New Title - Tricks

On September 27th Gimme and I performed the tricks we needed in front of Veda, to complete the requirements for Gimme's AKC Intermediate Trick Dog (TKI) title. The certificate came in the mail today.

Intermediate Trick Dog video - Our ten tricks are: go to place, hand signals (3) exercise, weave poles, paws on arm, leg weave, wobble board, catch a soft toy, fetch to hand, rollover and for an alternate, back around handler (our "otto").

Here's Gimme's certificate...
I'm sure there's another new toy in her future.
Just sayin...

RFE practice (78)

My goal for the day was to get a video for the MDSA compilation and to practice all the behaviors for our AKC Intermediate tricks title, just in case I could get the evaluator to stay a little late to watch them for us.

Beginning routine - As I said for the last RFE practice blog, Gimme has developed a bad habit of going off on a sniffing walkabout when I first take her leash off. My plan was to take her leash off and if she didn't stick with me (which I expected), I would just follow her in a neutral manner until I could put her leash back on. This is might be considered aversive; I intended it to be informational. I did it today, worked her another minute on leash and the second time I took the leash off she stayed focused and ready to work. In the later sessions, she stuck with me. I'll keep doing this, just to clarify my expectations.

Doodling video - Our first session was mostly fine tuning our 30 second routine for the MDSA collaboration. It was coming together nicely until the new people in doggie daycare let two Great Danes stand at the door and stare at us. Gimme was a good girl and didn't go over there, but it was very distracting for her. So I practiced some other things in the far end of the room. Before the second session I set up two of the visual barriers so she couldn't see them, then she was fine.

MDSA Freeway to Love, segment video - We were supposed to record a 30 second routine. Gimme did a nice job once I worked out my part. In going through the different recordings to pick the best one, I noticed an odd thing. I do some movements with a dance-like look to them, until we get to the "otto" and then I stop all movement. Gimme is quite capable of doing "otto" while I pivot in an opposite direction, so I'm not sure what was going on. I guess in the future I need to do the opposite pivot to keep from turning to stone.

Freeway of Love, MDSA video - We were segment 10, so Gimme doesn't show up in the finished product until 4:30. Kathy McCoubrey and Wesley are segment 4. I love these video compilations... it's such a good way to get your feet wet in freestyle. Someday I really will do a routine - maybe.

The rest of the time we spent warming up our trick behaviors for AKC intermediate. I was hoping I'd be able to coordinate with one of the other instructors (has to be a CGC evaluator) to watch our tricks. She did and we were able to complete all the tricks. The form has been completed and sent in. I have videos of each of the tricks and as soon as it's "official" (i.e. certificate received) then I'll compile them together. It'll probably take 6 weeks.

RFE practice (76)

We just had our first RFE practice after the very short one on the day we were rear-ended. On a positive note, the person who hit us has finally admitted liability, so now I can go about getting the van fixed.

"Under" video - I worked on "under" first, to warm up her brain. You can see her comfort level has improved a lot. She also figuring out "boop" means "side" to "heel" back-through. I'm using "beep" for the opposite, "heel" to "side" back-through. Note on the back-through how readily she tucks her heiney into proper "heel" vs. how long it takes her to swing her heiney in the opposite direction into proper "side" position. Seeing this is related to what I'm realizing about the backward weaves (next).

Backward weaves video - Then I again tried the backward weaves with the guides. This time I had her do a couple "otto" (back around CCW) before stepping my foot out and getting one of her going through. On the "otto" side, which will be "beep" for the backward weaves, she does better because it has always been her tighter turning direction so she's less likely to run into my leg. I said "yes" too soon and stalled her out, but it was more important to mark what I was rewarding. Going the other direction is going to be a bigger challenge, since Gimme doesn't turn as tight CW. She can do "izzy" (back around CW) reasonably well and even does it in the guides, but not with as much confidence. Too much tinkering and she gets uncertain, stalls out and tends to blame the guides.

Notice in this last video, she wags her tail while doing "otto", but not while doing "izzy". I believe this shows she has to concentrate much more to do the "izzy". I think the answer is spend a lot more time having her do "izzy" in the guides until she is doing them tight like her "otto" without the guides. Her skill/comfort backing or pivoting is much stronger going CCW than CW - so I think need to work on balancing her skill/flexibility.  I'm thinking it's a muscle memory thing.

Rewarding-release-wait video - I've decided I need to go back to the original way I taught "wait" to re-establish it firmly in her mind. It has become unreliable and it used to be rock-solid, and rewarding the wait itself hasn't worked to bring it back. I start up right away with distractions, since not getting a reward is as important as the ones she gets. This method puts the responsibility on her from the start. See how quickly she remembers how this game works.

The rest of these videos are refreshers for the tricks we need for the AKC Intermediate trick title. I'm sure we can get both the AKC and the DMWYD Intermediate titles before the end of the year.

The behaviors we need for AKC Intermediate trick title are:
► Go to place - "mark" - minimum distance 10 feet
► Hand signals exercise - three behaviors without verbal cue
► Weave poles - "weave" - 6 standard poles
► Paws on arm -
► Leg weave -
► Wobble board - 10 second minimum
► Catch a soft toy -
► Fetch to hand - "Kong" - item must be thrown 20 feet
► Rollover - "grape"
► Alternate - "otto"

"Mark" video - We haven't done this in a long time, but she clearly remembered. I think all the distance send behaviors we did on the way to finishing her Parkour Grand Championship made this a really strong concept for her.

Hand signals exercise video - For AKC Gimme needs to do three behavior on a hand signal (she'll need 6 for DMWYD). I really expected her to do better at this. She seemed to get too excited and then just started flinging behaviors at me. Clearly we have more work to do.

"Weave" poles video - J'Anna was having a challenge with the camera, so I don't have our warm-up on video. It was very fast, especially considering we haven't trained them in years.

Paws on arm video - This is part of our "kisses" trick, so she doesn't even need a warm-up. The arm presented butler style is all the cue she needs.

Figure-8 video - We have a strong history of this with all our RallyFrEe work, so she does it perfectly.

Wobble board video - Gimme did this a lot when she was a puppy, so all she has to do is see a wobble board. Even though she hasn't done a wobble board anytime recently, she's done a lot of Get On Moving in her journey to parkour Grand Champion.

There are four other behaviors I want to get on tape, but the battery died on the camera, so that'll have to wait until next time. We practiced them and she did great on all of them.

This was a fun session for Gimme - she loves tricks.

Trick Dog Seminar

We went to a tricks and stunt dog seminar yesterday. 

Gimme's Training Session
After some lecture time we were paired up and got to work on a trick. Gimme actually knew most of the tricks (43 of 80 on the list) and we were supposed to train something completely new. I decided to freeshape her to roll a ball with her nose since the only other ones she didn't have any knowledge of required too much set up.


Our first challenge was to get her focused on me. She was quite distracted by our training partner Pam who was sitting on the floor. Gimme got into an unintended behavior chain, go-to-Pam-offer-attention and I had to move a little farther away to help her realize we could leave Pam out of what we were doing. One of the auditors noticed I'd done this even though I wasn't consciously aware of doing so. It was nice to be complimented on it in the after-training discussion.


Gimme found other dogs very distracting, especially the nearest who was 30 feet away, but moving a lot and fast. She had real difficulty not watching him, despite playing look-at-that. Pam suggested I move the ball so he wasn't in her field of view. I didn't think Gimme would be comfortable turning her back to him, but she was fine with it and we were able to get to work.


She started out well and then decided anything she can do with her nose will be better using her paws. She's always been paw oriented. She wasn't really trying to roll it with her paws, just tending to stand there longer and longer, with one paw on top of it. It was a heavy treibball ball, so it didn't roll too easy, so it would have been pretty easy to get her to do "hands" on it. She got stuck there and didn't offer anything different. 


Kathy used a stopwatch to limit our training sessions to 3 minutes.  I'd started the attention work before the official start of our session, but we still used up half our training time on attention before we even started with the ball and because of the stress related to working near other dogs, I think she was pretty much done. 

Crew's Training Session
Pam's dog was a border collie and she wanted to teach him to jump through a hoop in preparation for teaching him to jump through an arm circle. She wanted to use freeshaping, but he would just lay down and wait for her to tell him what to do. She said she'd taught him this as his default behavior to use when he needed her help/direction. To get him started she used treat tossing and then moved back to freeshaping. Crew got superstitious about only going through in one direction, even though she had done both directions to start with. When this came up was about the time their session ended. Later in the day when she needed to do hoop behaviors in stunt dog - then he offered only going the other way.


After a bit more lecture, we all got the chance to have Kathy review tricks for a title; since she's a certified trainer/evaluator for Do More With Your Dog. Gimme already has her DMWYD novice trick title, so we did an evaluation of her tricks for the AKC Novice Trick Dog (TKN) title. She did a good job overall, despite all the people watching and being pretty sure she needed to visit them. The only problem she had was with "spin", which she normally knows very well. When I changed to another behavior, then came back to spin using "turn" (the other direction), she did fine. Toward the end she was getting a little stressed/frustrated and jumped up on me to give me kisses, so I pointed it out as a trick she clearly knew.

AKC Novice Trick Dog (TKN) review
So she did: balance beam "walkies", get in "box", get on "table", "jump" over a low jump, go into strange "kennel" and wait to be released, "kisses", paws up "hands", spin in a circle "turn", "touch" hand or target stick, and "tunnel". This completes her TKN title. This is title number 24; but who's bragging? Now all I have to do is send in the form and application to make it official.


For the afternoon we spent all the time on the stunt dog title. I really didn't think this would interest me, but I clearly didn't know anything about it. We did a run through for the novice stunt dog title. It's very different than I thought it would be and kinda fun with all the silly interaction stuff. We might try it. It won't require much training to get up to speed on the behaviors. The challenge is that it's done in person in small trials. I know if we go to this location for trials (Pawsabilities in Fife, where we train regularly), the set up is good so we don't have to deal with other dogs too much. But Gimme was also very distracted by the spectators. She found it very hard to work with all those new friends watching. I don't have any options to work on a larger group of people except at trials. Still it will be a good experience for her.


Stunt Dog Novice Run Through video - I think once we are really strong on the behaviors, then she'll be more confident. The clock starts running as soon as we enter the ring and time is limited, so we'll need to shorten our acclimation time -- 55 seconds is too long. I think we can use some of the time outside the ring during the transition from one dog to another for look-at-that. We used to do this at the startline at nosework trials and now don't need to, so I think it'll work here too. 


This posing and other strutting is part of stunt dog. It's designed as a sport to help prepare you for performing in public, so handler interaction with the audience is required. We are to interact during both perimeter walks (entrance [after acclimation] and exit) and every time you return to the pedestal. I was trying to get in touch with my inner-Vanna, though some might call it my inner-ham.

1. Perimeter Circle Entrance. Start at pedi "table" and then perimeter walk. I was focused on keeping Gimme's attention and forgot to interact, until someone reminded me. 
2. Mount pedestal. Done between every exercise. This is the only place you can reward the dog. Here we surrendered our leash for the off leash exercises.
3. 5-second stay while I backed away six feet. I noticed as I returned to Gimme the next person had entered the room with their dog and I asked to have them move before Gimme saw him, just to be safe. They responded so quickly it was really seamless, so you might not catch it on the video unless you are listening.
4. Stay while handler circles pedi at minimum 2 feet distance.
5. Trick on platform. We did the kisses, since Gimme had wanted reassurance prior. The drawback is that she tends to draw out the kissing a bit, wasting 10 seconds. When she's more confident, we'll switch to something else.
6. Send to Pedestal from 10 feet. Gimme knows to send 10 feet, but wasn't sure in this setting. Of course, turning it into "bacon" always works for her. On return, we have to walk counter-clockwise around the pedi.
7. Send to Target Mark from 6 feet. Gimme didn't know this target and my cue to "matt" with something which clearly wasn't a matt, didn't work, though she did go to check it out. It was easy to convince her to do it when we turn this into "bacon" as well. I have some yello scrap foam which I'll turn into a target for her.
8. Hoop Interactions, 4 behaviors. Surprisingly we've never done anything with a hoop, so she had no clue what I wanted. I thought she might do "hands" on the top of it, since she'll do it to a PVC bar when I hold it. Any four interactions will do and I'm sure we can work up a little sequence here.
9. Perimeter Circle Exit. Leash is brought to the handler and then we do a perimeter circle to the exit. I realized at the end, having the hand next to her up to wave an interaction with the audience was confusing Gimme and she interpreted it as an up-touch cue. She was clearly ready to be done with this foolishness.

It was a little bit stressful for her. Still, considering she'd never done any of this before or worked in front of an audience, I was very pleased with her efforts. This was also at the end of a long day, spent mostly in a hot car. I'm glad I invested in those aluminet screens last year, so she wasn't uncomfortable in the 92° heat.

I watched the last stunt dog run (we were second to last). Then we had a Q&A, followed by watching the rest of the people who wanted to have trick dog title reviews. We might have been able to pull off intermediate tricks with DMWYD, but I figured Gimme had done enough.

New Title - 23 and counting

Last week I submitted Gimme's application for a Novice Trick Dog title.  To be honest they are pretty easy tricks and most of them are things a dog would learn in the course of learning to be an acceptable canine citizen.  With Do More With Your Dog, you have to start at novice, so we've completed the first hurdle.  She can probably do most of what she needs for the intermediate title.

Novice Tricks video - The 15 tricks we did were: come, down, doggie push-ups, fetch, figure-8 through my legs, follow a pointed finger, food refusal, kisses, paws up on an object, pedestal (pivot), shake hands, sit, spin, touch my hand, and walk on a loose leash.

This is title number 23, but who's counting... eh....

RallyFrEe (1/3)

We started with practice last night at DaPaws.  Gimme was the best she's ever been there.  She was very focused, enthusiastic and generalizing well to this environment, things we'd only worked at home.  Chris came in right before I ended the session and of course Gimme had to run say "hello".  Then I asked Chris to stay while I spent a couple of minutes getting Gimme back to work and showing off her new move.  It was great.

I thought we'd do really well in RallyFrEe class this morning.  I was even more positive it would go well because she so quickly started offering me attention as we did our perimeter walk.  But when it came time to work, she just was all over the place.  In her defense, she is very close to coming in season - getting a good case of pudding-butt.  But these were things she should have been able to do in her sleep.  Kathy's focus for this 6 weeks is fluency, defined as: flowing effortlessly; polished, moving smoothly, graceful. It wasn't us this morning.

Our first task was two lines of short sequences to practice moving smoothly-gracefully.  The stations were:
~ left heel forward, counter-clockwise spin, counter-clockwise 
   spin to center trx, free choice into left heel, and bow 
~ right heel forward, clockwise spin, clockwise spin to center 
   trx, free choice into right heel and bow

We should have been able to ace these, but it wasn't happening.  There was another person working on a trick nearby, so I moved further away and used the time to work on our bow.  Despite how well she was getting it last night, Gimme couldn't do right heel at all today.  In hindsight, I should have started out with basics like I did at DaPaws.  So anyway, I spent the time working on her "salute" (bow).  It was challenging, so we did go back to basics and saw some improvement. 

Then for the next session, we worked in the other half of the room and there were seven stations.  The idea was to do each station starting from all three positions: left, center, and right (if it could be done).  Kathy gave me time to warm up and then came to video where we were at, as a baseline, but all from "side" our weakest.  Gimme was still struggling with "side", because I hadn't tumbled to going back to basics.  The first two stations were not good at all, the third she did well since she was able to keep moving, the fourth she had difficulty doing a wait while I did the behavior, on the fifth I told Kathy I wanted to take a few moments to do basics on side and then it was better, then the last two stations were easy for us.  The stations were:
~ sit stand 
~ down stand 
~ front cross dog
~ front cross handler
~ into center & step back center x3 
~ circle around clockwise
~ circle around counter-clockwise

The next thing to work on was teaching our dog to roll out the carpet.  Basically you lay out a strip of carpet or an exercise mat, then space treats along the center and roll it up.  When you present it to the dog the first couple of times, you make sure there is a treat sticking out right under the edge of the roll, so as they go for it their nose bumps the roll and this exposes another treat.  Its easy and Gimme had fun with it.  I have an exercise mat, so we'll be able to work on this.  When everyone is ready, Kathy is going to show us how to teach the dog to roll up the carpet, which is a little harder, but basically the same principle.

From there we all practiced into behind.  Gimme did well considering we haven't worked on this much.  We'll get into this by next week.  I thought she did better at home on her own platform.  But Kathy identified an area I need to watch, so will be sure to set up mirrors next time.

Our last thing was to do some problem solving on J'Anna's attempt to teach her dog to cross paws.  She showed what she was doing and Kathy helped with problem solving.  Basically J'Anna moved on too quickly and the behavior was breaking down before she could get any duration.  She thought the issue was duration, when it was really the dog not fully understanding what she wanted.

I talked to Kathy about where Gimme and I are in our "pivot" behavior (counter-clockwise pivot on the forehand).  Gimme is amazing and fast at it using her brick, a 7" diameter wooden octagon.  I have it on verbal, but without the brick, the pivot point moves well back of her shoulders, so it ends up looking very spin-like.  I asked Kathy what I could do and mentioned how well Gimme had done when I tried it last night using one of those Frisbee rings.  Kathy said we stayed with the target too long (I started this behavior a couple years ago, long before I had any plans for it), so now Gimme is target dependent.  So the way to help her transition is to use as many different targets as possible, varying texture, size, shape, surface, height... anything I can vary, with a focus to get small as soon as I can.  So I have my work cut out for me.

We also went tracking today and I'm eager to tell you about my little genius, but my back and shoulders are insisting I get away from this computer.  Gimme is sound asleep on the couch without me, or she'd be insisting I get away from this computer.  Gimme thinks electronic devices should be abolished, specifically computer, television and telephone - since they all interfere with my attentiveness.  She also would like to get rid of the bathtub, but realizes it might be a necessary evil...

Nosework (5/7)

I discovered last night and this morning I've broken Gimme - poor munchkin.  We've been training a clockwise back-around me and though we haven't really done much, its been enough to strain a muscle behind her right shoulder.  She turns right more readily than left, so I think in addition to using this muscle to push back and to the left in an unusual way, she's pushing against a bit of body stiffness.  Fortunately I was able to get her to see Tonya right away today and she worked on her quite a bit with massage, body work and energy work.

Now I'm massaging her whenever I can.  Then we'll be doing some cookie stretches to increase her flexibility to the left.  I'm not going to train the back-around for a few weeks.  In the meantime I'll be training "Tivo" (clockwise forehand pivot) and 360º Center Front (clockwise direction).  I'm hoping this will strengthen the muscle more gradually before we return to training back-around.

Tonight nosework class started with an exterior search of a very long narrow area.  We were supposed to try to verbalize what we were seeing.  As much as I talk you'd think this would come easy to me, but not so.  For the life of me when I was supposed to be talking I couldn't.  And yet Dorothy says when I'm searching and not thinking about talking, everything I say to Gimme is right.  So perhaps the answer is to talk "to Gimme" about what she's doing - perhaps it wouldn't feel so much like trying to divide my attention. Anyway, there were three hides and Gimme did a good job of finding them all.  She ran the show and clearly knew what she was doing.

Then we went inside for container searches.  There was 20 boxes and six pieces of luggage with a handful of other containers.  We only knew there were no more than 4 hides.  Gimme found the two box hides very quickly and never really paid much attention to the luggage, so I called finished.  There were two more hides in luggage.  They had me search again right away and pay her for even a passing sniff at the luggage.  I did and Gimme was happy to get paid.

There was a bit of discussion and the co-instructor said there is obviously something broken in Gimme's foundation on containers.  I do mostly luggage for containers, but haven't done many practices on my own in the last 9 months.  I said I wondered if its because we so seldom have the odor in luggage.  Both instructors think I am wrong so it could have nothing to do with it.  

Then the co-instructor concluded Gimme is bored with peanut butter.  Seriously???  Her reasoning was because she likes ice cream, but would get bored with it if she got it all the time.  I think there is a big difference between "liking" something and being addicted to it.  Do you know any crack cocaine addict who would say, "no I've really had too much crack lately, I'd really just prefer a beer."  Not.  I have referred to peanut butter as Gimme-crack before - she'll never get enough of it.

So for our next search of the same containers, which was off leash, they gave me some roast chicken and I was supposed to simultaneously present chicken and peanut butter for each find and let Gimme choose which she wanted.  What happened?  She went for the peanut butter every time.  She was happy to eat the chicken, but only after the peanut butter was taken away.  I rest my case.

For the third container search (off leash) they swapped the locations of the box and luggage hides.  This time Gimme ignored the boxes and kept returning to the luggage until I kept lingering near the boxes.  Basically I think we made such a big fuss over the luggage finds, she thought I now have a preference for them.

I was still certain I was right about the box-luggage-containers hides, so I reviewed my blog since I started taking classes with Dorothy.  Fortunately I use the label feature and keep really detailed records, so it was easy to single in on the entries where we'd done container searches.  In 13 months: she has found odor in 38 boxes, 32 other containers, and twice in luggage.  These numbers for other containers are skewed quite a bit because one night the only containers they had were plastic water bottles, where she found odor in them 24 times.  So if we throw out the water bottle numbers, its 38 boxes, 8 containers and 2 pieces of luggage.  The relative percentages are 79% boxes, 17% other containers and only 4% in luggage.  

Now granted, she should find odor no matter where it is.  But given how much harder luggage is to source odor because of how its trapped in deep recesses and absorbed by cloth, it makes sense she would go for the easy ones.  Also, we had two level one element trials for containers and they were all boxes.  The element trials had 4 searches each with one box hide, so we can add 8 more box hides into the numbers during this time frame.  Factor in the element trials and she's now found 82% of her hides in boxes and under 4% in luggage.  And don't forget, she has a much longer history of finding odor in boxes, because its all you train early on.  I think it stands to reason she doesn't think luggage pays very often.  Why didn't the other dogs get this message?  I assume its because they aren't as smart as Gimme is... 

I take it as a clear lesson of what can happen when you get in a training rut.  I'm sure they don't put odor in luggage as often because it takes so much time to air out luggage to make sure the odor is gone before you can use it as a blank bag.  Whereas boxes and most other containers are going to be simpler to air out, as well as easier to store in large numbers.  I guess I need to get out and do some practices and for sure I'll be bringing my luggage collection along.

And Gimme just says, "whatever, so long as there is peanut butter..."

Nosework (2/7)

Gimme and I are keeping busy.  We've been doing a lot of training each day to make up for the long hours I've worked over the last two weeks.  This week things are finally getting back to normal.  We are getting in more walking time, which makes Gimme very happy, though she'd like more of it to be off leash.  Unfortunately Fort Lewis hasn't made our favorite ranges available in a very long time.  I'm going to stop by Range Control on Thursday and find out what the deal is.

Tonight was nosework class.  It was a lot like last week.  We did a search of the interior where there were four hides and one of the instructors went around putting blue painter tape on the floor wherever there was a Change of Behavior (COB), though this week they were calling it something else and I can't remember what the new term was.  Our first search was off leash and Gimme was really fast and accurate.  Two hides were under chairs, one under a stool and one on the lower leg of a table.  The table hide seemed to be the hardest for all the dogs.  Gimme had a little difficulty getting down to where it was, but she was still faster than the other dogs.  Partly the difficulty may have been because the hide was fairly close to the door, so was getting a lot of air disturbance as each team entered and left the building, plus there was a lot of stuff nearby to catch the swirls of scent.

For our second search, they removed the table hide and we worked it on lead.  Our task was to watch for the COB and then use the lead to hold the dog in the area.  The term they were using had to do with boundary between two areas.  One question I had - which couldn't be answered in black and white was - if you don't know where the hide is (like for trials), how would you know which side of the dividing line to hold the dog in.  In particular, Gimme sometimes goes right into an area and sometimes veers around it.  Usually, but not always, her veering around an area happens when the hide is in an enclosed area.  She doesn't do it as much as she used to, especially now since she gets peanut butter for a reward, but I do still see it happen.  

Clearly in this class, since we knew where the hide was, we knew which side of the divide to go on.  I did find when doing this, Gimme was even faster and more direct in her searching.  As we were searching and I'd already asked the question, I asked again on one part, which side would you have gone to.   Dorothy said she might not be sure, you kind of go with what your gut tells you about the dog's behavior at the divide and even then she might go visit the other side with the dog.  So I did this, taking Gimme to the other side of the divide and giving her a chance to check it out.  She dismissed it very quickly and most decidedly.

Our last search one just one hide set on a table leg support.  They set up a fan to blow across it and the intent was to cause odor to pool on some sheets draped across an expen.  Interestingly all the dogs came in the room and pretty quickly dismissed the front half, then they all went to the fan to check it out and from there they went downwind.  I expected them to have more difficulty narrowing down source, but all the dogs did well.  Gimme was one of the fastest, certainly the prettiest.

It was an interesting class.  I'm not sure how I'd use the information in a blind search.  I think we'll get more chances to try it.  I suggested a variation from the hide with the fan, where there would be two hides, one upwind and one downwind from the fan.  All the dogs went immediately downwind, even though they hadn't gotten into odor yet, so as a curiosity, I'd like to see how they handle it when the fan is situated between two hides, blowing away from one and toward the other.

Gimme wants to make a proclamation from her exalted position as Empress of the Cosmos.  She thinks we should have Christmas once a month from now on.  She liked getting a present every day for seven days.  She realizes this may be too much for most families, but thinks she and me should do it.  There are no bad toys - just sayin...

RallyFrEe (4/2)

We had a good class today.  Kathy set up a course with 18 stations.

Before we walked the course, Kathy had us do a couple of exercises - to demonstrate a point.  First we had our dogs figure-8 leg weave, from each side.  Then we did a figure-8 leg weave twice, from each side.  It took a minute to get Gimme into working mode (we couldn't do our usual walk of the perimeter for her attention warm-up because I was late & others were using the space).  Once I had her attention, she did really well.

After this warm-up with figure-8 leg weaves, she had us do another exercise to demonstrate how our dogs might respond.  We were to walk up to a line, do two figure-8 weaves, then proceed to the next line and do "one weave".  I misunderstood what she meant by this and so had Gimme do one figure-8 leg weave.  What she really meant was for us to do a thru-transition at the second line.  

The point was to demonstrate how the dogs might assume it was a figure-8 if we use the same footwork.  However if we step forward with the thru leg, rather than to the side, then the dog knows its a different behavior.

The dog will readily pick up the difference between a thru transition and walking leg weaves because the walking cadence is  different.  Also by the time the dog might be about to turn into you for another leg weave, the near leg (in this case right) would already be coming forward and thus no space would form for them to go through.  

After we finished these exercises, we each got to work through the course.  Overall Gimme did really well - naturally I thought she did better than the other dogs.  My classmates sweetly (and accurately - just ask me) commented about how flashy and pretty Gimme looks when she is doing the moves well.  We did have a bit of a problem when we approached the end of the room the second time, because this was the perimeter we didn't get to walk as we entered the building.  The chance to walk the perimeter is very important to Gimme.  Still we worked through it on the spot by increasing the rate of reinforcement for sticking with me and not sucking to the distraction.

The last exercise was to work J'Anna's dog on the next steps of crossing his paws.  We were supposed to work on each of our tricks, but ran out of time.  Still, it was helpful to me because I was able to bring to it a couple of questions which relate to how Gimme and I are doing with "cane" and "orbit".  

Specifically, I asked questions about how Kathy teaches behaviors which are done in two different directions.  I already know Kathy puts them on two different cues - such as "cane" and "orbit".  I asked her if she separated the training of them and if so, how.  She does separate them, and said she teaches one through to verbal cue.  Then she waits at least several weeks before starting to teach the opposite.  In the waiting time she doesn't practice the first one either.  

Since the last time we trained, Gimme and I did "cane", we continued and trained it again this evening.  Gimme is having difficulty giving up offering the behavior (you know how she always wants to be the one driving the train).  So once I had her solidly warmed up, then I switched gears and started alternating "cane" with "heel".  I chose "heel", since if she is heeling, then she can't be offering "cane".  I found I really needed to raise the rate of reinforcement so she could resist the urge to offer.  She was doing well at the end.

Now in a little bit, I'm going to start training her to cross her paws.  Kathy gave us a lot of details about the progression and given how much Gimme loves to use her paws, this should be a fun exercise to work on, while I come up with another prop support for "can".  I found the wood sticking out from under the can made Gimme think she was supposed to keep her front feet on the wood disc while having her back feet on the can.  Unfortunately this puts her body at a steep angle, so she's unlikely to do the sideways steps I need for the pivot.  Besides I think its unnecessarily stressful for her shoulders.

So I need cue help for the paw crossing.  I'll probably use "cross" for one direction.  I'd appreciate any suggestions you might have for its opposite. 

RallyFrEe (3/2)

The night before we went to DaPaws for training, mostly with the intent of repairing the negative association.  I set up a bunch of signs next to agility equipment, but never really used them.  I brought Gimme in and we did our acclimatization walk.  She seemed to get ready to work faster than before, which I thought was a good sign.  However, when I removed the leash, she tended to drift away.  She wasn't leaving me, but she wasn't connected either.  

I could have put her back on leash, but I wanted her to make the choice to work with me.  So I just walked around and click/treat whenever she was close.  At times she walked a few steps with me and then would forge well ahead and disconnect, so I turned 90-180 degrees and walked away.  Again c/t whenever she was close.  I was not seeing improvement, so I pulled a chair out into the arena and sat down and waited - Give Me A Break style (GMAB, from "Control Unleashed).  At times Gimme came up to me wanting attention.  In GMAB, the idea is to wait for the dog to offer a default behavior (assuming they have one) to ask for interaction.  I didn't sense Gimme was really ready to work, so I just gave her some attention.  In the course of petting her, she might sit, at which point I got up with her and did some light training with a high rate of reinforcement.  

Any time she disconnected, I returned to my chair and waited.  At one point she didn't come to me for several minutes and when I looked around to see where she was, she was just standing behind me, not doing anything.  Clearly she was confused.  I realized it was because I had sort of pushed her away when she wanted to put her paws on my shoulders for hugs-attention.  I had a good shirt on and was trying not to get it covered in black dirt.  Obviously she had taken it personally, thinking I didn't want to interact with her.  So I encouraged her to come around and drape herself across my lap for attention.  After this, we got in some more training, until Chris came in.  Then I had to wait for Gimme's attention to return, we trained briefly and headed out ourselves.

I really wasn't impressed with this session.  There were some good moments, but we spent 75% of the time disconnected.  I pretty much figured it is going to take awhile to undo the poor association.  Time will tell.

The next morning was RallyFrEe class and as before, its been good.  Most interesting was to see Gimme ready to work and offering attention almost from the first moment we walked in the building.  This has not been the case before.  I wonder if its a result of the session the night before.  It could also be the new flower essence remedy Gimme is taking - which she'd been on for a week.  Usually we walk around the long way to where our crate was situated before she offers attention consistently.  This time it was consistent from 15 feet inside the door.

We warmed up on our "can" prop while waiting for class to start.  The first two exercises were about focused heeling, not heads up healing, just making sure to interrupt any time the dog checked out.  I mostly train alone and its easy to let bad habits creep in, so Kathy has a LOT of work to do with me.  Once I got my handling and timing correct, Gimme improved rapidly.  I may try some of this when we go to DaPaws next week.  Done right, it'll have a high rate of reinforcement, so should work well.

Then we did a short course of some turn transitions.  It should have been easy for us, but right before it was our turn, three people with large active dogs walked by our training area.  Gimme got really stuck on them - which is consistent with her SEC (sudden environmental change).  Kathy was very patient in helping me help Gimme work through it.  By the time we were done with the exercise, she was back in work mode.

The last part of class was to pick a free choice behavior we wanted to work on.  I selected "cane", which is where Gimme circles around a cane I am holding.  I want to do it as a three-part figure-8, and I want it from either side, so I need her to understand to turn away from me.  I had it in my head she would be able to understand to turn away from me to go around the cane, much like the old turn-away cues popular in agility many years ago.  I started with the side we needed for our recent RFE video entry and she has been unable to understand the other direction, so I was stumped.

Kathy took a completely different approach to teaching it and broke it down MUCH further than I did.  I take a lot of pride in my ability to break things down to tiny increments, but Kathy really broke it down much more than I thought of.  She also started with the idea of teaching Gimme to go around a free standing cane and then to name each direction separately.  We talked about what I was thinking about the agility turn-away cue and she pointed out there was likely a lot of supporting body language which made it easier in the agility context, whereas we want to eliminate body cues as much as possible.  

Gimme understood running out and around it very quickly.  She's done similar things in agility send work and we've also worked on "cone" in the house (run out and around something) with direction being relative to me.  If she's coming from "heel" position, she goes clockwise and if from "side" position, she goes counter-clockwise.  So Gimme had a great time doing this, since it was similar to stuff she's done before and she could easily be right and get rewarded. Then we started naming the behavior as she was doing it.  Its "cane" if she turns left around it (counter-clockwise) and "orbit" if she turns right around it (clockwise).  

Once this association is strong, then I'll start setting her up to go from me and turn away from me to "cane" or "orbit".  The idea is to start with me facing at an angle.  This sets her up to make the right choice.  

I really like the way Kathy broke it down.  Its very different from what I had in mind and I'm sure it'll work.  Another thing Kathy did during this part of our session was to lock the outside door, which comes right into the training area we use for class.  We were close to the end of class and she wanted Gimme and me to work through this off leash and not have to worry about someone walking in while we were working.  I can't help but love her thoughtfulness.  

So I'm going to finish making our free-standing cane tomorrow, so Gimme and I can get to work on this.  I'm also going to make something Kathy suggested to stabilize our "can", since Gimme sometimes gives it a little kick when she dismounts.

Coming soon "Gimme's Cow".

"Mom, make it challenging"

I told you once about Gimme finding her collar for me (it had fallen from its usual place).  Since then I've tried to get her to bring it to me when its time to put it on.  She will do it, but makes it pretty clear she thinks its stupid.  I thought it was because it was usually right within arms reach and she thought I should do it myself.  

So then I started leaving it farther away, usually on the floor.  I see her noticing where it is, but then she pretends for awhile it isn't there.  Usually after about two minutes she suddenly finds it and then brings it to me.  Since I always put it on her prior to us leaving to go do something fun for Gimme, I didn't understand her delay.

Lately I've noticed her doing a more extravagant "search" for her collar before discovering it in plain sight.  She'll get up on the couch, check behind furniture, on the bookshelves, etc.  Yesterday I realized she really wanted to hunt for it - she wanted a challenge.  Today I tossed it on the other end of the couch when she wasn't looking.  She was so excited when she found it.

This means I'll have to start putting it in novel places when we come home.  Its likely I'll forget where I've put it, so she really will have to find it for me.  Never a dull moment...

Nosework (2/5) & tricks

Gimme was great in nosework class tonight - of course, she always is.  We had one of each type of search and she aced them all.  I did three of the four searches blind - since my ability to read her is the skill we need the most.  Sorry, no video.

The first search was an exterior on blacktop, with a 6 foot wide strip of gravel/dirt along one side.  Gimme seemed to have found odor from the startline (probably from the last hide she found), but then didn't go toward it.  Instead she veered off toward a grate at our 1 o'clock, but never really committed to it, so I didn't call it.  From there I casually guided her along the gravel/dirt side, starting on the perimeter and was complimented on how I guided her while letting her be in the lead.  I find it works better when she believes she's guiding me.  She found odor on a pipe cap sticking up out of the ground.  Then she went with me completing the perimenter and as we got back to the start, she went right to another grate and indicated odor.  All the drains are connected, so this explains why she showed attention to the other grate.  From there I started her around on another perimeter, but inside the first one by about 8 feet.  This led us to the third hide.  

The second search was a vehicle, a large John Deere caterpillar tractor.  She started as if to go right across the front, but then whipped back and went down the left side to the back of the blade and indicated there.  Then she went on her original path, counter clockwise around the caterpillar, sniffing here and there and found another source of odor on the back end.  Its a big rig, so it was possible there could be a third hide.  I took her all the way around and showed her areas to search she hadn't really paid attention to the first time.  She dutifully sniffed them all, but I got the sense her heart wasn't in it.  She went back to each of the hides she found and I thanked her and moved on.  When we completed our round I called "finish" and was correct. 

Our third search was an interior.  I remembered to stay at the entrance and wait to see if she'd catch anything at the threshold.  It worked beautifully.  She blasted through and past the threshold area, turned to see what I was doing standing still and came back toward me.  In doing so she caught odor to the left of the threshold about three feet, stuck to a rack of folding chairs.  Then she searched the rest of the area and found a channel hide behind a table leaning against the wall.  Afterwards she just noodled around.  She sort of sniffed a large section of one corner, but never seemed to be narrowing her search area, then went to both of the hides she'd already found. I called "finish" and was correct again.

Our last search was containers and I elected to know where the hides were for this.  We are going for a Level1 Container element this weekend, so I wanted to be able to pay her quickly - not wanting to resurrect the scratching.  This search was mostly boxes with a bunch of white llama stuffed toys.  Odor was in the tail of one of the toys and in a box.  Gimme was really intrigued by the toys and kept wanting to pick them up and carry them away.  They are very similar to her first baby toys (sheep), so I'm sure this contributed to the attraction.  Of course, once she found odor on one, she was really attracted to them.  I repeatedly urged her to leave them and finally she went back to work and found the box.  I don't know if the toys would actually be in a real trial, since they aren't exactly containers, though they could be in an interior search area.

I am starting to see what she looks like when there is no more odor to be found.  First, she makes a dutiful effort to check whatever I ask her to - if she isn't done searching on her own, she's less likely to follow my directions.  Second, she is more likely to return to odor she has already indicated.  I want to do a lot more blind hides in class so I can really develop my ability to read her.

On facebook this morning, I found a video of how someone taught an out and around using platforms.  It was really interesting and worked so well for his dog.  You can see it at:          out around and back

I did a session of this with Gimme.  We didn't get through it in one session like Jan did, but its because I discovered a training hole we need to work through.  Gimme is really adept at using her back feet, but I have allowed her in our other backing up stuff to a) turn sideways as she is backing up or b) walk toward the item and then turn at the last moment to back on it.  So I'll need to work on those things to clean up the behavior.  

Another thing I need to do is fix my short platform.  It is just plain paint and so its a little slippery.  I noticed Gimme's foot sliding a couple of times when she was casting around behind her with her foot.  I want her to be confident of the platform, so I'll try to get another coat of paint on it and sprinkle some texture sand into it.  I can work on solidifying the backing up skill using other props while it dries.

Recycling (3)

We've just done another session and she's progressing very well.

We started out with the tin can.  I clicked a few times for picking it up and then withheld clicks until she got it in the bin.  We worked on this for quite a bit and I did something different.  She got it in twice and then seemed to get stuck on picking up the can and then dropping it right away.  So three times, I'd pick it up myself, make a big show of tossing it in the bin, celebrate with an excited high pitched "Yaaaaay", pretend to eat a piece of cheese and then give her a piece.  Then I let her try.  When she still didn't get it, I repeated the demonstration.  Right after the second demonstration she started getting it in the bin consistently on her own.  She mostly dropped it once on the way, but got really excited about picking it up right away and dropping it in on the second try.

She was more excited by my excited high pitched "Yaaaaay" followed by a jackpot than she was by the click.  I've often said she works a lot for me and training is more about our interaction than it is about treats.  For instance, she is content to work for treats I will give her despite the main container being readily available to her.  She could easily snatch a mouthful and on rare occasions she has, so she knows she can and she knows I won't punish her for cheating, yet she still refrains.  Likewise she will not steal treats left in a dish on the end table when I'm in another room, though she could and I probably wouldn't even realize it.  This despite being the typical Dalmatian spotted bottomless pit.  She is the same way about her toys.  She'll try to entice me to play with her and the toys.  If she is unsuccessful and still wants to play, she brings the toy and lays across my lap to play with it.  So, if I won't join her in play, she'll bring the play to me.  Anyway, her response to the "Yaaaaay" fits this theme.

After the big success with the can, we worked with a plastic bottle.  Boyoh was it ever a challenge.  She's played with them before, so I knew she had no problem picking them up.  Then I realized she was looking for the can; she had associated the excited high pitched "Yaaaaay" to the can.  I had to use the clicker to get her interested in the bottle, but she wasn't as enthusiastic as she'd been with the can.  Finally she accidentally dropped the bottle in the bin, got a "Yaaaaay" and a jackpot, then she was all about the bottle, deliberately dropping it in the bin several times.

We ended with a test of her understanding about getting multiple items in the bin.  I put out a piece of rolled up stiff paper, a tin can and a bottle.  She very quickly got all three into the bin for me.  

At this rate, I think we'll do one more session of multiple items, solidifying the getting-them-in-the-bin part, no matter what item I indicate.  Then the next step is understanding to take them to the bin even when its not close to me.  She's brilliant, so I'm sure she'll get it.

Lordy she is fun to train.

Recycling (2)

Today I decided to try working on this behavior with items other than paper.  So I used a tin can.  I started with simply shaping her to pick it up.  It was a bit of a challenge, but she's a foodie and will do pretty much anything for more of it.  No matter whether we continue this trick - it still works to the good if we ever get around to scent articles. It took probably 25 treats to get her to pick it up, carry it to the recycle bin and drop it in.  Then we did it a few more times.

We'll practice this with a few other recycle items.  Then I need to start moving the bin further away from me - inches at a time.  Right now its almost in front of me, so its easy to get her to drop an item in it.  Eventually I'd want her to pick up/take something and carry it to the bin.  

We'll need that skill to get to my final goal of laying on the couch eating bon-bons while she collects up all the recycle stuff.

Recycling

When Gimme gets bored, she gets paper out of the recycle trash and shreds it in front of me to communicate her dissatisfaction with life.  Interestingly she understands the rule about making messes and NEVER shreds paper unless I'm there to see it.  We have an agreement, there is a big difference between making a mess and communication.  However, I've decided its high time for her to start picking up her messier communication.  So yesterday I started teaching her to pick up paper and put it in the recycle.

I planned it poorly, starting with the tissue paper she had just shredded.  It wasn't as easy for her because it stuck to her lips, but she finally realized I wanted her to pick it up.  The second session I balled up paper and tossed it for her to pick up.  I clicked for picking it up and moving toward me.  She would accidentally drop it in the trash, which I'd click and treat.  But I don't think she realized it was falling in the trash. 

When I switched to a bigger stiffer piece of paper and rolled it up, then it was more obvious to her where it was landing.  She would pick it up multiple times and drop it closer to the trash.  At the end I started withholding c/t if it didn't fall in the trash.  So she was making bigger moves toward the trash.  After she'd drop it, she'd look to see why I wasn't clicking, then would try again.  By the end she was learning to drop it in the trash - with flare.  It was still with extra steps between first picking it up and getting it in the trash, but she was getting better.

This video is of the third session.  I thought she might pick up where we left off, but wasn't the case.  So I started clicking for picking up pieces and then would randomly not-click to get more behavior.  She's pretty funny when she's tossing it in the trash.  She tried cheating and even got away with it once.  I loved the last little segment the best - it shows she was really understanding it was supposed to go in the container.

Learning to Recycle

500 and Counting

This is our 500th blog entry.  Thank you to everyone who hangs around for the trip...

I just want to talk about a couple of things...  First, we've struggled with "spin" (counter-clockwise) and "turn" (clockwise) for a very long time.  Every time I'd start making the luring motion smaller, it would fall apart.  Recently I happened to train it at my parents' house and it suddenly occurred to me - the motion as it gets smaller becomes verrrrry much like my hand signal to get into "heel" or "side".  Thus Gimme would get confused; she likely thought I was the dense one.  So then I moved the training out in front of me.  Gimme got "spin" all the way to a verbal cue in one lesson, but "turn" just wasn't happening so fast.  It has taken about ten sessions, probably because its not her preferred direction to turn.  So here's the video from last night where it finally came together.

Getting "Turn" 

Interesting it should take so long to get those on cue, when I realized last night how quickly Gimme picks up other stuff.  We were getting ready to go for a walk and I said to her "now where is your collar?", since I didn't see it in the usual place.  Gimme went right to it and poked it with her nose.  I didn't expect a response, since I was just chattering away like I always do.  I'd probably do the same thing if I lived alone, but then people would think I was crazy - now I can say I'm talking to Gimme.  

Anyway, not only did I not expect her to do anything in response to my chatter, I also have never purposely taught her this behavior.  I can only think she decided what to do because of two other cues we use.  "Wherezit" is our nosework search cue (its a contraction of where-is-it).  I also say "let's put your collar on" or "you wanna put your collar on" or "time to put your collar on" or God only knows how many other variations.  She always jumps up on the couch or comes to my front and presents her neck to have it snapped in place.  So this brilliant girl took "where" and "collar" and put them together to decide she should locate her collar and show me where it is.  Boyoh this will definitely come in handy, since I'm always misplacing it.

Now here's a cute picture of Gimme after a long exhausting day supervising a remodeling crew.  Its hard work and really tires a girl out.

Happy 500th...

Agility (6/2)

Gimme was a good girl as usual.  I could really tell she was bothered by my hesitancy as I had part of my mind on awareness of what things might "hurt".  There were a couple things which just shouldn't have been hard for her.  I took my time to work through it and rewarded copiously when she got it right. Interesting to me was to see just how affected she is by how I am.  While my little speed demon was never slow tonight, she was certainly also never her little speed demon self.

I am experiencing some new pain in my finger.  Its a sharp pain which runs from my hand right up the middle of the finger, on the inside.  It comes and goes.  I think its caused by the way I'm always trying to hold my finger out of the way while working and doing things.  Being unnatural and repetitive, I suspect a slight strain.  The acetaminophen wasn't controlling this pain, so I decided in the evening to use the hard stuff.  I took it 40 minutes ago and its already much better.

I'm also going unwrapped for most of the evening, so my hand/finger can move more naturally and will ice it.  Tomorrow I'm going to experiment with wrapping it in different way, so it doesn't restrict the movement of the first knuckle; thus allowing the hand/finger to move more naturally.

On a side note, we are working on a new trick.  I'm teaching her to play "roll-ly ball", a game that Frances invented.  Its hard for Gimme because its requires her to only use her nose - which is of course, always a challenge.  I've also come up with a cool idea for a small wooden chest I've had for ages.  It's going to take some fabricating to make it work for what I have in mind, but will lead to yet another cute trick.

Well, the woozy headed affect is starting to be really apparent, so I better get off this 'puter.  In mere minutes Gimme and I expect to be cuddled together on the couch, sharing a bowl of ice cream.  She's so polite, I just can't resist her charms. 

Nosework (3/15)

Class tonight was good.  Gimme peed on the exterior for the first time in a long time.  I'm not too worried - since the dog that went before her peed, so that's a factor.  Of course, that could happen in a trial.  Its very hot today, so the dogs are drinking more water... thus increasing the likelihood of peeing.  Other than that, Gimme did a nice job.

Her paw indicator continues to be more moderate and improving all the time.  So much so that Joyce even noticed and commented on it.  She asked what I was doing to change it.  When I started to explain that I held off doing anything to change it until I could think of a reward-based answer, she agreed saying coming up with non-punitive ways to train things is very important.  I guess she's forgotten all the times she recommended correction.  In any case, she has now noticed and complimented my results.  When the process is all done, I think I'll write it up and share it online. 

I spent the weekend at my parents and did some training.  I already taught Gimme to "touch" my hand with her nose pretty much anywhere I offer it to her and I wanted to introduce an "up touch" for heeling.  I tried working with this at my parents' and it started out well, but then fell apart and Gimme got really frustrated and spent a good deal of time yelling at me (i.e. barking loudly).  I had to end the training and making her lay down to calm herself.  I realized later that she had every right to be frustrated.

When she was beside me in heel position and I put my hand out with my palm parallel to the floor, she did fine.  But then I wasn't focused on what I was doing (showing off for my parents doncha know) and I let her move in front of me, then the hand was no longer parallel to the floor or even fingertips toward the floor - which is what she is used to seeing for "touch".  Instead my hand was at an angle with fingertips upward - essentially the same cue I give her for "high", "five" and both for "ten" - which is what she was offering me.  So when I wasn't rewarding what she was giving me for the cue - she had good reason to tell me off.  She's never been bashful about speaking her mind, eh.

Later in the motor home I did the up "touch" right and she was fine at it.  We also practiced "high", "five" and "ten" correctly.  Gimme was no doubt pleased that I'd come to my senses.  We also got in a lot of "front" practice.  On Sunday we did some shaping of her backing her feet up onto a stool while Mom was at church and I was staying with Dad (he was napping).

I love that Gimme provides commentary on our training (especially when I'm not doing it right).  I think people who are still using compulsion would hate it though... they want compliance no matter what.  I'd hate to think I'd confused the training by forcing compliance when *I* was the one in error.  Gimme keeps me honest and makes me a better trainer.

BTW we are still fighting the battle of the fleas, but improving.  I'm down to finding about one a day.  I think they've gotten into the upholstery and area rugs.  So I treated them all with Diatomaceous earth.  Tomorrow I will clean out the car in preparation for the weekend and will vacuum it and dust all the carpeting, around the crate and her crate bedding with Diatomaceous earth.  For awhile she was getting hot spots and hives in reaction to the fleas.  Given that I picked 37 off her in 2 days... I think her body reacted allergically.  I gave her a maximum dose of Benedryl for three days, reduced dose for one day and one last dose this morning.

Benedryl does affect their scenting ability, so I was glad to see that she could search good today.  We are trialing on Sunday, so want her off it well in advance of that.  Gimme is still itchy, but at least there are no more hives or hot spots.  I'm putting hydrocortisone on any of the extra pink or itchy places once or twice a day.  Now that its evening, we'll sit down to watch a movie and she'll be belly up in my lap so I can gently rub the itchy places.  She always likes to do that in the evening, but particularly now.

Well, tummy duty calls me...