Just got word on our recent parkour submission to All Dogs Parkour. Gimme now has two new titles: ADPL3(2) and ADPL3(GC). This brings the title total to 38. Yayyyyy Gimme.
She has to have 3 qualifying entries at this level. I hope you enjoy watching them as much as we enjoy making them. They are:
Avonlea Park - ADP L3 (2GC) at Avonlea Park.
Wonderwood Park - ADP L3(2GC) at Wonderwood Park.
and William A Bush Parkc ADP L3(2GC) at William A Bush Park.
This weekend we have two days of UKC nosework in Graham. The drive is only 1:15, so we'll be coming home at night. Actually if they run the searches the way I've heard... we'll be coming home mid-afternoon. If Gimme does as well as I expect her to and provided I don't mess up, she could come home with as many as 5 new titles. Cross your fingers for us...
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
RFE practice (69)
Gimme started out really distracted, so much that it took 5½ minutes to get her focused. It seems far too soon for her false pregnancy. Maybe it was because they had the big door open to the whole wide world. I shut it entirely for the second and third sessions and it helped a little with focus. However, then I saw she lost ability to work sooner than usual - perhaps we used it up when she was having to work so hard to focus earlier in our practice.
Warm-up video - This just shows a little bit of the doodling and focus work we started with. Having now reviewed some video, it was inordinately noisy, not screechy noise, but it still could have affected her.
"Fanny" video - Gimme tries to turn getting into "fanny" into an izzy/otto combo. Why doesn't this surprise me? Maybe because she so often tries to insert izzy or otto in other behaviors. Listening is definitely her weakest skill.
Circle Handler 3x video - Again with the "otto" offering - at least she's consistent. My intent was to work on speed. I don't know why, but Gimme is always lackadaisical in her circle behaviors. The chirpy yes-yes-yes worked the best. Me turning inside her circle and tossing treats forward as she comes back into position also improved speed.
Pivot dog-inside video - I want to try teaching her the turned-out-foot as a physical cue for "near" and "close". I think it would further her understanding of what I want. As it is, she can't do this without the pivot brick.
"Back" in center video - Gimme has this funny half-sideways back up that she does, but usually only the first time. Once she knows where the target is, then she doesn't have to look. I think this means I need to do a lot more freeshaping "back" without a target. One thing I'm working on here is "back" until I say "halt". We haven't done this before, so the "halt" is out of context; she picked it up fast. She does start throwing in a half-bow, so I make sure to reward when she's standing fully.
Distance behaviors video - The idea here was to work simple behaviors behind a minimal barrier. We've done it with wire guides and I thought the pole might be a good next step. Of course the session with guides was quite awhile ago, so maybe I should have done it again. She does well five times in a row and then thinks maybe she should get in an otto, which I manage to stop. I should bring rubberbands to wrap around the ends of the pole so it doesn't move so easily. The sit and down go well.
Backing in heel video - I am trying to work on backing in heel position against barriers whenever I can, to build muscle memory.
"Thru" to front video - This is more timing than training. Gimme certainly knows "thru". I just don't find this an attractive behavior, so not sure I'd ever use it. It doesn't flow to me.
Sidepass into dog video - This is still a work in progress. Of course, a certain someone tries to get in an otto. I still think I'm missing something.
Paw lift video - My big focus here was trying to encourage "low" (left paw) lift without the right paw coming off the ground. Her "high" (right paw) is indeed, very high without the other coming off the ground. I discussed this later with our chiropractor and he said she is more flexible in her right shoulder, but didn't have suggestions for how to increase flexibility on the left. My timing is really inaccurate, but I'm still seeing improvement. There were a number of times I clicked when both feet came off the ground (left highest), but then the right paw would go back to the ground and she'd hold the left up. Not exactly what I want but it was improvement in the right direction.
Speaking of the chiropractor, I scheduled this appointment nearly a month early. I was feeling a difference in warmth between her left and right shoulders (warmer on the right) and wanted to make sure we addressed it if there was trouble brewing. He could feel the difference too, but didn't find anything to account for it, so the appointment was just a fine tuning. Gimme doesn't mind, since she gets non-stop peanut butter from the go-toob.
Warm-up video - This just shows a little bit of the doodling and focus work we started with. Having now reviewed some video, it was inordinately noisy, not screechy noise, but it still could have affected her.
"Fanny" video - Gimme tries to turn getting into "fanny" into an izzy/otto combo. Why doesn't this surprise me? Maybe because she so often tries to insert izzy or otto in other behaviors. Listening is definitely her weakest skill.
Circle Handler 3x video - Again with the "otto" offering - at least she's consistent. My intent was to work on speed. I don't know why, but Gimme is always lackadaisical in her circle behaviors. The chirpy yes-yes-yes worked the best. Me turning inside her circle and tossing treats forward as she comes back into position also improved speed.
Pivot dog-inside video - I want to try teaching her the turned-out-foot as a physical cue for "near" and "close". I think it would further her understanding of what I want. As it is, she can't do this without the pivot brick.
"Back" in center video - Gimme has this funny half-sideways back up that she does, but usually only the first time. Once she knows where the target is, then she doesn't have to look. I think this means I need to do a lot more freeshaping "back" without a target. One thing I'm working on here is "back" until I say "halt". We haven't done this before, so the "halt" is out of context; she picked it up fast. She does start throwing in a half-bow, so I make sure to reward when she's standing fully.
Distance behaviors video - The idea here was to work simple behaviors behind a minimal barrier. We've done it with wire guides and I thought the pole might be a good next step. Of course the session with guides was quite awhile ago, so maybe I should have done it again. She does well five times in a row and then thinks maybe she should get in an otto, which I manage to stop. I should bring rubberbands to wrap around the ends of the pole so it doesn't move so easily. The sit and down go well.
Backing in heel video - I am trying to work on backing in heel position against barriers whenever I can, to build muscle memory.
"Thru" to front video - This is more timing than training. Gimme certainly knows "thru". I just don't find this an attractive behavior, so not sure I'd ever use it. It doesn't flow to me.
Sidepass into dog video - This is still a work in progress. Of course, a certain someone tries to get in an otto. I still think I'm missing something.
Paw lift video - My big focus here was trying to encourage "low" (left paw) lift without the right paw coming off the ground. Her "high" (right paw) is indeed, very high without the other coming off the ground. I discussed this later with our chiropractor and he said she is more flexible in her right shoulder, but didn't have suggestions for how to increase flexibility on the left. My timing is really inaccurate, but I'm still seeing improvement. There were a number of times I clicked when both feet came off the ground (left highest), but then the right paw would go back to the ground and she'd hold the left up. Not exactly what I want but it was improvement in the right direction.
Speaking of the chiropractor, I scheduled this appointment nearly a month early. I was feeling a difference in warmth between her left and right shoulders (warmer on the right) and wanted to make sure we addressed it if there was trouble brewing. He could feel the difference too, but didn't find anything to account for it, so the appointment was just a fine tuning. Gimme doesn't mind, since she gets non-stop peanut butter from the go-toob.
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Nosework (4/31)
This class was focused on thresholds. We got four back-to-back searches. My hat and sunglasses were an attempt to mitigate my migraine. The pollen is really bad this year and its doing a number on me.
Interior 1 video - The first search had 1 hide and Gimme found it in 6 seconds.
Interior 2 video - This search had 2 hides. The sheet-covered ex-pens do weird things with scent. It takes Gimme 28 seconds to find the hide on the green chair right inside the door. It was quite warm outside, so we think the garage door was pulling scent up, hence all the time she spent on the carts next to it (which all the dogs did). It takes Gimme 2 more minutes to find the second hide, on the door jam by the floor.
Interior 3 video - This search also had 2 hides. It takes Gimme just 16 seconds to find this threshold hide. It's classic Gimme, popping her head out to tell me, about the hide in the bathroom. Apparently I was far too slow moving to suit her.
Interior 4 video - Just one hide. I can't explain why it took Gimme 53 seconds to find this hide. I think she was just too busy making wide sweeping turns, scanning the room. When she gets back to the threshold area and slows down a little, suddenly she has it.
Exterior 1 video - Three hides. Gimme scents the hide on the bus-shed from the startline and is there in under 4 seconds. Sadly I'm quite a bit slower to call it. Gimme gets to the second hide pretty fast. The third hide, in the front wheel of the near truck, takes her quite awhile. Once you see where it is, it's pretty clearly converging odor with the bus-shed hide. Normally she does really well with converging odor, but for some reason this one was extra challenging.
I love her persistence...
Interior 1 video - The first search had 1 hide and Gimme found it in 6 seconds.
Interior 2 video - This search had 2 hides. The sheet-covered ex-pens do weird things with scent. It takes Gimme 28 seconds to find the hide on the green chair right inside the door. It was quite warm outside, so we think the garage door was pulling scent up, hence all the time she spent on the carts next to it (which all the dogs did). It takes Gimme 2 more minutes to find the second hide, on the door jam by the floor.
Interior 3 video - This search also had 2 hides. It takes Gimme just 16 seconds to find this threshold hide. It's classic Gimme, popping her head out to tell me, about the hide in the bathroom. Apparently I was far too slow moving to suit her.
Interior 4 video - Just one hide. I can't explain why it took Gimme 53 seconds to find this hide. I think she was just too busy making wide sweeping turns, scanning the room. When she gets back to the threshold area and slows down a little, suddenly she has it.
Exterior 1 video - Three hides. Gimme scents the hide on the bus-shed from the startline and is there in under 4 seconds. Sadly I'm quite a bit slower to call it. Gimme gets to the second hide pretty fast. The third hide, in the front wheel of the near truck, takes her quite awhile. Once you see where it is, it's pretty clearly converging odor with the bus-shed hide. Normally she does really well with converging odor, but for some reason this one was extra challenging.
I love her persistence...
Friday, May 4, 2018
Nosework (3/31)
We had a series of exterior searches, focused on how the dogs reacted to corners sticking out into the search area (as opposed to the corners in a room).
Exterior 1 & 2 video - In this first search, we were watching to see what effect the open door would have on their search. There was nothing in there, but all of the dogs were drawn in a little bit. Gimme goes straight out to the vegetation and doesn't check the corner until she comes back by it. Then she caught the tin near the corner. We think she may have been drawn toward the back by scent drifting from that hide, especially since she was so quick to find that hide when we allowed her to go all the way back there.
Exterior 3 & 4 video - Initially Gimme wasn't interested in the search area, wanting to go to the truck instead, but then a little breeze comes down the front of the search area and she gets all into it. She does a nice job hugging the corner and going right to the hide. Despite Dorothy's claim that it was up to me how I wanted to work the transition to search 4, Gimme drags me there to do it her way. There's a slight head check as she passes the corner, drawn to the trees. Gimme is pulled away from the building by the bunny smells and is happy to go on a walkabout. If we had delineated search boundaries, I would have pulled her back sooner. As soon as I did, she moved quickly to the corner, overruns the hide, then whips back to it.
Exterior 5 & 6 video - As we were waiting for the prior pair of searches, Gimme noticed a bunny hopping along in this search area. We ran them back-to-back, so I wasn't sure how she would do - half expecting a bunny-motivated walkabout. Gimme got right into her search. She doesn't alert on the first hide, right past the corner. She found a treat right under it, so we theorize she may have thought it was a self-serve paired hide and was ready to go on. She drags me directly to search 6 and finds the hide very quickly, around a "corner" made from a stack of pallets. As we walk back toward the first hide, I re-cued her with "wherezit" and she quickly shows me where it is. I was really proud of her focusing on nosework instead of bunnies, since it had only been about 3 minutes from when one hopped right through the start of her search.
Exterior 7 video - This time there was a hide slightly inside the room, so it's interesting to see how much deeper she goes into the area. She doesn't stick it, but is clearly much more interested. Gimme does a tight wrap of the corner and then comes back to find the hide on the column. She shows no interest in racing down the side of the building and takes me back to the door opening and searches until she finds the hide, about 9" into the space.
Exterior 8 video - The hide is off to the left from the startline and you can see Gimme starts with a big sweep of the area, starting on the right and going along the back. Note how her demeanor changes slightly when she gets up along the building and especially how she searches once she gets into the bus-shed. She's so focused on the hide she gives herself a loud bonk on the head, right before finding the hide. It was a high hide - her favorite.
I know I've mentioned it before, but just have to say how much I love the way Dorothy plans her classes. There is always a theme to the searches, with a specific search skill or observational skill to focus on, sometimes both. She is easily the best instructor I know.
Exterior 1 & 2 video - In this first search, we were watching to see what effect the open door would have on their search. There was nothing in there, but all of the dogs were drawn in a little bit. Gimme goes straight out to the vegetation and doesn't check the corner until she comes back by it. Then she caught the tin near the corner. We think she may have been drawn toward the back by scent drifting from that hide, especially since she was so quick to find that hide when we allowed her to go all the way back there.
Exterior 3 & 4 video - Initially Gimme wasn't interested in the search area, wanting to go to the truck instead, but then a little breeze comes down the front of the search area and she gets all into it. She does a nice job hugging the corner and going right to the hide. Despite Dorothy's claim that it was up to me how I wanted to work the transition to search 4, Gimme drags me there to do it her way. There's a slight head check as she passes the corner, drawn to the trees. Gimme is pulled away from the building by the bunny smells and is happy to go on a walkabout. If we had delineated search boundaries, I would have pulled her back sooner. As soon as I did, she moved quickly to the corner, overruns the hide, then whips back to it.
Exterior 5 & 6 video - As we were waiting for the prior pair of searches, Gimme noticed a bunny hopping along in this search area. We ran them back-to-back, so I wasn't sure how she would do - half expecting a bunny-motivated walkabout. Gimme got right into her search. She doesn't alert on the first hide, right past the corner. She found a treat right under it, so we theorize she may have thought it was a self-serve paired hide and was ready to go on. She drags me directly to search 6 and finds the hide very quickly, around a "corner" made from a stack of pallets. As we walk back toward the first hide, I re-cued her with "wherezit" and she quickly shows me where it is. I was really proud of her focusing on nosework instead of bunnies, since it had only been about 3 minutes from when one hopped right through the start of her search.
Exterior 7 video - This time there was a hide slightly inside the room, so it's interesting to see how much deeper she goes into the area. She doesn't stick it, but is clearly much more interested. Gimme does a tight wrap of the corner and then comes back to find the hide on the column. She shows no interest in racing down the side of the building and takes me back to the door opening and searches until she finds the hide, about 9" into the space.
Exterior 8 video - The hide is off to the left from the startline and you can see Gimme starts with a big sweep of the area, starting on the right and going along the back. Note how her demeanor changes slightly when she gets up along the building and especially how she searches once she gets into the bus-shed. She's so focused on the hide she gives herself a loud bonk on the head, right before finding the hide. It was a high hide - her favorite.
I know I've mentioned it before, but just have to say how much I love the way Dorothy plans her classes. There is always a theme to the searches, with a specific search skill or observational skill to focus on, sometimes both. She is easily the best instructor I know.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
RFE practice (68)
We started with heeling warm-up and distraction work. Then I added some simple behaviors: spin, turn, around and behind - just to get her listening ears warmed up too. Followed by a bit more heeling.
BTW we were having trouble with my camera. If J'Anna zoomed in, then there was no focus. I didn't realize at the time, but the camera was at the end of it's lifespan. Sadly it was short-lived, only 21 months. It has since died and I've now bought another. I'm still trying to figure out how to download videos from the camera to my laptop, thus I'm quite far behind on blogging.
Distance behaviors video - I tried to use a carpet square to give Gimme a target to back to and then as an anchor to stay on to perform a behavior. We had such difficulty getting anywhere, she kept laying down. I'd tell her "stand" and nothing, lift her to stand and nothing. She just seemed really locked into laying down on the target. I could be standing in front of her and she'd lay down no matter what cue I said. I was finally able to break her stuck-on-down pattern and get a few behaviors on the target (where this video starts). She almost immediately gets stuck again so I moved out and did some treat-chasing to get her moving and loosened up. Afterward I was able to get her to back to the target and, by clicking MUCH earlier, keep her standing. Then I got a spin on the target with me a couple feet away. I finally figured out the best way to get her to stand again was with a nose "touch" to my hand.
It occurred to me, much later, Gimme was confusing the carpet target with her "mark" target. She's done this before, but never gotten so completely stuck on it. So I devised the following training plan to help her make the distinction. I will probably need to do it more than once, but at least I know it helps.
"Mark" video - We haven't actually trained this in a long time, so we needed to refresh it. I was using a hand touch between behaviors so she would be aligned to run to the mark-target, instead of trying to turn it into a "bacon" behavior.
"Back" in center video - Then we backed to target a few times, to set up the behavior discrimination exercise. I made sure to click early so Gimme didn't start laying down. The reason for the backing up is because it's part of the distance behavior as defined by RallyFrEe - the dog must back 4 feet and then do the distance behavior.
Behavior discrimination video - I went back and forth (alternating and then more randomly) between the two behaviors: "mark" and backing to a target. I adjusted my distance to prop and alignment to help her get the idea, as needed. She got a little stuck on laying down on the target, but using a hand touch to get her standing worked well and we did get unstuck. We got some spins on the target and worked duration on her "mark".
Overall I thought it was a productive exercise - one we should do more often with lots of different behaviors. For instance along with rewarding stillness, doing the same with several behaviors that all start in left heel, or right heel, might help to clarify for Gimme to wait for a cue rather than volunteering her latest favorite behavior.
"Thru" to front video - We did some of these as part of our course work and then practiced them again in our last session. Her first one was lovely. The second time was not as clean and I can see on video that she was distracted by something on the shelf.
"Scoot" video - Sometimes "scoot" is one of the behaviors Gimme gets stuck offering at any opportunity and sometimes she doesn't get as excited about doing it. Of course, it's verrrrry cute, so we'll be using it for a free choice behavior.
Pivot dog-inside video - I realized when I was watching this, I did the footwork wrong. My 90º step in front of Gimme should have been with the foot near her. No wonder she was confused. Bad me.
Switch back video - Beautifully done.
Thru transition video - Another nice job.
Sidepass away video - I was using the "near" cue, but in the video I see my timing was all wrong. Instead of saying "near" after she was out of position, I should have said the cue as or just before I stepped away.
"Fanny" video - Here I did a little bit of finding position, setting the platform in the "fanny" position. This went well; I should do it more often.
"Near" & "Close" video - Here's a little idea I had for a free choice behavior, sort of a doggie-twist. Obviously it needs refinement, but I think it could be cute.
"Bowl" refresh video - Last time we practiced I noticed a bit of uncertainty/hesitation when I gave Gimme the "bowl" release to her special bowl. I'm not sure why, but I wanted to make sure to make it more fun, to charge up the value. Naturally I forgot to bring in her special bowl, so ended up using a shallow cone - Gimme didn't seem to care about not using her specific special bowl. She was showing more excitement about her special bowl. But... I think I should have been using simpler behaviors, essentially pairing the bowl with behaviors where she has more confidence and enthusiasm. Since she's uncertain about the point of multiple circles, it's not one of her favorites, thus was counteracting some of the bowl-value I was trying to build.
Backing in heel video - I am putting time into backing beside a barrier, trying to build better muscle memory. Gimme was a little uncertain here about the wall being so close, even though we've done it before. Still she got into it quickly and then was able to get many rewards. Note: since then we've done it several times at home and she's getting more confident about it.
Circle x2 Handler Opposite video - There are two challenges in this exercise. One is convincing Gimme that I'll make it worth her while to do multiple circles. The second is the timing. The dog must do two full circles, with both ending up facing forward together. While Gimme's two circles take a little less time than me doing two... so I need to turn faster so she doesn't overshoot her start position. It occurs to me I need to bring some chicken nuggets to reward those multiple circles. A higher value reward would surely motivate her to do multiple circles and build enthusiasm.
"Izzy" & "otto" video - She does great with these. Do note her look at me when I say "go to izzy", when I meant to say "go to side". Her "looks" can be very pointed when she thinks I'm off my rocker.
BTW we were having trouble with my camera. If J'Anna zoomed in, then there was no focus. I didn't realize at the time, but the camera was at the end of it's lifespan. Sadly it was short-lived, only 21 months. It has since died and I've now bought another. I'm still trying to figure out how to download videos from the camera to my laptop, thus I'm quite far behind on blogging.
Distance behaviors video - I tried to use a carpet square to give Gimme a target to back to and then as an anchor to stay on to perform a behavior. We had such difficulty getting anywhere, she kept laying down. I'd tell her "stand" and nothing, lift her to stand and nothing. She just seemed really locked into laying down on the target. I could be standing in front of her and she'd lay down no matter what cue I said. I was finally able to break her stuck-on-down pattern and get a few behaviors on the target (where this video starts). She almost immediately gets stuck again so I moved out and did some treat-chasing to get her moving and loosened up. Afterward I was able to get her to back to the target and, by clicking MUCH earlier, keep her standing. Then I got a spin on the target with me a couple feet away. I finally figured out the best way to get her to stand again was with a nose "touch" to my hand.
It occurred to me, much later, Gimme was confusing the carpet target with her "mark" target. She's done this before, but never gotten so completely stuck on it. So I devised the following training plan to help her make the distinction. I will probably need to do it more than once, but at least I know it helps.
"Mark" video - We haven't actually trained this in a long time, so we needed to refresh it. I was using a hand touch between behaviors so she would be aligned to run to the mark-target, instead of trying to turn it into a "bacon" behavior.
"Back" in center video - Then we backed to target a few times, to set up the behavior discrimination exercise. I made sure to click early so Gimme didn't start laying down. The reason for the backing up is because it's part of the distance behavior as defined by RallyFrEe - the dog must back 4 feet and then do the distance behavior.
Behavior discrimination video - I went back and forth (alternating and then more randomly) between the two behaviors: "mark" and backing to a target. I adjusted my distance to prop and alignment to help her get the idea, as needed. She got a little stuck on laying down on the target, but using a hand touch to get her standing worked well and we did get unstuck. We got some spins on the target and worked duration on her "mark".
Overall I thought it was a productive exercise - one we should do more often with lots of different behaviors. For instance along with rewarding stillness, doing the same with several behaviors that all start in left heel, or right heel, might help to clarify for Gimme to wait for a cue rather than volunteering her latest favorite behavior.
"Thru" to front video - We did some of these as part of our course work and then practiced them again in our last session. Her first one was lovely. The second time was not as clean and I can see on video that she was distracted by something on the shelf.
"Scoot" video - Sometimes "scoot" is one of the behaviors Gimme gets stuck offering at any opportunity and sometimes she doesn't get as excited about doing it. Of course, it's verrrrry cute, so we'll be using it for a free choice behavior.
Pivot dog-inside video - I realized when I was watching this, I did the footwork wrong. My 90º step in front of Gimme should have been with the foot near her. No wonder she was confused. Bad me.
Switch back video - Beautifully done.
Thru transition video - Another nice job.
Sidepass away video - I was using the "near" cue, but in the video I see my timing was all wrong. Instead of saying "near" after she was out of position, I should have said the cue as or just before I stepped away.
"Fanny" video - Here I did a little bit of finding position, setting the platform in the "fanny" position. This went well; I should do it more often.
"Near" & "Close" video - Here's a little idea I had for a free choice behavior, sort of a doggie-twist. Obviously it needs refinement, but I think it could be cute.
"Bowl" refresh video - Last time we practiced I noticed a bit of uncertainty/hesitation when I gave Gimme the "bowl" release to her special bowl. I'm not sure why, but I wanted to make sure to make it more fun, to charge up the value. Naturally I forgot to bring in her special bowl, so ended up using a shallow cone - Gimme didn't seem to care about not using her specific special bowl. She was showing more excitement about her special bowl. But... I think I should have been using simpler behaviors, essentially pairing the bowl with behaviors where she has more confidence and enthusiasm. Since she's uncertain about the point of multiple circles, it's not one of her favorites, thus was counteracting some of the bowl-value I was trying to build.
Backing in heel video - I am putting time into backing beside a barrier, trying to build better muscle memory. Gimme was a little uncertain here about the wall being so close, even though we've done it before. Still she got into it quickly and then was able to get many rewards. Note: since then we've done it several times at home and she's getting more confident about it.
Circle x2 Handler Opposite video - There are two challenges in this exercise. One is convincing Gimme that I'll make it worth her while to do multiple circles. The second is the timing. The dog must do two full circles, with both ending up facing forward together. While Gimme's two circles take a little less time than me doing two... so I need to turn faster so she doesn't overshoot her start position. It occurs to me I need to bring some chicken nuggets to reward those multiple circles. A higher value reward would surely motivate her to do multiple circles and build enthusiasm.
"Izzy" & "otto" video - She does great with these. Do note her look at me when I say "go to izzy", when I meant to say "go to side". Her "looks" can be very pointed when she thinks I'm off my rocker.
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