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, 2 Jan 2013, part 2

In thinking through this whole process, and trying to decipher which scent the dog is keying on, I got to wondering about something.   Interestingly, this same subject came up while discussing our progress with my friend / Fizz's breeder.   When one re-uses a hot/scented article, and puts it back in the pile for the dog to find, a new scent is added (heavily!) to it:  the dog's own scent, via saliva.    But I want her finding MY scent.   Therefore, I need a fresh article for each repetition.   B/c once she's chosen and grabbed the hot article, it's contaminated with her saliva/scent.   So......more canning rings received sharpie marks today, and now I have 6 to work with as my hot article. 

We worked 2 sessions like this today (versus previous sessions where I was just re-using the same hot article).   The first rep of the first session, she was quite slow, worked for a long time, and chose the wrong one.   After that, she was correct each time (5 more reps).  However, she was still working slowly, and I could tell she recognized a difference in the game.

2 hours later, we came back for our 3rd session of the day, and our 2nd with new hot articles for each search.   This time, she was fast, confident and correct.   I kept adding more rings to the pile, I think at one point, we were up to 14 in the pile.   I could really hear her sniffing out the pile, checking and looking for the right one.   And when she found it, she confidently grabbed it.  YAY! :)   I also added in some favored 'shopping' items from around the house, things she dearly loves to hunt and carry.   She didn't even consider looking at them.

Our final rep was a bit of a stretch, and I knew it as I set it up.  However, I also know that Fizz is not easily over-faced, failure is not 'bad' to her (or to me!), and I wasn't worried that 'things go wrong' would be some unrecoverable incident......so forward I went.   We had played tug with an old jute tug that she really likes.  I put it down, near the pile, and between Fizz and the pile.  She would have to cross over it to get to the pile.  I also sat her back from the pile, and then called her in, while I stood near it (instead of me sitting right at it).   She didn't even look at that tug as she bee-lined for the pile, got in and worked it confidently, gave me the correct ring, and then we had a tug party!  :)  :)   When I tried to toss aside the ring so I could hold the tug better, she went and brought it back! HA!  GOOOD girlie! :)

Scent discrimination 1/2/13

Continuing on, I decided to increase the number of ring, and add in some distraction.  Fizz LOVES James' matchbox cars.  I wanted something that was also metal, so cars are the distraction.  Normally, she loves to find them, and then trot around with them, showing off her "prize."   They seemed to bother her not one whit in her work.  Was VERY happy to see her choosing to work, vs. taking something that is self-rewarding (carrying a car around).   :)   

This session has 18 reps and 2 errors.   In one set, her errors are very convicted, she gives me a full indication (eye contact, presenting me the ring, etc).   I simply took it and looked back at the pile.  No correction and no non-reward marker.   Lack of reward is message enough, and I liked how she handled this, and that there was still the same intensity in her work. :)

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