Still 86 days to go...
Our first training session with the new weave poles - brilliant. They are great. I shall be making a return trip to Bunnings sometime during the coming week!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thinking Outside the Box
86 days to go...
Over my years of training in agility, I have made (or attempted to make!) much of my own equipment to practice on at home. The idea being that it would be cheaper, be made just how I wanted it and mostly... yeah, cheaper
Despite me creating things 'on the fly' most of my gear has stood the test of time, still in use now after it was made several years back for Porter. Some of the things I have made in the past are:
A broad jump - after looking at the cost of wood I decided free would be better (I had minimal income at this stage) and scored myself an old wooden pallet. I then set about to saw through all the nails holding the thing together, and after a bit of sweat had a pile of wooden boards. Because the wood was rough and splintery, I then sanded it down (electric sander, not by hand thank God) then used the wood and some other odd bits of scrap wood I had to create two broad jumps. A slap of paint and they looked bloody good. Because the wood was not of the greatest quality, some of it has warped and the ends that were nailed together fell off, but most of it is still perfectly usable!
A tyre - who wants to pay for a real tyre? I used an old plastic rubbish bin lid, sawed right around the rim and then wrapped the rim in masking tape and painted it white. Initially, I just nailed it to a single pole as a lollipop tyre, however it wasn't very stable so I then when and bought (yes, I did actually pay for SOMETHING *gasp*) some long, thick, square garden stakes (I think that's what they were - I don't rightly remember, but I know they were cheap!) built a frame around the 'tyre' and attached feet then drilled holes so the feet could be pegged down. I haven't used it for years and not sure if I still would - it is quite solid and I would worry about the dogs catching themselves on it, plus it is probably smaller than a regulation hoop, not good for my large dogs.
Jumps - To start with, I found some old metal spikes in the shed (I imagine they were actually meant to be used for welding). I sawed them into pieces and estimated which drill bit matched the diameter, then used more scrap timber pieces to create jump uprights. I did this by drilling into the base and then adding glue and hammering the spikes in, and used nails to hold the bars. I later decided I needed taller, more refined uprights, and discovered that wooden broom handles could be purchased cheaply from the supermarket (though what they thought I was doing with all those broom handles I can only imagine). This time I improved upon my spike method - I bought some very long nails, sawed off the heads and then proceeded with the same method as previously. They are still fantastic - the spike on the end of the nail makes them relatively easy to drive into the ground anywhere, even under the current drought conditions in my backyard. At the time I made them, I also used fine dowelling to hold the jump bars, but I didn't like the possibility of the dogs stabbing themselves on it so I eventually knocked all of those off with a hammer and created new jump cups using plastic aquarium tubing stuffed with wire - these are quite soft but can be bent up into hooks that easily hold bars. I then simply cable tied them to the uprights. They have worked well for years, and can easily be re-bent back into shape if they start to flatten out. As actual jump bars I used the same cheap wooden broomsticks, just painted them black and white with gloss paint. They are still going strong (though many have disappeared to who knows where!!)
Weaving poles - my first set of weaving poles were permanent to one spot of the yard - I managed to drag up ten reasonably pole-shaped objects from around the yard and banged them all into the ground then painted them blue and yellow (my club colours). Porter learnt to weave using these poles. I later made myself a more portable set using the same method as for the jump uprights, with spikes and wooden dowel sawed up into approx 1m lengths. I found these to be quite flimsy so I then bought myself some regular wooden garden stakes and added more solid spikes to the bottom of them and painted - even though they are 'square' and some have cracked under the pressure over years of use and hard ground, at least half of them are still with us.
Contacts - I never really had any contact gear at home when training Porter. I did buy a wooden plank (probably the most expensive thing I've ever bought to make equipment!) and glued some of that cheap rubbery non-slip backing to it (which Josh promptly removed as a puppy). Even though it is somewhat warped now as it has been left outside and was never painted, it still serves as a useful contact trainer. I made my own foot target for the dogs by buying a cheap wooden placemat at Go-Lo and gluing felt to each side, one side yellow, one side blue so I could switch according to ground colour and how much I wanted it to stand out.
Flexi-Tunnel - I actually bought one of these - I know, by now you're probably amazed I didn't just create one out of paper mache :)
Today began to next round of equipment building. Because many of my jump bars have mysteriously disappeared, I decided it was time to get some more, and to that end made a trip to Bunnings to purchase some PVC pipe. Less keen to spend days painting it prettily black and white as I had previously with the broomsticks, I picked up some coloured tape to use to produce contrasting stripes on them. Of course, one can never go into Bunnings without finding multiple OTHER useful things, and if you have an open mind you can create a LOT of agility equipment from relatively cheap stuff.
Many of my original weaving poles have 'died' since I first made them, so I now need to replace those once the dogs get past weaving just 4 poles. Cruising for ideas I checked out the wooden garden stakes - could I just pound some of them into the ground and drop PVC pipe over them? Nah, that would be too much work every time I wanted to use them. Re-creating them with spikes would be better. Perhaps I'd go for some nice wooden dowelling then. However, in looking for the long nails to act as spikes, I made a wonderful discovery - decking spikes. Much like thick, giant nails, I found they could be bought at a decent length of 200mm, and so it was back to the PVC piping aisle to pick up some of the thinner piping in the hopes it would sit nicely over the decking spikes and act as poles. I was thrilled when I got home and discovered that the spikes banged into the ground very easily and the pipes were held up perfectly. I will have to go back and buy more now, as I just grabbed 4 to start with in case they didn't work.
I also found the special corner pipe connectors I needed to make my scramble training box, and also some screw-in pieces to add to them and therefore raise the box of the ground a bit more. In my excitement however, I didn't notice that of the four screw-in additions I grabbed out of the box only two were the same, the others were different types! One might think I would have noticed this since I DID check to see that they were all the correct diameter! Not to worry though - although two of them don't actually screw in, they still sit in the connectors enough to hold the box up for training.
So all in all it was quite a productive day! I shall report back on how the new weaving poles stand up to an actual training session (fingers crossed!!)
Over my years of training in agility, I have made (or attempted to make!) much of my own equipment to practice on at home. The idea being that it would be cheaper, be made just how I wanted it and mostly... yeah, cheaper
Despite me creating things 'on the fly' most of my gear has stood the test of time, still in use now after it was made several years back for Porter. Some of the things I have made in the past are:
A broad jump - after looking at the cost of wood I decided free would be better (I had minimal income at this stage) and scored myself an old wooden pallet. I then set about to saw through all the nails holding the thing together, and after a bit of sweat had a pile of wooden boards. Because the wood was rough and splintery, I then sanded it down (electric sander, not by hand thank God) then used the wood and some other odd bits of scrap wood I had to create two broad jumps. A slap of paint and they looked bloody good. Because the wood was not of the greatest quality, some of it has warped and the ends that were nailed together fell off, but most of it is still perfectly usable!
A tyre - who wants to pay for a real tyre? I used an old plastic rubbish bin lid, sawed right around the rim and then wrapped the rim in masking tape and painted it white. Initially, I just nailed it to a single pole as a lollipop tyre, however it wasn't very stable so I then when and bought (yes, I did actually pay for SOMETHING *gasp*) some long, thick, square garden stakes (I think that's what they were - I don't rightly remember, but I know they were cheap!) built a frame around the 'tyre' and attached feet then drilled holes so the feet could be pegged down. I haven't used it for years and not sure if I still would - it is quite solid and I would worry about the dogs catching themselves on it, plus it is probably smaller than a regulation hoop, not good for my large dogs.
Jumps - To start with, I found some old metal spikes in the shed (I imagine they were actually meant to be used for welding). I sawed them into pieces and estimated which drill bit matched the diameter, then used more scrap timber pieces to create jump uprights. I did this by drilling into the base and then adding glue and hammering the spikes in, and used nails to hold the bars. I later decided I needed taller, more refined uprights, and discovered that wooden broom handles could be purchased cheaply from the supermarket (though what they thought I was doing with all those broom handles I can only imagine). This time I improved upon my spike method - I bought some very long nails, sawed off the heads and then proceeded with the same method as previously. They are still fantastic - the spike on the end of the nail makes them relatively easy to drive into the ground anywhere, even under the current drought conditions in my backyard. At the time I made them, I also used fine dowelling to hold the jump bars, but I didn't like the possibility of the dogs stabbing themselves on it so I eventually knocked all of those off with a hammer and created new jump cups using plastic aquarium tubing stuffed with wire - these are quite soft but can be bent up into hooks that easily hold bars. I then simply cable tied them to the uprights. They have worked well for years, and can easily be re-bent back into shape if they start to flatten out. As actual jump bars I used the same cheap wooden broomsticks, just painted them black and white with gloss paint. They are still going strong (though many have disappeared to who knows where!!)
Weaving poles - my first set of weaving poles were permanent to one spot of the yard - I managed to drag up ten reasonably pole-shaped objects from around the yard and banged them all into the ground then painted them blue and yellow (my club colours). Porter learnt to weave using these poles. I later made myself a more portable set using the same method as for the jump uprights, with spikes and wooden dowel sawed up into approx 1m lengths. I found these to be quite flimsy so I then bought myself some regular wooden garden stakes and added more solid spikes to the bottom of them and painted - even though they are 'square' and some have cracked under the pressure over years of use and hard ground, at least half of them are still with us.
Contacts - I never really had any contact gear at home when training Porter. I did buy a wooden plank (probably the most expensive thing I've ever bought to make equipment!) and glued some of that cheap rubbery non-slip backing to it (which Josh promptly removed as a puppy). Even though it is somewhat warped now as it has been left outside and was never painted, it still serves as a useful contact trainer. I made my own foot target for the dogs by buying a cheap wooden placemat at Go-Lo and gluing felt to each side, one side yellow, one side blue so I could switch according to ground colour and how much I wanted it to stand out.
Flexi-Tunnel - I actually bought one of these - I know, by now you're probably amazed I didn't just create one out of paper mache :)
Today began to next round of equipment building. Because many of my jump bars have mysteriously disappeared, I decided it was time to get some more, and to that end made a trip to Bunnings to purchase some PVC pipe. Less keen to spend days painting it prettily black and white as I had previously with the broomsticks, I picked up some coloured tape to use to produce contrasting stripes on them. Of course, one can never go into Bunnings without finding multiple OTHER useful things, and if you have an open mind you can create a LOT of agility equipment from relatively cheap stuff.
Many of my original weaving poles have 'died' since I first made them, so I now need to replace those once the dogs get past weaving just 4 poles. Cruising for ideas I checked out the wooden garden stakes - could I just pound some of them into the ground and drop PVC pipe over them? Nah, that would be too much work every time I wanted to use them. Re-creating them with spikes would be better. Perhaps I'd go for some nice wooden dowelling then. However, in looking for the long nails to act as spikes, I made a wonderful discovery - decking spikes. Much like thick, giant nails, I found they could be bought at a decent length of 200mm, and so it was back to the PVC piping aisle to pick up some of the thinner piping in the hopes it would sit nicely over the decking spikes and act as poles. I was thrilled when I got home and discovered that the spikes banged into the ground very easily and the pipes were held up perfectly. I will have to go back and buy more now, as I just grabbed 4 to start with in case they didn't work.
I also found the special corner pipe connectors I needed to make my scramble training box, and also some screw-in pieces to add to them and therefore raise the box of the ground a bit more. In my excitement however, I didn't notice that of the four screw-in additions I grabbed out of the box only two were the same, the others were different types! One might think I would have noticed this since I DID check to see that they were all the correct diameter! Not to worry though - although two of them don't actually screw in, they still sit in the connectors enough to hold the box up for training.
So all in all it was quite a productive day! I shall report back on how the new weaving poles stand up to an actual training session (fingers crossed!!)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Two Dogs, Two On/Two Off
87 days to go...
I really need to do two (or several!) posts but this is the most overdue one so I shall start here :)
This week we started contact training (well, apart from box training which we'd already started, so I guess that does count as contact training too). Perhaps 2o2o training is a more accurate way to describe it then :)
I haven't trained a dog for 2o2o before. Well, Porter did a little bit of it briefly, but never really consistently and at the level I'd want now. The dogs have all been doing some nose touching to my hand and to a clear plastic target, and they can all use a foot target (a felt-covered wooden placemet - thank you Go-Lo!), plus some months ago I spent some time getting the boys used to walking on a plank set up off the ground on blocks. So it was really time to start putting the elements together.
I thought I would start them using steps. Now, the maximum number of steps in my house is two, the ones going out the backdoor, so I propped the doors open, did some practice foot touches to the target then took turns bringing each of the dogs in and setting them one step above the target and then standing in front of them ready to click when they made motion towards it. It only took me one session to realise I didn't like this at all, it felt way too clumsy, too much of me putting the dog into position rather than them taking up position themselves. So I abandoned the step idea.
Next idea was to simply train them on the plank (the plank is quite old and weather worn after two years sitting outside now, and somewhat warped, so it rocks a little rather than being flat. I figured it would be good for them to get used to a little motion under their feet anyway though). So I started doing the same thing - putting the dog on the end of the plank and rewarding them for moving their front feet onto the foot target. However, after a bit MORE consideration I decided this wasn't working for me either - I didn't like having to PUT the dog anywhere, I wanted them to do it themselves so they were really learning what to do and how to do it. When I tried to let them step onto the plank themselves there would inevitably be a paw or two still standing on the ground. (At this stage I should note that one end of the plank was up on a low block).
So once again I decided this wasn't good enough, and I needed clearer critera for the dog to be able to do it for himself. I grabbed another low block for the other end of the plank, thereby raising the whole thing off the ground by 10cm or so (very low, but not so low it wasn't obvious to them when a paw was still off the side). It was amazing how quickly they remembered the work we'd done with the plank (6-8 months ago now). Each of them was quickly walking over it, scratching it with front paws, trying lots of interacting with it.
I decided my first criteria then would be 4 paws on the plank. To start with I marked them as soon as they got 4 paws on. I positioned myself at one end of the plank so they had the whole length to walk along and get themselves straight and all four paws up, then as long as they stayed in position, I kept feeding. If they moved feet but keep all four on the plank I marked that also because obviously on real equipment they will be moving on it, not standing still. Only a couple of sessions and me switching ends regularly, and they both were quickly getting up on the plank and happy to move along it. (Though once again it was amusing to watch everything they tried, i.e. jumping over the plank, bowing with their front end on the plank, sitting or dropping next to the plank, walking along the plank with their front feet on it and their hind feet on the ground, scratching at it with their front feet and so on).
Next step - introduce the foot target. I put the foot target right at the end of the plank and stood on it, so it wasn't available for them to step on until they got themselves into position on the plank. Once I'd rewarded the 4 paws on, I stepped back from the end slightly - any steps forward I marked, and indication of paying attention to the target (i.e. head moving down to look at it) I marked. Because it was an obvious step down, I felt this gave them much clearer criteria to start with than the end of the plank being on the ground. It was clearly - two hind feet on plank, two front feet on target. I gradually moved further back and eventually they each took that step down onto the target. (Fyre pawed at it a couple of times first which I did mark, but only a couple of times because I didn't want him to think that was the permanent behaviour I wanted). I rewarded them multiple times as long as they stayed in position - each time I gave a piece of food I presented it very low, practically on the ground, so they had to put their nose right down to get it (starting to give them the idea for the nose targeting, though it wasn't a nose target as such. Josh did start to offer dropping his head down though so I was pleased that it seemed to be working).
If at any point one back foot came off the plank, I simply stopped feeding, said 'Oops! What happened? Let's try again.' Then I once again stepped onto the target and waited for the dog to take up position. Since Josh learned this very quickly, I decided to remove the foot target after a couple of sessions. Whilst it was vey helpful to teach him where exactly his feet needed to go, I didn't want him to become reliant on it being there. Rather I wanted him to learn the 2o2o position itself (not, two paws on plank, two paws on target).
So after a run through with the target, I then released him, removed the target and went through the whole process again in exactly the same fashion but without the target present. Good boy, he did it almost right away :) Fyre is still not 100% sure so he will keep using the target for the time being. Josh may also use it again if I take the plank to different locations, or start to move my body position (I did the very beginnings of this with both dogs by moving around to each side whilst rewarding them for being in position).
I am very happy with how this is progressing. Just have to get out more and do lots of practice in different locations. (And actually get some contact equipment so I can really get into training it properly!)
I really need to do two (or several!) posts but this is the most overdue one so I shall start here :)
This week we started contact training (well, apart from box training which we'd already started, so I guess that does count as contact training too). Perhaps 2o2o training is a more accurate way to describe it then :)
I haven't trained a dog for 2o2o before. Well, Porter did a little bit of it briefly, but never really consistently and at the level I'd want now. The dogs have all been doing some nose touching to my hand and to a clear plastic target, and they can all use a foot target (a felt-covered wooden placemet - thank you Go-Lo!), plus some months ago I spent some time getting the boys used to walking on a plank set up off the ground on blocks. So it was really time to start putting the elements together.
I thought I would start them using steps. Now, the maximum number of steps in my house is two, the ones going out the backdoor, so I propped the doors open, did some practice foot touches to the target then took turns bringing each of the dogs in and setting them one step above the target and then standing in front of them ready to click when they made motion towards it. It only took me one session to realise I didn't like this at all, it felt way too clumsy, too much of me putting the dog into position rather than them taking up position themselves. So I abandoned the step idea.
Next idea was to simply train them on the plank (the plank is quite old and weather worn after two years sitting outside now, and somewhat warped, so it rocks a little rather than being flat. I figured it would be good for them to get used to a little motion under their feet anyway though). So I started doing the same thing - putting the dog on the end of the plank and rewarding them for moving their front feet onto the foot target. However, after a bit MORE consideration I decided this wasn't working for me either - I didn't like having to PUT the dog anywhere, I wanted them to do it themselves so they were really learning what to do and how to do it. When I tried to let them step onto the plank themselves there would inevitably be a paw or two still standing on the ground. (At this stage I should note that one end of the plank was up on a low block).
So once again I decided this wasn't good enough, and I needed clearer critera for the dog to be able to do it for himself. I grabbed another low block for the other end of the plank, thereby raising the whole thing off the ground by 10cm or so (very low, but not so low it wasn't obvious to them when a paw was still off the side). It was amazing how quickly they remembered the work we'd done with the plank (6-8 months ago now). Each of them was quickly walking over it, scratching it with front paws, trying lots of interacting with it.
I decided my first criteria then would be 4 paws on the plank. To start with I marked them as soon as they got 4 paws on. I positioned myself at one end of the plank so they had the whole length to walk along and get themselves straight and all four paws up, then as long as they stayed in position, I kept feeding. If they moved feet but keep all four on the plank I marked that also because obviously on real equipment they will be moving on it, not standing still. Only a couple of sessions and me switching ends regularly, and they both were quickly getting up on the plank and happy to move along it. (Though once again it was amusing to watch everything they tried, i.e. jumping over the plank, bowing with their front end on the plank, sitting or dropping next to the plank, walking along the plank with their front feet on it and their hind feet on the ground, scratching at it with their front feet and so on).
Next step - introduce the foot target. I put the foot target right at the end of the plank and stood on it, so it wasn't available for them to step on until they got themselves into position on the plank. Once I'd rewarded the 4 paws on, I stepped back from the end slightly - any steps forward I marked, and indication of paying attention to the target (i.e. head moving down to look at it) I marked. Because it was an obvious step down, I felt this gave them much clearer criteria to start with than the end of the plank being on the ground. It was clearly - two hind feet on plank, two front feet on target. I gradually moved further back and eventually they each took that step down onto the target. (Fyre pawed at it a couple of times first which I did mark, but only a couple of times because I didn't want him to think that was the permanent behaviour I wanted). I rewarded them multiple times as long as they stayed in position - each time I gave a piece of food I presented it very low, practically on the ground, so they had to put their nose right down to get it (starting to give them the idea for the nose targeting, though it wasn't a nose target as such. Josh did start to offer dropping his head down though so I was pleased that it seemed to be working).
If at any point one back foot came off the plank, I simply stopped feeding, said 'Oops! What happened? Let's try again.' Then I once again stepped onto the target and waited for the dog to take up position. Since Josh learned this very quickly, I decided to remove the foot target after a couple of sessions. Whilst it was vey helpful to teach him where exactly his feet needed to go, I didn't want him to become reliant on it being there. Rather I wanted him to learn the 2o2o position itself (not, two paws on plank, two paws on target).
So after a run through with the target, I then released him, removed the target and went through the whole process again in exactly the same fashion but without the target present. Good boy, he did it almost right away :) Fyre is still not 100% sure so he will keep using the target for the time being. Josh may also use it again if I take the plank to different locations, or start to move my body position (I did the very beginnings of this with both dogs by moving around to each side whilst rewarding them for being in position).
I am very happy with how this is progressing. Just have to get out more and do lots of practice in different locations. (And actually get some contact equipment so I can really get into training it properly!)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Getting A Jump On Things
91 days to go...
Busy week! First few days of last week got in some good training and some good power walks with both the dogs. To make it easier to cover what we're done the past week I will split it into separate headings.
2x2
Both dogs are now working at the same level, having brought Fyre up to where Josh is, and keeping both there to proof their entries under different circumstances. Lots of progress being made - obviously would have been nice to do it over just 12 days but I simply don't have the time to get several weaving sessions in as well as doing other stuff. Plus I am still learning this technique at each step, making my own mistakes and having to go back and fix them :) Currently they are doing two sets of 2x2s with a gap of 120cm between. Occasionally they both miss entries from hard angles, going straight for the second set of 2x2s, but generally much improved and a much lower error rate. I think they are grasping very well what I want from them now, so we are adding things in to make it tricker to find that entry - more distance, more motion from me, really tricky angles from both sides. I think over the next few days I will be able to move the two sets closer again and start to straighten the poles. Josh did an absolutely AWESOME entry last night, a tight angle from the right where I saw him really dig in to turn in around that first pole. Fyre did some FANTASTIC work tonight too, easy entries but with me starting to run with him, which he has had trouble with previously and did really well this time.
Jump Work
With the success of the work over one crossbar, I starting adding more challenges. I worked on waits in front of the bar (in a sit) returning to reward the wait occasionally and then releasing over the bar. This was a problem for Josh previously, with him wanting to go around the bar. He did that once but I reset him for another go and then he got it. Once he got it that first time he hasn't looked back! His waits have been excellent too, interesting since I haven't done a lot of leaving him in a sit (though I often leave both dogs in downs throughout a session when I am setting up, just for practice). Fyre is a bit less stable, wanting to break and go off over the bar. To work on this, and to work on both dogs getting into position in the first place (they are both incredibly keen to head off over the jump as soon as they see it!) I have been doing a lot of rewarding them in heel (both left and right) position as we set up and then U-turn to face the jump. I have incorporated this into various other exercises too, i.e. Fyre gets heeled back and forth from the table where I sit my extra treats, toys etc in between runs. Every so often Fyre also gets his plastic food container thrown back behind him and released to it when he doesn't break position on a wait.
We then moved on to two crossbars in a row, both from a wait with lead out and from me with forward motion and them moving ahead. Josh I am usually using a toy, and Fyre his food container as those are the things each likes best, though I try to make sure to mix it up between rewards so they work for a variety of things. Interestingly, as I had the two jumps set a reasonable distance apart, Josh bounce jumped them both from a standing start and on the move, whereas Fyre put in an extra stride between. Since we are working towards doing more jump grids, I shortened the distance slightly to encourage Fyre to bounce them also and he managed that no trouble at all.
Tonight just for fun I dragged out the tunnel, which all the dogs have been exposed to some time ago. I just pulled it out straight (after checking for spiders since it has been sitting outside for quite a while) let them each have a couple of runs through using a toy reward thrown ahead of the exit. Then I worked on leaving them in a down and releasing to the tunnel, which both managed very well. From there, we started very basic sequencing by putting a crossbar in front of one end of the tunnel. Figuring Josh would easily drive to the tunnel I set him up in front of the bar, led out and released him - perfect! Second time was trickier - set up in a down at the opposite side (so tunnel first). I started with a lead out to just past the jump and sure enough he came belting out of the tunnel and didn't even look at the jump. Hmm, too much too soon? Once more over the jump from that direction as some backchaining, then try again. This time I didn't lead out as far, and when he exited the tunnel I was midway between tunnel and jump and moving toward the jump (slowly so as not to kill myself if he decided to run in front of my legs). But I needn't have worried, he did it perfectly this time :)
Fyre found this a bit more challenging. As I probably should have expected, with me doing such a long lead out he ran past the tunnel the first time and straight for the jump. Hmmm, some more backchaining required! So we did another lead out this time with me just at the end of the tunnel, and rewarded him for that, then did the longer lead out over the jump to a target and this time he did it great!
Cones
I had the bright idea that I might be able to use the tunnel and the cones together, by using the tunnel as the reward for the dog going around the cone and therefore each reinforcing the other. In my head, this would work as having a cone at each end of the tunnel, me sending the dog around the cone then front crossing them back into the tunnel and so on. This would be a classic example of transfer of value, the value of the tunnel (which both dogs love) would increase the value of going around the cone. Sure enough, I lumped a pile of criteria together and at first attempt had the tunnel too close to the cone and had both dogs trying to head for the tunnel and me calling them back, and then not really interested in the cone because they really wanted the tunnel!! So in the end I decided to shelve that idea for the future and just work on single cones. Tunnel away, I used food rewards for the dog going around the cone in both directions so I could do lots of quick repetitions. I really must work on cones more, because whilst the dog won't need to know how to go round cones in an actual agility course, I can see them being exceptionally helpful in training to practice handling.
Still have to go through the contact work we have started, but that will take too long so will have to be an entry for next time!
Busy week! First few days of last week got in some good training and some good power walks with both the dogs. To make it easier to cover what we're done the past week I will split it into separate headings.
2x2
Both dogs are now working at the same level, having brought Fyre up to where Josh is, and keeping both there to proof their entries under different circumstances. Lots of progress being made - obviously would have been nice to do it over just 12 days but I simply don't have the time to get several weaving sessions in as well as doing other stuff. Plus I am still learning this technique at each step, making my own mistakes and having to go back and fix them :) Currently they are doing two sets of 2x2s with a gap of 120cm between. Occasionally they both miss entries from hard angles, going straight for the second set of 2x2s, but generally much improved and a much lower error rate. I think they are grasping very well what I want from them now, so we are adding things in to make it tricker to find that entry - more distance, more motion from me, really tricky angles from both sides. I think over the next few days I will be able to move the two sets closer again and start to straighten the poles. Josh did an absolutely AWESOME entry last night, a tight angle from the right where I saw him really dig in to turn in around that first pole. Fyre did some FANTASTIC work tonight too, easy entries but with me starting to run with him, which he has had trouble with previously and did really well this time.
Jump Work
With the success of the work over one crossbar, I starting adding more challenges. I worked on waits in front of the bar (in a sit) returning to reward the wait occasionally and then releasing over the bar. This was a problem for Josh previously, with him wanting to go around the bar. He did that once but I reset him for another go and then he got it. Once he got it that first time he hasn't looked back! His waits have been excellent too, interesting since I haven't done a lot of leaving him in a sit (though I often leave both dogs in downs throughout a session when I am setting up, just for practice). Fyre is a bit less stable, wanting to break and go off over the bar. To work on this, and to work on both dogs getting into position in the first place (they are both incredibly keen to head off over the jump as soon as they see it!) I have been doing a lot of rewarding them in heel (both left and right) position as we set up and then U-turn to face the jump. I have incorporated this into various other exercises too, i.e. Fyre gets heeled back and forth from the table where I sit my extra treats, toys etc in between runs. Every so often Fyre also gets his plastic food container thrown back behind him and released to it when he doesn't break position on a wait.
We then moved on to two crossbars in a row, both from a wait with lead out and from me with forward motion and them moving ahead. Josh I am usually using a toy, and Fyre his food container as those are the things each likes best, though I try to make sure to mix it up between rewards so they work for a variety of things. Interestingly, as I had the two jumps set a reasonable distance apart, Josh bounce jumped them both from a standing start and on the move, whereas Fyre put in an extra stride between. Since we are working towards doing more jump grids, I shortened the distance slightly to encourage Fyre to bounce them also and he managed that no trouble at all.
Tonight just for fun I dragged out the tunnel, which all the dogs have been exposed to some time ago. I just pulled it out straight (after checking for spiders since it has been sitting outside for quite a while) let them each have a couple of runs through using a toy reward thrown ahead of the exit. Then I worked on leaving them in a down and releasing to the tunnel, which both managed very well. From there, we started very basic sequencing by putting a crossbar in front of one end of the tunnel. Figuring Josh would easily drive to the tunnel I set him up in front of the bar, led out and released him - perfect! Second time was trickier - set up in a down at the opposite side (so tunnel first). I started with a lead out to just past the jump and sure enough he came belting out of the tunnel and didn't even look at the jump. Hmm, too much too soon? Once more over the jump from that direction as some backchaining, then try again. This time I didn't lead out as far, and when he exited the tunnel I was midway between tunnel and jump and moving toward the jump (slowly so as not to kill myself if he decided to run in front of my legs). But I needn't have worried, he did it perfectly this time :)
Fyre found this a bit more challenging. As I probably should have expected, with me doing such a long lead out he ran past the tunnel the first time and straight for the jump. Hmmm, some more backchaining required! So we did another lead out this time with me just at the end of the tunnel, and rewarded him for that, then did the longer lead out over the jump to a target and this time he did it great!
Cones
I had the bright idea that I might be able to use the tunnel and the cones together, by using the tunnel as the reward for the dog going around the cone and therefore each reinforcing the other. In my head, this would work as having a cone at each end of the tunnel, me sending the dog around the cone then front crossing them back into the tunnel and so on. This would be a classic example of transfer of value, the value of the tunnel (which both dogs love) would increase the value of going around the cone. Sure enough, I lumped a pile of criteria together and at first attempt had the tunnel too close to the cone and had both dogs trying to head for the tunnel and me calling them back, and then not really interested in the cone because they really wanted the tunnel!! So in the end I decided to shelve that idea for the future and just work on single cones. Tunnel away, I used food rewards for the dog going around the cone in both directions so I could do lots of quick repetitions. I really must work on cones more, because whilst the dog won't need to know how to go round cones in an actual agility course, I can see them being exceptionally helpful in training to practice handling.
Still have to go through the contact work we have started, but that will take too long so will have to be an entry for next time!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Don't Try This At Home
99 days to go...
Ooooooo down to double digits! *shivers* This is to be a very quick entry so I can actually get to bed before midnight (!!) So, first point of interest I will be auditing the first four days of the Lynda Orton-Hill seminars in Victoria come February and CAN'T WAIT!!!! I expect this will be VERY helpful to all the training I am doing currently.
What we covered tonight (cos who needs a life outside of dogs anyway?):
2x2 weavers: Josh did one session, responding very well to the loud squeaky toy. Fyre did three sessions, I have added the second set of 2x2s about 3m or so from the first and currently back to easier entries and lots of reinforcement for correct entries.
Cones: Introduced a second cone, in anticipation of teaching them to go round one cone then the next. Cones right next to each other for this early stage then will start moving them out. All three dogs have one particular side they did better at, and at various points went between the cones, jumped over the cones and so on, but all were starting to cotton on! Probably need to get them more confident with just single cones though.
Nose touches: Just a very quick few minutes each, me trying to get my timing right so they hit the target with their nose and nothing else.
Box work: All did excellent at this, almost right off getting into the box and worked out almost straight away to move all four feet inside.
Jump work: Cross bar again, me in the chair, Josh and Fyre are both offering actually jumps over the bars now so I am very pleased. Billie still just stepping over but getting more confident.
Josh and I also walked to a different nearby park and had a couple of sessions of settling and relaxing, lots of recall work on the long line, and various little exercises in between, i.e. leaving him in a sit and rewarding staying there then calling him to me. Several dogs were around during this time so we did 'Who's That?' and although he is still too tense and excited watching other dogs, he isn't trying to bolt after them - he will stay in a down next to me and watch them and 'quiver'! I was very pleased though with one situation where I saw a large dog off lead heading towards us, I quickly put him in a down and even though he stood up when it came and stood right over him, as soon as it moved off I was able to tell him to get back into a down and he responded, then we did 'Who's That?' and I was thrilled when, even though still very excited, he offered a paw touch in between looking at the retreating dog. A real sign of progress I think.
As for the title, that's to let all of you out there know that it is NOT a good idea to begin one's agility training with a deadline of 156 days because it goes WAY too quickly, especially with multiple dogs, and unless you can drop everything for six months it's a LOT of work and stress (stress for me, not for the dogs - far as they're concerned they're beng showered with toys and food and fun things to do so they're loving it)
Ooooooo down to double digits! *shivers* This is to be a very quick entry so I can actually get to bed before midnight (!!) So, first point of interest I will be auditing the first four days of the Lynda Orton-Hill seminars in Victoria come February and CAN'T WAIT!!!! I expect this will be VERY helpful to all the training I am doing currently.
What we covered tonight (cos who needs a life outside of dogs anyway?):
2x2 weavers: Josh did one session, responding very well to the loud squeaky toy. Fyre did three sessions, I have added the second set of 2x2s about 3m or so from the first and currently back to easier entries and lots of reinforcement for correct entries.
Cones: Introduced a second cone, in anticipation of teaching them to go round one cone then the next. Cones right next to each other for this early stage then will start moving them out. All three dogs have one particular side they did better at, and at various points went between the cones, jumped over the cones and so on, but all were starting to cotton on! Probably need to get them more confident with just single cones though.
Nose touches: Just a very quick few minutes each, me trying to get my timing right so they hit the target with their nose and nothing else.
Box work: All did excellent at this, almost right off getting into the box and worked out almost straight away to move all four feet inside.
Jump work: Cross bar again, me in the chair, Josh and Fyre are both offering actually jumps over the bars now so I am very pleased. Billie still just stepping over but getting more confident.
Josh and I also walked to a different nearby park and had a couple of sessions of settling and relaxing, lots of recall work on the long line, and various little exercises in between, i.e. leaving him in a sit and rewarding staying there then calling him to me. Several dogs were around during this time so we did 'Who's That?' and although he is still too tense and excited watching other dogs, he isn't trying to bolt after them - he will stay in a down next to me and watch them and 'quiver'! I was very pleased though with one situation where I saw a large dog off lead heading towards us, I quickly put him in a down and even though he stood up when it came and stood right over him, as soon as it moved off I was able to tell him to get back into a down and he responded, then we did 'Who's That?' and I was thrilled when, even though still very excited, he offered a paw touch in between looking at the retreating dog. A real sign of progress I think.
As for the title, that's to let all of you out there know that it is NOT a good idea to begin one's agility training with a deadline of 156 days because it goes WAY too quickly, especially with multiple dogs, and unless you can drop everything for six months it's a LOT of work and stress (stress for me, not for the dogs - far as they're concerned they're beng showered with toys and food and fun things to do so they're loving it
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sitting Down On The Job
100 days to go...
Holy crap where did the 56 days since I started this blog go??!!! Scary. So much to do, so much LESS time to do it in!!
This week I made a real effort to get in two or three 2x2 sessions a day. Most days I managed it, but once you try to add in any other training (or really any other part of your life whatsoever...!) that free time disappears all too quickly.
Fyre's entries have improved so much - I am glad I went back to just the one set of 2x2s to really work the entries with him - he is now getting some truly awesome entries, especially on the right side which was always harder for him, he can now usually hit it from a distance and an extreme angle where he has to U-turn around the pole to get the entry. Just a couple more sessions and I will be adding back in the second set. Josh on the other hand I have taken a step back and put more distance between the two sets, as I felt he was skipping the entry too often to go straight to the second set and therefore we re-started training by reinforcing the correct entries in between the 2 sets. His entries are improving again now.
Also during the week we did various other things - Josh and I went to the park a few times and he practiced settling down and relaxing in a different environment. We did some massage and I marked him for showing signs of relaxation like soft eyes, floppy ears etc. We also did some more recall work, building value for recalls, and I allowed him more room to move using the longer line. He has definitely improved - occasionally he just can't tear himself away from a smell and then we work through that as discussed in my previous post so he can be successful. I should mention that I'm also rewarding him for voluntarily returning to me, and consequently he is now a lot more aware of where I am and to not stray too far from me. This week we may go to a new park with different distractions and work through it all again, then maybe somewhere with a higher level of distraction. I am taking it a step at a time because I really want an excellent recall. You never know when you might want your dog to drop what he's doing and race back to you (my question for whether I should let him off lead yet or not is 'If he chased another dog towards the street with oncoming traffic, could you call him back?' If the answer to that is no, he needs to stay on lead.)
Today I decided we were spending too much time on weaving and needed to bring a lot more stuff into the training program (especially with just 100 days to go!) So today we did several short sessions.
Firstly we started nose touch to a clear plastic target (the small round lid off a container for anyone that's interested). All the dogs are quite willing to offer nose touches to my hand, so after a few regular nose touches I held the target in my hand and let them hit that instead. They all did pretty well, though it is so hard to time the click correctly - they all offered several variations of the nose touch behavious including licking, grabbing at the target with their mouths, hitting it open mouthed, hitting it with their chin; I need to practice, practice, practice getting my timing right so I reinforce the correct behaviour.
Next time we started some box work, in preparation for their scramble training (as per Rachel Sanders' DVD). Because this is all basic foundation stuff, no jumping or high impact work, Billie can do all of it too. I parked my chair facing the edge of the box and clicked the dogs when they got all four feet inside. They all caught onto this very quickly. I threw most of the treats outside of the box to move them out of it so they could go back in again, and to get them started thinking about the process of moving across in front of me. Sitting down also meant I was less likely to inadvertently coerce them into the box with body movement. We also did a few more nose touches this session.
Third session for the day, wanting to do some jump work but not having my plastic pipes cut up for speed bumps yet, I started thinking about the box work session and realised I could do the same thing with a bar jump. So I set up a cross bar i.e. two bars that crossed in the middle with one end in the lowest jump cup on one side and the other on the ground against the other upright. This made a very low point on the middle so they really didn't need to jump and we could simply work on bulding value for going over the bars. I set myself at one side of the jump facing the upright. I found it endlessly amusing watching all the behaviours they offered. The most common one was to walk all the way around the far upright and come back (since Josh and Fyre have been doing the 2x2 work I guess they were trying a similar thing here, but interestingly Billie did this too and she hasn't done any 2x2 yet). They also offered sits, downs, attempted hand touches (though I kept my hands in my lap out of the way) and various other random things. Eventually though all of them stepped over the bars. Once they did I clicked and threw food forward to keep them moving across and to get them away from the bar so they could turn back for another go. At this stage there was no handling involved - they could go over the bars from any direction and at any angle regardless of me. They all caught on very quickly, and Josh and Fyre were soon moving quite quickly across the cross bar, to the point where they were starting to do a little jump. I swapped sides with my chair and did it all again, then progressed to standing up, and then began to bring in some handling. This was at the point where I was reasonably sure they would go over the cross bar.
It was very basic stuff - me beginning to the show them the picture they would see if we were really handling this jump, i.e. as I threw the food for one reward I turned into the jump staying on the spot alongside it (basically a front cross) so my shoulders were now facing the direction we were 'going' as the dog turned back around again. Because they were beginning to see the value in the jump they automatically returned and went over it. I increased my distance from the upright, and then began to add a small amount of handler motion, i.e. as I threw the food I moved forward with the dog at a walk, as they turned back I turned in to them (front cross) and walked back towards the cross bar again. Both Josh and Fyre were able to do this with 100% success rate so I think I am progressing at the right speed here. In fact, they became more enthusiastic about the jump and with me moving actually began to jump over it. Billie reached the point where she was going back and forth across it but I didn't feel she was ready to do any 'handling' so we stopped at that point. I can see where this will be useful for lots of basic stuff. Josh for example had trouble going over a bar after being left in a wait (back some time ago when we did just a little jump work). I expect once I work through these exercises with him a bit more I will then be able to practice releasing him from a wait over the bar and have him be successful. Having worked through this with the dogs today I think the jump stuff I was doing with them previously was really expecting too much of them to start with, and this foundation stuff, plus the speed bumps when I eventually get them ready to go, will improve them much more quickly.
So generally happy with how we went today. Hopefully with several new things to teach now on the go I will begin to see some real progress.
Holy crap where did the 56 days since I started this blog go??!!! Scary. So much to do, so much LESS time to do it in!!
This week I made a real effort to get in two or three 2x2 sessions a day. Most days I managed it, but once you try to add in any other training (or really any other part of your life whatsoever...!) that free time disappears all too quickly.
Fyre's entries have improved so much - I am glad I went back to just the one set of 2x2s to really work the entries with him - he is now getting some truly awesome entries, especially on the right side which was always harder for him, he can now usually hit it from a distance and an extreme angle where he has to U-turn around the pole to get the entry. Just a couple more sessions and I will be adding back in the second set. Josh on the other hand I have taken a step back and put more distance between the two sets, as I felt he was skipping the entry too often to go straight to the second set and therefore we re-started training by reinforcing the correct entries in between the 2 sets. His entries are improving again now.
Also during the week we did various other things - Josh and I went to the park a few times and he practiced settling down and relaxing in a different environment. We did some massage and I marked him for showing signs of relaxation like soft eyes, floppy ears etc. We also did some more recall work, building value for recalls, and I allowed him more room to move using the longer line. He has definitely improved - occasionally he just can't tear himself away from a smell and then we work through that as discussed in my previous post so he can be successful. I should mention that I'm also rewarding him for voluntarily returning to me, and consequently he is now a lot more aware of where I am and to not stray too far from me. This week we may go to a new park with different distractions and work through it all again, then maybe somewhere with a higher level of distraction. I am taking it a step at a time because I really want an excellent recall. You never know when you might want your dog to drop what he's doing and race back to you (my question for whether I should let him off lead yet or not is 'If he chased another dog towards the street with oncoming traffic, could you call him back?' If the answer to that is no, he needs to stay on lead.)
Today I decided we were spending too much time on weaving and needed to bring a lot more stuff into the training program (especially with just 100 days to go!) So today we did several short sessions.
Firstly we started nose touch to a clear plastic target (the small round lid off a container for anyone that's interested). All the dogs are quite willing to offer nose touches to my hand, so after a few regular nose touches I held the target in my hand and let them hit that instead. They all did pretty well, though it is so hard to time the click correctly - they all offered several variations of the nose touch behavious including licking, grabbing at the target with their mouths, hitting it open mouthed, hitting it with their chin; I need to practice, practice, practice getting my timing right so I reinforce the correct behaviour.
Next time we started some box work, in preparation for their scramble training (as per Rachel Sanders' DVD). Because this is all basic foundation stuff, no jumping or high impact work, Billie can do all of it too. I parked my chair facing the edge of the box and clicked the dogs when they got all four feet inside. They all caught onto this very quickly. I threw most of the treats outside of the box to move them out of it so they could go back in again, and to get them started thinking about the process of moving across in front of me. Sitting down also meant I was less likely to inadvertently coerce them into the box with body movement. We also did a few more nose touches this session.
Third session for the day, wanting to do some jump work but not having my plastic pipes cut up for speed bumps yet, I started thinking about the box work session and realised I could do the same thing with a bar jump. So I set up a cross bar i.e. two bars that crossed in the middle with one end in the lowest jump cup on one side and the other on the ground against the other upright. This made a very low point on the middle so they really didn't need to jump and we could simply work on bulding value for going over the bars. I set myself at one side of the jump facing the upright. I found it endlessly amusing watching all the behaviours they offered. The most common one was to walk all the way around the far upright and come back (since Josh and Fyre have been doing the 2x2 work I guess they were trying a similar thing here, but interestingly Billie did this too and she hasn't done any 2x2 yet). They also offered sits, downs, attempted hand touches (though I kept my hands in my lap out of the way) and various other random things. Eventually though all of them stepped over the bars. Once they did I clicked and threw food forward to keep them moving across and to get them away from the bar so they could turn back for another go. At this stage there was no handling involved - they could go over the bars from any direction and at any angle regardless of me. They all caught on very quickly, and Josh and Fyre were soon moving quite quickly across the cross bar, to the point where they were starting to do a little jump. I swapped sides with my chair and did it all again, then progressed to standing up, and then began to bring in some handling. This was at the point where I was reasonably sure they would go over the cross bar.
It was very basic stuff - me beginning to the show them the picture they would see if we were really handling this jump, i.e. as I threw the food for one reward I turned into the jump staying on the spot alongside it (basically a front cross) so my shoulders were now facing the direction we were 'going' as the dog turned back around again. Because they were beginning to see the value in the jump they automatically returned and went over it. I increased my distance from the upright, and then began to add a small amount of handler motion, i.e. as I threw the food I moved forward with the dog at a walk, as they turned back I turned in to them (front cross) and walked back towards the cross bar again. Both Josh and Fyre were able to do this with 100% success rate so I think I am progressing at the right speed here. In fact, they became more enthusiastic about the jump and with me moving actually began to jump over it. Billie reached the point where she was going back and forth across it but I didn't feel she was ready to do any 'handling' so we stopped at that point. I can see where this will be useful for lots of basic stuff. Josh for example had trouble going over a bar after being left in a wait (back some time ago when we did just a little jump work). I expect once I work through these exercises with him a bit more I will then be able to practice releasing him from a wait over the bar and have him be successful. Having worked through this with the dogs today I think the jump stuff I was doing with them previously was really expecting too much of them to start with, and this foundation stuff, plus the speed bumps when I eventually get them ready to go, will improve them much more quickly.
So generally happy with how we went today. Hopefully with several new things to teach now on the go I will begin to see some real progress.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
The Circle of Reinforcement
108 days to go...
Not much to report for the last few days... it has been hot here, high 30s, so I've done very little with the dogs. We are all inside in the air-conditioning today :) As usual though, I have been trying to find ways to do little bits of training. Today for example I had the treat jar on the couch with me, and every so often would reward some little things like Billie lying quietly on her mat, or giving things to me. (This includes every little thing she manages to find like tissues, cat toys, bits of fluff - if she brings them to me when I call her she can have a treat.) Eventually we did a little retireving game, where Billie would bring me a toy and get a treat, I would put it back on the floor, she would give it back and so on. Josh eventually joined this game too. The point of this is reinforcing them for bringing the toy back to me. Currently both are very keen to chase the toy but slower to bring it back. Billie in particular will want to play chase with toys if either of the other dogs are free in the yard with her.
Anyway, I had too much to write in my last entry to include the second part of what I wanted to, which is reinforcement and trying to use it effectively. This includes things which I consider 'self-reinforcement' for the dogs - things they like doing but which don't necessarily come from me. This could be stuff like sniffing the ground, peeing on a post, whatever. I have been trying to work these into my training so they become reinforcements for behaviours. This really follows on from what I was saying in my previous post, about criteria. So currently with Josh in particular I am working on improving recalls. To give him lots of chances at success, I have manipulated the situation as follows - currently he is on lead, a reasonably short lead at this stage. We haven't yet worked up to any place with a huge number of distractions. What distractions we do encounter I try to keep low level so he has a better chance of responding to me, i.e. other dogs running at the park, we work at a distance from them. I haven't added a 'come' cue as yet, but I do expect him to give me attention when he hears me call his name, first time, no matter what he is doing. He is allowed to wander and sniff and so on when released, I usually use 'go sniff' or 'off you go'. However, as he is still on lead, he has an added criteria that the lead must remain slack - if he pulls on the lead, I stop and wait for him to back up and give back some slack. In this case, the reinforcement is him being allowed to move towards something he wants. (To get what you want, you first have to do what I want, the Premack Principle - there is an excellent explanation of this and how it applies to dog training throughout Susan Garrett's book Shaping Success.) I am doing a similar thing if he doesn't respond to the first call of his name fairly quickly (within a second say). If he continues what he was doing, i.e. sniffing the ground I say nothing else but immediately use the lead (not as a correction, just a guide) to move him away from reach of that spot, then pause and call him again. If he responds this time we move back closer to that spot and do another. If he responds to that we move back to the original spot and repeat the exercise from there. If he responds to that he gets released back to finish sniffing whatever it was. I am also using food treats as reinforcement for coming back to me. I am also commonly asking for a nose touch by offering my palm as he approaches, so it isn't simply a case of him reaching me and racing straight back to what he was doing. I think of it as a circle of reinforcement - coming to me he gets reinforced (food) and then sent back to another reinforcement (the smell) and so on and so forth.
Occasionally I also do things like putting him in a down and recalling him, or reinforcing the wait as well by starting with 'Ready...' then rewarding him for staying. As mentioned previously, I have also being playing the 'Look At That!' game with him (see Control Unleashed). I believe that he HAS improved. The other day when we did 2x2 at the park for the first time, although he did get distracted and wander towards other things, he did respond quickly and come back when I called his name. Still lots of work to do but we'll get there!
The delivery of reinforcement is also important - certainly my dogs are more enthused if I throw food for them than just give it out of my hand. The plus to this as well is that it immediately moves the dog away from you so they then have another chance to come back and offer that behaviour and be reinforced again. Very handy for things like recall practice in the backyard - call the dog, mark 'yes' then throw the food; as he scoops it up call again and repeat the process. Suddenly returning quickly to the handler becomes a much more interesting game.
Dogs' rules - the reinforcement YOU consider high value may not necessarily be high value for the dog. I try to bear this in mind. For example, Fyre finds his dinner, regular dry dog food, extraordinarily exciting because he associated dinner time with high excitement. So me using a plastic container of dry food as a reinforcer is equally if not MORE rewarding for him than using fresh liver. Josh, I discovered by accident, is nutty about balloons and bubbles. A balloon is a high value reward for him, so occasionally I use balloons in my training - he does well, he gets to punch the balloon in the air for a few goes.
Handler reinforcement - I mention this because obviously it comes into the mix somewhere - why else would one spend all one's spare time out training/walking/playing with their dogs? It can lead to training traps though. For example - in agility, it is much more fun (note: high value reinforcement for handler) to put up a row of jumps and watch gleefully as your dog goes soaring over them, than it is to do circle work (note: potentially low reinforcement to handler). Whilst we know good foundation produces the best results, we all want instant gratification and can therefore be tempted to move onto doing things our dogs aren't ready for. Which leads to problems down the track, and frustration for dog AND handler. I try to bear this in mind to remind myself it WILL be worth doing all the foundation stuff for the end product, and also to make sure that even if *I* don't find an exercise particularly exciting, my dogs still think it is a great game. Often times also, it is possible to convince (note: shape) oneself into finding these games more exciting anyway - if you get your dogs happy and excited to play, it is reinforcing to you as a handler to see them happy and excited. Thus the Circle of Reinforcement is complete
Not much to report for the last few days... it has been hot here, high 30s, so I've done very little with the dogs. We are all inside in the air-conditioning today :) As usual though, I have been trying to find ways to do little bits of training. Today for example I had the treat jar on the couch with me, and every so often would reward some little things like Billie lying quietly on her mat, or giving things to me. (This includes every little thing she manages to find like tissues, cat toys, bits of fluff - if she brings them to me when I call her she can have a treat.) Eventually we did a little retireving game, where Billie would bring me a toy and get a treat, I would put it back on the floor, she would give it back and so on. Josh eventually joined this game too. The point of this is reinforcing them for bringing the toy back to me. Currently both are very keen to chase the toy but slower to bring it back. Billie in particular will want to play chase with toys if either of the other dogs are free in the yard with her.
Anyway, I had too much to write in my last entry to include the second part of what I wanted to, which is reinforcement and trying to use it effectively. This includes things which I consider 'self-reinforcement' for the dogs - things they like doing but which don't necessarily come from me. This could be stuff like sniffing the ground, peeing on a post, whatever. I have been trying to work these into my training so they become reinforcements for behaviours. This really follows on from what I was saying in my previous post, about criteria. So currently with Josh in particular I am working on improving recalls. To give him lots of chances at success, I have manipulated the situation as follows - currently he is on lead, a reasonably short lead at this stage. We haven't yet worked up to any place with a huge number of distractions. What distractions we do encounter I try to keep low level so he has a better chance of responding to me, i.e. other dogs running at the park, we work at a distance from them. I haven't added a 'come' cue as yet, but I do expect him to give me attention when he hears me call his name, first time, no matter what he is doing. He is allowed to wander and sniff and so on when released, I usually use 'go sniff' or 'off you go'. However, as he is still on lead, he has an added criteria that the lead must remain slack - if he pulls on the lead, I stop and wait for him to back up and give back some slack. In this case, the reinforcement is him being allowed to move towards something he wants. (To get what you want, you first have to do what I want, the Premack Principle - there is an excellent explanation of this and how it applies to dog training throughout Susan Garrett's book Shaping Success.) I am doing a similar thing if he doesn't respond to the first call of his name fairly quickly (within a second say). If he continues what he was doing, i.e. sniffing the ground I say nothing else but immediately use the lead (not as a correction, just a guide) to move him away from reach of that spot, then pause and call him again. If he responds this time we move back closer to that spot and do another. If he responds to that we move back to the original spot and repeat the exercise from there. If he responds to that he gets released back to finish sniffing whatever it was. I am also using food treats as reinforcement for coming back to me. I am also commonly asking for a nose touch by offering my palm as he approaches, so it isn't simply a case of him reaching me and racing straight back to what he was doing. I think of it as a circle of reinforcement - coming to me he gets reinforced (food) and then sent back to another reinforcement (the smell) and so on and so forth.
Occasionally I also do things like putting him in a down and recalling him, or reinforcing the wait as well by starting with 'Ready...' then rewarding him for staying. As mentioned previously, I have also being playing the 'Look At That!' game with him (see Control Unleashed). I believe that he HAS improved. The other day when we did 2x2 at the park for the first time, although he did get distracted and wander towards other things, he did respond quickly and come back when I called his name. Still lots of work to do but we'll get there!
The delivery of reinforcement is also important - certainly my dogs are more enthused if I throw food for them than just give it out of my hand. The plus to this as well is that it immediately moves the dog away from you so they then have another chance to come back and offer that behaviour and be reinforced again. Very handy for things like recall practice in the backyard - call the dog, mark 'yes' then throw the food; as he scoops it up call again and repeat the process. Suddenly returning quickly to the handler becomes a much more interesting game.
Dogs' rules - the reinforcement YOU consider high value may not necessarily be high value for the dog. I try to bear this in mind. For example, Fyre finds his dinner, regular dry dog food, extraordinarily exciting because he associated dinner time with high excitement. So me using a plastic container of dry food as a reinforcer is equally if not MORE rewarding for him than using fresh liver. Josh, I discovered by accident, is nutty about balloons and bubbles. A balloon is a high value reward for him, so occasionally I use balloons in my training - he does well, he gets to punch the balloon in the air for a few goes.
Handler reinforcement - I mention this because obviously it comes into the mix somewhere - why else would one spend all one's spare time out training/walking/playing with their dogs? It can lead to training traps though. For example - in agility, it is much more fun (note: high value reinforcement for handler) to put up a row of jumps and watch gleefully as your dog goes soaring over them, than it is to do circle work (note: potentially low reinforcement to handler). Whilst we know good foundation produces the best results, we all want instant gratification and can therefore be tempted to move onto doing things our dogs aren't ready for. Which leads to problems down the track, and frustration for dog AND handler. I try to bear this in mind to remind myself it WILL be worth doing all the foundation stuff for the end product, and also to make sure that even if *I* don't find an exercise particularly exciting, my dogs still think it is a great game. Often times also, it is possible to convince (note: shape
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Rules of Engagement
111 days to go...
Have to try and keep this blog more up to date so I can track my progress! It's hard though, because all my spare time is devoted to the ACTUAL training... well, ok, some of it is devoted to Cafe World on Facebook, but everyone needs a hobby right?
My main New Year's resolution this year was to stop procrastinating (a very bad habit of mine) and actually DO stuff. One of those things is obviously working with the dogs. I still wonder if I haven't taken on too much, trying to get two dogs up to trialling standard then flying them to the Nationals when they will have had minimal (if any!) trial experience. It wouldn't be so bad if it were just ME, but with Donna flying all the way from Canberra to see her boy Fyre in action... eek! Pressure's on! I hope we can do it.
This weekend I spent some time re-watching the first few chapters of Susan Garrett's 2x2 DVD, and sure enough I realised I had skipped a few steps in the program which probably accounted for Fyre's high failure rate. Josh, much more willing to work through problems, wasn't affected to quite the same extent, but I certainly rushed him too, so I have taken a step back with both of them now. Fyre is back to doing just one set of 2x2s until he can hit the entry from anywhere with confidence. Josh I have opened the angle of the two sets of 2x2s a little more and extended the distance between the two sets slightly, so he can gain confidence and work on getting great entries also. I have already seen a VAST improvement with Fyre's entries. I have also switched back to using a toy with him, and picked two very special soft toys that make noises, as soft toys are his favourites, and their noise-making revs him up even more. He is now getting entries at speed from good distance, ones from the left are excellent, ones from the right pretty darn good considering he didn't used to be able to do them at anything like even a slight angle, but the more extreme angles on the right still need work. Still, he is enthusiastic and confident so I am pleased.
Deciding I needed to get out of the backyard, I took my four poles, my tuggy and a bag of nice, smelly treats to the park across the road with Josh last night. I decided one dog at a time would be best so I could focus on just that dog and not worry about what the other was doing (the other dogs did get worked at home though). Sure enough, with so many new distractions about the place Josh was much less focussed and much less interested in the toy or the poles. So we did some little things he already knows well - nose touches, playing with the tug toy, sits, offering a paw, really anything he wanted to do. I had a long line with me as we are still working on having excellent recalls, and I spent some time just sitting on the grass and sending him off to sniff, then rewarding when he chose of his own will to come back to me, or offered a behaviour. When other dogs or people appeared in the park, we played the 'Look At That' game as described in Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed book. Basically this just involves marking and rewarding for him looking at other dogs/people, etc. (With Josh the main distraction is other dogs). We have done this a few times now so I started adding a cue, 'Who's That?' when he looked at something. The aim eventually is that when another dog comes on the scene that will be the signal to turn his focus to me (i.e. look at dog = earn reinforcement from handler). We did do a couple of repetitions of the 2x2s, after much enthusiastic playing with a tug toy. Due to it being a more difficult environment for him, once I threw the toy I also ran after it, so pretty much as soon as he picked it up I was right there to start another fun game of tug. I did this rather than let him pick the toy up and then get distracted by something on the way back to me. It was a good start.
The title of this entry is something I have been thinking about the last few days. Everything we do with our dogs (or really with anything in life!) is determined to be a success or failure according to the criteria we have set, the 'rules'. Criteria is all important in dog training - how do you know if your dog has been successful if you yourself weren't 100% sure of what you wanted in the first place? i.e. when you cue sit, your criteria for your dog may be 'butt on ground'. But is that really all you want? Perhaps you might also want it within a certainh timeframe, i.e. 1 second, 2 seconds; perhaps you want the dog so sit up straight, rather than a slouch. Perhaps you want him to hold the sit until you choose to release him. Every bit of 'criteria' has to be met for it to be a success. If you look at it in this way, perhaps 'butt on ground' was actually only a small part of what you were really wanting the dog to do. But to get everything happening together, you have to start small - we have to remember, our dogs don't KNOW these rules we have decided for them - they have to guess and keep trying until we let them know they have it right. So in the sit example, you might start off marking butt on ground. Then you might increase your criteria to butt on ground + sit up straight. And so on. Since our dogs don't know the rules, we need to SHAPE them towards the correct response. You wouldn't expect your brand new puppy to sit on the command 'sit' his first day home with you, and you certainly wouldn't expect him to sit and meet all the multiple criteria as above.
Setting out the exact criteria you expect from each step of training a new behaviour makes life much easier for you AND your dog. I will be the first to say I am guilty of lumping behaviours together rather than splitting them into small pieces and giving my dog a high chance of success. Tonight was no exception.
I decided to go back to using the dogs' dinners as rewards, since dinner is the most exciting meal of the day - especially for Fyre :) However, previously I have sat their food up on a high table on the verandah and retrieved it from there when needed. The downfall of this was that the dogs tended to hover near the table, often times even when there was no food there. So I decided to use my food pots once again (snap-lock lid plastic containers). With 3 small containers, I started with Fyre, splitting his food three ways into the boxes then placing them at random spots in the backyard. The idea of this was that he could see the food, but he had to work out how to get it. With him I decided to work on tugging. So I let him run round sniffing and pawing at the pots (but unable to open them) and then called him and asked him to tug. First this was just a short duration tug and then marked him 'Yes! Get it!' and we ran to one of the pots. Really I was probably asking too much of him considering this was the first time we'd tried this. I was expecting him to recall to me (leaving the food) and then also play tug. Perhaps a more realistic expectation would have been me standing close to the food pot and simply marking him once he stopped trying to get into the box. Nevertheless, it did get him very excited about tugging!!!
Josh is where I really did the big boo-boo though. Stupidly, I though to myself "He'll be ok, I'll put this chicken quarter in the open dog bowl rather than a closed one". This was stupid on SO MANY levels. One, he had NO IDEA whatsoever of the rules of this new 'game'. Two, *I* had no specific criteria for him (so what hope did he really have?) Three, I have never asked any of the dogs to work around open food bowls on the ground, and certainly not in such a tempting manner. Four, even if he did do an excellent job and not touch the food, it wouldn't be because he chose to offer me a behaviour and be released to it, it would be because I had told him to leave it alone. So in short, I had set him up to fail. (Bad, bad trainer!!) I used the tug with him as well, rewarding in much the same way as I had with Fyre, only sure enough eventually he decided that open bowl smelt just too good, went to check it out, didn't come back when I called his name (good work, teaching the dog to hear his name means ignore me and go get the food, the COMPLETE opposite of what I wanted!) and though he hesitated decided it was just too tempting and took the chicken. I then verbally corrected him even though it was obviously my fault, removed the chicken from him, took the bowl and the chicken away and realised how stupid I had been. Cross with myself that I had stuffed up I put him in a down and had a pause to calm down and regather my thoughts. Then I left the food bowl out of reach, released Josh from the down and called him to me to play tug and have a fun game to make sure the correction had done no lasting damage. I am trying to learn shaping behaviours properly, no corrections, but every so often I lapse into my old ways. Another reason to work my criteria out VERY carefully and explicitly in advance BEFORE attempting to teach a new behaviour. To finish, I brought the food bowl to the ground again, but this time put it way off to the other side of the yard and called Josh to me out of a down from a short distance and had a short game of tug before running with him to encourage him to the food bowl to 'get it'. My set up was MUCH better that time - he had a much greater chance of success from the outset.
Still so much more to catch up on... but have to leave it there for tonight so I can actually get some sleep!
Have to try and keep this blog more up to date so I can track my progress! It's hard though, because all my spare time is devoted to the ACTUAL training... well, ok, some of it is devoted to Cafe World on Facebook, but everyone needs a hobby right?
My main New Year's resolution this year was to stop procrastinating (a very bad habit of mine) and actually DO stuff. One of those things is obviously working with the dogs. I still wonder if I haven't taken on too much, trying to get two dogs up to trialling standard then flying them to the Nationals when they will have had minimal (if any!) trial experience. It wouldn't be so bad if it were just ME, but with Donna flying all the way from Canberra to see her boy Fyre in action... eek! Pressure's on! I hope we can do it.
This weekend I spent some time re-watching the first few chapters of Susan Garrett's 2x2 DVD, and sure enough I realised I had skipped a few steps in the program which probably accounted for Fyre's high failure rate. Josh, much more willing to work through problems, wasn't affected to quite the same extent, but I certainly rushed him too, so I have taken a step back with both of them now. Fyre is back to doing just one set of 2x2s until he can hit the entry from anywhere with confidence. Josh I have opened the angle of the two sets of 2x2s a little more and extended the distance between the two sets slightly, so he can gain confidence and work on getting great entries also. I have already seen a VAST improvement with Fyre's entries. I have also switched back to using a toy with him, and picked two very special soft toys that make noises, as soft toys are his favourites, and their noise-making revs him up even more. He is now getting entries at speed from good distance, ones from the left are excellent, ones from the right pretty darn good considering he didn't used to be able to do them at anything like even a slight angle, but the more extreme angles on the right still need work. Still, he is enthusiastic and confident so I am pleased.
Deciding I needed to get out of the backyard, I took my four poles, my tuggy and a bag of nice, smelly treats to the park across the road with Josh last night. I decided one dog at a time would be best so I could focus on just that dog and not worry about what the other was doing (the other dogs did get worked at home though). Sure enough, with so many new distractions about the place Josh was much less focussed and much less interested in the toy or the poles. So we did some little things he already knows well - nose touches, playing with the tug toy, sits, offering a paw, really anything he wanted to do. I had a long line with me as we are still working on having excellent recalls, and I spent some time just sitting on the grass and sending him off to sniff, then rewarding when he chose of his own will to come back to me, or offered a behaviour. When other dogs or people appeared in the park, we played the 'Look At That' game as described in Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed book. Basically this just involves marking and rewarding for him looking at other dogs/people, etc. (With Josh the main distraction is other dogs). We have done this a few times now so I started adding a cue, 'Who's That?' when he looked at something. The aim eventually is that when another dog comes on the scene that will be the signal to turn his focus to me (i.e. look at dog = earn reinforcement from handler). We did do a couple of repetitions of the 2x2s, after much enthusiastic playing with a tug toy. Due to it being a more difficult environment for him, once I threw the toy I also ran after it, so pretty much as soon as he picked it up I was right there to start another fun game of tug. I did this rather than let him pick the toy up and then get distracted by something on the way back to me. It was a good start.
The title of this entry is something I have been thinking about the last few days. Everything we do with our dogs (or really with anything in life!) is determined to be a success or failure according to the criteria we have set, the 'rules'. Criteria is all important in dog training - how do you know if your dog has been successful if you yourself weren't 100% sure of what you wanted in the first place? i.e. when you cue sit, your criteria for your dog may be 'butt on ground'. But is that really all you want? Perhaps you might also want it within a certainh timeframe, i.e. 1 second, 2 seconds; perhaps you want the dog so sit up straight, rather than a slouch. Perhaps you want him to hold the sit until you choose to release him. Every bit of 'criteria' has to be met for it to be a success. If you look at it in this way, perhaps 'butt on ground' was actually only a small part of what you were really wanting the dog to do. But to get everything happening together, you have to start small - we have to remember, our dogs don't KNOW these rules we have decided for them - they have to guess and keep trying until we let them know they have it right. So in the sit example, you might start off marking butt on ground. Then you might increase your criteria to butt on ground + sit up straight. And so on. Since our dogs don't know the rules, we need to SHAPE them towards the correct response. You wouldn't expect your brand new puppy to sit on the command 'sit' his first day home with you, and you certainly wouldn't expect him to sit and meet all the multiple criteria as above.
Setting out the exact criteria you expect from each step of training a new behaviour makes life much easier for you AND your dog. I will be the first to say I am guilty of lumping behaviours together rather than splitting them into small pieces and giving my dog a high chance of success. Tonight was no exception.
I decided to go back to using the dogs' dinners as rewards, since dinner is the most exciting meal of the day - especially for Fyre :) However, previously I have sat their food up on a high table on the verandah and retrieved it from there when needed. The downfall of this was that the dogs tended to hover near the table, often times even when there was no food there. So I decided to use my food pots once again (snap-lock lid plastic containers). With 3 small containers, I started with Fyre, splitting his food three ways into the boxes then placing them at random spots in the backyard. The idea of this was that he could see the food, but he had to work out how to get it. With him I decided to work on tugging. So I let him run round sniffing and pawing at the pots (but unable to open them) and then called him and asked him to tug. First this was just a short duration tug and then marked him 'Yes! Get it!' and we ran to one of the pots. Really I was probably asking too much of him considering this was the first time we'd tried this. I was expecting him to recall to me (leaving the food) and then also play tug. Perhaps a more realistic expectation would have been me standing close to the food pot and simply marking him once he stopped trying to get into the box. Nevertheless, it did get him very excited about tugging!!!
Josh is where I really did the big boo-boo though. Stupidly, I though to myself "He'll be ok, I'll put this chicken quarter in the open dog bowl rather than a closed one". This was stupid on SO MANY levels. One, he had NO IDEA whatsoever of the rules of this new 'game'. Two, *I* had no specific criteria for him (so what hope did he really have?) Three, I have never asked any of the dogs to work around open food bowls on the ground, and certainly not in such a tempting manner. Four, even if he did do an excellent job and not touch the food, it wouldn't be because he chose to offer me a behaviour and be released to it, it would be because I had told him to leave it alone. So in short, I had set him up to fail. (Bad, bad trainer!!) I used the tug with him as well, rewarding in much the same way as I had with Fyre, only sure enough eventually he decided that open bowl smelt just too good, went to check it out, didn't come back when I called his name (good work, teaching the dog to hear his name means ignore me and go get the food, the COMPLETE opposite of what I wanted!) and though he hesitated decided it was just too tempting and took the chicken. I then verbally corrected him even though it was obviously my fault, removed the chicken from him, took the bowl and the chicken away and realised how stupid I had been. Cross with myself that I had stuffed up I put him in a down and had a pause to calm down and regather my thoughts. Then I left the food bowl out of reach, released Josh from the down and called him to me to play tug and have a fun game to make sure the correction had done no lasting damage. I am trying to learn shaping behaviours properly, no corrections, but every so often I lapse into my old ways. Another reason to work my criteria out VERY carefully and explicitly in advance BEFORE attempting to teach a new behaviour. To finish, I brought the food bowl to the ground again, but this time put it way off to the other side of the yard and called Josh to me out of a down from a short distance and had a short game of tug before running with him to encourage him to the food bowl to 'get it'. My set up was MUCH better that time - he had a much greater chance of success from the outset.
Still so much more to catch up on... but have to leave it there for tonight so I can actually get some sleep!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
