Back to basics!

Fizz and I have had a month of from much formal training, or even, regular training.   Quick 5 minute sessions here and there in the house, but not on a regularly scheduled basis.   Today is the beginning of getting back to regular training, and also to working through Susan Garrett's Recallers a second time with several of the other students in the program.

Just a quick video today, to show you where Fizz is at in her training.   She has sit on a verbal cue, and generally resistant to distraction.   Down is on hand signal, and slowly starting to be on verbal only.  Down is resistant to mild distraction....food on the floor, toys nearby.......but not to a favorite toy being thrown, or to other dogs (yet).   Stand is on hand signal, and we are just starting to work building duration, and Its Yer Choice with distractions.

Fizz is currently 4.5mos, and in the middle of teething.  :)

Visit to Home Depot - 14wks

This morning we headed to Home Depot, hubby needed a few plumbing parts (eventually it was easier to just buy a whole new toilet!) and I decided that Fizz was going to have a great socialization outing.  I hadn't planned any real training, just a chance for a new environment and lots of new people.

Fizz entered like she owned the place, and within  a minute, I had her playing games with me and earning treats.   We started with simple nose touches, and progressed to calling off distractions (new people are about a Level 14 on a scale of 10 for Fizz)....including new people, dust bunnies in corners, and cords hanging down from poles.   I was amazed to see her leave a new person, and thrilled to see that she put the value in me over the new person, as I know how much she adores meeting new people.

After making our way to the back cross-store aisle, we worked some RZ, first in one-step forward increments, and then several 180 turns.   She nailed it, and was pushing me hard with her eyes to keep working, to keep earning reward.   LOVED seeing this from her.   No luring, no begging on my part.   Just a simple response to her awesome choices.    She was totally focused and wanting to work.   I released her from work to go say hi to at least 10 different staff members, and several customers.   Each time, she came back ready to work again!

We worked in aisles on Its Yer Choice.   I forgot the rule of "it's a new environment, be sure to set up for success" and just started working on the level of distraction that we work at home.  I asked for a sit, tossed her most favorite tug over her head (from behind), squiggled it along the floor in front of her, and tossing hot dog pieces onto the floor so that they bounced right towards her toes.   Not a flinch.   Yep, old hat for this old soul.   A truly brilliant puppy!   BIG reward and party for such awesome work.   Lots of tugging, and I had a mother/son team watching from the end of the aisle, with Mom narrating the puppy's training session (I think my enthusiasm was not very quiet!).

We had several hard fast recalls, raced the length of empty aisles, and worked more Its Yer choice with the tug.   When it was finally time to select our new toilet, I put Fizz in a down (this is not on verbal cue yet) and fed a few times to build duration, and then just waited.    She put her chin down and completely relaxed.   Released her to greet some new people, then back into her down.   Finally, got her up on the flatbed cart with the toilet box and asked for a sit while the cart rocked forward onto the fore set of wheels.

I think what amazed the most was the intensity with which she worked with me, despite this new, exciting, and highly distracting environment.  I felt like the training sessions we've been doing for the past many weeks were suddenly coming together and I had a puppy who was happy and willing and eager to work, starting to really generalize behaviors and pushing me for more.  Absolute JOY! :)

At the end of a month......

Fizz was 12wks on Sunday, and has been here a month now.   I'm just amazed to see how far she's come.   Its been tiring at times, this new journey we're on.   No verbal or physical corrections.   Logging all of my training, which is typically 6-8 mini sessions per day.   Some days, I go to bed so exhausted I can't even remember what I did (thus a new system of tracking my training has emerged).   I don't ever remember a puppy tiring me so much, but I don't think I ever put this level of detail/effort into a puppy either (meanwhile, keeping up with my 3.5 & 6yr olds!).  :)

I keep a 3-ring binder with all of my training notes.   Each day contains details of each training session, including:  time, location, treats used, games played, and then an assessment of how it went.  At the end of the day, I look to see how much of each thing was accomplished, and based on that, and my weekly plan/goal, decide what to move forward with for the next day.   If I've missed something for a few days, or not gotten enough reps of it in, then it goes on high priority for the upcoming day.

Being a scientist by training, keeping notebooks is not foreign.  However, I was not finding the time to NEATLY enter the level of detail that I wanted.   So....now I have a scribblebook (composition notebook) and my decorated 3 ring binder.   The scribblebook is used through-out the day, to quickly enter notes about what happened when.   Just before bed, I sit down to re-write it, putting into detail what went on.  

At the end of our first month, I have a puppy who is tightly bonded to me, yet confident to go meet any one new who crosses her path, and self-confident enough to hang out with someone if I choose to hand the leash off and walk away.   Today, we walked down the street, around the corner, and met a "tree dude."   Two HUGE diesel trucks were running, one of which was also hauling a monster-sized chipper.   The other 'tree dude' was using the chain saw and cutting the remainder of a fore-shortened tree into manageable sized logs.   None of this bothered her one whit.    She was so excited to meet someone new:  a big thick man, wearing an eye-bleeding yellow jacket (you know, that new safety color that so many have), thick blue rubber gloves, and his bright orange hard hat - hearing protector contraption.    He was QUITE the sight, and certainly not like anyone else we've met.   But he was excited to see her, and she just calmly went right up to him, and nestled in for pets.    The trainer in me was VERY happy with her confidence.   If we ever meet an obed judge in tree gear, at a very loud trial........we're down with that.  :)

Fizz travels beautifully in the car, and has since Day 1.  She just goes to sleep and does not try to crate surf, nor bobble around as I'm driving.   No car sickness, no barking at anything.....just lovely!   In a similar vein, when we're at our competition obedience class, she lies quietly in her crate until it's time to come out and work.   Fizz ADORES other dogs and people, I would rate them as an A++ level distraction at times.   However, when it's our turn to watch, she is wonderfully quiet and sedate.   I sure hope that continues as she matures.

We've established, through games, that treats on the floor are NOT fair game, just for the taking.  Neither are treats in my hand, or on the counter..........and funny enough, neither are toys.   She will hold a sit while I drop a favorite tug to the floor within a foot of her.  I can take that same tug and snake it around, and even whack the ground with it.   She just looks like "what, you think I'm gonna fall for that?!"   She explodes into it on release, and we have wonderful games of tug and puppy bounce. :)    Her ability to maintain a down is similar, even though we've not worked on it much at all (maybe twice in the past month?).    She's generalizing the "Its Yer Choice" (Susan Garrett) game very nicely.  

Retrieve work is started.  She races out to whatever I throw out, quickly picks it up, turns, and comes straight back to me.   Currently, I kneel on the floor when we play this game, and her default behavior is to dive between my legs.   No growling when I pet her, and if I put out a hand as she comes in, she'll bring it to my hand.   I have not worked that behavior yet, and its on our list to solidify over the next month.   When I was visiting the litter, Fizz brought a few toys near me, but often seemed to want to get off away from her littermates and enjoy whatever prize she'd shopped.   I don't care about puppy tests, PAT, or otherwise.   I didn't need to see what she'd do with a crinkled paper ball, or if she'd bring it back.   I wanted to see her natural carrying behavior (calm, not mouthy), and her natural interest level in people in general throughout the day (high).   I knew that with solid calm carrying and an interest in people, simply building a strong, positive relationship would generate a good retrieve in the early stages........and that is playing out!   I have never done a forced retrieve of any kind on any dog, and I don't plan to ever change that.   In 5 trials, Froli never lost points on her retrieves (3x SchH1, 2x ScHH2).  

Needless to say, I absolutely adore this puppy and am having a blast training with her.   :)

Good lessons from poor trainer choices

I wanted to start shaping Fizz's retreive today.   She already likes to pick up her dumbell and carry it about, including up and over the BOSU (blue side up, non-rocking).   Normally to start shaping a retreive, one would start with rewarding even a glance at the db, and then increase criteria to a sniff, a lick, a bite.   Because I know she likes to play with it and carry it, I was starting with the criteria of grabbing it with her mouth.   No clicker, b/c it's simply too much for me to work (clicker, food, db).  So just a verbal marker and feed (today's treats are scrambled eggs.......one of her favorites!).

I had planned to start this an hour earlier.  However, as I started gathering stuff, I looked up and there she was, sitting tight on the rocking BOSU.   So I decided to work with what she gave me.  Got the bowl of eggs, and rewarded any movements or position changes on the BOSU.   We had fun playing this game for about 5 minutes.  Finally snapped a leash on her, gave her a release cue, and led her off.  She really seems to like the rocking BOSU (maybe she wishes for a sailboat rocking on the seas??).

After the BOSU work, we spent some time outside, both potty break and playing.   I should have put her up at that point, it was a natural break point in her day.  However, she came back in still zipping around, so I decided to pursue my original goal:  shaping the retreive.   You can see the lower level of "oomph" in her work, due to my poor choice to not put her up, and push forward.  Bad trainer!

We had several distractions going on here: 3.5yr old James bouncing from chair to chair, across an end table and jabbering away.   The flag outside was whipping in the wind and thwacking the screen (I'm surprised that didn't pick up on the audio feed!), and hubby shows up twice.  I had NO idea he'd pet her until I watched this video.......will have to work on that.  "No petting puppy when Mommy's training!"   :)

There's a DWDH moment to work through b/c of my poor choice in timing.  She wasn't showing me great frustration, so I didn't want to end it, I wanted to see her come through it, and she did.   I was even happier with her choice to keep working with me the second time George showed up.   It had to be her CHOICE, and not me being enticing..........thus no big prey object game with the db to get her back.  I want her to work with me because she desires too, and because there is joy in it.....not because of "have to."

Finally, in playing tug, we have a few learning games within the game.  Thanks again to Susan Garrett for her awesome leadership and allowing us to watch Swagger in Puppy Peaks.  I've learned SO much!!!

Learning through games

One of the things I enjoy greatly about Susan Garrett's work is that the puppies learn behaviors via fun games.   I've seen this work so well in my own children that I couldn't wait to apply it to dog training.  Her Puppy Peaks program has taught me a lot, now its time to apply it myself!  :)

Last night, Fizz had her first session of IYC - Its Yer Choice, in which a puppy who shows self-control then earns exactly what it is that they are restraining themselves from.  This is most easily taught with food at meal time when the puppy is really hungry.   Fizz worked for her dinner last night, and I was really impressed with how little time it took her to figure out the game.

Today at lunch, we played again.   My original hope was to work with food bits on the floor, and work her control that way.   However, that wasn't going to well, and since I was trying to stay in a 5 minute time frame for our training, I switched gears, and worked with the food in my open palm (ignoring it earns it).

Below is a video I shot of our session.  We started with food in the bowl on the floor, and she remembered last night's session.  Ignoring the bowl was not very difficult for her today, though it did require a few hand covers.   I then tried a play break, but had a lesser favored toy (I haven't figured out all the toys' rankings yet....she'd only been here 36hrs at the time of this video).  For my ignorance, I paid pennance with a pretty good "Dont Wanna, Don't Hafta" moment (aka DWDH).   Finally found something else to play with, and she turned right on to it.   We had far better switching from food to toy to food to toy earlier in the morning with "better" toys.

After the DWDH, I started working on the open palm with food.  She caught on to that pretty quickly and gave me beautiful eye contact when she wanted the piece.   Very happy with this!!!   Hoping to work it again tomorrow with food on the floor, may try that for breakfast time when hunger is even greater.  :)