NW Practice & Public Dog (25 & 26)

Monday's Public Dog class was at Lowe's and Miss Gimme was not mentally present.  I lose one to two days when she is in season.  I just worked on attention and by the end of class I had a bit of really nice focused work.  When I could, I wandered away from the group and meandered over to electrical to get something I needed - rewarding Gimme for attention along the way.  I think relieving the pressure of the proximity of other dogs helped a lot. 

When we got back to the group, the task we did the best on was to pick an aisle and walk around and around and around the same aisle, clicking and treating as we went.  The idea was that each time we were walking the same area, so it would be less and less distracting and the dogs should be able to go further between clicks.  The goal was to see how infrequent we could get the c/t, the ultimate goal to get around with just one c/t.  Our first aisle had guys working on shelving at the other end, so I moved over an aisle.  Despite her mental condition, Gimme was able to go all the way around on one c/t. 

Wednesday we met Susan and Tucker for nosework practice.  I set tins low on the uprights of the fencing around a tennis court.  Diagram shows black dots for fencing uprights, purple for odor and orange for prime pee places.  When I devised this plan, my idea was to give the dogs multiple low and easy hides.  First we went in one direction and then took a brief break (walking the dogs out far enough and offering them the opportunity to potty).  We first searched coming in from the right and even though we couldn't detect the breeze, both dogs would over-shoot odor by a foot and come back to it.  I hadn't planned for the pee distraction, but realized as we were doing it that the distraction was there.  Its feasible to run into it in a trial, so certainly worth training through.

After the potty break Gimme tried to pull a fast one, running to the nearest post and indicating before sniffing.  It was kind of funny as she then brought her nose down and realized there was nothing there.  After that she checked very carefully.  Tucker had the opportunity to work through his greatest distraction BALLS!!!  There were kids playing ball in a field really close and he was strongly attracted to them, got very aroused and had to let it go to work.

Our second search set was also a bunch of low hides in an area of landscaping.  I set the first two hides on two posts with a chain between them (to keep people from driving on the park grass), then four in the landscaping.  As I was setting the other hides, I saw someone walk their dog along and it peed on the post right where I'd placed the odor.  I was glad that I had placed that one about 12" off the ground, so the tin didn't actually get peed on.  I'm sure those two posts and the one tree were prime pee spots for dog walkers.  So both dogs got to work through that distraction yet again.  

So while the hides were easy, the distractions were hard.  Happily neither Gimme or Tucker even tried to mark over any of the pee-mail they found.

Today we had Public Dog class at Ursula's new training building and got a tour of the new facilities.  It is very nice.  The kennels consist of a separate room for each dog.  Ursula reports that most dogs are much happier and calmer in these.  The floors are heated concrete.  There are still the traditional chain link kennels for those dogs that object to the isolation.  There are now two large play yards and they have plans to add four smaller play yards.  There is circulating air exchange for each room.  They have electronic combination locks at each door for security for the boarders.  It will be interesting to see which Gimme prefers.  I think the rooms would be less stressful; on the other hand, she may not like the social isolation.

The training room is upstairs and about twice as big as the building we've been using.  Today we did exercises to wean the dogs (and ourselves) off treats on our person.  Gimme was a little distracted by the totally new environment, but got into working nicely.  We did three sequences.

1. With treats placed on chairs at each end of the room, we each practiced LLW in a zig zag path around a series of small room dividers.  Ursula reminded us of the human tendency to wait until we are close to the food to mark and then reward.  It is as much our reliance on food as it is the dog's that we have to wean away from.  I was third, so picked a bit of good LLW to "yes" and then raced to the food stations.  Gimme thought that was fun.
2. Using the dividers to form two "gates" we practiced having the dog go through and then reorient to us, marking it and then returning to the nearest chair.  Again, we each showed our reliance on food by tending to non-verbally require another behavior when we got to the food, before giving the dog the treat they'd earned at the gates. Gimme totally knows this behavior at home, as she basically pivots through the gate to end facing me for her treat.  I realized that one reason she doesn't transfer the behavior to class and other locations may be that I don't use the "g'won" cue at home - so she sees them as separate things.
3. The last exercise was to place two treats on each chair and leave our treat bag in our chair.  Then we'd walk to the center of the room, cue a behavior the dog knows well, verbally mark it and walk to a chair to give one treat.  Then repeat three times.  I cued "down", "touch", "sit-wait" and walk around, and "grape".  Gimme did really well with this and was the only dog who clearly understood that a verbal marker still counts even when the food is 25 feet away.  You could tell whether the dog understood by observing their body language when they heard the marker.  Of course, we've done a similar exercise a long time ago.  Interesting though, when she realized that was the game we were playing, she voluntarily slipped into heel position on the way to the chair.

I'm thinking she got her brain back...

Soccer Mom (Agility, PD24 & NW 4/15)

I've often said that keeping up with all Gimme's activities makes me feel like a soccer mom.  I know her schedule takes up much more room on my calendar than my own stuff does.

Tuesday we had agility class.  The last four times we've gotten to class, Blynn always comments about how much Gimme has matured.  When she said the same thing this week, I told her she'd said that several times before... to which she replied that she always strives for consistency.

Gimme was very good this week.  She had a couple episodes of running amuck, they almost always happen when I'm trying to get her to set up for the start.  Blynn recommended something that worked quite well.  She recommended using our hand touches, which Gimme is very good at and likes to do.  In particular she recommended doing multiples back and forth between both hands.  Gimme thought that was really fun, it really got her attention and she didn't care at all that she wasn't getting a treat.

On all our runs, Gimme did such a good job that Blynn was able to focus on my handling.  Honestly my handling has gotten pretty bad while Gimme was still so green.  Now she is really ready to take more responsibility for what we are doing... so if I get my handling right she does it right about 95% of the time.  Trouble is that she really wants to work at a greater distance than I ever done before, so that is a whole new way of working for me and a huge learning curve.

There are some times I need her to come in close to do something, so we need to work on that more, until she is comfortable with it.  Still, she picks it up so quickly in class.  Tonight we had one of those sequences and the first time she didn't get in there for the jump.  The second time she did, but it was awkward.  The third time was flawless.

In any case, Gimme is much better at agility than I have any right to expect.  I almost never train her outside of class and yet she picks up things so quickly that Blynn thinks we practice all the time (I'm not telling her the truth).  Gimme is very athletic, so this all comes pretty naturally to her.  It helps a lot that APHS handling is so intuitive.  

Wednesday night was nosework and we met in a park.  We did two container searches on the grass.  Gimme was good at containers, got her odor and ignored the distractions.  I was pleased that she did not pee either.  Sadly, her box trashing was back with a vengeance.  I'm not worried, it'll come.  Then we did an exterior drill... She got that one VERY FAST... and didn't use her paws, but found the odor tin on the underside of the grill and bumped it repeatedly with her nose.  So much so that she actually moved it several inches.  I wonder if they have a fault for aggressive nose bumping.  <eg>

Today was Public Dog class again and Gimme did very well.  We played a recall game, Come and Get It.  The game is that you cue "come" and the dog bumps your fist, then you toss the reward from that hand in their same direction of travel, while cuing "get it" (a lot like ping pong treats).  Then you call them, have them touch the other fist and throw the treat in the other direction.  Its an easy way to get in a huge number of recalls in no time at all.  The idea is that the dog doesn't have to collect their stride as they are coming toward you, so you are encouraging and training a fast recall.  Unfortunately, even with the cue to "get it", you are also repeating a LOT of nose on the ground, which became evident later. 

We were using it to get the dogs used to working around other moving dogs.  Our first round of about 20 recalls was done with Frank and Tor as our distraction, about 8 feet away, also playing the same game.  Gimme was fine with that.  Then we did all the dogs at once, moving Gimme to about 15 feet away from Tor.  She did well, but I noticed after about 15 repeats she would pause to look at the other dogs before coming to me.  That told me she was getting concerned, so I switched things up and had her do several "front" recalls.  That seemed to help and then did the come and get it again.  After 15, again the pauses and again I did "front" and then we ended with 10 more come and get it.

After that we did some loose leash walking drills.  I spent most of the time encouraging her to get her nose up off the ground.  Not only had she just been cued to get the treats off the ground 60 times, but we were now working where the other people had been tossing treats.  So it took a bit to work through it.

Gimme and I are both tired tonight.  We spent 2 hours outside this morning before class and then another 3 hours this afternoon after class.  I was working on some gutter cleaning and repairs.  After at least 40 trips up and down the ladder, I was ready to lay down and die.  Then Mary called and we met her and Grafton for a walk around the lake.  Its been a full day.

Tomorrow we'll be meeting Susan and Tucker after work for a nosework practice.  I'm going to set the hides up before I go to work and then we'll run them after Susan gets off work.  So they'll be out around 7 hours, depending on what time we get over there to practice.  Then I'll be home to resume gutter fun.

Public Dog (23) & Pictures

Class today was particularly good, though I admit I had some serious doubts to begin with.  To start Gimme had no focus, but then when we started working she got into it and did well.  She hates to be bored and loves a good challenge.  The challenge that caught her attention was LLW from the asphalt of an open tennis court onto the grass, without going into sniffing mode.  We've worked on cement or asphalt pads a lot lately, so some of the dogs have decided that they work there and are off duty on grass. 

The thing that worked was a change that Ursula suggested.  When I walk forward and Gimme forges or sniffs, I stop and start backing up.  Ursula suggested I turn and walk the other way to make it clearer.  I don't know that it made it clearer, so much as it was just different.  We've done the backing up technique a lot and its always worked, but sometimes Gimme just isn't inclined to focus.  This basically puts the responsibility on her to pay attention, because I walk further and faster.

Its like a cross between my oppositional walking (going the opposite direction that the dog is pulling, but while still facing in the original direction) and the Koehler method.  The way it differs from Koehler is that he recommending turning and running, so the dog got a substantial correction.  This is just calmly walking.  Anyway it worked.  I won't abandon what I've been doing, but will certainly keep this in mind for when it doesn't work.  Sometimes it helps to change things up.

Then we moved into the fenced in tennis court.  I went the long way around to close the gate at the other end and glad I did, since Gimme pooped on the way.  Which probably explains her earlier distraction.  Once inside we practiced our cued turns to warm up. 

Then we did a solo exercise.  We all stood at one end and then one at a time, walked our dog on a loose leash (butler style) to a spot on the side of the court (about 25 feet from where the teams were waiting), cued the dog to sit, c/t, took off our treats and left them there, then walked a large p-shaped pattern, returned to where the treat bag was left, cued a down, c/t, then walked back to our place in the line-up.  The second time we did it without a leash.  The layout looked like this...

The first time Gimme did it flawlessly.  The second time, she started to stray toward the poodle as we were returning to our place in line, but returned to me when I called her by name and finished without a hitch.  So all in all it was a good class and confidence building.  Gimme is improving a lot in these classes. 

BTW Ursula told me my task in subsequent classes is to maintain the same pace and not adjust to Gimme.  If Gimme gets going too fast, I'm supposed to slow down or stop.  I wasn't aware that I'd been doing that, but don't doubt it.  That's a real common tendency.

Later we got a call from Mary and met her and Grafton out on the fort's training area for a nice long walk.  Gimme and Grafton thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. 

Here is a couple of cute pictures from our weekend at the hotel.

This would be Gimme hinting that its time for another walk (mere minutes after returning from the last one).

This is Gimme disgusted beyond words that I can't take a simple hint.  Seriously!

This is her lounging across the foot of the bed after we did a short training session.  Finally some attention paid to her.

Yah, right...

Public Dog (21 & 22)

A quick update on classes this week and then, yet another confession.  Gimme continues to progress.  Monday was class at a park in a tennis court.  We did some LLW and then practiced a cued turn.  I don't have a reason to use a cued turn and really don't think dogs need them.  So I just used the time to strengthen "ready", which is Gimme's cue that its time to focus on me (and look at me).  By using that cue, she'd look up and then couldn't miss which direction I was turning. 

Yesterday it turned out that Susan (with Harley) and me (with Gimme) were the only ones in class.  We ended up teaching our dogs something new.  It wasn't really new for us, since Gimme already knows "hip" and "thigh" (left/right heel w/ automatic sit).  Still I went along with the exercise and worked on teaching it the way Ursula recommended, based on luring.  I don't find luring very effective for Gimme the vast majority of the time.  She gets stuck on the lure and has difficulty letting go of it.  This exercise was no exception.

Now the confession...

I have discovered that Gimme's understanding of "heel" has really deteriorated - temporarily nonexistent.  At first I thought it was the distraction of the class location, but quickly discovered it pretty much applies to any situation.   I realized that when we first attended Public Dog, Gimme was really distracted and couldn't do LLW.  Since her heel behavior was stronger, I used my non-verbal cue (hand at my waist) to get her to walk with me on a loose leash.  That would have been okay, except I didn't think it through.  Even though it was okay to c/t for any loose leash walking in that distracting environment, I should have shaped back to the precise standard for heel and I didn't.  So Gimme's understanding is that previous cues to "heel" (non-verbal and sometimes verbal when I'd get caught up because Ursula calls her precision walking "heel") now mean LLW.  I can't blame that on Gimme or the Public Dog classes -- its all mine to own up to.

I've also lost her attentiveness.  In Public Dog classes I've been focusing on teaching her to chill out and just be calm - more like Relaxation Protocol.  That's not her normal state -- she'd rather be working the whole time.  In rewarding calm-looking behaviors and relaxed looking around, I'm also not-rewarding attention - thus I'm getting more looking around and less attention.  She's not misbehaving, just inattentive to me, disconnected and calmly waiting.  So, in thinking it over, it makes sense that she believes that is what I want when we are out and about, because that is what I've been rewarding all summer.  Duh...

I need both from Gimme.  Heeling and loose leash walking.  Working attention and ability to be calm in distracting/challenging environments.  I have no doubt Gimme can learn each of these different criteria - I just have to be clear and consistent.  She can only learn what I am clearly teaching and consistently rewarding.

I tried in classes to work on this, to no avail.  I tried a quick session before class, with no luck.  I tried in a parking lot (not connected to class), no success.  Since those frustrating experiences, I realized I would have to start over naming the position... beginning in the seclusion of my living room.  And likewise, I'll have to go back and regain the beautiful attention I had.  I did a session this morning with about 20 treats.  And halfway through I had to remind her to "wait" before I'd move from one position to another (heel, front, side) or she'd try to maintain it.  So it looks like we'll get heel back reasonably fast.  

You have to be smarter than a dog to train one...

Public Dog (19 & 20)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy 3rd Birthday...

Sadly I had the camera settings all wrong, so these are not the best of pictures, but I hope you enjoy them all the same.  I also planned to get a picture of Gimme's six new toys, but "someone" has already spread them all over the yard.  The quilt you see is the one I made for her using the fabric in the colors she picked out.  Clearly Gimme has an inspired fashion sense...

We've already had a busy day, starting with meeting Frank and Tor for a five and a half mile walk this morning.  She does well with Tor and pretty much ignored the three other dogs we saw, as well as bikers, joggers, skateboarders, and walkers.

She did say she thought Tor should bow down before the Empress of the Cosmos on her birthday.  Unfortunately he's a big hairy guy, not at all cultured, and doesn't know how to bow, much less when he should.

After that we had a break at home before going to Public Dog class (19).  Class was focused on walking on a loose leash, getting ready for off leash walking.  We start by walking "butler style", with the leash draped over our forearm.

The room had two dogs on one side and four on the other, with us one of the four at the farthest end.  There was about 20 feet between the two sides of the room.  Gimme was very comfortable the whole time and even volunteered a bit of "whazzat" when one dog got a bit out of control and too close for comfort.

We had three turns:

• Walking butler style between the two groups of dogs, the length of the room and back,
• Parallel walking butler style with a team consisting of a black Lab she doesn't know, down the room and back, between the two groups of dogs (which put us closer to the dogs on our side),
• And last, walking the length of the room and dropping the leash altogether after a few feet.  Ursula walked behind us and was ready to step on the leash if a dog started to leave their handler, while Elizabeth was positioned to body block in the most distracting spot (different for each dog). 

Gimme did very well with these.  She did start to distract and Ursula did step on her leash... which in reality acted like a leash pop - so I was glad it was attached to her harness, not the collar.

Lastly they set up two stations.

One was Elizabeth with her dog Angel (who they use as a neutral dog - even though she doesn't like other dogs), who we were to work through walking around in butler style. First we did it with Gimme on the outside and then with her on the inside.  She needed a few reminders, but did quite well walking around her with such a small amount of space.

The other station was to practice precision walking on stairs.  The dogs are supposed to walk with us keeping their front feet no higher (going up) or no lower (going down) than our most forward foot.  Its been a very long time since we've done this, but with one little reminder, Gimme got right into the swing of it.

Clearly a girl with both Beauty & Brains...

Public Dog (18)

The break week has passed and we were back in class today, in the park. Gimme did really well.  She was well focused from the moment we got out of the car.  I let her walk to the working area using the whole leash, provided she kept it loose.  Once we got to where everyone was gathered, she was ready to get to work.

Most of the class was working on our secondary reinforcers.  They are reinforcers that we have conditioned so we can reward behavior without using food (not to be confused with a reward marker, which is also technically a secondary reinforcer).  Our best one is me saying "woohoo" in a really excited tone.  We are also working on slapping my thigh.  Basically you condition a SR the same way you condition the clicker, being careful to pair with a primary reinforcer at least 80% of the time.

Our task was to do a sequence of three:

• cue "sit", word marker, food reward
• cue "touch", word marker, secondary reinforcer
• cue "down", word marker, food reward

We did this sequence at least three times, and making sure once or more was with one of the instructors observing.  Elizabeth observed us the first time and pointed out that Gimme has shown a lot more excitement upon hearing "woohoo" before and she suggested I pump up my own energy.  I did and it worked well.  She also noticed that I was tending to reach for treats before I said the word marker.

Then we repeated the sequence, again three times, and with an instructor observing, but using another of our secondary reinforcers.   This time I used the thigh slap.  Ursula observed us and noted Gimme wasn't very excited by the thigh slap - I told her we were only in the beginning stage of creating it as an SR.  She also noted that I was reaching to my treat bag too early and suggested I turn it to the side or the back (soooo awkward).  Anyway, we got that right.

For the last exercise they set up two distractions about 30 feet apart and we indivdually got chances to loose leash walk our dogs around the distractions.  We started walking a race track with the dogs on the outside.  Then as they showed they were ready for more intensity, we changed up the pattern to sometimes put the dog on the inside. 

The two distractions were:

1. Ursula sitting cross-legged on the ground.  At first quietly and then as the dog showed they were ready, doing sweet talk to the dog.
2. A baby stroller with a lifelike doll in it and a phone playing a crying baby app.  

The goal is again the auto leave-it, just like we did for the person in a wheel chair.  We are teaching the dogs to wait to be released to investigate or go say "hi".   We used body blocking to stop them when they tried to go to the distraction.  When the dog is on the inside, the body blocking basically turns into a small circle until you are again moving around the distraction.

The crying baby stroller distraction was not that hard for Gimme.  I don't recall that she's been around strollers before, she was more intrigued by the weird sound than anything.  So she was driven by curiosity and that wasn't too intense for her.

However, Ursula sitting on the ground level was REEEEEEALLY HARD for Miss Gimme.  She has always adored Urs and having her down at face level was about the highest intensity distraction she has ever experienced.  She was wagging her whole back end so hard at the mere thought of the possibility, I feared we might loose some of her spots.  Once Gimme figured out this was just more of Ursula being naughty, she did a good job mostly ignoring her.

Then Ursula started talking "Hi girlie girl, aren't you the cutest ever".  I thought Gimme was going to split a seam.  She wanted to smother Urs in kisses sooooo bad.  She was able to restrain all of her body, except her tongue.  She'd turn her head about 20 degrees and repeatedly did "air kisses" toward her as we'd pass by the front of Ursula. It really was very funny.

Overall she did great in class and is really learning a lot.  She has interestingly learned to not pee while we are working, though when the need arises, she gets really distracted and will pull to the side.  We did this whole class on the park lawn and she never peed there.  I've gotten really good at reading when she needs to go.  I used to think all her "marking" was just that.  But I do notice in classes and such that she needs to go more often and more urgently, so I think she also has stress pees.  As long as I am tending to her needs for pee breaks, she does really well.  The last time we had class, I twice saw her start to squat and then catch herself and stop without peeing and then just let me know that I needed to take her "over there" so she could do her "business".  I'm really pleased to see this, since it will take some of the angst out of the situation for exterior nosework searches.

Another thing I've realized...  You'll remember at the beginning of the Public Dog classes, Ursula suggested I needed to teach Gimme to not be so familiar in her affections when we are out in public.  The thing to do was the body blocking - i.e. moving slightly into her space when she intruded on mine.  Urs suggested that I make sure to give her plenty of tactile rewards to satisfy her needs, but in a more appropriate way.  So I've basically taught her squishing - standing perpendicular to me and leaning against my legs and I scratch her chest with one hand while petting her side with the other.

Ursula assured me that restricting our PDAs would not affect how Gimme behaved with me at home.  Actually that has not been the case.  I've noticed recently that she no longer insists on giving me hugs and kisses when I am putting on my socks and shoes each morning.  She now brings me toys and tries to engage me in play, but no hugs and kisses.  That made me really sad because I love those moments with her - its something we've done since she was a little bitty puppy.  Fortunately I have learned that if I lean back half laying on the couch and throw my arms open wide, she will come in to hug and kiss me.  Gimme just needs the invitation now.  This hasn't affected our evening cuddles...

After class we went over to visit Mary and Grafton.  We had planned to take the kids to the fort's training area this morning, but they were all closed down.  They haven't gotten to play together for at least a month.  Mary said that Grafton has been mopey for a couple of weeks and she thinks he misses playing with his girlfriend.  Gimme was happy to see her boy and especially thrilled to pointedly ignore him.  She really liked his Kong Wubba, more to keep him from having it than to actually do anything with it.

I'm going to get her one to toss around in the yard.  I figure there is a good chance she won't want the one I buy, in which case Mary and I have worked out a deal.  We'll let her steal Grafton's and then I'll give them the new one.  Who says I'm not smarter than a dog?

Public Dog (17)

First, I'm rereading "When Pigs Fly" by Jane Killion.  I wanted to review some of her excellent ideas.  I was fascinated to realize how often she talks about Gimme in her book, which was written in 2007, many years before my girlie was born.  At one point she says of pigs-fly dogs, "You are not going to get a Gimme when it comes to attention."  How did she know that Gimme would have such good attention skills (well, most of the time).  She mentions her many times in the book, but this one really stood out to me.  <g>

Today in Public Dog class Gimme did so well - the best she's done since we started this ten week round of classes.  I was careful with management - especially so after going in the training room to set up and having Max (giant Schnauzer) go off on me.  He's unpredictably reactive and his owner just corrects him for it, but isn't really working on the issues that set  him off.  So I made sure there was a good visual barrier between where we were setting up and where his owner was sitting with him.  I absolutely wasn't going to risk him going off when Gimme was near.

Our exercises were interesting and challenging.  First we were to walk a figure 8 with a dish of french fries for one pole and a person in a wheelchair for the other AND we were not supposed to cue "leave it".  One of the goals for this class is to get such things on an auto-leave-it when the dogs are working.  We were supposed to body block any attempt to engage either.  Obviously we want the dogs to be friendly and comfortable with people in wheelchairs, but we also don't want them to assume they are free to greet any person they see.   As it was set up, there was also the man with the creepy shepherd sitting nearby to observe, so Gimme had to walk between them and the person in the wheelchair.

I was very pleased with how she did.  It took a couple reminders to start with to get her into LLW mode, but then she was really very good.  As we went back in the building, they remote rang the doorbell - which was of no interest to Gimme, unlike two other dogs that had a barking fit.

After that we did a session in a cordoned off section of the room with Ursula for "join up".  I'm not totally sold on the concept of this, but still it can't hurt and Gimme enjoys the treats.  Once she realized I was going to pay with peanut butter, she was almost unable to be distracted from me.  That is no small feat given that Ursula was using a whole jar of peanut butter (opened) to distract her.  After that we went out to repeat the exercise in the fenced in play yard.  By then Gimme realized Ursula was back to her old tricks of trying to distract her but never paying up... so she did really well and didn't fall for it (well hardly ever).

Then we did a session with Elizabeth and her dog as one post and the food as the other post, again with the man and creepy shepherd observers.  So LLW between Elizabeth and her dog and the man and the shepherd was a significant task.  I cut the space in half and paid well the moment after we passed between them, so the second time Gimme never even looked at them.

Then Elizabeth had us stop and she cued her dog to bark for us.  That's a special trigger for Gimme and I didn't expect it to go well.  However, it was a single controlled bark and she barely took notice of it.  We were able to get within about 6 feet and she was still able to "whazzat" for a treat.  Then we lined up for down stays and rewarded the dogs heavily for staying put as Elizabeth heeled by with her dog.  Gimme did great.  She did not do as well when she went behind us.  In her defense the poop bucket was between us and the wall and when they detoured around it, their their line of motion changed so it was headed more toward us.  I made sure when I reset her in the down that I moved her a couple feet forward and the next time she did great.

Then Elizabeth cued her dog to get crazy with active play and barking.  That was almost too much for Gimme and I had to move her a little further away.  With a little more distance she was able to work through it nicely - about ten feet away.  Given that kind of thing is very difficult for her, it was a huge achievement.  We ended with a short session of all the dogs LLW around randomly in the play yard.  After all the other exercises, this was pretty easy for Gimme.

All in all it was a very challenging class and I was totally happy with how Gimme did.  She got stuck once or twice, but her recovery was excellent.  She was quiet and content up until I had to leave to meet friends at the Freedom Shootout.  I left her loose in the house for what turned out to be 4.5 hours (the longest time I've done this) and she was a good girl (she likes having light classical music playing on the TV).  I think she is showing that she has fully recovered from our earlier discombobulation and is ready to work on some of the bigger challenges.

An interesting note from the Freedom Shootout -- where we got to shoot trap, which I hadn't done in 20 years and have a major bruise already coloring up.  We got to shoot some practice rounds with an instructor to coach us and the one I got was very good.  He figured out right away that I am left-eye-dominant, so was able to tell me what to do to correct for it.  As he talked I was reminded of stuff Lanny Bassham says in his book "With Winning in Mind".

Its not at all easy to keep your mind out of the way and to go with your unconscious mind.  I was thinking as my instructor was talking about how easy it is for us to go on a sort of auto-pilot when we are free-shaping a behavior.  If you wait to consciously note the behavior, your click is always too late.  So, I found if I treated pulling the trigger like clicking a clicker, that it went much better.  After that, for my round I hit 17 out of 25.

I understand that is considered very good and people who shoot a lot don't do that well much of the time.  One guy at our table had shot 23 the first round and 3 the next... so I beat him percentage-wise and he shoots all the time (I was uncharacteristically gracious and didn't say anything).  Still the word got around and a few people came up and congratulated me on doing so well.  I don't know of any other sport where a 68% success rate is considered good - I've gotten so used to dog sports where the standard for success even at the lowest level is much higher.

Public Dog (16)

Today we had class in the park and focused on the task of meeting/greeting another person with a dog.  We started with parallel paths, with every other team going the opposite direction.  To begin with the lanes for the teams were 20' apart.  We had three scheduled "breaks" for the dogs/handlers to disperse, give the dogs a sniff and potty break and relieve the pressure.  It looked something like this...

To start we each heeled in our lane to the other end,  and then turn and sat our dogs.  We repeated that a couple of times, bringing the lanes a little closer.

The next variation was to stop in the middle (the long grey box) and place our dog in a stay.  This too was repeated a couple of times, bringing the lanes a little closer.  For this and every exercise - after the stay, we all heeled to the end of our lane, turned and sat our dogs.

Then we stopped while pretending to shake hands with the person on either side of us.  We were still about 12 feet apart, so it was just getting the dogs used to our hand motion and that we might seem to turn our attention away from them.  Again repeating and bringing the lanes a little closer.   Two of the younger dogs broke their stays, but not Gimme.

Our last version was to bring them even closer and then actually step away from our dogs to touch the finger tips of the person on either side, one at a time.  This was a much harder challenge for the dogs and by this time we were only 8 feet apart.

Gimme did well all along until just the very end.  During the last break, a person came to the park with his large dog and that really bothered Gimme.  He was at least 100 feet away, but Gimme didn't like that "intruder".  She always has difficulty with sudden environmental change.  So five dogs sharing a 32 foot line is okay with her, but add another 100 feet away after she has accepted "her" group, and that is decidedly not okay.  We did a lot of "whazzat".

Gimme was okay with me moving away from her to touch fingers with Frank, until Tor moved toward me (he probably thought I had something in that outstretched hand that he needed to know about).  We did all these exercises without ever taking our attention from our dogs, so I saw Gimme get up and was able to step back to her.  I reset her and did some "whazzat" to reassure her, then we repeated the attempt, taking it slower and Frank made sure Tor stayed put that time.  Gimme did well and was rewarded copiously.

We did one more walk and stopped to end with an easy stay.  Frank was out of line and when he realized it he moved up to get aligned with the rest of us.  That was just the final straw for Gimme and I heard a little "grrrr" from her.  I just moved her a couple feet farther away and we played copious amounts of "whazzat" until she just wasn't interested any more.  Her little brain was all used up, so I wanted to make sure we ended on a good note.  That was the last line up and class was over.

I discovered an interesting hole in our training.  I can put Gimme on a stay and walk away from her and she's pretty darn solid.  But, if we are heeling and I stop and don't give her any more direction - she'll get up from the sit.  Also if we are heeling, I stop and give her a "wait" cue, but don't leave her - pretty soon she'll get up from the sit.  I didn't try it, but if I leave her on a sit "wait", go away and then return, and don't release her - I'm betting she'll release herself.  That's something I never thought to teach her and something we'll have to work on.

Public Dog (15)

This day did not have an auspicious start.  We were awakened by the painters at 7:00 a.m. scraping the woodwork around my bedroom windows.  Needless to say, Gimme was alarm barking and really wasn't going to settle down.  So I got up early, checked through windows to make sure all the gates were closed and then went out to say a sleepy (and grumpy) "hello".  Have I mentioned that I'm not a morning person?

I worked briefly at some of the work I had started the day before, so the things would be dry when I was ready for them later.  Gimme had great fun "supervising"... though not one of the workers would let her kiss them appropriately.  My plan had been to take her to a Fort Lewis training area for an off-leash romp.  Unfortunately none of the training areas we can use were available today - that almost never happens.

Instead I drove her to the next section of the Western Chehalis trail ("next" being defined by my goal to walk all of the rails-to-trails in the county).  Gimme had a very hard time focusing and LLW was not on her agenda either.  Still I persevered and by about half way through the walk she was doing much better.  Basically I went back to basics.

When we got home she got to spend some more time supervising the workers, while I was working on some general sorting, cleaning, discarding, etc. of accumulated junk.  In the course of painting my house, they had to pull everything away from the house and thus its suddenly obvious how much stuff is laying around.  My car port had become a huge repository for all things junk, so that is another large sorting project...  Built into the price of the house-painting is an extra dump run to haul off anything I want to get rid of, so I'm motivated to really go at it.  Since this project started, the guy who had started the yard project has bailed on me.  So the house painting crew has grown by some more workers, who are doing a yard make-over.  They are taking out some different "trees" (two of which were originally bushes), along with all the blackberry vines and excess ivy that had taken over part of my yard.  That alone will enlarge the useable yard space by 30 percent.  Its a big project that is definitely in the ugly phase right now - but its going to be really nice once its all done.  I think Gimme will enjoy having a larger personal domain.

At one point they had to have the gates open to load the trailer with some of the yard debris, so Gimme had to be in the house.  Since I wanted to keep going with the momentum I had for the de-junkafying, that meant she had to be alone.  Naturally I'm not concerned about her being alone normally, but did worry that any scraping and other noises might bother her.  So I lowered all the blinds and turned the TV to a classical country station, with the volume up... in hopes that would allow her to rest and not be bothered by outside noises.  Since she was snoozing on the couch when I came in, I guess I was successful.

I really didn't expect much of her for Public Dog class.  With all the uproar and resulting stress from our day, I figured she would not be in a good frame of mind to deal with class and I was prepared to leave early if necessary.  Actually she did really well.  I made it a point to approach training from the basics/beginning and work up from there.  I even went so far as to "charge" the clicker at the start of class.  The approach worked well and she got up to her normal capability pretty quickly. 

Our class projects were to work on "wall" (sit close to and leaning against a wall), then down stays while a wheelchair moved into position, then "stand" to be petted and maneuvering so the dog was easy for a compromised person to reach and pet.  Gimme really did well with all of those.  We worked on duration "pretty" - still building core strength for that.  Along with attention exercises and practicing "chill", which was not as successful, but she wasn't amped up either. 

BTW - charging the clicker when Gimme is clearly clicker savvy may seem like overdoing it, but it is something Morgan Spector recommends for the start of every training session.  He promotes it as an easy and quick way to get the dog into a training frame of mind; he calls it "priming the pump".  She certainly was more focused than I ever expected, so I think I'm going to start doing that at the beginning of all our on-leash walks and basically any training we do in a distracting or challenging environment. 

Overall I was very happy with how she did.  I'd really like to get in an off-leash romp before the weekend, so cross your fingers that a suitable training area is available for us tomorrow.  And remember to keep crossing your spare body parts for our ORT on Sunday.

The Weekend & Public Dog (14)

We spent the weekend at my parents' house.  It was pretty crazy all weekend.  I don't know how my 82yo mother takes care of my father who is almost 85, in declining health and has Alzheimer's.  It was chaotic and tiring for me.

We had a little excitement on Saturday at dusk.  We were all watching TV when Dad said, "Gloria, look at that!" And there it was... a HUGE Barred Owl, sitting on top of the bird feeder. It sat there at least 20 minutes - long enough for me to run over to get Scott, hoping he had his camera, since mine was at home. Finally she dove to the ground and caught something for a light meal. Mom is really hoping the meal was not one of her squirrel friends...  We didn't have a camera available... but this is what it looks like.  I was surprised to see how big it was.  I found on the internet that the females are much larger, up to 2.5 pounds.  The one we had visiting was easily that big, if not larger, so that's why I refer to it as "she".

Gimme came in later to entertain everyone.  She ran through her whole repertoire of tricks and even showed off the new one we are working on, "jumbo", where she backs onto a perch and spins around (like elephants do in a circus, hence the name).  She has the backing-on solid, since she's always been very back foot aware and confident.  But until then I had never gotten the spin without luring it.  I'll be darned if she didn't do the spin the moment I said "spin".  I think she just likes having an audience.

Today was our out-and-about Public Dog class - held at Petsmart.  I decided in advance that I would treat it as one giant attention training exercise.  We spent a lot of time outside as a group... working the first exercise.  While we were waiting our turn, Gimme did whine some and so I put her to work doing some tricks and that settled her down.  I think standing around not-doing is frustrating to her.  On a positive note, doing a few tricks works and she is able to then go for longer and longer without whining.  I could have worse problems than a dog that really wants to train all the time.

The exercise was LLW without sniffing, using the uprights on either side of the door where many dogs had clearly marked.  We walked by and body-blocked the dogs when they attempted to sniff.  I'm pretty good at body-blocking, but not so good at relieving the pressure.  I see her give way, but there's a huge lag time between me seeing and being able to change my motion to relieve that pressure.  I think next time I'm just going to block-then-unblock in one continuous motion... because Gimme is so good at giving up the space, that if I just assume she will give it up, my unblock "response" will be more timely.

Then we went inside and I quickly got separated from the group.  So Gimme and I just walked the aisles, practicing not sniffing, being attentive and LLW.  She was most intrigued by the rodent, bird and fish food aisles.  IE... "intrigued" means "challenged".   I did have to bring out the peanut butter to help motivate her to resist that level and duration of distraction.  But... I was able to give it randomly.  Overall I was very pleased with how she did.  I plan to go back from time to time on my own.  It'll be a great place to train with distractions in the winter.

The small poodle showed up late again, but this time Gimme didn't pay much attention to it.  I think since there was a fairly constant stream of dogs coming and going, it didn't seem as big of a deal to her. 

And, kudos to me - I think I did a good job managing her proximity and exposure to the other dogs.  She did well and only got sticky from time to time.  She is contentedly snoozing as we speak.

Nosework (5/14) & Public Dog (14)

It was pretty hot for nosework class, so Joyce set up drive-building drills for us.  Also they were all on grass, so we had to be alert to the possibility of the dogs wanting to mark.  It went so fast, Gimme never even thought of it. 

Drill #1 - Consisted of 4 open boxes, set 4 feet apart in a straight line.  Each box had odor and was paired.  The idea was to let the dogs pull us to the box... then continue to reward them for keeping their nose in the box for 5+ treats, after the pairing cookie. 

Drill #2 - This was the same 4 open boxes, set 6-8 feet apart.  Each box had odor, but only the first and last boxes were paired.  Again the idea was to let the dogs pull us to the box... then continue to reward them for keeping their nose in the box for 5+ treats.

Drill #3 -  This drill was set up along a curb, with odor every 6-8 feet, in the space between the curb and the grass.  The second and last hides were paired.  Again, encouraging pulling and then continuing to reward them for 5+ treats.

Needless to say, Gimme thought these were all brilliant games.  She was definitely dragging me along and having the best time with the self-serve cookies.  After her speed on the interior and exterior elements at the recent trial, I'm not thinking she actually needs to have her drive built upon... but at least she had fun.  The most challenging thing from the handler perspective was making sure I could still be delivering the last couple of treats, while getting my hands ready on the line so she could pull me to the next hide.

Then Joyce set up a "real search", with a hide about 4 foot up a small tree and another under the base of a fire hydrant.  Honestly those were pretty simple even for NW1 and Gimme found them without even having to think about it.  The only challenge for her was trying to get her feet on that little 3 inch diameter trunk to steady herself while getting cookies at source.

All in all a very simple class - which is sometimes a good thing.  I think all dogs benefit from going back to the basics now and then.  We have one more class left in this session, then we'll be taking 3 weeks off between this and the start of the next session.  That'll give us three classes to get back in the swing of things before the Bend-Oregon trial, which Susan and I both hope to get into.  Susan and I plan to resume our weekly practices starting with the first break week.

After class Mary and I took Gimme and Grafton down to walk around the lake.  At one point a person nearby dropped her flexi-lead and the little dog came right for us at a dead run.  I had noted how the lady was holding the flexi handle, while yakking on her cellphone,  and surmised, obviously correctly, that if anyone was going to lose control of their dog, it was going to be her.  So being prepared, I cued "Let's Go" and did an emergency u-turn and ran away, ending with "treasure hunt" at the end.  Treasure hunt is where I scatter a handful of treats on the ground and Gimme gets to scarf them up, which she thinks is a fantastic game.  As we went to resume our walk Gimme watched that little dog with interest.  Not because she was concerned, but my impression was that she was hoping the lady would drop the leash so we could do "Let's Go" and "Treasure Hunt" again.  That Gimme, she's always working the angles...

Tonight was Public Dog class.  All the behaviors we worked on were pretty easy.  The set up I had worked well for Gimme and she stayed relaxed and ready to work almost the whole time.  Mostly we stayed in our cubicle or went outside now and then for water, pee breaks and just a little training in the shade.  We went out on the floor with the other dogs one time, after Ursula had them all turn so no one would be facing Gimme as she came by.  She did very well handling their proximity and did well on the three variations of the exercise.  Though, truth be told, she was clearly relieved after we completed the exercises (envision spottie-dottie pulling) to get back to our cubicle.  Its the best she has worked since the false pregnancy began.  I really feel like the seminar weekend was a break-through for her and now we are on our way back to where she was before this all started...  Phwewww... its a relief to see her do so well.

Tomorrow we are going hiking with Frank and some of his dog friends.  Frank's dog is Tor, an Alaskan Malamute.  We aren't telling Grafton, but Ursula is sure she saw Gimme throwing some flirty looks at Tor during Monday's class.  He's nice and calm, so will be a good walking buddy for us when time permits.  And as it is, they accepted my military disability, so I now have a lifetime pass to all National parks - so we'll be going to try some of them out.  I even bought a book, "Creaky Knees", devoted to identifying bad-knee-friendly hikes.

Seminar and Public Dog (13)

We had a two day seminar this weekend in Corvallis Oregon.  I drove down Friday and came back Sunday night. 

 

Debbi Decker was fun, nice and entertaining.  That day was mostly about clever ways to teach tricks, though nothing really "exciting" (I'll describe them in the blog).  She relies a LOT on luring, which isn't my favorite way to teach things and not as useful for Gimme.  Kris Hurley on Sunday was all about Mental Management ("With Winning in Mind", Lanny Bassham), though that was only mentioned in passing in the seminar promotion materials.  She's about to become a certified MM instructor.  There were no exercises with the dogs - or even with people, even though it was advertised as a working seminar for people.  I guess she thinks a 6.5 hour "discussion" qualifies as a working seminar.  It was okay, but I wouldn't pay money for her again.

 

It worked out great for us because the seminar was in Julie's new building with 5000 sq ft usable floor space. Early sessions only had 5 dogs out at a time.  I used wire guides to make a reminder barrier, so that other teams wouldn't unintentionally encroach on our corner.  Also, I told the instructor we'd signed up for a working slot when Gimme was doing much better, about our recent regression, and to please look for us in the far corner.

 

We started the day by walking the grounds and coming in before others arrived to work on focus. She wasn't worried - just distracted. So I worked with her until I was getting good check-ins and cue responsiveness.

 

During the seminar, Debbi came to us last for each session, by which time I had already done a lot of "whazzat", so Gimme was focused and working.  Debbi was really impressed with how smart Gimme is and had a lot of nice things to say about her, calling her "exciting" and "gorgeous".

 

For the 3rd and 4th sessions, there were 8-10 teams on the floor and Gimme  was still able to work nicely.  It was a little harder for her, so I made it a point to cue "pretty" (a sit up "pretty", as opposed to stand up "dance") and then rewarded her with PB.  I've been using the PB to get her to hold the position with the intention of building her core strength.  With regular treats its hard to dole them out smoothly and she has a greater tendency to try and grab my hand with her paws to steady herself.  Plus she's not as inclined to work hard like she will for PB.  So in this case I was able to get two benefits from it.

 

During one of our sessions in the building we were doing LAT and I noticed that Gimme had stopped turning her head all the way to look at the dogs when I cued "whazzat". Basically she was looking at the wall behind and to my right and then looking at me. I immediately thought someone was *sneaking* up from that side and turned to look. Instead I discovered my little canine genius was using a wall mirror and dog reflections to play LAT.  She's always been fascinated by mirrors and particularly likes to pose in front of them and admire her lovely self. She'll even turn so she can admire the other side of her lovely self. So she obviously knows what they do - I just never thought she'd be aware enough conceptually to use them in that way.

 

We skipped one session because I found her sound asleep and I didn't have the heart to wake her. Then for the last session when I brought her in, she wasn't nearly as focused. A couple of teams were close... though not any more than had already happened. I saw her getting stuck and even with helping her get unstuck, she couldn't work for the cheese. So I worked through her slow and minimal behaviors to a known cue until I got a good response and then rewarded with peanut butter. Cued it again, got a faster and better response and I rewarded her heavily and headed back to the car.  It was particularly helpful for me to have looked at the descriptions in what I was writing and to distil it down to a short list of clues that she was reaching her limits.  Having just done that, when I saw two things from the list, I immediately recognized it and changed gears. 

 

One thing I noticed when she was getting a little stuck was that when I touched her she didn't turn to me right away. She's so tactile and normally responds to any touch by turning to see what she can get from it. So, I decided to play with that during class today, where she was immediately responsive to it every time (even for the poodle - see below).  I will try it in other situations to see if its consistent that she doesn't respond quickly when she's concerned.  If so, it may be an easy "test" for when I suspect the environment is getting to her and before it other clues become evident. 

 

In hindsight I should have let her take the rest of Saturday off when she slept through me walking up to the car the first time (she's "psychic" and usually wakes up when I even *think* about getting her). Still I found it encouraging that she was able to work through it...

 

Interestingly, after noticing the difference in her evening behaviors last week... Friday night when we arrived at Motel 6, she was calm and barely noticed the motel noises. She'd lift her head and softly wuffed once or twice. On Saturday, she was much edgier and barked several times. I went to bed leaving the TV on to obscure much of the hotel noises, turning it off at 3am. So I think evening behavior will be a consistent after-the-fact assessment of how well I managed her exposure during the day. 

 

On Saturday night when Gimme was alerting to motel noises with alarm barking...  one of the times I said "what's that" after she bounded off the bed to the door.  Instead of continuing to bark as I tried to cajole her to stop (as I had the other times), she immediately ran to me with a change of attitude, thinking I'd cued "whazzat" (which is why I picked that cue). It worked in the morning too...

 

I got "Through A Dog's Ear" CDs from the library and thank God I did instead of spending money on them.   For one thing, I didn't notice any measurable improvement for Gimme.  And equally important, I found them intensely annoying. I kept waiting for the next note and it was like Chinese Water Torture, just exhausting...  I may consider getting a white noise machine or a small CD player and some white noise type CDs, for when we travel.  And could use it here at home when she's had a stressful day.

 

For today's class, she did pretty well.   We were in the park, so it was easy to move around and use space effectively.  She was whining a lot, but I took it more that she was wanting to be "doing" something rather than stressed.  This class tends to include a fair amount of standing around and that frustrates her.  Once we started really working the dogs, then she got quiet and worked well.  I did notice that she often was watching the dog that came late (small poodle) keeping one eye on it almost the whole time.  The poodle did look in our direction a fair amount, so that could have been part of it - it could also be sudden environmental change, because of them joining our group so late.  She responded instantly every time I touched her, so I'll watch to see if that turns out to be a good test for us. 

 

Ursula saw her flirting with Tor (Alaskan Malamute) and she has always been more comfortable with him.  So Frank and I are going to try to get together to go walking together, maybe Friday.  She needs more opportunities to walk with dogs that are well behaved.

For class on Thursdays (and all classes in the building) I have pretty much decided to continue grabbing the area that has the the only separate door to the outside. I'll also take the expen and stretch it around our space, enclosing the door. I can park my car right outside the door, backing in, so I can use it as a station as well as having her matt inside.  There are also visual dividers that I can set up as needed.  My initial approach was to start in the building and then leave for breaks... but that didn't seem to work well enough. So now I'm going to flip that and work outside and then dip in for short times, building up from there. Which of course, in hindsight makes perfect sense. Far better to start from a calm place and add small amounts of challenge than to start in a pressured place and try to relieve it. Duhhh...

 

Also I've been thinking I should try DAP again and see if its beneficial.  I tried it and it didn't work when I was trying to solve her car whining, back when I thought it was a stress issue.  Perhaps that wasn't a fair test, since I later realized its anticipatory whining, which is a rather different thing.

Comparing Public Dog (13) & Agility classes

Monday was supposed to be our out-and-about class, but Ursula wanted the opportunity to work the dogs off leash in a fenced in space so we met at the training building.  The rest of us were in the building, with the enormous industrial door open to the outside.  I set up off to one side with our own personal door leading right to my car.  I also set up a visual divider, but only one so Gimme could still see the dogs around the side.

While Ursula and I have discussed using distance more to relieve pressure, I am still not doing it effectively.  Partly I unconsciously think I have to listen to exercise instructions, despite whether Gimme needs a break.  I agreed to Ursula's recommendation to follow along in the class and heed hers and Elizabeth's suggestions.  So I think I have to live up to that too.  Also there is a certain social pressure to look like I'm not babying Gimme.  In reality I'm not living up to my primary obligation, which is to look after Gimme's needs.

I want to talk to the Ursula again to say that I want to remove any "expectation" that I will participate in class exercises.  I will participate only when Gimme is comfortable and able to have a decidedly positive and confidence boosting experience - not just get through it.  Maybe its okay for pets to simply "get through it", but with my performance goals I'm going to need a lot more than that.  I want confidence and attitude.

I also have to talk to Ursula about Elizabeth's lack of familiarity with Gimme.  Ursula and I learned early that Gimme does not show her stress in obvious ways.  One deceptive thing is that she has what I call "leaky tail" and her emotions leak out her tail.  All of her emotions: happy, joy, fun, stress, anxiety, fear and uncertainty; they all result in wagging.  To complicate things there isn't much difference between the quality of the wag either.  Her tail only stops wagging when she is totally relaxed, asleep (though it often wags then too) or when she is about to have a reactive outburst.  Frankly, a wagging Gimme tail just means she is still breathing.  In any case, I'm going to tell Ursula that I'm going to "Just Say No" when Elizabeth suggests things unless I am confident that doing the exercise will be "a decidedly positive and confidence boosting experience".

During this last two classes in the building, while Gimme wasn't becoming emotional or reactive, no feeding frenzy, etc... I've noticed a couple of things. She is externally still, but not able to relax.  Her responsiveness to cues has dropped way down.  Sometimes she doesn't hear me at all.  Other times she responds with the wrong behavior (like down when I cued "sit") or responds very slow. This tells me the environment is still putting too much pressure on her and she's still too close to threshold.

Also, after the first few minutes in class, she is no longer able to work for cheese - which she's always loves. She still eats cheese, but after that first few minutes the only way she can "work" is if I bring out the peanut butter. On a scale of 1-10, PB is a 20 for her. I refer to it as her "doggie crack". She will do anything she is physically capable of doing to get it. In the past, I've used it in tight situations to lure her through and as a reward for her best efforts.  Now in this situation, I find I have to use it to get any focus and still her responsiveness has an erratic quality to it. She does what I ask and we get through the exercise, but its certainly NOT "a decidedly positive and confidence boosting experience". I think of her desire for PB like an addict's desire for their drug of choice.

In this case I think her knowledge that I have PB and will reward with it for everything, is acting as a lure, but one that has a compulsive nature to it - as in obsessive/compulsive.  I don't mean compulsive as in compulsion training - though there could be that element as well, since I'm essentially using it to "force" her to work when she otherwise couldn't.  I am also concerned that she may be learning undesirable lessons - such that working around other dogs is uncomfortable, Mommy doesn't look out for me and the training building is no longer a fun place.  There is also the possibility of peanut butter becoming poisoned.  For example, if it shows up most often when she has something to worry about, then it could become a predictor of yucky stuff.  I want to get back to where I'm using the peanut butter for a lure in a pinch, counter-conditioning as needed and to reward her best efforts.

The other concern I am seeing is there is no increase of offering rewarded behaviors. For instance, if I reward check-ins with PB in this situation, I don't get a noticeable increase in the frequency of check-ins. She is still looking at the other dogs, somewhat intently and getting stuck. Then she'll offer me a check-in, almost like when she needs another "hit" and once she gets it, she goes right back to looking.

To me, it all comes down to the same thing, I must manage the distance better to help her feel comfortable.  Gimme could easily do all these behaviors if she were starting from her usual comfortable base.  I need to step back and regain the stable footing we had, before I can ask her to stretch to achieve more. After all, if you have to stretch up to get something way out of reach... do you pile up a bunch of unstable boxes and other stuff - or would you prefer a nice sturdy a-frame ladder.  So, I think we are going to be spending a lot more time right outside the building.  Frankly, I would be perfectly happy to spend our whole hour sitting right outside the door next to my car with Gimme relaxed and doing light training, while knowing the other dogs were nearby. I'd rather do that, than spend the hour inside with the dubious benefit of "getting through" exercises, where no positive experience is accruing. 

So, in reviewing this I made a list of signals that she is near/over threshold.  Thus far I have: 

• inability to work well for rewards other than PB
• incorrect or slow responses to cues
• lack of response to cues
• getting stuck looking 
• lack of offering rewarded behaviors

I know that was a long blather about where we are at and what I'm seeing in class... but indulge me and read the difference between that and tonight's agility class...

 

Blynn, our instructor, is a real gem and lets me do what I want. We started out relaxing 40 feet from the building and Gimme was distracted and unfocused, unable to LAT... not because the distance wasn't enough, but just that her mind was not in the training game, yet. Our first turn on the course was a bit wild at the beginning, the middle was lovely with some nice work and then I messed up and let the rate of reinforcement fall off when we were working the final challenge, so I lost her attention. 

 

Our second session of relaxing 40 feet away was much better, she was at times comfortably relaxing and even playing LAT while still laying down sphinx style. We walked on a loose leash into the arena and she did a really nice job on course with pretty close to full attention. When we were walking off the course, another team was walking in just 25 feet away and Gimme was able to LAT a couple of times, still on a loose leash, and then just ignored the dog in favor of getting to the water bowl. 

 

BTW this was all done with a combination of cheese, peanut butter and toy. I used a little more PB to start with, but then was able to reserve it for her best efforts.  This really encourages me. It feels like my instincts are supported by the results when I do it my way. Ideally I'd want to have focus and attention throughout the session, but if I can't have it all the time --- I think its better when I have more focus and attention at the end of class than at the beginning. To me that says our rewards are working, the training is progressing and she is learning. 

 

Another thing I realized today was how different Gimme was driving home and throughout the evening between Monday after Public Dog class and last night after agility.  On Monday Gimme was exhausted after class and was asleep before we got to the main road, but still alerting to every little road bump or noise.  When we got home she continued to act tired and when I tried to train there was no brain left.  During the evening she was more edgy - alerting then barking at noises outside.  Candy can testify that during the course of our phone conversation, I repeatedly had to check to see why Gimme was barking and all four times it was things I couldn't see or hear.  I had noticed that Gimme has been edgier since the false pregnancy and I just thought it would take time to dissipate.  However, last night was an eye opener. 

 

After agility Gimme snoozed comfortably all the way home.  She woke up from time to time and looked around, but then quickly resumed napping.  Once we got home she remained relaxed.  While outside she found a toy that had been unearthed by the yard man, and brought it in to destroy it.  After that she laid around comfortably snoozing, without alerting to anything outside even once.  And last night I heard noises outside.  She'd have happily trained if I asked her to. 

 

This comparison makes it clear to me that the classes are still too stressful for her.  With agility class, she leaves contented and happy.  I should also mention that while we were outside before our second session, we were snuck up on by an off leash black lab (black dogs are a special trigger) and I had to do an emergency u-turn to get her out of there.  Minutes later she was working with focus and attention and a happy waggy butt - which shows what her bounce back should be like. 

 

It all gets back to me doing my job to honor and support her needs... first and foremost, above all else.  PERIOD - END OF DISCUSSION...