More 'puppy-ness'

Fizz was trying SO hard to get sleeping Vik to wake up and play with her.  She employed all her best and cutest puppy tricks, alas, to no avail.   Its hard being a Wuppy some days! :)

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! :)

On being naughty.............

Fizz will be 5 months next week.   Surprisingly, her "puppy liscense" for obnoxious behavior seems not to have run out with Vikka (who will be 10yrs in August).   Vik is one of the most staid, patient dogs I have ever met.   She is supremely confident and put off by very little.    Still, her patience with Fizz continues to amaze me.    The photos are from Feb 1, the video is from our woods walk yesterday (Feb 7).   For the entire hour of our walk, Fizz pestered Vik, and not once did Queen Vik offer a cross word.   What a GOOD girlie!!!! :)

Come on....ya KNOW ya wanna play with me!!!!

What do you mean "No thank you" ????

Here watch, I'll go first!

Really......you REALLY don't wanna play??

Our walk yesterday, Feb 7th.

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!

Ice cube!!!!!!!!

Thought you could use a grin!   Here is Fizz meeting her first ice cube, at 15wks old.   Notice the ability to throw it for herself in Part 2.   Such a wonderfully smart girlie!! :)

 Part 1

Part 2

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!!