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“But,” you say, “what happened with the action-packed report from day #4?”

Well, we did pretty well, but it had become increasingly obvious to me that I was not sticking to MY criteria of minimal movement and keeping my mouth shut. With our session yesterday, she actually started to shut down at one point because she just wasn’t getting it. She kept running toward the poles and stopping, and it’s pretty clear from the video (which I won’t share) that I wasn’t going with her, or was turning too soon, or dropped my arm… stuff I should not have been doing anyway. Bless the video!

I also noticed, in watching the video (again, bless it), that Joon was frequently leaping through the poles, as if there was an 8-12″ high jump in there. I thought it might not be a good thing to repeat that behavior, but her drive for the toy was so great that it was hard to figure out how to stop that. Food just won’t work out there in the grass. I also was constantly disturbed by the fact that she would turn back to me whenever she caught sight of the toy coming at her from “my” side. So if she was on my right, I’d be throwing with my left hand, which would draw her back toward me when she saw the toy coming. Didn’t want to reinforce that behavior. I could not have the toy in my right hand if she was on my right. Watch the videos from the previous days and you’ll know why.

I remembered an article by Mary Ellen Barry in Clean Run Magazine (April 2009) that describes a wonderful step-by-step procedure for training the poles using this method. It’s somewhat different than Susan Garrett’s 2 x 2 method as described in Susan’s DVD on training the weaves. For instance, Mary Ellen uses food rather than toys at the onset, “to maintain your dog’s thoughtfulness and accuracy,” and then later progresses to rewarding with toys to reward speed and drive.  I like written directions better than video, though I like video too (and Susan Garrett’s 2 x 2 video is excellent!). I like video with an outline accompanying it, and wish instructional videos on agility training came that way!

Bottom line is that today I took a set of 2 weaves up into our barn loft training area (black rubber matted) along with Joon and some string cheese, and we worked Mary Ellen’s beginning steps #1 and #2. Dear Joon was awesome! and we got through the end of the two steps just fine in about 5 minutes – Joon’s brain’s limit for concentrated work. She does love string cheese, and she was quite thoughtful and accurate in her work. We’ll continue in the barn, and take our Flip camera with us, tomorrow.

Joon resting on a warm day in November 2008

It’s been a long time, but I have an opportunity to work with this girl. Ken took the two young ‘uns  (Genie and Zip) on a road trip for a week or so, and it’s my assignment to teach Joon to weave. I’ve chosen to teach her using the 2 x 2 method, since it doesn’t require another person to start the dog, and I’ve had a pretty good success rate with it. Today was step #1.

Lately, Karen Stinnett has been taking Joon to our Sunday evening agility runs, since Karen’s dog Grace E is recuperating from TPLO surgery. I’ve missed the fun, having been away the last two classes. Looking forward to seeing how she does with her next time.

Joon jumps (not efficiently) and has rudimentary contact behavior. Her focus is always on the toy/reward, so that’s something to modify a bit. She even does the fourth contact obstacle – the table- well. Has a good enough stay, needs work. It all does, since we’ve worked with her only sporadically. The weaves really are the only obstacle remaining for her to conquer. Then it’s all learning about control, control, control.

2 x 2 weaves, step #1

Using one set of 2 weave poles, entice dog to enter between them. So first step was to hold her collar and toss the toy through the poles, low, then let her go. We did this perpendicular to the poles, i.e., she directly faced the opening between poles #1 and #2 and ran between them. Repeated a couple of times, then set her next to me and waited for her to go. A few false starts, with her natural inclination to arc outward, then a correct response rewarded by the thrown toy as soon as her nose passed between the poles, throwing the toy out in front of her. Then a few more of these, intermingled with some false starts/outruns, and finally she appeared to get it (5 correct responses in a row).

I then switched from having her on my right to being on my left, and set her up (she’s standing, by the way, no sit for her). Again, a false start or two and she then got it 100%.

Now to change my angle to the poles, so I moved leftward (she’s still on my left) so I’m more in line with pole #1 but facing #2. Cued her to go, mistake, cued her to go – success. The toy now is thrown in line with her future direction of movement, i.e., through the poles and angled toward the end of the poles, thus a roughly 20 degree angle to the poles. Worked for a few more correct responses, then quit. She did well!! More later today, or definitely tomorrow morning. Keeping sessions short. It’s almost 70 degrees out there, and she’s intense. She was panting pretty hard by the end of our session.

Brilliant little red dog!

Joon lives. Really. I know I haven’t written anything since NOVEMBER 28th! (I actually didn’t realize it was that long ago! Oh my.)

Let’s see, first of all I caught a cold – had no voice, a head full of stuff, and then it segued into an ear infection, and now I can’t hear. It’s been cold. Or hot. Or raining. There was a bunch of holidays in there too, disrupting any semblance of a “normal” life around here. Though with 10 dogs I’d sure like to know what’s normal. OK, normal for us. Meaning crazy. And then, just to be sure she could just live a slothful life, Joon came in season. So no running in the agility area – might make things a tad distracting for the paying students, ya know – and no training up in the barn – for the same reason.

We do play ball in the dog yard, either with other ball-crazy dogs or alone. We play the Two-Balls game (stop it!!) to encourage retrieving. You know the drill: throw one ball, dog runs off to get it, wanders back and tries to play keep-away, but off goes the second ball, dog drops ball #1 and races off to get the second one. Human grabs ball #1 and the game proceeds. Tires dog out really quickly, but the true purpose of the exercise is to teach the dog to bring the ball back – and the second ball/chase is the reward. Over time, anticipation of the second throw causes the dog to drop the ball before the second one is sent away – and with encouragement perhaps to bring the ball closer to the human. Joon has progressed to bringing the ball to my feet, drops it, and is ready to go. The game can then be played with one ball from this point, but two’s funner.

We also combine this game with sits and downs. She brings the ball, has to sit (or down). Gets released to chase the ball. Exercises in self-control.

But we’re coming back. She’s almost out of season. I really don’t have to hear to train her. Breathing helps, of course, but for now that’s working. Of course, the next interruption will be in a month or so, when the sweet gurl gets spayed.

But stay tuned…

or How Your Dog Too Can Spend Three Days in a Crate.

So much for happy holidays for the short guy. We’re not doing too well in the potty training department. I think the major problem with trying to potty train an adult dog is that they have much better control over their eliminations. Puppies are pretty much pre-programmed. If their legs are moving they need to potty. If they eat, they need to defecate. Easy. All you have to do is take them out when they need to go, praise the heck out of them when they do and always set them up for success. Not quite so easy with an adult, particularly a male. I have found that Tuck can go more than 18 hours without urinating. I figured I must have just missed him going, after all he is rather low to the ground. So I relented and let him run around a bit. He peed on the carpet. I applied rolled up newspaper to my head and Tuck went back in the crate. What should have been a fun-filled holiday weekend has turned into a guilt fest in my corner and a crate fest in Tuck’s. Not so fun. I got back from my family Christmas a few hours ago and let the dogs out with no results from Tuck. So back in the crate he went. However, about an hour ago we went outside and he urinated AND defecated. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Never have you seen an adult woman so elated over a little dog pooping in the yard. My neighbors are convinced I’m certifiably insane, and I’m happy that Tuck can run and play in the house for a while. Read more…