Trick Training: Chores Aren't Just for Humans

So here I am in the dead of winter.  The backyard is frozen, agility trials are scarce, and the dogs are going crazy.  I usually try to fit in a training session each night, but to be honest, I've been a bit lazy, so we keep practicing the same tricks over and over.  I decided it was time to get our brains in gear and try some new stuff. 

When I was thinking of what to teach, I figured it might be a good idea to teach something useful.  Why not teach the dogs to put their toys away??  Chad's always complaining that I don't clean up as much as I should, so I'll just pass that duty along to the dogs!

Trick training is a great mental workout for dogs, but it is also equally challenging for the human.  Each dog learns differently and has unique strengths and weaknesses.  Shaping is like a puzzle: you need to figure out how to split the behaviors just right so that the dog can be successful and maintain motivation.

I first started this endeavor with Breeze.  Breeze is a workaholic and a quick learner.  She generalizes well and has a very good memory.  The main challenge with putting toys away is that it requires the dog to manipulate another object.  So far, most of my training has revolved around Breeze moving her body.  When I give a cue, it usually means to do something with her body.  When I tell her to go out and jump, it means run towards the obstacle, jump over the obstacle, and come back.  Not run to the obstacle, move the obstacle 5 feet away, and come back. 

The closest thing Breeze knows about manipulating an object is fetch, so I started with this.  I put a basket in front of me, threw a toy, and when she brought it back, I clicked for dropping it close to the basket.  Now one tiny hiccup in this matter is that previously, I had trained Breeze to put her feet in a bowl.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) she generalized this to the basket and whenever she came back, she put her front feet in the basket.  After a few sessions, the toy was dropping in the basket along with her feet, but she wasn't really understanding that it was the toy that was supposed to be in the basket, not her feet.  Finally, after about a week of training, she finally got this concept and the rest was downhill.  I added distance between myself and the basket and added more toys.  She generalized beautifully to other objects and this is what I got:

Zoe was a different story and challenge.  Zoe is a confident but inhibited dog.  She plays with her toys gently whereas Breeze tears them apart.  She fetches, but only with objects that really excite her.  Bring in the squeaky tennis ball!  Zoe is very paw oriented and when I ask her to interact with a toy, she is more likely to paw it than mouth it.  But a ball that squeaks is much more fun to chomp on, so I started with this.  Zoe didn't grow up with shaping training (due to a novice trainer), so she will wait and wait and wait patiently until asked to do something.  I wanted her to get the idea that a ball dropping in the basket equals treats.  So I literally had to sit there with the ball above the basket, have her grab it, and let gravity drop it in the basket.  Over and over and over and over again. This lasted for quite a few sessions and for a while there, I was a little worried she wasn't going to get it.  But SLOWLY I moved the basket away to the side and low and behold she turned her head to drop it in.  Once she made a solid connection that ball in basket = treat, it became much easier to increase the distance of the basket and have success.  We are now at the point where I can throw the ball a few feet and she will retrieve it and bring it to the basket.  Yay!  Success!  However, when I introduced a NEW object (i.e. a stuffed toy), we practically had to start over at step A and repeat the whole process.  I am sure the process will be speedier, but it still demonstrates the vast differences in how my two dogs learn.  Here is Zoe's progress so far:

 

My goal is to continue teaching new tricks regularly.  For me, the hardest part is choosing a trick and figuring out where to start with the training.  For Breeze, the next trick will be wrapping herself in a blanket and after one session, she is catching on fast! 

Ringing in the New Year with Agility

We finally got to play in NADAC again this past weekend.  While we only picked up 3 Q's, I felt very good about how the weekend went.  First of all, NADAC is becoming more challenging for us.  I now have Zoe in the preferred category, so she is jumping 20'' which shortens the standard course time by a few seconds.  Also, we are running in Elite Regular, which also shortens the course time a bit too.   Time is now our nemesis, which is humbling, but also changes my attitude regarding competition.  We missed several Q's by only a few seconds - less than a second in two of our runs.  However, in most of these runs, Zoe ran clean, fast, and focused.  Running fast and focused is something she has been improving on greatly.  She isn't the most driven dog out there, so she still gets distracted from time to time by smells, the judge standing on the course, shiny things, etc.  In the past, I've really had to cheer lead her on to get her head in the game.  This weekend I did a bit of cheerleading, but it was more to pick up her speed.  I had very few problems with her wandering, which was a major improvement.  And while we had problems making time, she was still running fast.

On to the other good stuff...we got our Open level Touch N Go title.  Two of the three Q's we go this weekend were from the Touch N Go course.  Zoe really demonstrated how much she loves this class.  I really think her favorite obstacle is the A frame.  In CPE Full House or Jackpot, I will try to get in the A frame at least twice.  She always speeds up for it and will defer to it in a discrimination.  I haven't heavily treated the A frame, so she just seems to have an intrinsic motivation to go over it.  So when she got to do it twice in the touch n go course, she was jazzed.  Both of these classes were run at the end of the day and in both, she ran over 4 yards per second.  So the combo of contacts, tunnels, and no jumps equals jackpot for Zoe. 

Also, we got our first open level chances Q.  This was a surprise for me because I was unsure that we made time.  Our first challenge was a tunnel/a frame discrimination with the tunnel being the correct and outer option.  This was frustrating to see because this same discrimination was in the chances course the day before and Zoe took the A frame despite my desperate pleading.  However, this time she got it and continued on.  Midway, she got a bit stopped up because she had to do a distance 180 to a jump.  She didn't get it at first, but then I reset her and sent her out.  Once she knew what to do, she flew and finished the course with speed.  I was concerned that the reset took too much time, but fortunately we made it.  I've always been confident in her distance skills and she is comfortable with it as long as she knows where she is going.  I was glad to see it pay off this time!

I did a lot of thinking about NADAC yesterday.  I mentioned it changes my attitude because unlike CPE, I know that Q's are not easy to obtain and the runs are slightly beyond our level speed-wise.  So when we NQ, I actually feel better about it than if we hadn't qualified in CPE.  I am sort of at a crossroads with NADAC.  I can always go back to novice and get more titles there.  I can also change her to skilled, which would mean jumping at 16'' and a time break.  But this would set us up for a MEDAL, which is the skilled equivalent of a NATCH.  I need to think more about what titles mean to me and what my long-term career goals are. 

Ultimately, I think it is up to my patience and whether or not I think Zoe can get there.  No matter what I choose, she will always be having fun and I will be lavishly rewarding her.  The difference will be our Q rate.  I think I can handle NQs and still feel good about the runs.  Regarding whether or not Zoe can get there time-wise.  Currently, I am optimistic.  We didn't miss our regular runs by much - especially the one we missed by .7 seconds.  If she speeds up her weaves and dog walk, we'll have a few more seconds.  Also, running on dirt speeds her up too.  In the past, she has run regular courses at elite-level speeds, so I know she can do it.  I also am banking on her gaining speed as she gets older.  Confidence equals more speed and training and maturity also equals more confidence.  So I think if I stick it out, she will eventually get there.  I am also learning more about what motivates her.  I am learning to rotate treats and use the ones that are really special to her.  I also need to incorporate more play in our warm up.  Finally, my goal for training this year is to treat more for shorter sequences and not just at the end.  She consistently speeds up at the end of courses and I think it is because I mostly treat at the end too.  I think if I reward her in the middle of courses in training, her head will stay in the game throughout the entire run. 

My schedule this year will involve much more CPE than NADAC, but my goals for NADAC will transfer well to CPE.  NADAC is always a nice breath of fresh air because of the smoother courses and fewer games.  Next up for us will be CPE in Ham Lake in mid January!

Baby Dog Training

With all this talk about Zoe, I figured it was about time to highlight Breeze. Tonight was Breeze's first successful attempt at maneuvering 6 weave poles. I know this may sound silly, but it is a proud moment for an agility trainer. Now that Breeze is about a year old, I started weave training with her a couple of weeks ago. In class, we have been working entries, but not the weaving motion. I trained Zoe with weave-o-matics, which are basically poles that are angled, making a weave-like path. Since then, I've heard a lot about 2 by 2 training, which is setting up two poles and letting the dog learn the correct entry. The key to this method is shaping, where you let the dog decide and reward for the correct behavior. This teaches them a) how to enter correctly and b) instills drive for the weaves since it is their choice to perform the behavior.

So with Breeze, I started with two poles and as she quickly got the entry, I added two more. We practiced with four poles for 2 or 3 sessions and then tonight I added 2 more. I initially planned on angling the poles, but she seemed to get it just fine with them straight up. So now we'll just work on speed and accuracy and eventually adding more poles.

Breeze has proven to be a pretty die hard worker. When I have treats, her focus is 110%. Even with a toy it is fairly good. When people say border collies need a job to do, they are exactly right about her. She lives to work and sometimes it is difficult to find her a job to do. Zoe, on the other hand, would happily spend her time lounging on the couch. As much of a pain it can be, it's kind of nice having both kinds of personalities. It has really challenged me as a trainer because I need to handle both dogs very differently. Zoe needs a lot of motivation, and I need to emphasize control with Breeze.

We are going on about three months of agility with Breeze. She's sequencing about 5 or 6 obstacles now and seems to have no fear of the teeter. Her contacts are getting pretty solid and is starting to jump with a little height. I've been determined to take things slow with her because I know she will need some extra time to mature. Currently, she has two modes: overdrive and park. She's not a problem around other dogs, it's just that any little bit of praise excites her and she goes into hyper mode. This is where black eyes become a danger, lol. I also need to learn how to give her a break from working. Some dogs like to play in between and others just need a quiet mental break in the crate. If we learn how to work best as a team now, it will pay off later in the ring.

Now, here is Breeze weaving...look at her go!

Holy Snow!!

They say lightning doesn't strike twice...well how about three times??  Three times it has now snowed significantly right before a trial.  As I mentioned in the last post, it snowed the morning of a trial that was taking place in La Crosse and I was unable to get out of the cities.  I decided that the next time I would travel the night before if things looked ominous.  Sure enough, Michelle and I were traveling to another trial in La Crosse on Saturday, December 4th.  We knew what was coming, so towards the end of the week we decided to play it safe and go the night before.  Well the snow came on in full force.  By the time we left at 4pm Friday, a few inches had already fallen.  The first half of the drive wasn't too bad, but after leaving Rochester, the roads started to get caked with snow and it got very dark.  To add to it, Zoe wasn't feeling the greatest and we ended up with both vomit and diarrhea in the car.  Let's just say it was a tough remaining 60 miles to La Crosse.  We got there safely and were able to get to the trial site the next day.  Both teams ended up doing well and we went 4/5 despite Zoe not feeling the greatest.

If that wasn't enough, snow was in the forecast yet again for a local trial in St. Paul the very next weekend.  I figured it wouldn't be so bad because I only had to travel 20 miles.  Boy was I dead wrong.  When I got up Saturday morning, we had a little snow already, but it had stopped snowing so I went anyway.  As the day went on, the blizzard arrived.  It got so bad that the trial got canceled halfway through the day so that people could get home while it was still light out.  We spent about 1-2 hrs digging cars out of the parking lot and even then, it was questionable as to whether people could get beyond the parking lot.  It was a grim outlook, but everyone was in good spirits - even the judge from CA was shoveling and singing xmas carols.  When it appeared that it would potentially unsafe to drive home, Michelle and I again camped out at the hotel.  For a second, we doubted even getting that far and entertained the thought of staying the night at Leatherdale - as a few ultimately did.  We ended up getting out with my little Toyota Yaris and made it safely to the hotel.  It was definitely a weekend to remember!  Never had I thought I would get stranded 20 miles from home.  But better safe than sorry I guess.  

So I am done with snow for a while - at least snow that gets in the way of agility.  We don't have another trial until NADAC on New Years eve/day and I will enjoy the break.  It will be a nice change from all the CPE we have been doing lately.  Next month, we'll be at the new On the Run Canine Center in Ham Lake again for CPE.  It is a wonderful facility and Zoe seems to like running there.  After that, we may be going down to La Crosse again for CPE in February.  Happy holidays!!!

'Tis the Season for Snow

Well, for the first time, my plans to travel to a trial were thwarted.  The first snow storm of the season arrived just in time for the NADAC trial in LaCrosse and unfortunately, we were snowed in :(  As a consolation, the dogs had a jolly time playing in the snow and embraced the wet stuff much better than the humans.  Thus is life, though, and I am looking forward to the next NADAC trial at the end of December.

Luckily, we have a full trial schedule this month, so I didn't have to wait long to do agility again.  We spent one day last weekend at the Agile Canines CPE trial and had a great time.  No weave troubles this time and Zoe continued to perform as a seasoned dog.  We earned three Qs - Full House, Jackpot, and Colors.  Our Standard run was a tough course, but Zoe maneuvered it very well.  Unfortunately, I made a handling error at the end and Zoe took an off course tunnel :(  Other than that, the run was great and I was really glad to see that level 45C courses are not too challenging for us.  Despite my error, my handling has really improved over the past few months, and I think it has helped Zoe become much more confident.  Our next trial will be a 2-day event at the new On the Run Canine Center in Ham Lake.  It is a new trial site, so I am not sure how Zoe will react.  But she is used to running indoors at class, so hopefully that will be an advantage. 

Breeze's training is also moving along quite well.  We are working on sequencing and contacts and she continues to show no fear.  Now that snow has arrived, our training at home will be limited, but I am finding new things to keep her busy.  I bought a backpack for her to wear on walks, which will hopefully wear her out a little more.  So far, she has tolerated it well.  I've also been doing a lot of shaping with her to wear her little brain out.  She's getting the hang of it, and is learning some new behaviors.  I hope to get better at it myself as it requires breaking behaviors down so that they can be successful.

Seasoned Dog

This weekend I got the seasoned dog at the Southpaws CPE trial.  I was a bit nervous because it had been a while since trialing on dirt and it can be very distracting.  Throughout our ups and downs in the past year, one thing that has remained consistent, but getting better, is Zoe getting distracted during a run.  She's a young dog still with relatively little agility experience, so getting distracted is a natural issue.  However, just in the last month, I have really seen her focus improve and we began running courses smoother and faster.  Part of it is that my handling is getting better, but also, Zoe is enjoying the runs more and more.  It's a shift from doing the obstacles because I say so to doing the obstacles because they are intrinsically fun.  Now I think Zoe has always had fun with agility, but now she is more comfortable, knows what to expect, and is more excited to play the game.  But I know motivation naturally ebbs and flows, so I was nervous as to whether I would continue to get what was becoming a seasoned dog or a distracted dog this weekend.  Thankfully, I got the former.

This trial was really filled with several accomplishments.  We finished our last two level three runs - colors and snooker - which gave us our last two level three titles!  I was very happy to get both of those done this weekend.  Also, we had our first shot at the 4/5/C standard runs now that we are in level 4.  We got one out of two, which was fabulous!  The main nemesis this weekend was weaves, which is still a bit of a mystery for me.  Zoe is typically a strong weaver - she enjoys them, finds the entrance well, and rarely pops out.  But for some reason, they were really demotivating to her.  So while she navigated the first standard course perfectly, the weaves were the only reason for an NQ.  This was also the case for Saturday's wildcard run.  So we went home that night and I gave her lots of goodies for doing the weaves correctly.  I think this helped because her weave performance was better on Sunday.  The colors course had weaves and we had to restart them once, but we still completed the course under time.  Then, the standard course had two sets of six weaves.  She was a bit slow, but did them both on the first try - yay!  Apparently fulfilling her weave limit for the weekend, I didn't make her do any on the jackpot course at the end!

So all in all, it was a great weekend.  Distractions were very minimal and when she got her weaves, all of our runs were clean without faults.  We ended the trial with a perfect day on Sunday, which was really exciting.  We finished level three and started filling up our level four tracking sheet.  To add to it, we were in the company of some other newer competitors who had a lot of success with their dogs as well.  Always nice to see others from your training class do well!!  Very proud of the folks who are starting out and sticking with it because I was there not too long ago, and I know it pays off.

Next up for us in November is a NADAC trial and two CPE trials.  That should keep us pretty busy!  Meanwhile, Breeze is doing great in her agility class.  She is driving to obstacles at a distance and is starting to sequence 4 or 5 obstacles in a row.  She will definitely be fast, so I need to take my time with her to practice control.  Only a couple more months until we start learning weaves and jumps!

NADAC Elite

Earlier this month, Zoe and I had a shot at the elite level of NADAC.  Now that we've done our three qualifying open-level runs, we can move up to elite - in just the regular class.  We only ran in three classes at Zumbro Falls, so it was a short day.  First was chances, which was really tough.  So tough that no one at the trial qualified.  I was still proud of Zoe's distance work and only struggled in one spot.  Unfortunately, any struggle is an NQ.  Anyways, our last two runs were elite regular runs.  The first one was absolutely beautiful.  Except for the fact that Zoe was running a bit slow, she did everything clean and didn't have to restart the weaves.  Despite this, we were still over time by 5 seconds.  Oh well, it was a beautiful run and I am thrilled that she ran with 100% focus.  The second run was great too, but she got spooked by a sound while weaving and we had to restart.  Other than that, it was great, but not clean.  Overall, I am very hopeful that we will be successful in the elite class.  We need to up the speed a bit, but she has shown speed before.  Our next NADAC trial isn't until November, so we've got a while to work on it!