It's Been Awhile

It's spring finally good weather and it is inspiring me to try to keep some sort of records.  I think the details work well in One Note but the ramblings work better in this blog format.

Iggy and I are doing better every day.  We have had some incredible successes and the failures have actually been OK too.  I am really working hard at taking the failures as just information not the end of the world and moving on.  Sometimes I still take a moment to smack myself in the head but just a moment not for days.

Had a rough start with the 2x2's a few weeks ago.  Of course I was terrified to start and that probably put me int he failure mindset.  Anyway we took a week off and now are back to it.  Today I added the 2nd 2x2 and he is have a hard time finding the 2nd one but he is finding it.  Even more impressed with he is failing and starting to try stuff and I am staying quieter which makes a huge difference for him.

Lesson from Francis

I went to lunch with the girls after class on Thursday and Francis said something that I so needed said.  She was telling a story how she was in the house and told Covey to heel and Covey refused and went and hid under the desk.  Francis went got her and asked he again, Covey again refused.  They did this for 30 minutes before Covey heeled.  This is I think a big part of what I am missing.  As soon as my dog looks like he doesn't want to I stop trying; be it because there is not enough value in the doing or the dog isn't happy I quit.  This tells my dog that face and running away gets me to back off, what Susan was saying about teaching shutting down.  Yet another tool in my dog training box.

Yesterday we had a day off, I don't think we tugged all day.  We are going into the yard with the dogs and he is doing well.  I have to work on it's your choice for Splash's bum, he is obsessed, such a yucky boy :).  He is starting to respond better around the dogs, at least when they aren't moving :).

Today I am going to start with the recall course again.  Susan put out core games that our dogs should have before we begin the course which is supposed to start in a few days.

I still am not building enough value sometimes.  He seems a little off today, I allowed him to be outside the crate a lot yesterday and he seems off today so he is spending his day in the crate.  I think he just doesn't rest when he is out???  Anyway twice today I got the I don't want to work look and I worked through it once with jumps and once with the squirrel tree.  The jumps I was doing serps and he may be confused ????? anyway we did a few and stopped but he was never there perky ready to work he was looking around smelling the air.  I have to video tape this and send it to Christine, I am unclear on what I should be doing when this happens.  At the squirrel tree I was doing collar grabs right at the tree and waiting for eye contact before release.  He was doing it, after 3 reps I asked for a sit and nothing.  I moved about 5 feet from the tree and held his collar and waited for eye contact, took longer than it did at the tree, when I got it I asked for a sit, didn't get it and moved further back.  When I got it I released to the tree.  Too  much????  Let's face it he let me grab his collar should I have just rewarded this 15 times and ended it there.  I will try that later today or tomorrow.

Starting to use IYC

I am starting to be able to use IYC better.  I spoke to Christine last Friday at class and that as always helped to clarify.  She also had the class before doing RZ and IYC and I realized Iggy could not do the exercise she was asking of them which was stay in position beside me as we walked by XYZ.  Funny I had been think that was RZ wasn't going where I wanted it to go now I see the next step.

Since last Friday I have been very non interactive on our walks, on some not calling him at all.  We have gone into both side fields and walked around the front yard and he has been great.  I think I was just driving him nuts and not letting him enjoy the walk.  I need to do recall work but using proofing or testing value in set up situations not everyday life.  This morning twice he was rolling on something and I called.  Both times he looked and I had to call again before he started coming but then he came with great speed.  I regularly see him checking where I am and he never really got that far away so overall exactly what our final goal is.

Testing the value

Let's start with yesterday and this morning were great.  He is happy, responsive, wanting to work we are having a great time.

I wrote a long email to Christine asking some specific question trying to get my head around making life a game of IYC.  She wrote back that I am going from easy to impossible which is why we are having so much failure and we end up battling.  Basically I am not methodically working through the steps to that level of difficulty, call it proofing or testing the value.  When testing the value you have to have management tools in place so if Iggy makes the wrong decision I can let him know it was the wrong decision, ideally by managing the environment and not the dog.

I got Bill to help me do some recalls yesterday.  In the kitchen, dog in a stay, me 15 feet away and Bill the distraction.  We did 4 reps using a bag of treats in his hand as the distraction, the only time Iggy even looked was when Bill threw a bunch of treats on the floor and then Iggy looked but kept coming.

This week I start classes again and Tiffany has offered to help me with proofing other dogs.  I need to create a plan to get the perfect recall of at least her dogs and hopefully it will transfer to all dogs.

New understandings

On Thursday night we had an awesome class worked jump circles, jump to tunnel and spins in RZ.  At the end of class I went to release him out of the crate to put his leash on and when released he ran at Churchill.  I left the building and he ran around playing with the other dogs and never bothered caring about me gone.  After a few minutes I grabbed him and put him in the car.  So by Friday morning I really was ready to kill him :).  I decided that I didn't want to work Friday morning so I opened the garage door and released him to run.  I walked around the field he ran around always within 50-100 feet of me and once came over and bounced me we played tug for about 10 seconds and I told him to go run.  When I got to the door he beat me there and we went in.

I wrote Christine of my woos and asked for inspiration.  She wrote the following back

Restricting his privileges SHOULD be about allowing him to choose you...you're just restricting the number of options that he has. It definitely shouldn't be about a battle. It's about making you the only really great option. It's not actually about taking things "away" because he's not working (as in, you don't do your homework, you loose TV for tonight). It's more a "you don't have any privileges to begin with. You do X, you get reward Z." From a behavioural standpoint, it's actually a big difference. Having the privileges and loosing them is very frustrating. Having no privileges and EARNING them is reinforcing and not punishing. If you do it the first way, you build in more frustration. Of course we have to do SOME punishing (even if it's mild punishment like negative punishment). Too much of it is punishing though. If you start with zero privileges and everything is earned, then you can use mostly reinforcement, which builds on positive feelings and you can get more transfer of value.
You're putting him in a "small box" with few options. The great option is you. All the other options are B-O-R-I-N-G.


I am not doing it right, I am using the restrictions as a punishment for bad behaviour.  I still don't get the whole letting him earn privileges.  I get it on paper but I am having a very hard time putting it into practice.


Class last night he did great and Christine said that is the best she has seen him work.  The class was very small only two dogs working at once so I think I was much more relaxed and therefore so was he.  He did leave a couple of times but it is really nice with Christine when he leaves, I leave and she tells me what to do.  It took him a few minutes to care (OK felt like a few probably only one :)) but then she says he was looking for me so I came out and ran around like an idiot until he not only engages me but is begging me to play.  A couple of time he did leave and came right back and I so wanted to tug with him and she stopped me.  Makes perfect sense you don't want to reward him for leaving by rewarding him for coming back.  Very hard just mild praise and go back to what you were doing.  Don't grab him or take away his choices just keep working let him choose to work.  Brilliant will have to work very hard to put this into effect.


This morning we went for an off leash walk in the rain, I only called him once or twice and he came right away.  I did a lot of just changing direction and he followed every time.  I have let him out for two pees again out the front door and he went out peed and came right back even though he was staring at the birds flying around in the tree.


The only work we have done today is choosing to play with me regardless of what toy I have in my hand.  We worked with the schumm tug, the flying squirrel and the swiffer.  He liked the flying squirrel and that was by far the hardest to get him to relinquish and play with me with another toy.

I think it's working

I am trying real hard to try stuff with Iggy, I really have no choice because what I have tried hasn't worked, but then I start over analyzing and put myself into a state of brain freeze and doubt.  I also have to be very careful because when things go wrong I seem to increase my criteria so all we do is fail.  At the same time I know when things are good I let criteria slide, probably because I don't want to mess with good.  Somewhere in the middle is the dog I want to train.

This mornings plan was to go out and do a jump.  Yesterday we did one serp set up and he did fine on the second set up he spent 30 seconds looking around so I put him on leash and brought him in.  We did some shaping and tugging short and sweet for the rest of the day so was ready to try the jump set up again.  Anyway got outside this morning and he picked up a piece of bark, I didn't want to take it away because that just encourages the whole keep away.  So I let him go for his pee and walk a bit with his wood in his mouth than started playing with the toy I had.  It took a bit but he did eventually drop the wood and come for the toy I teased him for a bit and then played tug when I released I let him go back to the toy and repeated.  Again it took a bit but he did eventually come back to me for my toy.  I had him on a leash so prevented the pick up and run away which he did try a couple of times.  Will have to repeat this regularly I feel it worked exactly how I wanted it too and gave him the right info.

I have been doing a lot of walking with him on a very short leash in RZ.  I am giving the cue for the position before I put him in the spot, I am putting him in the spot so I am still questioning whether or not I should be cueing first or is the cue telling him I am about to do this so fight it?????  Anyway I called him so he looks give him the verbal cue and then the physical cue which is drop the shoulder back then with the leash I put him into the position.  I should stop doing it with the leash do the hand touch, funny how it comes to me know when I write it down.  The reason was I am using it when he pulls but that's OK I think it will still work.  We got to the end of the driveway and I called his name and his brain was elsewhere I was all over him without getting mad but  grabbing his face and smacking his ass, I have been doing some work on smack tug and he seems to be getting up when I smack him which really is what I want.  I feel I have done enough rewarding with a lot of this and now he needs to not be given a choice.  This is where I am experimenting with him and get terrified that I will screw him up and that makes me an ineffective trainer.  Anyway I think it worked :) and gave the info I wanted, stop being an ass I called you.

We walked passed the wood on the driveway in RZ, he was walking nicely so I released him to go and get it and then carry it for a while.  When we were almost to the house I had him in RZ and asked him to sit when we got to the door.  The garbage truck was coming down the road so he got very distracted.  I forced the look at me by moving his head to the right position and releasing until he gave me eye contact then I released him to look at the truck. I can't remember if I called him or just waited but he looked at me we tugged for a few seconds and I released him to look at the truck and he chose to look at me we again tugged for a few seconds and released to look he eventually chose to tug and ignored the truck which was now at it's closest point.  I am so happy how well that worked, he chose me.  This is one of the few times that I actually saw him choose me :).

The winding road

I am beginning to get over my kicking and screaming at life and beginning to be able to think again.  Putting him in the crate has been a god send.  It allows me to have my bad moments and him not to have to suffer them.  Looking back I think I see how it was starting to go wrong.  I may be imagining it but it's all I have to go with so go with it we will.  I think I allowed to many instances of mistakes and not enough reward history to make up for them and ya I got pissed which doesn't help.  Still not 100% sure how to fix it but at least we are on the road back again.  I need to do a private with Christine and part of that private needs to be discussing off leash walking.

This morning we went out and did a couple of jumps he was so there and then one restrained retrieve and two PB & J.  We then walked down the driveway and did 2 recalls along the way and one at the end.  He was awesome.  Then the snow plow came down the road.  We didn't do too badly.  He tried real hard to keep tugging but would lose it once in a while but come right back.  I wanted to do IYC when I would walk away he wouldn't look at me but kept coming with me without the leash tightening so I was very pleased.  Honestly most I have enjoyed with him in a few days so we had fun.  It helps it's not too cold and the sun is shining.

A journey of a thousand miles begins...

As promised I resisted all urges to bring him out for just a bit and all I did was pee and poop him for the rest of the day.

This morning we went out.  He was very attentive and all about me on the way to the door and out of the house. Once outside walked him close to me and released him out for a pee.  Walked half way down the driveway did one short recall played tug and then a 20 foot recall from a stay and played tug.  On the way back he was pulling so rewarded him about 3 times with a tug for turning back when I stopped and backed up.

At noon took him out for a pee and then did target on plexi with him.  Single nose touches 3 times rewarded.  Should have probably only done one.

Really!!!!

You gotta give me credit for thinking the glass is always half full.  Mornings are our best times so I thought let's do some off leash in the morning, some jumping and then keep you on leash for the rest of the day, and this is how it went.  He was great through the house ignores the other dogs just wants me :).  Did the sit at both exit doors without screwing around :).  Released him out let him go 15 feet and called him he turned and came back, I pulled the leash out of my pocket instead of the ball while I got the ball he turned and took off into the field, I called once but then figured he might really have to pee so waited.  When he was done peeing (about 150 feet away) I called and he ignored me completely.  I went in the house and can't see him but he didn't appear at the door and teaching him to ignore me and play in the field was not my plan so I jumped in the car and started going down the driveway.  He appeared go out of the car called him he came right over we played for a second and gone again, I drove further down the driveway and this time when he came I put him in his crate in the car and then straight into the house in the crate.  Right now I am so mad the best thing for both of us is I ignore him for two days.  I imagine I just have to go back to the beginning and start from there.  I am so sad, mad, angry, frustrated, hurt, scared...

Shoot me now

Is it me, is it him.  I don't know but we are not in a good place.  Is he not feeling well, I think we have ruled that out.  Is it he is tired and needs a day (or maybe more) of complete nothing after a class?  @#$% I am just so frustrated and to top it off Christine just posted a video of Quake running and he was amazing doing a big circle of jumps and tunnels looking forward driving and yesterday she posted Quake doing twelve weaves.  Iggy has barely done three jumps in a row and has just got the tunnel.

Yesterday afternoon I said I would take him out in the yard and let him be waiting for him to choose me.  Never going to happen.  I walked with him and he seemed to stay close and then went to the other end of the yard and couldn't care less when I walked the other way.  I got him back and went in the house another experiment gone wrong.

We went out this morning did a few single jumps and he worked very well.  Let him off to go to the bathroom, he wouldn't leave my side, when I finally got him to go I tried calling him at five feet and nothing.  I walked away and he came right to me.  He did well but I would really like to move forward and am feeling very stuck in one place.  I want to take him for a run but can't.

Mid morning we went out for a walk with Logan.  Iggy was doing fine on leash and looking around when I stopped.  A car went by and I put him in a sit and he moved at the end I grabbed his collar and fixed him and waited for him to remember I existed before I released him.  His brain must have left with the car because after that he was pulling.  I didn't want to keep correcting him so I put him in RZ on a very short leash.  Any time his head would pass my leg I brought him back.  When he would give me a few steps of nice walking I would play for a minute.

This afternoon I went to the basement to do some shaping.  I played tug for a few minutes and put him in a down as I got ready, meanwhile Bill came down the stairs and Iggy broke his stay and ran towards him I said hey and went to get him.  Iggy did turn at one point but obviously me coming to get him triggered run because up the stairs he went and would not come back down to me, I finally went got him by the side scruff and put him in the crate.  I did bring him out and do some tugging with him about one hour later and he seemed happy to come out and tug.

Looking at our day it's been shit followed by more shit.  Repeat after me tomorrow he goes out to the bathroom and that's it.  No playing, no tugging, no nothing bathroom and crate.   The dog I want is in there and we will figure out a way to get him out :).

The good the bad and the ugle

It all went to hell this morning and I stayed operant the whole time :).

I decided to go out in the backyard this morning.  I just added recall in the backyard to my goals, I have very little recall in the backyard maybe 50%, I don't really go out in the backyard and work so his major history in the backyard is ignoring me and having a good time with the other dogs.  So I have in the last week been going in the backyard on leash staying on the deck and tugging and doing recalls.  I figured I could step out the door and do a recall and he would listen.  Ha ha foolish me he never even flicked an ear and there I stood like a pinhead.  I also realize that I get so mad when he does something wrong not because he is wrong but because I put both of us in a situation where he would fail.  I am not upset with his failure but mine.  I maintained calm this morning tried walking back into the garage he ran around the yard had a couple of pees and a poo glanced at the door once in a while maybe he could see me maybe not but never even though of coming back.  Since he has spent hours in the backyard amusing himself on his own and he hasn't had a whole lot of exercise this week I wasn't going to wait him out.

I walked towards him he was pooping, I waited until he was done and called and he came right to me.  I put him on leash and we walked back to the deck and played some tug.  I walked around a bit letting him get distracted he was all over me.  So I took the leash off to see what would happen.  Tug tug tug and he takes off to have a pee in the yard.  Got him back smacked him around some, have been rewarding that and he really likes it now.  Released him out let him go a few steps and called worked great for a few minutes and I started increasing his distance.  Then he found a big piece of wood and it was all over he went into keep away mode.  Which brings us back to another goal don't play keep away with the damn piece of wood.  I went in the house he came with me, I grabbed some treats and went out to play drop it with the wood.  He did great and I so should have done this ages ago.  We then did RZ by the piece of wood.

I decided enough tempting fate and we came in.  He needs a run I will give him one this afternoon when Logan goes down for a nap.

Goal setting as opposed to to do lists

I took him to class last night and he did really well.  He is having no problem being distracted by Chris or David or their dogs :).  I was looking at a video of a Susan Garrett seminar on weaves, I really don't think he could do it, but we are a whole lot closer than we were.  I till feel we need a humongous spread sheet or something to give us more focus.  This week I want to spend some time thinking about it.

My goal for this week is to work Iggy through all the exercises in the one jump video, hmmm that is still more a to do list instead of a goal.

This morning I had Iggy off leash, he was awesome and didn't want to leave me.  So now comes the game of giving him freedom but being able to call him back whenever.  At one point I sent him to run and he did go about 150 feet I let him sniff for a minute and called him and he kept sniffing, I walked away before I was back to the door he was at my side :).  I played keep away with the toy a few minutes and then we had a good game of tug and went and did some jump work.

I got a goal, to walk onto the road of the end of the driveway and he turn to me instead of his brain being lost to the field and the smells there.  Another one, good solid nose touches on the plexi glass target.

Last night at class we did bend work with 5 jumps, he did it no problem and was working awesome.  We also did running across the dogwalk plank on the ground on a bar.  I am going to delay teeter work until I meet with Christine.  I want to follow Susan's method and see how it goes.

Back to the plan

I think he is almost all back but I am definitely taking my time.  We went out this morning and we did some tugging he was on so decided to allow him some off leash time.  Release two steps call back repeat 3 times, fourth rep allowed him to go out into the field he peed and called him back.  Worked well, after the meeting of the minds with the cats yesterday wasn't sure I would have any brain but it looked good.  We did some lefts and rights, still having the odd hard time getting him to spin right.  He had about 3 pees and a poo all of leash and all returning to me after  being called.  Now there is a light covering of snow on the patches of ice on he driveway which just scare the crap out of me so we went inside and headed to the basement.

We did some tugging when we got down there to assess brain, it looked good so we worked on backing up.  We have huge alignment problems :).  I used the end of the rug as my marker and he managed back feet off a few times, come to think of it I didn't mark where I was in relation to the end of the carpet so I know where to sit next time.  I am working on throwing the food in a straight line away from me and that will hopefully help with his alignment.  We worked on some nose touches on my hand, hand on floor.  He definitely was more confident than he was yesterday, will have keep working on the target.

It just keeps getting better

Got home last night after Iggy had been left alone for 6 hours and he was so wired had to do something.  We did some perch work and tugging on the bed.  I got him to tug gently while lying down and do a great job of transferring his weight back when tugging on the bed.  God it was fun to work a dog who wanted to work this much.  Poor baby now he will probably get more crate time but that's what I want.  Sad when I wished I worked full time so my dog would work better.

Let off leash this morning he really only didn't respond once and then he was heading over to take a poop and came right back to me afterwards.

I want proof recalls just for a couple of reps every day so we went out with two toys.  One his tennis ball on a rope and the other his schumm toy.  We did 10 foot recalls with tennis ball on the ground first started about 5 feet off the recall line and worked to 1 foot off the recall line.  He did great.  Then switched toys and he still nailed it.  Need to do more work on him picking up and coming back with the schumm toy, he started heading to the front yard I ran away and he came to me with the toy.  It is still not habit so I need to do a number of send to toy and run away to improve that.  Working towards getting more of a turn before I run.  I think that is the problem I do turn and run immediately or stand there I need to start mixing it up.

He's back

Iggy and I went to the vet yesterday.  After a very thorough check Andrew thought he was in great shape and nothing was wrong and went ahead and gave him his rabies shot.  When I got home we went for a walk on leash he was good and worked well, still not 100% but better.  Even in the morning he had made noise in his crate which was a very clear indication that he was feeling better.

This morning he is all Iggy.  He bounced me all the way from the bedroom to the backdoor to play with his toy and rushed to sit at the exit doors so we could go out.  Even yesterday morning when I went to the exit door to the garage he wandered around the garage for a minute or so and I had to call him to come to the door.  Outside it was really nasty with a -17 wind chill so we didn't do much.  Two reps past the jump and back over, two reps over the jump and back to me.  Then we did one rep of walking in RZL with toy out ahead, he did great but didn't come back with the toy the way I would like.  We had his schumm tug which he does this with.  So we did two reps of restrained recall to toy and me running away, he did great.  Then we went for a pee on leash and came back in.  The guys were pulling out wood on the street he got a little distracted but came back and worked.

Still think he is not right

I still think he is not feeling well.  I am going to try and take a really good look at his mouth today and make sure there is nothing going on in there since he is still destroying Kongs any chance he  gets.

We walked in the afternoon out to the end of the driveway and played some tug did our directionals and some recalls.  He is walking pretty well on the buckle collar.  My biggest problem is still I am not 100% clear on my expectations when he is not in a position beside me.  The RZ is coming along nicely.  I sometimes think I have nailed down the criteria and then not so much, this is why I am having a hard time training it.  I could have gone farther but I just wasn't into it and honestly don't think he is either.

When I got home we went out in the backyard just on the deck to go to the bathroom and play a little tug.  After being out there a minute and playing tug I left him in a sit walked two feet a way and released him he went to grab the toy at his feet changed his mind and ran into the yard just 10 feet but what the hell was that, really a smell was more fun than me, really!!!!!.  Anyway went grabbed him brought him back on the deck and we played for 5 minutes and he was great.

I have decided to take him to the vet, we have an appointment tomorrow at 3:30pm.  We went for a walk today to the corner and he walks fine but when we tugged he is just not that into it and then ignored me afterwards just like he used to do and hasn't done in ages.  Hopefully the vet will find and easy fix problem and we can move on.  Fingers crossed.

God give me the wisdom...

I ended up taking Iggy to class last night because Lynn offered to come and help.  She is rewarding him for staying in his crate while I teach with the door open.  We worked on it two weeks ago and he did very well only had the door closed once when the second class came in and everyone started barking.  Last night Lynn only used half his dinner and was usually about 15 feet from the crate.  I also brought him out and did some RZ walking towards Lynn and even pushed her bending forward and he did great.  I then did sits while walking and a dog barked just as I gave the cue so he missed it but after that nailed it.  I kept him on leash outside for the whole day and gave him 30 minutes of freedom while we watched TV after I go home.

Looking back I think I had just pushed too hard and this dog cannot deal with working too hard.  I pray :) that one day he will be able to function as a working dog and have house freedom but I really have to accept he may never :(.  I also have to look at it that the only way I am going to discover his limit is to sometimes go over it like I did last week and recognize it and regroup.

Today so far we haven't done much just walked to the end of the driveway this morning and played tug with some recalls using Iggy and Come.

Stop I want to get off

I am amazed on how quickly things have gone badly.  I am hoping it is a stage or a hormone or not feeling well.  Unfortunately it brings all my insecurities back into the forefront which is just bad for effective training.

Yesterday around 4 pm I went to take Iggy for a pee.  I have been letting him out in the front yard for a few weeks now and he goes to the bathroom and runs back.  He doesn't always come when I call him but does usually get off the sniff and move on to a new one where he goes to the bathroom.  So as always the writing was on the wall I just put blinders on.  To give myself a break I have never let a dog out to go to the bathroom off leash and expected him to pee and come back in.  My dogs have always gone out on leash or into a fenced backyard where they did what they wanted and came to the door when they were done.  I realize you have to give him some freedom to find the spot, maybe my new approach will be go and call back every minute or so until the find the spot.  Anyway yesterday he went out and just kept going over the snow back gone.  It took me a couple of minutes to go to the garage door and get shoes and coat on.  By the time I got out to the driveway he was nowhere to be seen and the driveway was very very icy.  I waddled out around the house and back building until I finally found him, took a couple of calls but he came to me, I didn't kill him :), I told him good boy and let go because of course I had no leash (no idea if I should or should not have put it on) and it was icy so we were both safest on our own.

After this I was in no mood to take him to class so he stayed in his crate the rest of the evening other than a short walk by my husband for bathrooms purposes.

I honestly don't think he is himself, by now he is usually whining to go out and I have not heard a peep from him.  Today he will stay on leash, I will assess whether or not we will do anything other than leash walks and crate as the day progresses.  I need to see him poop to make sure there is no obstruction and that's the problem.  Part of me is very sad, pissed, upset with this turn of events part of me goes you know how to fix this and you will :).

We went for our morning walk.  Amazing how the thought of letting him off leash crossed my mind, I wonder why knowing it was the wrong thing to do :).  We did most of our walk on the buckle collar.  At first we rewarded turning back to me on leash pressure with tugging, that worked well we did three reps.  Then we worked on "close" walking with me, did about 10 feet he was good, need to watch he slowly starts to swing out, I imagine that's to look at me face.  Then we did toy out in front  release after 3 steps, then we did walk by the toy release back to it.  All went well he tugged he worked never looking all stressed.

By this time we were at the end of the driveway, I just stopped and waited.  His brain was definitely going down the trail behind their house.  I waited until he turned away and tugged we did that 3 times, did some sit to tug and some downs.  Once I had the brain it was all good.

On the way back I again did stop and wait for attention, it was probably taking about 15 seconds each time, I rewarded the first two but wanted better to keep tugging.  I petted a couple of reps still the same so I took only one step before stopping again and the brain came back much quicker and I was able to tug.  This made me all clarify what it is I want.  I want when Iggy is on leash and I stop moving he should turn back to me, even off leash if I stop moving I would like him to check in and he is pretty good off leash.

I am very proud of both of us, it went wrong and we were able to recover :) and move on.

!@#$%

Yep I hate failure, I hate being wrong, I hate screwing up.  Now that I got that off my chest I can compose myself :) and try to fix the problem.

This morning weather is crappy, footing is crappy and I wasn't 100% into it.  Iggy and I walked down the driveway and I let him hit the end and sniff, I saw him catch a sniff and start to go but it was too late I called and he kept going and going.  I attempted to hide but that required me walking into 2 feet of wet snow so it took a while I saw him look back but of course could still see me and kept going.  I said screw it and started to walk home but then thought that was just telling him go out have a good time and come home when you are done.  So out on the road I went, it was glare ice with water, a broken leg waiting to happen.  The shoulders were soft so the going was very slow.  By the time I had gotten half way to the driveway for the house across the street Iggy came out from the back of the house and ran at good speed all the way to me.  I praised him smiled and we went home.  I am sure I should have played keep away but I just didn't feel like it and was worried about the footing.  He looked at the house once I called him back and we went home with no more incidence and straight into the crate.

I really didn't want to go to the barn but went and Iggy was great.  We did the setup from Friday again and he did it really well starting to turn I worked very hard on my not moving.  We did 2 reps of that with just 2 jumps turn back on a wrap and reward.  I did standing beside the standard and waiting to see if he would take the jump repeated 5 times and he did it great.  We then did two reps of run through the jumps and threw the toy ahead.  We also worked on the teeter running over it with a 30 degree angle for the entry I was standing half way down the teeter.  On the first rep I moved when he hit the pivot on the 2nd rep I stayed still until he hit the end.  He rode the drop (plank on 2" jump bar) no problem.

We still have class tonight, I will work him only bits and put him in the car after the first class.

Time Flies

I can't believe it has been almost two weeks since I last posted a blog.  They have been a great two weeks as far as training and epiphanies go.  Iggy is starting to work much better with me and I have overcome some of my fears and put him in situations where he may fail, and he has, but I had a plan and it worked out :).  I have to keep remembering to learn from my failures and improve.

This morning we worked on the exercise from Christine's Friday night class.  Two jumps set up 15 feet apart.  Working on the dog understanding you standing still cues take the jump then turn towards me.  I imagine this is one of those exercises that the more you do the better the dog understands the cue.  I am more concerned that I am giving the right information than what the dog is doing.  I worked on standing still until the dog has committed to the jump and then either doing my front cross or wrap so before the dog is jumping he has the needed information.  It went very well we did about 7 tries on both sides with jumps from 16" to 26".  Tried two reps of also doing the second jump after the front cross and he nailed it.

This afternoon I wanted to work on shaping.  He came out of his crate not tugging hard, we had to work a few minutes on tugging to wake him up.  I was sitting on the ground in my back up position and took the toy out of his mouth.  Working on really paying attention to actions that are getting the rewards.  I need to film and watch because I am really starting to understand the detail you need to get good at shaping.  I need some sort of system in my mind.  Meanwhile while working Bill walked through and he got distracted and had to be called back then worked for a bit and then sat and scratched and I put him away.

Things I need for the next session.  I want the video camera set up.  I am working on getting 5 steps back, I will reward 1 step, 3 steps, 2, steps, 3 steps, 1 step, 4, steps, 2 steps, 3 steps and end.  I will break this sequence off with tugging after the 2nd 3 step.  I will reward in the center and ignore the fact that he is not straight.

Next session about 1 hour later.  I hemmed and hawed whether or not I would even bother but I went ahead.  Took him out to the bathroom and came in and played tug, I feel his tugging was the appropriate enthusiasm I pulled the tug out and fed as I said I would, after the tug break he lied down then got up and backed up I rewarded and then he started sniffing the floor and eventually lied down and starting licking the floor.  There is nothing on the floor so after about 15 seconds I took him by the collar and put him in his crate.  This was definitely falling back on old habits and not waiting for a cue from me.  He spent most of the day out of his crate yesterday and even though we didn't spend any formal training time he never rests out of his crate so we will go with he is tired and will stay in the crate until tomorrow evening when we have class and then we can reassess the brain.

Finally the part I like

Iggy is just getting to be more and more fun to train.  I really do enjoy training a dog and watching him get concepts and improve to amazing skills.  I hate when it is emotionally draining, the first 9 months with Iggy were emotionally draining.  Why?  When things didn't work in my head it was the end of the world.  He is soft and stubborn all at the same time.  I was not in an operant state.  Now I have a dog who enjoys being with me (thank you Christine) so even when I make a mistake I can fix it without him walking away.  So now I get to do what I like best which is just train.

The last time we did LOP with toys he would either come straight to me or blow by me to the other toy, I knew what I wanted him to understand was not getting through, my thought was I had to teach him to disengage from the toy on the ground.  Yesterday we worked on coming to "side" with a toy on the ground 15 feet in front of you.  First time I did it with no leash on and he blew by but after that he did very well and we also practiced a few with me running so he could drive out to the toy.

I am not happy with his retrieve after a jump, it is not bad in all other situations but definitely not consistent in the jump situation.  I set up the jump in the driveway where I could move and ran away after every toss.  I have to keep doing that every day because obviously I created a habit of dicking around with the toy after jumps.  We did about 6 reps from different angles with the jump at 16" and he did great.  My plan is to do at least 50 reps total of taking off as soon as Iggy gets the toy and then start waiting for the turn before I take off...

We have added a small curve to the tunnel and always work driving forward and turning to me.  He is finding his entry off a nose touch and from a collar grab.  Next I add a jump but I think I will just do the tunnel for another week or so.

I got a nose touch on the ground yesterday so hoping to introduce the plexi glass this afternoon.

The blog has been falling to the way side lately but I am looking at improving not focusing on failure so I will do todays post and not worry about the missed posts.

Yesterday it was a beautiful day, I waited for Bill to get home so we could all go for a walk.  Foolish me didn't put the other two in their kennels just left them in the backyard.  They met us about the entrance to the forest, I thought Max was going to come straight to me but he chose to run on by and Iggy to follow, no amount of calling made any difference.  We had been doing so well I was really disappointed but realistically realize that he has not been trained to come off a running dog.  Anyway searched for them for about 30 minutes and when I found them they came right to me like good little boys.  I had one leash so kept Max on leash and Iggy ran free, about 5 minutes into the walk home we met mister porcupine, Iggy was great when I saw what he was looking at I called and he turned right back to me :).

This morning I really wanted to go for a good walk.  We started the walk with 4 reps of the tunnel I think it is pretty well at full length so I will try curving it tomorrow or later today.  We then did 4 reps of serps on a single jump.  He walked by the jump on the first rep but then did it fine.  During all this Bill came out to split wood Iggy went to run towards him I called and started stepping away and he turned and ran right to me :).  A couple of times during the tunnel and jump work he got distracted I just started to step away and he was there.

We walked up to the agility field, he was great on the road did a recall out of a full run and a couple of fronts with sits.  As we were getting into the field there where a few animal prints in the snow.  I should have worked them right there and then assessed the walk again.  I kept going into the field about 15 feet in I called and nothing, walked right up to him nothing, finally he acknowledged me but had a very hard time tugging.  We kept walking and I went and hid it probably took at least 3 minutes before he came to find me and then he went by me.  We started with some nose touches and some sits then a recall about 20 feet and another all the way out to the road and then he went on leash, he still couldn't give me a decent tug and I didn't want to go to that place so we had a lovely leash walk back home with a couple of recalls to a tug and then brain was able to tug about half way home.

I have been putting my shaping videos on youtube so I can get Christine's opinion.  You know they are not as bad as I thought.  Can't wait to hear her opinion and advice.

Iggy has discovered the joys of snow shoveling

I have gotten complacent.  I think this is why some people achieve such great advances with their dogs and some don't.  I had been pushing the envelope and walking off leash, new areas, longer times.  Somehow the last week or two, granted the last few days have been bitter cold, I am walking the same walk and barely pushing at all.  Today I went out into the field out of the backyard.

This walk had some areas that needed attention.  Coming out of the patio door the minute he was released he was running down the stairs which is fine but had no response to being called.  Today I kept him on leash and called him as soon as he stepped out and played 2 seconds worth of tug because I realize he really needed to pee.  I let him run around the backyard with only calling him once.  Since it has been so cold the last few day and he has been so good around the driveway I have drastically increased the time between calls, I think I see him looking back more.  The goal is to find that line; not so many times that you do the needle in the eye thing, but not so few that he starts to forget you.  At the gate to the field I had Iggy sit and then released him once I had opened the gate and called him back after one step.  He did great, played a little tug went into the field.  About 2 feet later he found a bone in the snow.  Sat there and watched him for a few minutes and then called him, he looked up but didn't come to me, took a step in and he stepped back two steps so I walked away at about 10 feet I called and ran and he came towards me and ran by.  In the process dropping the bone.  I have done some practice retrieving the bone but obviously need some more work.  Walked around for about 15 minutes called him about 3 times he responded perfectly.  Once he had his nose in the snow, which has always been our downfall, and I walked up and touched his butt, nothing I hugged his but nothing, I moved him a bit he looked up and I ran and played tug.  I have seen him startle and look worried when I grab him so I want to work on this when he is intent on something else.

I then came back into the yard to shovel the snow one the deck.  I even let Max out with us.  I let them play for a few minutes without interruption from me.  Max then came over and Iggy was sniffing him i called Iggy.  He didn't respond so I had Max sit and repeated, it took a couple of times but he did start to respond.  After that it got much better and towards the end Max was running up the stairs with Iggy on his ass and I called and Iggy turned and came back to me :)))))).

Iggy is becoming very fond of snow shoveling.  I think he likes me throwing the snow at him but then isn't sure so he stands behind me and pokes and scratches which hurts like hell on the cold legs.  He also grabs at your gloves and managed to take one of mine off, luckily I said sit and he did and dropped the glove.  This was great because he often picked playing with me over playing with Max but I wasn't really doing anything other than cleaning the deck so it was very relaxed.

Tooo Cold

It is -33 this morning in the sunshine.  That is just wrong.  We went for a very quick walk and came in to do some shaping.

Unfortunately I didn't tape it but I think it is some of the best shaping we have done to date.  We worked on pivot board and on backing up.  I am starting to relax and I think he is too.  Usually he looks totally stressed any time I attempt to shape and the food seems more of a negative than a positive.  Our goal this week is to enjoy shaping more.

We shaped going around a barrel and backing up.  I used food for both but will try the toy for the backing up on the next go around.  I sat on the floor for the backing up which makes it much easier to watch the feet.  He may be getting it :).

Did nothing else today other than a couple of very short walks we were both tired and I have to remember that day off thing and stop feeling guilty.

I have spent some time thinking about goal setting and realize what I made was a to do list not goals.  Funny enough this has been rolling around in my head since I wrote out the to do list a few days ago and then yesterday John Cullen's blog was about the difference between goals and a to do list.

This morning my to do was to work on retrieving after the jump.  I find that Iggy's retrieve is not as strong as I would like.  My goal is that every time he picks up the toy he instantly runs back to me.  Solution:  I need to start running away every time he gets the toy, right now I am only doing it once in a while.  Let's say for the next three days every time I throw the toy I need to run away regardless if it's with a jump or by itself.

This morning we did one rep of tunnel at about 75% of full length, 2 restrained recalls at about 150 feet and 2 270s the first one he went by the second jump, I am sure I am not turning my shoulders when this is happening on the 2nd rep I started a front cross and he had no problem.

Coming Along

Great morning walk.  The weather is back up to something normal only -11 so we didn't freeze which was nice.  We walked to Doug's driveway he was very attentive as soon as I stopped walking he would turn and run back.  I had one not listening moment and it was a startle, Doug had his pick up parked in the field maybe 500 feet from where we were and it being red really stood out.  I saw him commit to it and called he kept moving I turned and ran away.  He caught up without me getting very far.  I agree with Chris Bach that if your dog doesn't come running away and making yourself a reward is rewarding the not coming.  I think this is more a case of dog was too committed to something else and the running forced him to uncommit and choose me.

Did 3 tunnel entries, 2 from holding his collar, which he allowed well.  Did three 180 reps, I held my line and he had no problem, still working on throwing the toy in the right place.

Tunnels and Jumps

So the seminar is under 2 weeks away and my boy can't do tunnels.  That is our priority for the next 2 weeks.  I did the barrel at the barn and he did it no problem, maybe 15 reps total.  Went out and tried the tunnel by myself today and it didn't work as well as I hoped.  Not really sure how to shape a tunnel so I am just going to do it the old fashioned method of luring through.  I tried a few things by myself but they didn't work so I will get Bill to hold him when he gets home, Iggy went in to get the toy pretty far in so I am sure we can get it done.

We were both slightly off for this training session.  I think I went out to concentrated on the results and not enough on the relationship building.  I will remedy that next outing hopefully in about an hour.

Still have the jumps set up in a 180 pattern.  First rep did great, 2nd rep I did a pull through which he did well, third rep he came between and fourth rep he went around the 2nd jump.  The birds were being really loud and that started to distract him.  Or change that to too many failures not enough enthusiasm from me therefore stimulation level started to drop and the birds became an issue.  We went for a few minutes of walking and he did well.  Then me being me asked for a nose touch on the left hand (where I started losing him at the jumps) and lost him, did end up getting him back and got a decent nose touch before we went inside.

On coming inside he headed to the kitchen and when called ignored me I went and grabbed him had to really reach and grabbed coat @#$% brought him back to the door and revved him up we then went to the kitchen and then called and he was fine.  I think I am not going to change anything just leave it as backlash from not having enough attitude outside.

Went outside with Bill to retry tunnel.  Bill held him our first attempt but not close enough to the tunnel so Iggy just came around to me.  Next time I held him and had Bill wiggle the toy just inside the other end of the tunnel.  After about 3 reps Iggy was going into the tunnel on his own :).  We did about 10 reps taking a break and walking around in between, some driving forward some coming back.  I was stepping into it every time and started to work the arc.  Goals for next time; make sure I am not driving him with my body; stretch out the tunnel.

Beautiful Winter Day

It's cold but it is one of those days you are happy to live somewhere where it snows.

We went for a walk this morning in the fresh snow.  He was great until he sticks his nose in the snow and then he ears turn off :).  We will continue to work on this.  Walking away and hiding still work they just take a minute or so but the name not so good.

I wanted to work on shaping today.  We did nose touch and backing up.

I actually got a couple of nice back up steps, even better he lied down and I waited until he got back up and rewarded him.  I am still percolating what Christine said "the next reward-able behaviour".  He lied down and I waited with no eye contact, took a bit maybe 15 seconds and he got up, I rewarded right away but the next time he lied down I didn't reward until he had gotten up and moved a paw.  He stayed engaged the whole time.

The nose touch I think I was pushing too hard for number of reps.  So I rewarded 1 rep, 2 rep, 1 rep, 4 rep, 1 rep, tug, 1 rep, tug.  Seemed to work well good enthusiasm and focus.

Wanderings of a Slightly Insane Mind

Without a doubt I over think things, it's just who I am.  Sometimes it actually leads to mind blowing epiphanies, and sometimes it leads to obsessing over details.  Yesterday I had what I considered an epiphany.  In the past few weeks, not surprising being the new year, everywhere you look there is information on goals.  Making them, doing them, how to make them, how to stick to them.  When I started this blog it was about setting up a plan and already in two weeks the plan is gone :).  I have to work on a new plan, again.  Luckily I am the eternal optimist and will keep setting up plans until one works.  Here I am using goals and plans interchangeably that may be wrong, but for me my goal is the plan.

Anyway, I digress my epiphany was without goals you have taken away a huge reward for yourself.  When I look at what Iggy and I have accomplished in the last few months I have no choice but to be really pleased.  We have strong sits and downs on hand signals and verbal, we have a good hard nose touch with multiples, we have a recall that has worked in a room full of people and dogs, we have a retrieve, we have jumping, we have shaping...  Since I have never sat down and defined goals with due dates I have denied myself the sense of accomplishment of achieving the goal.  Instead I just keep wanting more, which is fine but you have to stop and appreciate what you have achieved before you want more otherwise you are never satisfied.

So back to goal setting and planning

Ultimate Goal - an agility dog that has good speed and confidence when running an agility course.  Confidence from having the skills to know what to do and when to do it

1 Year Goal - be able to enter in a trial and have confidence that my dog will be able to stay with me, do the equipment, and handle a starters course in a trial setting

1 Month Goal - this is where I start losing my way, I get overwhelmed by what I need to teach, I don't know where to start or where to go

• nose touch on plexi on the ground
• tunnel from any angle from ~ 20 feet
• 180, 270, pinwheel, serps
• find the line 2 jumps no toy
• LOP with toys no jumps - improve understanding of when to come to me when to drive to the toy
• bang game on tunnel
• jump far, jump turning - put both on cue
• recall with surprise distraction
• backup
• smaller box
• shape go around bucket
• tug all over the basement
• 100% recall in the front field
• front cross on flat

Surprising enough once I forced my brain out of the stratosphere and to write down a list it felt good and doable.  One article said not setting goals is due to fear of failure and that sooooo applies to me, we shall see how this goes.

1 Week Goal 

• nose touch - multiples before releasing him to whatever
• nose touch - moving hand to the ground
• tunnel - short and straight going through consistently
• 180 - both directions with some distance
• LOP with toys no jumps - improve understanding of when to come to me when to drive to the toy
• back up
• basement - tug at bottom of stairs

Put the list on my to do list and am all excited.

Today was supposed to be a rest day since we do class on Friday and are at the barn on Thursday.  For our morning walk we pushed the boundaries by going out into the front field.  I don't know if it's the long grass or what but I have a hell of a time calling him off when he sticks his nose into the snow.  I imagine the grass has a lot of mice.  Anyway we had two failures and worked through them so will go out there again tomorrow.  Will have to ponder how to improve, maybe consider putting him on leash for that part of the walk would be a good idea.

Worked on our 180s in the front yard with snow.  He did great managed both directions with nice distance.

Details, details, details

It's all about the details, but if you obsess over the details it won't work @#$%.

I had been doing very well on attitude when working Iggy which was probably our biggest problem.  Look at the issue unemotionally and solve it.  As we move along in our return to training I have to push the question is when and how much.  Then we get into the issues of do your trust your observation skills or are they being coloured (and you know they always are) by your emotions.  Sometimes I feel he is going to that place but then I question whether it's my perception or his attitude that has changed.  I have been fighting a cold for about a week now so everything is being coloured by not feeling well.  I do think I am getting stuck and need to break out of the rut.

Ahhhh now that the bitching is done I feel better and ready to look at the problems with a clearer head.  I have always been unhappy that unless I am set up in the recall pose he comes out of his crate and sniffs the air stretches and then comes to me.  Duh I figured it out last night I have to take off running no matter where I am standing or how I am standing.  I hate working crate games in the winter because the car is so dirty but I washed the car last night and this afternoon we will go out and work crate games in the car.

I am sure Iggy's attitude in the last few days is different, not as good as it was, so I need to do more relationship building games.  Today we are going to do "The Smoke Ya Game" and "Tug Sit Tug" don't just stand there take off running.

I am at the barn tonight so I think today we will just play these games and we will work on some jumping skills at the barn.

Creating Traction

I have been negligent in my record keeping and the training has been sliding.  I don't know if the record keeping tends to disappear when things start to go wrong or vice versa.  Hopefully I will go back and fill in the missing days so I won't spend a lot of time on them, I will just say that yesterday I saw the Iggy I used to have and need to never let that happen again.  I find Iggy is very much like Max forgets nothing and it quickly colours everything.

This morning I wanted a positive fun experience.  I decided to do the back yard on leash, since last night the recall was not pretty in the back yard.  I have to remember that all places that we had bad recalls I now need to go through and really increase my reward value by doing 100s of recalls before I give him freedom.  The other thing I have to remember is his recall seems great as long as the time between recalls is pretty short the longer I let him get invested in the environment the less likely I will have the stellar recall I expect.  I have complete faith that it will come but sometime the patience and work required to get there is frustrating.

So this morning we walked the backyard on leash.  We did about 1/3 on the GL and the rest on the buckle collar.  I worked not pulling on leash or better said coming back to me when he feels pressure on his collar.  I started on the GL, when he pulled I backed up and tugged with him for turning his head.  I think because of work I have done before doing Walk Away with food the pressure on the collar stresses him out but after a few times of being rewarded for turning with tugging he was getting the hang of it.  We did 2 recalls about 50 feet he did fine.

I think that worked well and we were both happy with the results.

What's With The Basement.

We do most of our work outside or upstairs in my house.  There is much more room in the basement and I wanted to do some shaping today so off to the basement we headed.  A couple of weeks ago we had gone to work in the basement, I had done one exercise and noticed that Iggy spent the rest of the time in the crate, around 30 minutes, panting.  Usually Iggy is fine in the crate lies down and watches or even sits and watches but no panting.  I was on the elliptical for a lot of that time and wondered if maybe that was what was causing the anxiety.

We head down I put him in the crate.  Got all set up let him out and tugged.  I thought he was a little off but wasn't really paying attention, my focus was on the shaping we were going to do.  We worked on going around a bucket, I think it went well.  After about 8 treats back in the carte we go.  After about 5 minutes I brought him back out and he was started to get very agitated.  You can tell because he loses the ability to tug and starts using his paws and swings his ass into me.  Did a couple of treats worth of shaping and put him away.  Again brought him out 5 minutes later and he was a mess completely unable to tug and wired.  I put him back in the crate and figured I would just let him settle down, in an hour he lied down once I rewarded he got up and that was it he panted the entire time.

@#$%  I have been thing why.  All I can think of is we used to train down there last winter when things where not going so well and that is the association he has.  Other than that nothing has ever happened and even with the training before I wasn't like I would take him down and beat him.  Must remember what I tell my students why doesn't matter all that matters is how to fix it.

Class went very well

I was very pleased with how class went last night.  The three exercises we worked on was going around the pylon, 180 degree jumps, and table.


First exercise we did was the pylon.  I was all stressed out and not concentrating as I should be but that will get better with time.  I don't know what I am scared of because I know it's fear that makes me like this but that's the way I am and there is no point stressing about stressing.  Iggy and I were supposed to shape going around a pylon.  I had worked on get out and it was coming along but I had not shaped the going around, I have seen the benefits for the dog of shaping and need to start doing some shaping regularly now that Iggy is working with me much better.  Anyway my first attempt I was doing a lot of moving and not letting Iggy figure anything out.  I need to stand still.  I was worried he would pee on the pylon and of course he attempted it :), Christine just grabbed him by the collar told him to cut it out and moved on.  I then realized my boy was trying to put his back feet on the lip of the pylon, not surprising since everything I have shaped to date is about feet.  He wandered away once but came back when called.  I originally took him out on leash and then was reminded to have him on leash, makes sense, especially in that very stimulating very distracting location.


Second exercise was the table.  At first we started with this tiny table that he was having a hell of a time staying on while tugging but did manage it.  A sheltie then came over and had a play with him, also an intact male and definitely changed his state.  I stood there and did nothing, later in the class Iggy went over and tried to play with a dog and Keisha just grabbed him and held him until I could reach him.  I loved it she never let him interact with her dog never allowing Iggy to reward himself and her dog to enjoy it or get upset by it, I need to react when a dog comes over and we are working and not just stand there.  After this he was unable to tug on the table, was able to after some work tug on the floor so Christine suggested get him on the table then release to tug.  As soon as I would remove the tug he would jump on the table so that was working fine.  I kept Iggy on leash for the entire exercise.


Third exercise was the jumps.  First thing I worked on was that he would retrieve the toy in this environment.  No problem, Christine pointed out to be careful what I am doing near the equipment because on his return to me he went around a jump.  Will have to watch that in the front yard where the jump is set up.  Went very well held him by he collar and released while stepping towards the jump.  He took the jump no hesitation and I dropped the toy heading towards the second jump, repeated with the toy a little closer to the second jump.  Third attempt went for the second jump and he did it, I rewarded with the toy.  I should have just dropped toy in front of him and I threw it instead.  Makes me think back to Splash and Oliver getting distracted thinking we where about to throw the toy instead by placing it we get rid of that chase thing.


Iggy did well in the fabric crate.  He was relatively quiet, I covered him when I wasn't close to him and rewarded him when he wasn't covered.  He started to get the whole sit while I unzip the door towards the end of the class, all I did was unzip that hold the side of the crate until he say usually right away.  The last time I put him away we ran towards the crate and the door flap was down, I felt him fight me but I was already committed to putting him in.  Need to work on crate door flap being down and him going in.

Today is rest day, it's a beautiful day with fresh snow, we went for a walk just around the backyard.  Since I use to let him loose in the backyard and we do most of our work in the front yard I find his recall is not as good in the backyard so I am trying to remember to walk there once in a while to work on this.  I have to bring him out on leash and do recalls as soon as he runs out the door because I have tried and he never stops, usually gets to the bottom and then maybe thinks about coming back up.  


I think the leaving me while working is a startle thing so since we were all outside I asked Bill to help me.  I tugged with Iggy and he honked the car horn.  Iggy moved away a few times but never more than a foot and re committed to the tugging without any cues from me.  I am sending Christine and email to hear her suggestions.

First Class tonight

Tonight we have our first class with Christine and I am sooooo excited.  Can't wait to see how he does and what we do.

We had the most awesome walk this morning.  Went out the front door as always and the birds flew away and he looked at them like he was going to chase and then turned back to me, it was beautiful.  We proceeded to have a great walk, he ran and played but responsive any time I asked for it.  On the way back to the house he started to chase the birds and I called and he turned and came back to me.  I am so proud of my little boy.  Now I need to start working on stop look to me and then chase when I tell you you can.

I had to go to Kemptville so took him with me.  We got out in a parking lot very close to the cars on 43.  We were out maybe 5 minutes walked around did a sit and a down, went for a pee.  He responded well to me when asked, stood still and waited for him to look at me and he did withing 20 seconds each time.  Right before I put him away I offered him a treat and he didn't take it, I popped his mouth open dropped the treat in and put him in his crate.

The art of shaping

Today is our shaping day, we also have class tonight so I don't want to do too much.

The day started out well.  I decided we would have our morning walk on leash and he got distracted so when I called him he ignored me I instantly took off running and was not able to get him not paying attention again.  I should have hesitated right now I should probably take off most times to keep that fast turn and run towards me.

Did some shaping to go into the box.  He was working well and then Bill started feeding the other dogs and Iggy could here Max going on like he does and got distracted.  I was very proud of my Iggy he came back to me every time and I ended it because it was just going to get worse.

As for the actual shaping I think I should have been rewarding more of his attempts, hopefully Christine will have time to watch the video and give me her opinion.

I took Iggy with me to the barn last night.  I set up a jump set point exercise.  He did it once all good, found the line, got the toy, came right back to me.  Then Tracy started making noises in the stables, Iggy did the jump but ran right over the toy and to the gate, I called him when he had gotten to the gate and he turned and ran back to me.  We repeated the same thing again.  Very very happy with the recall not thrilled with the leaving the exercise.  We walked away from the jumps and started some tugging some PB & J and he did well.  At some point he left and I called when he was half way to the gate and he turned and came back.  I also tried some get its to the toy and then chasing me which worked well.

Better solutions to the above incident.  Stop the jump exercise immediately don't try it again.  Do nose touches or tugging or something and then release him to the gate.  Play easier games such as tug, sit, tug and PB & J.  Still have to be very very happy with that recall :).

Things that make you go hmmmmm

Didn't do much else with Iggy yesterday.  When I came home after class did some tugging and releasing to go to the bathroom and then right away tugging, no real freedom.  That worked great.

This morning went out played tug after he went to the bathroom.  Wanted to try more RZ so ran around in a circle about 30feet in diameter with him in RZ.  Rewarded with the tug, he did pretty well I did some decel and kept going until he put himself in the right spot and then rewarded.  I just don't think he is getting it but I am having a hard time figuring out what to change to improve his understanding.  I need to take it back to step treat step treat and video tape to hopefully see the spot where we lose the understanding.  Then I will have video and can get Christine to look at it and give me her opinion.

We also did some get outs with the wheelbarrow, took him a second to figure out what I wanted but then no problem, still very close to the wheelbarrow but he is moving out nicely.  Two reps off the right hand and three reps off the left hand.

I then let him go off leash for a run and to go to the bathroom.  Asked for a nose touch first and got a lot of biting more than I have gotten in a long time.  I am guessing too stimulated or at least on the verge of too stimulated.  He was doing very well with the recalls and then I called  him back just as he got sight of something and took off to a sniff, I walked towards him and took him by the collar and moved him away and sat him.  Did a few recalls and released him to go sniff but he wouldn't leave me.

So what did I learn, what do I need to change.  No freedom, he is allowed off leash but 1 minute and back to tug, I don't want any sniffing issues for at least 3 days then we can increase the freedom.  Take a day or two off from RZ and then set up the video, I think I may just be going to long on that exercise, maybe lets try it Thursday at the barn where I can bring him out for a few seconds and then put him back in the crate.  Better yet just open the garage and use the car crate.

This afternoon I was thinking we would work on find the line with the jump and maybe if all goes well LOP with two toys.

So went out this afternoon and had an epiphay, slow the @#$% down.  I am pushing too hard and we are going back into old habits.  Need lots more relationship building and a lot less testing of value we are just not ready.

Did 4 reps of find the line, Iggy set up about 10feet from jump I am about 10 feet past the jump, jumps set at 16" he had no problem with it but his attention was wondering when I left him in a sit.  Solutions run to my set up place, don't turn away from him keep him engaged.  I then left him in a down for a few minutes, I really need a crate out there.  I then went to the driveway and worked LOP with two toys.  He nailed the first one ran to the wrong toy on the second one and nailed the third one I then did one rep of drive to the toy on the ground since I am moving.  I had his attention the whole time and played a lot of tug in between reps.

I release him to pee and right away called him back to he is getting off  leash but in very very small increments.  I then tugged for a minute or so and pulled the toy out and he froze and looked around I waited about 30 seconds and touched his collar which right away brought him back to my world and he sat.  We tugged and then did 5 reps with full attention.

I am walking a very fine line of pushing the envelope and not losing the drive.  I have to remember that it is perfectly fine and even expected to once in a while cross the line into the dark side as long as I notice the cross and right away take steps to correct the lack of attention, drive, etc.  It is so hard because when he is working I am having such a good time.

When things don't go as planned

My plan today was to concentrate on RZ.  I am not progressing the way I feel I should be with his walking.  He goes into RZ but then as soon as he is rewarded he leaves, I think this is because when rewarding loose leash and I put pressure on the leash and he comes back to me I reward in RZ and then release I would guess right away from his behaviour.  Since I have rewarded the wrong behaviour often it is probably going to take some correction to fix it.

This morning we went out had a pee and headed to the driveway.  I played some tug and then pulled his leash back and cued close (left side) and started moving.  I would say reward and correction where about even, did about 3 rewards.  The correction was pulling him back and allowing him to find RZ.  Stopped played some tug and did some more work on the left again about 3 rewards.  You could tell he wasn't sure what was expected, I waited for a pretty position and released to play tug.  I think next session I will go back to step treat, step treat, to build the value.

After that I took him off leash and we went for a walk, all was good his responses where normal.  We were walking about 100 feet from the squirrel tree and he headed for it, I let him run to it and get a good sniff around walked up to about 5feet and recalled, nothing.  Walked closer and recalled and he came right to me we played tug I moved a little further away while tugging and released him to the tree.  He barely engaged with the tree and I recalled and he came beautifully on the next release he ran towards the tree stopped a foot away and looked at me to call him :).  Still needs work but happy with the progression.

We continued to walk around the front yard.  He started hunting in the long grass probably for mice, I called him nothing, I walked up within a foot called, nothing, I grabbed his collar moved him a few feet let go called nothing, finally on the next call he responded I praised and petted and let him go back again I called nothing when I go to within a foot and called he responded.  Released again he responded on the first try we played tug.  I released him to go play and we headed to the house he stayed hunting for about 30 seconds then followed me and went into the big cedars.  I called him he came out right away and when he was almost to me detoured to the squirrel tree.  I called him he ignored when I got closer he responded I put him in a sit did two recalls and went inside.

I am guessing that his little brain just went into sleep mode, regardless remember what I always tell my students why is irrelevant all you need is the solution.  For today at least he will stay on leash and we will work the long grass for recalls.  The other issue may be I am doing to much and need to back off a little bit.  So only two more work sessions today and both very short maybe 2 minutes.  Tonight at class he will stay in the car.  The rest of the time he will be on leash for bathroom breaks, maybe he can go off leash for 5 minutes when we get home tonight.

I had a few minutes while Logan finished breakfast so took Iggy out for a pee and did some shaping for the back up.  Brought him out of his crate did some tugging, removed the toy from his mouth and sat in a chair and looked for any backward movement of any paw was able to reward almost instantly.  I was throwing the reward in the right place between the front paws slightly back but I was waiting for him to eat the reward and then look up on hindsight I should have kept rewarding because in taking the food because of the position he would have again backed up.  We did about 4 treats and then he started offering a lot of downs, I think in the excitement I started leaning forward in the chair which is close enough to his down cue, I released the downs I know I shouldn't but can't help it (I am not 100% convinced that is wrong) and it started to go downhill so we stopped.  I started working on the stand cue (Chris's method) did one cue rewarded 6 treats for holding the stand and put him back in his crate.

Recall Day

Today Iggy was able to turn towards me when he could see the squirrel on the tree on the first call :).  We were standing on the porch, when we came out the usual birds and squirrels took off, as usual he went to the corner to watch the squirrel tree and I called and he turned and we partied !!!!!.  I can call him no problem before he commits to the squirrel so this is definitely the next step in the process.  It took a few minutes for him to engage with the tug but he did engage.  We then went to the other side of the house and had an off leash walk into the field, he was very attentive, I would pause and he would turn around and wait to be called.

About 11am we went out and did two restrained recalls of about 100ft, I used "come" instead of his name and faced him until he was about 2 body lengths away then turned and took of running.  Have to be more careful when I say go see, I was 5ft away from Bill when I said go see he did a 180 and took out Logan.  Iggy had been getting better about not taking out the boy but when he gets revved he feels everyone deserves to be bounced.

Went out again around 3:30pm and walked in RZ to the squirrel tree.  I didn't put him in RZ I just walked funny and hummed the pink panther music and he walked in perfect RZ position, he is such a funny boy.  Three times between the porch and the tree we had a game of tug.  The closer we got to the tree you could see his eyeballs trying to look at the tree and still tug.  This happened at about 5ft from the tree we tugged for about 30 seconds and then walked away.  Then when out to the drive and worked RZ.  Three times pulled him behind me and cued "Side" as he was finding the spot and I rewarded multiples using cheese.  We tugged for a bit did, then did three reps of sit release, I did cue the out should be pulling the toy out of his mouth.  There is a guy using a chain saw across the street and that noise was very distracting Iggy did the job but you could tell some of his brain was thinking about the chainsaw.

Am planning on going out and doing the other side of RZ with cue later on this evening.

I think tomorrow will be flatwork, I want to work decel, accel and get outs.

The plan

On my list of New Years resolutions is to be better about record keeping so I figured I would try a blog.

Iggy is a one year old border collie.  This blog will be about our journey towards Iggy becoming an agility dog.  The past year have had some good and a lot of bad but we have definitely turned the page and thanks to Christine seem to be on the right track and moving forward.

Planning is a weak area for me and part of the goal of this blog is to put down a plan with goals on paper.  I am thinking we will have a daily subject we will work on.  I am going to set up lists of skills under each subject and tick them off as I go through them.  I don't want to let a skill go by the way side, so easy to do with stuff I don't love to do :).

One of Christine's suggestions was to put Iggy away for a while, basically follow Ruff Love by Susan Garrett.  Iggy was working for me but it seemed more like he did it because he had to and not because he wanted to, something was missing.  On October 31st, 2010 the crating began.  The first couple of week he came out to go to the bathroom on leash and then back in the crate, the next few weeks slowly we increased work and out time.  Started with one minute twice a day and now we go out a few times a day for 10-15 minutes.  I am constantly assessing his state and increasing or decreasing his activity accordingly.  So far so good he is working great.

Yesterday was jump day we did; wraps, front crosses, reward out in front, serp and find the line.  Throughout the day we would come out and do a max of 6 jumps, never did we repeat any skill more than twice.  He did great, I had the jump up to 26" and down to 16" and he handled the height with no apparent concerns.  I have also in the days before that increased his exercise with a 25 minute off leash walk being the culmination since he was doing so well.

Today he is tired.  It is supposed to be recall day.  We have been having an issue with some squirrels in a tree and him not responding to me so we went on leash and walked in RZ position to the tree and then did 3 recalls off the tree.  The squirrels weren't there but the tree was enough to change his state.  I have to be sure he doesn't have access to these squirrels or this tree until I can call him off of them.  I took him out later in the early afternoon to do restrained recalls but he seemed tired so we did one 150ft restrained recall that was awesome and I put him away.