Shaping the broad jump for obedience

When I asked my obedience coach how she teaches the broad jump for obedience, her answer was "it depends."  :)    I've taught it for agility, but am not up on current methods, and was looking to expand my training repertoire.   So, we're going to shape Fizz to jump the broad jump.

Yesterday was our first attempt, and we worked her in 2 short sessions of roughly 5 minutes each, and approximately 10 minutes apart (you can see the clock in the background).    We started with two boards, and the criteria was simply "pass over the b.j. "    Early in Fizz's life, we did a lot of work with proprioception, which included ground pole work (and avoidance of stepping on them) as well as getting up on any thing that I went near and didn't ask for another behavior.   We worked a lot with wiggly, unsteady, non-level objects.    I knew that Fizz would try in some fashion to get ON the broad jump, and she did not disappoint. :)

Unfortunately, I forgot to start the video, so the first minute or so of interaction is missing, however, it's not very different from what you see on the video.   The very first thing she did was stand on the 2nd board, all 4 feet on, and hold her balance.   As soon as she came down off of it, having crossed over the full jump, I clicked and treated, and away we went! :)  

About half way through our first session, I stopped clicking for walking through the jump, and increased the criteria to "jumping the jump."   Fizz has a very high threshhold for frustration and does not give up easily.   She understands, and seems to enjoy, free shaping, and I am often able to take fairly big steps in raising criteria with her.  






You could almost see her mentally tiring, so we put her up in her crate for about 10 minutes to process what she had learned.    She was very excited to come back to the work.    In reviewing the videos, I see much less walking through the jump in Session 2, and more jumping.   She's understanding the criteria and showing me that we didn't raise it too quickly or too much.    One comment here is how poor my placement of reward is.   I thought I had cut hunks of cheese that were big enough, but nope..........they were small, bouncy, and not tossing very well.   Optimally, I would have been tossing cheese such that where she went to get it for reward set her up correctly for the next rep.   However, she is frequently to the side of the jump and coming to it on an angle.   

Personally, 'wrong' does not bother me, and I do NOT view it as 'bad.'   It is a choice the dog has made, and each new choice brings information.   She is refining her understanding of what brings reward and what does not.   By figuring it out for herself, her understanding is more clear, and in my opinion, more solid.    The same reasoning that causes a parent to say to a child "figure it out for yourself........put up 4 fingers on this hand, and 3 on that one, and tell me how many you have".....when asked "what is 4 + 3?"   In my limited experience, shaping is FAR FAR more powerful (and lasting) of a teacher than luring.   It requires patience, and the ability to read one's dog (and know if you've pushed too far/too fast).....but the rewards are great! :)

Here is session 2:

Scent Discrimination

After watching Denise Fenzi's blog post regarding her puppy Lyra (who at the time, was 13.5 weeks old), I decided it was time to get started with Fizz on scent discrimination.   You can see Denise's blog here. 

I purchased some children's puzzles at the local dollar store, because they came in metal tins (and didn't have the smell that altoid tins have).   Dumped the puzzles out into bags for the kids, and started working with our tins.

Our first day went very well.  It didn't take me long to get her from 1 tin with food, to 2 tins, one with food and one without.   She was 100% right.   I removed the tin with food, put in a new '2nd tin' that only had my scent and allowed her to work.  Still 100% correct.  Her natural behavior is to pick the tin up and give it to me, so that's what I accepted.   I am NOT looking for a formal retreive, this is not currently about the retreive, but rather about her choosing the correct scent.   We worked up to 4 tins, and only a handful of mistakes were made.   I did not record that session, and thus, couldn't data-keep.

However, being one who LOVES data, I recorded this session, and then sat and made myself a data spreadsheet.   It may not tell me anything now, and it may not tell me anything later.   But hopefully, when a "big" problem crops up one day, I will be able to look back at my data and see where the issue started, and then have a more clear idea of how to resolve it.    But truth be told, I'm a science geek and I love data. :)

We start with our puzzle tins again.  No food in them, simply using my scent on the Dora puzzle.    We start with 4 tins, and quickly move to 5 tins.  On the 8th rep, I replaced the Dora tin with a new tin that had my scent.  It took her  2 seconds longer on this rep, but she was still confident in her indication and selection (and she was correct).   After that, we changed to canning rings.   This was new, and again, her first rep took 5 seconds, instead of her usual 3 seconds.   After that, her next 2 reps were 3 and 2 seconds respectively.

I noted the following parameters:  Rep #, number of objects, if she was correct on her first presentation, where the hot object is located relative to others, and to her approach, the time she was on the pile working it, and the time she presented me with her choice.   If there were any other oddities, they were noted too.   Overall, this session went 8.5minutes.    The first error does not show up until 5:23, it took her 6 seconds to choose the wrong one, and then 5 seconds to find the correct one. :)

The hot canning ring is marked with blue sharpie, from long long ago.  The sharpie should not be a noticeable smell to any effect.

My goal is to have Fizz working a full Utility pile of metal & leather articles by the end of January.   I will be curious to see how her percentage correct changes, and if her time in finding the right article improves or not.

Of note in this session:  Rep #4, she mouths the correct tin, then goes to check the others before bringing me the correct one.   Rep #12, I flung a canning ring too far, it was about 3ft from the pile (off camera).  She comes in, scoops it up and brings it to the pile, and then immediately puts it down and brings me the right one.  Her presentation of her choice is very clear:  she makes strong eye contact with me while distinctly  presenting  me with the object.  In scooping up the wayward ring, she never made eye contact, and never showed me any interest.  It was very typical of her 'around the house' carrying behavior, and clearly NOT a presentation to me of choice.   At Rep #14, she makes a wrong choice, and very clearly presents me with the incorrect ring.    Big difference from the 'wayward ring.'

In Rep #16, there's an interesting behavior of piling together the incorrect rings.  Never once does she make eye contact with me, or any indication that she thinks those are 'right.'   She's just busily moving them, and then grabs the right one and brings it to me.   Dogs fascinate me in their behaviors.   We took a play break at that point with an old SchH tug from Frol-dawg. :)    On Rep #17, she presents me with 2 incorrect rings.  Interestingly, I had just moved those rings, and touched them more solidly than the others that I moved around.  :)

The video shuts off at rep 21, I know we did at least 5 or 6 more, and they were all correct.   In the last recorded rep, she starts to grab the right one, bonks it under my leg, and then seems unable to find it.  I waited this out, and she did figure it out.  One other missing rep, she has 2 rings in her mouth (b/c they were touching).....recognizes that she has 2, puts them both down and only presents me with the correct one.   GOOD girlie!! :)

We had a lot of fun doing this, and can't wait to work on more! :)

Working on the db hold

Admittedly, I have not put frequent or regular work into our retreive.  Life seems to be spiralling out of control right now, and I am not getting much dog training in at all (which is greatly frustrating).   Monday, Fizz was VERY chewy on the wooden db.  After speaking with a woman at a trial yesterday, I decided to try a metal utility article today.   This yielded excellent results, with only 1 episode of chewing.  YAY! :)   Tried working the wooden db in, and had good results with it.   Plan for this week:  find 3 days this week to work twice daily on db holds.  

Video of today's session:

Wizzle goes to work!

I started walking dogs in late August, and have been thoroughly enjoying my time.   Recently, it dawned on me that my poor Wuppy was not getting nearly the time or exercise that she had, prior to my employment.   This weighed heavily on my heart.  In analyzing the situation, I knew I had built good/strong relationships with all the dogs I'm walking, I felt confident in understanding their temperaments, and being able to introduce something new and wild.   So......I bit the bullet and brought Wild Wizzle to work today.   What an AWESOME day we had!!!! :)

The first dog we walked with is a young lab, 10.5mos.  She's extremely distracted by other dogs in her class (she's taking her FIRST class ever), and is VERY bouncy and happy.   My concern was that the conversation would go like this:

Fizz:  "Hi, I'm Fizz, I *LOVE* to play!"
Sophie: "Hi, I do too.......let's GO!"

At which point.......my shoulders would promptly be released of their duty as intact joints and happy mayhem would ensue.

Sophie walks on a pinch, Fizz was in her "blue nose collar" (as James calls it).   After a very bouncy, happy, leash-entangling greeting (as I extracted Fizz from her car crate), I got them on each side of me, gave them approximately 1" of leash each, and off we went.   There were several attempts at Mayhem and Madness, but quickly, both dogs settled into a good walk.   Fizz was on my right, and was even working at giving me nice 'side walking, heads up' work.  VERY happy with this choice!   She was rewarded (and Sophie was oblivious!).   Several times I asked them to sit, both did, though Sophie was slow....she did take her cues from Fizz (who sat fast and tight).  Rewards to both for good sits.  And, by saying a name before feeding, NEITHER dog tried to intrude upon the treat headed for the other dog.  GOOD girls!! :)

In looking at this pairing, Sophie needs work on working around other dogs, and Fizz is always looking for opportunities to work through and around distraction.    Lots of chances here to work with both girls on their "issues."   I'm thinking of putting Fizz in stays, and walking Sophie around her, etc. 

The next dog that Fizz got to meet is an older Lab bitch (approx 6yrs) who can be reactive to other dogs on our walks.  That said, she's NOT generally a reactive dog, and is actually very calm and laid back.   I knew if the intro went well, that they'd be just fine.   With Keely on leash, I got Fizz out of the car, and it was very interesting to see Fizz read Keely and react differently to her.   She tried one "hihowareya!" leap, and then settled into typical dog greetings.  Keely was mildly stiff and I made sure Fizz didn't get too into her space.  We headed off on our walk, and they were like two old souls who'd been walking together for years.  YAY!!!   I'm particularly excited about this b/c Keely and I typically go through downtown of a large town/small city, and see lots of stuff that Fizz would never see in our little town. 

The coolest part of Keely and Fizz was their amazing response to "sit!" when we got to crosswalks.   Both of those butts dropped like rocks on one gentle, "not loud" command.  It was impressive to watch, and put a big smile on my face.   I saw several heads turn to watch too! :)   Looking forward to putting on the "LabWeiler" obedience show downtown over the upcoming weeks and months.    At one crosswalk, Keely self-released after reward (I think that's what she's learned in her training), and Fizz continued to hold her sit.  I was very proud of her....and thought ahead to Novice obedience and the line of stays, when one dog breaks......lots of ways to practice that with these two! :)

Fizz's final walk of the day was with a 3rd Lab bitch, this one is the same age as Fizz, and just out of standing heat.   I knew these two would want to play, but also knew that Jasmine is not a total spazz like Sophie.  Had them both on leash at the back of my car, and grabbed a bag of treats to put in my pocket.  Didn't realize it had a hole in it, and treats went everywhere.   Rut roh!   Had no idea what to expect from either dog, and seeing as they'd *just* met, had  no idea if 'diving for treats' would be viewed as an offense by either one.  Quickly got them into a sit, and life was fine.   Neither was bothered by the actions of the other in the initial treat snarfling.  

We took a nice walk, and popped in to visit with an agility friend from a few years back.   Poor JudyJo, I didn't quite have hold of everyone and she got a chest full of LabWeiler.   Sorry JJ!!!!   Fizz gave me lots of heads-up heeling on this walk, I don't think I'd have taken any bet that on Day 1 of "walking with OTHER DOGS!!!" that my Wuppy would choose to work with me (vs. play and be a wild child!).   SO very happy!

The final 'learning event' of the day for me (about my dog) was that she doesn't care if other dogs join her in her crate.      !!!!     Upon returning to Jasmine's house, we went to the back of my van, and I had Fizz jump up into the crate.   Jasmine decided she was going too (where ever it was that we might be going!), and hopped right on in.   Suddenly, I have 2 24", 75-ish pound bitches in one 500 crate.  Eeek!   Had Jasmine outta there in a flash, and Fizz was like "where did my friend go??"    :)

So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that:

1.  My puppy is starting to mature, and will choose me/work over play with other dogs (MAJOR shock to    learn this!)

2.  My puppy does not guard high value treats, even from dogs she's just met.
3.  My puppy has no crate space issues.  :)
4.  My puppy will hold high-reinforced behaviors under greater distraction than I thought possible, don't be afraid to challenge puppy / raise the bar.



:)

Working on calm holds

It has been absolutely forever since I updated this blog, and for that I sincerely apologize.   We've had many things over the past few months that I thought "I need to get this up on the blog" ........ but somehow life is just running me ragged and I haven't had time/energy to keep up with this.   Started Dog Walking in August and dearly love it.  However, it's one more thing that uses up my time during the day, and all my other responsibilities to kids, dogs, family, house etc still remain.  :)

Fizz and I have been trying to work on a calm hold with the db.   Our training in general is very sporadic at this point, often done in 1-2min spurts w/out pre-planning (bad bad trainer!).   We've worked on this off and on.   What I've seen recently is that the first hold will be calm, and then the subsequent ones will be mouthy, and the bar on my db is getting trashed (and its maple!).   I tried bringing out heavier Db's to work with (my SchH1 and SchH2 db's), but still the chewing.   And when I look in her eye, it is not stress that I see, but rather "Imp eye" .......playful, mischevious, puppy.   Pure and simple: puppy!!  Yes, she's 13mos, and many times I get very intense adult-like focus and work.  HOWEVER, as Rottweilers go, she's still very young and I have to keep that in mind.   I suspect that this issue will resolve itself most easily with maturity, and I refuse to make a problem out of what is not really a true problem.........and so we've not been drilling on this or saying "I must have a hold by X deadline!" and forcing the issue.

I decided today to do a bit of work, using one of her chew bones.   It's a very dense rubber nylabone, shaped like some sort of femur.   She enjoys chewing on the epicondyles, but will often carry it around the house very calmly.   B/c I've seen her carry this calmly of her own accord, I chose to use it for today's training.   She'll also carry James' rain boots very calmly, but I suspect I should not encourage that by using them in training.  ;)

I've been working with her holding calmly = I say "out" and take the db from her.  If no calm hold, no "out" and no reward is available.   At times, I'm also using a "yes" to mark the calm hold.   If she starts to chew, or lies down with it, I simply take the db away, no negative verbals......simply the loss of opportunity to be rewarded.  If you're not calmly holding your db, you have no ability to earn reward.    I was happy with how today's session went over all.   We'll be taking our alternative db to training this afternoon. :)

Fizz working on db hold

We did it! :) :)

I found out yesterday that there would be a CGC in CT late this afternoon.   What's another try, right??  Decided to give it a shot.  

Drove down to an amazing field dog training kennel, such an incredible property:  long dirt roads for working dogs, fields with cool patterns cut into them for bumper work, a stunning outdoor agility ring.........yeah, just what makes a dog trainer say "do you take tent reservations???"  :)

The test was being held outdoors, in the agility ring.   For once, I was thankful that Fizz has no clue about agility!   Knowing that it was outdoors, I needed to make sure she was well exercised.   Ugh.   I figured no problem........and then we walked, and walked and walked.   In the funky cut field, up and down the dirt road............and 20min later, I was getting attention heeling and no pottying.   Doh!      Finally took her into the field, with permission to let her off, and an acceptable spot was found in the back corner.   Boy did we have fun going up the diagonals and across the cut grids (in otherwise waist-high field grasss).   Makes an awesome place to play 'hide n seek' and watch yer puppy go blasting past! :)

Greeting strangers went well, she held her sit as asked.  "Vet exam" was fine as usual.   Out for a walk, something smelled good on the weave pole bases.   Right as "about turn" was called, she caught a scent.  In order to not tight leash, I went an extra step closer to the weave poles, whirled about and set off at pace.  She came right with me, head up, attentive and happy.    Finished with a lovely sit at halt, still with strong attention.   YAY girlie! :)

Next we had to greet another dog.  She was showing strong interest in the completely neutral CH/MH GSP bitch......so I spun around in a quick/tight 360, got her back with me, and approached with a dog at my side, under control, being attentive and not looking at the other dog. :)   We shook hands (I didn't even look at the other handler........boy did that feel wrong!), and then continued on.  PASS! :)

Sit, down, stay and recall were spotless, and supervised separation........the CT State trooper holding my dog told me I wasn't allowed to take her back home.  :)  He even picked up her paw and had her wave "bye bye Mommy!" HAHAHA! :)

We stayed so I could be "crowd" for several other dogs (met my first Black Russian Terrier!), and at the end, I got to play with 9wk old GSP and Lab puppies.   What a wonderful finish to an awesome evening!! :) :)

Fizz, CGC  :)

Monday night's class

Fizz was brilliant tonight at class!   She gets exercised before class, and as soon as she's done, she turns tail and beelines HARD for the building, drags me through the door, past the owner (who wonders why my obedience dog is dragging me about willy nilly) and straight into the ring.   I have enjoyed seeing her enthusiasm for class build and have not done anything about it.

Our new rules are "no leash dragging, ever."   I expected an extended attempt to get into the building.  Took all my stuff in, set James up with the iPad, and went to go get Fizz.  I had made a special baggie of diced chicken breast specifically for the pre-class work.   Fizz and I are blessed with an amazing trainer who takes a genuine interest in her students.   No sooner was I in the building, than she asked if she could come outside and help me.   That really meant a lot to me, and I was slow to answer.   Esther, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!  :)

As soon as I got Fizz out to potty, she was next to me, and had only one tight leash (at a stop and sniff spot).  I was fully expecting our usual drag, and it never appeared.  Even after she finished, she didn't bolt, but stayed with me.  At that point, Esther was out talking with another student, and Fizz was fully aware of her presence.....but she CHOSE to stay with me! :)  What a puppy!!!!!!!   We made a few passes back and forth past Esther, and there was one particularly noticable "I look at her, but I look right back to you, and don't bobble from it" moment.   Her choice was clear and concise.  click and treat, oh yeah!

After a few passes, we tried a sit and greet.  Got as far as hand shake and a brief few words when Fizz couldn't contain herself.  She broke to see Esther. I immediately stepped back, and re-set up.   I asked her for a sit, but as I was saying "sit," she offered a down.   This was quite interesting to me, b/c of the three basic positions (sit, stand, down), down has *always* been our weakest, and very rarely can I think of times that she's offered it up.   Either sit or down is acceptable to me for greeting, as long as she stays at my side and does not self-invite.   She held her position through another handshake, chatting, and all without any rewards from me.  I finally gave her the ultimate reward:  permission to go say hi.   When it was time to move on, she came right with me, and again, click/treat.

Following that big success, we were able to easily loose-leash it all the way inside.  I didn't have to back up once.   She also offered a down outside of the ring, and I asked her to hold that  a bit before proceeding in.  We worked and played while others came in.  No darting off to greet.  And at the very end of class, I was even able to walk right up to another student, whose Border Terrier was out on leash (vs being in her crate), and Fizz did not make ONE attempt to greet either dog or owner.   YAY!!!!!!

I was truly amazed at the success we had tonight.  I feel that her pattern of behavior at class (dragging me about) is fairly ingrained, and figured I had a long road ahead of me re: fixing it.  We will continue to work around stronger distractions, including a local dog park (don't worry, I would never consider to enter one......but it will be an awesome 'bad dog behavior' distraction from outside the fence!), the bus when Emilie gets off (this is HUGE excitement for Fizz!), and work up to visiting Home Depot on a crazy Saturday morning.  :)

Loose leash and non-greeting training

Since I failed our CGC on Saturday, we've been working on two things:  loose-leash walking and not rushing to greet people.   Fizz's leash pulling has never bothered me before, that's why I didn't fix it previously.  However, it is required for the CGC.   Also, she may not greet anyone until she's held a sit or down, and is given permission to go say hi.   This includes family members upon our return home from any outings.

For most of her training, I have not used a clicker, and am not even judicious about using a verbal marker.  I focus mainly on placement and timing of reward.  I do tend to use a verbal marker, but not consciously so....more because I'm a chatterbox.    For this work, I felt the clicker was a more noticeable mark of "yes, that's correct" and so it now comes with us for all on-leash work.   I hold the clicker and leash in my left hand, food is in my right pocket, and delivered with my right hand.

We started on Saturday afternoon with simply being able to go down the driveway.   That probably took us 10-15min.  I she pulled, I backed up.  Pulling = no forward, or a complete direction change by me.    We were able to work down to the street, and maybe go 20-30 yards from the driveway.   I ended the session when my food was out, and we went back to the house.  Later that afternoon, we went out again.  Her understanding of the new idea was showing nicely and we made it easily down the driveway (about 125ft) and out into the street.  

As soon as I said "let's go for a walk," Fizz would surge ahead.  I backed up, or circled around, and clicked/treated when she was back in place and we were moving forward properly.  Simply coming back to me only was rewarded maybe 4 or 5 times because that was not the final behavior, and I upped the criteria.   On our 6th attempt at "let's go for a walk!", she stuck to me like glue, hard staring at me and demanding her meatball for good behavior.   She got three! :)

Yesterday, we were able to progress not only to the block, but about 1/3rd of the way around it.  There we met up with several strong distractions that used up a lot of direction change and reward for choosing correct position.  A robin running along the side of the street (and she is an AVID robin chaser in our backyard!), a man who came out of a house, using a very LOUD and seemingly somewhat agitated voice to yell back to his buddy inside, and a group of children playing in a yard where they were obscured from vision by scrub and trees.   Fizz loves kids and pulled real hard at this one. 

Today, we took our show on the road.  I wanted to track her, and then head to the store for bones and food.   I had hoped to work with her outside the park while James played on the playground, but no dogs allowed anywhere on the property, so that plan was scrapped.  I explained to the staff at the store about our failure, and how we were working on it, while I paid for my food.  Then, went back to the car and got Fizz and went back in.  

There are 2 doors to go in, and she sat at both automatically, and waited for me to invite her through.   This is not something I've worked on in a long time, so it was rewarded both times.  Her reward was leftover cheeseburger, chopped into bits.  I also had a tug with me, covered in real rabbit fur.   There was initially a good bit of pulling because we entered near the elk antlers and various other kinds of natural chews.   I simply backed up each time the leash tightened.   She was rewarded for coming back to me.   Initially, she was rewarded for simply looking away from high value treats when I called her name.

Fizz has been in this store many times.  She enjoys it, and they enjoy her.  Today, the slick floor bothered her.  And as she stressed about it, she knuckled up her feet, making her footing worse.   At that point, I learned that food has higher value to her than tug.   I am still learning about Fizz, and she is still maturing, so I recognize that preferences are in a state of flux.   I know for Xcel, ALL toys always trumped food.  For young Banja, all food trumped toys, but as she got older, some toys (cuz!) trumped most food except for the very rarest of beef.    She put her mouth on the tug and gave me a half-hearted grip, but it was not a real tugging session, and was not able to release her stress about the floor.

However, she did work well through the stress and settled down.   We worked on a down stay, return, leave again and recall (as was done in Saturday's test).   We worked on sitting and not greeting while several customers came in and walked near by.   And we worked simply on loose leash walking, which she was giving very nicely after the initial "I must see all treats."    Finally, I was able to ask a staff member to help us, by coming to say hi to me, but not to her.  Fizz broke on the first time after we were shaking hands and talking.  I replaced her (she was in a down), and tried again, this time she held it and got a handful of cheeseburger.

We then had loose leash walking all the way back to the car.   I am VERY happy with how she is doing.  Our BIG challenge will be class this afternoon.  She loves class, she loves Esther, and she drags me hard to get in there every Monday.   We may spend the first 20min of class just trying to get inside in n appropriate manner, and if that is the case, so be it.   That is what we need to work on right now, and so we shall. :)

Retrieve - Day 2

We worked a bit last night on lowering the db towards the floor, and Fizz had no problem with it being in any position.    Today's goal is to get it on the floor, and have her start lifting it.   I'm not looking for a delivery to had yet, that will come.   Worked a short session this afternoon with good success.   She was willing to work with the db on the floor, and with my had being away from it.  I also had the treats behind my back, out of sight, so no obvious lure, as well as a slight delay in reward being built in.

Twice in our session, she actually picked it up.  We'll work on this more later, with me waiting out the actual lifting of the db from the floor.   It has been my experience when increasing criteria that some increases go smoothly, and others not.   Patience is the biggest key in working through such issues.   I look forward to seeing how our next session is. :)

Adventures and retrieves

Fizz had a morning of adventure, and a lunch time of learning retrieve work. :)    We went to a local farm in Sherborn to pick up fresh eggs.   They have a petting area there for kids to go in and see the chickens, ducks and rabbits.   Fizz was able to go up to the fencing, and the animals were not in the least worried about her.   She showed active interest in the birds, but was not coming unglued.   I asked to her 'set up,' and then give me 3-4 steps of heeling.   She NAILED it! :) :)  GOOD GIRLIE!!!   She easily and happily left her cool feathered friends to come work with me, and we were all of 2 side-steps away from that fence.   Super happy about this! :)    She also got to see a few horses up close.   Again, actively interested, but not obnoxious, jumping, barking or otherwise alarming the horses.  

After the farm, we went to the bank.   All of my dogs have spent time in our bank, the folks who work there just adore dogs, and have always been most gracious to my Rottweilers.   Fizz got to experience automatic doors (the kind that open with a handicap button).   I decided these things absolutely ROCKED for working on 'not bolting out the door.'   Not that Fizz has that problem, we established sitting at doors at a young age.   BUT.....to be able to sit with your dog at a door, push the button, have the door open, and you and dog are still set up (and you are able to reward the good choice to hold the sit)......totally awesome!!   If I owned a training center, I'd have these installed for training purposes! :)

While in the bank, we worked on formal sit durations, and then after visiting a few customers politely, we did a down in another area.   Again, very happy and eager to work in a new and distracting environment, without much time to check it out at all.   I'm very happy to see how in tune she is to me, and how trusting she is.  :)

Finally, after the bank, we came home to lunch.  I decided to start Fizz's formal retrieve work today.   We're using Sue Sternberg's inducive retrieve.   I will not do a force retrieve on my dog, in any form.    As I read through the booklet, I knew I was going to struggle with the necessary co-ordination of holding the db, holding the treats (we used broiled chix breast) and trying to pop the db into her mouth.   Thankfully, she is a very patient puppy, and not hyper sensitive about her face/body being touched.  She kept pushing at my had and getting me all out of position, so there was a lot of wiggling around. 

Initially, I started with a wooden db, but quickly decided there wasn't room to get my hands in there where I wanted, and so changed over to a plastic one with a longer bar.  

Session 1 was our very first attempt.   The goal is manually place the db into her mouth and immediately reward with high value treat.   At the end, a 'test' is presented in that the db is shown, and when the dog grabs for it themself (vs. the manual placement), BIG jackpot reward.

Session 2 was about 10 minutes later, after a bit of tug and playing.   In this session, I was rewarding her for taking it herself.  No more manual placement.   She showed great willingness to take it.   There was some nosing/licking, but I suspect that will quickly disappear, as it's not being rewarded.

Session 1:  (long video, 10 minutes)

Session 2:

Puppy bump grids - Day 1

Fizz just turned 6 months, and I've done no jumping work with her yet at all.    We have no plans for agility (it just doesn't fit in my life right now), so I've had no reason to start her on anything.   However, recently, I've seen her make a few jumps that have really impressed me.  Not because of their height or massive ability,  but because of what I thought I was seeing in HOW she jumped.   Most dogs pull from their front, rather than using rear impulsion.   A front-loaded breed like the Rottweiler, especially so.

Today, I took Fizz out to test what I thought I was seeing, and after some 'jumping,' and some video analysis, there it was.   A dog who is NOT on her forehand.  At all.   Nope!  :) :)  :)  Jumping on the forehand means harsh ballistic landings.  Bad on the frame of the dog, not what you want in a long term working dog.  Dogs are equally able to pull from the front as they are able to push from the rear.  However, most seem to naturally want to pull from the front.   Dogs, like horses, can be schooled, and taught good solid jumping technique.   They can be taught impulsion, collection, compression and extension.   And while it can be taught, I'm very excited to see it naturally occurring in my girlie. :)

I use jump in quotations because there is no height to the grid that Fizz is working, nor will there be til she's closer to a year old.   However, in that time, using low, 6" jump bumps, she will learn scope, stride, and task.   Pay attention to what's ahead of you, so that you can properly work it.   Figure out where your best take-off point is, be sure you're on the correct lead both front and rear, round your jump, no matter its height.   The footwork, the reading, the thinking can all be taught low, and then brought up when age appropriate.   We are following Susan Salo's teaching in doing all of this.

In looking at how a dog jumps, you want to see them with their head low and their back rounded.  Head held high = on the forehand.   It also leads to a stiff, hard, pastern on landing, rather than one that is relaxed and able to absorb shock.   Efficient jumping comes from maximum compression.   Just like a spring, what is compressed releases forward with great energy.  A dog who is able to compress and release is far more efficient in jumping than a dog who must put in extra strides to cover the same line.  Compression is seen in how close the hind feet are planted to where the front feet are.  Maximum compression is when the hind feet land forward of the front.  This photo is a still grab from the video.   While its quality is poor, you can definitely see how compressed she is, and that her hind feet are landing well forward of her front.   This is her VERY first step into the grid, on the first time.   It's just naturally there. :)

Here is video of our work today:    (this is 8min long)

A bit of heeling ....

This is the first time I've had a chance to see us heeling. :)   I really liked her snappy sits and her up attitude that shines through her work!    Fizz and I have been working on chin heeling, in order to get her position correct.  Never do we work with a leash on, nor a correction collar.    After a bit of heeling, we worked on stationary positions a little bit, and you can see she's offering a lot of downs.  I'm still working to fade my hand signal from the down, and as such, we've worked on it recently.    

Backing up and perch work

Fizz and I haven't worked on backing up in a very long time.  No particular reason, it just kinda fell off the radar.   Went back to it, and this is our first session back.   Recently, we've been working on 'down' a lot and you can see her offering downs frequently.   The biggest challenge for me is waiting this out, and resisting trying to lure her back up.   I am not walking into her to get her to move back b/c I want her shifting her weight back, which comes when she makes the decision on her own to walk backwards.

Dogs learn best when the choices are purely theirs.     Think of the last time you followed someone to a ... party, new training facility, trial, a friend's house....anywhere.    If you then needed to leave before your 'guide' was ready to go.........how confident were you in how to get back to your start?   Luring creates behaviors that LOOK good, that seem 'strong,' but then when the lure is gone.......the behavior quickly falls apart because it wasn't really learned, it was simply 'done.'   

I have been pouring through my learning theory books, trying to find the scientific explanation of a phenomena seen here, and I can't find the silly thing I'm looking for....how frustrating!   But essentially, there is a double dip in learning a new behavior.  The behavior seems to start coming together and then suddenly 'disappears.'  The key to it is to wait out this first dip.   There's a scientific explanation for the processing that is going on, at a neuron level....but as I said, can't find it. :(   After the first processing, the behavior grows in strength an appearance again.   There is a second dip, but of less deterioration than the first, and then the behavior grows again at a much more rapid rate.   One of the keys to training is being willing to wait out those dips, to know them for what they are and to know that 'it will get better.'

In the backing video, there are 2 significantly long times in which Fizz is in her offered down and I have to wait her out.   It seems interminable when working through it, and admittedly, patience is not my strong suit.  However, I can also see, in re-watching the video, that the time she spends in down is quickly shortening because in this session, down is not being rewarded.

This video is long, 8:45, and with a slow connection, may take some time to download.

Fizz and I have been working this week on perch work, to teach hind end movement that will feed into heeling, specifically on maintaining position, making left turns in strong position, and getting into heel from 'around the clock.'    In this session, my goal was to get her to start turning in a circle around the pot, independant of me moving.  I want my movement and body position to be out of the picture, so that she gets a stronger understanding of her own movement.   The past two sessions, we've been really stuck on her depending upon my movement, and I think the reason is that I didn't increase the criteria when I should have, and dug us a rut.   However, here, she finally moves out of the rut, very happy to see it! :)

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.  :)

The hike that wasn't

Reading through the Town's conservation commission website the other day, I learned about some new places to hike, one of which is just up the street, about 400 acres.   COOL!   Was looking for somewhere to wear out Miss Fizz today before finishing up my great-grandmother's cookie recipe.     Trail leading back into the woods, 2 ponds that were dug by the Army Corp of Engineers to be skating ponds, land bridge between them.........awesome!

Or so it should have been.   Turned out to be a huge disappointment in terms of hiking. :(  Beavers had taken over, and trails were gone.   We ended up on some deer trails, bushwacking just to wear out the Wuppy.

The above photo is how things started....and quickly deteriorated to this.  The spit of land with the day-glow moss....that was our 'trail' through the beaver-generated swamp. :(

Fizz and I next to a recently 'cut' tree.    And yeah....you can see why I detest wearing hats.  I look utterly stupid in them.

On the way back, we passed through an old gravel/sand pit.   Gave me an opportunity to do a bunch of training/work with Fizz in an exciting environment (do you KNOW how much fun sand-eating is for a 15wk puppy???).   Worked on reward zone on both left and right, call once recalls, collar grabs, and several rounds of hide and seek.    Finally, we discovered the ultimate treasure:  a water bottle with ice in it!   I released her to attack it and boy did she have fun.  Awesome reward to end our training session! :)

I need some updated photos of Fizz, but I need to get the SLR out.......this P&S don't cut it in my mind for portraits!

Working at the Wrentham Outlets

We needed to fight the crowds down at the Wrentham outlets today, so I brought Fizz with me to do some work, and some socializing.   It wasn't as busy as I was hoping for socializing, but we did get to meet 20 or 30 new people.   She had a grand time charming groups of ladies, couples, a gaggle of teen age boys, and various other passers-by. 

Fizz was VERY busy trying to find chewed gum in the cracks of the sidewalk.  I was rather disturbed with the volume that she did manage to find (and then would start chewing on if I didn't catch her fast enough).  Ew!

My goal for work was building duration in sits and downs.  Her sit is on a bench for no other reason than I was hoping for a better photo.  But....I was working with my P&S, and I just don't like it.   MUCH prefer shooting SLR, but you work with what you have.  :)

I was approximately 15ft back to take this.   People were FASCINATED that a puppy would stay in a sit.  Amazing what training does, eh?   ;)

Fizz was VERY interested in the people walking by, they are a VERY high level distraction for her.  But she was an awesome girlie and held her position.  :)

Fizz has been taught to sit at doors in order to get them to open.  I was quite impressed with how well she generalized this behavior to doors she's never entered (into stores with no inherent value to her, like Bebe and Coach).    She sat at 4 consecutive shop doors on our way out to the car.   People found her quite cute, I had to make sure they didn't let her in!!

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! :)

Crate games rock!

We've been working on Susan Garrett's Crate Games (DVD), and today I saw a lot of things starting to come together in her head.....awesome to watch! :)   Susan uses CG to teach duration sits, sit under distraction, and it builds very nicely into startline stays, sit at the door before going out, and sit "stays" (if you use the word "stay", I don't).

One of the criteria is that the dog sit at the back of the crate, in order that they are further back from the door (and thus have a better chance of maintaining the criteria of "no part of the dog breaks the plane of the door").   Fizz usually starts in the back, because she's run into the crate to start the games.  However, if we have a rep where she breaks, and the door is closed, she's often in the mid or front section.   I've been waiting her out and rewarding any movement (head turn, foot starting to move) towards the back of the crate for the past 2 sessions.

Today, we took the crate outside, a new environment, so I was expecting to loosen a few criteria.   Boy did she show me.  She upped the ante! :)   I only got her to break her sit once, by putting a whole bowl of treats down inside the crate.   After that, she was sitting in the middle of the crate.   She didn't just think about moving back, she very forcefully pushed her whole self back, still in her tight sit.   Really cute to watch, and exciting to see her thinking so much about it.

Today's distractions included: being outside, Emilie standing nearby (Emilie is ADORED by Fizz)....neither of these factored very much into "Yer Out, Yer In!"   Individual pieces of treat placed in the crate, a bowl of treats, me being 10-12ft away (door open), me running away for 5 full-stride paces, a tug dropped to the ground in front of the crate (open door), a tug being wiggled in the crate.   She actually hopped up and back at that one as if to say "I am NOT falling for it, see me, I'm FAR FAR away!"   The beauty of this is that it is all HER CHOICE.  No force, no "have to."  It is her choice to stay sitting and earn the reward, despite the distractions.    

Because she's doing so well with both the tight sit, and working through distraction, a name will soon be put to the behavior (sit), and we'll bring it out of the crate (working distraction elsewhere, and also start line sits).  Susan had amazing success with Swagger, and it's just the best feeling to see the same "coming together" in Fizz!   :)

Perch work - first shaping session

One thing I need in Fizz, as my future obedience partner, is lots of body awareness, rear-end movement and proprioception.   This is why we're working on the BOSU, I have balance disks to work with, and, we are starting to work on a perch.   For now, the perch is a book, as she grows and gains weight/size, the perch will change.   The idea of the perch is to teach the dog to move it's hind end in a circle, while maintaining the front paws on the perch itself.   You want to see a crossing over motion with the hind feet.   This will greatly help during heeling where fine body control is needed in turns, and in the figure 8.

Today's video is our first shaping session.  I have not done much pure shaping with her, and was curious to see how willing she is to offer behaviors.  Earlier today, we'd been out to "Open Gym" at Em's gymnastics gym.  There were 100 kids signed up for the 90min session, plus all their in-two sibs and parents.   Hundreds of people.......and you know we had to use that as a socialization opportunity.   We hung out at both drop off and pick-up, Fizz met probably 70-80 people:  men, women, teens, little kids....it was fantastic!    This shaping session is conducted after her post-visit nap.

I have an ex-pen set up in the den, in order to control her access to "fun" things (cords, the rug liner pad, sticks for the fire, etc).   This allows both of us to focus unfettered on work, rather than having to re-direct from distraction.   Efficient training is good training!

Blame it on the rain.............

well, that's what some dog trainers do.   You've heard it at trials.  "My dog didn't sit because there was a puddle in that spot."   "He doesn't work well in the rain."   or even "My dog won't go out to go potty because it's raining."  Those arguments don't hold water in this household.  Rain happens, life continues, and so does dog training. :)

I had an hour to kill between the end of Bible study and bringing James home from preschool this a.m., and it was raining out.   Having heard the predictions, I was excited to have some training time outside.   On my list of things to expose Fizz to is umbrellas.   My older dogs like to attack them, they elicit great joy.   Fizz completely ignored the umbrella that I popped open right above her.  Again.  And again.  And again, and then it bonked into her when it opened........and was flat ignored.   The food in her bag (at lunch time) was far more interesting.  I tried again later when she was not distracted by food........she could have cared less, though the metal frame did receive a good chomp after a bit.

The front yard of the church is along a busy corner at the intersection of a state highway (2 lane road) and local streets.  There are lots of big loud trucks that come through here.   She had her lunch mere feet from the road, as if that is her normal Cafe spot.  Prior to receiving her bowl, she worked chin heeling and some tuck sits to earn lunch.

After lunch we worked "sit pretty" for freeze-dried turkey liver, restrained recalls by wrapping the leash around a light pole, and then releasing as I ran off, and recalls to RZ.   Being that the ground was wet, of course we worked through fold back downs, and started adding duration to them. :)

While most of our trials will most likely be indoors, I do not want weather to be a distraction or demotivating factor for her.  We had lots of fun out in the rain, and she showed me strong work effort.  She's napping now, having had a good romp.   This afternoon she'll be coming to Emilie's Team practice for gymnastics, and meetings LOTS of new people. :)  All part of the "Insane Puppy socialization plan."