Review week 19

Homeschool the Dog

Intentional tugging, hand targets in a mix that’s supposed to be a foundation for the fetch. Unfortunately, if I hold the tug, he mostly just follows rather than tug – and if I try to throw it to my other hand, he runs away with it. So I think we have to go back to working with non-interesting stuff in a purely Obedience training fashion.

On the plus side, we are getting some minor improvements in rewarding hand targets with toys, and moving from treat to toy. His energy diminishes considerably though, so it’s like one-two repetitions and it’s over.

Or so I wrote earlier in the week. Turns out, keeping at it will have results. We’re doing very little tugging, but using a ball toy that he enjoys playing with us – rather than an exciting new toy he prefers to keep alone. So target – target – light tugging on the ball in his mouth, and he is starting to get a lot of enthusiasm into the targeting. I’m very pleased with his progress.

We have started the Muffin Tin game. Not entirely new, but it’s been a while. Basically small treats in a few of the muffin tin holes, cover with muffin papers or small toys, and ask him to Find the treats. I had to put some extra effort into the Hup It Up /Hot Zone cue, because F wanted to continue sniffing even after all the treats were gone. Then we had to work his brain a little to figure out how to remove the small ball.

Afterwards we ran a fun shaping session with a cloth and a treat, that’s supposed to evolve into a paw scraping /nail file behaviour. But my criteria weren’t too clear, so we ended up clicking and rewarding the Pick up behaviour with his teeth instead.

Done a bit on the Stair Master exercise. Not all that important – he has been confident about running up and down since long before his puppy-legs _should_ have been doing so. But some heeling practice with moving slow and deliberate beside me is not amiss.

Hot Zone, Double Hot – coming along nicely, though I have to focus on perfecting the verbal cue. Certainly, in a Double Hot, he needs a physical cue in addition to know which mat to go to, but as I noticed in the Muffin Tin game, stimulus control even on just the verbal (especially in the face of temptations) is going to be the next Plan of Action.

The next game is Place your Face, which is basically just a lead up to wearing head-halter (not using and not wanting) or muzzle (which we already know). On the other hand, it involves some zen-practice; holding a position while zen-hand is open, and possibly moving in a distracting manner. We did it twice, using a small bowl, and he absolutely got the idea – there were just other distractions and people wandering around at the same time.

Social skills and Daily Life

He was down in the brook when a tractor passed us, and Fenris just tensed slightly! Not even a ‘boof’, absolutely no lunging!

On the other hand he was beside himself when the neighbour (on the other side from the rally incident below) showed her house, and loads of (4) strangers just stood talking in her driveway! I worked Hot Zone for a little while, with decent success, then gave him an extra chew to occupy him.

Other social reactions: He howls in tune (not really) with the ice cream truck (he has never seen it, he just reacts to the melody passing us every Sunday). He reacted to the neighbour herself – until he got some treats, and then he lay nicely on the balcony beside me while I chatted with her. It may very well have been excitement more than anything negative, and so he just needs some redirecting and calm.

Rally

Outside Rally is very variable. Yes, he will take a ball reward off the ground – which is good. On the other hand, his heeling is deteriorating big time, with current criteria being ‘vaguely within an arms length of my left side’. I’ll have to put a lot more reinforcement into this, and rebuild the Heel cue. Also, I tried a few spiral sessions on the carport roof, but the first time he noticed one of our neighbours walking on her own driveway (a woman which seems to scare him on top of his normal social stress!), and he had great problems focusing after that. Lots more reinforcement just for being there, I think – rather than moving straight to ‘perfect’ behaviour criteria for the whole rally moment.

I have started work on the heel-front part of some of the Rally moments, and so far it’s a hot mess. I think I tried too much at once with perfect heel and perfect front, while the props were too ‘sticky’, and he wouldn’t move from one to the other. Going to rethink this one.

Other

Position changes on platform (TEAM, CANIS foundations, and general obedience) – managed to do Sit/Stand at up to 2 meters, successfully. This is really going the right direction.

Even better – I reread the TEAM 1.4 requirements, and they just involve sit/down at 1.5 meters. I cold tested it, and he does that on the platform right off the bat. A little hesitation on the down, due to positioning paws on the wooden plank, but I can try it on a soft mat instead.

We have also done a dash of jumping indoors, practicing the Go command (straight forwards).

Plan of week 20

TEAM: practicing the fronts on the platform, including moving from 2 meters away. Recapping the previous exercises

CANIS foundations: recalls, heeling, down, stand, stay

Putting some big money into speedy recalls and turnsounds

Rally: school is starting up again, so as part of driving there, I will bring the dog and practice out at the field. We’ll be working basic turns and the triple sit.

Home School the Dog: Hot Zone verbal cue, practice Stair Master, Muffin Tin, and Bring Me games  on rotation.

Next weekend, start thinking about mixing in the Steps to Success again, figure out where we are and how it relates to other stuff, etc.

I like how my new ‘wiki’ helps me formulate criteria along different angles for the same behaviours.