Griffin at CD Prep Class III

Before class we worked on sidepassing (...nothing like last minute homework) and his stand stays. Once we get his tail still, it stays still. But that initial stillness can sure be a problem.

At class:

- Review of what we had done the week before. I wanted to leave Griffin in the car for this, so he wouldn't have to sit. But it was just too hot and the current vehicle doesn't have air. Hopefully next week!

- Call to Heel: Tossing a low value treat, calling the dog to heel. Reinforce with a higher value reinforcer. Griffin was working well enough I was comfortable dropping the leash (big garage doors open, ring gates across the front...easily jumpable!). But he was not returning to heel. Out of five repetitions, only two were correct. The other three he came up next to me. The instructor wanted me to keep walking until he was heeling. I wanted to re-set.... I'm afraid of letting him heel poorly, then well, then mark and reinforce and creating a dangerous behavior chain.

- Left and Right turns: Heeling in a big square while the rest of the group is in the center. When we were working his heeling was good for parts, poor for the others. When I'm working by myself I move out of position as soon as HE is out of position, but it's a bit hard to do that in a class setting. Not horrible but not all that great either. While we waited for our turn, we practiced sit stays and stand stays. He did well.

Other:

- He wasn't up for tugging. I tried a bit and then stopped...at the seminar we were instructed to keep going until we get it...but at the same time, that feels like giving a cue and repeating it and repeating it.

- There was some barking and impatience while waiting to work. I need to manage him better next time. Chews or a kong or a crate.

- There was too much excitement. One of the class members left her dog in a stay while she left the building to do something...her dog got up and got in another dogs face. It was tense. There was growling. I tried to hurry Griffin to the bathroom but he didn't want to go in there and so I ended up carrying him away. People think he's very reactive because I'm so paranoid.... but... better than him causing trouble or getting beat up (again).

Next week:

- I'll have a better management plan

- I'll have better training plans to work with him while we're waiting for our turns.

- I'll have a greater variety of reinforcers.

-We'll do more of our homework before class!

And we just realized, weeks into it, that one of our classmates has a dog from the same breeder. Not a very common occurrance!

Obedience Seminar

First seminar for me this year! Deb Jones and Judy Keller came to talk, with the first half of the day was about focus and basic training/foundation behaviors and the second half was activities pertaining to heeling.

I didn't know if I would be able to go until very recently, so I had not registered for a working spot and that was a good choice. While I would have liked to work Griffin in that setting, I don't know that the activities would have specifically helped us and we would have had to sit out on a few.

That said, I had a great time and got to see a lot of people I don't spend enough time with. It was a probably a record number of dogs in the building (12 working, and probably 8+ others) and the first working seminar that's been held at the facility. We also had a few requests from attendees for a freestyle workshop/class and I'm really hoping we'll be able to do that.

And as usual for any training day or lesson or workshop or seminar or event, I came home with too many notes, a list of questions and skills to add to our training skill/concept/behavior lists. I'm feeling really good about my dogs, my classes, my students, and my training plans.

There is a lot I need to process and think over, as well as discuss with training friends.

Moving and Staying

Training group yesterday and today! Yesterday we did this rear cross exercise. It didn't go as well as I expected. I'm having a hard time switching from how Blaze responds to cues (which is what I would like from the others!), how Luna responds, and Griffin. We had a lot of people in the room and that was definitely a challenge at times.

The best part was Griffin tugging readily the whole time (not so great that he wouldn't take food). He wasn't looking ahead enough to make rear crosses work well and I was having to put in a lot of effort to get him to even take jumps nearby. He may have been sore from his OFA experience two days before, I'm not entirely sure.

Training group today: Great focus with lots of people and dogs. While doing obedience. Absolutely horrible precision. He did great stand for exams. But he was twitching before or after the exam (NONE during the exam which is AMAZING). He was actively trying to hold still for the touching. But the rest was ridiculous. We had a TON of wrong clicks, at least three different people tried. But he moved so much and we responded so poorly. Eventually just giving up and hoping this was a one day thing and not a long term problem.

Second part of his session was spent looking at differences between his obedience focus (high) and his agility focus (not high). So we alternated between 1 min of obed. 1 min agility. 1 min obed... And it was crazy. As soon as we started agility, and not even real agility, sending to a platform for 2o2o, he went off into space, far away.

He also had trouble switching...I sent him to a table and he stopped before it. Sat. Offered behaviors. Not sure where to go or what to do. That was with a Table cue. After a few reps where he showed no interest in the table other than a brief nose target when nearby. But when I sent him with "Up" he went up and did an auto Down. He has great concept ideas. But not the specifics. He saw the table as something to go "up" on, but NO idea of what Table actually meant. Amazing!

And we spent way too much time talking about handler focus and more attention and my expectations and all of that great stuff. We're doing a Super Ton of Training for a few weeks, both in training groups and alone. And it's not enough time between groups to work on all the little problems. There are so many tiny pieces and big pieces I'd love to work on!

That said, Griffin is the best dog ever. We've been going with someone else. And he says nothing about two completely unknown dogs in the car with him. He's jumping into the building and wanting to play. He's adorable. No video from the last few days. I take my camera but forget to use it.

Finishes

I probably spend too much time on these behaviors. And so while waiting for the car to warm up before leaving classes last night...I 'tested' our finishes.

Verbal or visual cues for both the left and right finishes.



I need to move less. But I'm getting better! I think the left visual is our best one.

Stay Training: Part 1

Griffin and I have been working on stays. A few months ago it seemed like we would never be ready to compete. And now I'm trying to find opportunities to be in a group stay!

We've worked on several different pieces to get to where we are now and we still have more training to get to the point where we are ready to actually compete. Here's a few of the pieces we have been working on.

Frequent Feeding: Step forward to feed, without a marker, after a varied length of time. Over time, the period between feeding increased. The food is not a release. The placement of reinforcer ("Head straight, chin tucked.") inform my dog that he is not getting up.

Consistent Releases: We have a specific way to release from stays. This is always used at the end of stay exercises. I feed after the release. Sometimes we do exercises where I release after variable periods of time. Click (or mark) the release and feed.



Distraction Training: Gradually increase distraction levels. Up to and beyond what is ridiculous and practical. We use a very high rate of reinforcement and lots of repetitions.

Lots of Sit Stays: As Griffin is a dog more likely to lie down from a sit... we mostly work on sit stays.

Starting out of Sight Stays: With a barrier close to the dog's location. Shoulders behind the barrier...return and feed. Behind the barrier and return to feed. Behind and pause and return to feed.

Location Changes: Practice in a variety of locations. If we're practicing at home, vary the location in the room or direction we are facing.

Watch the Body Language: Early on, Griffin was very alert in his stays. We've been working to shape a more relaxed and comfortable position. I reinforce for anything that looks better. If we were really dedicated, we would do something like the Karen Overall Relxation Protocol. But I'm not quite that dedicated.

Make Stay an Active Position: This sounds like it counters the previous aspect. But I assure you, it does not! During these sessions, I challenge Griffin, but just barely, and reinforce him when I see him shift to the proper position or away from the distraction/challenge. Throughout his training, I reinforce this type of decision.



We're currently doing stays at 1.5 times what is needed for novice. I can go up to 25 steps away. I can be out of sight for 1/4 the Open time. We can have high level distractions (tossed items near by, people walking past, running past, throwing things).

Our next steps will be : increase duration (especially for out of sight stays), increase distraction level, work with other dogs nearby, set ups with other dogs (where dogs "break"), increase handler distance, work in new locations. I know I need to also put "roll onto your hip" on cue and to work on more down stays.