Confession...

I have screwed up how I’ve handled Gimme’s issues in class.  Its hard when you have to make all the mistakes yourself so you can learn from them.  <sigh>

In Thurs classes, Gimme starts out fine, but then she gets into a frantic feeding frenzy, with dilated pupils!  I've been trying to use metronome feeding when that happens, but she continues and gets worse.  Thursday night was the worst. I had noticed 4 months ago that our Relaxation Protocol work was deteriorating, so the beginnings predate her season and false pregnancy.

Urs thinks I'm contributing to Gimme's frantic behavior and even the way I give her treats is a factor.  She suggested placing the treats, one at a time with two fingers, into her mouth - instead of letting her nibble them out of my fingers.  I did that and it helped; I think it makes it clearer how many treats she is getting for a reward. I spent the last half of class just sitting on the floor with Gimme, giving her one treat on her matt for shutting her mouth or taking a breath (without clicker) and using petting whenever she was relatively calm.  That also helped. 

I was so frustrated that I could have cried when I got home.  I tried to schedule a private lesson with Ursula to get her insights into what I’m doing wrong, but the timing couldn’t be worse coming into the 4th of July week.  So I’ve been talking over the situation with Kathy and Candy; they’ve helped me to analyze what was happening.

I had noticed that I could train her tricks non-stop during class and she'd do them or try, but she just can't get herself calm.  Still even during tricks training she is more distracted and not herself.  After thinking about and discussing the history, I’ve concluded some things are combining to create this problem.   Here’s my thoughts:

• When I was trying to use RP outside agility class this year, I made too big of a jump from where we’d been the year before to where we started this year, so I undid the matt’s association with calm and safe.
• When she was in her false pregnancy, I may have fed into it by trying to use food to calm her down during classes and not using distance enough.
• Possibly I’ve been misjudging her state of mind - thinking she was too close to threshold, so I switched to classical conditioning when she was still operant.  As a result, I unintentionally taught her to "act overwrought" for all the rewards it gets her.  Of course, how you act quickly becomes how you feel - hence the dilated pupils.

Since then I have taken her for two rest-and-walks around Capitol Lake.  The first time I started on the Capitol Campus with 15 minutes of hanging out.  She did well, though it took awhile to get the idea that nothing was going to happen.  It occurs to me that we often meet Mary and Grafton there, so she was expecting them.  We left after she was consistently relaxing, which means calmly watching all the different things going on.  I gave her about ten treats during that time, when I saw especially nice stuff, like rolling on one hip or taking a deeper breath.

Then we moved down to the lake where we'd walk about 100 yards and then stop and sit for five minutes.  After we got halfway around the lake, then we just walked the rest without stopping.  She quickly figured out that when Mom sits, Gimme might as well chill, cuz ain't nothing gonna happen.

I did notice her look-at-that behavior ("whazzat") was broken.  Almost every dog she saw she couldn't look away from.  So I had to add a lot more distance and refresh her brain on how we do that.  Clearly I let her get re-sensitized from not managing space better during the intensity of classes.  Bad me!

Today we walked around the lake again and she did even better, relaxing quickly each time.  When I stopped to talk to people, she laid down and stretched out.  I can't remember her ever voluntarily laying down while I was still standing up - huge progress.  She even laid down while I was talking to a lady with a very small dog about 10 feet away.

Much of the time I'm petting her as the reward for relaxing and only giving her the occasional treat for the best signs of relaxation.  I think that makes a difference.  While she enjoys the "freebies", she isn't getting into work mode.  I'm pondering doing Relaxation Protocol without treats, using petting instead.  Gimme is very tactile, so perhaps that will work better and keep her from going into work mode.

I got smarter and used peanut butter today, so got better "whazzat", but she's still more inclined to get stuck looking than she has in the past.  The cheese just wasn't enough reward for her to work through it, which tells me her threshold has grown greatly.  Before 8 feet was pretty common, and now its 20.  If it is dog types that she especially dislikes (ones that look intently at her, pull toward her or bark) then she needs 35-40 feet.  Yikes!  That's a big loss and one we'll have to do a lot of work to recover ground.  I'm sure we'll get it back, but it will take time.

Her LLW was good both days, especially today.  It takes reminders, but then she gets into the rhythm and is going really long distances.  I started counting, but stopped when we hit 60 steps.  She was also adjusting her pace on her own after lightly bumping into the end of the leash.

Yesterday and today I only occasionally used treats for the LLW, instead relying mostly on the functional reward of moving forward.  If she was hovering at the end of the leash, I just slowed down and that was enough to remind her.  If she actually pulled then I'd stop and only continue when she was back beside me.  If she didn’t come back beside me, I'd back-pedal 5-10 steps. I consider this a step forward.  I think its better to get more and more behaviors on life rewards.

Kathy suggested I train Gimme through Susan Garrett’s crate games because she’s seen it to have a calming affect on dogs.  Fortunately my friend Chris has that DVD so I can borrow it.  It also occurs to me I need to watch my Control Unleashed DVD set... it has some rev-up-settle-down games that might be helpful for Gimme.

The trick will be transferring this to classes and will very much depend on managing space much better than I've done.  I need to set up so she can deal with the chaos successfully and feel good about the experience.  There are two cubicles that will give us more flexibility and options, so I’ll talk to Ursula about making sure we get one or the other.  One has an outside door so we can always go outside to take a break.  The other is at the foot of the stairs and we could go up to the landing for more space.

Kathy also suggested creating a calming association with the smell of lavender where she sleeps, which I can then spritz on her matt.  Initially I thought of both the bed and the couch, but with it being warmer, the door is open to outside.  Last night I noticed she alerted a couple of times to noises outside and alarm barked once, so I will stick with bed only since she snoozes through the night there.  I love lavender so have a lot of it and can make sachets for the bed and have a perfume that I can use on her bed.

I still feel very bad that I failed my precious darling.  But at least I now have a plan and am optimistic that we can recover lost ground and get over this hump. 

"Woo-hoo" moment

I haven't really talked about what I'm doing with Relaxation Protocol (ala Karen Overall).  Its one of the basics behind Control Unleashed work.  I confess its very boring. In any case, I've been rewarding any laying on her mat, a LOT.  We've done it in many different places and she definitely plants herself the moment she sees her Dal-spotted mat.  If I don't have it, I can also throw down a towel or jacket, or anything really.

Working on RP has been a study in challenging.  This little girl is part pop-up toaster.  If I gave her a "down" and "wait", I'm sure she'd do it, but that's not the point.  The idea behind RP is for her to learn/understand that when she is chilling, that she is safe there and doesn't interact with her environment.  It needs to be a choice she makes, where she decides on her own to chill.

The goal is also for them to be really relaxed in that context, what Leslie McDevitt calls a "rule structure".  Many people strive for their dog to look really zoned out.  I think relaxation is a relative concept.  What would be another dog's "on alert" look is Gimme's "chill".  I think as time goes on she will be more relaxed than she is now, but I doubt this girl will ever get a sleepy-eyed relaxed look.

Anyway, our "Woo-hoo moment" is because today for the very first time, Gimme made it all the way through Day 1 on the first try.  That is HUGE for her.  To be clear, I did it at the end of a training session, so she was not as keyed up as usual.  Still - that's a big break through for us.  Definitely the hardest task for her was me counting out loud.  She was gripping the mat with her feet, but stayed.  Hard work for that girlie brain and she's sound asleep now.

BTW I recently mentioned our training journal.  I used to have it in spiral notebooks, but recently reorganized it and put it in a three ring binder.  I investigated what other people do for training records.  Some are pretty involved, but I knew I'd be unlikely to keep it up if I was too detailed, so I wanted mine to cover just essential information.    I divided the different things we are working on into different categories:

• Basics
• Control Unleashed
• Obedience-Rally
• Freestyle-RallyFrEe-Tricks,
• Nosework-Tracking
• Agility
• Treibball

Each behavior has its own page.  At the top of the page is the verbal cue in large capital letters and a description underneath of what I want the final behavior to look like.  Each time I work on a behavior, I date the entry and describe what I did, what went well, what to try next, etc.  I make note of anything that seems useful.  If the location or conditions were significant, then I put a word or two about that under the date.  Typical entries look like this:

10/23/12 --  Intro ANTI-TARGET
in season    took a bit to get her to
                   understand - used food lure
                   to keep her nose off it & touch
                   various body parts - toward end
                   would pick-up/move for pawing
               -- offered stick w/both ends exposed
                   c/t for touch to bulb only, varied pos.
10/29/12 -- anti-target - much less trying to
in season   target the stick - except at end
                  as Rt/reward dropped


When I'm ready to train, sometimes I flip through the notebook and pick out the things I want to train and plan the whole session in advance, putting a sticky note on each page where I'll need to record what we did.  Other times, I flip through as I go.  For each behavior, I read the last couple of entries before starting, thus I know where we left off and can see what I wanted to do next.  When I finish the session, I leave a sticky note as a tab where I left off for the next time around when I start picking behaviors to train.

This is working for me and I'm pleased with it.  I've never kept a training journal for any length of time, so I'm just pleased to have found a system that I can keep up with.  Given that we have over 60 cues on our list -- its good to be organized.

I'll Probably be Kicked Out of Class -- The Project - Day 17

First, the good news.  My plan for Gimme to get better benefit from the class worked very well.  I had planned to prop the door open so I could work in the hallway, but the instructor objected.  As it turned out, the room we use has a door that adjoins to a small conference room, and the connecting door is right there in the alcove where I set up tonight.  So I propped that door open and Gimme and I spent much time in there.  I kept her in the car until all the dogs had settled down and stopped their barking and growling and such.  Then after she came in the only dog noise she had to contend with was the one that whined through the whole class (the owner has been training with this instructor [Mr. Dinosaur] for over a year, her dog knows almost nothing and is not a happy worker by any stretch of the imagination).

Gimme was able to do a lot of work in the conference room and was showing me some of her best stuff.  Then we'd come out into the alcove just off the main room and work.  Gimme got some peanut butter bones, but didn't need as much as before.  She was able to do some relaxation protocol.  And she was able to play tug with me, which she couldn't do last week.  At one point, we even took one turn heeling around the room "with" the class.  I hugged the wall where I could and was very careful not to get too close to the other dogs (mostly stressed out and handled by clueless people).  When they did fast heeling, we sought a corner and practiced one-step-sit heeling.  Gimme did pretty good.  Overall I was very pleased with how she did.

So, why am I gonna get kicked out of class?  Tonight was problem solving night. 

The instructor is, at best a dinosaur - and I'm only there to take advantage of the opportunity to train in that environment.  I wouldn't use his methods for anything.  I hate that I'm supporting him financially, but I need the environment and there is no place else to go. 

The instructor thinks because he no longer trains using the strict Koehler method that he's a gentle trainer.  He promotes himself as a reward-based trainer, but then on the first night of class said that a prong collar is the original "gentle leader".  He used his 15yo limping dog in a prong collar as the standard to which the class should aspire.  He taught the class how to do a "motivational leash pop", again using his old dog to demo the technique (my heart breaks for poor old Eddie).  Of course, the instructor is completely clueless about how stressed his dog is and makes excuses for his dog aggression problem. 

I've told him before that I thought a "motivational leash pop" makes about as much sense as a "motivational face slap" --- "here, let me demonstrate".  But it doesn't sink in.  He's so far behind the times it would be funny if he wasn't screwing up the relationship between so many people and their poor innocent dogs.  He's been teaching for the City of Olympia parks and recreation for 20 years and hasn't changed a thing.  I keep hoping he'll retire...

I managed to stay silent through all the stupid advice he gave out.  Even though some of it gives the owners a 50-50 chance of getting bitten.  Even though one very young GSD who came to class just out of control, is now coming on a prong collar (upon Mr. Dinosaur's advice), is still out of control, dragging the owner and is now exhibiting the beginnings of aggressive behavior.  I have to admit I almost lost it when he told the woman with the 5 month old miniature poodle, that nips her children when they try to pick it up that, "You should get rid of him and get another dog.  That's inappropriate behavior for a poodle and can never be tolerated.  I'm serious, you should get rid of him."  The kids that are trying to pick the dog up are 5 and 6, so you can imagine the picture of what being "picked up" is like for the dog.

Anyway, I hung around a bit longer after class than I needed to and gave the poodle owner one of Ursula's business cards and suggested she contact her.  Unfortunately the owner of the whiny dog saw me talking to her and will likely report back to Mr. Dinosaur.  I know that's a fo-paw to refer his students to other people, but I'm willing to take my licks.    Actually he probably won't even say anything to me, since he's been enamored of me for years.  I think I could kill someone in class, leave a dead body laying in a pool of blood in the middle of the room and provided I cleaned up the mess at the end of class, he wouldn't say anything.  Honestly I'm not going to test that theory...  <eg>

We walked on the fort today, which Gimme thoroughly enjoyed, not having gotten any walks over the weekend.  Since we got to class earlier than necessary, we took a short walk on the boardwalk before class.

Peach - head under a chair
Gimme still didnt' think the cue for this behavior applied to my white plastic chair.  So we shaped it over again and went through the drill of putting it on cue again.  Then I switched to another chair and started over.  It went a little faster this time, but I realize in hindsight that I didn't go through the drill of putting that chair on cue.  Also I think the session may have lasted too long, because she was acting confused when I tried mixing in other behaviors.  I do know that I sometimes push forward too fast.  So will drop back a bit next time I work this.  Take my time if shaping is needed and re-attach cues to each of them. 

Its good that I get to re-learn this stuff on behaviors where it doesn't matter.

Apple - back into a box, back feet only
Orange - get onto a small perch with all four feet
Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)
Melon - push cube with nose
Not trained today.

The Project - Day 12

Labor day turned into a labor of aggravation. Gimme was outside and barking incessantly, which is not the norm. Looked outside to discover that a passerby was sitting next to my fence with her fear reactive dog. So I called my dogs in and went out to talk with her. I understand she was trying to use the environment to get her dog used to the barking-dog stimuli, but I really don't need to have Gimme practicing that behavior and besides, she was doing it all wrong. I gave her pointers on how to do it better and a referral to a local trainer that can help her.

Then as I tried to go in the house, discovered Gimme had jumped against the front door from inside the house, slamming it shut. That's the door that can't be opened from outside (yet - still trying to fix it). Naturally I hadn't unlatched the back door. So ended up crawling in the window where I'd installed the window fan last night and hadn't yet put in a jimmy bar to keep it from being burgled. Bought 3 new keys today and set two in hiding outside, keeping one for when I have a house-sitter. That blew an hour in the morning and another hour in the evening. After that I went to work.

When I got home, I did a quick refresher course with Gimme on the eye contact game, planning to use it in our distraction training. I teach it the way Chris Bach teaches it, without a verbal cue to start it, rather your posture and attention to the dog is the cue. I used the eye contact game a lot in Michael’s distraction/anxiety training when he was young. I was thinking that it might work well for Gimme. I taught it to her when she was about three months old, but we didn’t get very far with it. She learned just the basic concept and wasn’t really ready for more. During this refresher, she picked up right where she left off and advanced very quickly. So I figured we were right on track to take it on the road.

Not long after that session my Mom called. The plumbing fix I installed last time I was there has been "broken". She admits she was probably yanking on it. I'm betting it wasn't completely seated. They had to shut the water off cuz it was spilling in the house. So between the 1:15 drive each way and at least 2 hours to do the repair the evening was shot to heck and back.

At least Gimme enjoyed the ride - in particular seeing her Grampy, my dad. We also managed a quick eye contact game session while there.

Enter Tuesday. I briefly went to work for just an hour. Then Gimme and I did the distraction training in two different spots in the Albertson’s parking lot. Using the eye contact game went better and faster than using known behaviors. I continue to use ten treats for check-in to warm her up to her environment and continue for the ten even if she indicates she’s ready to work sooner. I’ve found when I start working before the tenth check-in treat, I don’t seem to have her best attention, she’s not as focused.

After that we headed across town to where my chiropractor is and arrived half an hour before my appointment. So I got the safe place crate out and set in up in the shade of a little tree, with her Dalmatian spotted rug inside. I started with the crate because she seemed to need the additional visual barrier to do the relaxation protocol when I first taught it. I’ve decided to teach her to associate the rug with a place to do relaxation protocol. I’ll use it in the crate and then gradually pull it further out until we don’t need the crate.

Naturally right after we set up, the landscaping crew showed up. So we moved a few feet to the sidewalk and she got lots and lots treats for watching them work with their noisy landscaping tools, sometimes pretty close to us. A couple guys stopped and petted her and commented on how beautiful she is. You wouldn’t believe how many people think she can’t be a Dalmatian because of the "brown" spots. Gimme did really well with the lawn equipment and wasn’t much concerned. After they moved further away, we did a brief session of relaxation protocol, then she went back in the car as I went in for my appointment.

After that we headed out to the fort for our Tuesday walk. Gimme did better there with our getting out of the car routine using the eye contact game than she has in the past using known behaviors. Right as we were doing eye contact, a Blackhawk helicopter came in for a short field landing, passing overhead and about 30 feet to one side. Gimme only glanced at it and then went right back to work. If we ever go to an obedience trial on a helicopter glide path, we’ll be set to win our classes. I’m just saying…

Grape - dead bug (on back, feet in the air)
She made good progress holding herself on her back. I give her one or two to get started, then hold out for the better ones. She continues to offer this when she wants my attention or wants to change the subject. What a goof…

Melon - push cube with nose
We trained this first. It takes Gimme quite awhile to get past her foot interaction, but once she does she quite consistently pushes with her nose. I’m rewarding that with big jackpots and it seems to help. She has built in a down and then low-crawl up to push it with her nose, much of the time. For now I’m ignoring that and hoping it will go away when she is more consistently using her nose earlier in the session, since the down only shows up toward the end of the sessions. I’ll make sure it isn’t part of the iterations that I put a cue on.

Apple - back into a box, back feet only
Orange - get onto a small perch with all four feet
Peach - head under a chair
Not trained today.