RFE practice (22)

On Thursday I didn't have anyone to do tracking with and wanted to participate in the MDSA workshop, so I stopped by Pawsabilities for an extra practice.  Ended up having a long discussion with the owners about the upcoming plans for me to teach Parkour there.  They asked me to write a paragraph about Parkour so they can use it in promoting the class.  Here's what I came up with:

Parkour is a fun activity where dogs learn to move through their world exploring and overcoming obstacles. They jump, climb, run on, rebound against, and go around and under things found naturally in their everyday world. In class you will teach your dog these skills on objects that gradually introduce the behaviors, learning safely and at your dog’s own pace.  Dog Parkour is low impact and challenging, and increases confidence while overcoming doubts and concerns.  Any dog can do Parkour because skills are based on each dog’s size & proportions.  There are no competitions, but you can earn titles by video.  Creativity and imagination is all you need to have fun with Dog Parkour anywhere you can take your dog.

I think I outdid myself.  ☺  Now I need to make a video they can link to, so I'm reviewing all my video's for clips I could include.  Meanwhile I'm also looking for clips I could submit for our novice Parkour title.  Might as well, since it saves me time scouting around for suitable locations and having to make other videos.

Session 1 video - Sorry about the places where I went out of the camera f.o.v.  Gimme did pretty good during this session.  If she seems to be having trouble focusing, she was.  They are remodeling the offices and the door to the training space was open.  I closed it before going to get Gimme and right as we started a MAN came out and was kneeling in the door! (behind the camera location)  He was there for half the session.  Gimme loooooooves men, so this was the ultimate distraction.  We did our best to work through it, but there were times her eyes were about to pop out of her head.  When I took the leash off, he'd just left, closing the door.  The segment at 5:00 for about 35 seconds is the MDSA workshop assignment to make a path forming an "M" on the floor.  I spent some time in this session working on tightening her 180º turns and circles around me.  We also worked on finding "center", simultaneous spins and finding "under". 

Session 2 video - I reset the signs to give me an idea of where to work to stay in the camera f.o.v.  We started this session practicing some up-touches.  Gimme is getting more enthusiastic about them.  During this session, the man came back and was working on a ladder - so still a lot of distraction (for me too).  She learned a CCW pivot on the brick when she was still young, so it makes sense the center-front-pivot is better in CCW direction.  We practiced a few other behaviors she knows well, but which could use tightening up.  We worked on the 180º turns again and they were much better than the first session. 

I'm again really pleased with how Gimme is progressing. And still baffled by her not having a false pregnancy this time.

Parkour (5/3)

No one else showed up, so we got one giant private lesson.  We were careful to give Gimme breaks, to not overdo it.

"Below" video - Gimme still makes assumptions about what I want.  Getting her to use her listening ears is a struggle we have never gotten past, it shows up at the beginning of EVERY training session, Every walk, Every everything. She likes doing what I ask, its just never her first inclination.

"Walkies" video - We did some balance work.  You'll see Gimme thought I might want her to jump down.  Later in class she jumps from the ground up and onto the balance board when I was trying to get her to do something else and she didn't understand. We work a lot in class on control, getting her to slow down and think and especially listen.  I left in a little segment of what Gimme does when she's bored by too much talking.  Of course, you'll see I rewarded her effort once, so it surely makes sense from her point of view. 

Sequences 1 video - Here we do several sequences, including a "flip" (180º turn on balance).  Gimme really likes just doing-doing-doing. 

Sequences 2 video - In this sequence, Gimme does "flip" on one balance board and then we repeat it a couple times on the other board.  The second board is narrower than the first.  Its still wider than the one we practice at home, but its also much higher, so this adds to the challenge.

Through & combos video - The thing about Parkour is, much of it is not about doing stuff which is physically challenging, but rather about doing stuff which is unfamiliar or with different conditions.  Its all about confidence building.  BTW all the panting you see is not stress, it really was quite warm during class.  In the second part, Gimme didn't think she could "below" if there was no sheet.  She has before, but it just looked different than what we'd done earlier. 

Sequences 3 video - I had to repeat the "pivot" cue until Gimme actually listened, even though we'd done it earlier in our warm up.  I find I still need to refresh her on things if too much time has passed.  I suspect this is a side-affect of the anti-seizure medication and just something we have to live with.

"Hands" on a Moving Object video - For much of this either I or Jo was steadying the hand truck or making it move.  Gimme seemed to really get into doing this.  Of course with her, anything which pays is worth doing and doing often.  One thing which is really key to Parkour philosophy is for the dog to have permission to say, "this is too much" or "I can't".  So when Gimme gets off, its no big deal.  She gets another chance.  We keep it all light and fun, with silly noises at times, so the dog knows this is all just a game

Sequences 4 video - The part we ran into trouble here was trying to get Gimme to do the through followed by going "below" the chair.  We struggled with getting her to keep her hiney low enough so it wasn't uncomfortable for her.  I tried placing treats as a lure under the chair and while she would stretch in to get them, she wasn't willing to go completely below the chair.  The end of this sequence was to "box" under the scaffold.  Gimme didn't understand what I wanted and jumped up on the scaffold instead.  Parkour is adamant about not letting dogs jump down from heights, so we took the table-steps route down and tried again. 

Crawl from Table video - When we switched the two tables so the lower one was under the scaffold, then Gimme was willing to go from there "below" the chair.  We did it a few times in the other direction.  She never would go from the higher table "below" the chair.  We took the chair away and then she did go from the higher table "below" the bar on the scaffold, but then wouldn't do it again.  So I concluded it was still uncomfortable.  There is no special reason to teach her this, other than teaching her another way to use her body.  She needs to keep her hiney low as she comes off the table, but couldn't figure it out herself.  I could probably teach her separate from this exercise, but don't know if I'll put the time into it.

Gimme did a LOT during this class, since she was the only one there.  She does love her Parkour.

Nosework (2/19)

Dorothy wasn't there, so we only had the one instructor.  We basically repeated the drill from last week, but outside.  Thus we had an introductory search, with the two chairs.  From there we went to do two searches in area 1, 2, or 3.  There was also a self-serve search indoors, which we didn't have last week.

Introductory search 1 video - This was a search of the hides on two chairs right next to each other.  Gimme found the first hide very fast.  On the second one she was inclined to accept close, without sourcing, so we waited for her to source the hide.  There may actually have been some scent blowing from the first hide to make her think it was source.  Still a very fast search.

Search 2 video - Since I was a few minutes late for class I didn't really know what was included in the search area and wrongly concluded it was just the heavy equipment.  Fortunately Gimme doesn't need me to have-a-clue to find odor.  She was very quick.

Search 3 video - What is cool about this search is how Gimme passes odor by a few strides and then turns back to it and sources it.  In the past she's been happy to catalog the area and then come around again to find source.  She did a nice job.

Didn't get the first self-serve search recorded.  Too bad, since Gimme did really nicely.  The hide was in a crack in the floor, so it took her a little bit to find it, but not too long, especially since she prefers high hides. 

Introductory search 4 video - Gimme again found the first hide very quickly.  As you watch her on the second hide, it looks like she concluded the timing of my "yes" was for paw-whacking the chair, not indicating source.  So you'll see her go to the other chair and just whack it before she even used her nose on it.  And since this is the fourth time she's seen the two chair search, she may have figured out the drill.  So I had to wait for her to get down to business and source before I rewarded her.

Search 5 video - Gimme wasted time finding a dropped treat, though she may not consider it a waste of time.  She localized the area of the hide, so I knew she was "in odor", it just took her a little bit to locate source.  Fortunately in trials we won't be challenged by all the lingering odor (these hides were moved for every search).  She was nicely focused and given the multiple locations of lingering odor and the distracting smells from inside the trash can, I thought it was a nice, fast search..

Search 6 video - The thing with lingering odor is to just let her check it out and determine for herself whether its the real deal or not, because it adds to her experience base.  You'll see as I start to turn to take her to the other side of the search area, she catches the scent and drives ahead of me, having made her decision well before I got there.

Self-serve search 7 video - Sorry about the jiggly-ness of the video, I was handling my dog, moving around and recording all at the same time.  I liked seeing how she actually caught the scent bouncing off the table and chairs and then triangulated it directly to the spot where the hide was on the easel.  She's very smart about using her nose.

A friend was talking to me about how disappointed she was to go to a traveling nosework class and only get 1 search of about 3 minutes, for $25 per class.  I pay $140 for six weeks of class, so about $23.50 per class.  Tonight I got about 5 minutes of actual search time, which after looking back at videos from prior classes, is about average.  I remember a class where we got 1 search, but it was a very long search (about 7 minutes) with many hides.  $25 for one search is comparable to a trial at novice... where you get 4 searches, for $100, but it takes up the whole day.   It seems a little high to me, but might be right for the area.  You also have to decide if the benefit is worth it.  Are you going to go to the effort to set up searches in strange places and do you have the resources/contacts to use strange places?  So just a bit of food-for-thought for our loyal readers.

Now Gimme wants me to get off the dang computer and do something interesting for HER. 

Urban Tracking Clinic

We left right after tracking with Nadine on Friday to head up to Bellingham for a TDU/VST clinic.  Clearly we are part of the TDU crowd.  Each of us lay a track for someone and then get to run a track laid by someone else.  We spent all day Saturday tramping around on 8 out of 9 sites, following Sil as he plotted the tracks and explained the why/how of it all.

Gimme's track was supposed to be TDU light, with transitions from vegetation to non-vegetation and back to vegetation.  When they got to the site on Sunday to lay our track, it had to be changed from what was plotted because there was an event going on and using part of the area.  This really wasn't an issue.

What did turn out to be an issue was how late in the day it was.  It was getting hot, mid-to-high 70's.  Usually it wouldn't be a big issue, but Gimme had basically been in the car for two days straight (other than nights in the hotel where I was excessively boring).  Plus the age was only supposed to be 30 minutes and it was nearly an hour.

Gimme did really well on the first leg, but overshot the turn and just went right across the little road, then turned to take up a parallel path.  (the red line is the path she took).  We were only about 15 yards from the track, and Sil wasn't sure if she was following scent which had drifted over there or a jogger.  When she went steaming past the third leg without even pausing, it was clear she was on a jogger.  So Sil called me to bring her back and take her over the little road and get her back on the track.

I re-scented her and then she got to find the first article in the sand pit.  From there she made the second turn.  She really struggled with getting across the road this time.  Sil said it was probably because she was slightly off the track, so only had a few yards from the corner to the transition.  Once she did decide to cross (with a lot of encouragement), then she got to the article easily.

The rest of the third leg went well and she made the turn and drove to the next article.  When we got to the road again, she angled somewhat and went across the road at a 90º angle.  The actual track sliced the corner as the road turned.  From there Gimme picked up a diverging line, staying in the shade of the trees.  Right on the other side of the trees was a chain link fence, which Sil says is famous for pushing or pulling scent and leading the dog astray.  I don't quite understand how this can be, since chain link doesn't seem to impede airflow, but I accept Sil has seen the connection often enough for it to be part of our tracking reality. 

As Gimme passed the area of the glove, Sil had me hold her back.  When I did she caught the scent of the article, then she figured out she needed to go across the road again to get to the glove.  She was happy to get her treats, but declined to play tug.  Idiot me forgot to bring her water bottle - I set it out, but then walked off without it in the rush when everyone showed up 20 minutes late.

While this wasn't a stellar example of her abilities, I did learn some things.  First, Gimme still doesn't understand the question part of corner communication, "Is this the good track?"  Sometimes she is quite content to be off the track and lead me astray.  If she pulls hard, I follow and in these situations, she thinks this is good enough.  Second, she likely believes all hard-surface crossings are 90º.  Third, and most important, she seems to think her job is to simply go across and find the track again on the other side.  Sil recommended we back up a bit in our hard surface work, do more island hopping, and ensure she is following her nose across the gaps.  She has to get this skill or we won't be able to progress.  As it would happen, I had just read this in his manuscript the night before, in the chapter on the Canadian TDU.

So we have some work to do.  Its going to be especially important for me to know where our urban tracks are in the near future, thus they'll need to be well marked.  Then when Gimme goes out in a false direction, I can hold where I am and play out the whole line and allow her to sort out what she is smelling, without following her myself until she gets on the right track.  Gimme interprets me following her as reinforcement for what she is doing - essentially saying what she is doing is good enough.  Indeed I've known its rewarding when I follow her and I've used it purposely to reward good work.  So, now I need known tracks so I don't unintentionally reward not-so-good work. 

Sil also wants me to work urban tracks with my longer field line (40 foot).  I'd heard we could use a shorter line for urban tracks and its less likely to get caught on all the extra stuff in the urban environment, so I'd been using my 25 foot line.  He thinks it will be better for me when Gimme needs all the extra line to sort out these challenges, so I'll just have to become proficient at keeping it from getting tangled.  Fortunately the Biothane doesn't tangle as readily as some other lines.

Tomorrow was supposed to be an urban tracking day for us, but Nadine had another commitment come up and can't get out of it.  So we are going to head to Pawsabilities for a quick RallyFrEe practice.  After our last RFE practice, Kathy wants me to put a special effort into getting Gimme out and about for some quick practices of just a few minutes, focusing our efforts on attention.  A few years ago she told me she often goes to a parking lot, gets Wesley out to work briefly.  Then she puts him back in the car, drives 50 feet and does it again.  She gets three short attention practices in a parking lot this way and to the dog each time out of the car is a new location.   The other thing she wants me to focus on is tightening up Gimme's 180º turns.  I think this may be symptomatic of her 360º circles around me, which are also loose.  So I'll be working on those tomorrow as well.

BTW one thing I forgot to mention - on Saturday during some downtime, I got Gimme out for a little bit of set-up and RFE training.  She was distracted briefly, but then got right to work.  We even worked on our side-passes, which she is just learning.  I think she was so happy to have something to do, she was giving me her best effort.

Tracking Genius (31)

Last Friday we met with Nadine and her girls at Flaming Geyser park for tracking.  I got a late start leaving the house because I was doing last minute packing for the weekend.  Then I-5 was a parking lot.  So I was really late.  Nadine already had a track for us and a track for Sugar.

It was fair, with moist grass and only a light breeze.  The track was 600 yards and 1:10 old when Gimme started on it.  She did an excellent job on this track and it would have been a qualifying test.

At the first turn, Nadine told me Gimme was cutting the corner too much and had me call Gimme in and move past it.  Gimme cooperated and basically turned as soon as I let her, then she angled into the same line she'd been on and was right at the first article in no time.  The orange line is the path our interference caused her to take to get back on track.

From there she just aced the rest of the track.  In the middle of the third and fourth legs there was a meander section as Nadine went up and then down narrow paths to get off the plateau.  Gimme had no difficulty with either meander.  In fact the uphill one she was pulling so hard it was really good assistance for me to get up the hill. 

She did stall a bit at the last turn.  So I re-scented her on the sock and then encouraged her to search again.  She found the turn and drove to the end.

Given how much interference she got at the beginning, I should feel privileged she is willing to take me tracking at all.  Fortunately she is a very determined girl.  I think she is determined to teach me this tracking stuff.  She does love a good challenge.

RFE Practice (21)

This is from last Thursday.  I continue to be pleased with the steady progress we've made since Kathy started coaching me.  I don't know if its connected, but Gimme seems to be bypassing having a false pregnancy for the first time.  At the last practice I was sure she was about to go into Mommy-brain any day, but then it hasn't materialized.

I wanted to keep the sessions shorter, but my practice partner was too challenged by using the timer on my phone and doesn't know how to use the one on her phone.  I have another timer I can set ahead and then she'll only have to push one button - if I can find it.

Session 1 video  Gimme gets focused and ready to work much quicker.  She no longer seems to need the perimeter walks - she looks around a little bit, but doesn't take her attention away from me and her distraction is less each time.  When she is briefly distracted, she'll seem to go a bit wide for a step or two, but then moves right in again.  She hasn't been very enthused about learning the up-touch, which I think is partly a fitness issue, but using the clicker made it clearer for her and then she was into it.  I'm trying to break the heeling up with other stuff here and there, but not too much.  I think one of the issues with RallyFrEe is she barely gets a stride or two before we stop again, so I try to do a fair amount of moving, then stop and do a couple of behaviors, then move some more.  And sometimes the girl just wants a hug.   I like the new game Kathy had us doing - tossing a treat and then having Gimme find "heel" or "side" while I'm moving, she's really running into position.  At the end when I ask for a "thru" and she gives me "under", I petted her - not very effective training.  Fortunately she's very patient.

Session 2 video  More good stuff.  For this and the prior session, I'm trying to add some play in.  I've never trained/rewarded with play before, so it doesn't come naturally to me.  Luckily, Gimme is willing to overlook my ineptitude.  I was pleased to see her do the simultaneous spins the very first time - its been about a year since we last worked on it, in the KathyW class.  There is one time each when I cued "heel" or "side" and she went to the opposite position and I didn't realize it.  Later on I cue them and she goes to the correct position.  Since I accepted the wrong ones, it makes me wonder if I had something in mind other than what I cued and maybe she is cuing off of something beside the verbal cue.  Still a good session.

Session 3 video   This session did not go as well.  Gimme was distracted by something right as we came in the door and it took her a long time to focus on me.  J'Anna thought it was the sound of someone using a toy in the next room over, but I didn't hear it.  I did hear a squeaky sounding small dog or puppy from the daycare room.  My plan for this session was to quickly do a corner 180 turn for each of the four corners.  I should have abandoned the plan and gone back to basics until Gimme could completely work through the distraction.  When I got our toy, I could have used it much more effectively, rather than just as a distraction from the distraction.  I should have used it to reward focus, to get her more into our game than worrying about someone else's game.  No harm done, I just don't think she learned anything there.

I'm just damned lucky to have such a patient and forgiving Empress to share my life.  Just sayin'...

Title Number 16!

I'm a bit behind in blogging about what we've been up to, but just got some news I wanted to share.

I just got an email from the International Dog Parkour Association, saying:

Thank you for participating in International Dog Parkour Association's program.  You have met the requirements for your Parkour Dog In Training Title.  Congratulations to you and Monumental A to Z High On Liberty on your Parkour Dog In Training Title!

So its official, Gimme, aka Empress of the Cosmos, has earned her 16th title!!!

Now I have to get busy setting up and collecting video's for the next level.  Gimme doesn't care about titles, she just likes doing stuff and getting well paid for her efforts.  Yaaaaay Gimme.