Some fun ...

When I get home from work Sally is a little, um, eager. Eager to work, play, cuddle, bounce, train, run, do tricks, learn something new, chase a stick, catch a Kong. Pretty much ANYTHING goes. I try to ignore her for a bit but she has me pretty well trained now.

Tonight we played chase the Kong up and down the hallway and then I thought I'd work her brain.
I went into the living room (aka agility storage and dog training zone!) and saw a box. Grabbed a clicker and started playing with offered behaviours at a box. Took Miss Smarty Pants two tries to consistently stick her head in the box. One paw, and then front feet followed quickly. Back feet also came quickly but my timing was just not quick enough to get all four feet in the box at once. She was hopping through the box. She either hopped through the box or jumped right over it. It was darling and hilarious and had I been able to work for 4 more minutes we would have had it I'm sure but I ran out of time.  Been awhile since we played with just pure fun shaping with no end goal in mind. They sure don't forget once they learn that way!

Gosh Play is Hard Work ... for some of us anyhow ...

and for some of us work is all play ...

at least that's the way it rolls out around here ...

I worked all the dogs a bit today

Sally did some complicated rear cross work and directionals  through tunnels and jumps .. she did some HARD weave entries and she grinned, and bounced and played through it all

Thea just did a few tunnels and front crosses; a little work on the table and  a couple of efforts at the weave poles .. she was THINKING .. and WORKING and I felt sorry for her .. it was hard work to have that much fun today! (She didn't shut down, opt out or otherwise stress but she also didn't pass me once ... which means gears were turning!)
Brody just toodled through some tunnels being rewarded heavily if he flew them. He was not particularly impressed but he obliged. Much later on I worked on his play drive. He has been shaped to tug a soft toy. He tugs strictly because he knows it is a behaviour I want - and he has trouble doing it in the face of a high value reward. Tonight I had chicken rollover which is quite high on his list so thought I'd shape tug again. The first time I held the toy Brody absolutely ignored it. He danced, spun, bowed, barked, backed up and finally glanced at the toy. A quick mark, treat and repeat. I raised criteria quickly but was game to start with a look as the last time I shaped this activity was either last summer or the Christmas break. So - it went look, look, mouth on toy,mouth on toy, mouth on toy, teeth on toy and short hold, teeth on toy and short hold, teeth on toy and short hold, then rip it out of my hand. He repeated the rip it away twice then I held on gently .. and he tugged. Repeated twice perhaps three times and then we were done. The whole process took maybe 4 minutes - and that included rewarding Sally's nice down and Thea's nice sit as they watched. If I want Brody to drive for toys, on course, where ever, I MUST keep paying him for this behaviour. Revisiting the shaping work just made sense tonight - and it worked! I love it when it works!

Sampson got to play today too. He did jumps and tunnels and a couple of very very short sequences.
I also pulled out a long plank to start shaping him to run along it (in preparation for dogwalk/teeter work). I have never shaped this equipment before but Sampson was starting to get the hang of it - he was running his front two feet along it at least! (When he started he was leaping the plank and bouncing and was quite positive that it would burn his tender toes). The temptation to lure him was strong as he is very motivated by both food and toys but I am really curious to see what happens to a fully shaped dog (if it's even possible!)

Hard, fun work  play for sure!

camping last night

With a clicker in my pocket ... boy Sally loves working ... walking in the field spinning right and left on cue beside me .. Brody danced and danced and spun ... Sampson galloped around smelling good smells and came instantly on every recall no matter what he had to leave to get to me. His default sit is well in hand now and his down is much more relaxed. My summer goals for Sampson were met. YAY! I don't think I set summer goals for anybody else .. but I exceeded whatever they might have been.

Big T made a LOVELY dinner on our tiny portable grill somehow. Salmon steaks, rice and a cucumber .. YUM YUM YUM. He also snuck a little chocolate bar into the cooler for a late night snack to share. He goes out of his way to make sure I enjoy camping with him and I truly do.

It was actually pretty funny last night as we ended up watching an episode of Breaking Bad on my computer. In the middle of nowhere with no lights except two flashlights no power .. and still we manage to use technology!

We sleep in a tent trailer on the farm .. it's amazing .. you are part of nature yet when it rains (as it did last night) you stay dry and pretty darn comfortable.

The coyotes run right along various trails overnight. yipping and yapping and downright howling at times. It's a beautiful symphony as long as you know you won't get a full solid sleep. We knew that last night ~ so could really appreciate the chorus. Sampson was pretty freaked out .. Brody just quietly growled and Sally just listened attentively. Sampson did well - it was his first night sleeping out of a crate and I suspect he liked it! Nice way to wrap up a lovely lovely summer.

Agility happened before we left to camp. I set up a three jump exercise I've never seen anybody use before. It was like a serpentine but I picked up the middle jump and turned it on a 90 degree angle then spread out the line a little. It made a great pattern for pretty fancy figure eights and front and rear crosses. I am surprised I haven't seen it before.

Shaping Sampson...

this is NOT exactly the new toy - but the new toy is a kong with blue canvas hanging down from it - Sam would love this toy too. He should be the spokesdog for Kong - only dog I know who adores them better empty than with food stuffing!



I was waiting for the heating inspection guy to come so I could open the gate for him and had a new toy out to distract Sam and Sal

Sampson wanted it badly .. so I decided to give shaping a try and I didn't have a clicker on me - OUTRAGEOUS! So I chose putting him through a very short straight tunnel ... he looked at it - "yes" and got the toy. He stepped towards it "yes" and toy was presented. THIRD time he went through the tunnel like a pro - he got the toy thrown out in front and BINGO the light bulb clicked on in his little brain. So we did that both directions a couple of times. The fellow to inspect the system arrived. We chatted for a few minutes then he got to work. So Sam and I went back to work.

I put a soft curve in one end of the tunnel " J". No problem. Both ends to make a "C" . No sweat. Took a break. Then an "S". No cue yet. I'll add tunnel next time I grab a minute to play with him or the time after. We spent maybe 15 minutes on this - spread out over the hour our visitor was here.

I shape often. I shouldn't be so surprised when it works so well. But it is SO MUCH fun.






The visitor was pretty impressed too. Asked lots of good questions. Has a min-pin. Took my number and email.

reflections on practise and training

I am not a dog trainer - no siree Bob not a training bone in my body
however it seems I spend a LOT of time dispensing training, and training advise

I think about behaviours and how to modify them for dogs and cats, occasionally parrots and rabbits and in my day job I get paid to "train" teenagers ..

and none of it feels like training to me - I facilitate, I demonstrate, I discuss, I rehearse and I apply knowledge and skills...

it's just as true in agility as anywhere

I need to know my audience even within the dogs I work regularly (or semi regularly as the week may unfold) they need different approaches and have since the day they began agility. All my dogs have been shaped to do the various obstacles - though one "trainer" tried to lure Thea on a dog walk - that still causes me issues some days ...
Brody would have been lured too if he had needed to be lured but he went with me from the first time he saw an obstacle - I guess he was sort of lured through weaves to start - and GEEZ no shock here - weaves can be our downfall some trials!

The degree of work each dog can take seems to vary an incedible amount too.

Brody just does stuff - even early on I was careful not to run back to back in class more than once (as we were often the smallest dog in class I'd do it once then be asked to repeat so we didn't have to change heights). If he had a blip with something I just kept going - had I stopped to "WORK" on the "problem" Brody would have checked out without a doubt. Now that he knows what he is doing I can try a line a bunch of times in a bunch of ways as long as there is no implication he got anything wrong.. He knows it's all my fault if things go south...

Thea needs to do things until she's confident .. if she does it once but not well and then goes away she'll worry about the error until it becomes HUGE .. but push her past her comfort point and she'll slip away to her crate
everything needs to be planned with her - winging it is not her style at all ...

Sally just goes and goes - she'll repeat something 50 times just because she can .. for example she did 12 weaves this fall (that were on the lawn for Brody to work) I laughed at her blasting through them so she turned around and did them again (and again) with no cue and no support. When we started working her as a little puppy I told my trainer that I was worried about nose touches - as there was no cue for her to lift her head off .. she laughed at me and said that would NOT be a problem .. that Christmas Sally STUCK to the nose touch plate at the bottom of the stairs so hard I had to actually pick her up to break the touch - then I taught her a release for that behaviour. Sally has been wholly shaped so offering behaviours comes very naturally to her. If it pays she repeats and repeats. She is a much more independant thinker than either Brody or Thea as well - which is both a blessing and curse. I think I could see her shut down if she was DRILLED without joy but working with her brings me such joy I can't imagine that happening any time soon.