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After our dismal performance 2 weeks before, I was prepared to work on focus first and above all.  I think it went well. 

Focus work video - I didn't let her free sniff this time, started with a down stay on her matt instead. Then some heeling and such to earn the sniffing time.  She was a little bit distracted, but already far better than before.  I was pleased with how this went.

Freeshaping "paw" video - I was truly surprised this went as well as it did.  When I recently started freeshaping this trick in an effort to get it back, it completely fell apart when I moved from the living room to the kitchen.  So I didn't expect Gimme to be able to do it right away in this location.

Quick doodle video - This is just a quick doodle with part of the plan I have.  It needs refinement, but Gimme was working with me.

Quick walk through video - Here we walked through my plan.  There's nothing firm about it, just some ideas I had.  I wanted to encourage Gimme to work with me for longer time, so she could get a big pay-off.

Run-thru w/music video - We are still working out technical issues for the music, so we lost some of it.  I need to insert 5-10 seconds of silence at the beginning so I have time to get in position.  Also I need to rethink my choreography, so her body is moving in the right direction when I cue a behavior.  For example a "spin" ends with her heiney going in the right direction for the start of "otto".

Behavior warm up video - I ran through some behaviors.  One thing you'll see is where I do a center 360º pivot in counter-clockwise direction, which makes a natural segue into her "otto".  Those are the kinds of tweaks I'm looking for.

Thru 2 w/music video - I can see potential here.  I like the extra steps in the Thru to Front... I think Gimme does better going "thru" with the momentum of the extra steps.  I think I've found a place to put a spin-to-center also.  Ideas ideas ideas...

I did three more runs with music and they went pretty good.  Unfortunately, the camera battery died, so I have nothing to show you. In any case, each was better than the last.

I was contemplating entering the next RFE freestyle competition in September, entry deadline is today.  However, my laptop is dying - it keeps gasping for breath, so I had to buy a new one.   I paid for full tech support for a year and they are loading all my software and doing the set-up stuff.  Tomorrow I drop off this half-dead laptop and they'll do the data transfer.  But then I have to upload new video editing software and learn to use it.  So I didn't want to be rushing through the learning curve.  Just means we'll have plenty of time to tweak our routine.

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There was a scheduling mix-up, so we had very little time. Next time we'll be back on our regular schedule. BTW I can actually get this new blogger editing software to work if I use my other browser - so we are back to "normal".

 

Doodles video -Gimme was very distractible, much worse than our last practice. We finally had a little "discussion" and she did a bit better, but nowhere near what she's capable of. Clearly our 4-month break didn't do us any good. I have ideas for next time to promote better focus. This is just a string of clips as we doodle to the music.

I'm still drawing a blank on choreography. I'm going to see if I can get an external speaker to use with my laptop; the volume of the laptop speakers isn't enough. It sounds okay on the video because J'Anna is only ten feet from it. It's not very clear out on the floor.

 

Bits and pieces video -This shows just a few behaviors and she got better focus as it went along. It occurs to me, maybe she does better and has more focus when I know what I'm doing, when I have a plan. I will have a plan for our routine for our next practice, so I'll see then if it makes a big difference or not.

 

Backward Weave Stays video - I've come to the conclusion that the whole backward weaves concept is polluted because I started teaching it during the summer-from-hell. So all the anxiety she was feeling is attached to the behavior or anything reminding her of it, which brings up the anxious feelings. I am going to stop working on the "wait" while-I-back-up-and-step-across. I'll need her to do the straight back through for another RFE behavior, so I want to separate them before there's any cross-contamination.

 

In the meantime I've come up with a completely different idea to train backward weaves. I will teach her four positions where she hip targets part of my body and then cue them in order to create backward weaves.. One thing I need her to do is take up a forged "heel" and "side"; they'll be "hip" (L) and "thigh" (R), where she will target my knee with her hip. Then I will re-teach the "east" and "west" alternate positions behind me facing to the side. We've just started these two positions, so it'll be more of a refinement for her. So my goal is to create these positions:

• "hip" - her right hip touching left knee, facing forward
• "thigh" - her left hip touching right knee, facing forward
• "east" - her left hip touching back of right knee, facing 90º to my right
• "west" - her right hip touching back of left knee, facing 90º to my left

I'm going to use free-shaping on this for two reasons. First, she loves free-shaping, so she'll develop more enthusiasm, which I hope will transition to confidence when we get to the part which is like backward weaves. Second, given her concerns about my feet, I don't think she'd tolerate me stepping into position and trying to create the target by touching her body with mine. I want to keep it completely her idea to touch my body with hers and going at her own pace.

 

In the meantime, I've started free-shaping her "paw" behavior. We lost it completely when I asked her to do it and didn't know she had a cracked toenail. So when she tried to do it, it hurt and she's not dumb enough to do something that hurts a second time. I've started by shaping her to put her paw on my shoe, without my foot in it. Then - my foot close to the shoe - foot touching shoe - foot moving shoe - toes in shoe - moving shoe with toes in it - half of foot in shoe, then moving. Finally we got to foot mostly in shoe while I was standing. At this point I started tossing the treat behind her so I could move the shoe when she was still a little away, but coming toward me. It was at this point where she volunteered the paw-to-knee behavior and I gave her a jackpot.

 

We are making steady progress, though the whole behavior fell apart when we tried to do it in the kitchen and I had to start over. I expect we'll have to shape it from scratch at the training building. Once this is better developed and more enthusiastic, then I'll get serious about free-shaping the positions. Before we start, I want to regain her confidence about the whole concept of touching my body parts with her body parts during training. She's fine about it outside of training, though she sometimes shows concern about my feet.

 

I'd love to get her bold and confident self back. Sadly it may take a very long time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Sorry to be so far behind - as everyone else, things are topsy-turvy and blogging has fallen off the back burner. This is the last practice for awhile since the training center has temporarily closed its doors. J'Anna and I considered meeting to do a nosework practice, but decided not to.

Heel/Side warm-up video - I wanted to start with heeling and other position behaviors to encourage Gimme to focus and did seem more focused than recent weeks. She could be entering her false pregnancy at any time, so I was happy to see this.

"West" video - I started working in the corner where I'd have two mirrors to see what Gimme was doing. You can see she starts by trying to turn it into "otto". I've realized having her back into position is too much like "otto"; she gets moving and then habit takes over. And backing into position, even when she realizes what I want, the position isn't aligned as well. I brought a grooming table over to create a barrier. She wasn't too sure about the table at first, but then got used to it. I find it works best when I start with a barrier and then move forward a bit, so she has to sidestep to stay in position.  Gradually I then start the behavior without a barrier. So in two other sessions we used the wall and then worked away from it. She's getting it.

Backward weaves video - I'm still using barriers to get a backward weave. This has been the most impossible behavior to train, but I need it if we are going to get the next level RFE title. I used the wrong cue for the third try starting on "side" position. She doesn't really know the cues yet, so it doesn't matter. I am making a concerted effort to only do a few repetitions with her most favorite reward of all - peanut butter.

I've been working on these at home and may have discovered a way to do them where she is more comfortable. I need to tinker with it some. It'll probably cost us points, but not nearly as bad as if we can't do the behavior at all.

Container - myrrh video - J'Anna and I are both trying to move up in UKC nosework, so we are adding some nosework practice when we get together. One of my concerns is how Gimme would do with myrrh in the presence of odors she has a longer track record with - because lingering odor messed us up on our first myrrh odor recognition test, which UKC doesn't do anymore. So, I wanted to have multiple odors out. I don't know what happened, but J'Anna didn't record when Gimme found the first or second boxes. What you see is the myrrh box - which I know because I rewarded Gimme with peanut butter for it. Gimme did really well, despite my concerns.

Interior - myrrh video - This is the first time Gimme has search for myrrh in any element other than containers. She got the first hide in the corner in just 25 seconds - corners are hard. Just 21 seconds to the high hide in the windowsill. I loved how she passed it, then turned rapidly back to it. Another 21 seconds to find myrrh under the edge of the matt. It was just over a minute to find the last hide, which was a hard one. It was in a little basket, in the shelving in a tight space. She likes to get her nose right up to them, but there wasn't space enough for her to get up there. I thought she did a great job.

This was a good training session. Gimme did so well, despite her impending false pregnancy. Interestingly she still hasn't started. It may be because she's getting older. Maybe, since I'm home from work and she's getting daily walks, possibly it's helping relieve stress/tension. I do notice she is more guardy about outside noises, but nothing else yet. Time will tell.

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I'm still plugging away at getting the individual videos for the Intermediate/Advanced skills test. Got another one here - leaving just one to go. I also did two things to share with the MDSA list.

Opposite "otto" video - These three repetitions took 5:30 because her rewards took so long. I did two things different. First I did this right away, while she was fresh and I rewarded heavily even when it wasn't perfect to keep her motivation up. The first time she was confused on the second "otto", but got it with extra support, so it got a full reward. The second time she decided to offer another "otto", which I could use with careful trimming. The third time was perfect.

"West" video - I'm using the wall to guide her into a good position. I shouldn't use the cue until she's warmed up. She's getting better; remember, last time she was so fidgety. The last reps I moved over so I could use the wall mirror to check her position. At least this time I could feel her body against my leg. I almost need two mirrors - there is a pair on adjoining walls in the corner, so I may try them next time.

Heel starts in "Side" video - I did this video for the MDSA list. This month's workshop was on heeling, mostly lagging issues. I decided to use her techniques to repair Gimme's "side" position, which has become weak. I've brushed her toes a time or two there, so she's not convinced it's a safe place to be. I just need to do the work to get it back and this was good motivation.

16 position tests video - This video was also for the MDSA list. Ilona has a 16-point test to demonstrate the dog's understanding of the position. The test she shared was for "heel" position, but I modified it for "side". One place I got confused and said "heel" and she went right to it. I really like this concept, since it's very methodical and I think the dogs can learn soooo much doing it. I did it in "heel" last week with Gimme with five errors and now in "side" with just three errors. Interesting she did better in "side" which I consider her less fluent position. Possibly because she is more confident in how to win the game. I don't know what happened to the 16th test. I know we did it, but somehow it didn't get recorded - somebody had an itchy record finger methinks... You can't get good help for free these days.

It was a very good training session.  I think it helped a lot for me to have a plan. 
Who knew?

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I'm still focused on getting the individual clips for our Intermediate-Advanced Skills entry. I believe I have all the intermediate clips (need to review them closely in case there is one I want to improve) and the usual bow. Now I'm trying to get the three advanced behaviors.

"West" video - This will be our alternate position behavior, which Gimme has to hold for 3 seconds. I'm using the wall as a barrier to help get the behavior, without fidgeting, combined with our "get-it" game. I'm not opposed to her using "otto" to get into position, but with the wall, I didn't want her to hurt her tail. She does create a steady drumbeat against the wall. For our last session, we played "get-it" without the wall, and doing variable positions. Without the barrier, it takes a bit of shaping to get her aligned correctly, since she tends to swing her heiney out so she can watch for an incoming treat. We also did some "back" with the treat tossed behind her. At the end I was doing "west", then stepping forward so she had to sidestep her rear to keep in position. Nice!

"Back" to target video - Here we did some warm-up for backing to the target. It's for the advanced behavior where she moves to "center", "backs" up 4 feet, and then holds position while I return to her and assume the position we were in originally. Gimme had a case of the fidgets to start with, but then gets better.

"Otto" with handler opposite video - She's still avoiding "otto" in this building, which is why she gets her best treats for it. I know she's not uncomfortable, since we've been seeing Dr. Powell, her chiropractor and because she does "otto" without delay anywhere else. She just has a negative association here, so I am counter-conditioning it. Her training toy has three "arms" and I fill one with peanut butter, which she enjoys extracting from it; she's learned to push down with her paw so it squirts out. J'Anna suggested I do two opposite moves while she does two "otto", so there wouldn't be a change to my motion. It actually worked well, but J'Anna pushed the photo button, so it wasn't recorded. I'll be interested to see how it works when we start with it next time.

"Back" back-chained video - I decided I was messing up and should be back-chaining this behavior. We started with a warm-up and then went to it. It seemed soooo much clearer to her - duhh. I also used her peanut butter toy, which proved distracting, so we had to move it further away. Finally we got a perfect one. Yayyyyy...

We are getting there - just two more advanced clips to do.

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We missed our last scheduled practice because of snow, so it's been a month. I'm still trying to get the last few behaviors we need for the Intermediate/Advanced skills test. Because we are working just one behavior at a time, instead of courses, some of them haven't been done in awhile and they are tending to deteriorate. Sometimes it seems like her memory is getting worse.

"Take-a" bow video - Last time Gimme was tending to swing her heiney out, so I wanted to work her on my right. She just wasn't sure what to do at all, so I had to go further and further back to basics. Much of the time I'd give the cue and she'd do nothing. When she did try, it was just a partial bow, barely lowering her front end. I brought out the peanut butter to increase her motivation and got a lot of verbal in response and she acted like the distraction of the PB possibility zapped her focus. The practice before we used peanut butter on "otto" and "izzy", so she gave me some of those too.

Heeling and "take-a" video - I did a bunch of "side" heeling with some "take-a". When she settled down, then we worked on duration. We finally got one really nice one when I didn't have treats or a clicker on me, so it might work for the skills test.

"Otto" video - "Otto" went very well on our last session, but she acted like she'd forgotten it when we started. The second one was perfect and would have worked for the skills test if I hadn't had the clicker in my hand. She did a couple nicely and then seemed a little resistant and was whining a little. The last one was the best.

"Otto" w/ handler opposite video - Gimme seemed hesitant to do any more "otto" and had been a little whiney on some of the other ones. So, we only did this twice. I thought to warm her up on some other behaviors and come back to this, but the camera died before then.

Later this same day Gimme had two of her squealing/fearful episodes with no apparent reason. It occurred to me she might need to see her chiropractor, so on Wednesday I made an appointment.  Since Pawsabilities has closed, I had to drive to Port Orchard to see him. He didn't find anything specific wrong, just general stuff with some stiffness in places. On the drive and at home, I noticed Gimme was so very relaxed and there haven't been any issues since.

Backward weaves video - I'm not having any luck weaning her off a barrier. She got a bit more interested using peanut butter for a reward. I should probably just use a go toob instead of the toy, since it's easier to handle and visually not as obvious. I have started putting my hand in her collar since one time she moved mid way into setting up and I almost fell on her. We got two instances of doing them with a reward after the first and second, but without moving out of position. A positive sign, eh.

"West" video - Gimme sometimes seems to really understand this, and then other times she is so fidgety it's as if she has no clue. This was a fidgety day. She wasn't being very precise either. After watching this, I'm thinking I need to make the position more concrete by requiring physical contact with the back of my legs. We were getting some better ones toward the end, but the camera battery died, so you don't get to see them.

Not our best training session, but not awful either. We did get 2 videos I think I can use for the skills test. I think the next will be better, especially if we keep up the chiropractor. Of course she is now in season. So, we have about 6 weeks before she goes into psuedo pregnancy brain.

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I'm still working on the clips I need for the Intermediate-Advanced Skills test. We have a lot of clips for the intermediate part, but still need to train the advanced skills.

"Take-a" warm-up video - We haven't done "take-a" bow for a long time. Gimme remembered it, but her heiney was swinging out badly.

"Otto" retrain video - I tried retraining "otto" using the guides. She didn't seem comfortable with them, so I didn't do much of it. I made them into a larger circle for her, which helped a little. I didn't want her worried about it, so we only did 3 repetitions. Later we did it again with the guides open even more, so it was almost a half-circle.

"Back" 4 steps video - One of the advanced skills we are training is Back Away in Center 4x. Gimme must move into "center" position, then back away a minimum 4 feet and wait while I return to her. She backs well to a target, so it should come quickly. She just has to learn to put the sequence together. I also have to start going to her to reward her, so she understands to stay put. She makes good progress in this little session. It occurs to me I should train the return-to-her separately.

Motivating "otto" video - J'Anna gave Gimme a new toy for Christmas. I decided to put peanut butter in it and try using it to motivate Gimme to do "otto". It worked better than I expected. After just two tosses, I was able to move the toy off my person and set it on a nearby table. Once Gimme understood what the payoff was going to be - she became an otto-machine. In fact she got so enthused, she started doing multiples. I was able to record Opposite backward circles/around 2x, which is very close to being usable for our advanced skills. Next time we should get it easily.

Overall it was a good session.

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Again, the main goal is to get video clips to create our Intermediate/Advanced Skills Test video. I have enough intermediate clips now, though I'd like to improve two of them. Then I just need the three advanced clips and the bow. I'd like to submit this in January.

One of the advanced clips I want is alternate position. It is Gimme behind me facing to the heel side, "west". It was strong when we were working on it before, but I'm having trouble bringing it back at this place. Her first impression of WinStar was when she was in a false pregnancy. Also this behavior is based on doing a partial "otto" to get into position. She used to love "otto" and still does it readily elsewhere, just not here. There was one time (while in her false pregnancy) where I cued "otto" and wasn't centered on the mat, so she slipped. I'm guessing that has soured her on them in this location.

Training "west" video - She started with plenty of "otto", but then didn't want to do it anymore. I tried maneuvering her into "west" to reward it while repeating the cue.  I also had her do it a couple of times by starting with "around" and then stopping her in position.  We did a second short session and she seemed to be getting it.  We are working on this at home, feeding in position a LOT.
 Resistance video - I was telling J'Anna about a way I teach loose leash walking and did a little demo for her. Basically the dog has to resist the food on the floor to get the food on the floor. It wasn't much of a demo because Gimme knows it too well.

"Otto" video - This was a short bit to really raise the value of "otto". It would seem to work and then she couldn't do it. I really think I'll have to retrain this from the start in this environment.

For Gimme's clockwise spin simultaneous, I discovered a trick to get it to look better. Gimme doesn't turn as tight clockwise, so my trick was to take a small step away from her as I was turning, to give her more room. It worked like a charm.

I am finding between the seizure issue and our summer-from-hell, my wonderful Gimme is not as bold as she used to be.  This makes me sad. 

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Gimme is finally out of her false pregnancy, so she is nearly back to normal. I was hoping to get some videos to use in our Intermediate/Advanced Skills entry. I let Gimme investigate the environment and very soon she found a toy in the bookshelf, of course. [Gimme was in the other room as I was reviewing this video and when she squeaked the toy in the video, the real Gimme came running to make sure I wasn't playing with her toys again; which is definitely not allowed unless I'm playing with her and the toys.]

Freeshaping video - The goal is for Gimme to put her back feet on the Lazy Susan (LS) and then move her front feet around to create a rear-hand pivot. I started out clicking her for leaving the toy and then clicked when Gimme was close to the LS. The toy proved too alluring, so I had to put it on a higher shelf. In the video it looks like her feet are slipping on the LS, but it's really just turning - the surface is textured. It turns much easier than I anticipated. I noticed Gimme's rear legs were trembling. Because the front legs weren't, I take this as a core strength challenge - as opposed to being afraid. I'm going to shove some fleece in there so it doesn't turn so easy before we try it again. I'm really only using it to build a concept, so there's no reason to do more.

Center front pivot video - This was just a little warm-up we did at the start of her second session. Just to get her brain in gear as we work on segments for the skills test. She always tends to get ahead of me going CCW, so I took it slower, doing tiny slices of a pivot and being careful to be sure she was in position before she got a reward.

"Back" video - We haven't done this in quite awhile and it's clear she's forgotten, so I give her my jacket to use as a target. We did several different variations on this, but couldn't refresh it enough to have something for the skills test. Clearly we'll need to work on it again.

This facility is so much quieter than Pawsabilities, which is both a blessing and a curse. It's definitely preferable to not contend with screeching daycare dogs or a puppy class with toy play right over the divider. On the other hand, it's so quiet - even a little noise is noticeable and distracting.

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Gimme was still deep in her false pregnancy during this practice, so most of what I did centered around having fun and rewarding focus. The signs were set up for a course J'Anna and Ginger were entered under.

Heeling warm-up video - This started out well and when she did a nice bit, I threw a toy for her, unfortunately as I tried to grab it for tugging, I managed to poke her eye. I was able to get her to play briefly, but then she got really uncertain about it. It took a couple different rounds with different toys to get her to play enthusiastically. Then we did a couple quick warm-up sequences and ended.

Join-up video - My thought with this was to remove any pressure and reward her for choosing to come to/with me. It takes her 35 seconds to make the first choice. The next time was 9 seconds. In 1:30 she was choosing to stay with me.

Set-up and play video - While she understands "set-up", she's gotten fuzzy on the part about getting her heiney fully into a sit; she's hovering in a half-sit. I want to practice this at home. We just did 3 reps and then went to play some more with Terry Pterodactyl. She loves it when I make growly noises and come after her with monster hands. We also did a few click/treats for "release" of the toy. Mostly she gets the toy, but sometimes I want her to let me have it too.

Miscellaneous video - We did just over a minute of miscellaneous behaviors and heeling, then played for almost 2 minutes. Then back to work for a minute, followed by more play. Right now, while deep in a false pregnancy, play creates more energy and focus than food does. It probably always does, but we need more energy during the false pregnancy.

Session 3 warm-up video - Here's a 1½ minute warm-up. Gimme starts pretty loose, but then gets better.

We ended with some more play-work-play and then I let Gimme "win" the toy and take it to the car. I was really pleased to get this amount of play after the unfortunate eye-poke as we started training.

Since then she's pretty much gone out of her false pregnancy, so I expect her to be closer to normal at the next practice. It might take a couple practices before she becomes her usual self.

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This is our second practice at WinStar. One thing we've discovered is the main door doesn't close well, even if you slam it. Gimme pushed it and got out, but was good and came back when I called her (and was rewarded with some toy play). There's a very busy street out front, not to mention potential issues with other dogs on the premises. For safety, we'll place a chair in front of the door from now on.

Gimme is intensely into her false pregnancy, so she didn't do as well this time as last. I brought in toys and it helped a little, but then not so much. At times she really enjoyed the play and at other times, not.

Join-up video - To begin with we did some join-up work. It's basically voluntary connection. If she disconnects, then I increase the disconnection by moving in another direction. It's not really supposed to be heeling, but I see I had a tendency to wait for her to get into heel before I rewarded.

Miscellaneous video - This was just some miscellaneous behaviors to reward. I thought they'd all be easy ones I could reward, but some were challenging for her. I had to help her get started with "otto" and it's her favorite behavior.

Toy play video - She wasn't excited by the first toy because its squeaker was broken. I encouraged her to pick a different one. Usually Gimme is all in for toys, but this time I had to improve my game to get her to join me in it. Competing to steal her toy makes her want to join in. Even so, her play is short-lived.

Simultaneous "spins" & "turn" video - It takes a little to get this started, but then she does it nicely. I ended the session after a really nice repetition.

Miscellaneous 2 video - Gimme had a really hard time focusing during the second session. Out of 9½-minutes of video, she was able to work just under 2 minutes. I did several different things to get and keep her attention, with varying success. Next time this happens, I think I'll put her on leash, to limit her options. I'm hoping we can get more working attention over a shorter and more concentrated time next time we meet there. We did have two nice play sessions - see next.

Toy Play 2 video - At first she wasn't interested, but when I got more playful and engaged, then she wanted to play. From watching these videos, she is most into the game when she has the toy and I try to get it from her. Trying to tug it away is a fave, but she also looked like she thought it was fun when I stalked her with scary hands. Who knew...

Because this had been mostly unsatisfactory work, I wanted to end on a good note. So I brought Gimme in for one last, short session - focused on "setup" which has a really positive association.

"Setup" video - We hadn't done this in awhile. All she has to do is get into heel position and sit with attention. Gimme did really well in the heel position. She seemed confused in side position - she'd get in position and crouch, but not sit. Then she did a few where she didn't even try to sit. I had her do setup in heel, then spun around and did it in side. She was very slow to sit, but once she got rewarded for it, she was better. I don't know what was going on in her head between side and heel position, but we ended on a couple of nice ones.

I'm looking forward to the end of this false pregnancy and getting my brainy girl back.