Charlie & Sheila's page

Practice Outside Today

2009-03-26T18:11:00.004-04:00

I've fairly well determined that most of Charlie's crazy barking on leash/tether is due to resource guarding. He never actually seems to really go over threshold, even though he acts crazy - lunging and barking. He was able to HAPPILY respond to his rescue recall word after acting out several times. I rewarded each rescue recall with lots of treats followed by basic obedience skills to keep him busy. He never once ran back to look for what set him off - BIG CHANGE! Whoo Hoo! At least I'm getting some sort of handle on this. I find it so interesting that he can shut the reaction off so fast, and respond with happiness to commands following the incident.

We're also working on our more general recall. With few exceptions, that's coming along nicely as well. Most of the time (the incidents above), I was able to redirect the monster mutt with a "come" followed by a toy reward before he started his resourcing guarding this evening. Once the barking started, the rescue word had to be used (at least we're getting in some good practice outside).

The big news is the change in Sheila! She's now seeing a vet that deals with traditional western and alternative eastern medicine. Following acupuncture and herbal supplements daily, she's a new dog. She's back to running, jumping, playing like she did years ago. All of this and she hasn't had any pain meds for a week and a half!

Another note: I have both dogs doing unison tricks for their nightly treat. Even John said its impressive.

Object Discrimination and Back Paw Targeting

2009-02-09T18:19:00.002-05:00

Training started outside. With so many people and kids out, it was a perfect opportunity to work on him chilling out with a lot going on. He did really well chasing/playing with sticks, a ball, and a black plastic flowerpot for a good 15 minutes. Then, all of a sudden, he realized that there were bikes and people and kids, and he started to get stressed. We called it quits, and moved practice inside.

Back Paw Targeting - Charlie is finally starting to recognize that stepping on something with his BACK foot is what is getting him treats. He deliberately was putting both feed on the phone book - LOTS of treats.

Sheila's not ready for anything like this. Even being led, she just shut down on me - even with click/treats. I'll back up and try with just a piece of paper.

Object Discrimination - Sheila excelled! Interacting with objects is one of her favorite things. She had to repeatedly touch the box with her nose and not the box. Even when I moved their position, it took her only 2 or 3 tries to get the right object. Yeah Sheilas.

Charlie is getting there, but its because he offers so much now, including head and paw positions. I just take it slow and click any movement toward the correct target. He did "get it", but it took a bit longer. However, once he got the idea, he was pretty hard to fool.

It was a nice session overall, and everyone really had to think. Charlie's beat!

Good, but Short Training

2009-02-08T17:59:00.002-05:00

Sheila and Charlie are both getter better at targeting. I'm now able to get jumps out of Charlie - YIPPEE! Sheila's still a bit slow, but given her training background and her age, I'm very happy with her progress.

Charlie's is really starting to get very good at heeling, including sitting when we stop. I've also just about got the nail board on cue. Its such a relief to not have to trim those front nails. Now I can just focus on handling them with no clippers. Its really brought down his stress level.

I'm thinking about purchasing a Manners Minder so we can begin to practice without Sheila being locked up. I believe she is one of the reasons he's so reactive at class. He just doesn't trust her. If I could really keep her focused on something besides me, I think he could learn to work around her. The good news is that its not generalized to puppies!

Training Yesterday

2009-02-02T14:51:00.003-05:00

We had a small breakthrough yesterday. I've had a horrible time teaching Charlie to heel. Yesterday I switched to a combination of targeting (fingers near my face) and capturing. Success. I swear his look said, "really, you want me to look at you while we walk, okay". He might as well have shrugged, too. It needs some clean-up before I can name it, but at least he gets the idea now. I was also able to add some very pretty sits and downs.

We also worked on targeting (nose to fingers). I realized that I'd been letting this slip a bit. He did everything I asked, including up on his back feet, walk forward, walk around behind me, back up, and under my legs. All without a hitch. Where is the behavior when we go to school??? ARGH.

We've almost got the "go around the cone" in hand, too. I can't wait to see his face when I ask him to reverse it. Poor boy. To my amazement, he's now really offering behaviors to click like different head positions and placement in relation to objects, so things are going much faster. What changed? I have no idea what clicked, but wish I did. I have locked-up Sheila during Charlie's training (and the reverse). I knew that would relax things for him, but I didn't expect to get so many specifically offered options on his part. That brain really worked hard yesterday.

Sheila did really well, too. I worked her on targeting, and was able to get her to make a 180 degree turn around me - a big step for my baby doll. She also did some work with the game 100 things you can do with a cone. She's now offered a nose touch, a paw touch, and is even knocking it over! This from a girl who defaults to a down position within a few seconds of no instruction. She's much more cuddly these days too!

All in all, a really nice training session.

Play Date for Charlie - Long Post

2009-01-17T13:53:00.003-05:00

I took Charlie to a play date with a friend's new puppy. The visit had multiple goals. Start teaching the puppy targeting, working Charlie around MASSIVE distractions (the puppy), keeping the puppy social, and keeping Charlie puppy social. I had visions of Charlie getting weird and spending his time in the car, and was prepared for all contingencies - I even left his leash on him in case I needed to catch him.

I couldn't have asked for a better response from my boy. He was AMAZING! Listened well, behaved well, performed on cue every time (until the end when his poor brain was getting fried), and was very polite in general. The puppy was another story. While he had good people skills and a nice soft mouth; much to the shock of both humans, the puppy was scared of Charlie! I really wasn't prepared for that. My friend told me that the breeder said that the puppy spent most of his time under the coffee table, and was raised only with adult dogs - only puppy in the litter. In addition, anytime Charlie even moved in the puppy's direction, we'd here a loud YIPE!

So, I worked Charlie on some basic obedience behaviors and tricks to calm him down a bit. Then, I got Charlie into a good solid down, while I fed the puppy near Charlie. To my surprise, Charlie stayed calm and let all sorts of things happen around him. I'm so proud of my boy. The puppy did start some targeting, so we ended that on a fun note.

We spent the rest of the hour and a half working on socializing the puppy to a friendly/calm dog (Yep - my Charlie stayed friendly and calm). Note: we took lots of breaks for both dogs with separated play time. The puppy ALWAYS had a safe place in which to "hide" if stressed. We took it really slow with lots of rewards for the pup and Charlie. In no order, other that what comes to mind, we did the following: I worked on shaping a heal with Charlie with the leash dragging. The puppy chased and pounced on the leash while Charlie kept working (YIPPEE!). Win, win here. Charlie worked under a HUGE distraction while the puppy got to play and have fun while following the big dog around. We played some basic recall stuff with the pup while Charlie chilled out in a down again (with random treats in place), as well as feeding the pup and Charlie nose to nose. We worked on puppy zen when I realized that mom wasn't treating the pup. I sat with Charlie, giving him random rewards for relaxation behaviors while not feeding the pup under any circumstances. When the puppy went to mom, lots of treats. By the time I left, the puppy would play bow and bark as long as Charlie was laying down. He'd run if Charlie got up, so I kept Charlie in a down, while the pup got to practice his play behaviors without any other social pressure. I feel like we had a lot of successes with both dog and pup today. We'll be doing this again, soon! Can anyone really believe that my crazy monster is now working on socializing a pup. I'm all but in shock!

An Interesting Night

2009-01-14T09:38:00.002-05:00

Poor Charlie. The cold weather is really hard for him. Last it, he went out, did his business, and wanted right back in. Of course, he was then crazy with unspent energy. So, I set-up the cones in the living room and front entry, and practiced loose leash walking. His reward was tug, as I have less problems with Sheila that way. This helped burn-up some of his energy with moving and thinking. He did a really nice job overall. However, Sheila wanted to play this new-to-her game. I OBVIOUSLY haven't practiced this with her. She did somewhat okay until we got to the front door. She has always equated the leash with a walk outside. When we hit the door, she stuck her nose to it, and wouldn't move. I did get a nice sit, rewarded her with praise and a good ear rub, and worked Charlie a bit more. She followed us around, but didn't behave badly or get in the way. Guess I need to get her used to working on a leash INSIDE.

Nice Practice Today!

2009-01-11T13:10:00.002-05:00

Last night, I worked on healing with Charlie. Since he follows me around anyway, I combined minimal targeting with capturing. He's starting to get the idea. I clicked/treated in place while moving when he was in the correct position with full eye contact. It seems to be working - including tight 180 corners. Based on trying several learning methods for heal, this seems to be working best for this particular dog.

Both dogs got to work today. As is typical, Charlie got more time than Sheila, but she has some time limits at this point anyway. If you work her too long, she shuts down, so I keep it short with her. We set-up the coffee table and a few other items to make a holding area in the living room. This meant that both dogs could see each other, but left 10 feet between the holding area and the working area. Then, I worked both dogs alternating every 20 minutes or so. I'm going to list by dog as its easier for me.

Charlie:

Shaping going around a cone 10 feet away while I sit in a chair. We're getting it, but its hard for him. He's NOT good at the going away part. This is a VERY clingy boy. Once you get him moving, he does pretty well. No where near being able to add a cue, but this is awfully hard for him. I admit, I did cheat. He already knows an informal "go"/"go around" command, and I used it several times to keep him moving. I am going to teach clockwise and counter clockwise behaviors, so need to decide what to call them. I may go with herding commands, as they already exist.
I was able to shape a fairly stylized "bow" behavior with paws between feet/nose to ground in just a few minutes. I'd like to refine this a bit more before adding a verbal cue, but this is coming along nicely.
Relaxation behaviors - a LONG way to go on this. However, I really think I'm going to have to move to a verbal marker to work on these - at least at first. The clicker gets him so excited, that he tends to be "on alert" the entire session.
Distance for sit/down - This again is hard for Charlie. Anything with distance is difficult. I worked with him in the holding pen with me pretty close (~3 ft away). He's getting it, including a drop down instead of a folded down. I really want that drop down at a distance! Looks like we may actually get there.

Sheila

Interaction with a cone: This is hard for Sheila. However, not only was I able to get a nose touch, but she knocked it over with her paw! I've had trouble getting a paw to even move, let alone target. Nice!
Find it: I threw a handful of treats across the room. She had to sniff out all of the treats. Good work for her, but something she's not very used to.
Sit/down: When I taught Sheila these originally, I never worried about distinction between the two. Right now, you get a sit for the first command, a down for the second command, and down on her side for a third command. Doesn't matter which command you use, that's what you get. I'm trying to get her to relearn these with full discrimination. She doesn't need to know the difference, but its good mental work for her. She's getting there, but it may take a while. She's had 12 years of history of no discrimination!

Missed Items from Yesterday's Blog

2009-01-08T11:29:00.004-05:00

In speaking with our trainer last night, I realized that I missed a few items in the positive category. Charlie has also learned to paw target, wave, high five, and touch a piece of paper pretty much wherever you move it. He also learned to walk through a revolving door - he did bang his head once! He's also got his bite inhibition to a really nice level during play. I can now play tug while holding his teeth! He's learned to "give" his toys during play as well.

I believe I had an insight last night into some of Charlie's reactivity. Sheila has jumped him once or twice during training to snatch his treats. Its been some time since the last event, but I noticed how hard he worked the night before last when I used a tug as the reinforcer instead of treats. The difference was amazing. She's not in the least interested in the tug toy, and he showed no anxiety at all. He worked his tail off, too. She just laid quietly with no restraint because there was nothing in it for her except praise for staying put. Now, I just have to figure out how to work through this. I really think if we can get it under control at home, we'll have a big head start next time we go back to school.

Update After WAY Too Long

2009-01-07T13:22:00.003-05:00

Charlie has come such a long way since I last posted (REALLY bad owner).

Positive Changes

Goes to most strangers without hesitation (he's still having problems with large dark skinned people)
Greats almost everyone (except me) nicely (see above comment)
Plays well with kids and new lighter skinned adults (including my brother who plays ROUGH)
Interacted nicely with an older white man with a cane
Learned a top notch sit and down with duration (including turning my back, walking away 10 feet, praising Sheila, coming back, walking around him with a toy, then release to play tug)
Learned a really nice general recall with limited distractions
Learned to file his own front nails on a board
Learned left from right paw on physical cue
Learned a fairly consistent loose leash walk
Perfected his rescue recall - its AMAZING - even with treed squirrels!
Played and interacted in the house and back yard really well with a puppy dumped behind the house while I placed the puppy
Worked for 1.5 hours on greeting/going to matt/behaving nicely/showing off tricks while getting oil changed with GREAT success (anticipated a 30 minute visit)
Taught G'ma and G'pa to play tug at his command (I got this stopped - at least he took the initiative to play with adults!)
Works in class within four feet of a known dog - further distance is required for new or other reactive dogs

In Progress

Targeting with back paws with goal of filing own back nails
Working towards a stay with duration with me out of sight
Healing (just starting)
Standing front (almost ready to add a verbal cue)
Walking stop (just starting)
Watching me more than things around him
Working through Sue Ailsberry's training levels while not in school (allergies have kicked-up again)

Goals

Creating a second emergency recall to a whistle (shouldn't take to long to transfer)
Working towards minimal reactiveness (or at least controlled behavior) around other dogs while on leash
Starting CDSP and/or APDT competitions in the next year
Having a friend work with Charlie to develop more trust and teach him that others can work with him, too
Perfecting , crisping up, and generalizing all of the items in the first two sections

Side Notes

Charlie did all of the above even though I was sick for a month in November.

I was able to meet the Animal Care and Control officer who removed Charlie from his abusive home. He wouldn't tell me much other than it had been one of the worst situations he had ever been involved in. However, when I asked some specific questions (i.e. I think XX must have happened to this boy) - he confirmed most of what I guessed - really nasty.

Sheila has starting shaping!!!!!

Charlie is now out of school for a while. The food he has been eating was changed, and now he's itching again. We're changing his food to grain free and raw, but its going to take a while to completely switch. Until the itching is under control we're only working at home. We're doing longer, more focused work at school, and I can't have him learning he can break stays to itch! However, he's doing really well at home with duration!

Practice Last Night - Minimal - Again

2008-08-25T12:25:00.004-04:00

Not having a good asthma weekend at all. Anyway, Charlie's heeling in the house is now pretty unbelievable (to me) !!!! He'll walk with me all around the first floor of the house with a treat every 15 or 20 steps - even the kitchen! Also, his emergency recall and give it are really nice! We should really have practiced on the matt, but I really wasn't in good shape (still a bit iffy again today). Anyway, we'll probably at least run through sit and down stays and heeling, and focus on matt, give it, and emergency recall. I really think something clicked in that little pea brain within the last week. So much is coming together really fast now. I think the down time has given him some extra time to think through everything. Gotta love this little guy (and, of course, the clicker)!

Oh yeah, several people at the Feast of Lanterns complimented me on Charlie's behavior Saturday!!!! Of course they didn't see the two "incidents". However, its really nice to hear those comments from others. Everything except those two moments (and the sled dog effect) was absolutely perfect! He even reach up to lick a passing police officer's hand.

Materials:

Zukes/Wellness

Evo Chicken/Turkey dog food

homemade tug toy

Feast of Lanterns

2008-08-23T15:13:00.003-04:00

Instead of our normal training, I took Charlie to the Feast of Lanterns event today. All-in-all, a good day. He was able to "leave" food and plates on the ground on command (he really did want some). I put his silk collar on, and he did get lots of petting (more positives in the bank). Some very nice little girls even asked for a picture of us together. He did get barky twice due to frustration at not being able to go see two different dogs while we were resting in the shade. If we're moving, he doesn't bark at all anymore!!!! He looks at the other dogs, and maybe a bit of a whine with a slight tug on the leash. Other than that - NOTHING!!! Some lab barked and lunged at him as we were leaving. He only barked once in response, and was able to walk away - no crazy behavior. I didn't expect there to be so many dogs that early in the day. There had to have been dozens. I'm really amazed at how well he did. We would have stayed longer around the fringes, but my asthma was kicking in, and Charlie was starting to have little black dog (LBD) syndrome. He had a blast, and you could tell. His tail almost never stopped wagging, and he's showing a LOT of curiosity and bravery! We'll probably practice at least give it and our emergency recall word, but other than that, we're about done for the day.

Successes Last Night

2008-08-23T10:47:00.002-04:00

We did practice give it. It takes him a bit to remember, but once he does, he actually is anticipating the request. He's also either sitting or moving backwards pretty consistently now. His heeling in the house is getting pretty amazing. I don't even have to target at all anymore, and am getting turns. I'm still treating every 5-7 steps, but this is really huge for Charlie!!!!! We didn't do much more than that. We'll work today.

Materials:
TOTs
tug toy

Skipping Most of Practice Tonight

2008-08-22T19:09:00.003-04:00

I'm not feeling well, and haven't all day. Part of it is probably related to sore muscles from all the chew tugging. The rest feels like a bit of a respiratory bug. We'll practice a few things (particularly our emergency recall), but will definitely be in the house with significantly reduced schedule. I hoping to practice give it, emergency recall, and matt. If I get a burst of energy, we may try a few other things like heel or something. Charlie seems a bit tired tonight too, so I don't feel quite so bad. As far as documentation, I'm officially calling tonight off. Hopefully, tomorrow will go better.

Side note: I spent over an hour cutting up Zukes and Wellness treats this evening. Each treat has been cut into 12 pieces. I now have over 6 cups of treats ready for the next few weeks (assuming they last that long).

Tonight's Training

2008-08-21T20:33:00.002-04:00

Tonight's practice went really well. We practiced in the hallway tonight off leash. We were able to increase the criteria for down/stay already to the treat placed on the floor, move back to the dog, go get the treat, and hand to the treat. YEAH!!!! As far as loose leash, WHOO HOO. Again, exceeded expectations. He was able to stay in heal position for 5 steps with NO targeting at all!!! He usually even made the 180 turn in heal, too!!!! Sit/stays are really good. I think we're going to try to add the second treat on the floor next time we practice indoors (Monday). Park it is still going a bit slow, but he's getting it. Give it is unbelievable!!!! I'm getting a complete release, and often a sit within 2-5 seconds of saying the phrase. I wasn't sure we'd actually get this far. The emergency recall was also really good again tonight. Its so nice to be able to use that prey instinct to train. We'll be able to use it more as I get comfortable with our give it behavior. What a terrific evening.

Materials:

TOTs
towel
homemade tug toy

Training Last Night

2008-08-21T10:42:00.003-04:00

We practiced in the living room last night. We had such a good time. Charlie was a bit confused by the new criteria on the matt. Now he has to sit and look down (or at least bend his front legs) or lie down on the matt (goal to to lie down on the matt every time). It took some time (about 3 minutes), but he got all but one trial right. The rest of the tasks just flew by. We've added airplane to our down/stay. He has to stay while I hold a treat and zoom it around then deliver it to him. He did a good job, and only broke the stay once. 90% counts! We've also added difficulty to sit/stay which he's really good at. At this time, I can put him in a sit/stay, walk a few feet, put a treat on the floor, walk back to him, go back to the treat, pick it up, and take it back to him. We're going to try this in several locations before we increase the difficulty.

The next step is to walk a few steps, drop a treat, walk back, go get the treat, and hand it to the dog. Next is to do the same, but instead of picking up the treat, you walk a bit further, and put a second treat on the floor, walk back to the dog, then go to the first treat, pick it up, take it to the dog, then go to the second treat, pick it up and take it to the dog.

We've also officially added "give it" to the list every night. We split up the 10 trials into two of 5 (for the sake of my arms). The first trial took almost two minutes, until he got it into his thick skull that he had to release the tug toy to get the treat. Second round took only 45 seconds.

The last new item is our emergency recall. I chose the word VOOSH. John held Charlie (yes, he asked for the iodine - I've called him Lucy in the past) while I shook the tug toy to get Charlie really work up. Then, I started backing up still wiggling the toy. Then, I ran shaking the toy behind me. While running, I yelled VOOSH, and John let go of Charlie. The little guy EXPLODED out of the hold, grabbed that toy for all he was worth, and we played a rough game of tug for about 45 seconds. He then had to "give it", and I took him back to John. We did this all again. John wanted to do more, but I was TIRED. At this point, we'd played tug for almost 4 minutes, and I'm not used to it. Charlie's a 45 pound dog for heaven's sake. John even asked if we were going to play again this morning. I said we'll practice again tonight.

Materials:
TOTs
towel
tug toy (the homemade one)

Class Last Night - Comedy Night????

2008-08-20T12:46:00.004-04:00

What a silly boy. First of all, NO barking tonight. Nada, zero, zilch!!!!! We've been rotating locations in the room, and I was a bit worried. Tonight was our night to have the large plate glass windows behind us, and the other dogs in front of us. This is REALLY hard for Charlie. He did really well, but got stressed part way through class. Our school uses those nasty plastic chairs with holes in the backs like we used to have in jr. high. Normally, I put the towel (matt), toy, squeeze cheese, and squeeze cheese lid on the chair. I did the same thing last night. However, upon getting stressed, Charlie poked his head through the hole in the chair and grabbed the tug toy. We played for a bit, and I put it back saying "leave it". Not five minutes later, he did it again. I had to put that nasty slobbery thing up the back of my shirt to keep him from steeling it. Of course, both times this happened, everybody (including Alena) laughed. Lots of encouragement for this little guy. So, after we practiced our matt behavior and I had folded up the towel and put it back on the chair. What he'd do? Of course, he tried to put it back on the floor - guess he wanted to practice more on that. Again, everyone laughed. He stole the cap to the squeeze cheese at least 2 times as well, again to giggles. What a silly goose! Anyway, he actually exceeded my expectations in class, and a good time was had by all. Not a bad night. We've now added criteria to the matt, but really shaping the down on the matt. In addition, we added an emergency rescue call. Now I have to come up with a word!!!!

Practice Tonight

2008-08-19T17:36:00.002-04:00

We got through 6 pretty quick trials in the kitchen this evening. Tonight's a school night for Charlie, so I didn't want to do too much. He did a terrific job, and I was able to increase the criteria for sit/stays. Some of our clicks/minute are getting pretty far apart, but a lot of that is due to increased time for eye contact, stays, number of steps before C/T, etc. He's getting really good at gotcha, which has been hard for him.

We only used TOTs tonight. The good stuff comes out for school. I'll post about school separately tomorrow.

Practice Tonight

2008-08-18T17:55:00.003-04:00

So, some stupid idiot scheduled 12 trials on a Monday night. Never again. I never feel like working that hard the first day back to work for the week. Things are getting switched this week! Anyway, terrific practice. Charlie slowed down and lost focus on the last set (sit/stay with "Free dog" in between on leash), but he was getting hot and tired by then, and just plain lost focus after hearing "Free dog" The behavior itself was really good, jut the timing was off a bit. John came home early today, so Charlie's been outside all afternoon. However, not bad at all! A bit of backsliding in the eye contact with leash, too. I'd probably not be horribly focused if hot and tired. All and all, I'm very pleased with our session. Everything but sit/stay was under a minute at 10 attempts each trial. We also increased the stay time of the sit/stay pretty significantly. I think we're ready to really focus on SHORT healing sessions outside. He's getting darn good at staying with me.

Worked with Zukes, Wellness treats, TOTs

Breakthrough for Sheila

2008-08-18T17:51:00.002-04:00

Sheila's really been perking up, paying a lot more attention to me, and getting almost happy clingy. Its been such a nice change. We've been working hard on her targeting my hand. Tonight she targeted my hand, one step at a time, all the way around the kitchen, living room, and dining room. She only lost focus a few times (making sure I didn't drop any treats, you know). This is HUGE for her. That's a lot of interaction for her at one stretch. We stopped before she was finished so that she'd be more eager next time. YEAH!!!

Practice Today & New Friend

2008-08-17T11:05:00.003-04:00

We practiced for the first time ever in the lot today. I will not increase any of the criteria except for sit/stay. He is VERY distracted out there. He know there could be dogs, bikes, kids running, etc. out there. He was obviously distracted, but managed to get every trial in between rounds of scanning the area. Nothing took more than two minutes, which is a good sign, but I'd like to get those times down before we move on. Eye contact, Targeting the hand, and Park it all took the full two minutes. Gotcha is getting really good, and sit/stay wasn't too bad at 90 seconds. We used a mixture of Zukes & TOTs. Considering I didn't get out the cheese or peanut butter, he really did do well. He even ignored the bicycle not 20 feet from us.

After we got through our trials, we went for a short walk. Every time he pulls, I stop, and he is required to look me in the eye and come to me to get a treat before we move on. He's getting much quicker at this. I often reward with the desired sniffing in addition to or instead of the treat. However, when we were walking today, there was a lady at the bus stop that we see frequently. He was whining to go meet her. We crossed Washington street, and I asked the lady from a distance if she would pet the dog. Went through the usual explanation, and she agreed. We then went closer to the tire shop (LOTS of noises there). Yesterday, John asked them if we could come visit. Charlie's not ready for the noises close up, but now we can start oozing that way so he gets more exposed to big noises. On the way back, he actually offered a few moments of true healing, and lots of praise and a handful of food while we walked. Got to LOVE this dog. He can eat and walk at the same time!!!!

Training today - Round 1

2008-08-16T14:14:00.005-04:00

Today we trained on the back porch. Went through all but 3 of our school assignments before the sun got to the LBD. He just laid down, and wanted in. We did a big Whoo Hoo, and knocked it off for a while. I'm not going to post of all of the details since I'm tracking them in Excel now. Highlights included lots of volunteered nose touches on the matt (new criteria) and even a few sits. Having to "free dog" him out of his sit/stays, and really good eye contact.

We haven't practiced "give it" much at all yet, and we'll go back outside again once it cools off this evening to finish practicing. I had to create a toy that we could both have. I'm allergic to so much that we're pretty limited in our choices of tug toys. Charlie also never learned bite inhibition as a pup, and we've had some difficulty with MINOR biting. He just doesn't know not to, but its hard to teach after 3 months. I didn't get him until he was 10 months old. He's better at this, but will probably never be perfect because of his background. I had a long discussion with Alena about this. She recommended making a circle tug out of old jeans with the floppy ends hanging out for the dog to grab. I've already tested this, and he goes for the floppy ends every time. This is NOT a pretty toy, but Charlie loves it.

In case anyone wants directions, I took an old pair of jeans (could always pick some up from good will or salvation army). Took a pair of scissors and made random sized jagged strips (not pretty). I tied two strips together until I had 6 double long strips. Then, holding one end (untied) with my foot, I braided the strips (2 strips together), and tied an overhand knot at the end leaving the floppy ends hanging out.

Training tonight

2008-08-15T19:25:00.003-04:00

Charlie did a terrific job tonight. We worked in the back yard, and he did everything well. We worked on eye contact, targeting my fingers, loose leash walking, sit/stay, park-it, and gotcha on leash and off. There were dogs barking, bikes in the alley, and general ambient noise. He noticed them, but did NOT react!!!!! He did VERY well. Eye contact on his tie-out was the hardest for him tonight, but it was also the first thing we did. We'll be upping the criteria on these!

Side note: I LOVE having the new criteria sheets. This is going to make things so much easier on me.

HUGE Success

2008-08-15T17:17:00.001-04:00

Charlie and I had a breakthrough last night during our walk. We were out in the lot when somebody else walked by with a dog on a leash. They were within 25 feet of us. I was able to redirect him before the first bark and keep him distracted until the dog was out of sight! This is HUGE for us!!!! YIPPEE!!!

Training Tracking Upgraded

2008-08-15T17:11:00.003-04:00

I finally got all of Charlie's training history and planning moved to Excel. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted, but finally came up with a system that will ensure consistent training and much easier planning. I'm glad I did it now. I had some really big gaps in what we were doing.

Discussion with Alena regarding Sheila

2008-08-14T11:41:00.003-04:00

We stayed after class Tuesday night to discuss Sheila. I've been having difficulty getting her to volunteer anything to click. She was trained old school, and the only thing she's even starting to pick-up on is targeting, but I don't think she actually "gets it". The gist of the discussion was that I could target her into interacting with objects, and then fade the targeting. In addition, as she learns she doesn't have to wait to be told what to do, click her for EVERYTHING! This will hopefully get her thinking again. Wanted to be sure to get this in here so that I didn't forget.

Practice Last Night - LAME

2008-08-14T11:38:00.002-04:00

Well, again I didn't feel very good. We did practice a bit on matt, some eye contact outside, and a bit of targeted healing the house, but not much else. The dogs were really disappointed, and you could tell. I'm feeling better today, so we'll do some real work tonight.

School Last Night

2008-08-13T18:10:00.002-04:00

School went remarkably well last night. Two minor barky moment. The first was when the little pit came into the building, but stopped REALLY fast. The second was when a lady with a cat walked by the big plate glass windows. Again, stopped REALLY fast. Charlie was relaxed most of the time, but had one odd reaction. Seemingly out of the blue, he became afraid of the food tube filled with cottage cheese. Sometimes scared, sometimes eating out of it just fine. I'm going to try to figure out the issue, but it seemed really random to me and the trainer. Otherwise, he progressed nicely through every activity (except give it). That was the new activity last night. We also need to work on eye contact while adding distractions, sit/stays, nose touches on the matt, targeting into a heal, and loose leash walking. I really don't feel well this evening. We will probably work on most of this in the house tonight, but not as focused as normal. We'll try to get back into details practices tomorrow. Its really hard to plan everything out when you fell yucky!

Bath Night Plus

2008-08-12T14:29:00.002-04:00

Last night was bath night, and we didn't get much else done. The baths went well as usual.

The evening ended on a bad note as far as I'm concerned. The dogs were out for "last call", and found the neighbor's young cat hunkered down in the mint patch (I assume searching for chipmunks). She ran - bad move with Charlie's prey instinct. She got away, and even got to keep her tail, but it was close - REALLY close. She waited to move until both dogs were almost on top of her. Sent both dogs into a barking frenzy. ARGH!!!

Walk tonight

2008-08-10T20:12:00.002-04:00

We're really coming along nicely on our walking. Instead of training sled dogs, they're both catching on. Charlie's starting to look back at me every time we stop. He's spending more and more time looking at me as well. Sheila's doing remarkably. She's not getting the eye contact so much, but she's definitely not pulling so much. YIPPEE!!!!

Today's Practice

2008-08-10T17:46:00.004-04:00

We started training this morning right after breakfast. Our goal was to complete the items from yesterday (all 11 items). All inside practices were with tots only today. Started with "matt" inside today. For the trials in both the kitchen and in the living room, he repeatedly went back to the matt 10 times in 1 minute.

We worked on targeting inside as well. In dining room, we did 2 steps with a tossed treat. We completed 10 out of 10 tries in 45 seconds. In the front entry, we did 9 steps, a 180 degree turn and 2 steps. Got 9 out of 10 tries in 2 minutes. Lost focus at one point due to noise outside the front door. In the kitchen, we did 4 steps at a time with thrown treats. This was down with food down. He got 9 out of 10 in 1 minute. Not bad at all considering he stopped to try for a snack once. I asked him to "leave it". He did, and completed the trials consistently.

We did all of the planned eye contact trials scheduled for yesterday today. We split it into two sessions, but I should have reversed them. Inside in the front hall, he did 4 seconds of eye contact being hand fed 10 out of 10 times within 1 minute. In the dining room we did 4 seconds with hand feeding. We got 10 out of 10 in 90 seconds. There was one delay in the middle of this trial when John saw a strange dog in the yard, and went to shoo it away. Charlie did not leave the area, quickly reoriented, and resumed the trial. In the kitchen, 23 did 4 seconds and a mixture of thrown and hand fed treats. Charlie completed 10 out of 10 trials in 1 minute.

Big break for lunch, and for me to cut up a bunch of Zukes and Wellness treats (the cats ate a bunch of the first batch.) Also had frozen cottage cheese in Orka pine cones.

Outside eye contact (should have done this in the morning) with Zukes only. Charlie was pretty tired at this point. We did 4 seconds with Zukes on the leash in the driveway and hand fed. He completed 9 out of 10 trials in 2 minutes. There was a distraction at the local bar across the street, and John was working on the house. We did 1 second on leash in the backyard. He completed 10 our of 10 trials in 45 seconds, with dogs barking. The last trial of the day was on his line on the porch for 1 second. He completed 10 out of 10 trials in 45 seconds. It took him a few seconds to orient to task, since we don't often practice on line, let alone when he's tire.

Not a bad day at all. We'll probably go for a short walk with eye contact upon pulling yet this evening if he can concentrate - we'll see. It may just be a harness night.

Materials:
TOTs
Zukes
towel
Orka pine cone
cottage cheese

Done for the Day

2008-08-09T18:23:00.003-04:00

We're done for the day. Between the loose leash walking, and the training we did, Charlie is completely exhausted. We've had a nap, but every time I stop moving, he lays down and falls asleep. Normally, he'd be fine, but adding the eye contact during the walk forced him to think pretty hard. Maybe a bit of nosework before bed, but I'm not counting on that either. We'll work in the morning before we walk!

1st 2 sessions today

2008-08-09T13:31:00.007-04:00

I'm trying to make up a bit for our slacker nights. We first practiced loose leash walking for quite some time. We've been having mixed results. Today, I put the martingale collars on them. Today, I added "eyes" to the tree method. Basically, if they pull, I stop. We don't move (or move backwards) until I get real eye contact, then C/T which brings the dog back for a treat. That's working much better. Lots of progress today (minus the cat issue). Used squeeze cheese with bacon and "sniff" time as rewards.

2nd session was all outside, which is harder for Charlie. Matt was really successful today on the porch with 10 out of 10 touches in 30 seconds. In the drive went much better than our first try (to many distractions and no response at all). We managed 10 touches in 2 minutes with a lot of distractions. I'm pretty happy with this today!

Targeting fingers. Mixed results outside today. I've started throwing in practice while on the tie-out, and not just on leash or in the house. We did 2 steps in the drive on leash with tossed treats. 9 out of 10 successes in 90 seconds. Not too bad, considering we didn't get the last one due to dogs barking. We did much better in the backyard to my surprise. 1 step + hand feed on tie-out. 10 out of 10 in 45 seconds with dogs barking. The last session was outside on the porch. 10 out of 10 with 2 steps & hand fed. I tried to push and do some more, but Charlie was just too tired, and walked away. We played a quick game of whoo hoo (jumping about), and he happily went inside to sleep. We'll try again after he gets a nap.

I'm definitely pushing a bit to hard today, and will back off. I had a pretty aggressive plan set up to make up for my slacking this week. I'll try to break out the rest in much shorter sessions. If we don't get through the entire plan, we'll scratch them today, and add them to tomorrow's, and not work so hard on loose leash.

Materials:

Squeeze cheese with bacon
Hot dogs
Zukes
towel
clicker

Side Note Regarding Charlie's Reaction to Police

2008-08-08T18:04:00.003-04:00

Sheila learned years ago that the police are her friends. To this day, her entire body wiggles when she gets to meet a police officer. Given Charlie's background with animal control, I worried that he would be afraid of uniforms. I've gone out of my way over the last few months to ask every police office/firefighter/armed forces person I meet to pet Charlie. I explain his story, and they always seem glad to help.

With that background, Charlie was amazing today. We went outside as normal, but just as we did, an officer ran by (about 30 feet away) chasing a person on foot. My overly anxious, barky Charlie didn't even react. After the police caught the guy, they ended up about 100 ft from the house. Charlie did bark about 3 times when the person tried to get away and yelled. Then, nothing. We had 4 police cars, a crowd of people, and somebody under arrest, and he just "let it go". I was stunned. I really think he recognized the uniforms. I know for a fact that if that had been "normal" people running about, he would have lost it - full fledged lunging/barking.

Sheila's Practice Tonight

2008-08-07T18:08:00.002-04:00

Sheila is very well behaved, but is just getting used to the clicker. She did work on limited extended stays with distractions (Charlie's practice sessions).

We're also working on developing more eye contact. Tonight we did 20 repetitions of 1/2 second eye contact. It took a minute or two, but she seems to be getting the hang of it.

She is also starting to get the idea of targeting, both hand and extended pointer type targets. I'm not getting much body movement yet, but she has started moving her head and neck towards my fingers and the pointer.

Charlie's Practice Tonight

2008-08-07T17:49:00.004-04:00

SCHOOL WORK:

Targeting a matt (towel) inside and out. We used the same towel from class. Outside was REALLY slow, but we didn't have a time limit tonight. LOTS of distractions out there this evening, including a squirrel. Took us 2 minutes to get 10 paw touches. We did the same thing inside in the living room. Much better timing. It only took us 45 seconds to get 10 paw touches with thrown treats.

Nose to fingers targeting inside tonight. We're at hugely varying levels based on location. Inside in the dining room we did 1 set of 10 with tossed treats. Took us 45 seconds to get 10 touches with a 100% success rate. We also did 10 tries at taking 9 steps + 180 degree turn + 1 step. We were able to get in five before Sheila decided it was her turn. I asked her to stay, and we achieved another 4 tries before she intervened. We called it quits there. It took us 2 minutes to complete the 9 tries, but not to bad considering the interruptions.

Eye contact inside tonight. 4 seconds on eye contact in the dining room with thrown treats. Got 10 out of 10 in 90 seconds. On sofa with Sheila on floor next to sofa (first time we've tried this). Not to bad at all. I got 3 seconds of steady eye contact with hand feeding 10 times in 90 seconds.

While we didn't focus on repetitions of sit, he did have to sit to get out of his crate, get attention, get fed, etc. This behavior is pretty generalized for him, though we could use some work on response time.

We're also practicing nicer treat taking, and using a verbal cue of take it at the same time.

OTHER WORK:

We're working on some nosework. The plan is to lay out 5 treats and find them in successive order. If he doesn't go straight on to the next treat, I'll stand 4.5 feet away and point/look at the treat.

GENERAL COMMENTS:

I'm going to have to start keeping Sheila out of whatever area we're practicing. He defers to her every time, and it takes a bit to get him refocused.

Materials:
TOTs
Liver Biscotti
towel
clicker

Slacking

2008-08-07T10:23:00.003-04:00

We didn't train much last night, as I was just too tired. I did have Charlie go out and "find" 10 treats. I placed 10 treats in different locations in the yard. He's getting really good at this. I've been increasing the distance where I stand away from the treat. We were last at ~4 feet. I'd look and point at the treat. We went out, and I didn't even have a chance to point. He actually followed my footsteps to the first treat. The next few, I pointed. However, in one other case, he found my footsteps and followed them to the next treat over, and then came back to the one I pointed at. Next time, I'll plan on pointing them out in order of placement to see if he even needs help. I may be seriously underestimating this dog.

Remedial Manners Class

2008-08-06T10:57:00.003-04:00

Last night went really well. First off, all three dogs were really very quiet which helped a LOT. Our first instruction was to click and treat (C/T) anything other than looking at the other dogs or barking. It went very well. We then moved on to massage as a way to calm the dogs and as a precursor to being able to touch the dogs all over. Charlie did well with everything except the muzzle touches. We'll be working hard on that at home. Charlie completely forgot there were 2 other dogs, and promptly sprawled out on the floor. The trainer even noted that Charlie was doing a nice job holding down the floor.

We then moved on to targeting to a matt. Charlie caught a glimpse of one of the dogs while we were moving, and barked. However, he kept it short and refocused quickly. My biggest problem was getting him 1) off the matt, and 2) to focus on the matt instead of staring at me (what a problem for a trainer to have). I began tossing treats a short distance from the matt so I could click the return. We did relatively well at this. A new tidbit not learned previously. Only put the "matt" on the floor when training this behavior. That way you C/T EVERY time the dog goes to the matt. Our last class hadn't suggested this which probably explains why it didn't work well.

Next was sitting via targeting fingers. Again, a short bark session as everyone moved about, but calmed quickly. I had a bit of difficulty getting him to focus on sitting (he much preferred checking out the area we were in - we had moved a bit). He also finds sitting repeatedly very boring. I got out the squeeze cheese. That fixed everything. He was sitting so fast and hard, I had to target him out of the sit to repeat the sit over and over.

Materials used in class:
clicker
Kraft squeeze cheese with bacon
minced hot dogs
halved mini Zukes
bath towel (our matt)

General note: Charlie LOVES the squeeze cheese!

Current Training Protocol for Sheila

2008-08-05T14:45:00.003-04:00

Sheila is an older dog who was previously trained using conventional methods. She is very well behaved, but I'm trying to get her started thinking again. Everything we do in and out of class with Charlie is being worked on with Sheila so no need to repeat most of the details for her, just the results. She is significantly behind Charlies in some of the clicker training basics, but is catching on, although a bit slowly. In addition to classwork, we're addressing nose work. We've been playing games such as: tell me which hand has the treat, tell me which cup has a treat under it, find the treat outside when I point to it. These are basic training to start more serious nosework. I do not anticipate either dog working towards SAR certification, but do want to allow more outlets for genuine doggie behavior. She finds the first two games easy and fun, but hasn't taken much to the third. We'll keep working.

School for Charlie

2008-08-05T14:37:00.003-04:00

Tonight is mine and Charlie's first officical class using clicker training. It is a class for reactive/shy dogs which I'm calling remedial manners. There are only 3 dogs in class to allow for a lot of space between dogs. Charlie is a really good boy and has quite a bit of basic training under his collar. He has become reactive on a leash when he sees other dogs, but is otherwise well behaved while out and about. Since we travel with the dogs, this needs to be brought under control sooner rather than later. I'm a bit nervous, but we've done all of our homework, and then some. Our homework included nose touches to fingers and eye contact which has shown improvement over the last week. We're going to go on two walks before class to try to wear him down a bit so he doesn't go in so wound up.