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Remote Reinforcement – 1/15/24
She was with me all weekend at the Fusion UKI trial. She did fairly well being a good canine citizen (better when helping me score from my lap or the crate near me than she did in her crate in the other room). She did really well with pattern games, some volume dial and stay games – mostly when dogs were not running or in an adjoining room but with other people/dogs going by. Dean stopped by in the afternoon to watch Kaladin’s last run and then run the dogs home so they didnt’ have to wait around for me to wrap up the trial and take Lori M to the airport. Happy to report that she was able to take cheese from Dean and turn away from Kaladin and I running. He had her in his arms back a bit from the ring and said she would watch and was interested but then would look at him and get rewarded with cheese. Had a sniffy walk this morning with Kaladin (yes -in neg 2 or whatever it was).Then we did our first “Happy Hour” session after that. She was good about turning away from the treat when I moved away.
Should I be pausing more after the HH cue and before I run to the treat?After I turned off the video, I looked back and she looked really settled (and not about to transform into Leaping Lemur) so I asked her if she wanted to play with her fox (aka – Fatally Flattend Fox”, a friend of “Roadkill Raccoon”). She did so I turned the video back on.
Perch – 1/15/24
This was later in the afternoon after she had a long nap. Went back to her original perch which is slightly larger in diameter but also higher.
Lift had 2 teeth extracted on Wednesday (the stubborn baby canine and mal-formed pre molar. Vet wanted me to keep her quiet for 2 weeks but revised that to “try for a week” when I burst out laughing. She was dopey the first night and ready to go the next morning. We did her first engaged chill session on Thursday and some leash on/off work since food works well and they were the lowest key games I could think of.
Tonight she was about to implode from not being able to chase Kaladin around or chew a bully stick so we did these 2 sessions after dinner.Perch- 1/12/24
I had done some perch work with her pre-MaxPup using a rubber bowl from Fleet Farm but it was more about sending to the perch and not having her face me on it. This was the first time seeing a lower food dish perch (which I had forgotten I had) and having her face me so she was a bit confused at first until I got her on my side.Find Face – 1/12/24
My bad acting of looking bored confused her in the middle but she picked it up again when I turned back a bit to make it easier.Clarification question when you said volume dial and patterns are mentally expensive. It’s not the game itself that is expensive, but doing it for arousal management in a challenging environment right?
I did a super bowls and a power bowls this morning to help neutralize them after the trial for both dogs and it seemed really easy. Lift even did some retrieves wtih a toy and this was before breakfast. Then she slept all day and still said no thanks to the toys when I was warming her up before her live session turns tonight. When she works for toys, I feel like it gets her more aroused and she likes it, but only if she doesn’t tip over into the leaping lemur or decide to wander off to find cheese debris.When should I switch to using the threadle tunnel cue and arm?
I think Lift is tired (but cranky) on day 3. She’s still doing some great volume dial and pattern games but got leapy about the toy when she transitioned nicely on Friday and yesterday. However she thinks the cookie toss to chase me (with and without BC) into the decel and turn for cheese is fun.
Tunnel Threadle Foundations – 1/4/24
This was from Thursday. I don’t think I ever got to the threadle foundations since I was trying to sort out how to throw a toy for a tunnel when she clearly didn’t want the toy then. But Pet Tutor to the rescue! Clearly need to work more on picking her up better for the next rep when I don’t want her to to back and forth through the tunnelWe’ve done superbowls and the up/down and back/forth pattern games at the trial over various short sessions today and yesterday. Got some lovely volume dial work and reverse retrieve today but epic fail on the video as I was running to have her chase me and most of the action wasn’t in the camera view. (whoops!)
Volume Dial & Baby Reverse Retrieve – 1/4/23
She offered the sit while I was still looking at her and before I could cue it! Good thing you mentioned using the leash. I need practice with it and her tiny pieces of cheese.
Since the Volume Dial game went well and she started playing with the toy after even though it was before breakfast I tried a few baby reverse retrieves with moving slowly away. I need to do more collar/harness grab work outside of the context of her meal time (she’s super happy about them when raw food in a dish is nearby). But I was really excited that she picked up the almost dead toy and trotted after me even though I was taking a chance of not doing this in a smaller space or hallway.I also did a tunnel threadle session after another Volume Dial in the evening but will get that posted tomorrow.
Will circle back to the threadle slice next week. We’ve got 3 days of USDAA this weekend and even though I didn’t enter the classes later in the day, I suspect she’ll be wiped out from just existing at the trial and doing some easy stuff. (I packed my dishes to do super bowls in the back room at OTR). Plus I’m show-managering a UKI trial next weekend so have plenty to do now that I have the online file.
Threadle Slice – 1/3/24
So I did this session over lunch before I read your response but sticking to the easier games for a while to let her recover from the holidays. However I was pretty impressed with her. Tugged upstairs before this and tugged after (I did remove the Pet Tutor to make sure it wasn’t too hard to do that). Had a much easier time coming into the off arm than in the live session. Worked for the Pet Tutor even after the first rep where I had forgotten to turn it on! (she’s not racing over yet when she hears the beep but since she started with freezing and moving away from it and then circling it suspiciously I was pretty happy and I did wanted to not have to try to toss food into a dish). Had 2 reps where she went straight to the PT instead of over the bar so had to adjust the angles a bit.
She did great in her 2nd short puppy massage tonight. Michelle commented that she has some great muscles developing in her rear so I guess the leaping does have some benefit…just as long as she’s not messing up her growth plates or something with it.
Oh I think I missed the Volume Dial game with all the holiday travel and craziness. I will definitely do that next. (and probably try it in the back room or outside at On the Run this weekend – 3-day USDAA trial but not a huge entry) I haven’t done the tunnel threadle foundations yet so will try that sometime in the next few days. Her retrieve is getting fairly good so I think I can try the reverse retrieve.
Oh and and top of everything else, she is still teething. Penultimate baby top canine came out yesterday (after dangling by a thread for 2 days). Last baby canine is getting pulled next week (luckily the day after MaxPup live) since it’s stubbornly in there and the adult canine is starting to come in wonky because it’s in the way. (Demi already had a dental scheduled and when I sent pictures of Lift’s mouth to my vet she told me to bring her in too. I warned her that Lift would be rather hangry without breakfast that morning.)
Backside Slice – 1/2/23
I’ve got a 2in diameter jump bump at home so we went back to that and the barrel. This was mid-morning. We just did some tricks for food in the kitchen before breakfast and then I let her nap and digest. She was really sticky about going around the barrel to the left at first. Better to the right.
After the session I started wondering if it was the pressure of the things along the wall on her right side because she was also a bit sticky in my parent’s living room the first time I tired this and (thanks to the grand piano) I had her going close to the wall just like this. So we tried the barrel just for wrapping and moved it around a bit. Still sticky going close to the wall to the left but interestingly less so close to the wall wrapping right. Maybe she’s still recovering from her NY adventure and flight home yesterday. I did have some really good tug sessions with her a few times today mixing in sits/downs and hand touches.
Backside Slice – 12/31/23
Lift has had a blast in NY and amazingly only ate part of one of my nephew’s toys. (They are spread out across the floor next to the kitchen so some super hero action figure lost part of his club. She has also carried some toy cars around the house and even retrieved 2 to my hand) We’ve mainly worked in short sessions on toy play, some shaping, and the stay games (both using a mix of treats and toys). And we did the head turn wrap around an arrow in rhe park today at a distance from my sister an nephew playing soccer with their Sheltie and Collie cheerint them on (nice and tight to the left and a bit wider to the right)The environment was a bit too much for her in the first two days to generalize her wing wrapping to a cooler when there’s so much loud activity going on in the next room. But today (day 3) we had a good session wrapping the cooler and then did a short break before trying the Backside slices (video below). That jump up at the beginning was her only one the whole time and then she settled down to actually tugging.
RC in Hall – 12/27/23
Mixed up our routine this morning. She was pretty boingy coming in from outside but I was ready for her and did the up/down game and then some easy tricks for food w/Kaladin joining in (he too likes treats!). Dragged “roadkill raccoon” by her but she wasn’t interested and was starting to gather herself to leap so we took a break. Then she had breakfast, got to shred some cardboard and had a short nap before this session around 9AM. She gets it easy peasy as long as I throw well and not so that she curves back into the wall to get the treat and then is set up to curve the wrong way. (And yes she did get a treat for that since we went around the corner and it was hard to see) However did you see the tug before and after?
We also did a short session of shaping into a box a bit later in the morning and she was able to tug before, during and after and even worked around the unplanned distraction of Demi wandering around and getting in the way.
Barrel Rotated Sends – 12/27/23
Circled back to barrel sends after work and before she got dinner. I didn’t try for too much countermotion as I wanted to make sure it was easy for her since I was mainly experimenting with whether she could play during and after the session. She stalled out a bit on one of the sideways sends to the left. Should I have been looking more at the barrel than her there?Big day tomorrow – Lift’s first plane flight.
Cavaletti – 12/26/23
Wow she was in quite the mood this morning – just couldn’t keep herself on the ground – leaping up at me and Kaladin and rather barky for her. We did some easy tricks in the kitchen for cheese to get some food in her. Then a snuffle mat. Then super bowls downstairs (very snappy response looking up after each bowl and waiting for me to start moving to the next one before she did even though she was off leash). Then this was our first cavaletti session where it was hard for me to see what her little legs were doing while it was happening, but looks pretty good on video except for the boing at the end on the last rep when she’s like (I got this. Let me just skip ahead!). Took a break where I gave her a snuffle mat again and I reset the cavaletti into a curve. She wanted to drift out going to the left but I am not sure if that was me not turning my shoulders along the arc or actual difficulty at curving to the left.
After the cavaletti she got another snuffle mat and then she decided she could play in the family room as long as I wasn’t moving much. Got the dead toy and retrieved to me a few times. Did a hand touch and then grab it twice and then started looking antsy so I tossed it for her to get it again. When I tossed her some cheese and jogged away for her to chase me for the toy, her brains fell out and she got jumpy, but she could do it if I just led out and let her run to me to grab the toy or if I walked slowly away with the toy.
She had an enforced nap in her crate while I was working this morning (and also chewed a bit on a bully stick). Then she was in a much more civilized frame of mind when she came out for lunch. In answer to your questions above:
She did have food before I switched to the toy with the tunnel. (She tugged leading up to the tunnel and then I switched to food since she had given the toy a thumbs down first the last time). And she likes the chase element but not if she’s over-arousal as that’s when she tends to jump up at me or run at the toy but not engage and then circle back to jump on me. She is meh on balls and holee rollers and only likes the frizzer if she is keeping it away from Kaladin. She likes fur, fleece and often push toys. I don’t have a flirt pole but I can see about tying a fur toy to a leash or line so that it can keep moving.
After lunch (she gets a small lunch still), we played with toys and she was brilliant. I pulled out a newer fur tug and she was doing hand touches and sits and then catching or getting it (tossed forward). Also retrieving it back to me and chasing me (without leaping) for it. I also re-confirmed that she was pretty meh on the racquet ball since she was able to do all this with hardly a glance at Kaladin who was retrieving his racquetball back to me from the other side of the ground floor. (and knocking it around the floors and furniture). She’s sacked out in my office now (not in her crate) so it will be interesting to see what she is like in tonight’s live session. Is it possible that she’s going through a phase of “I’m absolutely crazy and my brains fall out of my head first thing in the morning”?
For RDW, I’ll take a short break until I do more work with the manners minder. I’ve only done 2 short sessions and she’s still not sure that it’s not an alien being.
Hope you had a fun and relaxing Christmas!
These are from our Fusion training session on the 24th
Tunnel – 12/24/23
Started with the tunnel at 7ft and then stretched it out to nearly the full 10ft length. Experimented with going back and forth with treats & toys. The last 2 reps with the long fleece toy were after a short break where she sniffed around and then did the up& down pattern game.
RDW Foundations – 12/24/23
Not quite running but have some nice trotting. I realized when watching this that I probably should have put the food dishes on the line of the arc when I was sending her out away from me a bit.
For the Remote marker word, is this the word that you eventually use after you leash up and run out of the ring to get the meatballs? That’s “happy hour” for Kaladin
Yes – with all the focus on MaxPup, I’m realizing I’ve lapsed on re-visiting other basic behaviors like collar grabs and sit….
I’ve been fitting in the collar grabs at meal times (release from crate, touch collar, send to crate & get meal) and other places.
I know you said the prop is getting phased out in a bit. Is it still serving its purpose if she targets it and goes over (without touching) or near it for what we need?
She is quite good at doing easier behaviors with her and Kaladin taking turns. (I taught her scratch board mostly by her watching him). But we haven’t done as much when she thinks it’s “The Thing”. And I couldn’t find a slightly larger container for her – she used to fit into this one easily but she has gotten a bit longer since then (however still at 12.375″ as of this morning and she’s 6 months tomorrow. Really hope she is actually leveling off and not saving up for a last burst next month)
This is the last 2 days of videos and she gets tomorrow off since I have to head out of town. She does get to have a sleepover with her good friend Mango.
Ran out of time to post yesterday’s videos:
Wobble Board – 12/20/23
Got my wobble board back! Not always convinced about getting back on when it’s done a weird tip, but fairly confident about hopping on and offTunnel – 12/20/23
This was from yesterday evening. Used my 10ft tunnel but scrunched together – got to about 7ft long by the end. We did the super bowls upstairs before this and then moved downstairs. She was way more keen to go through the tunnel ( I think the leaping is partially because the tunnel is bunched up a bit to make it shorter). She tugged in the other room for a break and back in the room then actually grabbed the toy as a reward for going through the tunnel. Probably should have stopped there or gone back to cheese as she hesitated to grab it the 2nd time, but feels like a lot of progress compared to the last tunnel session at home several weeks ago.
RC in Hall – 12/21/23
This was from Thursday morning.
Did weirdness gauntlet with a big bucket and a basket with my Noxgear vest in the family room. Gave a quick sniff and moved on to play tug in other part of room. Didn’t even break stride on the way back.She did better a few weeks ago with RC on the prop. This one got better when I kept moving as she was eating so she turned the correct way (really I just have a hard time estimating how long it will take her to eat the cheese.
Prop RC – 12/21/23
We seem to do better with the RC prop vs the hallway. This was after work and before her dinner. I offered the toy after and she started sniffing around for cheese so I put the mat down, released her off of it and started dragging a long fleece tug and she pounces on it instead of me.
Goat Tricks – In to Box – 12/19/23
Got her to tug before and during the shaping session and after (with a bit of discussion). I originally wanted to have her working while Kaladin was lying on the bed, but his presence made it too hard for her to tug at the beginning so he got a kong in the kitchen instead.
Yay for an easier week to catch up a bit. I’ll have to hunt around for a slightly more elevated plank. How about the box lined with a yoga mat from Jordan’s class so she has to stride over the lip to get in and out?
