking was excellent. When we tried WHAZZAT and she seemed to get stuck, I cued LETS GO and moved 5 - 10 feet further away. Then most of the time she was able to do WHAZZAT without getting stuck. One nice thing was that some of the time when we were doing WHAZZAT, since I'd be standing still, she'd lay down all stretched out. Clearly we had good distance at that point and she was relaxed. Also we ended the walk with about a quarter mile of parallel walking with a white poodle mix, with 30-50 feet between us, doing WHAZZAT as we walked.
It was a good walk. While we didn't reduce the threshold distance at all... it was a nice session and Gimme remained calm the whole time. Makes me feel better that we'll get back to where we were before long.
We've had four walks since then. Monday we walked around the lake mid-afternoon and she did great with LLW, but was getting stuck still. Tuesday we had a very long walk out on the fort and it was delightful. Yesterday we met Mary and Grafton for a walk around the lake. I decided to only walk on the wide-side of the lake - the park area where we have distance that we can use to create space. The other side is a sidewalk sandwiched between a 5' wide strip of grass and the street (with traffic). I'd hoped that Grafton's presence might be comforting to Gimme and that she'd be less concerned about other dogs, but that didn't prove to be the case.
I did discover, not surprisingly, that my own reactions do indeed feed hers. We were walking and a couple let their dog out off leash. It was about 50 feet from us sniffing and peeing and then made a beeline in our direction. Mary stayed put with Grafton and I quickly back-pedaled to add distance. I got to where we were about 60 feet from where the dog was with Mary and Grafton... I really couldn't get Gimme's attention and had nowhere else to go to increase distance. I was startled and alarmed... and then annoyed that we were stuck waiting for this person to remove their dog. Even after they moved away and we resumed our walk Gimme stayed aroused and kept scanning for THAT DOG.
Mary told me what the idiot owners had to say - completely clueless, stupid, liars. They did try calling the dog, but it paid no attention to them. First they defended their off leash dog because she's so friendly. Mary reminded them that its the law and they could be cited. Then they said they don't have a leash for her. After which they went on to say, she's a therapy dog for dogs, because her presence puts other dogs at ease. Seriously! Where do people get this junk?
Anyway I wanted to make sure we got in another walk today, but before doing so decided to take a hot soak to loosen up my foot. That worked and while I was at it I did some more reading in the BAT book. Decided to go to the back and read in Appendix 1 the clicker info about basic behaviors to teach. I was mostly interested in how they taught the basic u-turn for LETS GO.
Of course, that led me to check out part of Chapter 7 for walks outside of training. And then back to the appendix. Part of my issue is that I often can't turn and go the other way, since there can be a dog behind us as well - so eventually you get sandwiched between two dogs (not a good place to be). I've decided to restrict our lake walking to the far side of the wide side and just back and forth over that half mile for the time being, thus we can use the 30-60 foot wide green to our advantage.
In the course of reading about how to train the u-turn, I wasn't done soaking so read on further about the LLW advice and came upon something that gave me an ahah moment. That is using the hand touch as a target, which I had thought of. But she suggests backing up to teach it. That caused the ahah-duh... because Gimme does not react to dogs that pass us from behind.
So I'm thinking when we do start walking all the way around the lake, when we have a dog approaching from in front, we'll LAT a couple of times and then have two choices.
- We can u-turn and walk a little slower and the moment the dog passes us u-turn again and be on our way in the original direction.
- Or I can back up with the hand-touch target and the moment the dog is about to pass us move forward again.
Anyway, today's walk went very well. We were able to use the distance very nicely. I taught Gimme the LETS GO in just two clicks. Honestly, she had probably already picked it up, since its the kind of thing I might say not intending it as a cue. We did a lot of WHAZZAT and her loose leash walking was excellent. When we tried WHAZZAT and she seemed to get stuck, I cued LETS GO and moved 5 - 10 feet further away. Then most of the time she was able to do WHAZZAT without getting stuck. One nice thing was that some of the time when we were doing WHAZZAT, since I'd be standing still, she'd lay down all stretched out. Clearly we had good distance at that point and she was relaxed. Also we ended the walk with about a quarter mile of parallel walking with a white poodle mix, with 30-50 feet between us, doing WHAZZAT as we walked.
It was a good walk. While we didn't reduce the threshold distance at all... it was a nice session and Gimme remained calm the whole time. Makes me feel better that we'll get back to where we were before long.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Public Dog (10)
The weather cooperated, so we were able to meet Mary and Grafton out at the training area for a nice long walk. The two of them thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They were clearly thrilled to get to really play with each other.
An intriguing thing I noticed and Mary commented on was how much more actively playful Gimme was. As she has gotten older, she has tended to stick closer to me and be less interested in boisterous play with her Grafton. So it was interesting to see that. I don't know if its because its been so long since they got to play free like that or if it relates to the homeopathic remedies we are using. It'll be interesting to see if it lasts.
After that I had a couple of errands and then Public Dog class. Gimme did much better, pretty much just like she did at the first couple of classes. She was eagerly working me for treats. It clearly wasn't easy for her, but she was not over emotional and she was acting like herself again. I guess we can unequivocally say the homeopathy is a success.
BTW I worked on her loose leash walking using 300 Pecks and was able to get consistently up to 8 steps, several times to 10 and once to 15. It occurs to me that it was one of the things we'd really just been starting to get solid before the false pregnancy - so that may explain why it was the one thing that suddenly disappeared. Gimme had the best recalls of the class and Elizabeth praised us on them. And we also did a mock of the greet a friendly stranger and Gimme was able to keep her footies on terra firma.
Then we had about a 2 hour break before we met Susan and Mary for roving nosework practice. Susan and Tucker are trialing on Saturday and we didn't want to do any nosework in the couple days before the trial, so we decided to do it tonight - one search on each element. Then class on Wednesday will be his last before the trial.
For roving nosework... we went to three different locations. We did one two room interior search at the quilt shop. Both Gimme and Tucker did well with 2 inaccessible hides.
Then we drove a few blocks to the park and did an exterior with 1 inaccessible and 1 accessible. That inaccessible was really a hard one and both dogs had to work quite awhile to find it. If they'd done that at a trial it wouldn't have been as difficult, since it would have had much more time to cook. Plus the breeze was very light and variable direction. Gimme was repeatedly distracted by a lot of barking neighbor dogs nearby. Grafton joined us here and was also very distracted, but he's always been environmentally sensitive - we basically had to help him find both paired hides, so he could end on success.
From there we went to Home Depot and set up two hides on their rental equipment (1 truck, 2 trailers and 1 chipper). All the dogs were very interested in the strip of grass right behind them - though none of them tried to mark there. We had to restart Tucker, but then he got down to business - so the lesson for Susan is that he needs time to acclimate. Gimme found one hide right away and then totally ignored where I knew I'd put the other one. Instead she went to the other trainer and indicated near the hitch... and I called her a "liar". Then Mary 'fessed that she'd moved it while I was giving Gimme a chance to potty. I believe that falls under the category of TRUST YOUR DOG. Grafton did a nice job of finding both the hides and the big chunks of chicken I paired them with -- this location was much quieter.
After that we set up a container element - two odors, two distractions and twelve bags. Tucker didn't do as well at this... he was slower to settle, so Susan called two false alerts. Gimme did very well... tried to sell me on the box with the peanut butter in it, but really only alerted on the right containers. We removed the distractions and paired odor for Grafton and he did a nice job.
So now Miss Gimme is pretty well spent. Its been a really full day for us both.
An intriguing thing I noticed and Mary commented on was how much more actively playful Gimme was. As she has gotten older, she has tended to stick closer to me and be less interested in boisterous play with her Grafton. So it was interesting to see that. I don't know if its because its been so long since they got to play free like that or if it relates to the homeopathic remedies we are using. It'll be interesting to see if it lasts.
After that I had a couple of errands and then Public Dog class. Gimme did much better, pretty much just like she did at the first couple of classes. She was eagerly working me for treats. It clearly wasn't easy for her, but she was not over emotional and she was acting like herself again. I guess we can unequivocally say the homeopathy is a success.
BTW I worked on her loose leash walking using 300 Pecks and was able to get consistently up to 8 steps, several times to 10 and once to 15. It occurs to me that it was one of the things we'd really just been starting to get solid before the false pregnancy - so that may explain why it was the one thing that suddenly disappeared. Gimme had the best recalls of the class and Elizabeth praised us on them. And we also did a mock of the greet a friendly stranger and Gimme was able to keep her footies on terra firma.
Then we had about a 2 hour break before we met Susan and Mary for roving nosework practice. Susan and Tucker are trialing on Saturday and we didn't want to do any nosework in the couple days before the trial, so we decided to do it tonight - one search on each element. Then class on Wednesday will be his last before the trial.
For roving nosework... we went to three different locations. We did one two room interior search at the quilt shop. Both Gimme and Tucker did well with 2 inaccessible hides.
Then we drove a few blocks to the park and did an exterior with 1 inaccessible and 1 accessible. That inaccessible was really a hard one and both dogs had to work quite awhile to find it. If they'd done that at a trial it wouldn't have been as difficult, since it would have had much more time to cook. Plus the breeze was very light and variable direction. Gimme was repeatedly distracted by a lot of barking neighbor dogs nearby. Grafton joined us here and was also very distracted, but he's always been environmentally sensitive - we basically had to help him find both paired hides, so he could end on success.
From there we went to Home Depot and set up two hides on their rental equipment (1 truck, 2 trailers and 1 chipper). All the dogs were very interested in the strip of grass right behind them - though none of them tried to mark there. We had to restart Tucker, but then he got down to business - so the lesson for Susan is that he needs time to acclimate. Gimme found one hide right away and then totally ignored where I knew I'd put the other one. Instead she went to the other trainer and indicated near the hitch... and I called her a "liar". Then Mary 'fessed that she'd moved it while I was giving Gimme a chance to potty. I believe that falls under the category of TRUST YOUR DOG. Grafton did a nice job of finding both the hides and the big chunks of chicken I paired them with -- this location was much quieter.
After that we set up a container element - two odors, two distractions and twelve bags. Tucker didn't do as well at this... he was slower to settle, so Susan called two false alerts. Gimme did very well... tried to sell me on the box with the peanut butter in it, but really only alerted on the right containers. We removed the distractions and paired odor for Grafton and he did a nice job.
So now Miss Gimme is pretty well spent. Its been a really full day for us both.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
The Weekend
We've been getting a little more exercise, though not as much as I'd hoped. Even though Friday was officially the first day of Summer, it started raining late yesterday and still hasn't stopped. Mary and I had big plans to take the kids, Gimme and Grafton, for a big walk tomorrow - since Mary has the day off. Unfortunately the forecast is for rain and lots of it, so that may not happen.
On the phantom pregnancy front - things are going well. I discovered the effect of Ignatia wasn't the same the second time around, which is when I realized that without intending to, I'd stopped giving her the Pulsatilla. That is the homeopathic I started with, because I had it on hand, so she'd been getting it for five days when I first tried the Ignatia. Now that I'm back to giving both of them, she is doing great.
Honestly she's being a big puppy girl, wanting to play all the time. She is constantly bringing me toys and trying to engage me in play. I've even put away the two babies and after a short while she stopped looking for them and transferred her attentions to her other toys. There have been no more emotional outbursts or unusual sensitivity episodes. Yesterday I took her to the park where the skateboarders are and she did much better with them. She did show concern about one guy on roller-blades, but both times he seemed to appear out of nowhere. I'll have to make sure to set that up properly.
We've also had two training sessions in the last 36 hours and she was completely focused and eager. I'm also seeing that her impulse control is returning. Of course, tomorrow's Public Dog class will be the big litmus test. I hope she does well; if so, we'll get back to walking around the lake. I'll also be eager to find where our loose leash walking has been hiding.
Yesterday we met Mary and Susan for a nosework practice; with containers, exterior and vehicle hides. Gimme was enthusiastic and 100% focused throughout. We have learned some very interesting things about these three dogs. Gimme will basically do the same kind of element over and over and over again. She doesn't get bored, though she may start showing some "creativity" as things go along - especially if she thinks she has been finding the hides too quickly. Both Tucker and Grafton are lower drive than Gimme. Tucker does best if we only do the same kind of hide a few times, then he wants to do another element. Grafton will do one or two searches and then loses interest - even if Mary has really good rewards. However, if we pair the hides, then he gets back into it -- so we'll be doing a lot more paired hides with him in the future.
I love nosework. It is so natural to the dogs and its one time when they get to do what comes naturally to them. It builds confidence in the dogs and teaches us humans to really carefully watch our dogs and go with what they are telling us.
On the phantom pregnancy front - things are going well. I discovered the effect of Ignatia wasn't the same the second time around, which is when I realized that without intending to, I'd stopped giving her the Pulsatilla. That is the homeopathic I started with, because I had it on hand, so she'd been getting it for five days when I first tried the Ignatia. Now that I'm back to giving both of them, she is doing great.
Honestly she's being a big puppy girl, wanting to play all the time. She is constantly bringing me toys and trying to engage me in play. I've even put away the two babies and after a short while she stopped looking for them and transferred her attentions to her other toys. There have been no more emotional outbursts or unusual sensitivity episodes. Yesterday I took her to the park where the skateboarders are and she did much better with them. She did show concern about one guy on roller-blades, but both times he seemed to appear out of nowhere. I'll have to make sure to set that up properly.
We've also had two training sessions in the last 36 hours and she was completely focused and eager. I'm also seeing that her impulse control is returning. Of course, tomorrow's Public Dog class will be the big litmus test. I hope she does well; if so, we'll get back to walking around the lake. I'll also be eager to find where our loose leash walking has been hiding.
Yesterday we met Mary and Susan for a nosework practice; with containers, exterior and vehicle hides. Gimme was enthusiastic and 100% focused throughout. We have learned some very interesting things about these three dogs. Gimme will basically do the same kind of element over and over and over again. She doesn't get bored, though she may start showing some "creativity" as things go along - especially if she thinks she has been finding the hides too quickly. Both Tucker and Grafton are lower drive than Gimme. Tucker does best if we only do the same kind of hide a few times, then he wants to do another element. Grafton will do one or two searches and then loses interest - even if Mary has really good rewards. However, if we pair the hides, then he gets back into it -- so we'll be doing a lot more paired hides with him in the future.
I love nosework. It is so natural to the dogs and its one time when they get to do what comes naturally to them. It builds confidence in the dogs and teaches us humans to really carefully watch our dogs and go with what they are telling us.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Puppy Class & NW (1/14)
After our talk on Monday, I changed Gimme to a different, less chaotic class. Originally I put her in a different Thursday class, but someone else needed that slot, so I changed to puppy class yesterday. I took our milk crate to work on that trick and we worked on some other behaviors.
There were supposed to be three puppies, but only two showed up. Gimme did better with that quieter class. She paid no attention to Ursula dropping a crutch nearby - noticed, but unconcerned. Everyone wears funny hats and a boy wheeled around the room in a wheelchair, so she got to practice sitting politely while he pet her. She enjoyed walking over and through all the different things that were on the floor (this class is about puppies exploring different experiences). I can't say that she enjoyed walking down the metal grate see-through stairs, but she did it. She's clearly not afraid of it, but the stairs are uncomfortable on the feet (Ursula tried it barefoot herself).
We also played "pass the puppy". The puppies actually stay put and the humans rotate. Gimme thoroughly enjoyed all the people who came to see her - she can never get enough attention from people and is just sure that a stranger is simply someone who has not yet had the blessing of meeting her. Interestingly, after that she was clearly tired. I was pleased to see that, as I expected, she wasn't overly concerned about me leaving her with strangers - though she was happy to have me come back.
I researched different natural and alternative approaches to false pregnancy symptoms. Before class that day I made sure I got her out to run off leash for a three mile walk, so I'm sure that helped. Today after nosework class Mary with Grafton and me with Gimme went to walk around the Capitol Campus. Gimme was THRILLED to see her Grafton and they had fun taking every opportunity to get their leashes tangled. There are rarely dogs there, so it was a nice chance to get in 1.5 miles. Her loose leash walking is absent; she claims she's never heard of it. We'll probably go tomorrow as well. Today I was able to get some of the other natural/alternative remedies, one of which made a DRAMATIC difference. I am thrilled with how much it has helped her - she got her single pellet 7 hours ago and is still a happy relaxed camper. She's also getting Raspberry Leaf Tea in her drinking water and Evening Primrose Oil.
For class tonight we met at a park and did three exterior hides. Gimme did a great job on two of them, finding them very quickly. On the third one she blew by it and just gave a nose tilt (which I missed, but Joyce saw it) and then spent all her time having fun searching every other spot she could. We also did an interior hide in one of the bathrooms and she found that very quickly.
Now we are going to camp out on the couch, watch a movie and I'm gonna massage my foot for about 2 hours.
There were supposed to be three puppies, but only two showed up. Gimme did better with that quieter class. She paid no attention to Ursula dropping a crutch nearby - noticed, but unconcerned. Everyone wears funny hats and a boy wheeled around the room in a wheelchair, so she got to practice sitting politely while he pet her. She enjoyed walking over and through all the different things that were on the floor (this class is about puppies exploring different experiences). I can't say that she enjoyed walking down the metal grate see-through stairs, but she did it. She's clearly not afraid of it, but the stairs are uncomfortable on the feet (Ursula tried it barefoot herself).
We also played "pass the puppy". The puppies actually stay put and the humans rotate. Gimme thoroughly enjoyed all the people who came to see her - she can never get enough attention from people and is just sure that a stranger is simply someone who has not yet had the blessing of meeting her. Interestingly, after that she was clearly tired. I was pleased to see that, as I expected, she wasn't overly concerned about me leaving her with strangers - though she was happy to have me come back.
I researched different natural and alternative approaches to false pregnancy symptoms. Before class that day I made sure I got her out to run off leash for a three mile walk, so I'm sure that helped. Today after nosework class Mary with Grafton and me with Gimme went to walk around the Capitol Campus. Gimme was THRILLED to see her Grafton and they had fun taking every opportunity to get their leashes tangled. There are rarely dogs there, so it was a nice chance to get in 1.5 miles. Her loose leash walking is absent; she claims she's never heard of it. We'll probably go tomorrow as well. Today I was able to get some of the other natural/alternative remedies, one of which made a DRAMATIC difference. I am thrilled with how much it has helped her - she got her single pellet 7 hours ago and is still a happy relaxed camper. She's also getting Raspberry Leaf Tea in her drinking water and Evening Primrose Oil.
For class tonight we met at a park and did three exterior hides. Gimme did a great job on two of them, finding them very quickly. On the third one she blew by it and just gave a nose tilt (which I missed, but Joyce saw it) and then spent all her time having fun searching every other spot she could. We also did an interior hide in one of the bathrooms and she found that very quickly.
Now we are going to camp out on the couch, watch a movie and I'm gonna massage my foot for about 2 hours.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Nosework (3/12) and more...
Joyce is just back from camp and naturally brings back new games. She was all about
high hides and a new way to teach them - sort of shaping (without a clicker or marker word) by rewarding any look in the general direction of where the hide was. Based on what I saw with the five dogs in class, I don't think this new way is any better.
In the past we have gradually increased the height of the hide from the floor in a carefully incremented way, as the dog demonstrates success. That has worked fine for all the medium to large dogs in class. The only two that are having trouble are both small dogs and not as focused in general. Honestly, I think the hides have not been carefully moved up for those two little guys - since they usually are doing the same hides as the larger dogs.
I accepted that, taking her guarantee at
face value. The other dogs did okay, since they aren't that bold and Joyce had
all the time in the world to get there and steady the hand truck. Gimme was at
it and had her paws up on it in no time. It scooted away - Joyce was still 5
feet away and just standing there, not having started to move. Needless to say, Gimme wouldn't put her feet up on the
hand truck after that.
Our next hide was on the bottom of a 6ft
table tipped up on its end - yet another unstable surface for a bold and pushy
dog like Gimme. Fortunately, at least the other students learned from the hand truck
experience and volunteered to brace/stabilize the table from the back side
during Gimme's search. I was also prepared to stabilize the table by reaching
up and grabbing the leg. It took Gimme much longer than usual to get up and
indicate odor. Since then, she has shown a reluctance
to put her feet up on things that are new/different. She's never had that
concern before; honestly I don't think it occurred to her that things might move.
On Sunday we went over to Grafton's house for a play date. She spent much of the time squealing at him. She'd squeal, he'd dance away and then immediately come right back to bounce up and down close to her and make her squeal again. Grafton is definitely the boy who would have been guilty of sticking some cute girl's braids in the inkwell. Lest you think I'm a mean Mom and subjecting the Empress of the Cosmos to unconscionable torment - she was having fun. Yes, she is in season, but he was neutered very young and barely seemed to notice THAT. The two of them have a funny relationship and both really like the back and forth. Gimme knows perfectly well how to get Grafton to leave her alone when she really doesn't want to deal with his uncouth. If she completely ignores him, he'll stop. She can trot along with her nose stuck in the air, just dripping "you are so beneath my notice" attitude. Her other method is to drop into heel with me, again with attitude.
After the play session, Mary and I did some hides in her exercise/laundry room. I had her set mostly high hides that would require Gimme to get her feet up to properly indicate them. It took several hides before she regained her usual confidence about putting feet up on things. Of course, she then decided there's a new rule that odor will always be high. For the third round she came in and started the old business of trotting around the room with her nose stuck up in the air. So we set a couple of hides very low. I hate having to repair problems caused in class.
I'm looking for someone else to train with after we get the NW2 title. I've reviewed the list of CNWIs on the NACSW website... there are only a few anywhere close that I'd consider. One is close enough for weekly classes, but I don't know anyone who trains with her. The others are pretty far away, so I might have to take monthly or semi-monthly private lessons and continue working on my own. It isn't that I don't want to drive... I just don't want to spend twice as much for gas as I'm spending for the class itself. Its a pickle...
Today we went out to the training area and walked 3.75 miles. Then I set up our food distraction exercise. I set up 9 bags with food in a large circle, with two odor bags in the middle. Gimme got to sniff and snoop all she wanted and we had a party when she went to the odor bags. I haven't done this as often as I'd planned, but she's getting it. Today I noticed there is a difference in the way she acts around distraction bags vs odor bags. There is a lot more sniffing, nosing and nose pushing on distraction bags. She only pawed at them the first time or two and if I walk past them, she leaves them pretty quickly. With odor bags, she goes to pawing faster and sticks them much better. So I feel like she'll have a solid understanding by the trial date (Sunday 4/28).
Naturally then my car wouldn't start. I was able to flag down a motorist who checked the car and said it was likely the battery, but he didn't have his jumper cables. We dithered around about a solution and finally settled on calling Les Schwab in Yelm. They came out and jumped the battery at no charge, provided I buy the battery (if needed) from them. So the guy drives 10 miles to the middle of nowhere on "sorta" directions, checks out my car, jumps the battery and gets me started, drives back to Yelm, verifies the battery was broke and installs a new one. That took about 1:45, all for the profit on one battery sale. Now that's service.
While I waited for him to find us - Gimme and I walked another mile along the road he'd be on - for a 4.75 mile total today. My foot is killing me, but Gimme is very content and we all know that's what is important. Long walk AND nosework on the same day! Woohoo!!!
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Nosework Success
We had a very busy weekend. Since our last post we've walked 13 miles. Late Friday night I finally finished a baby quilt I've been working on for Olympia, my brother's first grandchild.
On Saturday I went to Linda's for a few minutes to help her cut some border fabric. Since she was confused by my instructions for how to sew on the border... I ended up staying for 5 hours to help her. She fed me lunch partway through and then afterward we went walking on the fort. Gimme enjoyed that, since its been a long time since Linda has walked with us. She also enjoyed meeting the range control officers that we ran into.
After we got home I did our first attempt at introducing food as a distraction. We had minimal success, mostly because my setup wasn't right. I used big boxes, the kind that Costco gives you to carry your groceries in. I put a plastic dish with holes in the lid and kitty kibble inside under one as the distraction. I had both Birch and Anise odor under another. Also two boxes with nothing.
The first time Gimme got the odor box right away and I was thinking - "damn we're good." That was followed by three times of her getting stuck on the kitty kibble box and me having to put my foot on that box to get her to leave it and find odor. Part of the problem was that she could knock the Costco box away and get to the plastic container, which she then proceeded to batt around the floor. I think she was finding that self-rewarding just because there was the possibility of getting to it. Besides, we all know how much she loves to use her paws to play with things. So I made a plan to improve my setup for next time.
Sunday we met Mary and Grafton for a 4 mile walk and then followed that with a visit to their house so the kids could have a much needed play date. Afterward, Mary and I watched a dog training video together. I'd planned to do nosework when I got home, but was inundated with phone calls all evening.
Tonight I also had a couple really long phone calls and a big computer project. After that, I was determined to do another nosework food distraction session. My plan is to do this 3 times a week.
I set the boxes up again, but made sure I tucked the food distraction container in one of the inner flaps, so there was no way to access and play with it. I set another box with both odors and paired it. Two times she got it right very quickly (with pairing). The third time I didn't pair and she was distracted by the food distraction, but then realized on her on her own that she should find odor. Her reward was HUGE... a big handful of marshmallows!
BTW I did email Joyce about my idea of having a separate class for those students who are ready to or already competing. Her response was, to say the least, interesting. Every other instructor I've ever known places a premium on helping their students to be a success... if for no other reason than to make themselves look good. Too too strange.
We are scheduled for a NW2 match on April 7th. I hope we will soon get the info for the master containers seminar, which is supposed to be the weekend after that.
On Saturday I went to Linda's for a few minutes to help her cut some border fabric. Since she was confused by my instructions for how to sew on the border... I ended up staying for 5 hours to help her. She fed me lunch partway through and then afterward we went walking on the fort. Gimme enjoyed that, since its been a long time since Linda has walked with us. She also enjoyed meeting the range control officers that we ran into.
After we got home I did our first attempt at introducing food as a distraction. We had minimal success, mostly because my setup wasn't right. I used big boxes, the kind that Costco gives you to carry your groceries in. I put a plastic dish with holes in the lid and kitty kibble inside under one as the distraction. I had both Birch and Anise odor under another. Also two boxes with nothing.
The first time Gimme got the odor box right away and I was thinking - "damn we're good." That was followed by three times of her getting stuck on the kitty kibble box and me having to put my foot on that box to get her to leave it and find odor. Part of the problem was that she could knock the Costco box away and get to the plastic container, which she then proceeded to batt around the floor. I think she was finding that self-rewarding just because there was the possibility of getting to it. Besides, we all know how much she loves to use her paws to play with things. So I made a plan to improve my setup for next time.
Sunday we met Mary and Grafton for a 4 mile walk and then followed that with a visit to their house so the kids could have a much needed play date. Afterward, Mary and I watched a dog training video together. I'd planned to do nosework when I got home, but was inundated with phone calls all evening.
Tonight I also had a couple really long phone calls and a big computer project. After that, I was determined to do another nosework food distraction session. My plan is to do this 3 times a week.
I set the boxes up again, but made sure I tucked the food distraction container in one of the inner flaps, so there was no way to access and play with it. I set another box with both odors and paired it. Two times she got it right very quickly (with pairing). The third time I didn't pair and she was distracted by the food distraction, but then realized on her on her own that she should find odor. Her reward was HUGE... a big handful of marshmallows!
BTW I did email Joyce about my idea of having a separate class for those students who are ready to or already competing. Her response was, to say the least, interesting. Every other instructor I've ever known places a premium on helping their students to be a success... if for no other reason than to make themselves look good. Too too strange.
We are scheduled for a NW2 match on April 7th. I hope we will soon get the info for the master containers seminar, which is supposed to be the weekend after that.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sassy Saturday
Today was fun. After teaching agility I had to go service an account I don't even own anymore. It seems the store wanted me to come back and give them some tender lovin' care. The store is closing, so I'll be working it for another couple of weeks. They don't have a right to service, but AG is giving it to them to protect the good relations regarding the overall contract with that chain. Not my style, but I guess that's why I don't get paid the huge bucks, eh...
After that Gimme and me went to the training areas and walked for four miles. I'm not sure what about this walk was so difficult, but my feet have been killing me ever since... my feet all the way up to my hips... It'll probably all be fine by tomorrow. Gimme enjoyed the walking, but sure missed her buddy Grafton.
Grafton developed inconsistencies in his recall due to some unfortunate circumstances that happened in a couple of walks, so he can't come out there with us until the retraining is finished. Gimme and Grafton get to walk around the lake once or twice a week, but its sure not like playing together off lead. So today, we went to his house and the two got to play in his nice back yard.
Grafton is a very gracious host. He ignored the fact that Gimme got in his food dish and proceeded to snarf up a bunch of his kibl. He didn't begrudge her the rawhide chew bone that she stole from his crate. He was appropriately forgiving when she snarked in his face after Mary dropped a treat and Grafton foolishly attempted to gobble it up when Gimme felt it had fallen within her domain (the whole freakin' universe IS her domain). Grafton was sweet about letting her hog his ball, even when she was being obviously rude and taunting him with it. We are hoping he didn't learn from her bad example when she put her feet on the counter, trying to get closer to the chicken Mary had cut up for training treats and actually licked the cutting board.
Gimme was not as enthusiastic about playing as she would have been had we gone over there before going to walk on the fort. However, Grafton is not without resources in the making-her-chase-him-whether-she-wants-to-or-not department. He basically torments her in ways that he KNOWS will get her annoyed at him. He does things like sneak up behind her and put a paw on her body or he gets in her face, teasing closer and closer. She screams and squeals and chases him around the yard and then they spin about and he chases her. If she ignored him (which she has in the past), he'd stop these obnoxious-boy-behaviors (as he did when she ignored him before), but what fun would that be.
They make me think of a little boy pulling the hair of the girl he's sweet on. The little girl always carries on and makes a big fuss... and yet the ritual continues. It may be noisy, but we've come to realize its how they show their love...
Here are some pictures that Mary had taken last year and finally sent to me. They show the two of them together - doing what they do best.
There is love there I think...
After that Gimme and me went to the training areas and walked for four miles. I'm not sure what about this walk was so difficult, but my feet have been killing me ever since... my feet all the way up to my hips... It'll probably all be fine by tomorrow. Gimme enjoyed the walking, but sure missed her buddy Grafton.
Grafton developed inconsistencies in his recall due to some unfortunate circumstances that happened in a couple of walks, so he can't come out there with us until the retraining is finished. Gimme and Grafton get to walk around the lake once or twice a week, but its sure not like playing together off lead. So today, we went to his house and the two got to play in his nice back yard.
Grafton is a very gracious host. He ignored the fact that Gimme got in his food dish and proceeded to snarf up a bunch of his kibl. He didn't begrudge her the rawhide chew bone that she stole from his crate. He was appropriately forgiving when she snarked in his face after Mary dropped a treat and Grafton foolishly attempted to gobble it up when Gimme felt it had fallen within her domain (the whole freakin' universe IS her domain). Grafton was sweet about letting her hog his ball, even when she was being obviously rude and taunting him with it. We are hoping he didn't learn from her bad example when she put her feet on the counter, trying to get closer to the chicken Mary had cut up for training treats and actually licked the cutting board.
Gimme was not as enthusiastic about playing as she would have been had we gone over there before going to walk on the fort. However, Grafton is not without resources in the making-her-chase-him-whether-she-wants-to-or-not department. He basically torments her in ways that he KNOWS will get her annoyed at him. He does things like sneak up behind her and put a paw on her body or he gets in her face, teasing closer and closer. She screams and squeals and chases him around the yard and then they spin about and he chases her. If she ignored him (which she has in the past), he'd stop these obnoxious-boy-behaviors (as he did when she ignored him before), but what fun would that be.
They make me think of a little boy pulling the hair of the girl he's sweet on. The little girl always carries on and makes a big fuss... and yet the ritual continues. It may be noisy, but we've come to realize its how they show their love...
Here are some pictures that Mary had taken last year and finally sent to me. They show the two of them together - doing what they do best.
There is love there I think...
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Sticks and Stuff
We've just been dinking around with some training and trying to get in a bunch of walking. Mary will be working for 22 days straight with no opportunity to take the kids out together to play. We'll still be able to get in a couple evening walks around Capitol Lake each week, but that's not the same as the free play sessions in the training areas.
So we took them out both yesterday and today. We see this a lot...
So we took them out both yesterday and today. We see this a lot...
Gimme originally had the stick, then tired of it and left it behind. Once she moved far enough away, Grafton went back to get it. Naturally, she suddenly wanted it again.
It took a bit of conniving - but she persisted in teasing, taunting and throwing play bows at him. He momentarily forgot how sneaky she is and dropped the stick to give chase. That was all it took and she dodged around him to retrieve the suddenly invaluable stick.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Snuddled
Today we went for a walk on the fort's training area... and while it was raining when we started, it really poured it on while we were there. When we got back to the car, Gimme was eager to get in, to say the least. I wanted to towel her dry, but she wouldn't come to me at all. However, when I opened her crate she dived in. I think she somehow thought I wanted her to come back out in the rain and she wasn't going to cooperate with THAT plan.
After we got home, she was happy to be dried off and snuggled under some blankets. Toward evening I was getting tired of rearranging her blankets for her every time she got out from under them. Apparently I needn't have bothered - since she clearly is able to get herself sufficiently snuddled in without my involvement.
Here's a picture of Gimme with boyfriend Grafton... from August, when the weather was still warm and enticing...
After we got home, she was happy to be dried off and snuggled under some blankets. Toward evening I was getting tired of rearranging her blankets for her every time she got out from under them. Apparently I needn't have bothered - since she clearly is able to get herself sufficiently snuddled in without my involvement.
Here's a picture of Gimme with boyfriend Grafton... from August, when the weather was still warm and enticing...
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Birthday Girl - Me
Yesterday was my birthday and I pretty much swore off the computer for the day, though I did check in to read all the birthday wishes. Thank you to everyone who remembered the big event. Having turned 29 once again - I'm sure that accomplishment constitutes "momentous". <eg>
I started the day with another therapy dog class at 10 a.m. Gimme did very well, much better than last time. She even managed to ignore the young BC that fell in love with her and kept trying to come see her. He unfortunately could barely function and his lack of focus was quite frustrating for his person. Gimme just turned her nose up at him; she has her Lancelot and has no interest in the amorous intentions of anyone else.
Following class was the chiropractor, which was much needed after a weekend doing yard work at my parents'. Met the glass repair guy there, who declared my windshield unrepairable. Fortunately, over the weekend, the crack took a turn south, so at least I can put off a replacement for a good long time.
Two more errands - one to Cabela's to buy ultra loud whistles and the other to Costco. I splurged on a rotisserie chicken. Love those, but don't normally buy them.
Then home to goof off and watch TV, lounging on the couch and eating chicken. Gimme helped me by laying beside me and drooling.
At 6:00 we met up with Mary and Grafton at a local elementary school for a nosework field trip. Grafton hasn't done nosework anywhere, except home and class. So when we had class at Home Depot, he found it very challenging. So we are giving him some field trips in conjunction with our walks. This is the second time and he did better, though he is finding the new setting and the carrying-on of his girlfriend in my car, quite a lot of distraction. Next time we'll do Gimme first, so she'll be quiet when he's working.
Gimme did well. The hide in the rock wall she found in decent time. The hide in the pipe proved challenging, since it was a small pipe and the other end was closed. The one under a leaf near the portables she just rocketed to.
After that we went to the Fort Lewis training areas for a 4 mile walk. On Saturday I met a couple at area 22 and they said that recently when they were riding with their one dog (Gimme sized)... their dog was right behind the horses, when a coyote came out of the woods toward it. Their dog cowered down and the coyote was standing over it and poised to attack when they were able to drive it away. As they looked where it went they could see all the brush moving and what appeared to be as many as ten coyote in a pack.
Coyote are known to send out a "scout" that will attempt to lure a dog to where the other coyote are waiting to attack. Gimme would be likely to follow a single coyote. I'm not sure if the presence of both Gimme and Grafton (50 pounds) would be enough to keep them away. I read online a report of coyote attacking two large dogs in a suburban area (Illinois). Right now mated pairs are raising young and they can have from 1 - 19 in a single litter. Further online research says that the WA coyote sightings this year are on a sharp rise compared to last year.
The whole reason for going out there has been so the dogs can run and play off leash and snoop and sniff like dogs. Mary and I have revised our Ft Lewis walking habits with Gimme and Grafton, sticking to the open areas, especially during this time of year. I'll only be using the training areas when Grafton and Mary are able to come, otherwise I'll walk with Gimme in other places.
We'll only let the dogs off leash in the most open areas - especially now as coyote are raising their young and tend to maintain a pack structure and get bolder as they try to feed more mouths. When we are walking on roads with trees on both sides, the dogs will be on leash for their safety, to keep them from following any scout coyote and because the coyote would be unlikely to come that close (within leash distance) to humans. Mary is bringing her walking poles and I'll be making a walking stick. We'll both have pepper spray and I picked up some very loud whistles at Cabelas. The prevailing wisdom is that coyote look for easy prey and will back off if you act big and intimidating, making noise, etc.
Our walk was uneventful and enjoyable. Gimme fortunately has never shown inclination to go into the woods. Over the last month I noticed she is sticking closer to me (especially when we walk alone) and I just assumed I'd somehow conditioned that, but now am wondering if she has smelled the coyote and is thinking to stay away from the woods and closer to Mom for safety. She and Grafton play a lot, but between bouts of play she sticks pretty close to Mary and me. We called the dogs any time they went out of sight (Grafton kept snooping in the tall scotch broom). We also called them in any time we were going over a rise or around a bend where we couldn't see what lay ahead. We were on the pipeline, so the whole walk was pretty open. We started accustoming the dogs to the whistles and also conditioning them as a recall cue.
I got the whistles since we could easily make a lot of noise, even if panic took our voices away. It certainly took nothing at all to turn us both into Mama Bears, ready to protect our kids.
After the walk I stopped at Albertsons and treated myself to a pint of Ben and Jerry's Vanilla Creme Broule' ice-cream. Sadly I had to give up all my favorite B&J chocolate flavors, since they all have wheat in them. The one I chose was pretty good. Then spent the rest of the evening lounging on the couch eating my ice cream with Meaggi helping me by laying at my side and drooling.
Life is good with dogs who are so helpful.
I started the day with another therapy dog class at 10 a.m. Gimme did very well, much better than last time. She even managed to ignore the young BC that fell in love with her and kept trying to come see her. He unfortunately could barely function and his lack of focus was quite frustrating for his person. Gimme just turned her nose up at him; she has her Lancelot and has no interest in the amorous intentions of anyone else.
Following class was the chiropractor, which was much needed after a weekend doing yard work at my parents'. Met the glass repair guy there, who declared my windshield unrepairable. Fortunately, over the weekend, the crack took a turn south, so at least I can put off a replacement for a good long time.
Two more errands - one to Cabela's to buy ultra loud whistles and the other to Costco. I splurged on a rotisserie chicken. Love those, but don't normally buy them.
Then home to goof off and watch TV, lounging on the couch and eating chicken. Gimme helped me by laying beside me and drooling.
At 6:00 we met up with Mary and Grafton at a local elementary school for a nosework field trip. Grafton hasn't done nosework anywhere, except home and class. So when we had class at Home Depot, he found it very challenging. So we are giving him some field trips in conjunction with our walks. This is the second time and he did better, though he is finding the new setting and the carrying-on of his girlfriend in my car, quite a lot of distraction. Next time we'll do Gimme first, so she'll be quiet when he's working.
Gimme did well. The hide in the rock wall she found in decent time. The hide in the pipe proved challenging, since it was a small pipe and the other end was closed. The one under a leaf near the portables she just rocketed to.
After that we went to the Fort Lewis training areas for a 4 mile walk. On Saturday I met a couple at area 22 and they said that recently when they were riding with their one dog (Gimme sized)... their dog was right behind the horses, when a coyote came out of the woods toward it. Their dog cowered down and the coyote was standing over it and poised to attack when they were able to drive it away. As they looked where it went they could see all the brush moving and what appeared to be as many as ten coyote in a pack.
Coyote are known to send out a "scout" that will attempt to lure a dog to where the other coyote are waiting to attack. Gimme would be likely to follow a single coyote. I'm not sure if the presence of both Gimme and Grafton (50 pounds) would be enough to keep them away. I read online a report of coyote attacking two large dogs in a suburban area (Illinois). Right now mated pairs are raising young and they can have from 1 - 19 in a single litter. Further online research says that the WA coyote sightings this year are on a sharp rise compared to last year.
The whole reason for going out there has been so the dogs can run and play off leash and snoop and sniff like dogs. Mary and I have revised our Ft Lewis walking habits with Gimme and Grafton, sticking to the open areas, especially during this time of year. I'll only be using the training areas when Grafton and Mary are able to come, otherwise I'll walk with Gimme in other places.
We'll only let the dogs off leash in the most open areas - especially now as coyote are raising their young and tend to maintain a pack structure and get bolder as they try to feed more mouths. When we are walking on roads with trees on both sides, the dogs will be on leash for their safety, to keep them from following any scout coyote and because the coyote would be unlikely to come that close (within leash distance) to humans. Mary is bringing her walking poles and I'll be making a walking stick. We'll both have pepper spray and I picked up some very loud whistles at Cabelas. The prevailing wisdom is that coyote look for easy prey and will back off if you act big and intimidating, making noise, etc.
Our walk was uneventful and enjoyable. Gimme fortunately has never shown inclination to go into the woods. Over the last month I noticed she is sticking closer to me (especially when we walk alone) and I just assumed I'd somehow conditioned that, but now am wondering if she has smelled the coyote and is thinking to stay away from the woods and closer to Mom for safety. She and Grafton play a lot, but between bouts of play she sticks pretty close to Mary and me. We called the dogs any time they went out of sight (Grafton kept snooping in the tall scotch broom). We also called them in any time we were going over a rise or around a bend where we couldn't see what lay ahead. We were on the pipeline, so the whole walk was pretty open. We started accustoming the dogs to the whistles and also conditioning them as a recall cue.
I got the whistles since we could easily make a lot of noise, even if panic took our voices away. It certainly took nothing at all to turn us both into Mama Bears, ready to protect our kids.
After the walk I stopped at Albertsons and treated myself to a pint of Ben and Jerry's Vanilla Creme Broule' ice-cream. Sadly I had to give up all my favorite B&J chocolate flavors, since they all have wheat in them. The one I chose was pretty good. Then spent the rest of the evening lounging on the couch eating my ice cream with Meaggi helping me by laying at my side and drooling.
Life is good with dogs who are so helpful.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Young Love
I've been wanting to share with all of you how much fun Gimme and Grafton have together. They are really so sweet and so "in love". Young Love is a real joy to see.
While I still haven't been successful getting a video of the Lion Dog on the Spaghetti Plain Stalking the Lovely Dalzelle... here are some clips I put together of them playing...
Here's a bunch of pictures of them... Many are out of focus because they run and play so hard and so fast that getting things in focus is a near impossibility...
While I still haven't been successful getting a video of the Lion Dog on the Spaghetti Plain Stalking the Lovely Dalzelle... here are some clips I put together of them playing...
Here's a bunch of pictures of them... Many are out of focus because they run and play so hard and so fast that getting things in focus is a near impossibility...
Monday, April 2, 2012
Play-Date
Gimme and Grafton haven't had a chance to play together for two weeks. So Mary and I surprised them with a during-the-week outing. They had great fun. Sadly I was unable to get a video of the game where they play "The Lion and the Dalzelle". Every time I stopped to video what they were doing, Gimme would turn to see what I was doing and not do her part of the game. We'll keep watching for it and hopefully get it another time.
Here are some pictures of Grafton... He's a real sweetie and Gimme is loving having him to play with...
Here are some pictures of Grafton... He's a real sweetie and Gimme is loving having him to play with...
This first picture is the Lion hiding in the tall grass...
You can barely see him and were it not for the green grass in the foreground,
you'd never notice him...
"This is my puddle, but I will share with you, my beloved..."
We'd just put Gimme in the car
and Grafton was looking forlornly in her direction.
Here you can see the mix of Sweetness and Machismo
that attracts Gimme to him,
despite his obvious peasant upbringing.
This short clip is just a bit of the silly playing and running that they do pretty much non-stop. You'll note who has to have the upper-paw at all times.
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