Raising Zane

New Blog

2011-05-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

I'm combining all the dogs into one blog, so please visit us at:
http://aussiesoncue.blogspot.com/

Same old

2011-04-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

Zane is continuing all of his normal training. There's nothing exciting to write about. . . just working on improving all of his work in obedience and agility.

This weekend I pulled out a spider than rolls around the floor. Zane decided that it needed to be killed.

Agility morning

2011-03-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

Zane is still attending Bella's agility lesson while she takes a break. We're skipping weave poles and jumps are at 8", but he's out working. He's not running a whole course. We do 3-5 obstacles, then stop and play. I try to make sure we stop after something that is giving him problems so that he gets a reward for doing it. So this morning, tunnels were an issue for him for some reason. So after every tunnel, we stopped and played. We also played after the chute as he's still new to it. And sometimes we just stopped after a jump just for fun. The a-frame is taller than he's used to, so I helped him with it a bit. And after the teeter banged a couple of times, I helped him with the teeter. Other than that, he's moving fast, going out to take jumps, and having a blast!

Push

2011-03-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

We've been playing a lot of pushing games and tug games this week. He still does some obedience work, but he didn't do any agility until today. We went for a private lesson. He went on the dogwalk with a rubber top. At first he got on, then immediately got off when he felt the different surface. He really notices differences! Then he went over with no problem.

Here he is with mad teeth.

Herding weekend

2011-03-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to a stockdog clinic. Zane didn't get to work, but he watched and took it all in. Overall, he did very well. But. . . he cannot handle puppies. They weren't even that close to him and he started to growl, then got very wild-eyed. I had to get him back to his crate away from there. Puppies are just too out of control for him.

This morning at Rally, he was fine with the dogs. He did his goofy rolling and acting like a baby puppy with some, and when a friend brought out her old, blind Border Collie, he did his rolling, but it was very subdued. It was like he knew that he had to be calmer with this dog.

I'm starting to do more pushing things with him. So I hold food in one hand, the other hand on his chest, and he has to push into the hand on his chest to get to the food. I want a lot of push and pressure so he is really working to get it.

This morning he did nosework at a covered shelter in the park. I hid one find in the open end of a picnic table. He knew it was somewhere up there, put his front paws on the picnic bench, then looked at me very worried that he wasn't allowed up there. He found it though! He found all three hides - good job!

Hot Dog Heeling

2011-03-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

When we first started hot dog heeling, Zane would get a couple of nibbles, then walk along wishing he could have more. If he had pushed into it, he could have! This week at Rally, he was definitely more pushy - that's exactly what I want! The only time we had a problem was for the schutzhund turn - he didn't want to leave the hot dog! But I can definitely feel a difference in the level of intensity in his heeling. Hopefully we get the level of drive I want from this.

We working on his chin target again. I want him to maintain it while moving. He actually does a nice sidepass to the right, but has harder doing a sidepass to the left while maintaining a chin target. He can also move forward. But he's not pushing into a chin target when I just hold it out. He'll lightly rest his chin when it's stationary, but not give the pressure I want. So we're working on that. I want him to learn to really push into things.

Bella is on break from agility, so he went to her agility lesson this week. We skipped weave poles as we haven't even started them, and he had issues doing contacts on the a-frame. Then again, we've just started doing a-frames, so that doesn't surprise me. And yes, he went on the dogwalk and a-frame and teeter willingly! Yay Zane!

Wondrous day!

2011-03-13T19:19:00.000-07:00

It was a wonderful, exciting, stupendous day for Zane. Some people will go, "Huh? What's the big deal?" when they read this. But for Zane, it's huge.

When I got Zane, he was fearful of dogs. He would hide and lip curl or snarl at dogs who came near. We've done a lot of work - I don't need him to play with dogs, but I do need him to accept dogs.

Today our kennel club had a Pack Walk. Zane was a bit worried about dogs walking behind him and passing him, but he handled it and settled in and didn't freak out about it. A couple of dogs even gave him a quick sniff in the face and he didn't react. At the end, we were all in the shade of a tree. Zane was surrounded by dogs. He just sat there. No reactions! Two months ago, he would have freaked!

The only time he got worried was when an Anatolian Shepherd wouldn't get out of his face. He didn't react, but his body language wasn't happy. I called him out of there and he did fine.

One thing I am noticing is that when he was a baby puppy, he didn't act like a baby puppy around other dogs. He was too scared. Now it's like he's reverting back to that phase and wanting to act like a baby puppy around other dogs. Unfortunately, he's not of an age for most adult dogs to accept that. So now he needs to learn some self-control around other dogs.

Look at the dog sniffing his butt! That would have definitely been a reaction moment in the past.

Look at him surrounded by other dogs.

You can see the concern here. His body is curved, head turned away, ears back, mouth closed. He's not comfortable, but he doesn't react.

It's Chuckie!

2011-03-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

This morning, it finally hit me who Zane reminds me of. . . Chuckie from Rugrats! They both have unruly red hair. They are both irrationally scared of normal things. They both speak in a nasally voice (ok, so Zane's voice isn't really nasally, but anytime I "speak" for him, it's always in a nasally voice.)

Go here to see a clip of Chuckie:
Chuckie and the Potty

The new behavior he's learning: targeting with a rear foot. I do this by having them back up to a large target and gradually decrease the size of the target. He's backing up and putting one or two rear feet on the target, so he's getting it!

Cat Dog

2011-03-10T15:28:00.001-08:00

Zane in the cat tunnel.

Isn't that ridiculous?

He finished his Focus & Control class last night. There was another dog there that is leash reactive, and he and Zane have snarked at each other before. Last night they were doing head-on mat races without even looking at each other. It went very, very well. The class helped him a lot.

Zane - 9 months (almost)

2011-03-08T18:20:00.000-08:00

Fast Progress!

2011-03-08T17:30:00.001-08:00

Today I was out cleaning up all the stuff that blew around in our recent windstorms. While I was out there, I rearranged some of the agility equipment. As I moved stuff around, I looked over, and Zane was standing at the end of the dogwalk waiting for me to watch. As soon as I did, he walked up it and walked across! Woohoo! He offered that all by himself. Of course, he got cookies and pets and loving for doing it. He got on and off all by himself several times and even turned around once (without me asking him to). This evening, he also went over the A-frame without needing help. Now granted, they are both lowered, but this is major progress for him.

Then I was wanting him to do a line of jumps and move out ahead of me. As we passed the 4th jump, he would veer off to the dogwalk which was nearby. I guess it's been reinforced enough now that it has value again.

Room Searches

2011-03-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

This morning Zane did 2 box searches, then I filmed a room search. It's fascinating to watch the dogs work.

And here's Bella doing the same search.

Unroll a Mat

2011-03-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

Here's Zane working on unrolling a mat:

I thought I filmed Bella learning it from scratch, but it didn't record! She learned it in about 30 seconds. She's so amazing.

We met a friend for agility practice today. I sent Zane over the dogwalk there - worked on stopping on it and sitting on it. Then went to the A-frame and learned he's scared of it now too. So more work. Before we left, he offered to get on the dogwalk again. Yay!

At home, I lowered the A-frame to very low so the height doesn't scare him. It will be regularly added to our training now.

While at the agility place, I went off to another area and did some nosework searches. He didn't find one. It was in the middle of a big wood pile. He knew it was somewhere, but couldn't figure out where it was. So that's a puzzle to work on.

Retraining the dogwalk

2011-03-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

Zane is having fun unrolling the yoga mat. I think I need to move him to a rolled up carpet!

Zane is on a program to re-train the dogwalk. He's never been completely comfortable on it. His goal is to get across it as fast as possible. I want him to be comfortable. And after his fall yesterday, it's going to take some work. The first thing I did was lower the dogwalk. Then I started rewarding any movement on it. Then I had to get him to stop on it. And we worked on sit and down on it.

This evening when we went out, I had him go across it a couple of times (he still wants to avoid it), then just scattered the rest of his meal across it. He went back and forth eating his dinner.

Here's a vid of this morning's work.

Scary Day

2011-03-03T19:20:00.000-08:00

This morning, Zane started learning to unroll a rolled up yoga mat. Silly trick, but I want him to start getting a little "pushier" with his nose. So we'll be doing lots of pushing tricks.

We also went to the park (a new one) for obedience work. He did well on what I asked, although I still see some chewing of the dumbbell. And he did three outdoor searches out there. Sometimes it's hard to tell when he's working a scent and when he's just sniffing. Must learn to read the boy.

Last night, Beth watched the video and we were doing it wrong. But she had a great suggestion for what we were doing - use two toys - toss to reward TOTO, then send him back over. We'll try it.

She showed me what she originally was trying to tell me. We went out this evening to try it. It, uh, didn't go so well. I don't think Zane has the coordination yet to handle it. Remember, he's only 8 months (almost 9 months!) and still very leggy, and as a friend says, he's put together with rubber bands. He ended up falling off the dogwalk in a very scary way. And of course, it scared the &*%^ out of both of us. Here it is in all our glory.

And here's Bella learning to do it. You can see she has some trouble maintaining her grip a couple of times until she learned how to make a straighter approach.

Challenge!

2011-03-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

This has nothing to do with Zane, but I wanted to share something we're doing over here in dog training land. I'm starting a monthly training challenge. It's starting easy with a "shut the door" challenge for April. Why don't you join us?

On Cue Challenge

Agility discussion

2011-03-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

Before we discuss agility, we need to discuss Zane and the furniture. None of my dogs are allowed on the furniture. Then with Bella, if she was invited up, she could get up and cuddle with Jill. Then Zane came and all the rules changed. I don't remember how it started, but it became his job to nap with me. Then anytime I sat on the couch, he was up there. He doesn't get up if a person isn't there to cuddle with, but anybody is fair game to have a red dawg leaping onto them.

Now, on to agility. Beth, his breeder, IMed me to discuss his reaction on the dogwalk. She thinks it was more worried that he had done something wrong (how his mother would react). And she wanted me to try something different with the dogwalk. So hopefully I understood her directions, and I'm putting this up to see if I did it right. Beth?

Tonight is Week 4 of his Focus and Control class. He does better at it than at Rally practice in the park. I haven't figured out why yet!

Nosework update

2011-03-01T19:50:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the park for rally practice. We got there early and Zane did 2 box searches, then I had him search two benches. He likes this work. He likes finding his cookies.

I've noticed that he's entered a phase where he is very unfocused. He's having problems with heeling as he just can't maintain attention on me. Some is concern about other things; some is just ADD - adolescent dog disorder. So my new goal is to build more drive for heel.

I did this with Travis with hot dog heeling. So Zane started today. I hold a hot dog in my left hand. My hand is wrapped around it and he can only nibble the very bottom of the hot dog. And to nibble, he has to be pushing up into that hand. So he gets a nice heads up position, he is driving into heel, and his focus stays on me.

I learned that right now he doesn't have a lot of drive to stay in heel. It took a bit for him to realize that he could control how much hot dog he got. He went through the whole rally course shoving his nose into that hot dog hand. I'll just do this for a couple of months and see what we have.

I really need to figure out how to get him working in drive more often. He can do it and has done it. We just need it more consistent in new places.

He still loves agility. Today I let him do the A-frame for the first time. He ran right over and hit his contact like a champ. I'm also working more circles of jumps. One set had 4 jumps set in an arc. They were spaced so he would bounce through them. He doesn't quite have the spacing down yet. He could bounce the first three, then needed a stride for the 4th. Nice baby work to teach him how to read the spaces between the jumps.

Catching up

2011-02-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

It's been an insane two weeks, but I'm still getting some training in. Working on the same old stuff. Nothing new and exciting going on here!

We did go to a friend's house and did nosework in her garage for someplace new.

Oh, and he passed his CGC test on Tuesday. It was more a test of my skills to manage him than his skills to pass. Sad, but true. There was a dog there that scared him very much. He could not concentrate because of that dog. (That dog did snap at another dog, so he probably had legitimate concerns.) I used a lot of hand touches to get him back with me through several tests. And for the petting and exams, I used a chin target to my hand to give him something to focus on besides being touched.

So, while I'm proud of him for passing, I also wonder how far training is going to take him. Will he ever be able to handle an obedience ring with strange dogs and people? Will he be able to do a stand-for-exam with somebody dressed funny or wearing a hat (one of his bugaboos)? Will his stays be solid, or will he break for something that scares him? I'm not giving up on him, I will continue to train, but I do wonder how far I'll be able to get him.

Poor Zane

2011-02-21T19:35:00.000-08:00

Tonight Zane was standing by the family room door. The door was in that halfway position - not open, not closed - just halfway. I tossed a cheeseball to him. He missed and it rolled under the door to the other side. He kept sniffing it under teh door, trying to figure out how to reach it. He never, ever walked to the other side of the door.

I asked him, "Where is it?" That's his cue for nosework. Bella heard that and ran over to hunt. She started on his side of the door, and within 2 seconds was on the other side of the door getting his cheeseball.

Poor doofus Zane! I think he needs to work on those kinds of puzzles in nosework!

Using back to increase distance

2011-02-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

Today we worked more on getting sit-back and sit-back-sit and down-back-down. This chain helps them sit or drop faster and to learn to sit or down while farther away. Zane has a long way to go with it, but here's a start.

My little funny boy

2011-02-18T19:03:00.000-08:00

We don't get a lot of visitors out here. We're out in the country and a lot of people don't want to drive the dirt roads. We get quite a few teens and preteens in and out of the house, but not many adults. A friend who Zane hasn't met came over today. Zane just stood way back and barked at her for like 10 minutes. I finally grabbed him, pulled him over to her and fed him chicken by her. "Oh, I get chicken by her! Cool! Hi, pet me!" He just didn't know who she was and was expressing his distrust and fear.

He did 2 nosework searches today - one this morning and one for my friend. He still does some shaping type stuff on occasion, but he also gets down to work and sniffs. You can see the whiplash turns as he zeroes in on the scent.

When doing drop-on-recalls and go-out-and-sits, I like to use a backup to get them to hang back. So for the DOR, I call, drop them, tell them to back up and drop them again. It's really helped Bella learn to drop fast and not creep forward. I was trying the same thing with Zane's go-out and sit today, using the backup after the sit, but his back isn't solid enough yet, so we worked on just backing up instead. Interestingly, he hasn't done his little grumbling thing while training in a while, but he did it while having to back up.

Zane's Obedience Practice

2011-02-17T19:26:00.001-08:00

Here's a video of Zane's obedience practice at the park this morning. It is way too long, but I wanted to show exactly what we do - good and bad and funny.

Agility practice

2011-02-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a video of Zane's agility practice from last week. We obviously need to work to make him comfortable on the dogwalk. I would have thought this things like perching on the stool would have helped (learning to keep all those feet in a small space), but he is very uncomfortable having to stand or sit on the dogwalk.

Forgot the most important part

2011-02-16T05:58:00.000-08:00

I was so tired when posting yesterday, I forgot the most important part! There are things we know, but don't always remember, and we have to learn them again or in new circumstances.

With the work on Zane going out to touch and then sit. . . at first he kept wanting to walk back to me before sitting. But where was I rewarding him? From my hand! No wonder he wanted to walk back to me. So I started placing his reward behind the target, and gee, he started staying out there to sit. Where you place your rewards is vital!

Of course, when we did the exercise this morning, I had to relearn that again. Sometimes I'm a little slower than the dog.

I learned that Zane's sister also boings out to the dumbbell. I think Beth slipped some kangaroo or jack rabbit genes into this litter. That has to be why they're so boingy.

We also worked signals this morning. I didn't move any farther than 6 feet away as he's not ready for more distance. And I have to watch those sits. From the down to the sit, I want those front feet pushing back, not the back feet coming forward. I will also accept something else he does - popping straight up so all feet move in to the middle. It's almost like he jumps straight up from a down. But the movement of the back feet coming forward tends to make dogs move forward on the sit, and I do not want that. Move back and maintain your distance is what I'm looking for.

So much going on!

2011-02-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

It's hard to even remember everything we've been doing.

On Sunday Zane went to an agility trial with me. He did beautifully. He actually wanted to go visit some dogs, he was excited and goofy the whole time, and no signs of fear. There was some hesitation at times, but no outright fear. My oldest daughter came to watch and she walked him around. He didn't want to go with her at first, but a handful of treats convinced him.

In Nosework, he's gone from just working boxes to working various objects. The first time I took him into the room with the objects, he thought we were shaping. He went to every object and said, "Look! I can touch it with my nose. I can whack it with my paw. I can do paws up. I can do two-on-two-off. I can stand on it. I can sit on it. What do you want?" He finally figured out there was food hidden and got searching. He's done two more searches since then and went right to using his nose.

This morning we worked on some foundation work for go-outs. I had a target that I would send him to. Then I started building a small chain by sending him to the target, and when I would usually click, I gave him the cue to sit. That way the cue acts as a reinforcer to the previous behavior. It took him a couple of tries to figure out how to sit way out there away from mama, but he got it. Now to start adding more distance.

He loves his agility

2011-02-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

For breakfast, Zane worked on his stand and "get in". His get in is a bit sloppy, so I pulled out the cone and worked on fine-tuning exactly where I want it. No, having your butt way out there isn't it.

For his dinner, we went out to the agility field. I walked up to a jump and was going to set him up, and he starts boinging back and forth over the jump. He just wanted to work! Forget setting up! I finally got him back and we did a bit of the Mecklenberg foundation work.

Then we played with baby serpentines and pinwheels. For each, we first just did the first two jumps in each until he could read that, then we added the third jump. Not perfect, but he's really starting to read it all very nicely.

Then we did the teeter. He's been needing some babysitting on the teeter. It is lowered, but he wasn't liking the movement and the bang. But today he just went right over it with no problem. He's learned how to handle it.

Then tunnels and tables. He is getting a very fast down on the table. Nice!

On to the dogwalk. He flew across it and slid right through his contact. He tried to get back on, but that's no longer allowed. Stick it or nothing. So we did it two more times and he stuck it like a champ.

That was a lot of work, but he didn't want to stop. He was ready to play some more!

Focus & Control

2011-02-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

Last night I started a Focus & Control class (a lot of Control Unleashed work). Since I'm teaching, I can't handle a dog in it, so Jill handled Zane in it. He did very well. The first night is just setting up the basic behaviors. He knows all the basics, so she just worked them to higher levels. We haven't worked on going to the mat for quite a while, but he was sending 10-12 feet to it. There is one dog in class he doesn't like - that dog has gone after him before. I just have them on opposite sides of the class. That dog went after another dog in class, so I'll have to keep a close eye on him.

This morning we went to a new park to train. His heeling is so enthusiastic. I really have to watch him as he'll start forging badly.

He did full dumbbell retrieves, but I was laughing at him because he didn't run or trot to the dumbbell; he boinged to the dumbbell. I really wish I had my camera! When I would say "take it", he would go boing-boing-boing and pick it up. On short retrieves, I don't get mouthing of the dumbbell, but on the longer retrieves I did. Now I have to figure out how to stop that mouthing. Thinking cap on!

We worked on stand-for-exam with somebody who has never done them on him. We have to take it very, very slowly. His first reaction is to move away. When I insist that he stay, he ducks his head or pulls it away. So at first we did:
hand out - treat (repeat several times) - her hand didn't touch it - just reached out toward him.
Then we did hand touch to head and treat. This is all classical conditioning. I want him to think, "Hand coming to me and touching me? Yay!"
After several reps, he had two in a row where he didn't duck, so we stopped right there. He will need a lot of time and work to get solid on this, but it is doable.

The other fun thing we did was with the dumbbell. I was holding it and asking him to take it in various positions. He loves to leap up and take the dumbbell when I hold it up high. That was very reinforcing for him.

We also worked with food distractions. I had a little plate on the ground beside me. I put food on it, then asked him to sit. He had to think about it and get a second cue to do it. Then we did a down. Then I asked for a front. When he successfully did the behavior I asked for, he was released to get the treat.

Another thing I found is that we are going to have to do some work with pressure. When heeling, I will sometimes play a game with Bella where I push her out of heel position and she has to get back in. She will fight to stay in heel position while I push on her. She loves this game and it will rev her up. Zane does not like this game. "OMG. You pushed me away. I'm going to go pout over there." So I will have to condition this game and get him enjoying it.

Nosework

2011-02-09T08:13:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I went to California for a Nosework seminar. And I was dogless! I don't do that very often.

So Zane has started learning the box work for Nosework. Just playing with it a couple of times away.

Meal times have just been a conglomeration of various things he already knows. I'm too tired to be creative right now!

Stacking Bowls

2011-02-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

This morning I saw a Youtube video of a woman teaching a dog to stack food bowls. What fun! I had to try it! (Doing it a little different of course. . .) Here's hers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zK-8OtJxso

And ours. . . .

We had a couple of little short sessions on hold and stand today. The stand is just standing and doing nothing. I'm applying light pressure to his sides and pressure on his legs - he has to lock his legs and not lift them.

A little resource guarding?

2011-02-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

This morning Zane worked on "stand" for his breakfast. Not getting in a stand. Just standing. Still. Without any foot movement. It's something I need to remember to build up with him.

Mid-morning we went out and he did a novice run-through minus the off-lead heeling and the down-stay. He did a minute and a half sit-stay. When I said "around" for his finish, he did a "get in" instead. I did the whole thing with no food - just him and me and us working and playing together. He did pretty darn good! Just the few bobbles.

For dinner, it's his second day of working on "hold". He's getting in the habit on the informal retrieves of just bringing the object to me and kind of tossing it at me. Uh, no. It's time to tighten up that bring and hold. I'm using an M&M tube and found a funny side-effect to it. When he bites down on it, the lid pops and scares him. He drops it, then he wants to avoid it. No go buddy.

When he realized I was going to make him hold it, he decided to just not get it at all. After asking him a couple of times, I put him outside (I still had his dinner) and brought Bella in and trained her. Then he got to come back in and try again. He picked it up a couple of times, had to work on the hold, then decided he didn't want to anymore. Travis had just finished his dinner, so I asked Travis to take it. Zane growled and grabbed it out of his mouth. Yes, he does do some resource guarding against the other dogs. And he didn't want Travis getting his training time and his food. Of course he didn't bring it to me either.

So we did several reps of that - sometimes he dropped it at me feet. Sometimes he wouldn't come to front. But we ended on a good note - he picked it up, brought it to front, sat, and held it until I asked him to release.

Who's bigger and badder?

2011-01-31T18:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I had Zane out on the agility field working on obedience. While working, my husband went to the back porch to start the grill. Zane kept watching him. He's so concerned about everything and worried that somebody is going to do something scary over there that he forgets where he should be focusing.

Some trainers would say to make yourself bigger and badder and scarier than whatever has the dog's attention so your dog won't worry about that thing over there. They're more worried about what you're going to do.

Instead, I turned myself into more fun. If he looked over at my husband, I tagged him and took off running. When he caught up with me, we played. Soon, his eyes were all on me and no longer worried about what was happening on the porch.

This morning at Bella's agility lesson he did the dogwalk several times (since starting the teeter here at home, he's a bit worried about the dogwalk - "It might move!") He practice TOTO on the A-frame, but didn't go over it (too high). He did tables and tunnels. And after class he got to do the chute (wind was blowing it almost open, so easy).

He saw Rusty's owner and just fell all over himself trying to get to her. I think he loves her because she is Rusty's person. Or maybe it's because she is just such a sweet, kind, caring person. He has good taste!

Fauxhawk

2011-01-29T18:32:00.001-08:00

Silly boy

2011-01-28T06:25:00.000-08:00

This morning, Zane just couldn't get his head around working. "I'm hungry!" When he's like that, he can be a little too enthusiastic. He'll get in heel, then immediately bounce out. When we stop on our heel, he can't sit - he bounces to front. These are all good opportunities to build more self-control in him. He did settle down and work - that's the fastest way to get the food after all.

After working heeling a bit, I switched to having him paw target my foot. Eventually I'll turn this into a trick with the cue, "Who's the boss." But I started playing with it today in a different way. I sat on the couch. I'd lift one foot and have him paw target with his paw on that side. Then I'd lift the other foot and have him paw target with the paw on that side. At first he had trouble switching paws, but then got the hang of it. I can turn this into the marching in place in tandem. I can picture him doing it in front, or while doing it while between my legs.

A bit later I pulled out the hoop. I had it a little higher and wanted to see if he'd put some effort into it. He still only wants to jump from left to right - need to work on the other way. Bella was the star of the hoop jumping - she was leaping high and jumping clean. Baby Dog Zane will get there. He's full of enthusiasm - he just needs to figure out how his body works at times. The funniest was when Bella jumped through and landed on him. They're such clowns.

Sheepies

2011-01-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Zane got to meet the sheep. Sheep are vewy, vewy scawy. When I went in with him, he did better, but was still hesitant. We'll continue to expose him to sheep until he realizes what he's supposed to do with them. The instructor did note when he realized that *he* could make the sheep move. He liked that!

This morning we continued working on getting paper out of the mailbox. Now the key is that he has to bring it to me, sit, and hold it until I take it. He can be very impatient about that. He also worked on "pull" some more. He is pulling with lots and lots of gusto! I'm getting it under stimulus control. And now I have to get him to push on the drawer to shut it. . . . when all he wants to do is pull.

We also went to the park for a bit. He did figure 8's and then we worked on the exams. For the sit for exam, he jumped away from my friend. Then he finally held it. For the stand, we started with her just walking by, then walking to him and touching him on the back. It's going to take a lot of work to get him solid on the stands. He'd rather move away from the person.

This evening we went out and tried to get some videos of his movement. His front movement is off right now - he's high-stepping as his pace increases. He also over-reaches, but we knew that. He has a lot of drive in the rear. The herding instructor said his shoulders are a bit too straight, so with the high drive in the rear and less drive in the front from straight shoulders, he's trying to figure out how to get those front feet out of the way.

More distance and more food bowl distractions

2011-01-25T18:21:00.000-08:00

We continued our distance work with more work on "go" - meaning keep going straight ahead. I set up a straight sequence of jump-tunnel-jump-table. We started with the table. Run to the table and find the cookies on it. When he was confident with that, he did jump-table to get the cookies while I stayed by the jump. And I added in the down after he got his cookies. He's getting good distance on his down too!

Then he did tunnel-jump-table. No more turning back after the tunnel! He just kept going. Awesome. Then he did the whole sequence while I stayed back at the beginning.

Then we worked a bit on out. I had four jumps set in an arc. I could only take a straight line from the first to the last jump - no curving in. He had to move away from me to take the jumps. No problem! He has learned to look for the jump ahead.

Then we walked to the teeter. I lowered it and had him go over it. He decided he didn't like that bang and wanted to bail. I supported him through several times and put a line of cookies on it. He's not real confident yet, so I'll continue a lot of support on the teeter.

For his dinner, I put the food bowl on the ground and continued our work on heeling around the bowl. But I also added pivots around the bowl. Very, very little loss of focus. He's getting better!

Distance Work

2011-01-24T17:36:00.000-08:00

Today we started some distance work in agility. The first distance command I'm teaching is "Go" which means continue on straight ahead.

I loaded a target with a piece of food. We both started behind the jump and I sent him over to the target. I stayed back at the start line. Then he had to go two jumps. Then three jumps.

At that point I put a tunnel in front of the two jumps. So we did the two jumps, then tunnel-jump-jump. He had a little trouble coming out of the tunnel and going straight ahead. He wanted to turn back and see where I was. But he figured it out, so we were able to do jump-tunnel-jump-jump.

This is going to be a slow process. There is no hurry, he's still young, and I don't want to push him too much right now. Jumps are only 8" and each obstacle is only 8 feet or so apart. I'm just building concepts.

Push and Pull

2011-01-22T18:44:00.000-08:00

Tonight Zane started working on Push and Pull. He is pulling a drawer open and pushing a door shut.

This morning I did a couple of reps of getting the newspaper out of the mailbox. All the dogs were in the house and he and Bella had a team effort going. She would open the door, he'd get the paper. He's more paw oriented; she's more nose oriented. So she grabs the rope to pull the door open, whereas he paws the door open.

Don't get the paper

2011-01-22T16:21:00.000-08:00

When I went out to feed this morning, I took the camera with me. I wanted to video either Travis or Zane getting the paper for me. Well, that was a big bust. One got the paper, dropped it long before they got to me, then they kept running back and forth right over the paper. When Travis did finally pick it up, Zane took it, then Travis took it back, etc, etc. I'm lucky I had a paper in the end!

So here you get to see Zane being Zane, no training, just having fun. He is getting kind of pushy with Travis - he thinks he wants to be top dog. Ha!

The past couple of days I have really tortured Zane. At meal time I take his food outside, put it on the ground and put him on leash. I make him heel past and around the food. If he pulls forward or loses attention on me, we go back to the beginning and start over. It's torture!! But he does get it. And what a great proofing exercise.

Contacts

2011-01-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

I took some video today of Zane working on his contacts.

First is a picture. He's saying, "Hey, I'm here! Toss my cookie!"

Agility

2011-01-20T06:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday as I was sitting here at my computer working, Zane brought a tug toy over, held it while resting his chin on my leg, his eyes giving me a pleading look. Ok! Break time! We went out and played with some agility.

I had four jumps set up - three in a pinwheel and the fourth set up like the start of another pinwheel. So we did the pinwheel then a rear cross to the fourth jump. The first two times, I got a spin on the rear cross. Then after that, he had it! No more spins. And he's actively looking for the jumps now rather than looking back for the tug toy and missing the jumps.

This morning we went out and worked contacts on a-frame, dogwalk, and teeter. He sees me heading for one, and he runs and gets into two-on-two-off. So after working the contact a bit, I asked him to get in it while I stayed behind him. He can do it on the dogwalk, but has more trouble on the a-frame. He tends to go off and turn back to me. He does eventually get it, but it needs more work. I think lowering the a-frame will help too. I need help for that though.

I did ask him to walk over the whole dogwalk today. That was very, very scary. He would get halfway up the ramp and want to bail. So I just held his collar and supported him across. He did it twice. He definitely needs some confidence work on it!

After doing contacts, we did a couple of jumps. I would send him over a jump, have him wrap it, then front cross to another jump. No problem.

NTD

2011-01-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

It's official! Zane is listed on the website for earning his Novice Trick Dog Title!
Look under Novice, then under Australian Shepherds.
Do More With Your Dog

A different "Get the paper"

2011-01-19T06:19:00.000-08:00

Part of our morning routine is that when it is light enough, I head out and feed the horses and the chickens. As I leave the pasture, Travis runs ahead to our front gate, gets the paper and brings it to me. (He's such a good boy - I don't even tell him too - he figured this out all on his own, and it's a good 300 feet from the pasture to the front gate - that's a good outrun!)

This morning I gave all the dogs bones, so when I fed the horses, none of the dogs came with me. They were busy. As I left the pasture, Zane left his bone and came up to join me. I walked to the paper, and as I approached it, Zane picked it up and brought it to me. What a sweet boy!

Of course, one morning I had shaped him to pick up the paper, but that was awhile back and since, he's only tried to take the paper from Travis's mouth as he runs to me. This was a pretty big step for a young dog.

Jump into my arms. . .

2011-01-19T06:01:00.000-08:00

Zane and I are working on getting him to jump into my arms. Bella will do it, but it came about accidentally from another game she plays. Zane doesn't play the same game, so I have to figure out how to get him to do it.

I started off sitting in a chair and asked him to jump into my lap. Of course he can do that! He loves it! Then I put a pillow in the chair so I was sitting a little more upright and asked him to jump. Little by little, I've added another pillow and another pillow, pushing me more and more into a standing position.

I'm not all the way standing yet, and I find he does better if I have my legs offset, but he is starting to get the idea.

The main problem with doing this? His claws on my neck! He jumps up and grabs on, and my neck is showing the result of those claws digging in! I think as he gets more comfortable with this, he'll trust me to catch him without having to catch himself.

Next trick to work: teaching him to jump on my back!

Morning Session

2011-01-17T20:37:00.000-08:00

I was watching Bella and Zane play this morning. They are so different. Bella is so quick and light - she's like a little wood sprite flitting around. Zane is. . . . not. It's hard to come up with the right description for him. My first thought was a rhino or hippo. But he's not short and fat. But he does kind of plow through things. Then I thought of a high school basketball player. But he's not that long-legged overgrown type. But he is kind of "galumphy" like they are. He's definitely not graceful at this point.

Here's Zane's training session this morning. We started with "get the paper", moved on to "wipe", and then finished up with jump through a hoop. He has "get the paper" down now. Wipe needs more work. And he is getting jump through a hoop.

I've had some questions on why I'm shaping the hoop. Too many times when a dog has been lured through the hoop, they won't do it unless they have that hand motion. I need a nice, independent hoop. Several later tricks need him able to do it on a verbal cue only. By shaping it, there is no hand lure to fade. He is also learning exactly what is required for this - he will have spent enough time experimenting with different behaviors that he will know exactly what *is* required. I'll do the same thing with the broad jump.

Mailbox

2011-01-16T20:40:00.000-08:00

Another trick we started working on is getting the mail. He can't get it out of our real mailbox as it's one of those centralized units, and I don't think he can operate the key. (That's a joke.) But. . . he can do a Little Tikes mailbox.

Today we just worked on opening the door. You see a nice extinction burst and recovery, then finally extinction. He wants that butterfly. Even after he gives up and works on the door, he goes back to the butterfly and tries again. So we extinguished the butterfly, it came back, and then extinguished again. Just remember, if you're trying to use extinction on a behavior, if you ever, ever, ever reward it, you just made it stronger because you've got it on a variable reinforcement schedule.

Tomorrow we'll work on getting something out of the mailbox. Then we'll put the two behaviors together. Here's a video of tonight's work.

Smorgasbord

2011-01-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

It's been a smorgasbord of training today. We just did lots of short little sessions of many different things.

Let's see. We worked on:
Carry my purse (by the handle please Zane)
Jump into my arms (right now I'm doing it while I sitting and gradually working my way to standing)
Leg Weave (He can do 3 or 4 weaves, but it's not fast or fluent yet. We need speed and enthusiasm.)
Paws on my arm
Jump through a hoop (Completely shaping this. Oddly, he's decided that he only jumps it one way. He walks around it and jumps from the other side. And he went through the whole gamut of nose touch, paw touch, bite it, under it, around it, etc.)

I looked for a bike horn today. Can't find one.

This evening a plastic storage container fell and made a loud noise. He went running. Ok, learning opportunity. I dropped it and tossed a treat to him. Dropped it, tossed a treat. Gradually got the treat closer and closer. Finally I would drop and put the treat on top. He would start to run, then turn back for it. I think I'll start dropping things before every meal.

Tricks and Wipe

2011-01-16T05:27:00.000-08:00

Here is Zane meeting the requirements for his Novice Trick Dog title.

Here is Zane's second session of shaping "wipe your paws".

And for contrast, here is Bella's. Bella doesn't wipe - she dabs. But I don't think I'm going to get wipe out of it. That's ok, I may get something even cooler!

See how two different dogs will have such different shaping sessions for the same behavior? That's why shaping is an art as well as a science.

Wipe Your Paws

2011-01-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

Since Zane finished his Novice Trick Dog requirements, I was looking at the Intermediate tricks. He has to do 12. He can do 9 right now, so I have to decide which ones to train him to do. I decided the first one is "wipe your paws". I've never taught this behavior before, so it will be new for both of us.

I started with a nice, soft, rubbery frisbee type thing. It really doesn't matter what it is - I just wanted something for him to target. I first clicked for paw targeting it. When that was reliable, I waited. He would either pull his foot backward (wiping motion!) which I clicked, or he would put his other paw on (I clicked that too). I think it will quickly turn into a wiping motion.

Hmmm, if I'm good, I'll get the camera out and tape it tonight!

Catching up for the week

2011-01-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I haven't posted since Monday! Let's see if I can get it all caught up.

Tuesday morning we went to Rally practice. Zane got to do the course. It was an excellent level course, but I kept him on-leash and didn't do the jumps. He's at that stage where he's forgotten things, so I'm back to retraining. All dog learn, forget, learn it again, then know it. One of the things he's forgotten is his rear pivot. Huh? He was awesome at that. So the pot is back out and we're working it again. He did the honor and held it although his BC buddy, Rusty, was on the course.

Wednesday we worked contacts on the "big" equipment. He's not going over the equipment, I'm simply putting him in position and rewarding him for staying there while I move around.

Thursday we went to obedience practice. We worked on a lot of heeling. That morning for his breakfast, he did NOT want to get into heel position and sit there. He kept getting on the fireplace mantle and getting in two-on-two-off. "Look, I can do that! I don't wanna' do that." At the park, he would get into heel position with no problem. No, I don't know why. I'm starting to push him away and have him fight to get back into heel. He thinks it's great fun. We did some recalls - we've only done "front" from close, so that was a new experience for him. I need to work on this, slowly getting farther away. He seemed a little lost.

Friday we were back at the park. A friend was the witness as he met the requirements for his Novice Trick Dog Title! Woohoo! It's been sent in, so soon he'll be official.

There's the chihuahua at practice that he likes. Today he held his stay while she went running past him. It was hard. . . but he did it.

Agility

2011-01-10T18:15:00.000-08:00

This morning we headed to Bella's agility lesson. Before class, Zane got to get on the table a couple of times, through the tunnel a couple of times, and I put him in 2o2o and rewarded that.

During class he was in his crate with my chair in front of it. When the Australian Terrier finished his run, his handler threw his ball. The terrier brought the ball to me (I was sitting in my chair). He was growling and rumbling - all in play - it's how he plays with is ball. But Zane did not like that and growled back. Hmmmm. Something else to work on.

This afternoon I did the exercises from the Human Agility Training dvd. Zane watched very intently, wondering why I was acting so weird. He finally just feel asleep. I must be weird often enough that it gets boring after awhile. ;-)

Home Depot

2011-01-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

Today, Zane's big event was a trip to Home Depot. He used to go a lot when he was younger, but hasn't been in a while. I wanted to pick up some paint, so I took him along. I put him on a waist leash so I'd have both hands free and we picked out paint colors, paint, and wandered around picking up stuff.

He did very, very well. He wasn't 100% comfortable, but he wasn't unduly stressed either. He wanted to sniff a few things, pulled a couple of times to go sniff people, but was better behaved than the majority of dogs in the community. He sat when asked and held the sit until released. Overall, a very good visit.

Temperament Evaluation

2011-01-08T19:31:00.000-08:00

Today I took Zane to Tucson. I have a trainer friend there who does temperament evaluations. She works for a service dog organization that does these evaluations, and she's an expert at reading canine body language. She and I traded services: she did a temp eval on Zane, and I gave her a rally lesson.

She used the temp eval from Sarah Kalnajs. Here are some of the things I remember. She'll give me a full written eval once she watches the video she took of the testing.

The first test was how he would react to her. She took the leash, and I left. He did look for me and try to get to me, then she started petting him. She was watching to see if he would ask for more petting, interact with her, ignore her, focus on the environment, etc. He did look for me a lot but did circle back to her for some pets too. He wasn't really into her but didn't react negatively either. Overall, I thought it was ok for an Aussie who is supposed to be reserved with strangers. He did work wonderfully with her later in the test, so I think it was natural reserve.

Some of the tests were reactions to novel items: sight and sound. She opened an umbrella in his direction. He immediately ran to the end of the line he was on, hid behind the holder, and was barking madly. He would not approach it, even for food. He even reacted when it was put farther away, then when a breeze made it move a little.

Then she pulled out "robo-rat" - a remote controlled rat. He's seen many, many remote-controlled toys here, and I even have a similar rat (although he hasn't seen it in a couple of months because the batteries are dead). He reacted like he did to the umbrella. He would not go near it and did not recover, even after several minutes, not even after she played the look-at-that game with it. She had to cover it with a coat to get it out of his sight.

Then she dropped a metal food bowl on the concrete. Again, instant reaction - hiding, running to the end of the line, barking. She did get him to approach it when she put food in it, but he was very conflicted - reaching forward but leaning back.

One test was her giving him a hard stare. Some dogs will immediately go on defense, muzzle punch, and react badly. At first he looked intently into her eyes, "Oh, eye contact, I know this!" Then the pressure of her stare hit him and he immediately dropped to the ground and curled away from her. She gave him positive attention to get him up and interacting, then gave another hard stare. He immediately looked away. Then, she started to turn toward him, he thought she was going to hard stare again, and before she even had eye contact, he was looking away.

Testing for resource guarding. Bowl full of kibble and canned food. She had an assess-a-hand (a fake hand on a fake arm so the real hand/arm don't get bit) and started off by petting his back with it while he ate. He just continued to eat. She put the hand in the bowl. No problem. She pulled the bowl away. No problem. She commented that he didn't even give whale eye (common, mild stress reaction). She did the test again, and he did give some whale eye the second time, but no guarding or aggression. She ended up just reaching down with her hand to get the bowl because it was obvious he wasn't going to react.

Then he was given his choice of a bully stick or a rolled cow cheek. He chose the cheek. We gave him time to get involved in it and enjoying it. Then she went over with the assess-a-hand. Stroke the back - no problem. Hand on the chewie - he looked up at her. She wiggled the chewie - he put his paw on it! No mouthing, no grabbing it, no punching or biting the hand. He continued to look up at her, just put his paw on it. She repeated test a couple of times and the same reaction every time - he just plops his paw on it. He would let her take it away, but he was using his paw to say "Mine." Interestingly, the evaluation doesn't talk about the paws on this part of the test - only the mouth. The paw was a definite reaction, but he wasn't seriously trying to keep her from it.

The last test was reaction to another dog. She took Zane and had her husband bring one of her dogs. At first it was Zane just standing while the other dog walked around. He did show some interest and moved toward her, then went back to Crystal. Then she started walking him around while the other dog stood still. She noted that he immediately went into training mode. He didn't offer his natural behaviors - he offered what he's been trained for around other dogs. He kept his focus on Crystal, only occasionally looking at the other dog, then right back at her. It was great to see him working with her so nicely. Then they took the dogs on a parallel walk then gradually moved Zane closer to the other dog. Crystal saw a little tightness in his mouth, but no negative reaction at all. They never got closer than 5 feet away, but Zane stayed focused on her - kind of the "If I don't see that other dog, it's not really there." But she was very impressed with how well he is responding to the training I've done to get him able to be around other dogs.

I can't wait for the full written eval. It was neat to watch, and even I was surprised at how intense his reaction was to novel objects. I know he doesn't like new things or things that are different, but he's seen umbrellas and moving toys here. And I know we drop stuff. But he definitely reacted and it wasn't mild and there was not quick recovery.

Scent Work

2011-01-07T14:51:00.001-08:00

I've been discussing scent work with some friends. I learned a new method at the Laura Romanik seminar, and I've been playing with it. To help others, I made this video using three of my dogs in various stages of training.

Em has never done this work. Zane has been doing it and has been choosing between 2 items. Bella chooses among several items and does some pretty good room searches.

Warning: This vid is 10 minutes long! Way too long in my opinion, but there are a lot of steps along the way.

Training at the park

2011-01-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

This morning's training started with working on sit/down/stand while I sat on the couch. It's like Susan Garrett's Green Eggs and Ham training. Can you sit while I sit on the couch? Can you down while I sit on the couch? (Can you eat it in a box? Can you eat it with a fox?) Tomorrow morning I'll work on those cues while I sit on the ground. I *know* that one will be harder for him.

This morning we also met a friend at the park for training. Zane greeted her Chihuahua and Australian Terrier very appropriately. The Chi, who reads dogs very well and will not approach a dog she doesn't feel she can trust, was trying to get him to play with her! And he wanted to! Big break-through for him. At one point he got a little pushy into her space and she told him off. And he didn't take offense or act scared or worried! Woohoo! When approaching the terrier, he was appropriate, didn't lunge at him, didn't growl in fear, acted nice and submissive and didn't push him at all. Whew!

He did some light heeling at the park. We played with the retrieve. First just a casual toss and bring it back to front. Then offering food and dumbbell and asking him to "take it" and he had to take the dumbbell. He could do it. We had to work hold a little bit as he tried to spit it at me a couple of times. But overall, very nicely done.

And he did stays! It was his first time to do stays in a line-up (the line-up was the terrier, Bella, and Zane, but it was a line-up!) They did a 2 minute sit-stay and a 4 minute down-stay. I have never, ever, ever asked him to stay that long, but he had no problem. I did go reward the sit once in the middle. And I rewarded the down a couple of times when I was throwing major distractions out there and he held his stays. Nice job Zane!

His sit-stay. He sits so upright!

The down-stay line-up.

And close-up of Zane on his stay. He always looks so regal and proud!

Yesterday we went tracking again and here he is following the track to the glove:

And this is what happens to poor doggies who live with young teenage girls who like to torture them.

Back to Basics

2011-01-04T11:52:00.000-08:00

The past two mornings, Zane has simply done sits, downs, and stands in random orders. And I'm trying to gradually increase distance. He doesn't have stand on a verbal only yet - he still needs the hand signal - so that one is still close. But I want him to only change position when I tell him and from wherever I am without him moving forward. Every once in a while he will sit when I say down or down when I say sit. Of course, there have been times when I've done puppy push-ups with all of my dogs, and somebody will get out of rhythm and sit and down opposite the rest of the crew. They aren't really listening to the command, they're figuring what I want next and doing it.

Zane had a big change in his life yesterday. I switched him to a raw diet. His eyes are always red and watery. I haven't found a food I'm totally thrilled with (I opened one bag and it smelled rancid. Ewwww!) So he's on raw. Yesterday was the first day, and his eyes are already looking better. And no, I don't feed kibble with corn, so I know that wasn't the problem. Let's just say he's loving his new food.

And yes, I can still use meals for training with raw. I just have a spoon or fork in the bowl of food, and feed him pieces with the utensil. He has no problem with that!

Zane goofing around

2011-01-02T17:36:00.001-08:00

This is a picture I've been meaning to get for a while. Zane has loved this toy since he was a little puppy. No, it's not a dog toy, but he adores it.

A couple of months ago Zane decided that one of his jobs was to lay down on top of me if I lay down on the couch. It's morphed into laying on the back of the couch when anybody gets on it. This morning, he cuddled with his daddy.

This evening, he almost cuddled with Jill.

And here's a video of Zane playing with his new babble ball.

Little sessions

2011-01-01T17:00:00.000-08:00

I just did little random training sessions throughout the day today.

I learned that if I drop a treat and ask him to touch my right hand, he can. But if I drop a treat and ask him to touch my left hand, he just stares at the treat. His right side always needs more training than his left side.

We played with take it like we did with the touch with distraction. One open hand with treats, the other hand with the dumbbell. I told him to take it, and he took the dumbbell. I also held the dumbbell in different places - by my side, up high, down low, behind me - and asked him to take it. He had to think on the one that was high.

We played tug games with the new rules from Foundation Fundamentals.

I worked on distance sits and downs. He can do down from 6 feet away, but has trouble with sit. So that's an area that needs work.

I put him on the exercise egg and did some work on it. He jumps right on and isn't worried at all. He does have to work to maintain his balance while turning, but that's what we're working on with the egg.

And I bought him a ball that talks to him. It says things like, "Hot diggity dog!" "Come here puppy!" "Yeah baby!" "Oh no!" "I'm gonna' get you!" "Ouch, don't do that!" He likes that ball, and likes to make it talk. . . all the time.

I also bought some new tug toys, but he doesn't get those until I'm ready to play with them.

Foundation Fundamentals

2010-12-31T19:35:00.000-08:00

I made it through the Foundation Fundamentals DVD set. I really, really like them. For beginning dogs, she teaches like I do: teaching concepts rather than behaviors. That's what I'm doing with Zane - instead of focusing on teaching the dogwalk or the table or the tunnel or a perfect retrieve, I'm teaching concepts. Can you get on? Can you go through? Can you pick things up? Can you find front? Can you do "stupid pet tricks"? All of these things teach concepts that will be used later for real behaviors.

As I watched the DVD, I kept trying different things with my dogs. I took lots of notes. And we played with some of the stuff this evening. Had you ever thought of using your legs as jump bumps? I hadn't! But what fun!

This evening I played with lots of things - stacking (conformation style), jumping legs, touching a target on my leg and following it, pound-a-ball, and played our scent games. With the pound-a-ball, he will now do all 4 balls for one reward, but the first three are usually with his nose, and the last one is usually with his paw. He's such a goof. On the scent games, he is now picking out the correct item when 2 or 3 are out. Sometimes he goes to the right one right away - they are all identical! How does he know?

Zane really, really hates having his butt hair brushed. Deal with it boy. We're going to brush it every day until you stop fighting it! This wasn't a problem before, but he's getting more hair back there now, so it takes more work.

Touch or Treat

2010-12-30T20:34:00.000-08:00

Today I started watching the DVD set "Foundation Fundamentals" - a series for building the foundations needed for agility work - the stuff you need before you ever add the equipment.

So far I really like this series (I've only made it through the first two DVDs in the 6 DVD set). We teach leave it exactly the same. . . but she uses it to start working through food distractions. She has food in one open hand and asks the dog to touch the other hand. Dog has to give up the food and touch the hand. Cool! I like that, so while watching, I got a handful of treats and tried it with Zane. He could do it with a twist. He wanted to high-five, not nose touch. But he did figure out the touch. One difference between her style and mine is that I require the touch to be maintained until released; she expected multiple touches until she marked and rewarded. Minor difference.

So here's Zane showing this with part of his dinner:

We also started playing with the "pound-a-ball" toy today. This was his second session with it.

After his dinner, I bent down to pick up his bowl, and decided that he should start picking up after himself. So I started shaping him to pick up his food bowl!

New Store

2010-12-29T19:24:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago Petsmart opened here. I took Zane there tonight. I wanted to get some doggie sausage (Pet Botanics Dog Food Roll), but they don't carry it! The store is too small. But Zane did well. He's been in several stores, but there are a limited number that allow dogs, so it was nice to have a new one. There was only one dog in there - a cute little pittie with a bad leg. At first he stopped and looked at her, then approached her. Yay! We kept it short and sweet and just spent our time walking up and down the aisles and talking to the manager about the Pet Botanics.

This morning we just played with peek (coming up between my legs and looking up at me) and going under my legs to weave them. Just goofy stuff for fun.

Video Day!

2010-12-28T17:40:00.000-08:00

It's another day of videos.

Here's the "Get in" vid requested by MT.

Here's his 2nd session of shaping the back up.

And here he is starting to sequence in agility.

Yes, jumps at 8, no contact equipment. . .

Still growing

2010-12-27T19:19:00.000-08:00

Zane is now officially taller than Bella. I haven't measured him, but when they're standing side-by-side, he is taller. (He's still shorter than Travis who is 22".)

Saturday night, Jess brought some friends over, and Bella and Zane got to show off their tricks and things they know. Bella is the star of the show, but Zane is going to catch up!

He's working on a couple of new behaviors. You know the toddler stacking toy with the rings that they stack on the pole? I've started teaching him that. I started it just like "put it in" with the rings on the pole and he has to get them off. He did get one on a couple of times, but this is a very difficult thing for the dogs to learn, so it will be a while before he truly has it.

The second thing we started this morning was a back-up. I teach this using Sue Ailsby's method from her Training Levels. He is in front of me and I start by clicking for any foot movement. This rapidly becomes feet moving back, and finally backing up. This morning we did get to 2 to 4 steps back, so he is getting the concept. It's definitely not completely understood or on cue, but he was understanding which of his actions was getting the click.

Thankful for my puppy

2010-12-25T11:22:00.000-08:00

I've watched the video of Zane learning under several times, and every time it hits me how far he has come. For the first two months I had him, he was not into training much. For his meals, I could get maybe three reps out of him, then I had to just give him the rest of his meal. He wasn't very motivated to work and wasn't very motivated for his food. He wouldn't offer behaviors. He wouldn't try things. He wanted to know why he should do anything.

Look how far he has come. He is offering behaviors. He's working to solve the puzzle of the criteria I'm looking for. He doesn't give up - if I don't click, he doesn't shut down (like he would before); he keeps trying until he figures it out. He's eager, he works for a whole meal now, training is a game.

I'm so pleased and thankful for how far he has come. I think he's going to be a dog that I can do anything with. He's working through his fear issues and really integrating into the world (like he had a choice - he gets drug everywhere!)

Today I'm thankful for my puppy.

Under

2010-12-24T07:55:00.000-08:00

I had the camera running this morning for this second session of learning "under". Yay! It's a nice clip of getting the behavior, adding the cue, and starting to get stimulus control.

We also worked on "get in" around the cone and wrapping the cone. And I finished with playing with a portion of the "moving stand for exam" that I saw on a youtube video from a Celeste Meade seminar. I, of course, had to change some things. When I figure out exactly how I want to do it, I'll post a video.

A little bit ago, Zane had a tennis ball. Did he play with the tennis ball? No! He destroyed it. He ripped all the fuzz off then tore the rubber into multiple pieces. I gave all the dogs a bully stick because he's obviously in "destroy mode".

General stuff

2010-12-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

Last night Jill handled Zane in the foundations class. She doesn't want to do it anymore because it's boring because he knows everything. But the reason for putting him in class isn't for him to learn the stuff, but to work around other dogs.

All the dogs in that class right now are young - all 6-7 months old. He is able to work around them no problem. Two of the dogs are frequent playmates. At the end of class, the other dogs got to say "hi" to each other. We took Zane closer and closer and closer, playing Look at That. He could sit right next to them (like almost touching) and he kept his focus on us and was fine. When one of them got in his face, he did growl. So yes, he has some space issues, but as long as the dog isn't in his face, he's ok. He was able to work and focus very, very close to the other dogs, and that's my only requirement. He's not running in fear anymore at least.

One thing they worked on was "leave it". She was putting treats right in front of him and making him leave it.

This morning I pulled out a cone and worked on "get in", heel to front, and then wrap the cone at a distance. Then I took him to the building to work before class this morning. I filmed the first part of the scent work before the camera battery died, so watch for that in the future.

I'm about to give up on his ears and just take the tape off for good. I don't think he's going to have button ears, no matter what I do. They're not horrible ears and they are just him.

Hike to the River

2010-12-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

Today we took another hike. We ended up at the San Pedro River.

Are you comin' Mama?

Playing at the river

Allergies?

2010-12-22T07:37:00.000-08:00

This morning Zane woke up with red eyes that are puffy and watery. I'm assuming it's allergies, and I need to go get him some Benadryl. We don't seem to have any on hand.

This morning for breakfast, we started to work on "under" - going under a chair. I had the camera on and filming, but it shut off before he even started! Boo! Hiss! He did quickly figure out what I wanted, and I wish I had it on film. Oh well.

Yesterday morning he worked on holding the dumbbell (actually a leather article) and moving into front. But he went through a time where he did not want to be in front and did not want to hold the dumbbell. He gave several stress signs and avoidance behavior. I made him work through it and ended on a good note.

While Bella worked for her breakfast doing agility practice, Zane sat in the x-pen screaming that he wanted to get out there and run and play too. Oh boy. He's learned that it is fun out there! Now to teach him the self-control to be quiet while another dog is working.

Now for two notes that refer back to the animal communicator. . . his stool sample came out clear - no parasites. And his Genius in Training vest came in!

Agility fun

2010-12-20T18:16:00.000-08:00

This evening we went out and played on the agility field. I had 4 jumps and Zane and I played with going over them (although sometimes he went around them - he doesn't know to focus on the jump yet). And yes, the jumps are only 8 inches. Then we played with ground work - just running in circles and doing front crosses. Then we played with rear crosses - he sits, I'm behind him, and I change sides, clicking the head turn. Then we played with "go". I stood in one place, tossed a treat and told him to "go". He ran to it, ate it, then I tossed a treat in the other direction and told him to "go". He liked that one! I think he's a little tired tonight!

Edit: I thought he was tired. But noooooooo. He's wound up tonight!

Zane and Tori

2010-12-20T13:44:00.001-08:00

Zane and Tori the Terv. He's kissing her and she's wanting him to go away!

Retrieve work

2010-12-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

In the past, one of the hardest parts of teaching the retrieve was getting the dog to sit in front while holding the dumbbell. I ask them to sit, they drop the dumbbell. I try to get them to move toward me to front, they drop the dumbbell. They can carry it if they go out to get it, but those last few steps and front just seem to blow their little minds at first.

Fortunately, over the years, I've learned to break exercises down a lot more! Hopefully I'm on the right track with Zane. He will retrieve, but I've only been asked for a retrieve to hand or "put it in". Separately, we've been working on hold (in a front position). Here's a vid of the steps, showing three of my dogs. Zane is at the end.

Then we worked on holding the dumbbell/articles. This morning I started the next step. I'm still sitting in the chair (remember chair fronts - similar to those), legs extended to make a chute, but instead of having him start right in front, he was several inches farther back. I asked him to take the dumbbell, then to front. So he basically just had to scoot forward. He did drop the dumbbell once, so we worked on "hold" for a few seconds, then back to asking just for that little scoot. He started being able to do it easily, so next I hope to move him a bit farther back. Just little steps at a time, instead of one big lump of an exercise.

He also went to Bella's agility lesson. Before class we worked on the tunnel (he loves running through the tunnels) and the table. We started that this weekend (playing while at the Rally trial) and he's learning to get on the table and do an immediate down. He likes that game too.

After class, I put him in the two-on-two-off position on the A-frame and clicked when he dropped his head and rewarded on the ground. When he's coming down contact equipment, I want that head down - it makes them less likes to bail off. So I mark when that head is down. I'm not asking him to move down the A-frame yet - I put him in position and that's all I expect. I'm building a strong reward zone right there so he's more likely to get there when I start backchaining the equipment.

This afternoon I pulled out the gloves and we worked on marking the glove and taking it. So I put glove out, put a treat on it, step into heel position beside Zane, give the mark signal. When he looks at the glove/treat, I click and send him to it. He eats the treat, then I ask him to take the glove and bring it back. Again, no sit in front on that part yet - just bringing it to hand.

Rally Puppy!

2010-12-19T13:56:00.001-08:00

Zane is a Rally Puppy!

He finished his title with all first places. And two of the judges were talking and said they don't want to compete against him when he's older!

Since he was already titled, for the second show today I let Jill show him. One of the exercises was halt-sit-stand. Jill put her hand down to signal him to stand, and he gave her a high five. I about rolled on the ground laughing! It was so cute.

He sucessfully did a sit-walk around and a down-walk around. Not bad for a baby boy!

Puppies can Rally!

2010-12-18T13:50:00.000-08:00

Today Zane was entered in an APDT Rally Trial Puppy Class! There were two trials today and he got a 210 in the first and a 209 in the second. First places in both and high scoring puppy ribbons! If he does it again tomorrow, he'll have a Rally Puppy Title! Silly, goofy, puppy boy!

Busy Morning for the Zaney Butt

2010-12-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun playing and training this morning. For breakfast he worked on his contact board. Nothing special there - just continuing to add movement.

Then we headed to the training building. We worked the normal heel, sit, moving stand, and moving down. Then I pulled a piece of round wood and got him to target it with both front paws, then asked for downs - he has to keep his front feet on the target while doing a down. This will hopefully prevent creeping in the future.

We worked spins to the left and right (maybe, just maybe, I'll work directionals with him. I'm directionally challenged, so it will be hard for me.)

Then I pulled out a jump. I really haven't done anything with jumps with him. I put it at 8 inches and we just played with the jump - getting over it, front crosses, driving ahead to it. Then I put out two jumps and we played with those. Then I worked on directed jumping - sit-stay to the side of the jump (only about 8 feet away and 2 feet out if that much), I walk across from him and toss a toy in front of the jump while telling him over. Sometimes he went around, sometimes he went over. If he went over, I grabbed the toy. He loves to play with toys, so he thought this was fun.

Then we worked on self-control - sit while I toss the toy. If he broke the sit, I stopped him and started over. Quickly he was holding the sit until released to the tossed toy.

Then he was put away for class time. He did get to meet a sweet little Shih Tzu. No problems - he kind of ignored him.

After class, we headed to a friend's house for lunch. She has 5 Border Collies and invited Zane along. Overall it went very, very well. We brought them in one at a time so he could meet them one-on-one. There was only one he had an issue with, and she's a lot like him. They kind of grumbled at each other while maintaining distance. That was ok. A couple of the males tried to mount him - he let them know that wasn't acceptable, but wasn't nasty. We threw them all outside (except the grumbly bitch) and let him deal with them on his own. He did hide in the corner a bit, but if they took off running, he would follow them. Later, he fell asleep under the table. He had a busy morning and was worn out!

Oh, while at the building, I also pulled out the cavelettis for him. I need to video this. He does crab a bit - he's a little short in the body and needs more length for those long, angled legs. He was moving nicely through the cavalettis, so I need to work him more on those.

So, how's that for a busy puppy morning?

I can't believe I did it

2010-12-14T15:36:00.001-08:00

I just ordered Zane a vest from here: http://www.therapydogvest.com/
with "Genius in Training" embroidered on it. I can't believe I did it!

This morning I added a different container for "put it in". I had the camera on the tripod, set up, camera on. . . and I forgot to press the button to record. So he worked his metal article with put it in with the bowl and with a plastic flower pot. And I didn't get it in on video. I'm generalizing objects to pick up and objects to put into.

The farrier was out today so I made him come and watch her work. She was very scary. And he much preferred to eat the chicken poop and duck poop. Yeah. . . he has his priorities.

Make Some Noise, Part 2

2010-12-13T16:26:00.000-08:00

We are now turning "Put it in" into a noise-making activity. I put a metal article into the bowl and started doing "put it in" with that. When he drops it in, it makes a loud clatter. He's having no problem with that. Interestingly, when he gets something out of the bowl, he's quiet. But when he picks up something that's outside of the bowl and has to put it in, he moans while he does it. Silly boy.

Today Zane went to the vet. He weighed 32 pounds and got his official letter that he is bilaterally cryptorchid. Speaking of which. . . if Zane were going to tell the animal communicator that he is teased about something, it would be about that. He is called the "ball-less wonder" and all sorts of things related to his lack of testicles. And he is teased about it several times a week. But that never got mentioned. Hmmmmm.

Genius in Training

2010-12-13T06:25:00.001-08:00

I've said before that Zane notices *differences* in things. On Friday night, my son put on a knit cap, and Zane barked at him and wouldn't go near him. He wasn't the same person with a hat on! Zane has also done that if he sees my husband in a place he isn't expected. He doesn't like change!

This weekend we were at an agility trial. Most of the things Zane goes to during the week have stopped for the holidays, so he hasn't been getting out as much. It showed! He was a little freaked out by people on Saturday morning. So we just walked around and I handed treats to people and had them feed him. Some he instantly liked; others he would take treats, then get away from them. I couldn't find any rhyme or reason for who he liked and who he didn't. Sunday he was much, much better with the people. "Oh yeah! They have cookies!" I still had as many people feed him as possible.

On Saturday I had two people take him and walk him around and play with him. The first one he didn't want to go with at first, but once he was a way from me, he was fine. The second one, in the afternoon, he did fine with. On Sunday, a friend (who Zane doesn't know) brought her puppy (two days older than Zane). Her pup has some issues too, so throughout the day, we'd just go to each other's set-up, grab the puppy, and take them out. It was kind of fun! Tori was such a delightful girl. She just floats. I love watching her move.

Oh, did I mention that Zane turned 6 months on Saturday?!? It was his half-birthday!

There was an animal communicator at the trial. I decided to take Zane to talk to her. I've known one communicator who was the real thing. She knew things she couldn't have known - no way, no how. This one? A flake. Here are some of the things she said Zane told her (or her dog who then told her).

1. The organizers of the agility trial are flakes. They spend too much time at meeting eating cookies and drinking coke and not enough time working.

2. He needs blue-green algae.

3. Jill (my daughter) is eating too many crackers and chips and too much sugar.

4. I have an irregular heart rhythm and need to spend more time biking, swimming, playing volleyball, and taking him running in the desert.

5. I need to get back to working with the horses. I have something to give them, and they have a lot they need to give me.

6. She said that Zane told her that "they" said his nose is too long and was he ok? What's funny is that Jill used to say his nose was too big! I laughed about that one.

7. He wanted to know where we were going next and what were we going to do. (Answer: APDT trial next weekend.) He wanted to know what would be expected of him. (Answer: Be a silly puppy.) He wanted the "other dog" to go with him, because they have a tight bond and she grounds him.

8. He wanted to know what was expected of him at the agility trial (meet people and dogs and eat cookies.)

9. There was a dog at the trial who was bigger than he is who is a bully. He doesn't like him. The bully's name is Buster, but that may not be what his person calls him.

10. He wants a vest to wear that says "Genius in Training".

11. He has parasites that the medicines aren't taking care of. He needs Black Walnut and Wormwood.

12. He needs herbs for flea and tick control - no chemicals. (We don't have fleas and ticks here.) A whole list of herbs was given.

13. He likes clicker training, but he's about to move beyond it. I will know when that time is.

Ok, that's all I can remember for now. Not a word about his fears or how he feels about other dogs. I asked why is he fearful and what can I do to help. The answer: you're doing everything right and he's ok. Ok, thanks.

He did meet several dogs this weekend, and overall did very well. Saturday morning we sat by the entrance and played Look at That with all the dogs going by. Later, as I was checking the schedule, a small dog came and got right in his face. He didn't react. The next day he met the Terv puppy and a German Pinscher with no problems. He walked through and past and around tons of dogs all weekend with no problem. But Sunday afternoon while I was working in a ring, Jill had him out and was sitting on the ground watching the dogs run. Somebody was letting their dog walk at the very end of the leash, and he got right on Zane and growled and snarled at him. Zane reacted back, of course. I don't blame him for that one, but I hope it doesn't set us back in our training. On a good note, the BAT training is helping. The goal is to teach him alternatives to reacting to other dogs. So we were sitting at our set-up, and somebody brought their Aussie say hi. Zane met the Aussie, no problem. But when he started to feel the pressure, he went to his crate instead of growling at her. When he was comfortable, he came back out. He did this several times. He also gave himself a couple of breaks when playing with the Terv puppy. So he is getting it!

Zane had one issue with getting on the metal bleachers. He didn't like the noise! So we worked on that until he would run back and forth across them.

Put it In Video

2010-12-09T13:41:00.001-08:00

What a great start to the day!

2010-12-09T05:25:00.000-08:00

For breakfast, I pulled out the bowl and the toy to work on "put it in". I can now put the toy on the floor, he will pick it up and carry it to the bowl and put it in! Woohoo!

I'll try to tape it later today. But I was too excited not to share!

Class Night

2010-12-08T18:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight Jill worked Zane in my Foundations class again. As the other dogs came into class, he barked, but no growling this week. The barking showed he was concerned, but we got him under control, then Jill started playing Look at That (Control Unleashed) with him. He quickly settled down and went to work. He even got within 2 feet of one of the dogs without reacting. Yay!

This morning I continued to work on "put it in". But. . . I'm starting to get a superstitious behavior. He thinks he needs to put a foot in the bowl before putting the toy in. I have to be very careful what I'm clicking now to get rid of that.

Pull and Stools and Putting it In

2010-12-07T18:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we worked on "pull". I"m hold a rope and clicking him for taking it, then for pulling it. I started to add the cue as he's a natural at this.

Yesterday and today I pulled out a couple of little folding stools and working Bella and Zane on getting on the stools and sitting, and occasionally asking them to do their contact behavior on them. This is exhausting for them! They are doing massive work on core muscles, working hard to balance, and also getting nice, tucked sits.

This evenings for his dinner, Zane started learning to "put it in". He doesn't understand the concept yet so no cue is added yet, but this shows the very first training session for this. Instead of asking him to pick something up, carry it to the bowl and put it in, I'm backchaining it. The retrieve object (a toy for now) is in the bowl. He looks at it, then touches it, then picks it up, etc, all for clicks/treats. Eventually he drops it outside the bowl. For awhile I put it back in the bowl - that's where it belongs, right? Finally, I don't click for getting it out. I wait, and wait, and wait. Eventually instead of trying to give it to me, he turns and puts it back in the bowl! Yes! This is a bit more stressful for him than most of our training. He is not understanding the concept yet. That's ok - he has to learn to work through stress, and this is a nice way to do it.

Yesterday we went hiking too. Here are a couple of posed pics from that.

And Zane kind of disappears into Arizona colors:

3:10 to Yuma

2010-12-04T14:38:00.000-08:00

So many things have happened the past few days. I know I'm going to forget some of it!

Thursday I started adding my movement to his contact work. Before, I was just sitting on the couch. Now I'm moving around the contact board while he gets on it and hits his two-on-two-off. Yes, the movement means that he misses a lot. But he's gradually coming to understand that he does it no matter what I'm doing.

Friday morning, we got up, and my husband, Zane, and I drove to Yuma. He had a company Christmas Party to go to and asked me to attend. But he was also doing some work, so Zane and I planned to get in some training in new places. I didn't know what I was in for!

The company keeps a house on Yuma Proving Ground, so we were planning to stay there. It has a fenced in yard, so easy for potty times. But the yard behind "ours" had two dogs who barked every time we moved. (Remember Zane's fear of other dogs?) So I pulled out clicker and treats and we played Look at That from Control Unleashed. Then we started BAT. Within a couple of minutes, he was glued to my side, all focus on me, not caring about those barking, nasty dogs. He would sit and down and heel. And he was more comfortable in the yard in general.

So I pulled out some toys. He is very high in toy drive. So we played. When I would throw a toy, he'd go out to get it, then have to stop and make sure the dogs weren't coming for him, then he'd pick up the toy, still watching the dogs, and finally bring the toy back.

He did some quiet woofing at the dogs, but no growling. Nice, big improvement for him! I've had him at the end of the leash, as far from other dogs as he can get, when we've met other barking dogs behind fences (and they were usually farther away). I've also had him lip curl and growl at barking dogs farther away. So this quiet interest and watchfulness and quiet woofing is good.

The house we stayed in has a sliding glass door. He's never seen one before. So when we walked through the house to get to the back door (the sliding door) to go into the yard, he walked right into the door! Smack! Poor puppy had never seen glass at his level. Later that evening, when it was dark, he was a little concerned about his reflection in that glass.

Now I'm going ti inundate you with pictures! I took so many of him.

Zane is not known for his catching ability yet.

Fail

Fail

Fail

Fail

And his first catch! He did catch a few others that day, but this was his first.

Look at that rich, red coat he's getting:

I put his leash and bait bag on the end table, and he kept taking them off! Multiple times! I finally moved them to the kitchen.

And look at that tongue. He smells his "cookies".

Throw the toy. . . throw the toy. . . throw the toy.

And yes, at almost 6 months, he still pees like a girl.

"Throw the gingerbread man."

"Please throw the gingerbread man."

"Mom! Please, please, please throw the gingerbread man!"

Merry Christmas, and many happy gingerbread men to you.

Finally relaxing at watching the other dogs.

I had just untaped his ears. He had to scratch!

Can you get the camera out of my face?

Class time

2010-12-02T07:23:00.000-08:00

Last night Jill worked Zane in my Foundations class. It's all young dogs in that particular class - 5 month old Golden (fearful submissive), 7 month old Husky (confident), 10 month old German Shepherd (boisterous), and Zane (fearful aggressive). Overall, he did very well. He did growl at the GSD twice - once when the GSD walked into the building, then again toward the end of class when the GSD got close. He also barked and growled at new people coming in for their Orientation afterward. He still has a long way to go.

I teach a Focus & Control class based off of Control Unleashed work. I think I'll have one in February and have Jill take him through it. And we'll continue his BAT training.

In the contact training, Zane gets right into two-on-two-off and plants his nose on the floor. He is really figuring out the shaping game and learning new behaviors quickly.

I watched a Michael Ellis DVD and he showed a "find the left leg" exercise. When you halt, sometimes stop with the left leg a step forward or a step backward from the right leg. Your dog's job is to stay with that left leg. Zane can do it! He also reminded me of the Silky Leash exercise, although he does it a big different, and I liked how he used it for specific training exercises, so Zane is working Silky Leash going from front to behind me and then backing up from heel position. He's pretty darn good at it. The big difference between Ellis' way of doing it and mine is that he uses a slip lead or prong collar - he wants the dog stressed. I do it on a buckle collar. I want him giving him even if there is no pain.

But that brings up a dog learning to work through stress. That is an area I'm still figuring out how to train. How do we introduce stress in our training? What is the humane way to add stress? I'm still pondering that! Ellis uses a prong collar to introduce pain and the dog working to escape the pain. I want to find a different way. Now don't get me wrong. I see a lot of value in what Ellis is doing - he's making amazing changes in the working dog world. I like some of his techniques and style. But I have to change some things to fit my personal training style.

He's my boy!

2010-11-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, Zane kept coming up and watching me. He was trying to tell me to get off my duff and go train him! So I did. (This is exciting to me, as Travis, my perfect *heart* dog would always come beg to train. I love that attitude!) We're having bitter cold temps right now, so I didn't want to go outside. What could I do inside? I pulled out his contact board and started working contacts! Yesterday I shaped him to get on the board, then to step off with his front two feet. Today we continued with lessons 2 and 3.

We're also working his stand-stays. He kept wanting to turn and face me. I had to think of a way to keep him facing forward. I put a treat on the ground in front of him and asked him to stay as I walked around. If I got past his bum, I released him forward to the treat. I gradually moved farther and farther forward on my way around until I could pause in heel position before releasing him. If he moved a foot (or more), I simply picked up the treat and asked him to try again.

For another video today, I started working on the finger hold, which will lead to the dumbbell hold for the retrieve.

Yesterday evening he got a roll of toilet paper out of the bathroom and was chewing on it. Here he is trying to be innocent. "Toilet paper? I don't know anything about toilet paper."

And here are Bella and Zane napping together at my feet.

Fronts

2010-11-26T17:48:00.000-08:00

This is how I've been teaching Zane to front. I combined work from Laura Romanik and Chris Bach.

Make Some Noise!

2010-11-24T17:57:00.000-08:00

Zane is mildly noise sensitive. It's not bad, but it is more than I want. So I have started a program where *he* has to make the noise for a reward.

We started with a toy electronic piano - he pressed the keys with his paw, he got a reward. He did get a little hesitant, but we persevered and he succeeded.

Next was a pile of milk jugs connected with a string. He pulled it around to make noise. No problem. In fact, I had it attached to my waist and dragging while Bella was heeling, and Zane was attacking the milk jugs. No problem there.

Today it was Poochie Bells. I shaped him to pick them up and carry them to me.

I will continue to look for ways for him to make noise. Knocking over buckets or cans, dropping silverware in a metal bowl, etc.

When he knows he can control the noise, he won't be as fearful of it.

Fronts. . . oh my

2010-11-21T18:18:00.000-08:00

We had a little impromptu training session as I wanted to see how Bella would handle some of the Graduate Novice exercises. Zane kept getting into the action, so I started working him too.

His fronts were so funny tonight. His "formal" front training started with chair fronts, then wall fronts, and now standing fronts. The chair fronts and wall fronts get them in very close and focusing straight up the middle of your body. He is coming in and almost laying his chin along my legs, looking straight up. So I threw in some angled fronts. He's coming in, lining up and looking straight up. If I move away, he is working to keep his chin along my legs - I think he thinks "front" means rest my chin on your legs!

So I started playing with it. If I pivot to the right while he is in front, he maintains his chin on my legs and sidepasses around me. If I do it to the left, he overcompensates and goes into heel and rear pivots. This boy is really learning to use his body!

I need to get this on video now - but of course, he won't do it tomorrow.

I was doing some dumbbell work with Bella and he grabbed the dumbbell too. So I did a couple of holds with him. I usually don't do any retrieve work while they're teething, but he was grabbing it, so I did. Two kind of chompy holds, then I made him to a good, tight hold, and ended.

Now he's playing with the big orange monkey I bought him at the dog show. I love this boy.

Napping

2010-11-21T16:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I couldn't find Zane. He wasn't under my desk. He wasn't under the girls' desk. He wasn't under the table. He wasn't watching football with my husband. He wasn't in his crate. I finally went to the girls' room. . . and this is what I found.

He was napping with Jill in her bed while she read.

I was gone most of the day today stewarding at our dog show. When I got home, I was tired, so I lay on the couch for a little snooze. This is where he napped (my head had been on the pillow behind him).

Unfortunately, he's a little gassy, and his butt was right by my head. Thanks Zane.

Here's a Flash Session

2010-11-20T17:59:00.000-08:00

We did a Flash Session this evening and I filmed it. I won't say it was our best, but you can see how we just do whatever comes into my mind. And doing it for kibble takes so long. . . he has to chew every bite, and I kept dropping pieces. But here it is.

What's your name?

2010-11-20T14:08:00.001-08:00

Zane still has all his horrible nicknames. Yesterday I didn't know where he was, so I called, "Where's Booger Butt Head?" And he came running. Oy. I have got to stop calling him that!

I'm going to an APDT Rally trial next weekend, so for fun I've pulled out their rally signs and have played with them with Zane. He's so funny. "I can heel! I can heel! Oh look! It's Daddy! (boing, boing, boing) Hi Daddy!" He is also having issues with front if I stand straight up. He wants to swing into heel position. Along with wall fronts, I'm doing this: I toss a treat and tell him to go, then I place a treat between my feet and tell him front. He comes in and straightens up to get the treat between my feet. Then I toss a another treat. Back and forth and back and forth, then I "forget" to put one between my feet. He looks, then looks up at me, I ask for a sit, and he's in a nice straight front. It's all fun and games right now.

In December, there is an APDT Rally trial with a puppy class. He'll be old enough to enter. I may do it just to get a good laugh. A friend with a puppy just 2 days older than Zane is entering, and she wants to have another puppy in the class - no need being humiliated alone!

Our morning flash sessions are still a hoot. He's so eager to try things, and he did a down on a utility signal this morning. Of course, the next time I gave the signal, he looked at me like I was an idiot.

He has one baby tooth left - a canine. But. . . it has split in two. It doesn't seem to bother him as he's still tugging and chewing. It must already be dead as you can see the middle of the tooth.

Moving Stand

2010-11-18T05:23:00.001-08:00

This morning's flash sessions included a moving stand. Zane was very confused at first. He wanted to drop, as that is what he's been working on. But after a couple of tries, he figured it out. It's definitely not fluent yet, but he got the idea.

He's done enough brickwork right now that his sits need some work. Instead of sitting straight, he always swings to get into heel position (or close to it). I'm doing a lot of wall fronts to remind him where front is, and I'm rewarding immediate sits if we're not working on front. Zane is learning about stimulus control - only offer the behavior when it is asked for. All dogs go through these stages. Have you ever taught a drop on recall, then your dog starts dropping on every recall even if you don't ask them to? Anticipation can be a great friend in training if you use it wisely.

He is now fluent on his rear pivots without the brick. Well, on the left side he is. The right side needs more work. He still has trouble getting into perfect "side" position. If I were doing freestyle, I'd be working it a lot more. But I'm not, so I don't.

Every morning Zane goes outside first thing to potty. When he comes back in, he is so cute. He acts like he hasn't seen me in two weeks and is full of wiggles and leaps and loving. We have to spend about 5 minutes just loving on each other before he can do anything else. My husband wanted a sweet, loving Aussie, and boy did we get one.

He Rallys! (Rallies?)

2010-11-16T12:36:00.001-08:00

This morning at Rally practice, Zane got to run the course for the first time.

Ok, he didn't do the whole course. And he didn't do all the exercises in the part of the course he did. And I had food in my hand the whole time and heavily rewarded him.

But he still got out there and worked! He had some nice heeling, nice turns, he stood on command (but we didn't do the stand-walk around - he's not ready for that).

Baby boy is growing up.

Oh, and he lost another molar while he was there. He really is growing up.

Flash Sessions

2010-11-16T06:33:00.001-08:00

This morning Zane and I had great fun with our first "flash session". This term was started (as far as I know) by trainer Linda Koutsky. A flash session is a short, but intense, training session. Instead of working one thing, you mix and match and throw lots of things into the session. I usually do it to music (one song and you're done!), but didn't this morning.

So in about a 3 minute flash session this morning, we did finding heel, rear pivot from the left, finding side (right side), rear pivot from right, peek (coming up between my legs from the back), stand, heel, down in front, moving down (still needs lots of work), down in heel, get in, stand in front, stand in heel, down on signal, and I don't remember what else. It was all very quick, very fun, and it kept him very engaged and focused.

Eyelashes. . . Oh my

2010-11-14T18:27:00.000-08:00

Zane is definitely feeling better. I haven't worked him since Wednesday, and he spent all morning staring at me until I got up and did something with him. I love dogs who want to work and insist on it!

Zane has a long, long, long eyelash above each eye. Jill wants me to trim them. What do you think?

Today I watched Susan Salo's Puppy Jumping DVD and worked the first exercise.

We took this video last week. We were trying to get a video of Zane gaiting, but as you can see, he is now a gazelle. He leaps! Unfortunately, Jill broke her toe, so I haven't had any more help to try to get another video. And yes, I giggle every time he leaps. That doesn't help matters any.

No Training

2010-11-14T05:20:00.000-08:00

On Friday morning, I wanted to continue to work stands. As usual I made his breakfast and we got to work. Not. He did stand, but would not eat. I broke off the training session as I want his work to be enthusiastic. If we practice ho-hum, humbug, then we'll get ho-hum, humbug.

He refused to eat breakfast. He threw up a couple of times. He didn't eat dinner. Threw up some more. And he was not his usual bouncy self. He just laid at my feet. Oh dear.

On Thursday night, Zane discovered the kitty litter box. I know he ate some. I can only imagine that is what upset his tummy. I was ready to head to the vet on Saturday morning if he didn't eat.

So Saturday morning I got up, fixed him a bowl of chicken and rice and pumpkin (much easier on a tender tummy). He gobbled it down and kept it down. Yay! He got the same for dinner. He loves it.

I can just see the future now. "Mommy, my tummy doesn't feel good. I think I need some chicken and rice and pumpkin for dinner."

We have a head!

2010-11-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

Remember when I didn't like Zane's head. Well, he has a great head now! His stop came back and he has a nice little head. I'm so glad he's not a collie anymore. Funny how that head changes so much so fast.

This morning he worked on "chin" targeting. I use this in various areas: chin target while he gets measured for agility; chin target for the conformation exam; chin target for fun things like playing with the "pound a ball" type toys.

He also completed Day 3 of the Relaxation Protocol in a sit. We didn't have time to do it with a down. I haven't been working on it, so the fact he passed Day 3 on the first try made me happy.

He's now working on his stand-stays while I move around. I can't walk around him yet - have to work up to that. But I can step to the side and step away.

I tried to get some movement shots today and took the wrong camera. It took blurry shots. Jill tried to get him to gait and he kept leaping up in the air. He's an antelope! He's out of the giraffe stage and into the antelope stage.

Rusty Love

2010-11-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

Here's the video of Zane and Rusty. Is that total puppy worship, or what?

Here are a couple of stacked shots of Zane from today. One was when we were on our walk; I stuck him on the big rock we passed. The other was at home with better lighting.

On our walk, Zane had a milder reaction that normal to barking dogs. Usually I just keep walking, and he strains at the end of the leash to get as far away from the dog's yard as possible. Today he looked at the yard, took a couple of steps away, then looked back at me and got back beside me. Good boy!

This morning he went to rally practice. He was able to come out and work on heeling, automatic sits, rear pivots, and his brick work. Oh, I started to introduce "close" - the first step to right turns and about turns. He also did easy stays - I worked on walking around him and walking up to 5 feet away and returning. He did well.

Heads up!

2010-11-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

Not a lot of training this week - little bits here and there, but not a ton. I was letting that leg rest. It's all better now.

Good thing I listened to Beth about not trimming the hair on his head. All the puppy fuzz is starting to come out and he's looking like a real dog!

Shaping fun this morning

2010-11-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

Our morning routine consists of Zane going out to potty, then coming in for breakfast (doing a little work for it), then when it's light enough, we go out, feed the horses, then I get the paper and go inside. This morning when I got to the paper, I realized I had a handful of treats in my pocket. So the clicker came out, and I decided to try to shape Zane to pick up the paper. At first he was paw targeting it. He *loves* to paw target. Then he started doing brickwork on the paper (front feet on, back feet pivoting around it). Finally he put his head down to sniff it. From then on, I only clicked interaction from his muzzle. By the time the treats were gone, he was picking it up and handing it to me. What a nice impromptu shaping session!

We went to rally practice today. One of the dogs there, Rusty, is a red border collie. Both of my girls (dogs, no kids) love Rusty. The first couple of times Zane met Rusty, he was scared of him, then liked him, now there seems to be a little love affair going on. Every time Zane sees Rusty, he runs to him and throws himself to the ground at Rusty's feet. He just rolls around there adoring Rusty. I have got to get a video of it.

I just heard Joelle yell, "Zane, no!" Then I hear little pounding puppy feet running as fast as they could. He had stolen a pair of underwear and was running to hide with them. Good laugh for the evening!

Down!

2010-11-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

Zane is still favoring his hind leg, so not much training going on. I did find some tiny little grass seeds between the pads, but all of his feet had them. They are all pulled out now. He's still favoring it, so I don't know. I can't imagine he's really injured it somehow. He's such a wuss that any little thing has him screaming, and he didn't make a peep yesterday. I'll give it another day and see what happens.

This evening we worked on signal downs - the real obedience ring signal. So signal followed by verbal to introduce a new cue. It's about the 3rd time we've done them, and tonight he actually anticipated the down with just a signal about 4 times. Awesome! Can't wait until it's solid!

I think his head is improving too. Either that or I'm getting used to it! But it doesn't look at collie-like - he's getting a stop again! Now for the top of his head to get back into shape. And I need to tape his ears again, but I think they're getting infected. Argh on ears!

Raising Zane

New Blog

Same old

Agility morning

Push

Herding weekend

Hot Dog Heeling

Wondrous day!

It's Chuckie!

Cat Dog

Zane - 9 months (almost)

Fast Progress!

Room Searches

Unroll a Mat

Retraining the dogwalk

Scary Day

Challenge!

Agility discussion

Nosework update

Catching up

Poor Zane

Using back to increase distance

My little funny boy

Zane's Obedience Practice

Agility practice

Forgot the most important part

So much going on!

He loves his agility

Focus & Control

Nosework

Stacking Bowls

A little resource guarding?

Who's bigger and badder?

Fauxhawk

Silly boy

Sheepies

More distance and more food bowl distractions

Distance Work

Push and Pull

*Don't* get the paper

Contacts

Agility

NTD

A different "Get the paper"

Jump into my arms. . .

Morning Session

Mailbox

Smorgasbord

Tricks and Wipe

Wipe Your Paws

Catching up for the week

Agility

Home Depot

Temperament Evaluation

Scent Work

Training at the park

Back to Basics

Zane goofing around

Little sessions

Foundation Fundamentals

Touch or Treat

New Store

Video Day!

Still growing

Thankful for my puppy

Under

General stuff

Hike to the River

Allergies?

Agility fun

Zane and Tori

Retrieve work

Rally Puppy!

Puppies can Rally!

Busy Morning for the Zaney Butt

I can't believe I did it

Make Some Noise, Part 2

Genius in Training

Put it In Video

What a great start to the day!

Don't get the paper