Review of week 32

CANIS – I figured it was time to brush up on our shaping skillz; he offers, I click and treat. Well, we obviously need more practice at that – because when I aimed to shape a foldback down, I got a rockback sit instead. Very nicely on the paper binder I used as a hind leg target mat… So he is getting better at offering – it’s just me who needs to work on capturing the right behaviours to click…

On the plus side, his offers are translating into a better Sit-Stay, particularly for the Recallers work. A lot of the exercises there rely on the dog making the correct choices themselves, so I’ve had to practice my patience. Instead of cuing sit by the door, for example, I put my hand on the knob and wait until Fenris offers it. It takes more time, for sure, but slowly but surely the gears in his walnut brain start turning…

TEAM – 1.1 Engagement is getting a lot better, and I’m getting better at managing his arousal level. His pivots are excellent. Today we ran through the whole exercise (10 sec non-toy engagement, come to heel on platform, and pivot 180 deg +), using a little toy play before and after, and he did superbly.

We had a breakthrough at the first mini-step of 1.9 scent discrimination – namely the targeting behaviour. His first lightbulb came on as our Zen/ItsYerChoice work paid off, and he gave me a lovely duration nose touch to the target lid, while I held the open Zen hand with treats beside him. No licking or nibbling, just a firm sustained touch. I will admit to squealing with happiness. Even when something momentarily startled him from outside the window, he went right back to his job; nose on the lid, eyes on the prize.

30 days of heeling – The video is a slightly sluggish practice from this morning. Turned out he really needed ‘the bathroom’…

His backups vary wildly. I haven’t pushed him much on it, but worked channels (great for four steps, which is a little less than I need), and just a single step beside me. (A lot less than I want.)

Agility – when the opportunity presents itself (like the fine weather today) we do some practicing; laterals and forward sends at 2 meters. His break word is pretty good here, and it helps if I set up a more obvious ‘wing’ to the jump.

Social – Well, he didn’t trigger at a passing old woman until she was about 6-7 meters from Fenris and my teen (almost tween) son, so progress, I guess. The new neighbour has a lovely dog, which joins her in the van most of the time – but sometimes he’s (she? it?) is alone at home, and he doesn’t like it (intermittent barking; not a nuisance, really). So today we threw treats at Fenris to counter condition his barking and growling in response.

Planning 33

Recallers We are still at the core games and games 5-9. Main issue now is on me to set up a training situation with the rest of the family.

TEAM 1.1 and 1.9;

• 1.1 putting the exercise together. Time the engagement, make sure to put the pivot far enough from the wall to not get in our way.
• 1.9 generalising the nose-touch to a (hot) lid on the floor. Adding a cold target on the periphery of our work space. (Hot/cold in this case is NOT about temperature, but whether the target has been infused with scent or not.)

#30daysofheeling Work backups and cone-to-cone. See if I can film some more. The weather report looks nice, so I hope to get some chances to push his endurance into 7+ steps outside.

CANIS – next in line are Hold, Drop and Crawl.