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Met with Sue
for training session. Cues to start working on include: FRONT, SIDE,
STAY vs. wait. Others to strengthen include LEAVE IT, WATCH ME,
sniffing, RECALL. Also agreed on shaping Freely's response to cues
to first time asked or signaled.
I experienced frustration after
the session because of my balance and problems with dizziness.
Identified the "have a party" and "high and excited vocalization" as
the problems which make my symptoms worse. Will consider more hand
signals and increased "WATCH ME" on and off cue. Use of more rewards
than just food.
LEAVE IT, COME, CLOTHES DRYER, WATCH, PAW
IT
REWARDS USED: 2 small toys, KONG, natural balance, kibble,
beef heart, play time.
OUTING: Target Store, LEAVE IT in pet
aisle until able to walk thru aisle w/out verbal cue.
WATCH ME in
entryway of store, throughout store especially in high traffic
areas.
Emptied clothes dryer. Retrieved cane numerous
times.
LEAVE IT: sessions 4x. Items used: candy cane, bag of nuts
(thanks Mary Lee), grapefruit. ON LEAD. I sat in chair center of
room, items around us. Freely went for item, WATCH ME, turned away,
C/T. 5 successes and I dropped the verbal WATCH ME cue. She looked
at item and then looked away, C/T. 10 reps. I stood up, walked
towards items, same criteria and C/T patterns. Walked past items and
repeated. I tapped the grapefruit while walking past and 'WATCH ME'.
C/T. then walked past again and kicked it so it rolled way ahead.
She WATCH ME without verbal cue C/T JACKPOT and ended
session.
Sniffing: similar protocal used as above.
COME and
FREELY: used throughout the day and off lead in backyard. Outside in
front yard on flexi, practiced recall and "go out" and
"sniff"
WATCH ME: trained throughout the day on cue as well as
catching watching without cue...C/T.
At my sister's house.
Worked on all the above cues. Used 'RUG' for place by me when she
wasn't playing. Took special play time rewards outdoors and worked
on recall for SETTLE and RUG and SIT on first cue given. Took a
while because of distractions and play time with other dogs. But got
better as the weekend went on.
Has a new toy she loves. This
we play with interacting. Working on COME, SIT, DOWN, SPIN, GET IT,
on first cue. A series of cues given and must be on first cue and
then she gets play time with her new Christmas bear. She LOVES this
"play/training time".
OUTING: Fred Meyers, Walgreens, Library.
Outing without GL. VERY successful. Worked on staying at side of my
leg as opposed to side of grocery cart. LEAVE IT in the meat dept.
walked past meat counter until able to not put nose towards it.
Moved to meat packages. Put sausage at my side with cue WATCH ME.
Dropped cue and when she turned head away from pkgs, C/T. Did the
same procedure in the deli cheese section.
Today I had 2 dr. appts and then a SD presentation in the early evening. Freely did very well at both appts. One thing I noticed was when one of my drs. used a stainless steel bowl for a procedure, Freely was very excited. I think it was because it sounded and looked alot like her food dish...ahhh, another training in store for us around that. We had many car rides in different cars today and Freely is doing so much better at waiting to get in until cue and the same for exiting the car. I'm very glad. Only once did she need a second reminder to wait. The evening SD presentation included a training session with Freely which people really enjoyed. I was much more comfortable with not worrying if she performed perfectly and just focused on the task at hand. The room had cupboards and drawers so Freely demo NOSE IT to close them. Had alot of clicker questions so we did some clicking specific demos and it was really fun. People loved it and actually asked at the end if they could pet her, before just doing it. We did some LEAVE IT proofing at the presentation and Freely actually turned her head away from a candy cane put to her nose! YAHOO FREELY! I notice we need to work on "KISS' being only on cue, so we will work on this one. She is only receiving 1/3 cup of food in her bowl, the rest is hand fed for working. But we also do training session before dish feeding, so she is working for EVERYTHING, including play time. RECALL TODAY: Indoors...98%. Outdoors (backyard)...75%.
Worked at home on LEAVE IT, COME, LAUNDRY, RETRIEVAL, STAND, STAND-STAY, STAY.
Did several laundry loads today. Freely loves emptying the dryer and picking up dropped socks etc in the switch over. We had several play sessions with stay and waiting for cues before retrieval of toy, etc. She found and brought my cane on several occasions thruout the day. We went for a long walk in the wind with blowing leaves etc. Took her a bit, but the strengthened WATCH ME has helped IMMENSELY in these high distractions. She is not chasing every leaf now. She is also able to WATCH ME when someone walks past us about 90% of the time, which is a huge success over just last week. Went to a meeting in the evening and she did excellent. On her RUG (towel) and stayed there. Doing some rapid clicking for staying at heel when she wants to go ahead and it is REALLY helping! This is really a good strategy for her in high distractions and then I slowing back off the frequency and she stays pretty focused.
A.M. went grocery shopping. EXCELLENT at LEAVE IT. Meat aisle was total success, as was the deli dept. We went thru pet aisle and aisle with stuffed toys for Christmas and she did remarkable well, only needing LEAVE IT cue 2x. This is a big WOW for miss Freely! We went for a walk in the evening and once again Freely as very quick to settle down and pay attention. She WATCHED ME without cue every few steps with no verbal cue!
In the morning we worked outdoors for half hour. We practiced turns and forward, stop-stand, and walking backwards. Went to the grocery store with my sister. Freely did quite well. Usually she will want to find my sister, but she was able to keep her focus quite well. We also played with my sister's dogs at her home and Freely was able to settle down when told SETTLE. We went out to lunch and Freely was perfect, no snorffling or moving around under the table. However she was trying to walk ahead both before and after leaving the restaurant. I used the GL to redirect by moving it down. I admit to not being too diligent about her perfect side position as I was getting tired. Will have to be careful of this.
CHRISTMAS went ok. Spent several days at my sisters with kids and 2 other dogs. That is always a challenge. I wish I had done more clicking. I'm going to do this more over there since they finally realize it is ok even their dogs aren't CT. so... now we are off on our new leg...
RECALL..outside 90%, inside 90%. Am doing more clicking thruout the day as opposed to 'sessions'. This works much better. Keeps us both on our toes. Did laundry again. For rewards I am realizing that Freely is the most motivated by surprises. She likes most anything that is either new or she hasn't had in a while so I am using LOTS of rewards other than only food. She never knows what the treat will be, but she knows it will be good...stuffed toy, squeak toy, flying disk, ball, outside play time, kibble, natural balance, beef heart.. she does best with varied rewards. We are working on "weaving" with chairs for thought processing and following the target stick which she has always had a hard time doing. But she is really excelling and thinking. We also are working on LEAVE IT continually and SIDE, where she goes behind me to my right side. This one is a bit tricky. She is doing well on STAND and STAND STAY. Yesterday when at the store a flock of kids were coming towards us and instead of trying to pull to them, she looked to me. I was VERY PLEASED and the reward was a jackpot! Today there were lots of crows on the front lawn and instead of having a fit and dancing around, she came right to me. She is becoming more focused on me every day.
Today we went to Powell's book store and Freely did quite well. We were with my sis, guide pup in training and my neice. It didn't take long for Freely to be able to focus on me instead of them. This is definitely improving. Then at their house she was quite glued to me when not playing...again...making great strides. I finished reading "Calming Signals" today and I plan to read it again. I'm also starting Culture Clash tomorrow. I'm starting to really "see" Freely and her interactions with me, others and environments and using some calming signals with her. It is soooo interesting!
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