In and Out

154 days to go...

Tonight I am feeling a bit tired, due largely to the fact that I haven't gone to sleep til after midnight the last two nights - Sunday because I started watching Congo at 11.30PM and remembered I quite enjoyed that movie so KEPT watching it, and Monday because, well, I was finishing off last night's long blog entry :)

Anyway, with low enthusiasm for doing anything requiring much (translate to ANY) running, I decided we'd work on some more basic skills (that didn't require me to run, as per above ). The most active I got was when we worked the 2x2 weave entries, because that involved me throwing the toy and then playing with the dog with the toy after, where I always try to maintain a high level of enthusiasm throughout to make it highly rewarding and exciting for the dogs. They are getting better, and my throwing is getting better too (well, at least a little). Josh did a fantastic entry from the right at a difficult angle and a long distance away and Fyre's entries on the right, which have been his weak point thus far, are improving also. I would love to be able to do ten quick sessions per day as I think they'd improve much more quickly, but time just does not allow me that luxury!

So after my short-lived burst of energy with the 2x2, we went on to some targeting and crate games. Josh more so than Fyre needs work on targeting a mat (which I use when doing jump drills or wanting the dog to drive forward in a straight line without looking back at me or circling). Same as with the tug toy though, the training of both dogs will benefit by reinforcing and raising the value of hitting the mat. Yet it is another one of those things that gets put aside in favor of more 'exciting' stuff.

Both Fyre and Josh know the basics of crate games (for more info check Susan Garrett's Crate Games) and this session gave me a chance to polish some of that work also. To the dogs, it was all just a fun game. We started off easy - a couple of times reinforcing the dog for getting in the crate, for sitting before opening the door, breaking them (verbally releasing them from the crate) then letting them choose to go back and reinforce once again. I do not have a cue for either of them to get in the crate yet, as they still both occasionally try out other behaviours near the open crate door, and when I add a cue I want them to be driving straight into that crate. (Oh, for anyone interested, I was using food as reinforcement for this session, and a clicker as a marker for when they hit the mat or entered the crate).

Once we'd done that little warm up, I put the mat down (the mat is just a regular doggy bed mat that I picked up from Cheap as Chips or the like) but fairly close to the crate. This meant that once released as the dog bounded out he was pretty much going to hit it right away anyway and thus be reinforced. I did need to modify this slightly because being this close, and having done some targeting to the mat before, both dogs wanted to go straight back to the mat rather than back to the crate. So having moved the mat further away, and leaving the crate door open, I alternated sending the dog to the crate (in this case, I simply remained near the crate and called the dog to get his attention and then waited for him to enter the crate before rewarding with food. I never actually verbally or physically told either of them to get in the crate - as explained above, why I haven't put it on cue). I stood varying distances between the crate and the mat - sometimes I released the dog whilst I was moving away, sometimes whilst standing still. Sometimes I jumped up and down or pretended to sprint away without releasing them. In those cases I would return and reward the dog for staying in the crate. It worked well for me as the dogs raced back and forth but I needed to expel only minimal energy myself (as was the plan all along ). I did variations on their length of wait in the crate also - sometimes I would give the release as soon as all four paws hit the crate floor, so they were literally racing in and dashing back out.

Once I finished the session, it occurred to me that perhaps I should also be reinforcing my release word - after the practice at NOT breaking from the crate, Fyre paused once and didn't leave the crate when I gave my release word. I want them busting out of whatever position they are in when I give that release word, so next time I do this I will add in another little exercise where I remove the mat and just reward for the dog breaking position on cue.

Billie had just a little session tonight also, some games of 1-2-3 tug where I wait for her to sit, then count threeeeeeeeeee...Get it! Eventually this will become One...two....three.... get it! but she is still learning. It is s fantastic way to teach self control in sit stays - already I can see herself holding herself back, poised for that release. This game is one of many I learned from Susan Garrett's book Shaping Success - a MUST have book for anyone considering using shaping/positive reinforcement/clicker with their dog.

That's me for tonight! Now to sit back and relax and hopefully get to bed on time for once :)