Cos the flat is where it's at

119 days to go...

It struck me yesterday afternoon that the one thing in common with all the training techniques I like is they all come back to flat work. If your flatwork isn't top notch 'Don't even go there girlfriend'! The seminars I did with Greg and Laura Derrett, much of the Susan Garrett stuff, the Susan Salo grids, the Rachel Sanders running A-frame training and quick release contact training - ALL of it is perfected on the flat before the dogs ever get on the equipment. And if you ARE having problems with the equipment? The advice is the same again - go back to your flatwork, and oftentimes the problem will be there as well. The other plus with flatwork - you can really work on all those handling techniques, on the dog getting his footwork, position, responses down to the letter rather than risking mucking up their equipment performance. So this weekend my aim is to pop down to Bunnings and get myself some speed bumps to practice grids, and some piping to start the Rachel Sanders box work.

It actually made me feel better about not having done any jump work with the dogs for several weeks. It reassured me I was doing the right thing.

Tonight we did lots of little things, lots of dog swapping, lots of rewards. Since this was all flatwork, Billie could do it too, and I imagine her training will progress a lot more quickly than the boys because by the time she reaches Josh's age she will have done all the foundation stuff I'm only just doing with him now.

We started with some cone work - shaping the dogs to go round a small orange cone (I haven't been able to swipe any of those nice, big traffic cones... yet... *rubs hands together evilly*). This was pretty easy - just a few goes and all three dogs were going around the cone, albeit not hugely quickly and not from a great distance but it was a very good start. Fyre is hilarious, he just offers behaviours so quickly you barely have time to pick one - once he worked out it was to do with the cone for example, he nose-touched the cone, kicked the cone, shoved the cone and so on!

Tonight we were using the Tug-It as a reward, since I've had it for AGES and never used it. I am using it to reinforce their game of tug too - they like to grab it because it has food inside, but interestingly they don't tug on it as enthusiastically as they do on 'proper' tug toys. However, I can mark them for a good tug and immediately reward them by opening it and taking a piece of food out. I also discovered that Josh is exceptionally good at catching even small pieces of food mid-air, and with no encouragement whatsoever he also offered a leap into the air to catch it at the height of its flight. This is great for me because now I know I can deliver treats to him in a more exciting way than just handing them over - will come in handy if I want to reward stays and such from a distance.

We also did 2x2 of course, and with Fyre worked on lots of very close and quick entries, mostly from the left. As part of this I also rewarded equally his coming straight back to me when called rather than continuing to head to the poles before I was ready or going back through the poles after a successful entry. We are still at about 75% entry rewards currently, and certainly I do see a difference already - whilst he is still very quick to go on and do the second set of poles if he doesn't get his reward after the entry, the entries have really improved - I can see him looking for that first set of poles now. We will do a few more sessions like this - very quick, lots of rewards - then start to add distance and motion, then start to move the two sets together again.

Josh is continuing to do well with his 2x2s, the thing I am starting to add with him now is more handler movement, me moving towards the poles, me moving away from the poles once he's entered and so on. Once I can start to run him at them from various angles we will rotate them close to straight.

I also did some little games with Fyre to help him concentratem, since sometimes I think he gets too wildly excited and has blonde moments I love his enthusiasm, the way he busts out of the crate or dog yard to have his turn, but I really don't want him to get into a habit of thinking he can run rampant for the first few minutes before settling. So we did motivating little games like puppy push-ups (alternating sits and downs) and rewarding him with the tug when got in position at my side. He doesn't give me the focus that Josh does, but I have decided not to work on a lot of eye contact on me because whilst I want him in position at my side, I also want him looking for the next obstacle AHEAD rather than watching me all the time. So we just did little things like U turns, finishing him to either side and so on. I did a little of this with Josh also, and Billie.

It was also a good chance to reinforce their good behaviour in the crate/ex-pen. Since Billie has been doing so well in the crate I moved her to the ex-pen tonight and continued to reward her good behaviour there. I love that I can now work on dog in front of the other two without having whinging and hyperactive carry-on. Billie still whines occasionally but she is SO much better. I can play wild tug games in front of her now and she maintains really good self control. Eventually I will rotate her into the dog yard again too and practice the same there, which will be more difficult as she can actually bounce off the walls there with a lot more room to move, so we will leave that for a while yet.

All in all, it was a great session and I came away feeling very positive - it was nice being able to do lots of little things in one session too. Any day now I will finally find time to do some little videos again too!

'Tis the season

120 days to go...

Well, the Christmas season kept me away from making a blog entry, though I DID manage to keep up some training with the dogs. I try to take every opportunity to work on SOMETHING when I am with them, no matter how small, whether it is simple manners or the foundation for agility/obedience.

For instance, this morning I have Billie inside with me. I have limited what areas of the house she can access, put the mat down near me in this room, and set the treat box within easy reach of my hand. One of the things she needs to work on is settling down. She is a constantly in motion dog. Josh and Fyre are happy to lie down wherever I am, and if they are outside they may play for a while but then they will just lie near the door til Chris or I reappears. Billie will rarely do this - most often if I glance out the window she is patrolling the yard, sniffing out anything interesting, playing in the pond or with a toy. Inside, she will trot between the rooms, play a game of 'step on the cat' with Izzy (Flick doesn't put up with such nonsense) or find something else to poke her nose into.

She still has those options available to her. She can wander around, get a drink, do whatever, but when she comes onto the mat she gets a treat. When she lies down on the mat she gets a treat. Once she has been lying on the mat for a while she gets another treat. If she were wildly distracted and running round like a maniac I would probably limit her to just this room, or even put a lead on. However, she has been quite good so far, even with Izzy rolling over practically under her nose! Her duration is still quite short, but I am pleased that she is offering to lie down quietly of her own choice. The OTHER thing I am hoping will come from this is a very positive association with getting on the mat. Useful for targeting work when we come to that.

As for the boys, I have been trying to get in a minimum of two 2x2 sessions per day, though it has been quite warm the last few days and I won't do too many repetitions in the hot sun as their enthusiasm drops off more quickly and higher percentage of errors inevitably ensues. However, that said, Josh is doing very well - the second set of 2x2s is now almost straight line - I have left the entry more open as he still misses that occasionally. His right entries have now gone from being the better side to the less good side (probably because I did all that work on improving his left-sided entries!) But that said, this is mostly from EXTREME angles on the right, and on re-attempt he usually gets it right. It is all learning.

Fyre struggles if I miss a day's training. Currently we have had to get back to widening the gap between the two sets so I can build more value for the first two poles. I did persist for several sessions giving him the chance to improve and start hitting the entries again on his own, but even very simply entries he was now missing and often heading just for the second set, or entering at a random spot. So I decided rather than persist with him at such a low success rate we would go back and do LOTS of reinforcing for getting the first entry correct. Once he can get that from all angles at a high success rate I will move the two sets closer together again.

2x2s is the main thing we have been working on, though I now have several more DVDs that I am working through, including Susan Salo's Puppy Jumping and Rachel Sanders' Reliable Running A-Frames. I have finished the A-Frame one and really like the method, so I am definitely going to attempt this with my own dogs. A running A-frame/scramble was definitely in my training plans, I was just waiting to find the right weay to teach it, so very happy there. The puppy jumping is also going to give me a chance to do a LOT of groundwork with the dogs before they have to worry about height, but it does also provide exercises for introducing the height as well. Now I just need to get to a hardware store and get myself the gear I need to start the training!

In other areas, we have started some work outside the backyard (an area where I have been more lax than I should have been). This currently consists of me taking the dogs across the road to the park. Every bit of a walk is a training opportunity... when we leave the house, I expect them not to pull. To this end we do lots of stop/start, U turns, multiple quick 90 degree turns and so on. Josh and Fyre are generally very good (Josh expecially is excellent). I can walk them both down the street to the park gate with them nicely at my side on loose leads. They do tend to be a BIT more distracted once we actually get into the park, but then we simply work through some quick turns again and once they settle we do some work. At the moment with the boys, one gets put in a down stay and the other gets worked for a few minutes. These are just little things, since they have done very little outside the backyard (bad, bad handler! ) that I know they will do well at. So we do nose touches, circle work at a very slow pace on both sides, finishing to the left and right, and tugging. Fyre, who loves to tug in the backyard, is much less interested when he has a whole park available to explore. So we are working on that. It usually involves me harrassing him with the toy until he finally takes it and offer a good tug, which I mark verbally and reward with food (since the food is much higher value for him in this environment). Last night whilst it took quite a while to get him to tug at first, on the second go he took to it much more quickly. Josh did quite well at this, as some time ago now we worked this the same way.

This is also a good chance for the dogs to practice their down stay whilst another dog is working near them. Both dogs have a good down stay, though Josh needs more work with distractions. I am very alert as to whether other people or dogs may be entering the park, at which point I would take hold of the lead so he doesn't have a chance to bolt off for some doggy play. I use some of the techniques in the book Control Unleashed (an excellent read) such as marking him for looking at a person or another dog. Incidentally, I am also using this with Billie who has a tendency to bark at other dogs that bark at her from behind a fence - last night a dog up on a balcony was barking down at her, so we stopped and every time she was able to look at the dog (without barking back/jumping etc) she was rewarded. She settled amazingly quickly, so this is something we will continue to work on.

Josh and Billie are also working recalls - whilst both are OK, they are nowhere near as good as I want (again, bad trainer), as I want them to leave whatever they are doing and come back right away, wherever they are. To this end, neither of them gets leash-free runs currently. I have a long line, but at the moment we are just working on a regular length lead. Once they are always successful with that I will increase the radius they can reach, and so on. The rule is that they must come on the first call, if they do not stop what they are doing I remove them from that spot and call again. If they do come that time we will gradually move closer to the original spot until we can do a recall from that spot successfully. The same no-pulling rule applies here also. If they pull on the lead, I simply stop moving. When they choose to come back to me they are rewarded and we move forward again. What I am trying to get across to them is: By checking in with me you may then have an opporunity to check out that interesting smell. By ignoring me you do NOT have that opportunity. So it is always a choice. Yes, they can continue to pull and try to get to it (hopefully unsuccessfully provided the handler maintains good lead handling skills ) or alertnatively they can choose to return to me and then be rewarded by being allowed to move away (though I am also using food rewards - of note, it is often recommended that a toy be used to reinforce recalls as a game of tug lasts much longer than a simple food reward. Since my dogs are still not that hyped about tug outside of the backyard, this would not be especially reinfrocing to them, so currently we are using lots and lots of high value food rewards).

That should get us mostly up to date for now. Hopefully with the silly season nearing an end I will now be back to keeping more regular records of our work. With just four months to go until Nationals (shivers) we have a LOT of ground to cover.

Of shows and spiders

127 days to go...

With a few moments to spare I thought I'd post an update.

A relatively busy weekend, though most of it not to do with the dogs - darn Christmas rush! Billie was entered in shows both Sat and Sun, and though she is out of coat I decided I'd still go so did the whole bath/blow dry/beatifying process Fri night. And she did look nice (even after half her coat blew away during the drying process).

I will divert from the story at hand for a moment to mention that also on Friday night, happily updating my Facebook status, my internal spider proximity sensors started to alarm and sure enough when I glanced up, there was a huge spider sitting on the skirting board over the computer. (For those of you who do not know me, I am a terrible arachnophobe). Speaking calmly to myself ('It's just a spider, it won't hurt you, it isn't going to launch itself off the ceiling and attack your face when you move') I managed to remove myself from the room whilst maintaining a relatively cam demeanor. Once out of the room, I retrieved my phone, placed myself in a spot where I could watch every move the spider made (from a safe distance) and proceeded to text Chris and tell him he needed to come home ASAP and remove said spider from my computer room. Then I texted my mum who I knew would appreciate the situation I was in (she is also lacking in any ability to deal with spiders - I guess it must be genetic). With Chris assuring me he would be home soon, I dragged a chair opposite the doorway to the computer room and settled in to try and read a book whilst monitoring the spider's movements. At first the outlook was quite positive. The spider hardly moved the whole time I was watching it. However, the inevitable eventually occurred: I glanced up and in between the gap of 2 seconds since I'd LAST looked up, the spider had completely disappeared. 2 seconds after THAT, I heard Chris's car pull into the driveway (bloody typical that it would wait until then to disappear).

So now, having horrors that I would never again be able to enter that room, I fair dragged Chris in and insisted he initiate a thorough search to find the wayward creature. After a cursory glance around the walls, under the curtain and behind the desk, Chris concluded we were never going to find the spider and it had probably gone back outside (which was answered by my shrill cries of 'You know what this means? I can never go in that room again. Perhaps I can permanently borrow the laptop from work... No, of course it hasn't gone back outside, they NEVER go back outside, they hide and then reappear out of nowhere and give you a heart attack!')

All of which Chris managed to suffer through with an admirable control of sarcasm and exasperation. At my instruction he then also turned off the computer and retrieved my shoes so I wouldn't have to go back in. I then closed the door, stuffed a towel against the crack under the door so the spider wouldn't remove itself to the house at large, and wished fervently that by morning it would reappear and Chris would be able to remove it. (Despite my fear of spiders, I still don't like to kill them - another fact that almost drives Chris mad).

Sure enough, next morning I insisted Chris re-enter the computer room and was extremely disappointed when the spider was nowhere in sight. However, luck finally turned my way when Chris managed to spot a few legs just visible on the top of the window frame. With considerably more calm and bravery than I could ever show, he caught the spider in a glass and remove it to the park across the road (the extent of my involvement was holding the front door open and saying 'Don't get it anywhere near me, I don't even want to see it').

Now, that had nothing to do with dog training (thought I suppose I did impact on my ability to update this blog) so to bring this back to a slightly on topic post, I will discuss our experience at the show on Saturday.

Since I have been focussing on the boys' agility training, Billie has had very little (ok, ZERO) show training. We have been doing crate games but definitely no show stuff. So it's hardly surprising that she wouldn't gait properly, she was either looking at me or looking elsewhere rather than go in a straight line, she decided she didn't like the judge examining her head and contorted herself in all directions to escape him, and generally put in a less than brilliant performance. (She ended up RBCC). After this, I made the decision that we would not show on the Sunday, firstly because I really had too much Christmas stuff that still needed doing, and secondly because I don't think it is fair of me to put her in that position to keep failing when it's my fault for not having trained her to do it correct in the first place.

It did get me thinking though - would I enter my dogs in an obedience trial before I could be confident of them not ony passing but passing on a high (190+) score? Would I enter an agility trial before my dogs were confident, fast and knew the equipment back to front? No. Yet I would take Billie to a show and expect her to know how to move, free stack, stand still and happy whilst enduring a much more thorough exam than in the obedience ring, and generally do exactly what I want without KNOWING what I want. Put like that, it seems ridiculous. So Billie will not be re-entering the show ring now until I have put some serious time into teaching her the RIGHT way to do things, so we can both enoy ourselves and she can show herself off to her best advantage.

More to update later on the boys' 2x2 progress... but that will do for now.

Two in a row

131 days to go...

Had a great 2x2 session - did the first half with the two sets of 2x2s at 120cm separation and then because the dogs did pretty well (only the odd error on a tricky entry) I decided to reduce the separation back to the correct 60cm.

Both dogs were fantastic. It gave us a good chance to work left tricky side entries because they really had to collect and turn back to make that second set of 2x2s - Fyre especially will need more work on this because he tends to go wide, but even he did a really cool entry from a tight angle where he had to enter on the left and weave back down to me (basically a 180 degree turn round the first pole). With both of them I saw the beginnings of that real weaving action, the body weaving between the poles and the feet starting to find the right spots. All going well, I will be able to begin to straighten the poles over the coming few days. I will try and get some video too as they really have improved since the last film I took.

And with that, I'm off to see Avatar in 3D!!!!

New TOY!

132 days to go...

Not much to report tonight - HOT weather here the last couple of days plus me being unwell so minimal training. I did get out and do a few repeitions of 2x2s tonight, mainly because I wanted to try out the new toy I just received in the post today. (FYI people in Australia - I have ordered DVDs, books and toys from Agility Click several times now and have received excellent service and my order to me usually in under a week). The dogs thought this toy was absolutely FANTASTIC so I may well have to get another one (or two... ) Both got very excited and did some good work, but because it was hot I didn't try to advance them any further tonight, just did a few entries and kept with the 2x2s at the 120cm separation. Maybe tomorrow we will do some more, though admittedly I am very tempted to go and see Avatar 3D tomorrow night so we'll see... :)

Awesome again

134 days to go...

Well, of course after I wrote that last post we went out and had an utterly brilliant session last night! One of the 'problems' I have now is that Fyre gets SO excited when we are about to start that he spends the first couple of goes bouncing around like a maniac and running everywhere before he finally remembers what he has to do! Not too bad of a 'problem' to have anyway :)

In fact, they were so good last night I decided tonight if they did the first few repetitions ok I would move the two sets of 2x2s closer together. So duly, after the first couple of goes and with a high success rate, I then moved the second set in by 60cm (I am using my weaving rope which is pre-marked in 60cm segments, so this seemed easiest). So they now had a gap of 120cm between each set. I was utterly thrilled when this appeared to present no problems whatsoever. I have cut back to rewarding the correct entry only about 25% of the time now, and rewarding doing the two sets in sequence the rest. I have been able to add in quite a bit of handler motion with both dogs. They can hit some really tricky entries, but we are still working on getting the easier entries from a greater distance away. Admittedly I have spent more time working on the difficult angles of entry than fast entries, but it's only a small thing and I think will be no problem to improve relatively quickly.

Josh still tends to have more trouble with entries from the left (I say trouble, but this is only with extreme angles, like me standing down the opposite end of the poles and he having to go back and 'weave' down towards me). So I will make sure to continue to reward some of those tricky left hand entries for at least the next few sessions. If all is going well in the next few days hopefully I can look to doing some 'real' weaving, moving the poles the correct distance apart and rotating them towards being straight in line.

I have decided to concentrate on 2x2s at the moment, maybe the next week or so, for a couple of reasons - one, because I want to make real progress on this now, and two, I have ordered Susan Salo's Puppy Jumping DVD which I want to use to do a lot of the very basic foundation work with the two dogs before going back to some 'proper' jump grids. I may work in a few games of Touch and Go here and there though, and we did do our first perch shaping session last Friday with both dogs after just a few minutes having learned to stand both front feet up on an old hat box :)

So things are looking up again! Maybe we will be ready for the Nationals after all *lol*

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

135 days to go...

That's what it feels like sometimes. I may have an absolutely fantastic training session with the dogs where they astoud me with how well they have progressed, then I'll have the next one which frustrates the hell out of me and makes me think we're going nowhere fast.

Last night, possibly enthused due to have having been out to watch the Games trial, I came home and set up my two sets of 2x2s. It was a GREAT session, both dogs were SO good, getting some excellent entries and going through the two sets of 2x2s. Still a few errors but I was generally very happy. I re-watched some of the 2x2 DVD yesterday to make sure I was on the right track, and did adjust my training slightly by rewarding the entries about equal to the times I rewarded dong both sets of 2x2s in succession. Since I want to work on Josh's retrieve before going back to toys with him, I am now using food with both of them, throwing either large pieces or the plastic container. The other thing I realised I need to work on is where I throw the reward for correct entry i.e. making sure it hits on the reward line and doesn't go out wide, as I think this may be encouraging them to look out wide of the poles instead of coming back to aim between them.

So, feeling very good about last night, I got myself organised and have done two sessions so far today. The entries have definitely improved, both dogs finding the entry a lot more consistently now, but still not as good as I'd like. Hopefully my being more aware of the throwing on the reward line will help this as well. Their hitting the second 2x2 though has probably gone backwards a bit (probably due to me rewarding in the wrong spot for the entry) which is disappointing and frustrating. The dogs are no doubt equally as confused as I am, and resort to trying different things, such as in the session just now when Fyre had trouble going on to do the second 2x2, and when he didn't get a reward for hitting the entry, went back and did other things like drop, bark, walk backwards near the poles, stand just at the entry and look at the poles or at me. It's time like these when one becomes SOOOOOO tempted to lure the dog to get it right, but I grit my teeth and simply circled the dog back into position for another try each time, remaining quiet and calm except for the occasional 'Oops!' when the dogs made a mistake. Eventually, Fyre did get some good 2x2s in succession. It wasn't REALLY that bad of a session, when you look at it plainly like that, but still disheartening when you watch the DVD or go online and see dogs weaving 12 poles beautifully in under two weeks and here I am still stuck at two sets of 2x2. Have I been going too slowly? Should I have challenged the dogs more quickly rather than wait for them to improve on the exercise at hand? Obviously I have not been able to do several sessions a day, which has slowed us down, but ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH sometimes I just want to punch the wall! Had my dogs been with someone who was familiar with this method I'm sure they'd be doing better by now because they would not have made all the errors that subsequently require more training to fix as have I.

At times like these it is tempting to just set up several jumps, tunnels, etc and run the dogs over them rather than all this foundation stuff. 'Porter worked out ok,' says a little voice in the back of my head 'And that's how HE was trained.' But then I remind myself of all the things I wanted to IMPROVE with Porter, and how much better he COULD have been if I'd trained him right from the start. I won't be happy with myself or my dogs unless I do it properly.

However, to look on the bright side, I must remember the fact that when I first started this training, Fyre would pay no attention to the poles whatsoever and would often spend several minutes just sitting or lying next to me. THAT was frustrating too, so at least I know we HAVE progressed.

Also, Billie is doing so well in her crate now, every time the other two are doing their 2x2s she is close by in the crate, receiving rewards for being clam and quiet, and has improved by a vast amount even just in the last few days. I can now do several run throughs with one of the others without any whining or barking or carrying on.

I think we'll have time for one more session later tonight, so at that one I will aim to hit the reward line, and get some more good 2x2s in succession.

My dogs are AWESOME

136 days to go...

And... Well, I think the title just about covers it :)

Never Enough Time In The Day

139 days to go...

One of the things I find most irritating about work is how it gets in the way of dog training. However, instead of coming home and collapsing on the couch, even though I'd had a late finish, I reminded myself how much training we still had to do and headed virtually straight out to the dogs. I find it helps raise one's enthusiasm to phrase questions to oneself such as 'Which do you want more, to watch that repeat of The Simpsons for the thirtieth time or win the Nationals?" When you put it like that, it certainly puts it all in perspective!

So since there was not much daylight left, I did 2x2s right off because my artificial lighting is less than brilliant and I want them to be able to see where they are going! Fyre was absolutely awesome tonight, still some things that need polishing, but wicked entries and SO much enthusiasm - throwing the food container has really been great for that. Once again re-iterating the point on transfer of value - the food container has a much higher value than any of the toys I was using, thus the improved performance.

Josh did ok, though he did some nice entries and did both sets of 2x2s in sequence several times he was less interested in the toy than sniffing about where Fyre had been. Note to self - must work on retrieves with Josh. Bringing the toy back has certainly been a weak point and it's time I put some proper work into it.

Billie was part of the training session too, doing crate games. As you may have heard in previous videos she tends to whinge and bark and get herself all stirred up when I work the other dogs, which usually leads to her being shut inside. Deciding I was being altogether too slack in not working on this issue, I today set her up in the crate where she could see everything and rewarded her for being quiet, for eye contact with me, for sitting etc. Basically any behaviour she offered that was not jumping around or barking/whining. I did this between each run with the other dog I was working, and towards the end of the session I saw improvement already.

Then, determined not to give up on my power walks, I put the other two away and Fyre and I had a lovely brisk walk down to the beach where he had a quick run and then back home again. By this time it was after 9 so just enough time to spend a few minutes on the computer and make my own tea, then on to updating this blog! In a moment I am off to feed the canine and feline kids, and may have a quick game of Touch and Go with the dogs, since I can do that in just a few minutes each. And some time after that I'll be able to fall into bed and start all over again tomorrow!!!

Like I said, never enough time in the day :)

Touch and Go

141 days to go...

Recognising the fact that fitness is all-important in agility (for both dogs and handlers), and that I was sadly lacking in this area, I decided to start up daily power walks for myself and the dogs (let's see how long this bold resolution will last). I will be the first to admit that whilst I am happy to do a good, long, fast walk with one of the dogs, I am not going to do it with all three every day (I simply don't have the time anyway). So they are going to have to alternate, with the focus being on building up Fyre and Josh mainly, as Billie is still just 12 months and thus has not finished her growing, so I don't want to put any strain on those young bones and joints. Josh got to be first tonight by virtue of the fact that he was the first to appear at the back door. We had a lovely walk actually, it was a beautiful mild evening. Wonder if I'll be so enthusiastic if it's freezing and pouring with rain??

When we got home, with plenty of light still left I set up the two sets of 2x2s and did a few with Josh after he'd had a chance to have a break. I had moved them further apart again and rewarded entry to the correct first set of 2x2s a couple of times as well as for doing both sets in sequence. Entries on the left seem to be his weakness (perhaps I spent too much time working the right with him after Fyre's weakness on the right entries - typical!) Fyre himself had a great session, very excited with his plastic snap lock container of food, and though it took him a few tries he eventually did several very nice entries and sequencing the two together. What I need to work on with him is motion (handler motion that is) as currently he is too busy looking at me if I am moving with him than he is looking at where he's going.

Then, in my effort to make circle work more interesting, I invented a new game which I have called Touch and Go. This game works on building drive for nose touches, and teaching the dog to follow my shoulders. Initially I was going to use a clicker to mark the nose touch but quickly discovered I could not handler the food and offer a hand to touch AND hold a clicker, so I simply used 'Yes' as a marker.

The game goes like this - I hold both hands, with the food in one for quick access, in front of me, just above waist height (so I can't be tempted to lure the dog to the correct spot) then just start walking with one shoulder 'open' to the side I want the dog on. When the dog gets in position I can then choose when to offer my hand for a nose touch - I may offer it right away, I may continue walking with the dog maintaining position, or I may do a U turn or front cross. Once my hand comes out the dog touches and I mark and throw a (reasonably large and visible) piece of food, then as the dog goes after this take up a new pattern with an 'open' shoulder once again until the dog runs back to take up position again.

Considering this was my first attempt at this game that I had just made up off the top of my head, I was very pleased with the result. Josh has a very good nose touch so he found this quite easy I think, but both dogs improved their position relative to me and their turns - sometimes I would have them come up on one side then do a front cross and as soon as the dog turned into me offer my hand - this resulted in them responding more quickly to my shoulder turns and also turning more tightly. I did the same on U turns. Fyre took a little while to settle into position the first time as he was very excited and gambolling around (as he does ) but I simply kept walking and kept my shoulder open and eventually he settled and was very good. Both dogs found this quite a fun, exciting game and would race back to me to play again after chasing down their piece of food.

I did have to issue myself another speeding ticket however - since we were going so well, I thought I'd try putting in a low jump with Josh. This went ok the first few times, with me working around it and occasionally turning so he was encouraged to go over it, however he often squeezed between the upright and me rather than going over, and when I tried to set him up to go over he became a bit stressed and wanted to avoid the bar altogether, so I finished there and immediately decided NOT to use the bar with Fyre. My next session with Josh and bar jumps (I might do this before his dinner tonight) will simply be re-building some confidence for him to take them, so I will put one up and just reward him for going over it from whatever angle and direction he chooses. Then we will gradually work up to taking bars from a standing start, which admittedly had been spotty for him up to this point.

Fyre also needs work on his nose touches, since he tends to want to lick rather than nose-touch, though one certainly can't fault his enthusiasm for it!!

Speeding Ticket

143 days to go...

I think we need speed cameras that work in the context of dog training. Seriously, it's my newest creative idea. Certainly *I* would have got a speeding ticket today if I'd had one of those cameras on me. I'm almost expecting to get an expiation notice that says 'You were adding criteria at an unacceptable rate. This resulted in a failure rate for your dogs that was far too high. Your privileges to add more than one criteria in a session have been revoked.'

Ok, so that probably isn't going to happen. But I do like the analogy :)

This afternoon, having not done anything since Tuesday (yes, slack, i know, no excuses!!!) I thought I'd pull out the 2x2s, and since Josh had done so well last time I moved them a little closer together (first mistake). So the first couple of repetitions went quite well. He missed the entry once but after that did a nice entry on the left, then on the right, then we went back to do one on the left again since he'd missed the first one. By this time, Josh was clearly thinking 'Aha! So now she wants me to do that second set of poles. Bugger the first set, I can get my toy more quickly if I go straight for the second set!' So although it was quite a nice, easy entry he was entirely focussed on the second set of 2x2s and just repeated them over and over. I usually try and give each dog a chance to get it right for themsevles without making it easier, but clearly this time I'd gone too far too fast. This many failures in a row told me I'd certainly been 'speeding' as far as my training is concerned. So what will we do next time? I will widen the gap between the two sets again. I will be sure to reward entry to the first set (the correct entry) every few repetitions, thus building value into that. Who can blame the dog, really? If the reward always comes after that second entry, why bother with the first? Our dogs are much smarter than we given them credit for sometimes (or all the time really!!)

Silly me forgot the sets were too close together when I sttarted with Fyre, but I figured I'd give him a few goes anyway, from a very easy entry on the left, and lo and behold after a couple of tries he hit it beautifully. Although the video is unfortunately zoomed in too much here so you can't see everything, do note that most of the time in this session was spent playing with the (new) toy after he got it right. That length of session os bordering on too long for Fyre, so I wanted to finish whilst he was still all bright and 'up' and make the reward for getting it correct an extended and very fun time for him.



(Incidentally, this toy is one I picked up at Go-Lo in the kids' toy section - I don't know what it is actually meant to be used for, but it is soft plastic rippled tubing and sure enough the dogs had a lovely time grabbing and tugging on it. Once again re-affirming my decision that $2.50 toys are nearly always the way to go.)

In summary: Speeding: Think About The Impact (I couldn't resist )

2x2 by two

147 days to go...

So it has been a busy few days! The dogs didn't get really any training from Fri night and over the weekend because I was busy getting Billie ready for a weekend of showing, and then when I wasn't at the shows I had my work Christmas do... and was otherwise exhausted! So they had a few days off.

Monday it was back to work though - we did a variety of little things, some more targeting of the mat with the drop, some breaking from the crate, some focus on the mat and the jump. Both dogs are still too inclined to look at me rather than the jump in front of them though I did manage to capture a couple of glances I think. I added the second set of 2x2 for Josh for the first time in ages, and he did quite well. Fyre had a go too, though it is tougher with him because he won't maintain his enthusiasm to work through a problem like Josh will. So I find I have to take MUCH smaller steps i.e. with entry angle, me moving, distance from the entry etc. Josh, as long as I don't go TOO wild and crazy, will keep going and going til he gets it and after that he will get it right almost every time. One thing I do want to get them both better at is setting up for a wait in front of a jump (or any obstacle really, but I've only used a jump thus far) since they are both inclined to go over the jump and muck about for a while before finally getting them to sit next to me. Of course, this is my own fault, and I need to work on several behaviours associated with this - 'finishing' to both my right and left sides when directed, and waiting for a release command before leaving position. The finishing I think I will try and accomplish using some perch work (another thing to add to my list of 'things to do') and the waits I will start off at a much greater distance from the jump so they have a higher chance of success, and then gradually move the start closer as we progress.

Tonight we just did weaving - in between my ACTUAL work and doing stuff around the house I find it hard to get in as much training as I would like. I toyed with the idea of getting up early in the morning to do another session, but it's definitely not going to happen any time soon - I am just not an early morning person! As we get closer to trialling maybe I'll manage to do it :)

Anyway, tonight I set up two sets of 2x2 and started with Josh, once again rotating to a different toy. Almost right away he remembered what to do and in no time was getting some excellent entries from a variety of angles and distances. In actual fact, I think his entries have IMPROVED with the addition of the second set of 2x2s because it forces him to turn more tightly around the first pole so he can make the second entry. Here is a quick little video of one of our run-throughs tonight.






As you can see here, on the first attempt at the right-sided entry he did get the entry but missed the second set of 2x2s. I simply directed him back onto my right side as a starting point and with no further indication from me he quickly re-attempted and this time got it right.

Fyre did ok, but after going through both sets once from a left side entry began to lose his enthusiasm and so I put him away for about 15 mins and when I came out again had switched the toy for a food container (just a little plastic container with a lid that snaps shut - these are perfect for throwing because they won't bust open when they hit the ground). I used the food container in the same way as a toy, throwing it ahead so he could drive to it and then I would rush up and open it for him. Sure enough, as it has in the past, this worked to keep him at it and once he got it right the first time he got two more in reasonably quick succession. I only did left sided entries with him tonight, as right-sided has always been more difficult for him and I really wanted him to be successful. The only thing I am not sure how to fix currently is that he sometimes spins to the left after coming out of the poles, because I am too slow to throw the reward ahead of him. It's a catch 22, because since he is not always reliable I hold off on throwing until I am sure he will make the correct choice, but by waiting that long it also means the timing of the reward is late. Hopefully, with a bit more practice of him always seeing the reward thrown ahead past the end of the poles he will start to head that way anyway, and as he gets more confident I will be able to get my throws in earlier. It will also help when I can stand closer to the exit of the poles and send him back to go through the entry - currently, with the additional new criteria of the second set of 2x2s I stayed back at the entry on a very slight angle so he had more of a chance for success. Once I am able to stand down near the exit I'll be able to get my throw in more quickly.

Tomorrow night I want to get in some more circle work, something I haven't done much on of late - I have a few ideas on how I can make it more interesting for both myself and the dogs rather than just making circuits of the backyard, but I guess I'll have to report back on how it actually works out!