Turning Left and Right on Cue

More Swing Finish

Retrieve: On the Road

Swing Finish

Rooster and Lily Hang Out

Lily and Rooster spent two days just hanging out in different Coronado locations.  Cathy was looking for appropriate Dog Zen responses.  I was looking for relaxed threshold and no stress indicators.

We spent time at the Ferry Landing, in the lobby of Crown Vet, at the entrance to Dog Beach.  We spent time at Tidelands Park.  We gave the dogs down time and time for sniffing and romping as the only occupants of the fenced dog run at the Marina.  We did some LLW down Orange Avenue and briefly vested them both for walks through Von's and Rite Aid.

We trained behaviors at Tidelands Park - Swing Finish and Retrieve.  But, other than that, there was no other formal behavior training, no pressure, no hurry.  Just relaxed public exposure.

KORP and Chips or Me? Collide

Shaping Left and Right

COME: Level 4 (new book) Level 5 (Steps) Part 1

"Never be afraid to back up to a point where your dog DOES understand.

You started this explanation with the Come Game in Level 1 so you KNOW she can do this.....

if you explain it right."

LOCATION: Coronado Cays Dog Run

Steps 1 - 5
(All three dogs have already been trained the recall to a whistle, Step 5)

Rooster

The Come Game again.

Step 2.

We quickly saw how Rooster's default "pick up the dropped leash" distracted him from the business at hand.  When Cathy removed the long line, Rooster focused on the behavior.

Jan is feeding AND interacting with Roo at this point.  Step 3.  This is a comfortable distance.

Now his default Sit kicks back in.  We are all so grateful for that default Sit.

Cathy has added the cue back in.

Nad

Recall from someone petting.  Cathy is feeding Nad and then petting him when during my recall.

I started adding collar touches.  Lynn as noticed that I was pausing between calling his name and saying 'come'.  I was probably waiting to get his attention to make sure he would come before I gave the cue without even realizing it.

When Nad didn't respond to the 'come' cue, I went back to 'pup, pup'.

When Nad came I treated and then hooked the leash on.  I went ahead and walked in a circle instead of just putting it on and off (lumping, huh?).  Then went to just putting the leash on and off.

This was the first time I called him facing backwards..  He did great!

Step 2: Comeafter

 

The second time I called him with me facing backwards he got a little distracted so I took a step backwards after he decided to come to me so that I would treat him for coming with me and sitting instead of  wondering and eventually coming to me.  However I still wanted to treat him.  Then he came to me without being called; I ignored him and Cathy ‘pup, pupped’ him again so then I could call him.  This time he came closer, sniffed the ground and when I didn’t feed him right away he ran back to Cathy to see if he could get something from her.  When she ignored him, I ‘pup, pupped’ him and he came again (thanks, Lynn).

Lily
Lots of challenges for Lily today.  No interaction with Lynn.  Working with Jan and Cathy only, who took turns being the handler and being the "other person".  Re-teaching this Level going through all Steps.

The Come Game

(adding the default Sit)

Step 2

This has never happened before - someone petting Lily during The Come Game.

Lily has to learn to keep 4 on the floor even when her threshold increases.

Her head bumps Jan's mouth.

Step 3

Cathy and Jan had a great discussion about Lily's threshold in the previous exercise and decide to ratchet down their enthusiasm by dropping the "pupper, pupper" and high voices and using a quiet "Lily, Come" instead.  This led into a second good discussion about the need (or lack of need) for an "emergency" recall cue, about cue delivery in general and about our overall criteria and expectations for the "Come" cue.  This Flip is a great example of how the dog reflects the demeanor of the trainer.

We continue to focus on the behavior, not the distance.

* Teaching Level 4 Part 2

COME: Level 3 (both books) Level 4 (Steps)

(plus Level 4: Step 4)

CORONADO DOG BEACH

COME: Level 3 (both books) Level 4 (Steps)

 (plus Come: Level 4: Step 4)

CORONADO CAYS

Rooster and the Paw Touch Board

TRICK: Level 2

SHAPING the PAW TOUCH: The Orange Experiment

Rooster Works at SJVA "Dog Beach" and "Mad Minute" Warm-Ups

This morning Rooster and I arrived at SJVA at 7:45. It will be our first day Flipping in the parking lot. The first Flip is a small peek at what Roo experiences for 45 mins as students arrive at school. It is "Dog Beach" generalized. For the time being Rooster is in the car just watching. This morning he was really chilling. I think he's still recovering from an active and fun Sunday in Coronado working with Lynn, Lily, Jan, and Nad.... (see Mentoring Videos Sunday Dec. 12)

The Criteria remains the same. Good behavior is expected. No clicking, treats, or cues. The back hatch of the car is up. Rooster watches what is happening in front of him and I do my thing, read as usual. I set up the Flip to not be obvious to people passing. I would have liked to have it placed differently but this seemed to work ok.

After being in the car well over an hour, Rooster is ready to go to work. He met the criteria for good behavior. He never made a sound. He put himself on a Down and there he remained.

As soon as school starts Rooster leaves the car and we enjoy the parking lot and all the near-by distractions. This morning I decided that we would do our morning warm-ups or "Mad Minutes" at school. Usually this is how we start the day at home. After a quick run through of behaviors (Mad Minute or Minutes) I decide on what the focus of the day will be. This way we review a lot but focus on just few behaviors. Rooster is used to Mad Minutes at home so I decided it would be fun at school with the added distractions..... which are obvious in the Flips.

Time for Roo to go to work.

Criteria for Rooster:

• that he remain focussed w/ increased distractions
• have latency with behaviors

Criteria for myself:

• no extra talking
• one clear cue
• try to avoid pop ups
• treat in front

Our Mad Minute starts in the car with L1, Watch, and Stand

As with the RP we move through a series of tasks/behaviors ... staying with mostly L1

The level and amount of distractions start to rise, we continue with L1 and some L2 behaviors. I am watching Rooster closely for signs of a change in threshold. So far so good. He is remaining focussed and accepting treats politely without snapping.

One bonus of being at school, you can hear on the Flip. These students (middle school) are not the least bit shy about adding their own form of distraction, as if running/walking on the fence line is not enough. Calling to Rooster doesn't seem to bother him at all,... but then his name isn't Biscuit. There's a children's story about a dog ( yellow Lab or Golden) named Biscuit. I guess the boy calling, read the story. Because Rooster is remaining focussed, we up the game and go off leash adding more L2 and some L3 behaviors.

Focus on GTM

After our session yesterday I planned to spend some time this week on GTM. I took Rooster's mat and started with shaping next to the car. After a bit I moved it next to the fence line an started over again shaping. By that time the PE class had ended and relative quiet returned to the playground. You will notice that Rooster has become aware of dogs on the other side of a concrete brick wall which borders the other side of the parking lot barking. He seems to quickly get over it and is able to continue with GTM. I am including only a small part of a longer flip here. We will continue to work with GTM this week.

By the time we finished, Rooster was covered with the parking lot grime. We headed home for a much deserved and needed swim, a romp with through the horse corral, before the swim, and the chance to "veg out" for the rest of the day.

"Dog Beach" goes OTR and RP Morphed Again

It is a "New America" for Rooster as we take "Dog Beach" OTR to a new location and new "squirrels" .... time to generalize. The following flip is a look at the "new DB" though I haven't flipped any actual work yet. I am working through the issue of the flip picking up people/children in the background along with Rooster and if that's ok. The next installments will have actual working/training. We arrive at 7:45 AM and begin waiting with the hatch up, no C/T, just expected good behavior. Children are not bussed to school they arrive by car or walk. Things become busy starting about 8:00 AM and this continues to increase with double lanes of cars and children arriving until the bell rings at 8:30. By that time hundreds of children have arrived. I park in the front row, Rooster facing the drop off lanes. Children pass right by the car walking beside and directly behind as their parents escort them to the entrance gate. The Academy is K-HS so there is a good selection of students and personalities. Elementary students tend to follow along with their parent, HS and MS students tend to be a bit bouncier, louder, and more verbal, walking in small groups.

After school starts, Rooster and I continue to work outside the car, making use of the entire parking lot and up along the fence lines.

Students have outside activities on the various fields and playgrounds that border the parking lot.

It is delicious..... on leash and off leash practice for both Rooster and me. The parking lot is closed and fenced so there is no need to worry about incoming traffic. It is our own personal playground.

We have the permission of the school to be here so the yard supervisors and teachers know that we are not stalkers in disguise and they just ignore us.

It is a wonderful place to practice all behaviors L1-L3. We will be there three days a week in the coming month/s. Later on we will go back for the end of the day when kids are energized in an end of the day way. Eventually we will be on campus during the school day walking the grounds and training in the lunch area where smells are most wonderful.

I woke up this morning and decided to morph the RP Day 1, yet again. This is the first time through and the first flip. There are several things that I experienced doing this and several things I noticed watching it.

My Criteria:

• that Rooster would remain sitting for the entire time. I do not care if he moves and adjusts his position as long as he stays sitting.

The Merry Maids were here yesterday so my kitchen floor is exceptionally clean and slippery....no wet or dry drool to add traction this morning.

also:

• I hadn't thought about the logistics of treating from a sitting position so there were numerous adjustments made along the way. Ordinarily I try to treat front on.... I struggled a bit with this.... I'm still not happy with the outcome but will keep working on it.
• I decided that the clicker was an annoyance and went back to "yes" which I have used in the past
• I was using cheese. I don't know why, usually I just use kibble. Rooster doesn't need the higher value here.
• More work with Target.... which we are doing.....
• It is hard to notice Rooster's position when I am sitting. I didn't want to shift around a lot but wanted him to get the picture of me sitting facing forward and not bending sideways.

When watching the Flip I noticed:

• Again, I'm not happy with Rooster's position and that is something continue to work on.
• As mentioned above more time is needed with Target for position
• Bless his heart.... Roo self corrected to a straight sit position several times.... I guess the work on a expecting a straight sit is paying off
• I need to make up my mind about clicks, "yes", or none of the above. I like to do something to indicate a break between the tasks when we begin with a new format.
• At first, I think because of the high value of cheese, Rooster focus was on getting the treat so he was throwing in Station on my leg which we have worked on in the past...back to the low value stuff

All in all, it was interesting, insightful and fun. We will work with this a bit and after taking it to the right side will Morph again

Coaching at Sunset Park and The Forum, Tuesday Nov. 30

We had a full day of fun planned for the dogs beginning at Sunset Park in San Marcos and ending at the Forum.

Originally, when we started our coaching sessions way back in April, our focus was to address the dogs reactivity which we believed was hindering their making progress in public settings. Today it dawned on us that our focus has changed. Though we still are aware of reactivity it has improved greatly and now our focus is related to Public Access. We have taken "to the road" and now are actively searching for new places and challenges for the dogs to experience.

Today our focus behaviors included:

L1 including L3 OTR cold testing

• Sunset Park w/ different trainers

CGC at Sunset Park and the Forum

• Working on the left
• Working on the right

Relaxation Protocol Sunset Park and the Forum

• Facing the dogs
• In heal position
• On the right side
• To strengthen 4D for L2 and L3

PAT #s 1-4 in preparation for Thurs. mentoring session using L1, L2 behaviors, at the Forum

• Non vested
• Keeping a small footprint
• Exiting the car
• Walking through the parking lot
• Going through doorways
• Walking among people

Working with behaviors that at L3 and beyond become Vested Behaviors

• Zen
• Come
• Down
• Down/Stay
• Surfaces
• On the Road
• Sit
• Sit/Stay
• Stand
• Stand/Stay

At the end of the day when we sat down to evaluate how the day had gone we agreed that with the exception of two things we had accomplished all that we had set out to do. Many of the behaviors we focussed on today overlapped so we had the opportunity to practice the same behaviors in different settings and through different approaches. The most important finding though was that it sure was a fun day, OTR.

Rooster is not a "Morning Dog" so he mentally prepares himself for the day ahead.

Our first challenge this morning was cold testing L3 OTR. First thing Jan and I exchanged dogs and the day began.

Foot Play Rooster's Tricks

I have been using the bell and easy button to build coordination, strength, and endurance for Target. It has evolved into a fun trick. Not beautiful and polished but a break from concentrated training.....besides it may come in handy down the line.

Rooster and Karen Overall's RELAXATION PROTOCOL

Anyone within earshot knows the high value I place on Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol. Rooster and I keep redefining it to meet our needs. Though he is working at a higher level than Day 1, we are now using Day 1 for cue discrimination and to start building Duration for random Sit, Down, and Stand. Though not shown here, I have also begun using the

RP for building Distance by standing a long step away from him when I give the cues. Gradually, using chutes and ladders, I will increase the distance between us during a sequence of tasks

COACHING SESSION 11-9-10

Rooster tackles the parking lot of food ZEN

Rooster and Cathy working on ground Zen with all sorts of temptations.

Rooster