Week 1 - Adventure Day!

Today marked Day 5 with little Miss Nike. It was also the first day she was home alone in her pen while I went to work (only a half day today but still.)

When I got home she was still in the pen, so that was a success. I think she was probably sleeping because she didn't start screaming right away when the rest of the dogs did. (They're a little excited when I get home and don't mind telling the world about exactly HOW excited they are!)

Today was also adventure day. Once a week I'm planning on taking Nike somewhere for a big adventure for socialization. Ideally we will do something every day, but once puppy class starts up I'm off the hook for 2 or 3 days a week depending how many classes I want to go to! After fearful Spencer I don't care if this is overkill - I'd rather over kill it than not kill it enough.

Today we went to Sunridge RONA. I have no problem with my almost 9 wk old puppy walking somewhere that isn't a dog centric environment, but we won't do pet stores etc until she's got the full set of puppy shots. Likewise, I'm not worried about agility trials with people I know, but some of the other agility places are a no go as well.

She was very brave. We went pee in the parking lot before heading over to see the sliding doors, which were a little worrisome at first. So we watched those and ate some cookies and finally walked through them. She's never really walked anywhere on leash before so this was quite the adventure in and of itself.

No sense of self preservation with the human feet. Not one ounce! So I have to be careful not to punt her as she squirrels around on the floor. Mostly we got the hang of staying to one side or the other of the feet. I'm glad I practiced this with the Chi's when they were babies who at least had some self preservation. It's just like falling off a bike ... or not punting the puppy!

We walked on a pallet and climbed on 2 carts to move lumber. One was solid but wiggled some and the other had a grill instead of being solid. Both were no problem!

We listened to people loading carts with hardwood floor. To the big saw running. To the squeaky bird noise over by the paint aisle. No worries about the noises, that's for sure.

We also met some people! A few worker people pet her and said Hi. We also met some friendly strangers who also said Hi and some people that we just walked past. She was very good with all of it. No repeat of the backing between my feet growling that we had at the airport when I first picked her up thank goodness. Not over the top mindlessly friendly meeting new people, but also not super reserved and suspicious of strangers. We're also doing well with defaulting in a sit looking at me when I stop moving (not that this is something I've actively worked on.)

Sadly we don't have any adventure pictures from RONA. Not that I mind looking crazy, but she doesn't hold still far enough away from me to get a picture. Enough to handle the puppy, without complicating it with a camera too.

Week 1 Adventures

Friday - Car rides to the pet store and back (didn't come in)
Saturday - E&D's house and met them, the kids and Fiona their dog
Sunday - Mom & Dad's - Met K and her kids as well as Sidney the parent's dog and saw E and kids again
Tuesday - Sunridge RONA - Recalls, Friendly Strangers/Noises and Leash Walking

Saturday - Discovered playing with Penny

Started playing with Toys

Met Fiona, who is 9

Played with new toys at Mon & Dad's after Sidney proved defective in the play department!

Learned to relax and sleep in her puppy pen. It's exhausting being a baby!

Clicker Training

With a new puppy there is always the question, what are you going to do this time? What are you going to do different?

For me especially, I have never trained a "performance puppy" from the get go.

Penny did puppy class, but as the tiny dog in the class didn't get much from the socialization aspect since there were no puppies small enough or gentle enough to socialize with her. She was however taught to hoover the floor for lost bits of treats ...

After the abysmal fail with Penny, I didn't do puppy class at all with Spencer. Maybe it would have made a difference. Maybe not. The first class we took was a Intro to Rally-O @ 6 months. He can left pivot like a pro!

The point is, I have a bunch of puppy raising theory, but no actual plan of "this is what I did, my dog turned out like this, I love what I did!"

So with Nike I've read/watched all the puppy stuff I can get my hands on. Susan Garrett's Puppy Peaks. Justine & Jessica's Puppy Diaries. Silvia Trkman's Puppy Diaries. I think like most people it'll be a somewhat blended approach with bits and pieces from many things based on what they feel is important.

Blurry, but still cute! Learning about toys!

Wobble board does not faze her in the least

We've started with the clicker a la Silvia though. It seems the most fun. Movement based is easier for her right now, and with my focus on agility movement and enthusiasm make sense.We're also starting crate games and some It's Your Choice stuff of don't mug my hand for food, you won't get it.

So far I've discovered that training with kibble isn't going to fly. It doesn't matter how hungry she might be. Also, she is small with tiny little teeth. So eating a kibble takes a bit, lowering the reinforcement rate.

She's magnetized by my other dogs and the cat - great play skills with those and respects Baxter and Spencer so I don't worry so much about them out together while I'm supervising. However, right now they are too much distraction, so we're learning new stuff in the puppy pen before we generalize to working outside of it. Also, none of my dogs will wait their turn for treats, so it's hard to shape the puppy with the others bulldozing in! (maybe I should train that too ...)

Rewards have to be rewarding!

Today, after 4 days we had a break through and it almost seems like Nike has figured out the idea of offering interaction with a object to get clicks and cookies. We had pivoting this morning and then tonight we had 4 in behaviors once I got the objects right.

We're Leaving ... on a Jet Plane ...

Well, more like arriving! After 12 hours in transit (12 for me, 4.5 for her) on Thursday we're home.

Introducing Rival's Power of Flight.

"Nike" is a Miniature Australian Sheperd, with a distinct possibility to stay toy sized (which just means under 13.5 inches at the shoulder.) Yes. She's a girl. She also has a tail! I decided that a puppy pretty much guaranteed to fall within my size criteria was more important than holding out for a boy.

So starts our journey! I'm pretty excited. After 5 years of adult dogs it's going to be a change of pace but it'll be fun!

Puppy pen, complete with a kitty friend!

Pretty sure that the puppy pen is pure torture

Spencer and his Salsey

When I brought the Chis home, I got them a really awesome snuggle toy. What's better than a big, soft, fuzzy toy to snuggle with when you are a tiny, naked puppy?!

The toy is called a Salsa, and it's made by West Paw. The name evolved into "Salsey" instead of Salsa.

Baxter never did get a salsa. He got a fuzzy, blue chicken toy but he was never as obsessed with it as the littles were.

Penny used to drag hers everywhere, and it is bigger than she is even now (Not that hard, when you're a Chi!) However, since she has this issue with sucking on toys, I had to amputate Salsa's leg and then I revoked toy privileges with him.

Spencer LOVES toys. He loved his little blue Salsey into pieces over the past 5 years. 3 pieces means more to love right?!

While I was out shopping for new dog toys I also bought him a new Salsey for his birthday this year! Still the little one, so not as big as Penny's.

He was pretty excited for it for these pictures ...

However, since I also bought a fun pink Boogey, he doesn't get new Salsey just yet ...

What, these aren't for me?!?

I really like these toys because of how well they stand up to my admittedly not very destructive dogs. It took 5 years for Spencer to rip him into 3 pieces! The nice thing with the toy is that despite being soft and fuzzy, it is not stuffed, so nothing for the toy destroyers to pull out. It also has a few squeakers in it (more bang for your buck.) The downside is that this toy is not exactly inexpensive @ $25 for the little Salsa - depending where you buy it!

8 Years Old

Happy birthday Fluff!

Yesterday Baxter and I went on snow adventures in the -15°C snow. I made an executive decision that -15°C is too cold for naked baby black dogs, at least until I buy a better coat for him. (Also I only have one pair of booties that will fit the boys, and I knew Baxter would need them.)

So just Baxter and I had adventures for his birthday - which is good, because it's colder today and none of us are going out!

Later today we'll have raw bones to celebrate and maybe play with green ball in the house since it's too cold outside.

Me and my boy

Happy 8th birthday to the dog who started my journey into dog sports and positive reinforcement training. Thank you for being so patient with all my mistakes and being the best Fluff a girl could ever ask for. 

Love you buddy <3

2015 Year in Review

Hmm. It seems that I missed doing this for 2014, that year when I didn't actually write anything until March.

2015 wasn't a bad year (as much as Dec 2014 ended with a trial run for a new dog not going well and me deciding that the dog just didn't fit and this wasn't a challenge I was willing to undertake.)

I started teaching agility classes, first @ 2 Paws Up in Jan, and then after @ High Tails in Sept/Aug.

Made for a heck of a busy schedule with a FT job, teaching 2 days out of the week, TA on some Tuesdays and the rental practice group on the weekend. Resulted in a little bit of agility burn out as the year progressed.

March 2015 Blog Header

Aug 2015 Blog Header

Sept 2015 Blog Header

Agility Trialing

Baxter moved to 6" Veterans from 6" Specials in 2015, after his 7th birthday. Spencer is still running 6" Specials. So this year the boys didn't compete against each other at AAC Regionals.

We didn't trial very much at the beginning of the year with the bottom falling out of oil prices and concern over my job while companies are laying people off in droves. Agility trials this year were:

March - Training Troop
May - P'N'E Regionals Warm up
June - AAC Regionals
July - Top Spot @ Indus
August - Dog Days of Summer @ Wet Noses
Sept - 1 day of P'N'E (indoors)
November - CAA
December - Top Spot Christmas Fundraiser

2015 Agility Titles

Baxter finished 4 titles, attaining his Silver Award of Merit, Expert Standard Silver, Expert Jumpers Silver, and his Expert Gamblers Bronze. He's also starting to actually get Steeplechase Q's now that he is in Vets, although we did finish his MSCDC title before moving to Vets!

Last agility trial of the year was Baxter's first perfect trial, going 7/7 getting 2x Steeplechase, 2x Standard, 2x Jumpers and a Gamblers Q. Good Fluff!

Spencer finished 3 titles, attaining his Bronze Award of Merit, Expert Standard Bronze and his Expert Jumpers Bronze as well. He doesn't rack up Q's the way Baxter does being pretty hit and miss. He doesn't trial well when it is really cold out because of his knee issues. He also doesn't like to trial inside, he does better outdoors.

2015 Regionals

Synopsis is both boys placed 2nd in their divisions. Very happy with my little dogs this Regionals, a little less happy with myself. But I think this has helped me grow and be a stronger person and handler. I feel like I handled the stress a little better than last year and really pushed to do our best.

2015 Regionals Review


2015 Review

2015 was all about kind of settling back and taking stock of what I have and being happy and grateful for what I have.

We climbed mountains.

We explored new horizons.

We played in the dirt.

We ended up flying high.

2016 is going to be about changes, challenges and taking it up a notch! Bring it on!

Other random goals for 2016

• Polish my mechanics, I do okay - take that up to the next level 
• Work through online courses instead of saving them for review "later" and never really getting to anything later!
• Journal and record keep (fits nicely with mechanics and skills)
• Fitness - mine and the dogs'
• Rally Obedience - this is do able this year. DO IT
• Heeling & Stand!
• NoseWork - keep working on training this

Operant Conditioning and Dog Training

So far I've gotten in 2 training sessions for NoseWork 2.0.

Not NoseWork! Just problem solving with treat puzzles

It's been interesting so far. One of the dogs is VERY quick to catch on with shaping and due to this it is easier to build the skill and duration. The other 2 dogs do not shape well, there was much luring done with their initial training and not much free thinking or problem solving.

Which leads me to think more on operant conditioning and free thinking, such as they are.

You've heard the phrase "Give a man a fish and he can feed himself for a day. Teach a man to fish and he can feed a village for years." (or other variants along those lines.)

Teaching your puppy to think and problem solve is, in my mind, one of the greatest things you can teach them. (Aside from confidence with new and novel situations.)

I think the single greatest thing I've learned from dog training is how to teach the dog how to think and problem solve. It's a skill to be able to break things down so that the dog can understand what I want.

I understand the lure of luring, pun intended. It gets you the behavior now. It also prevents the flailing about and frantic behavior often seen in dogs who are shaped poorly. The dog doesn't understand what the trainer wants and will run through their whole repertoire of "tricks" to try to find what you want. If you're not really careful in how you reward and mark, you build that frantic flinging of behaviors into anything shaped. 

But I digress. That isn't the soap box for today's post. Today is about an operant dog in the most general sense - a dog who cares about what their human thinks and is willing to try something for them for a reward that the human is controlling.

You can have either end of the spectrum.

Baxter is an operant dog who does not think well or problem solve for himself. He will however try what I ask him to do, and if confused by it still "stays in the game" so to speak. He doesn't leave. He just lays down, whines, paws at me because he wants the reward and does not understand how to earn it. He was never taught to "think" - just to try. So the thinking is my job. When he gets something wrong, I need to modify so he can get it right, because he is not going to change what he offers me. He lures very nicely and patterns well, so still very trainable. Just not a thinker.

Spencer is the opposite end of the spectrum from Baxter. He is a thinker. Still an operant dog, however, one who is fearful with some new situations and does not do well with any sort of pressure. He will try, think and problem solve until you apply pressure and then he is gone from the game. He is brilliant at picking up new tricks and behaviors, provided his human has thought this through and has broken the pieces down (splitting) during shaping sessions.

As long as a dog is operant, you can work with that. 

If your dog does not care about the human and the rewards the human controls, now you have a problem. That is my largest challenge. How do you teach that human to create an operant dog? Especially in this culture and age of pet parents and fur babies? 

He/she was abused/had a rough start. We're not home very much. 

Someone could look at Spencer, who I brought home at 8 wks of age and say that he must have been abused. I'm fairly confident he wasn't. He certainly wasn't neglected at 8 wks old. Don't make excuses. Regardless of their background, your dog can still be trained!

Your puppy who has no value in you, their human, does not need to go to the dog park daily. They do not need to run wild and practice ignoring you as an object of absolutely no value in their environment. It's not neglect not to go and it is certainly not mean to prevent access to situations in which you are teaching your puppy to ignore you.

Your dog/puppy should not be overweight or obese. Often that makes using food as a reward hard. 

Control access to fun things. To gain access to the thing they want, the dog needs to cooperate with you. 

Dog wants to go hang out in the yard? Then dog needs to sit and the door and remain sitting while I open it until say they can go. No bolting! Initially, sit for a few seconds, then make it harder.

Good things come from you! Maybe don't have very fun "free toys" in the house. Fun toys only come out when you play with the human. Puppy likes tug on things, like your pant legs? Perfect, teach them to play tug with toys. Tug is an incredibly powerful interactive game to play.

Build value in the human! Put aside 5 minutes every day to PLAY with your puppy/dog. Run around the backyard like a nut. Do puppy push-ups (sit/down/stand) with a handful of their dinner before you feed them. Practice recalls around the house with a handful of their dinner. Teach them self control (not to mob your hand for the food.) 

Start to build a positive relationship with your puppy/dog in which they do something for you and then they get something awesome that they want! Your relationship with your dog, and the ease at which you can teach them new things (even if it is "just" pet manners) will improve so much.