New RallyFrEe Intermediate Title

As I type this, March of the Penguins is playing in the background. Although she normally objects strenuously to any critters appearing on our TV, Gimme is watching this show with rapt attention. Who knew...

We got word Tuesday night about our RFE entry. Gimme qualified with 142 points, which is 32 points more than I would have given her. This is her third leg and completes title R-FE/X. This is Gimme's 60th title. She got half of those titles in 2018. That's m'girl.

You can see the run at RallyFrEe Intermediate West2.

While the judging criteria is subjective, it is generally:
Performed with Significant Deficiencies - 1-3 points
Performed Adequate to Well - 4-7 points
Performed Very Well to Superb - 8-10 points
Points after a plus sign is a 1-5 point difficulty award on free choice behaviors.
My comments are in Blue.

• Free Choice - Distance pivot on disc "slow to respond, hand cues" - 6 pts +4 (Gimme got to the "brick" right away and just as she did a dog whined in daycare. In her condition it was just too much, so I had to give her a hand cue for "pivot" and accepted just one. I recall getting superb 10 pts for this once in an earlier entry.)
• Right Paw Lift - "incorrect execution, handler in wrong position" - 5 pts (On this day, Gimme couldn't remember how to do a paw lift. The behavior description says the dog can't leave position, but didn't mention the handler. So I pivoted in front of her, gave her a hand signal, and then pivoted back into position. As I expected, there is another rule saying the handler can't leave position without being faulted. She did a nice paw lift with my modification. In any case, 5 pts was very generous.)
• Switch Back - "wide, out of position loss of focus" - 6 pts (Gimme did go very wide. To me it seems like "wide" and "out of position" are redundant. Still 6 pts is certainly fair.)
• Circle Around CW - 10 pts (Gimme was about to forge and overrun my stop, so I just cued "around" and she did it. A lucky 10 pts.)
• Free Choice - Backaround From Heel "loss of focus, left position" - 6 pts +3 (Just as we stopped a big dog barked in daycare causing the loss of focus. She did drift out of heel position, but came back and did a very nice "otto". This is normally a very strong behavior, but not this day - 6+3 pts was fair.)
• Left Turn Circle Trx - 10 pts (In previous runs I'd figured out to talk to Gimme throughout and it worked well here to get us another 10 pts.)
• Free Choice - Paw Touch to Leg, Handler in Front "multiple cues/slow to respond" - 7 pts +2 (Gimme was so distracted at this point, she couldn't respond to my "sit" cue, so I pivoted in front anyway and cued the "paw". She isn't accustomed to doing it standing, hence the slow to respond.)
• CCW Spin to Center Trx - "hand cue/out of position" - 7 pts (This is the corner approaching the daycare and she was highly distracted. I actually had to give her the hand signal twice. )
• Into Right Heel - "loss of attention" - 7 pts (Gimme went "thru" quickly, but then briefly sniffed the ground behind me.)
• Free Choice - Distance stand on small pedestal "no clear end position" - 9 pts +5 (We really struggled with how to make this work on the day of the video. At home it included a paw lift while she was on the pedestal, but it wasn't going to happen. Then I couldn't get her to pivot to "center" before "bacon" to the pedestal. She kept going past me and out around the pedestal, then back to "center" before doing her "bacon". Although it wasn't what we'd trained, I let her do it this new way and we got a really nice score of 9 pts, with a full 5 pts for difficulty. I moved out quickly, as soon as she got close to "side" to keep her with me, thus the "no clear end position" and a loss of one point.)
• Thru to Front x3 - 10 pts (This went well, though Gimme did start to forge immediately. I think the judge just included the forging with her low heelwork score.)
• Pivot Left 180 - "out of position, no pivot, loss of focus" - 4 pts (I really couldn't keep her focused enough to make more of this. All her life I trained her to do her pivots with me as the pivot point, then I learned they wanted it done differently. If she is super focused I can slow her down and make it look like a more credible pivot where she appears to be the pivot point. This was her lowest score.)
• CCW Spin Simultaneous - "wide/slow to return to position" - 7 pts (Gimme was about to go around me, instead of returning to position, but I saved it with a hand cue [not seen?] and a shoulder turn/dip. 7 pts was generous.)
• CCW Spin - "multiple cues and left position" - 6 pts (Gimme didn't stop with me and had to come back to position before responding to the second "spin" cue.)
• Bow - "Nice! - 10 pts (My strategy of only cuing the "take-a" bow when the rest has been good enough to pass worked. And, I remembered to go past the sign before congratulating her.)

Overall scores:
Heelwork 6
Attention 6
Teamwork 6

Behaviors 110 out of 150 points possible (73%)
Free choice difficulty 14 out of 20 (70%)
Overall 18 out of 30 (60%)
TOTAL SCORE 142 points (71%)

Judge's Comments: A little distracted at times. Work toward greater consistency and understanding of positions. That will help her focus as well. I love her enthusiasm! Keep in mind that the paw lift is supposed to be done with the dog in heel position. Great body coordination on that circus platform.

As poor as I thought this was, Gimme did get four 10 point and one 9 point behaviors - a personal best. Having accomplished this milestone, the pressure is off for the parkour premier entry we've been working on. I didn't think we'd get this, so I was working on the parkour entry as a back-up.

I'm sure there is a new toy in her future...

RFE Practice (81) & Entry

This was the day we had selected to video for the West2 RFE competition. The course was verrrrry doable, so I was hopeful we'd do well. Such was not the case. Except for when I had treats readily available she was just not able to focus. She was much better last week.

Simultaneous spins video - We hadn't done this in a very long time, so I wasn't sure what to expect. She did okay at it, though not perfect. I didn't want to belabor the fine points.

Free choice 4 video - She was losing focus already, just three minutes into our practice. The behavior I'd trained was to for her "center", "bacon" onto the tub and then "low" (left paw lift). We quickly discovered I'd have to let go of the paw lift. By the time we were doing the course, I had to let go of "center" too. She kept going out around the tub, then coming back to me into "center" and then "bacon" onto the tub.

Free choice 1 video - This is a trick we've done a lot and it comes out very nicely. By the time we video our course run through it was falling apart.

Right paw lift video - She was doing this fine at home, but couldn't remember how to do it in "side" position on this day. I tried to refresh her memory, but it just wasn't coming. I trained this using the couch as a platform and so here I used a chair. I got the right paw, but never could get her to do it beside me. I didn't want to get her frustrated, so I came up with a work-around. I pivoted in front of her and gave her the hand signal, then pivoted back into position. The behavior description only says the dog has to remain in a sit in the position we have approaching the sign, nothing about the handler. I'm sure we'll still take a major deduction for this, but hopefully better than failing it entirely.

We had one run through which is somewhat passable.  I don't think it will pass, but I have thought so before and gotten passing scores.  Generally the judges are far gentler in their assessments than I would be.  I think this run should score at 110 points; we need 125 points to qualify.  Still, my assessment versus the judge's assessment have been more than 15 points apart before, so who knows.  If it does pass, it will complete her RallyFrEe intermediate title.  RallyFrEeIntermediate video

I should know in the next couple of weeks.  We are at 59 titles and I'd like to have a nice round number before the end of the year.  Just in case, Gimme and I are working on the videos we need to complete her ADP Premier 1 title.  We are probably 70% done with those.

RFE Intermediate results

Gimme passed with a nice score of 167, including six 10pt station scores out of 15 and second place! That's more 10pt scores than ever before. I'd estimated 153 points, at best. The first place score was 176. Gimme needs one more Q to get her RFE intermediate title. Perhaps this fall.

Our judge was Julie Flanery herself. I knew even before I saw her initials because of her focus on minor hand signals and precision, though overall I thought her scores were generous and her comments certainly kind.

Gimme's Intermediate entry video - It's very interesting to watch the video again, while reading the scores/comments.  I have a more critical interpretation of scoring - I'm certainly not complaining.

Station points with judge's comments in parenthesis: 

• Free choice reverse pivot 10/3
• Left turn thru trx 10 (Nice!)
• Fig 8 thru 2x 10 (Nice!) [I penalized myself for the swaying left and right]
• Free choice paw on leg 9/2 (Slight hand cue) [I think she's referring to the stay hand signal - if I'd used my left hand she wouldn't have seen it]
• Thru to front 3x back 10 (Nicely Done!)
• Left turn circle trx 7 (Distraction)
• CCW spin to center 10 (Nicely Done!)
• Into left heel 6 (Extraneous behavior) [an offered spin as she moved into heel]
• Back up in center 7 (Small hand cue, super straight until very end, Nice!) [I think the hand cue was actually movement because of my shoulder dropping, though it likely had the same effect, eh]
• Free choice scooch back 7/5 (out of position) [Gimme was out of position to start, so her "scoot" was at an angle]
• Center pivot 180 7 (out of position) [Gimme anticipated]
• Thru to right heel 8 (small hand cue) [dang finger point]
• Right turn circle trx 9 (lag at end) 
• Free choice pivot on distant object 9/5 (slow response)
• Bow 10 (Nice Bow!!)  [this is usually weak]

Overall scores:
Heelwork 7
Attention 8
Teamwork 8

Behaviors 129 out of 150 points possible
Free choice difficulty 15 out of 20
Overall 23 out of 30
TOTAL SCORE 167 points

Judge's Comments: Some really nice behaviors in a good run. Some small distractions and heel position sometimes wide. Teamwork score can be increased by waiting for dog after behaviors before going to next sign. Eliminating those small hand cues will increase station scores. Overall a really nice run.

Just one more to go...

July 5th Note - just realized Gimme improved her score on this second leg of Intermediate by 30 points.  Yayyyy.

RFE practice (71)

I entered Gimme in the West 1 Regional video competition at the Intermediate level. Naturally she started her false pregnancy just four days before the day we planned to video our entry, so I wasn't sure how well she'd do. She actually did better than I expected. I've become friendly with the gal who runs the daycare and I talked to her beforehand, asking her to do her best to keep the barkers quiet. She did a good job and it helped a lot. 

Despite how well she did, when we got home the very first thing Gimme did was go in the office, grab BHumpy and drag him into the living room and on the couch. Then she gave him "special attention"; she gave him more attention later. BHumpy is a 5' tall stuffed bunny I bought for her at Easter. I thought Gimme might enjoy cuddling with him when she was home alone; I was wrong. After the first examination she proceeded to ignore him, wouldn't even look in his direction. If I put him on the couch, next time I saw him he was on the floor. Then one day she discovered his purpose. He's been in the corner of my office ever since - until today. Poor BHumpy...

I started by heeling the course, leaving out all the behaviors except those for a side change. I had treats in my pockets, so Gimme did well. Overall her heeling has deteriorated badly. Part of the reason is because I have stepped on her foot more than once, so she wants to keep space between us. Even though I worked barefoot, the moment there was any touch between my foot and hers, she went wide and stayed there. She thinks 3' away is a good distance to keep her paws safe from my clodhoppers. I need to go back to the plan I was working with Kathy; it helped a lot more than heeling. I'm also contemplating teaching her to put her foot on mine as a trick, just to restore her comfort.

Behaviors warm-up video - I took her through the course practicing individual behaviors, working on those needing extra, with play breaks as needed. We had a moment when we came to the first corner just as the daycare worker was bringing a dog in from a potty break. I was pleased Gimme was able to go back to work so quickly. Many behaviors she got the first time while others needed a couple repeats to get them accurate.

RFE Intermediate Entry video - This is our best run. It's not what I hoped for, but it's pretty good, especially given Gimme's condition. Interestingly it's the first one we completed. If I'd had any idea it would be the best run, I could have rewarded this strongly and quit while I was ahead. None of the subsequent runs were as good. 

We are supposed to get results for entries within 2 weeks of closing date.  So it could be as much as seven to ten days.  I'll let you know how we did when I know.

RFE Entry Results

Just got the news and amazingly we passed with a fourth place, so Gimme got her first leg toward an intermediate title. My practice buddy J'Anna got first and third placements. Her third place dog finished her intermediate title and her score was just 11 points higher than Gimme's 137 (they need 125 to pass). Wild Glory got first place with a nice score of 164. J'Anna has been working a lot more on the intermediate behaviors than we have. I only just started teaching many of them a month before we entered - no sense in getting ahead of myself.

You can compare the scoring to the video if you like.  I've shown in parenthesis the score I would have given myself with comments in blue.
West 1 Regional RFE Intermediate video

Keep in mind the judging criteria is subjective, but is generally:
Performed with Significant Deficiencies - 1-3 points
Performed Adequate to Well - 4-7 points
Performed Very Well to Superb - 8-10 points
Points after a plus sign is a 1-5 point difficulty award on free choice behaviors.

• Back around handler - "Rear didn't maintain lead" 7 pts (5 because it was a two part behavior, which should be on the low end of "adequate to well)
• Free choice - "hand touch" 10 pts +1 (8 she wasn't back in heel before we moved off) 
• Right turn thru trx - "bit wide" 9 pts (7 she was distracted and more than just a "bit wide" by my standards)
• Pivot left 360 - "out of position, backing rather than pivot" 4 pts (2-3 this is the one we did the wrong behavior - my bad. I don't see how it can be considered "performed adequate to well" when it was the wrong behavior)
• About U180 - "wide" 8 pts (8)
• Free Choice - "leave to front, paw touch" 8 pts +2 (8)
• Back up in left heel x4 - "inconsistent position, hesitant" 7 pts (6 what she said, plus there was a second cue)
• Switch back - "loss of attention, wide, out of position, hand cue" 4 pts (4 Gimme knows this very well, but was momentarily distracted by squeak toy in the daycare, there was also a second cue)
• Free choice - "slight hand cue, handler aid end position, pivot pot" 7 pts +3 (5 this is the one that was supposed to be a send to "table" and instead I got "hands" and a partial pivot, I assume the bit she says about handler aid means getting Gimme back into position before moving off)
• Side pass right - "dog didn't execute the move" 3 pts (she really didn't do any side pass steps and so I wouldn't have awarded any points)
• Left turn circle trx - 10 pts (9 a bit wide on the far side of me from the camera)
• Free choice - "distance behavior, pivot pot, hand cue" 7pts +4 (7)
• 270 right - "partial pivot" 6 pts (7 this is a hard one to prevent Gimme from pivoting because she has such good rear awareness and movement, thus I have to make a HUGE 270 turn to keep her from doing any pivoting steps.  I think I need to ask about this is on the RFE facebook list)
• Front cross: dog - "Nice!" 10 pts (9 needs to be faster)
• Bow - "2nd cue" 8 pts (6 - 2nd cue and rear out of alignment 45 degrees)
• Heelwork-Attention-Teamwork - 6, 6, & 7 pts (agreed)

So she gave me 137 and I would have given me 126 - qualifying with just one point to spare. Judge's general comment: Your dog doesn't keep position through the course, which is a shame. There was quite a lot of distraction as well. But some moves were done superbly. Well done. Free choice at station 9 was a bit far from the sign.  Gimme can do better heeling, but she was doing well considering she's coming into her false pregnancy.  I certainly appreciate the judge noticing the distractions - even though I couldn't hear them on the video.  I don't know why she thought the free choice at station 9 was "a bit far from the sign"... if it had been closer, it would have been a temptation as we heeled by it.  Not sure why she didn't think of it as a distance behavior, like station 12, which was closer.   

RFE Practice (47)

This was our last day available to video runs for our RFE intermediate West 1 entries. J'Anna got a good video for Glory on Thursday, so she brought Ginger. Those two dogs are as different as night and day.

Session 1 video - Gimme was highly distracted by the open garage door. I'm sure it doesn't help that this is where are the mouse smells are. We closed it because the bright back light made the video hard to see. Even after we shut the door Gimme was still distracted. Trying to work on "pivot" was unsuccessful, so switched to a bit of off "side" heeling. I'm sure with all the focus I've put on learning these intermediate behaviors, I haven't been rewarding enough "heel" and "side". After just a bit of heeling, Gimme does a much better job on "pivot". When I take her over to work on "izzy" I showed Gimme the nuggies waiting for her. I know she was well aware of where here nuggies were the moment she came in the door; just wanted to make sure she knew I knew where they were, as well as their availability to be earned. I've noticed recently she isn't stopping with me during heeling, so I put some rewards into the stopping bank account. I also started using "halt", a parkour cue, to help her know what to do. I love her ability to apply a cue from one sport to another. Sometimes her "izzy" is a two-part behavior. It's something we are working on and when she does it without turning the wrong way and then flipping back into it, then she gets a huge jackpot. Remember, "izzy" is hard because the turn is in her less comfortable direction - so uncurling in the middle of it surely feels more natural. It was a big step for her to simply stop for a treat and then finish for the next treat without uncurling. She did a lovely job on the reverse pivot. Unfortunately we will earn a substantial deduction since the sign is for a pivot. I've been doing it wrong a long time and J'Anna has never noticed. The good news is - I can now go back to using it as a free choice move. We work on some more of the course before we get to sidestep right. As I watch this video I realize how food obsessed she is getting - which I now know is related to her impending false pregnancy. 

Session 2 video - J'Anna thought she needed to make different videos of each of my course attempts because she doesn't know how to edit hers, thus the blip early in. For this session we mostly did run-throughs, with focus on the problem areas as they cropped up. When I was trying to get a "center-sit", Gimme gave me the best "izzy" ever and of course, I rewarded it. I sure wasn't going to let it slip by. Thinking Gimme might be confused by the proximity of where I wanted "izzy" and where I wanted "center-sit-paw" I rearranged the location of my free choice behaviors. In hindsight I realize she was actually confused by her location relative to me, not the room. Moving this helped, but it didn't clear up the "bacon". Later in the week I get her an adjustment, since I had noticed a warm area in her back over the barn hunt weekend. J'Anna comes up with the idea to abandon "bacon" and just go for "table", because the judge doesn't know what you planned. This morphs into "pivot" because she resists getting all four feet on the prop. She usually will do almost anything for treats, so I assume she's uncomfortable with it. 

Session 3 video - This time I started with backing up in heel; given how much she loves backing up you'd think she'd be totally into this. I have to believe she just doesn't yet understand what I want. One time we got two-thirds of the way through before the first completely failed behavior.

I took the opportunity to reward two weak points and then did another run-through. It wasn't perfect, but I felt it was as close as we were going to get. Knowing now how I was doing the pivot wrong, it's even further than I thought. It's okay to not pass... we've learned a lot in the last couple of months getting ready for it and I've learned a lot from the video attempts. RFE West 1 Intermediate Entry video.

Gimme is pretty much in a false pregnancy now, even though early stage. So we'll be focusing on basics with a lot of motivation for the next six weeks. I can work gently on improving the intermediate behaviors as well. The timing should work out for us to enter the RFE World Wide video show in December.

Meanwhile I'm studying up on RFE judging parameters. I plan to analyze my video, one behavior at a time, and see how my critique stacks up with the report I get from the judge. I think it will be a good exercise to improve my scores over the long haul.

Title Fifteen - R-FE/N

I got the word a few days ago - Gimme qualified for the third leg of her RallyFrEe Novice title.  We again improved our score, by twelve points.  She now has fifteen titles (9 nosework, 5 barn hunt, 1 rallyfree).  The video we submitted is available at:

2015 Worldwide Video Entry

Here's what I see when comparing the video to the score sheet.  First, we got a total gift on the paw lift.  By the time we videotaped this, Gimme was pattern trained to do a paw lift there - I hadn't given a cue.  I've never used the pivot on the brick as a free choice before because I always thought the behavior should be independent of a target, so I was happily surprised to see the high marks I got for performance and difficulty.  I didn't even notice Gimme's incomplete sit on the sit-stand so was surprised to see the comment, but its there in living color.  The judge saw a "spin" instead of a "stand", I saw a "stand" followed by a "spin".  Still I had already noted it as something to work on - Gimme doesn't quite believe standing in one place doing nothing has value.  Clearly I have failed to make it valuable.  Her circle transition and thru transitions were both nice.  I didn't know what the judge meant by "slightly out of position at end" for the thru transition until I watched it and could see Gimme heeled a little wide after.  The right turn thru transition had problems - going back to the issue with listening skills, mentioned in the last blog entry.  I hadn't really given much thought to accuracy of position in our 360 pivot at heel, which accounts for the judge's comments.  Its interesting she gave me the exact same score and free choice difficulty points when she judged it last time.  Have to say the judge doesn't miss a thing - she even noticed the brief moment when Gimme looked away on her CW circle.  Can't disagree with her comments on the switchback or the center-front pivot.  Remember this is where Gimme was concerned the practice right before this run by seeing a dog so close outside the ring.  And I'd already noted we need to tighten up the accuracy on the center-front pivot.  This also is a repeat of the issue I notice with Gimme seeing no value in standing and doing nothing.  I didn't understand her comments about our circle-thru-combo and am going to ask for clarification.  Interestingly we earned a point more than the last time she judged it and then it had a number of errors.  The assessment of our right 270 and bow seem perfectly reasonable.

I've put together a comparison of all three of our video entries.  Again the most noticeable difference is an increase in higher scores for stations.

I earn 8-10 points for "Performed Very Well to Superb".  Our first time we got this for 4 stations, second time 8 and this time 9, of which 5 were 10 points for a Superb performance!  I earn 4-7 points for "Performed Adequate to Well".  Our first time we got this for 11 stations, second time 6 and this time 5. I earn 1-3 points for "Performed with Significant Deficiencies".  Our first time we had no stations with significant deficiencies, last time we had one (the failed bow at the end) and this time one (sit-stand).  Our difficulty points for free choice stations came up by 2 points.  Again an overall trend toward a much better end result. 

Last time we got a nice 5 point bump up in our score for overall scores in the category of heelwork, attention and teamwork. This time we lost a point, taking a little hit on attention, which is understandable, since Gimme was concerned about the possibility of there being a dog near the ring from her last practice session. 


Again I did a side-by-side comparison of the stations/free choice between the two events.  There are some interesting trends.  I continue to move forward before Gimme establishes an end position.  I'm still trying to use my movement to hold her attention.  And we continue to struggle with attention - more on this for next blog entry.  It will likely take more work to consistently improve my handling than to improve Gimme's attention, though the two are related, eh.

Here are the free choice comparisons and you’ll see the same issue with end positions and for the same reasons.



Here are the judge's comments:  "Congratulations on your new title! Excellent performance at many stations. To improve your score, work to increase attention to verbal cues and pay attention to positions, making sure the dog is in the correct position at the end of a behavior before heeling to the next station. Heelwork in this run varied; sometimes it was wide, sometimes forged, sometimes she was distracted by the environment. Increasing understanding of and desire for heel position in motion and at rest would increase your score."

I don't disagree with her comments.  I have a different take on the causes for those places where we have issues, but she was really on target... 

Tracking Genius (22)

Yesterday we met at Flaming Geyser for tracking.  We decided to work at the far end of the park where the grass is kept mowed short, so it would be more like a sports park.  Also, Nadine wanted to take advantage of the chance to track through standing water.  The conditions were misty and cool.

We started with a short track of a large double serpentine curve.  The water was a large puddle on a driveway and where we crossed the corner it was no more than a couple of inches deep.  It had aged 10 minutes.  Gimme did well with this and had a good time, though she was a little pussy-footed about the water.

The second track was also mostly on short grass, except for crossing a road right at the start and then crossing (and turning) on a cement pad near the end.  We had several chances to track through standing water - good thing I keep my wading boots in the car all the time.  Again Gimme got to go first, it was aged about 15 minutes. 

It starts on the far right with a sock and immediately crosses a road.  Gimme did an excellent job of keeping her nose down as she went across the road.  In fact, all the girls did, which we credit to the recent work in urban.

Gimme made the first and second corners, but missed the first article, an eyeglass case.  I think she was just going too fast.  There was no flag on the second corner because it was marked by a drinking fountain (tiny blue square).  She did fine on the next turn, but was really confused by the firepit (two-tone grey circle).  It was full of ash and burned dirt, so I'm sure it was a big puzzle.  She did finally go through it and was the only one of the four girls to do so.  The others walked around it (4' diameter) and picked up the track on the other side. 

From there she got a glove, made another turn and then went through a shallow puddle in the grass, right to a glove on the edge of the cement pad for a covered picnic area.  From this glove, the track turned left and went between the covered area and three support poles.  This leg was the longest - easily 150 yards, with a glove in the middle.  After the glove it approached a playground area, with a lot of standing water on one end, which transitioned to puddle on grass.

The next turn brought us to a large covered picnic area with many picnic tables.  The track went right into the covered area between two tables and then turned right to end at a glove 8 feet away.  Gimme had no problem following the track into the covered area, but then started sniffing the tables.  It was like she was momentarily confused and thought we were suddenly doing nosework.  I cued her "track-on", then she went "Oh yeah, tracking..." and went back to work.  She easily made the turn and got to the last glove.  She's never tracked into this kind of spot before, but has seen picnic tables/areas many times in nosework practices, classes and at a few trials.  So I think its an honest mistake and we need to practice tracking through that kind of area again.

Even after all this tracking, Gimme wasn't convinced she'd done her share, so I set her up an article oval.  One long leg of the oval went through some really rough ground and Gimme never missed a beat.  She found all her articles and then was happy...

LATE BREAKING NEWS FLASH
Just got notice that Gimme passed on her novice RallyFrEe video entry, giving her the third leg (to a new title).  This makes her 15th title!  Can't wait to get the individual score sheet and see how the scoring came down.  She improved her score by 12 points.  We are going to focus on fundamentals over the next couple of months.  We have to have 125 points to pass an intermediate entry.  Yayyyy Gimme...

RallyFrEe Data Analysis

First a note - we did not do tracking this week.  It was again, just too hot.  We have a cooling trend in the weather, so hope to be back to it next week.  Gimme only forgave me for the lapse because I shared my birthday ice-cream with her.

Even though our score improvement was only 12 points (I was aiming for 25-30, which would put us into the kind of performance I know she is capable of), I've been comparing the score sheets from our first effort (Dec 2014 World Wide) and the second effort (June 2015 West1).  It provided some interesting insights.  The most noticeable difference is an increase in higher scores for stations and a corresponding decrease in some of the lower scores, with the exception of the 2 point for failure to bow.  So, while we increased our score in the stations by only 6 points, the overall trend is for a much better end result.  Kind of reminds me how your GPA in college creeps up so slowly with good grades, and yet one "C" and it takes a huge hit.

The numbers don't exactly add up.  There is a difference between my first score sheet and the final number on the overall listing, so maybe we only improved our score by 11 points.  In any case, we got a nice 5 point bump up in our score for overall scores in the category of heelwork, attention and teamwork.  Certainly nice to see.

And last, I did a side-by-side comparison of the stations/free choice between the two events.  There are some interesting trends.  One thing which is a frequent issue is my moving forward before Gimme establishes an end position.  Once I saw it in print, it became very obvious in the videos.  Partly its because I'm trying to use my movement to hold her attention.  Its certainly a handling thing I need to work on, and it likely will take more work to consistently improve my handling than to improve Gimme's attention, doncha know.

 

Here are the free choice comparisons and you’ll see the same issue with end positions and for the same reasons.

I didn't notice the judge’s comments on the first (WW) score sheet.  And I certainly can’t disagree with them, though I do think she misread Gimme’s non-stop wagging tail – as most everyone does.  I certainly always enjoy working with Gimme, but she was clearly (to me) stressed during the first video. 

“Work toward eliminating hand cues.  Inconsistency in heelwork between stations and at start and end positions.  Be sure to allow Gimme to finish behavior and come into position before moving forward.  Some losses of attention.  You both seem to enjoy working together!”

I was glad to have noticed these comments (which is why I went back to check for the WW score sheet comments – I really must learn to read everything and not just skip around).  I did not understand fully her comment in the individual scoring about the bow and not finishing the course, but its explained here.  I can’t disagree with anything she said and you see the same handler issue about me moving forward before the end position.  Here are her comments:

“What a fun dog, and clearly you have the sense of humor to enjoy her.  Handler tendency to rush forward before the dog had clearly established an end position affected scores at many stations and also teamwork score.  Whether or not the dog performs the bow, you need to cross past the sign in order to complete the course.  In several places it looked like you were trying to maintain heel position rather than the dog making the effort to do so.”

I really love the score sheet for RallyFrEe – there is a wealth of information there and every one is a learning experience.  I know we’ll do even better next time.

Nosework (1/11) & RFE Results

First a brag.  Just got the scores/placements for the West1 RFE Video regional trial.  Gimme improved her score by 12 points.  I'd hoped for more, but any improvement is a good thing.  And given the affect her medication has on her focus and memory, I'm happy with some improvement.  AND she got a 4th place from this.  So this gives us 2 out of 3 legs toward her R-FE/N.  Just one more to go.  Yay Gimme!  I haven't received her individual score sheet yet and am looking forward to seeing where we improved. 

Nosework class tonight was focused on assumptions by the dogs (and humans).  It was very interesting to watch how the dogs searched.  We used pretty much the same layout for all four searches.  The green arcs are green plastic chairs, tan and black squares are a different kind of chair.  The black star is a office chair on wheels.  The textured rectangle shows where everyone was seated.  The zig zag is a freestanding expen and the lines in the upper left is one leaned against the wall.

The two crossing lines of squiggles with the red dot are cracks in the floor where the odor was placed in the crack.  The dogs are so used to finding hides on chairs, so they kept searching the chairs and ignored the hide in the floor for the longest time.  A lot of attention was paid to the office chair on wheels, which normally sits right by the refrigerator where they store odor.  The most inexperienced dog was actually the fastest, because she didn't have a long history so wasn't working based on assumptions.  Gimme did really well.  When she couldn't find odor on a chair (she ignored the office chair), then she put her feet up and checked high on the walls.  She was the fastest of the more experienced dogs.

When you think of this from a biological point of view, of course the dogs make assumptions about where hides should be.  After all, wolves don't look for lunch where bunnies never go.  If the dogs are this focused on chairs to the exclusion of other locations, then the fault is with us for falling into a pattern of hide placement.


For the second search they added a hide in one of the wheels on the office chair.  Gimme came in and made a big C-shape (grey line) with her nose to the ground and went right over the top of the crack-hide, screeching to a halt without going past it.  She clearly noticed the one on the office chair, since she went directly to it, but I didn't see any sign of it.  She was awesomely fast. Dorothy pronounced her a "one-trial learner", since she came in with her nose down and hit the hide so quickly.


For the third search they removed the hide from the office chair and from the crack in the floor.  They placed the hide under the seat of a chair against the wall, right where the crack ended.  Gimme was the only experienced dog to not get obsessed with the crack.  The only one to approach her speed at finding the hide under the chair was the less experienced dog.  Two of the experienced dogs kept insisting the hide was still in the crack and it took them some time to puzzle it through. 

For the last search, the hide was placed under a chair in the middle of the room and under a chair in the corner where a couple of the dogs had gotten distracted by some smell.  Gimme found the one under the chair in the middle of the room pretty quickly, but then it took her awhile to find the one in the corner.  She went really close to it once, but she was moving so fast, I think she just missed it.  She checked high and low and then got into the corner again and nailed it.

One of the things I think helps Gimme to be a better hunter is how I don't help her with my positioning and movement.  A couple other students basically go stand near the hide (4-5 feet away) and stay there until their dog searches there and finds it.  The others will tend to stick to the general area of where it is and then hover when the dog gets close.  Dorothy commented, praising my ability to act like I don't know where the hide is, even though I do.  Mostly I just try to shadow Gimme's movements, hang nearby when she is detailing and keep moving if she isn't getting right to source.  Now if I could just do as well in a trial situation, eh.

Of course the other thing which makes Gimme such a good hunter is a lot of inherited talent and a ton of drive.  Then there is the whole need-to-drive-the-train thing. ☺

Nosework 6/10

Its been unbearably hot around here, so we've laid off a few of our regular activities.  The other morning we went out to walk and in the space of 45 minutes, the temperature went up 12 degrees.  Candy assures me our temperatures are nothing.  She lives in Texas, so our blistering hot day time temps are just their cooled off night temps.  Still Gimme and I aren't used to it, so we've slowed down off our regular activities.  And we didn't go tracking last week because it was just too hot.

Before I talk about nosework class - I have some new information about our RallyFrEe videotaping.  I didn't mention it in the blog, but Gimme kept getting distracted at the third station, going ahead of me toward the equipment against the wall.  I didn't understand this, because she ignored the equipment everywhere else, against two full walls.  Later I remembered Diane noting how Valor didn't want to go near the same section of wall - so it occurred to me they were sensing the same thing, just reacting different. So, I had Tonya ask Gimme about it.  I had to picture it in my head so she'd know what I was talking about.  Then she told Tonya there was a little mouse in there somewhere and it was distracting her.  She volunteered her opinion about Valor, she said he's a big wussy for being scared of the little ole mouse.  ☺

BTW this was the third of our special energy healing sessions aimed at repairing damage caused by the seizures.  Tonya says Gimme is very aware of her memory issues and she's frustrated by it too. 

Nosework class last week was a little short. It was verrrrrry hot, so we just had two quick searches in the shade. 

Our first search was set up on these electrical boxes across the street, in the grass next to a sidewalk.  The first three boxes from the startline were only about 2 feet apart and then the fourth one was further away.  This put the hides 5 - 6 feet apart.  Gimme was the only dog to find them in order from the startline.  None of the dogs paid any attention to the fourth box.  However, she really struggled sourcing the third (tallest) one.  She knew there was a hide there, but kept looking for it on the shady side of the box.  Dorothy thought it had to do with the proximity of the other hides, but this has never been an issue for her before.  I thought it was because every time she came around and tried to get her nose up there, she was getting very bright sun straight in her eyes.  When I got her to come around the other way, then she got it. 

The second search was all underwater hides.  There were 18 plastic containers, roughly the size of a dog water dish.  Each had 2-3 inches of water in it; there were three hides.  Gimme had no trouble with these, though she did lose her turn just after finding the first hide for peeing in the search area.  She got taken to the van and had to wait until the other dogs had all run and then came back to try again. 

Gimme had no difficulty finding all three hides.  She was quite theatrical, showing repulsion for the spot where "somebody" peed in the search area.  Everyone laughed at her.  I took it as her effort to stay far away from the offending pee so she wouldn't succumb and repeat the baddie.

RallyFrEe video event

I entered the 2nd annual RallyFrEe World Wide video event.  It was my first attempt at RallyFrEe, and sadly a dismal effort.

We had a few issues with her supplements, which caused Gimme to become very emotional.  First I dropped back the dose on the leaves from the loading dose to normal.  It took a couple of days and then, boom!  Suddenly Gimme was very emotional and this was most noticeable on a training session we had at DaPaws.  At the time I thought it was because she was distracted by the agility equipment being too near.  When I got home and she was still unfocused and needy, I knew it had to be something else and realized it was the change in her leaves dose, so I put it back up to the loading dose.

Our next practice session was fabulous and I thought we were home free.  So two days later we tried to do the video session and again Gimme was unfocused and avoiding work.  I tried a number of things to help her get back into the game, but she just couldn’t get there.  This was probably our worst session ever.  I didn’t think I had anything worth submitting.  I realized afterward, Tonya had reduced Gimme’s flower essence remedy for her ADHD.  It might not have been so bad had it not been on the heels of the change in the leaves dose.

So I put her back at the normal dose and we’ll try the test again in January.  I want her to be stable for now, especially through this weekend.  And, any future reductions in dose of anything will be done more gradually, since it appears Gimme is pretty sensitive to changes.  At this time I still planned to enter a local video event, so I also wanted her at a stable point for it as well (I have since decided not to enter).

After the dismal taping session, I went home, rethought my approach and planned one more session to try to get the video.  I changed a lot of things, being much more upbeat and playful, trying to get a successful tape, but no such luck.  Basically I’ve broken my dog.  Between the changes in the supplements making her more emotional and my goal-intensity about taping, and other changes, she’s gotten a negative association to this game.

Gimme has decided obedience/rally/RFE is less fun than anything we’ve ever done together.  She is holding onto a negative emotional association, so I have some work to do repairing it.  Fortunately William taped everything, so I had a lot of material available to review.  And review it I did, very carefully.  I made a long list of ideas for things to change, things to do and things to not do.  Fortunately we have a LOT of fun association behind us, so I know we’ll get it back.