Whole Lotta Stuff

It rained for a long, long, long time....6 days.  I had to make Dhali put on the raincoat.  It actually fit him!  Which is crazy, because it doesn't fit Tibby anymore.  It just goes to show all his height is in his long legs.  Tibby has a longer back and is built differently.  Dhali's bone structure is more delicate.  I can tell this by feeling their heads - Tibby: square and heavy,  Dhali: thin and light (and tiny too).  He has a tiny head.

Anyway.....these pictures were taken on the day he turned ONE!  Then we went shopping.  I forgot to make him wear the raincoat into the store.

Dhali shopping!  Isn't he cute?!?  He loves to go shopping.  I didn't get a very good video of it, but he is rubbing himself on the racks of bones - just like a cat.  He LOVES to rub up on stinky stuff. 

 I took him to a race on Sat.  We watch (and cheered) for my Mom.  After the race we had to stand around FOREVER waiting for the awards.  Dhali did AMAZING.  He sat and stared at me or laid down on the ground and rested.  He was totally relaxed - even though we were surround by tons of people.  My biggest fear was the someone would step on him, because he was being so good and invisible.

Anyway....a man was squatting down in front of us and I wasn't paying attention.  Dhali apparently thought the guy smelled AMAZING and tried to rub the glorious stink on himself.  LOL!  That was his one silly moment.  I don't think the guy realized that he was basically sitting on a dog until Dhali stuck his cold nose into he man's leg LOL!!  I had to laugh at that :)

Oh and P.S.  I didn't have a treat on me and Dhali was still amazing.  

I'm working up to our SUPER AWESOME lesson with Loretta Mueller....so hang in there! 

On Thursday we had a lesson with Loretta at her place.  It was so long ago since our last time up there - 9 months!   A lot happens in 9 months    This was Dhali's First Lesson.

I had forgotten how looooong the trip is.  It takes forever.  The trip wasn't so bad until about 40 mins from Loretta's place I got behind 4 cars that were stuck behind a truck going (at the fastest) 40 mph!!!!  If you can't drive the speed limit - pull over!  I was trying to stay relaxed and calm, so I wouldn't arrive at the lesson all stressed out, but I think I failed :P  

Dhali really liked Loretta's sheep.  I was trying to get him to potty (ha,ha,ha) and Dhali was more interested in the sheep.  "They run away!  Yay!  Let's chase them!"  Um, no.

Dhali was a little nervous for the first 10 mins. inside the barn.  I think that was pretty normal - totally new place with a new person (Loretta) and he did a little sniffing around.  Once he figured out we were there to play - he was great :)  He likes to play!

My favorite parts were when Loretta was handling him - he did so good with her.  He gets it - I'm the one who needs the work!  It was really beautiful to see him running.  Wish I had a video!  

I got a lot of good information to work on and Loretta said I've done a good job with him (Yay!).  After his little nervous bit at the beginning he worked for the entire hour - really hard too.  We were both out of breath most of the time :P  

It was so worth the long drive!

P.S.  Dhali ate like a pound of meat treats at the lesson and then came home and ate his dinner - he also wasn't tired.  I was though!

Working on some of the sends Loretta taught us.  I need to look at the jump and not cute little Dhali!

And this is Dhali's channel work.  This is his 3rd time on the channel and his first time outside with it.  I think he is doing really well.  He's fast.

First Conformation Class

2 TTs with me in the middle!  Best snuggley sandwich ever

I took Dhali to his first conformation drop in class tonight.  It went pretty well :)  Everyone was very helpful and gave me lots of tips.  Sometimes conflicting tips, but it was the thought that counts, right?  It took Dhali a while to warm up, but by the end of the hour (which went by VERY fast) he was a cocky little guy and gaiting very nicely.  I think with a few clicker sessions we will have this conformation thing down.  It was nice to get a lot of turns practicing.  

One lady was nice enough to let me borrow one of her leashes, but we still don't have a show lead!  

It might take some practice to get the right speed.  Too fast and Dhali jumps and bites the lead.  Too slow and Dhali jumps and bites the lead.  Hmmmm :P

The only draw back to the class?  It's a 1 1/2 hour drive one way.  If anyone ever accuses me of NOT  being dog crazy I will have this proof.  I drive all over the country for my babies.

Dhali's First Lesson, Hiking! and First Agility Trial!

Wow we  have done so much in a short amount of time!  And I don't have pictures of ANY of it :(  Oh, well. 

Yesterday we went to Loretta's and Dhali had his first lesson!  He did a really, really good job.  He had a few moments when he wanted to do his own thing, but those moments were very few.  I think he thought it was too hot, because when we went in the shade he did better at staying by me, but considering how many new things he was introduced to - I think he did GREAT! :)
This is the list of things Loretta gave us to work on.  It's a lot, but I think Dhali will be able to do it. 
And me.  I'm the one that has trouble!

Minimum 80 recalls---no dining and dashing.

Playing----no playing and dashing. When doing recalls with toys, stop and play for 30 seconds.

Sits, downs and waits on a mat.

Agility trials---MAIN FOCUS IN SOCIALIZATION, get to as many as u can.

Kibble for treats.

Teach a jump on the ground, work up to a pinwheel. Start FC, RC.

Tunnels, chute (end opened) and start get on board, and reward on board.

RUN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Work food to toy to food transitions. Of having issues give breaks between transitions.

Playing with dogs 1 to 5 ratio. For every 1 min with dogs, 5 mins with you. INVOLVE IN THE PLAY! Recall out of play on leash. Reward heavily.

If you cannot MAKE HIM come to you, don't call him.

Reward and name potty times. On leash.

Once jump trained, start lateral and forward sends.

PLAY PLAY PLAY ALL THE TIME.

Jealousy is a good thing :-)

Loretta

I can see that I'm going to have a hard time with the 80 recalls a day.  That's a LOT!!  But I will try my best to get close to that number.  I'm also going to have a hard time with the 1 min. play time with Tibby for 5 mins. play time with me.  It makes Tibby happy to play with Dhali, but I know that the results in the future will be worth a little work now.
During Dhali's lesson Tibby waited and barked a lot.  I wanted to do something fun for Tibby, so on the way home we stopped at a state park and went hiking.  Tibby was very happy!  It was a nice hilly hike and we only saw 4 people and 2 of them were (female) park rangers.  So very nice hike for Tibby - no scary things or people.  It really shouldn't be a surprise to me that Tibby is happiest hiking, after all that's what we did every day for the first 3 months she was with me.  It was the only way I could keep her from keeping me up all night long - very long off leash hikes.  She would run and run and come home tired, but still happy to keep me up at night.  Yeah.....I was pretty sleep deprived for a long time.  Crate training, people....do it!

The last 2 nights Dhali has been so tired that he doesn't make a peep in his crate for 8 solid hours of sleep.  sweet, sweet sleep - ahhhh I love it.  Before that I had my construction ear muffs.  Pop those on and I can't hear anything.  Yes weird, but it works.  I tried those orange ear plugs, but they weren't strong enough.  Dhali's voice can pierce through brick walls.  I even tried ear plugs + ear muffs.  Well, any way he's doing better and it's so much easier having a puppy in a crate at night.

So we had fun hiking, then we came home and I gave both pups a bath and then they had after bath zoomies, I played tug with Dhali and then I was tired!  Dhali was still ready to go, go, go.  Lesson, hike, bath, play - more!  He doesn't sleep in the car very much either.  I don't remember if it took Tibby a long time to start relaxing in the car?  He watches me, chews his bully stick and barks.  Today he slept, but he was very tired.

So today!  We went to an agility trial in St. Cloud.  Just Dhali and me.  It was fun.  Dhali was awesome again.  My only complaint is the benches were super uncomfortable.  I need a chair with a back!  Otherwise it was great.  Fun to watch everyone and see some great dogs and handlers.  Dhali tugged on his toys, chilled and watched everything and watched me to get treats.  Mostly he just relaxed and watched everyone.  I DID notice where his comfort level for tugging was.  He was a crazy fiend in the parking lot - jumping and tugging really hard in the parking lot and on the walk to the trial site.  When we went around the side of the building and he could see people/dogs his tugging went down a lot.  He would still play, but he wasn't jumping as much. 

Although at the end of the day he did really fierce tugging right by the ring with dogs all around and people sitting around next to us.  People even stepped over him and he was still tugging and playing.  I think he did great.  We were there for a long time - almost 4 hours?  I think.  And he was focused on me really, really well.

So different from the first trial I took Tibby to.  She barked the ENTIRE time and she lunged at anyone/dog that came within her vision line.  We didn't stay very long, because she was acting so crazy and BARKING like a crazy.

Thank you Loretta for kicking me in the rear and getting me to take Dhali to agility trials.  I will try!!!

One thing that we need to work on - Dhali wouldn't pee!  He held it the entire time we were away from home!  He pooped, but NO PEE.  Silly pup.  So that was what?  We left at 12pm and got home at 7:30pm.  That was a long time to hold it!  Poor little tiny bladder.  He also wants to go really, really far away to poop.  Which is nice, but also a pain.  Gotta work on the potty on leash!

So after the trial we stopped at Petsmart and the best happy making me thing happened.  When we were checking out the Petsmart employee said, "I was watching you while you were picking out a collar and he just sat there and watched you the whole time!  It was so cute!"  Yes, he was a good boy!  We were working on focus and Dhali was a very good boy.  He doesn't try to jump on everyone he sees, but rather sticks with me and walks along or sits and watches me.  It looks like I actually train him or something LOL!!

Whew, so we made it home and Tibby missed me SO much.  She had to sit in my lap for a while until she calmed down and she followed me around to make sure I didn't try to escape again.

Very tired now.

When we got home Dhali was like, "Let's do something!  Play with me!  Toys!  Run around! Fun!"  and I was like no you are tired.  I know you are tired.  Dhali was like, "Put me in coach!  I'm ready!"  But yeah, 5 mins. in the x-pen he was sleeping.  He WAS tired!      

Manipulation

We had a really good lesson with Loretta today.  Usually I spend the 2 hour drive home thinking about all the different things I wish I had said or done differently.  But this time I didn't even think about it.  It was a good lesson and I wouldn't change anything.

Tibby worked hard for a long time.  She had a few moments when she needed a time out in the crate, but then she would come back ready to work.

There was one funny moment when she decided to try hiding out in the black (previously) 'scary' tunnel to avoid working in the newly 'scary' corner of the building.  Hence the title of this post.  She isn't actually scared of these things, but boy have I taught her well that acting 'scared' gets you lots of treats and you can avoid doing whatever I want.  You would have to be there and work with Tibby for a little while to understand this.  Even Loretta didn't believe me when I first told her that I felt like Tibby was 'playing me'.  I think she believes me now :P

She was SO tired by the end of the hour, but she kept trying for me and did what I asked her to do.

I've said it before, but my favorite part of lessons is having someone watch what we are doing and tell me/explain to me/translate what is going on.  It's also nice to have someone to talk through things and tell you what you're doing is OK! 

Loretta is a really great teacher!

I learned today that Tibby actually does understand the criteria of running contacts.  I've been thinking that she doesn't get it - it seems like I'm rewarding everything, so how could she figure it out.

Really neat to see her thinking and trying different things out.

When she missed leapt and didn't get rewarded, she would come back and run through the contact the next time. 

Good girl!

Teeter Tippy

This video is a little bit old, but our agility activities have been few this past week.  The video is sped up, because it was kind of boring to watch - cute, but boring.  I showed it to Silvia and she said it didn't look too bad -

"It actually looks pretty good to me, especially those after 1:30 yes! But sure, it can’t hurt if you do some jumping on the end to ride it down again to make the end even more fun. It’s not unusual that they can’t hold the position on their fastest tries… I have to admit that with my dogs, since fast is always my major goal , I mostly relax the criteria some for the sake of speed and then revisit it again if I start to get fly-offs."

So I did a few sessions with the teeter lowered flat on the ground, then I changed my mind and put it up to full height (which is very high, I don't blame dogs for questioning our sanity when we ask them to run up it) and I am having her run up the teeter for cheese smushed on the end and then taking her off - we do that 5 times a day.

I'm hoping that this will make her run to the end of the teeter and then ride it down, but I'm thinking that Tibby might have other ideas.  Oh, well it's an easy and fun thing to play at. 

Agility Lesson April Spring

Tibby did very good at our lesson with Loretta today.  She was a really good girl.  I have a lot to work on though! 

I really like how Loretta can see what I'm doing and then explain it to me.  Now if I could just remember to do what she says!  I'm pretty sure she must get sick of telling me the same thing over and over again - and think that I don't get it!  I get it, but my body just doesn't want to connect with my brain! 

I really, really, really have to stop getting into Tibby's space.  It's so tempting though!  She hates it.  So I have to stop.  If I could stop doing that then maybe her speed would even out and that would help me quit decelerating and then Tibby wouldn't get de-motivated.

Tibby did a great job though!

 She likes extension and thinks collection is stupid.  I have to agree with her.  Less thinking with extension - which is good for me :)

"We go now?"

My right thumb is so beat up from Tibby biting it.  It hurt all afternoon, but it's fine now.  I give her tiny little bites and let her nibble on my thumb to get the pieces.  Good except I have 2 holes in my thumb now! 

At the end of our lesson Tibby played with a toy!  It was so much fun!  Back a couple months ago (maybe Dec. or Jan. ?)  I offered her the toy and she was not interested at all.  Today she was ALL OVER IT!!!  Running around chasing, tugging and then running off when she 'won' it.  She figured out really, really quickly - give toy back, get treat.  Although I still chased her a little when she had the toy, because that's her favorite part. 

I think she wasn't feeling well last week.  I don't like to make excuses for us, because there are always excuses for why something is wrong.  But last week, the day of our lesson, Tibby threw up twice in the early morning.  This is gross, but I think she ate a hair ball that Catty threw up outside.  There were pieces of grass and cat hair, ect.  Yuck.  She was also acting all scared of everything and now she is much, much better.  She has started sitting outside on the grass - by herself!  It's one of her favorite things to do, but she has been too scared for the last couple weeks to do it.  It's nice to see that she is feeling all relaxed again.

"I tired."

It really helped to tie Tibby to the door when we weren't running.  We would do an exercise, run back to her leash and then Loretta and I would talk about what we had done.  I think that made a big difference in her motivation.  At first she didn't get it, but by the end of the hour - when I let her off she was running with me.  It really helps to have Loretta talking me through everything.  It's hard to see, objectively, what is going on.  I like lessons!

I also liked running Tibby to her leash at the end, because I have been teaching Tibby to target her leash.  I figure there is a pretty good chance that, if we ever trial, and I don't teach her to target her leash, she will run out of the ring when we finish running.  So this will be a good training step.  I'm going to do it at home too, when we are training.  I just have to make sure that I remember to reward her when we get to the leash, so she doesn't think she is being punished or that she did something wrong.

She is such a good dog.

Agility Lesson :Tibby, Klink and A Baby Lamb!

Time today has been impossible to keep track of.  I'm all behind like a duck's tail!

We had an agility lesson with Loretta today.  She gave us so much of her time, I'm really, really grateful.  I had no idea what time it was or how much time had passed.  We got there at 11am and it was almost 2pm when we left!  WHOA!  Loretta is the most patient person ever - seriously.  Tibby was being a big stinker today.  Loretta gave me tons and tons of help and ideas of things that I can do.  Without her help, I wouldn't have any idea how to figure things out.

Agility is not easy.

If someone tells you it is - they are lying!

I sometimes feel like Tibby is lost in these trees and I can't figure out how to get her to come out to play with me.  I feel like this, for example, when she won't come(so simple! just walk forward!).  She just stares at me like, "Wha, me? No, you come here."

Really though, I have to remember, that agility training (like everything) is a long road.  The goal is out there, faintly in the distance and the road is full of ups and downs.  You just have to ride the road.  When you're in a down, wait for the next up.  Hopefully with time the hills aren't quite as steep.  :)

"Don't worry I still love you."

So we got home at 4pm and I didn't think I was too tired, but Tibby was very tired, so we took a 'little' nap.  It was almost 7pm when I woke up!!!  Time is so crazy today. 

I love the drive to and from Loretta's.  It's a long drive, but I get to see so many new places.  Minnesota is really beautiful.  The landscape is so different every where.  In my area we have lakes, lakes, lakes, HUGE farms, straight roads, lakes.  I drive a little north and it's hilly with trees everywhere, winding, twisting roads and tiny farms nestled into the hillsides - no lakes.  Farther north and there are pine trees everywhere and some lakes again.  One thing I've gained from having Tibby: I've seen more of my own state in the last year than I have in my entire life!  It's fun to be a tourist in your own state.  Although, slightly dangerous when you are driving on twisty roads!

Back to what I know - Flat Lakes!

LOOK at THIS!!  Cutest thing ever!!

Loretta let me hold 2 of her new baby sheep!  Cute little lambs.  Yes, I did kiss them.  They even still have their little umbilical cords!  No I did not kiss those - yuck!  I kissed their little bitty heads.  They were so floppy and soft and relaxed.  I've only ever been around sheep that run away from humans, so this was so neat!  Loretta also showed me some sheep herding.  Amazing. 

I also got to meet the new (big) puppy Maya.  Sweetheart dog.  She looks just like Klink, but in a different color!  And she pees like a swan LOL!! Gracefully.

Some video from today's lesson.  I got to run Klink.  Can you see how scared I am?!?  LOL!!  It was fun though.  I liked it.  Then some of Tibby, before she decided to be a brat. 

Watching this video - seriously I need to get some guts!  I'm so wimpy! 

I forgot to say all the things we did today!

Teeter

Tunnel to Teeter

12 channel weaves OUTSIDE - and she did really great, very focused

The super long USDAA chute - first time and she did it!  She even offered to do it once

Sequence on the video

And then lots of 'training' stuff, because Tibby decided not to play

So yes she was naughty, but she also did a lot of very good work. 

 Long road.

Daisy Peel Foundation Lesson - Standing Up Now

Another video for our foundations class with Daisy Peel.

This is what she said: "I think this is actually fine, but don’t be afraid to say good girl, or any other encouraging words it’s really easy to stand there and be pretty boring, and my examples are sometimes poor, because I tend not to say very much

I think this is actually fine, you’re changing your location fairly frequently, and pretty randomly, whether you intended to or not
sometimes, you are on the side, and sometimes, you are on the take off on the side, and that’s good.

The only thing that I might do differently, would be to clearly get myself on either the takeoff side, or the landing side, since standing parallel to the plane of the bar really doesn’t do much of anything in terms of cuing your dog towards one jumping effort or another. It is beginning, when we’re sitting on the ground, we are purposefully sitting parallel to the plaintiff the obstacle, because we’re trying to be in as neutral a position as possible, so as not to cue the dog to do anything other than to offer to take the jump. But, as soon as you stand up, you have to assume you are handling

I also don’t mind you are using the toy right at the end, as long as you can see that she sticks the landing, and is looking down, and as long as you don’t put the toy out there prematurely, which might encourage her to jump hyperextended, if she is looking up expecting the toy to appear.

I actually think this looks good! I might have actually gone that way out even earlier in the training session "
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And this is what I said, "“I might have actually gone that way out even earlier in the training session”
I think this means get the toy out? I had it out in the middle of the session and it perked her up a lot. You can see me stuff it down my shirt at one point LOL!!
Thanks for telling me that we can talk to the dog – I wasn’t sure about that. I usually talk to her – except when we are shaping something. So I will start talkng to her more. But we are still not supposed to cue the jump yet – right?

I will pick a side of the jump and not stand at the upright any more – I think that was what felt so weird!"
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And this is what she said, "Oh yes, sorry about that, stupid dictation software
yes, get the toy out sooner, that’s what I meant

I like the idea of “action cues” – cues that encourage the dog to take action of some sort without being specific about WHAT action. So while I might not say ‘jump’, I might say ‘what are you gonna do?’ or something else silly along those lines – an action cue."

Jane Killion - When Pigs Fly Seminar



This is my wrap up of the Jane Killion seminar - When Pigs Fly that we attended in February.  I can't do as through a job as Crystal over at Reactive Champion - check out her blog post here and here

One of the reasons I don't think I am able to give a very objective review of the seminar (unlike Crystal's very excellent posts):  I was experiencing it with Tibby.  I wrote about our week-end here, here and here.  It was stressful for both of us and I was very sleep deprived. 

I think Tibby did an amazing job.  Considering the whole stressful crating situation.  She worked for me almost the entire time.  A few times she went to check out the crowd, but she could have shut down or refused to eat treats or done any thing she wanted to do!  But she stuck with me. 

It was a big crowd of people.  I don't get nervous in front of large groups, so that was good :)  Make me talk to one or two people though and I have trouble!  I guess Tibby doesn't get stage fright either.

Heeling with me.

Jane showing me how to heel Tibby past a difficult spot - scary people.  Although she didn't mind going to check them out on her own!

This was one of the times that Tibby went to check out the crowd.  It could have been a lot worse.  I was happy every time she came back to me!

These people are getting closer and closer.

Look at Tibby's awesome recall here!

So here are a few notes that I thought were interesting:

  Attention is like respect. If you have to ask for it, you've already lost it.
If your dog can't perform a trained behavior in every distracting situation - then your dog doesn't know the behavior.
90% of problems with clicker training/training behavior are because the person is clicking too late.
Pleasure that does not strengthen behavior is indulgence. Punishers that do not decrease behavior are abuse.
Reinforces fail, because 1-not reinforcing in that context and 2-emotional interference (stress)
The seeking action of free shaping a behavior activates a vigorous release of dopamine in the dog's brain - like doggie crack!
The customer (dog) is always right - What does your dog want? That is the reinforcer.
Binary training - Either a 1 or zero. Reward or no reward. She doesn't use no reward markers.
To phase food out of training she uses a method called Thinning the Ratio. It's the same method used by casinos - random pattern of reward.
There isn't any special quality that makes someone a better trainer - they are just mechanically better and it is something that can be learned.
Difficult dogs are your trainer and they make you a better teacher.
Attention is 2 steps - Teach the concept and work the envelope. The envelope is the edge of where you can get the dog to perform the behavior without going over threshold/distracted.
Distractions are cues for attention.

Any one that knows Tibby, knows that this next part was Amazing!  I mean last summer I sat with her in the car for 2 hours at an agility trial.  We tried to get out of the car for 2 hours, but she was so over the top about the other dogs that being in the car far away from every one else was as close as we could get with out Tibby having a whining, screaming, lunging, pulling on the leash fit.  Not a focused, attention giving dog like she was here

The other dog actually touched her tail.  And she stayed focused on me.



So it was a great seminar.  It was a learning seminar.  Not all the things we learned were in the seminar.  I learned just how much I can trust Tibby.  How far she has gone and how far she can go. 




Here is the video from our working spots.  I know no one is going to want to watch an almost 46 min. video!  But if you do here it is!