Urban Tracking (142) & Rally-O Drop-in

On Thursday, May 30th, Nadine and I met at Auburn Cinema. When I arrived, Nadine had an article-shape set up. Normally we call it an article-circle, but this wasn't remotely a circle or any other recognizable shape. When I got there she was running Ember on it. Then she ran Sugar and followed by Gimme and me. We both laid tracks for each other and then Cricket got to do the article-shape.

Gimme was pretty deep into her false pregnancy, so it took her a little bit to get her brain in gear for the article-shape. Once she did, then she was on fire for it. It was an excellent warm up for her, and then she went back to the van and Lenny-baby.

Gimme then ran the short track Nadine laid for her, aged just 30 minutes. She did a very nice job with the sharp 315° turn. The only real challenge was the last leg (after the open 45° turn). A very large truck drove over the track and then sat running with its rear end (and exhaust) about 20 feet from the track. Gimme kept wanting to turn right (avoiding truck exhaust?) toward where the first article had been. She did finally decide to follow the last leg, crossing behind the truck, and was quickly rewarded with the final article.

Later in the afternoon we did a drop-in for Veda's Rally-Obedience class. I have Gimme entered in rally-novice at PSDC's regional specialty the first weekend in July. If we Q there it'll be a new title for her.

I wasn't sure how Gimme would do given her mental state, but thought it was worth a try. I made a place for us, outside the ring  (everyone else sits with their dogs around the sides, inside the ring). I brought her in to give her treats and let her look around and get used to the setting. When I thought she was getting stressed, I returned her to the van. For the rest of the time, I brought her in as the dog before us was doing it's run-through, then returned her to the van after our run-through.

The first run-through wasn't very good; cheese just wasn't enough to hold her interest/focus. For the second and third run-throughs I used her peanut butter go toob, which worked very well. The start would have put us in close proximity to a dog on the sideline, with our back to him, so I just angled in to start at the second station, a serpentine. The first leg was right next to where two dogs were sitting, so Veda walked along between us and them.  Once I decided to use the go toob (keeping it at nose level), then she didn't pay any attention to them. For the second and third legs she was able to work with the go toob in my hand, but not off her nose. At the end of the third leg we were headed toward another dog, so the go toob was there for her. The third time I abbreviated the third leg doing the last station back 10 feet from the corner and then angled into the center of the ring doing the other stations.

I'm not fooling myself that she learned anything, though I was pleased that she tried so hard. This was mostly just for me to get my head back into Rally-O. At the sit-down-stand station, Gimme kept trying to turn it into an "otto". So, at the end of her last run-through I explained to everyone what she was trying to do and then let her demonstrate both "otto" and "izzy". Naturally they were all suitably impressed.

I hope to get in a couple more drop-ins before the trial.

Rally Obedience (1)

Thursday afternoon, after the parkour class I teach, we did our first rally drop-in class. As it turned out we were the only ones to show up and Veda let us do the course from the Rally Novice class. I'm sure she wanted to assess our skill level.

I wasn't sure how Gimme would do. After all, we'd already worked RallyFrEe three times in the morning and other than those sessions Gimme had been in the car nine hours, plus it was a really hot 93º, which she's not used to. It helped not having another dog to contend with, other than Veda's dog in a crate.

Gimme was really awesome. She did a lovely job on the novice course, twice. The first time I gave her reinforcement for every station. The second time she got three rewards for the whole course, at places I messed up. She was really enthusiastic and did a lovely job. I have to say I've never seen her work so well at Pawsabilities. Most of the daycare dogs were already gone, so it was quieter and less distracting for her.

She finally noticed Veda's dog toward the end of the second novice course. She seemed pretty certain she needed to do something about him. We did some "whazzat" then and again in our last course. I don't know if he's reactive, but he's certainly protective of his crate.

After we did the novice course twice, Veda changed up the course, adding new signs from higher levels. She managed to trip me up with every one. Either I read it wrong or I read it right and performed it wrong, so there was a lot for her to instruct me on. The cool thing was how well Gimme responded when I got my part right. One sign is a halt-sit pivot-left-forward. Veda helped me practice my footwork and then I did it with Gimme. She came up out of her sit, simultaneously swinging her heiney right to maintain heel. It was really quite beautiful and I was impressed with how Gimme did it, as was Veda. She has really sophisticated rear foot awareness, which helps a lot.

During her last run-through Gimme had an episode of reverse sneezing - her first. She had another prolonged episode later in the evening. Then I read on the weather site there was an extreme pollen alert - whatever it is, it's hard for her and she does some soft whining during/after. Poor baby.

Gimme was losing focus halfway through the third run-through and this is when she became most concerned with Veda's dog, so we stopped and played "whazzat" again. It took her awhile to let go and come back to work. However, when she did get back to work, she did nicely. Given how much she'd already done this day, I was very happy with her efforts.

I am still really surprised she did so well with this. I've always thought she wasn't as enthusiastic about RFE because of how choppy the courses are. This was even more choppy (10' or less between stations) and yet she was really enthusiastic, but focused and accurate. The last station before Finish was Slow Pace and I was doing an exaggerated slow. Gimme thought it was just a hoot, and was staying with me, but bouncing in place to do so. Veda and I both laughed at her special interpretation of how to do heel at a snail's pace.

I don't' know if it really was the lack of noise/distractions or something else. Maybe there is a difference in my attitude or some other unknown. It'll be interesting to see how this works out over time. With Gimme's attitude and ability during this first class, it's clear she could be really good at Rally-O if the trials weren't so darn hard for her. Maybe I need to see if there are any video venues for it - J'Anna might be interested in it too for Glory.

Anyway, it's certainly exciting.

RFE Practice (7)

Last Thursday was our bi-weekly Rally FrEe practice.  As I said in the prior post, I've decided to concentrate my efforts on attention/focus and heeling (both "heel" and "side").  The heeling used to be gorgeous, but I broke it during videoing for our first entry.

Gimme used to try to talk me into starting a training session by pestering me with heeling.  Also whenever we were learning something new and she was frustrated or confused, she'd dive into heel.  So initially I know she had a really good attitude about heel, I just have to work to get it back.

Kathy and Candy have been kind enough to review some videos from the assessment day, and this Thursday and Sunday.  Plus both have been good enough to give me loads of feedback and endure my lengthy discussions.  So here's what I've learned...

About Gimme...
The harshest "correction" I use with her is to take her by the collar and walk her away from something, but in reviewing the video I can see these hands-on interruptions are more intrusive than I thought.  She's clearly not afraid of me or my hands, but she also understands this means she's "wrong" and she gets hurt feelings and it shakes her confidence. We need to go back to training on leash until we get through some of these holes - so I don't have reason to put my hands on her to interrupt something.  Gimme is also very sensitive to tone of voice - aren't all dogs?

Handling to improve...
I've developed some bad training habits, which need to change.  Some aren't necessarily bad, but are wrong for what I need to do, which is to really go back to basics.

• I discovered the picture in my head of what heeling looks like has gotten skewed.  I stood Gimme beside me in both heel and side, feeding her lots of treats which increases her reward history for position, and studied the picture of how it looks.
• For the time being we're going back on-leash, so I can keep her from practicing things I don't want.
• I'm using the bait bag again.  While I retrain the basics, sometimes I need to rapid-reward.  Also treats in pocket and mouth are too clumsy and late, and Gimme jumps up to get them - another bad habit I've let develop.
• I discovered my internal clock is seriously broken.  So I searched and found my waist timers.  I'll set them for 2.5 minutes to remind me to change to something different, maybe with play or something fun between.
• Vary the rewards - throw treats, treats at my side, play, run away, or "Feed Fred".
• Clearly separate training and testing
• I need to clean up my training...

♥ I must pick one criteria to work on at a time - if someone watching doesn't know which criteria you are rewarding, Gimme will be confused too.
♥ Our “heel” weak areas (she’s better at “side”) are forging, wideness, and lack of duration.  I must plan ahead how to get behavior so I can reward it.
♥ Increment everything and don't raise the criteria too much at one time.
♥ Maintain criteria and don't proceed if something isn’t up to par.  Its too easy to get focused on stations instead of the space between them.  As my assessment video clearly showed, too many problems at stations stem from poor attention/heeling between the behaviors.
♥ If something isn’t working, break off training and reassess sooner rather than later.

"Once is a mistake, twice is a trend, and three is

a lifestyle.  Never get to three."  ~ Morgan Spector

Things to work on...
We'll really be going back to basics.  Gimme used to love heeling, so much so that I always said I'd accidentally done something right.  Somehow I've lost that and I need to get it back.  So these are the goals I’m focusing on, plus some ideas of how to get there from here:

• We need to transition from every-time perimeter walk to performance mode when she enters the building - its a training hole of my own making.  

♥ To start we'll walk perimeter at a distance from stuff, in look-but-don't-touch mode with click/treats for offered attention.
♥ Over time we’ll increase the distance from the distractions, until we can walk into the center of the training area and just spend a few moments looking around.
♥ Finally, I want to get to where she can look and be satisfied from the alcove.  She can do this in nosework, so I know we can get there.

• work on “Control Unleashed” style reorienting at doors/gates/etc
• keep heeling, attention/focus number one priority – making sure the space between stations is the fun part...
• practice ring entry, set up and the start of heeling using an alcove inside the door so we have a space to get ready and a ring gate
• practice start routine - walk loose lead to start, "setup", remove leash and drop it, then cue "heel" and go
• finding heel/side game with a thrown treat makes heel/side very exciting

♥ work from every angle (around the clock)
♥ every position relative to me
♥ over time increase difficulty by to making it hard to get into position so she has to push in to get rewarded

• practice a lot of change of sides when heeling
  when working courses, focus on the better stations, so they serve as a confidence boosting reward for good attention/heeling

♥ isolate training of needs-work behaviors from heeling

• get "wait" on a verbal (w/o palm flash hand signal)

Since I've gotten clear in my head about where I'm going and the things I need to change, we've had two really good training sessions.  Gimme was doing much better and showed she understood what I was asking her to do.  We still have a lot to work on, but I can see it coming along already.

Morning Funny Ha-Ha

For as long as I can remember, Gimme has been bringing me her toys while I'm getting dressed and the like, every morning.  She brings them, pushes them into my hand repeatedly and any attempt on my part to actually take the toy, results in her
          a) dancing away with it, or
          b) tugging with it.

I can't tug while I'm getting dressed, but I can throw toys.  I encourage her to "bring" me things so we can play.  I've been trying all this time to get her to "release" the toy to me and the only time she would do it was if I took her by the collar and then she gets a slightly disappointed look on her face - suggesting she finds this approach less than fun.  I've tried teaching her to "release" more formally with very little success.

Last night I was sitting on the couch and she snagged one of my socks, hoping to get me to play tug or at least, be less boring.  I said "mine" and she plopped it in my hand!  Suddenly a little light bulb flashed brightly - it occurred to me to try "mine" in the morning.  I just did and like magic, it worked.

All this time I thought "mine" meant 'don't touch'.  Apparently Gimme is quite capable of understanding this cue in a different way in a different context.  Plus there is the whole Gimme thing - wanting to be in control of the process.  Not the first time - won't be the last.

Now Gimme wants me to get off this 'puter, so we can practice this game she has FINALLY taught me to do in the RIGHT way.  I better get to it right away, before I forget and she has to train me all over again tomorrow...   By the way...

Dear Friends

Happy Thanksgiving

Urban Tracking (2)

Yesterday was our second day for urban tracking.  We used the same location. 

We did curb tracks of 25, 40 and 75 yards, with a start sock, food drops at 5, 10, 20, 30... and so on, and a glove at the end.  Gimme did much better with the food drops than she did the time before with articles in place of them.  She liked the grab-n-go aspect of the cheese, though she missed a couple because she was going so fast.  All the dogs did very well.

Nadine had a burning desire to try the "island hopping" exercise.  It won't come up for us for awhile, but she really wanted to do it.  I said I was okay with letting the dogs do a sample of it, but I thought it was very important to work through the exercises as Sil has laid them out.  IE we may sometimes dabble in stuff ahead of where we are, but will still work through the early work to be sure we are laying a good skills foundation.  There's no point in jumping ahead if we're going to have to do remedial work later.

Islands are those cement landscaping planters "islands" you see in parking lots.  Skookum and Cricket got three islands and Sugar got two as the end of her 75 yard curb track.  This is the layout for the island hopping track we laid for Gimme. The blue rectangle is a car parked near the islands we wanted to use.  Gimme had done this at the tracking seminars we took with Sil Sanders.  The key thing is to hold back and play out line to let them sort out the puzzle as they go across the gap to the next island.  Use light, comfortable tension when they are right and increase the tension a little when they are wrong.  The idea is to make the wrong decision less attractive (not as easy) without making the decision for them.  Gimme did really well. She had a little challenge sorting out her first gap, but the other two were easy peasy.

I'm continuing to lay "article circles", though they are tending to be short lawn tracks on urban days.  Gimme loves to find an article on every leg.  Here we are throwing in some transitions, simply because we have no choice at this location.

We started on grass over on the narrow strip and went up toward the bushes.  We passed right next to the trees just like last time.  I placed a glove right across the road and sidewalk as a reward for crossing the road.  Then we crossed another sidewalk with a glove right on the other side.  From here the track went right up next to the building, hugging the walls, with one glove in the second bark strip.  This involved crossing and tracking on narrow sidewalks, but my intention was to use the building as a curb.  From there we turned again, crossing a sidewalk and then a 45º turn toward the last flag and article.

Last time when we tracked so close to the peed-on trees, the dogs all found it challenging, but this time none of them paid any attention to it.  Gimme found it hard to do the road/sidewalk crossing and she was hampered when we got our line wrapped around a sign post.  She finally crossed it, but had her head up.  She made the turn and then again had a spot of difficulty crossing the sidewalk.  Her tracking along side the building was brilliant, though she did have to check out each little door/alcove where the turn was - especially after she saw workmen through an open door.  You know how much she loves men.  She had a much harder time crossing the sidewalk the third time, seemingly unwilling to commit.  She finally did and then made the turn to the final glove.

In hindsight I realized the gloves at the first two crossings were acting as a lure.  She had her head up as she crossed pavement and now I'm sure she smelled the articles and just went to them - she wasn't actually tracking on the ground.  For the third crossing there was no article right across from her, so she had to figure it out on her own.  Transitions are way beyond the skill level our dogs have for urban tracking, but they are all doing okay - with Skookum doing the best.  Clearly Gimme was having difficulty with them.  By our human way of thinking, crossing a road or sidewalk shouldn't be hard if the dog can cross an open space in island hopping tracks.  But, Sil says transitions are really quite difficult for most dogs.  Next time I will make sure there are no article-lures and will put a food drop or two to help her keep her nose down. 

I was recently asked when I thought I would try to finish her Rally Obedience title (she has one leg).  I couldn't really give a timeline, saying I don't really have anyone to practice with, who I can count on to reliably control their dog.  Then it occurred to me - I have Nadine and she does obedience too.  So I asked her if we could practice stays together (not required in Rally).

Nadine brought Skookum out, who is very steady and reliable.  We followed Nadine and Skookum "into the ring", from about 10 feet away.  Then we set up for sit-stays.  I kept Gimme a comfortable 12 feet away.  Nadine went out to 30 feet, but I stayed within 12 feet (the length of my leash).  I went back and rewarded Gimme a couple of times and we ended with a nice 30 second segment.  Then we set up in the same place for a down stay.  When I was out at the end of the leash, Gimme got up in a sit, though she didn't move from her spot.  I went back to her and got her to down again and couldn't help but notice she moved herself 2 feet further away from Skookum.  I took this as her way of making it easier for herself and noticed she was very careful to not look at Skookum.  I've seen her do this before - the not looking thing when a challenge is hard.  We got a nice 30 second down stay and I rewarded her a lot after it.  Then Nadine heeled Skookum back and forth near us while I gave Gimme a steady stream of treats. 

We ended with this.  I could tell it was hard for Gimme and I appreciated her efforts, rewarding her with her comfort food (peanut butter) when it was hardest.  She was dead to the world afterward.

I noticed she was better in this situation than she has been for a long time with strange dogs during our walks.  I usually move us 20-25 feet away and/or use barriers.  I'm just not comfortable with all the unknowns from these strange dogs and strange people.  So if it isn't comfortable for me, then it won't be for Gimme either. 

Shortie Training

I went to a movie tonight, Dawn of Planet of the Apes.  It was pretty good.  I never liked the original Planet of the Apes movies very much, but I do like the new ones and I was just in the mood. 

I promised Gimme I'd only be gone a couple of hours and we'd train as soon as I got back.  Of course, I just had to check emails and do some other things first.  Its an Adult ADD thing, some stuff is just a distraction if I resist it.  I quickly got on the computer to take care of it and Gimme spent the whole time huffing and sighing.  She really expects me to live up to my promises, doncha know...

So I cleared the living room floor and got out my cards to pick a couple of Rally moves to train.  I got right-about-turn and 90-degree-left-turn. 

Well gosh those were so easy, I got off on a tangent and worked on some backing up in heel.  Except if she sits, she then scoots backwards and as I recall, that's not correct for rally.  So I used my freestyle arm position (hands on hips) and even though we haven't really trained freestyle "hip" (standing "heel") in a very long time, she actually remembered it fairly well.  We were able to get three-steps-forward-three-steps-back very quickly.

Then I worked on her doing the same thing from "center" (standing "front").  I hadn't worked it with the hands on hips, so it took a moment for her to understand it and then voila' three-steps-forward-three-steps-back without having to really teach it.

From there we worked "thigh" (standing off"side").  I haven't trained hands on hips for "side", she still picked it up very quickly.  For some reason three-steps-forward-three-steps-back didn't come as easily there.  Though, once I worked it with her between me and the couch, she got it quickly.  Honestly I don't train "side" or "thigh" anywhere close to how often I train "heel" and "hip", so I'm sure its a factor.

We ended with a quick session of her filing her nails on the nail board.  She has learned to do three scratches with her right paw, followed by three scratches with her left paw.  She's really very good and rarely forgets to alternate, though sometimes she will do two or five scratches.  So she understands alternating better than counting.

Still it amazes me the things she can understand and how quickly she learns stuff.  She is also better at generalizing than most dogs I've worked with.  If Gimme were blessed with a more consistent, better trainer, she'd probably be famous and have her own TV show by now.  Just sayin...

Special Bowl (1)

First, I did a session of indicator training.  Gimme got to do 45 repetitions of the easiest step, 15 with each odor.  It was a little challenging for me, to figure out how to do it and make it similar enough, as well as efficient and timely, given my current limitation.  I guess I did okay, because she remembered right away and did great. 

Later we did a session on special bowl training, an idea I got from my Hannah Branigan DVD set, Obedience FUNdamentals.  This is our second session and Gimme totally loves it.  I'm going to try to video what we are doing.  I think its a very exciting and powerful concept, full of potential.

I have to tell a funny story about it.  I was just talking to my non-dog friend, Linda, using the speaker phone.  I was telling her about special bowl, how it worked and how much fun Gimme was having with it.  Gimme was snoozing next to me on the couch, for all appearances sound asleep.  I told Linda that Hannah uses the cue "get it", but it already means something else to Gimme, so I've been using "Y-O-U-R-S".  Linda repeated out loud the word I just spelled - now remember, we're on speaker phone.


Gimme's head popped up, immediately alert to the possibilities and starts looking around for her special bowl, clearly flummoxed that I hadn't even moved from the couch.

Special bowl nowhere to be seen ---
what's the world coming to?

Cool Beans "Fronts"

To follow up on my post Epiphanies...

Today I did another session on "fronts".  It was just a short session with 30 treats.  The first time Gimme went back to angling her butt to my right, toward 1 o'clock.  It was hard for me, but I just waited and waited and waited.  She tried several different things to get me to pay up (cocking her head to one side sticks in my mind as particularly cute), she fidgeted a LOT and then...  finally she got up and repositioned herself.

It wasn't perfect, but MUCH better, so I rewarded liberally.  After that she did a number of fronts that were pretty darn good.  Not exactly perfect, but good enough that only a really picky judge would fault them.

So, I'll want to do this same thing for several more sessions (using the platform and the rewarding pattern), then at some point when she is consistently coming in straight and close the first time, then I will try a "front" without the platform.  Incidentally, all the fronts were much closer than we've gotten in the past.

As in life, sometimes the best thing you can do -- is to do nothing.

Epiphanies

Epiphany = a sudden realization of great truth.  I’ve had two this week.

I’ve been reading a book, Zoomility, and am using colored pens along with my highlighter, to say different things about why I highlight (it’s a take-off from an inductive Bible study I’m doing).  By doing it this way, I am forced to slow down and give more thought to why I am highlighting a particular portion of the text and what it means to me – what I want to learn and remember from it.

(Epiphany #1) This week I was reading a section about least reinforcing stimulus (LRS) and was thinking about it.  One of the training issues I’ve struggled with is trying to get a straight “front”.  Gimme always angles her fanny to one side or the other – which I know is my fault and I’m sure I carefully, if unintentionally, shaped the angling behavior.  I’ve also been trying to get her to come in closer.  She is coming in close enough to not be faulted, but figuring on a behavior deteriorating under the stress/distraction at a trial… it could be close.

So the way LRS applies is the intentional application of 3 – 5 seconds on non-response.  We always try to fix the dog’s mistakes, which unfortunately risks rewarding the behavior by paying attention to it.  At the very least you create a dog who waits for you to give them the second cue before getting the behavior correct.  In the case of a crooked front or one which isn’t close enough, my fix has been to take a step back.  Over time it’s turned into me pushing my knees back, while not moving my feet (a nonverbal cue, eh).

I decided to use a small platform to give Gimme a physical target and one in which she feels when she’s not right, because she slips off the side.  I was very conscious to do nothing if she wasn’t right.  I also thought ahead about how and when I would reward her efforts.  Assuming I am facing 12 o’clock… if her butt angles toward 1 o’clock, the treat comes from my right hand, which causes her to turn toward it, thus straightening her butt.  If her butt angles toward 11 o’clock, the treat comes from my left hand, causing the same straightening.  If she comes in straight, she gets treats from both hands.  Note she gets a treat either way, whether she is straight or not, though she doesn’t actually get the crooked cookie until she has straightened some. 

When she is close enough, she gets a treat spit out of my mouth, which just barely clears my body.  If she is too far away, she has to move closer to catch it.  So she quickly tended to come in closer.  I was able to add the refinement where she got cookies from both hands if as she sat down from the catching, if she was straight. 

Needless to say, it took very little for my little genius to figure out the pay differential.  The difference was dramatic and in just two short sessions she was really working to be straight and close – taking responsibility for getting it right.  You know this kid always works the angles…

(Epiphany #2) At nosework class Dorothy asked me how our trial went and what I learned.  In the course of talking about it, I explained how frustrated Gimme got about not getting peanut butter when she thought she was supposed to and the disastrous consequences in containers. 

Which led to Dorothy asking me, and discussing with the class, why I/we weren’t using our best motivators for nosework.  (I always love how she uses examples from her own training too)  An odor obedient dog is one who actively searches for and goes to source odor and odor obedience is only as strong as the association a dog has between odor and the reward for finding it.  So… why wouldn’t a person use their dog’s highest value reward?

In my case, its been twofold.  One, using peanut butter is time consuming.  Gimme has to spend time licking the go toob and if she gets a blob, then she has to lick her leg to clear her mouth.  This will cost us in nosework where placements are separated by just a few seconds.  Two, I could use peanut butter cookies (as I do in agility), but if any crumbs drop on the floor, we’d be faulted.  So, those are the reasons I had for not using peanut butter.

The next day I was thinking about it and pondered whether there were such a thing as peanut butter chips (like chocolate and butterscotch chips).  A quick internet search and I discovered there are – they are made by the Reese’s division of Hershey’s.  So today I checked my local grocery and found them.  I tested Gimme when I got home.  Given a choice between PB chips and garlic pork - chips won, paws down.

Gimme and I have already started working with them.  I just did a quick session offering her two hands – one with odor and one with PB chips.  She quickly learned mugging the hand with the PB chips got nothing, while paw-hold and multiple nose-bumps to the odor hand made PB chips land there.  I was even able to really strengthen the concept by teasing her with the PB chips while she was doing the paw-hold/nose-bump to odor and she caught on to this distinction as well.  Lo and behold, resisting the distraction/attraction of PB smell gets you PB chips.  Who knew?

In class/training/practice I will mostly use peanut butter from the go toob (which isn’t going to result in a sugar high), because time isn’t a factor.  I could even use PB cookies at those times because crumbs won’t cost me.  But from time to time I’ll use the PB chips, so I can be practiced at using our highest value reward for a trial. 

I’m really excited to see how Gimme’s nosework changes when she realizes she gets her all-time-favorite-number-one-highest-value goodie.  She’s always been pretty solid at odor obedience, but I’ll be watching to see if it gets stronger.  You know I’ll tell you when it does…

Gimme Tries Duck Diving

No, that's not a spelling error.  We were walking around the lake and had gotten to the second half of the walk, by which time Gimme settles down.  That means I just barely had the leash draped across my fingers.  So when Gimme darted off to the side, there was nothing to stop her.  Imagine my surprise to see her crashing into the brush after something, followed by hearing a quack and considerable splashing.  Who knew a duck on land could move that fast - I'm guessing she was inspired. 

Gimme came out of the water pretty fast, but was more than willing to go and try again.  The only part of her that wasn't wet was her head.  She really was interested in a re-match against that duck.  "C'mon Mom, I can catch her, I know I can."

So now the question is...  if I want to try dock diving, do I have to throw a bumper?  Or could I throw a live duck?  With the right motivation, I think Gimme would do it, I'm just saying...

On another part of our walk we passed a lady who had just finished running and was doing yoga to stretch and cool down.  We saw her doing Downward Dog pose.  Gimme was annoyed that I wouldn't let her go over to teach the lady how to do Kissed By A Dog pose.  She's always trying to be helpful doncha know.

Then I did errands galore.  After which we stopped in at Home Depot for a quick heeling session.

Note to self:  Wait until you get past the store greeter and all Gimme's friends.  Its kinda counter-productive to have your attempt at heeling ruined by the Home Depot chapter of the We-Love-Gimme fan club.

Once we got away from them, she did pretty good, especially since we've never tried heeling there.  It took her about a minute to realize that I hadn't simply forgotten to put on her nosework harness.  But once she figured out what we were doing, there were some really nice moments.  It'll be a good practice opportunity for us during icky weather.

Now its time to snuggle on the couch...  I might even practice that Kissed By A Dog pose.

Nosework (6/16) & Rally practice

I got my card set out and practiced five behaviors today.  They were mostly parts of heeling, so nothing earth-shattering.  Don't know if I mentioned on here that I made a set of 3x5 cards with each of the Rally and RallyFrEe signs on them.  Then I just shuffle them and pick out five.

Anyway, Gimme was so excited to be training again and she especially loves heeling anyway, so she was forging quite a bit.  Given that I only this summer discovered I had trained her to heel a bit too far forward and have only worked on it a few times since then - I'm not yet concerned about it.  In any case, I'd rather forging than lagging. 

After that we practiced our nosework indicator.  I confess I haven't practiced it since I first changed the way of doing it - about 3 weeks ago.  Been meaning to work on it since I got home from CA.  It just hasn't happened and tonight was our first night - just an hour before leaving for class. 

It took all of 30 seconds for her to remember the new drill.  I probably used about 100 treats.  I started with the tin in my hand and treating for a combination of paw-hold and nose touch.  I do notice she is more inclined to do pawing the closer it is to the ground.  So for now I'll work about a foot or higher and just gradually move it down.  I ended with placing the tin in the top of a box of clothes, without my fist there.  She did it beautifully - placed her paw on the edge of the box and just never moved it.... with repeat nose touches. 

She's one smart cookie...

Then we went to class and she was W O N D E R F U L.  We were the fourth dog and had plenty of time to do a quick warm-up of the concept (odor in fist, paw-hold and multiple nose touch).  I can always do that warm-up at a trial too.  Gimme was so good in fact that Joyce just started talking to me about it and asking questions and I had to remind HER to wait to talk until Gimme was done searching.  He He He....

Joyce even said after our second set of hides that if I can keep what I have right now and apply it to all the different kinds of searches and variations and if it doesn't break down in a trial - its a very nice and very accurate indication.  She admitted she never thought I'd get it even close to this good.  Nice to finally hear... keeping in mind that I don't consider it at all finished.  Several of the other students commented about how good it is and were asking questions about what I'd changed.

I have to admit it was a conversation with the owner of Gimme's sister, Candy Powell, who helped me see the next piece of the puzzle.  Who knows... there just might be something special in Grace's Christmas stocking.

I know there are going to be several special things in Gimme's Christmas stocking.

Brilliance

Now that we're home and our summer classes have ended, I'm trying to get us back into our regular routine.  During the summer with so many activities on our plate, I tend to let obedience/rally training slide.  So we're getting back to that.

First though...  During the seminar I was "subjected" (and I use that word with full understanding of its meaning) to multiple daily videos of myself working.  While we were supposed to be analyzing the video for good things we did, as well as things that need improvement, it was very hard for me to concentrate.  I realize the camera is known to add ten pounds, still I think ours was adding a lot more than that.  Or else, I have to conclude I've become a bit of a porker.  So I am freshly determined to work diligently to trim off the excess me.

I've known I need to - the video just gave me fresh motivation.  I will have to lose and get in shape if I'm ever going to be able to run agility with Gimme.  And, its likely that my plantar fasciitis will not go away as long as I'm carrying the extra weight.  So I'm making a concentrated effort.

Gimme thinks its not the best idea, or I need to do it differently.  We have a system.  Since I eat most of my meals on the couch, Gimme has learned she will get her share in tidbits, provided she is well behaved laying next to me.  Well behaved is defined as no drooling, no begging, no whining and no pestering.  She totally gets the system.  What she does not get is why she has to eat lettuce too.  Seriously, who thought up that plan?

So tonight we started a training session by having her do her nails.  I need to do that more often.  BTW the strips I put on the front steps don't appear to have any affect on her nails.  Too bad - it seemed like a great idea.  Maybe next summer when she is coming and going much more frequently.  After all I did put them in just a couple of weeks before I closed off the dog door for the winter.

Then we practiced a dozen "fronts".  I'm still working on getting Gimme to come in closer.  She is close enough that I wouldn't lose points for it, but figuring on some drift in ring performance, I wouldn't want her farther away.  Thus I want her closer to start with.  Besides I like the look.

We also did some heeling.  Man-oh-man she does love to heel.  Tonight I introduced her to the idea of scooting back into position if I move a step back.  I stopped and treated her for a sit, then took a step back and repeated the cue "heel".  You could literally see the wheels turning as she tried to figure out what it meant in that context.  The first try she just kept her butt planted and turned her front 45 degrees toward me.  That got her nothing.  So I heeled off and stopped to set her up again.  The second time she scooted back a couple of inches and got a click/treat.  The third time she scooted back almost into perfect position - again click/treat.  Two clicks was all it took and after that she was literally hopping back.

Then we had to do some repetitions to get rid of the pop up for a treat, but overall I was really pleased with how quickly she picked it up.  I don't have any specific plan/need for this behavior.  I just want to teach it to further her understanding of what and where "heel" is.

I just love how quickly a clicker trained dog picks things up.  Never having experienced any compulsion, she is free to experiment, knowing with confidence that she won't be punished.  What's not to love, eh?

We're In!

First the big news - we won in the draw and got in the nosework trial in Enumclaw on August 12th.  There were only 47 slots and 90 entries.  The sport is growing so fast in this area that there is a lot of competition for events - they are all filling right now.  I ask that you all start crossing body parts now...

In class tonight we worked on several different things.  We made good progress on Gimme's nose push to shut a door.  I had already taught her to do it with her foot, so that has presented a challenge, since paw work is her preference anyway. 

We revisited walking on stairs and she only needed one reminder going each way to get it right.  The reminder consists of me simply stopping and waiting for her to come back into position.  By the second time up and back down, she had it down pat and was able to go an entire flight right beside me on just one click/treat. 

We worked on some calm sitting behaviors - sometimes she has a hard time accepting that stillness is a payable behavior.  So from time to time we do a short session of clicking just sitting still.  We also spent a bit of time with the door closed on her soft crate.  She's great with crates and has spent a lot of time laying in there, but I realized I'd never actually closed the flap, much less zippered her in.  That was no problem. 

I also free shaped her to get on her red rubber Treibball mat.  The other night I thought Tor's yodeling was the reason she couldn't do it, but maybe that wasn't it since she couldn't do it tonight and he wasn't even there.  So I shaped it and she quickly remembered how to get to the mat and lay down with her elbows on it.  I specifically require the elbows because when I first taught this she was creeping further and further forward. 

Our last session with Ursula was in the big pen area and I had her help us with our fronts.  Gimme has developed a variation that is not what I want.  The fronts used to be nice, but not as close as I wanted.  Then I got them close and very quickly Gimme started coming in, sitting and then pivoting about ten degrees clockwise.   I've been trying several things to get them straight again with some success, but thought Ursula might have a different insight.

As it turned out, she noticed that my clicks are late.  Gimme is actually starting the pivot before I can see it and that's getting clicked - evident from where Ursula stood.  So clicking a lot earlier helped quite a bit.  Then we tried another idea that also made it clearer.  I'd back up a step or two and if Gimme sat straight, she got clicked/treated.  If she sat crooked or sat and twisted before I could click, then I would side-step one step to my left and encourage her to come into front again.  All of this was without using the "front" cue. 

We started the session with about 90% of them crooked.  Quickly got to about 50% straight.  By the end of the session, they were about 80% straight.  Nice progress for just a couple of minutes work. 

Gimme is really very self aware, so I know when there is a problem just exactly who is causing it. 

Clickers Are Great

I noticed a few days ago that Gimme is tending to sit with her right rear foot splayed a little out (no more than 20 degrees) and a bit far forward (the toes are about three inches further forward than the toes on the other foot, if you are looking down over the top of her).  She is sitting back on her bum on that side, instead of over the hock.  Its not completely a puppy sit and she's balanced nicely over the left rear.  I suspect its something I didn't notice when she was at heel because I'd have to be looking for it.  She sits so close to me that my own hip is in the way.  I actually noticed it when she was sitting in front position.

She doesn't act like anything is bothering her, but I'm going to have her checked anyway.  In the meantime we are approaching it as a bad habit and a training issue.

I started on my knees with her sitting in front of me (facing sideways).  I just held off and then clicked any movement of that foot, which happens when she fidgets.  After a few of those I switched to having her do tuck-sit-scoots around me.  If the foot isn't where it belongs, I help her once or twice, and then c/t for it being correct.  After that I just touch the toes to bring her attention to it and we try it again.  She ended up doing 6 in a row of tuck-sit-scoots bringing the foot under her and sitting forward balanced over it.  Isn't it amazing what you can do with a clicker!?!

I'm inclined to think its just a bad habit that I missed.  Still I'll have her checked just to be sure.  One of my Milestones Class students does bodywork, so I'm going to see if she can check her after class on Saturday morning.

Nosework (2/3)

Gimme was sure glad to be back in class tonight.  Her first session did not show off her innate talent, since she was all over the place after finding the first hide on the threshold.  Second and third sessions were much better.   Clearly two weeks off is too much time off from nosework for this girlie.

Our first session used the whole room.  We each brought in "stuff" from our cars, which was scattered all over the room.  The actual hides were pretty much on the perimeter.  The second session we moved all the stuff and barriers so it was all against the walls and the hides were against the walls too and in the stuff.  Both of these had threshold hides to start with and Gimme did a much better job finding them than she has in the past.  I hope that trend continues as that has been her weakest skill.  For the third session, all the stuff was moved to the center of the room, in one long line with 6-8 inches between the different things.  The hides were hidden in the stuff; no threshold hide for this session.

One thing that was different was that about half of the hides used a little blue plastic container instead of a tin.  It was an empty dental floss holder and even without any extra holes the dogs could still smell the odor through the cracks in the plastic around the top.

Also, though not planned for, each of the dogs was potentially tempted by food.  I'd brought in my work bag and had forgotten it had a granola bar (sealed in wrapper) inside it.  There was no sign that any of the dogs paid any special attention to it.  Gimme and one other dog snooped around a bag of treats on the desk and Gimme took time to investigate the motherload, where we all leave our containers of treats for our instructor to use while setting up our hides.

Today between my two stores, it was nice enough that Gimme and I did a little heeling session in the parking lot.  We haven't practiced outside in about two months and she did a good job.  I'd lose her attention briefly as she'd see something, but she always stayed pretty much in heel position and brought her attention back to me on her own.   She's a good girl and doesn't even mind sitting her heiney down on cold wet pavement.

Our snow is almost entirely gone.  It rained a LOT yesterday.  We'd gone to the fort's training area for a woods walk and fortunately were on the way back to the car when it started raining (from a 4mi walk).  She really needed that walk, as did I.  There was plenty of snow back in the woods for her to play in and she had a great time at it. 

When we were about a quarter mile from the car, the driving wind, sleet and freezing rain started up.  Gimme would run ahead and find a tree to stand under and behind and wait until I got close, then would run ahead again.  She's no dummy.  I pulled my hood down over my face and stayed on the road by looking down at the road and making sure I stayed in the tire "track".  My chin wasn't covered and I discovered later that it has several scratches on it from the sleet hitting so fast due to the wind.  I had to really lean into it.  When Gimme's going ahead got her to the car... she started barking at me to get my ass moving.  She dove into her crate and curled up in the very back, trying to get warm again.  Brrrrrrr...

Ya Gotta Love It

I've been remiss about keeping notes since before letting Michael go and decided tonight to get a baseline on behaviors I'd been tracking in my journal.  There are other behaviors we've worked on, but this was enough for now.  So averaging 10 click/treats per behavior and 12 behaviors... that was an hour long session as it was.  I'm happy to report that even without focus on my part, the plinking around to keep Gimme from getting too bored has still produced credible progress.  Some of her behaviors are coming along very nicely.

Gimme clearly wanted more and so we did a quick shaping session of 25 click/treats to get a very nice bow (which we call "take-a", short for "take a bow - I don't use "bow" because it sounds too much like down).  I had to really fine tune my timing, because her start of the grape behavior is very much like a bow - she goes down in front and then rolls on one shoulder and its QUICK.  So I had to catch the very beginnings of the head and shoulder duck to isolate it and keep the grape from happening.  Once I got my timing right, she figured it out pretty quickly.

NOTE:  During the plinking, one day last week Gimme suddenly "got" the cue for Grape.  That has been one of the slowest cue attachments we have had.  There is something about that behavior that seemed to use all her focus.  I've tested it a couple times since then, outside training sessions, and while slow, she is doing the behavior.

So why do I say "Ya Gotta Love It".... because at the end of all that, while I was mentally wiped, Gimme didn't want to quit.  She again went into this whole glued to my side in heel, "you can't get rid of me" routine.  I had to lean down and encourage her to climb into my arms - that was the only way to get her out of heel position.  Then I carried her into the office and she knows we don't train in here, so now she is sound asleep.   I think the little booger was more tired than she realized - a bit like a kid that doesn't want to quit playing.  Granted I don't normally train that long, but its interesting that by going from one behavior to another to another, I can. 

The other reason to say "Ya Gotta Love It" is that I've somehow created a dog that simply loves to heel.  Given how little I know about formal obedience and not having a positive trainer in the area to rely on - I'm verrrrrry pleased with that outcome. 

Gimme is really quite happy to train a LOT and would train a lot more if I would.  By her way of thinking, its all play, she's got my undivided attention and I'm giving her treats for playing...  What better deal could a little spotted girl have?  I suspect, especially given her control issues, that she thinks she has trained me and is verrrrrry pleased with the results.

BTW Gimme is not convinced that the bathroom couldn't be a training space - especially once I'm a captive audience in the tub.  What a kid!!!

And just so you know... we are out and about now, even despite the snow.  Got out the first time on Saturday.  Between Saturday and Sunday I serviced all of my accounts.  Also did some shopping, so I never actually had to resort to drinking water.  Thank God. 

Sadly Snowy disappeared the very next day.  Gimme ran out first thing in the morning to check on her, sniffing all over where she had been.  She was disappointed to see that Snowy was gone, leaving only a snowball to remember her by.  Its probably just as well that she didn't have more time to get attached to her.  Most of my friends and family have their power, internet and TV back.  One friend and maybe my brother are still among those without power.  Hopefully they will rejoin us in the 21st century real soon.

Lightbulb Moment

Realized today that I'm going to have to change one of my cues.  I'd been using "around" for one of my cues - moving around me clockwise to arrive in heel position ("behind" is counter-clockwise to arrive in side position).  Tonight when we were practicing heeling and fronts and finishes, a couple of times Gimme went into a down, instead of moving around me.  It occurs to me that simply spoken (i.e. without an artificial voice inflection) "around" and "down" sound a lot alike.  Years ago when I did more obedience I used to call it "finish", but I started using "around" and "behind" in agility.  I think I did that because I mentally paired "finish" with "swing", both of which end up in heel position.  So I'm going to do a session or two to change the "around" cue to "finish" and see if I don't get more consistent results.

I had to laugh tonight.  I was training Gimme and she literally DEMANDED to do heeling.  When she had enough of what I was doing, she just got into heel and I couldn't peel the little minx off of me.  It seems I did something right to turn heeling into a preferred activity...  Yeehaw...

And yes, she was in control.  Laugh all you want...

Breakthrough Imminent?

We didn't train yesterday because Gimme up-chucked in the car on the way home.  Obviously I didn't want to fill her up with treats.  She seemed a bit "off" for a couple hours, but then got back to normal. 

Tonight we did another session on scent discrimination.  It went fairly well.  She brought me an unscented tin a couple times, but mostly got it right.  At one point when she brought me an unscented tin and got nothing for her efforts, the next time she went back to the pile she spent a little time sniffing the correct tin and one next to it.  As it turned out she brought me the wrong one, but at least she is using her nose to try to sort out the difference.  I realize she was likely just trying to smell a hint of food, but all the same I figure a breakthrough is imminent.  Its only a matter of time until she realizes what the difference is.

We also did some heeling and front stuff, mostly the same things we did the other day.  She didn't do nearly as well as she had then.  That's not unusual for her.  She often follows a really good session with one that is several steps backward.  I'm not sure why that is, but I don't worry about it anymore. 

Her learning pattern usually contains fairly steady progress followed by a leap forward and then her version of a plateau, which is several steps backward.  I've never had a dog that does it that way - most seem to have a plain plateau, whereas Gimme backs up a few steps.  Then again, I've never had a dog that takes such large leaps in performance.  If I factored those out, perhaps her progression is more "usual". 

Unless I miss my guess, she will have another session much like today's and then the next session after that will either resume steady progress or take another leap forward in understanding.  It is what it is.

Happily using the little gates really helped her "around" behavior (clockwise circle around me ending up in heel position) - its been nice and tight ever since we did that.  Now its time to work on "behind" (counter-clockwise circle around me ending up in "side" position).

Cool Happening

It was a long weekend.  Went to my parents' yesterday afternoon.  Then drove them to Seattle (they don't drive in Seattle and seldom at night) to meet with my brother, Sam, and his family.  We did some light sightseeing (my Dad can't do much) and then headed out to dinner.  My other brother, Mark, and his girlfriend Dana joined us for dinner.  It was fun and there was a whole lot of laughing going on.  By the time we got back to Auburn it was almost midnight.  Spent the night and then joined Mom for church this morning.  I was going to help her get her tree up, but basically the afternoon got dawdled away.  I made them a big pot of chili for supper before leaving.  Just got home an hour ago.

Naturally the dogs didn't get to do much and spent far too much time crated.  When I got home here, Gimme was fit to be tied and wanted ATTENTION.  So I decided to do a training session with her.  I had thought before I might do scent discrimination tonight, but since I wasn't sure how focused she would be, having been cooped up so much over the weekend, I decided to hold that until tomorrow.

We worked on the forehand "pivot".  I've worked on it several times recently really reinforcing the front feet on and tonight she finally seemed to understand I really didn't mean for her to put the back feet on at all.  She's gotten so reliable about keeping the front feet on during the pivot execution, so I started putting the cue on it.

Then we did some heeling work.  She was already getting the 90 right pivot, but the last time I tried to pivot left, she wasn't getting it, so I moved on to other things.  She really seemed to get it tonight that if I pivot in either direction, she can swing her butt and stay in heel.  Now all the sudden, its like she invented it.  One of the things that has been hardest for her is staying in heel for the first couple of steps.  So tonight I did a couple of one-step-halt and after the first one she got it.  She claims she invented heeling, but I seem to recall hearing someone talking about it before Gimme was even born.

After that we did some front work.  I could leave her on a stay and walk away, stopping either with my back to her or side to her, cue "front" and she did a very credible job of getting into front position.  Once I tweaked my own treat delivery it got even better.

I was mighty happy with all that and yet it was clear that Gimme wanted to do more, so I decided to do some of our nosework homework.  I have to confess I haven't done any nosework outside of class until tonight.  But I know we need to do a bunch of it to get going on the pairing of the level one odor with food.  I shut Gimme in the office, got our tin and a treat, put them in a shoebox and hid it in the walk-in closet off my bedroom.  Here's where it gets cool...

When I let Gimme out of the office I gave her our nosework cue "where-zit".  She had come out bouncy and ready to play and when she heard that she paused to look at me as if to say, "you mean it?"  Then her nose instantly and OBVIOUSLY went to work and it took her no time to find the hide in the bedroom.  I really didn't think she'd learned that cue and was assuming she knew what to do in class based on the location.  So to see such an demonstrable understanding was just waaaaay cool. 

We did three more hides, one in the bedroom, the bathroom and the living room.  It was really neat to see her look for them and find them.  Her nosework scenting behavior is getting clearer for me to see, which is also waaaaay cool. 

This nosework is lotsa fun and I highly recommend it.  Gimme seconds that recommendation.

A Conflict?

Just got home from my parents' house.  I was there to clean the oven.  Last time Mom was asking me how to clean an oven.  C'mon, she's surely cleaned many more ovens than I ever have.  So I took that as a hint (despite her denials) that she'd like help with the oven.  Today or tomorrow were the days I had available to get it done before Thanksgiving.  Since we woke up with a light snow on the ground, this seemed as good a time as any - perhaps tomorrow will be nice enough to spend some time winterizing my own yard.

So what's the conflict?  Apparently they use small tins in teaching nosework when you get the dog on odor and we won't want her retrieving those tins.  We'll start that in about two and a half weeks.  Joyce and I have discussed it at length and will make a few changes to the way we use the tins in nosework and hope that it won't be a problem.  Some things are already big clues that there is a different expectation.  The differences are:

• she'll be in harness for nosework; just a collar for scent discrimination
• we're at the training building for nosework; at home for scent discrimination
• we can use smaller tins for nosework; Altoid size for scent discrimination
• plain tins for nosework; printed tins for scent discrimination
• no scent of mine on tins for nosework; with my scent for scent discrimination
• we'll hide tins off the floor for nosework; tins will be on the floor for scent discrimination
• tins for nosework will be secured making them hard to pick up; not secured for scent discrimination
• I move in to reward her for finding them in nosework; I remain stationary for scent discrimination
• "where-zit" cue for nosework; when its on cue will be "find mine" for scent discrimination

With all those differences, I think she will figure out very quickly that these are two different behaviors with different expectations.  After all, Gimme is a canine genius.  She'd probably only need a few of those cues to realize it was different, doncha know...

Tonight we did a quick session of retrieving the tins.  Five retrieves with me kneeling on the floor and then five with me sitting on a couple of cushions.  Took her a couple tries to figure out that she still needed to bring them to my hands when I moved off the floor, but once she did figure it out - she nailed it repeatedly. 

Besides, we were using her favorite treat in the whole world - pieces of hamburger bun.  This dog loves bread more than anything.