Public Dog (19 & 20)

We have been quite busy all week and I want to post about these two classes before the details slip completely out of my head.

In last week's Public Dog class, I was told by both instructors not to use peanut butter to reward Gimme for an especially good effort.  Their reasoning was that they saw tension,   thought it got her too amped up and she needs to be calm to work.  That is not consistent with my observation of Gimme and I've always given her PB for her best efforts.  Yet, during that class, between our turns I rewarded her with peanut butter for being calm on her matt and she did not get aroused from it.  I have worked with Gimme from time to time about still having a working brain even in the face of her Kong ball filled with peanut butter.

I think they saw the body tense in excitement and both just assumed she would go over the top.  Possibly they are remembering the couple of weeks when she couldn't calm down in class and are blaming it on the go toob. Given how fast it resolved when I stopped reinforcing the overwrought behavior - I think it was more an unintentionally rewarded behavior.  I never really talked that much with Ursula about what I was doing/thinking, so she may not know all the other things that played into the issue.  Of course she tenses up in excitement when she sees her favorite PB coming - that doesn't mean she will get over the top.

So I decided to do a little test and modified my treat bag with 2 strips of elastic to hold a open film canister (filled with peanut butter, what else) upright and in the right hand corner.  During the first class I got kind of mixed-bag results.

Gimme learned that if she is really subtle, Mom won't notice when she gets her nose in there and helps herself.  She has a long-standing habit of nose-bumping the side pouch that holds the go toob and I mostly ignor her bumps.  So when I wasn't fully paying attention to what she was bumping, she just eased her nose in the edge of the bag and quietly licked up some PB.  Since she could get the PB without getting her whole snout in the bag and just using her tongue, she was able to help herself for who knows how long.  Sneaky little girl.

Our exercises included a couple of tiny Rally courses.  Gimme was the only one who could do all the exercises as they are intended.  I did discover her heeling has deteriorated a lot and I think I know why - so have some work to do resolve that.  Using the PB in that way was fine for when we were working exercises.  She was eager to work and putting forth a ton of effort.  She even got through a potentially troublesome spot when another class dog "swore" at her (lunged and barked at her) - she was inclined to respond, but readily turned back to me and working.  And she didn't hold onto it either... she sensibly kept an eye on that dog when we were near it, but wasn't on high-alert and readily working.

However, when I wanted her to chill on her matt while we waited our turn, the PB in the bag worked against us.  Since she never knew when it would be cheese or PB, she was more alert than I want her to be for chilling.  In that context, she ended up being a bit whiny.

One time Gimme gave me some decent chill and I gave her a glob of PB from the go toob... then she was calm for awhile.  So perhaps in that case, more IS more.  My thinking is that when she gets a bunch of PB, she is satisfied for awhile and it has a calming affect.  She always spends a bit of time licking her leg (I think to get the PB all down and not remaining stuck to the inside of her mouth).  However, when she only gets a little bit, it leaves her wanting more and she tries to figure out ways to get it.  So, I need to effectively use that difference for what attitude I want in a particular moment.  At the second class I found I could consciously use the difference to my advantage and it worked quite well.  One thing I had to make clear to her is that when she is in chill position - she has to stay there to keep the go toob coming toward her.

In that class we focused on Secondary Reinforcers and I overheard Urs telling a student that you could condition anything the dog likes to do as a reinforcement. Gimme is a very kissy face girl... so after hearing that, I decided her newest SR is "love me".  I hold my arm in butler position and she puts her paws up and gives me a kiss.  Took me 3 seconds to get her up there and then all I had to do was get my face in range.  To condition this SR, we were to cue it and then reward with a treat, ten times in a row.  I thought Gimme was going to split a seam - being invited in, getting to kiss her Mom and then getting a treat!  Well that's almost more than a little girl can take, doncha know.  By halfway through she was getting so excited, that she'd give a little hop and I was getting a vigorous bump with my kiss.  Not enough to hurt, but noticeable.

So now I already have three SRs... and they want us to bring a toy next time so we can condition that as an SR too.  I just have to decide which toy to bring.

Gimme and I are taking off to Vancouver in a couple of hours for a nosework seminar on Inaccessible Hides.  So, gotta git packing...  but first let me close this with some pictures.  

Gimme and I got out to the fort for a walk and got caught in a rain squall, which didn't last too long. One of her favorite activities when we walk there alone is hunting for mouse holes and then digging in them.  She'll be cruising along and all the sudden her head whips around and she darts off for a hole which subsequently gets the treatment.  She hasn't caught a mouse this way, but is nonetheless determined.  Naturally she gets very dirty doing so.  I'm sure this is an indication of what a fabulous Barn Hunt dog she will be when we are able to get to a workshop.

New Peanut Butter Tube

You'd think I'd be better at it by now, but such is not the case.  Michael is about as senile as I think possible.  This is more than the usual "I'm old so I can be naughty if I wanna" that so many elderly Dalmatians get (okay, all my elderly Dals get it).  He requires more monitoring than Gimme ever did.  If I leave the room for more than 2 minutes I have to either:

• take him with me
• crate him
• or put him outside

Otherwise by the time I get back he will be into something, destroying something, making a mess of something or peeing/pooping.  The latest victim to fall to his destructive tendencies was Gimme's peanut butter tube (the toothpaste tube I showed you in a much earlier blog entry).  Naturally my current tube of toothpaste isn't anywhere near ready to be re-purposed. 

So I went to Cabela's and checked out their Go Toob.  Its really kinda nice.  The smallest model fits in the palm of your hand.  The opening to refill it is a good size, though, of course, at just 1.25 ounces it'll need to be filled more often.  The toothpaste tube was great, but sometimes messy in my pocket and not as handy in size.  The Go Toob top screws off and the bottom puncture resistant part can be pulled out of the white base ring for easier cleaning.  It was just $7.99, plus tax.

Tonight we went down to Capitol Lake and walked the circuit, which is 1.5 miles.  Every time I saw someone with a dog, I stuck the tube in Gimme's face and let her suck on it while she watched them.  Overall she was much calmer about the presence of the dogs and about people.  About halfway through the walk she'd see a dog and turn toward me for peanut butter.  It worked with horses to get her over her fear, worked to teach her an automatic bicycle-recall behavior, so I'm hoping it will help her to be calmer when she sees other dogs.

What kills me is that it took ninety minutes to walk 1.5 miles.  So that was 30 minutes walking and 60 minutes answering questions about Gimme, liver spotted Dalmatians, dog training, clicker training, peanut butter tubes, etc.  Its a nice walk, but was pitch black by the time we got back to the car.  Hopefully I don't have too many mosquito bites.

Well, Michael just got up and went in the other room - I better go...

A Horse is a Horse, Of Course

Gimme has done really well in her training - which is, of course, to be expected with such a smart girl.  This is a picture of her at Rally class.  If you look carefully, you can see the glimmer and sparkle from her halo.  <g>  She'd do better if her person was a bit more adept. 

I did learn during this class that I'm going to have to revamp our cue system (and the sooner the better).  Since I'll be training her for freestyle at the same time as rally/obedience... if I use the same behavior - at the least I have to give it a different name.  I found during this week's class, that when she came in to "front", she kept wanting to spin and back into "under", which we'd been working on.  While incredibly cute - it won't be particularly helpful in obedience and rally. 

Of course, Michele Pouliet made the point that you need to train positions for freestyle different anyway, since you almost never want them sitting.  So once I retrain that way, the confusion should clear up, methinks...

Despite my efforts to have Gimme get used to horses when she was very little... she has since decided they are evil devil spawn that are not to be trusted.  I think the real problem is that she mostly sees them while we are out walking - where they seem to suddenly appear out of nowhere (lots of woods and paths that come from both sides).  After being surprised by having them appear from wherever they lurk, they are actually 100 yards away, and having her react poorly, we have been putting a special effort into getting her used to them.  You'd think 100 yards would be far enough for them to not be threatening, but I think Gimme thinks that the whole 100+ acres per training area is all hers. 

I'd been using lots of treats, but it didn't seem to really be working.  Then someone suggested (for something else) that I get one of those tubes that hikers put peanut butter into for traveling (you can buy them at sporting goods stores).  I was going to look for one, but then saw at the seminar that someone had made one out of a toothpaste tube and a hair barrette.  Since I was near the end of a tube and already had barrettes, I made one too.

Its easy to make and they can easily be opened for refilling.  Empty out that toothpaste tube and trim away the crimped edge.  I actually had two tubes that were near the end, so I selected the one with the flip top (don't want to worry about keeping track of a screw top).  Open up the tube and clean it out thoroughly (I found a tooth brush worked well) both in the tube and near the place where the paste will come out.  Then fill it about two-thirds full with your reward of choice (I used a butter knife to fill it).  Carefully fold over about a quarter inch of the open end.  You may have to fold in one corner if the barrette isn't wide enough.  Place the barrette on it.  I like the kind that snap closed; you squeeze the sides on one end to open it.   

Our reward of choice is peanut butter.  Gimme loves peanut butter better than anything else.  That's why her recall is so good, because most of the time it is rewarded with peanut butter.  You could really use anything soft - like baby food meats or cream cheese.  One of the advantages to peanut butter is that it doesn't have to be refrigerated between uses.  But, of course, you'll want to go with what works for your dog.

I hold the tube in my hand, with my thumb holding the snap lid up out of the way, and I gently squeeze as needed.  The great advantage to this is that you can really prolong the experience, getting a lot of mileage for your counter-conditioning time.

We recently ran into a lady with a grey horse she was unloading from the trailer.  My friend walked up and asked her if we could bring Gimme closer and do some training.  Fortunately the horse folk that we run into on the training areas are, for the most part, very willing to indulge my training requests.  I'm sure they'd like to have my dog comfortable with the horses (and quietly not-barking) as much as I would. 

Anyway we stood there chatting while the horse hung out a few feet from Gimme.  Mostly she was intent on sucking as much peanut butter from the tube as she could get.  She was clearly aware of the horse and I watched Gimme very carefully to let her set the tone of how long, how close, etc.  Toward the end the horse was close enough to reach out and sniff Gimme.  She momentarily turned her head from the tube to see what that was and then calmly went back to her priority mission.  I considered that a HUGE SUCCESS and squeezed hard to give her a big glob of peanut butter.  Then we ended the session and walked away.

Someday, if I can scare up a horse resource, I'd like to train for a road trial title.  Naturally, its essential that Gimme be very comfortable with horses.  Now that we've found a way to use peanut butter -- I see that as a very realistic possibility...