This is the most boring blog entry ever. If anybody is bothering to read this (and I don't know why anybody would), let me just sum it up: Elo: working on not being an asshole in public, doing a little better, also learning frisbee (sort of). Jun: working on a bunch of stupid random stuff. Lok: maybe better on prozac, maybe not. All 3: Road trip soon, outlook grim. Damn, even the summary is boring. I should just delete the rest, but since I already typed it out, I guess I'll go ahead and post it.
Well, I've been keeping up with my training plans pretty well lately. I've been working with Elo regularly on desensitizing him to everything, which I've found basically translates to working on calm and focus in a variety of different places, as well as desensitizing specifically to different triggers. We've probably been out five or six times since my last post, working on quiet neighborhood streets or empty parks. Even empty parks are a big challenge for Elo. Planes flying overhead are enough to set him off, but he is getting better little by little about focusing on me and not being a little spaz. As long as I am clicking and treating regularly. We are also working on loose leash walking, which he is doing nicely with. He's doing better about cars from a long distance. We're working LAT and the other night were probably within 50 yards of cars going by on a road and his eyes were glued to mine, just giving little LAT glances at the cars. Dogs are still a BIG problem. I can't get him under threshhold, no matter how far away we are he reacts. And even out of sight of the other dog, barking will set him off. Elo is also working on drive building with frisbee and that is looking kind of promising!
Jun has been working on random retrieving fun and useful tricks, like loading the dishwasher and fetching things from the fridge. I've also started trying to work a handstand with her. I think she's too much of a clutz to do it, but we're trying. Just random stuff to keep her brain occupied. Frisbee is her main job right now.
Lok's prozac seems to be working. Sort of. Sometimes. The main difference I've seen is that he is calmer when I am home, usually chilling in a back bedroom v. obsessing over Elo, which is nice. Storm phobia doesn't seem to have gotten any better. Separation anxiety seems to be a little better. And he is walking out the door better and responding to recall away from toys better. At least sometimes. Last night/this morning we had all of these issues. It's so hard to tell whether it's better or I'm imagining it.
In 8 days all three dogs will be coming with me to Colorado for a competition. Lok and Jun are good at traveling. Elo has traveled with me once and is a bit harder to manage. It should be interesting!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
What we're working on
I have been SUCH a bad dog trainer since we stopped doing obedience classes! With three dogs, sometimes I just get so overwhelmed and we end up doing nothing even when I DO have time to train. If I don't feel like training all of them, I don't train any of them, and I need to realize that training doesn't have to be a marathon. It can just be a few minutes here and there and working with one is better than working with none. I've been a bit better lately, but it's hard when I don't have any specific goals. So here's my plan for the next bit:
Lok
Not really doing anything, just trying to get more one-on-one time with him and hoping his Prozac kicks in soon. He's been on it for about 6 days now and so far it hasn't seemed to do anything, but I guess it takes a few weeks to kick in. I'm hoping to see improvements in the following behaviors: storm phobia, anxiety in his crate (barking, digging, chewing, drooling, paw licking), anxiety in strange places, obsessiveness over Elo, obsessiveness over toys and being outside, not responding to commands and pretending I don't exist most of the time, barking, digging, and chewing for stress and frustration relief. All of this stuff happened so gradually I didn't really notice it until one day I looked at this black and white dog living with me and started to wonder who he was and what happened to my Lok? He is so sad and frustrated. I just want him to get better.
Elo
I decided to take Elo out in public last night. Bad idea. We went to the lake, and I brought Lok with too. He was obviously very stimulated from the start, but other than pulling on the leash, seemed to be doing fine, leaving people alone. I had him on a long line and he was recalling ok, and checking in with me. Then these ladies walked into the lake and Elo apparently decided that was NOT ok. They were way out in the lake and he was standing knee-deep just barking and growling at them. Then he started barking and growling at EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. I decided to leave and the whole way back to the car he is barking, growling, lunging, practically twisting out of his collar to the point where he was scaring people.
Elo was never supposed to stay. He was supposed to be a foster. Here for a good time, not a long time, and then on to a new home after a couple months. But of course, none of my fosters are ever good, normal dogs. It's been almost a year and he doesn't seem to be going anywhere. So I guess I need a plan to work on this. But where do you start when you have a dog that is reactive to EVERYTHING?!
Jun
Jun, my good girl, my princess, my easy dog. . . . . . . never in a million years did I think I'd be saying THAT!! Jun (and all the dogs, but mostly Jun) has been working long stays and doing WONDERFULLY! Its crazy how starting an evening with a 20-minute down-stay has a calming effect on the rest of the night. I started working on a handstand with Jun last night. She is the world's clutziest dog, so we'll see if she has the coordination to do it, but she was having fun getting to use her brain for something new for once. And I realized last night that she has completely forgotten how to SIT. So we did a refresher on that. Still working on our new "back-up" method. We were stalled out for awhile, since Jun in seemingly incapable of backing up in a straight line, so she was missing the target a lot, thus not getting rewarded and getting frustrated. But I realized that if I turn my body 90 degrees to the left, she backs up straight. So, that was working for us better last night. The only behavior issue I need to work on with Jun right now is barking in the yard. That will be easy to fix. I just have to commit to inconveniencing myself to taking her out on leash long enough to break the habit. One of these days . . .
Lok
Not really doing anything, just trying to get more one-on-one time with him and hoping his Prozac kicks in soon. He's been on it for about 6 days now and so far it hasn't seemed to do anything, but I guess it takes a few weeks to kick in. I'm hoping to see improvements in the following behaviors: storm phobia, anxiety in his crate (barking, digging, chewing, drooling, paw licking), anxiety in strange places, obsessiveness over Elo, obsessiveness over toys and being outside, not responding to commands and pretending I don't exist most of the time, barking, digging, and chewing for stress and frustration relief. All of this stuff happened so gradually I didn't really notice it until one day I looked at this black and white dog living with me and started to wonder who he was and what happened to my Lok? He is so sad and frustrated. I just want him to get better.
Elo
I decided to take Elo out in public last night. Bad idea. We went to the lake, and I brought Lok with too. He was obviously very stimulated from the start, but other than pulling on the leash, seemed to be doing fine, leaving people alone. I had him on a long line and he was recalling ok, and checking in with me. Then these ladies walked into the lake and Elo apparently decided that was NOT ok. They were way out in the lake and he was standing knee-deep just barking and growling at them. Then he started barking and growling at EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. I decided to leave and the whole way back to the car he is barking, growling, lunging, practically twisting out of his collar to the point where he was scaring people.
Elo was never supposed to stay. He was supposed to be a foster. Here for a good time, not a long time, and then on to a new home after a couple months. But of course, none of my fosters are ever good, normal dogs. It's been almost a year and he doesn't seem to be going anywhere. So I guess I need a plan to work on this. But where do you start when you have a dog that is reactive to EVERYTHING?!
Jun
Jun, my good girl, my princess, my easy dog. . . . . . . never in a million years did I think I'd be saying THAT!! Jun (and all the dogs, but mostly Jun) has been working long stays and doing WONDERFULLY! Its crazy how starting an evening with a 20-minute down-stay has a calming effect on the rest of the night. I started working on a handstand with Jun last night. She is the world's clutziest dog, so we'll see if she has the coordination to do it, but she was having fun getting to use her brain for something new for once. And I realized last night that she has completely forgotten how to SIT. So we did a refresher on that. Still working on our new "back-up" method. We were stalled out for awhile, since Jun in seemingly incapable of backing up in a straight line, so she was missing the target a lot, thus not getting rewarded and getting frustrated. But I realized that if I turn my body 90 degrees to the left, she backs up straight. So, that was working for us better last night. The only behavior issue I need to work on with Jun right now is barking in the yard. That will be easy to fix. I just have to commit to inconveniencing myself to taking her out on leash long enough to break the habit. One of these days . . .
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Elo fun!
Elo is so much fun to free shape! Lok and Jun generally only "get" free shaping if there is an object around they are supposed to interact with. "101 things to do with a box" . . . no problem! "Show me something new" . . . both of them generally just sit and stare. As. Motionless. As. Possible. I've tried to play the "click anything and everything" game with them to encourage more offering of behaviors. But I run into a few problems. First, they get stuck in a rut of offering the same behavior over and over again. Second, the motionless staring, with the only movements made being unconscious things, like ear flicks, which they don't seem to associate with the clicks they get for them. Luckily I've found ways other than free shaping to teach them all their non-prop behaviors. But with Elo, I free shaped pretty much everything right from the beginning. Sit, down, stay, pick up objects, touch objects, all his tricks. Because of that, I think, Elo is awesome at offering behaviors and it's so much fun to do shaping with him! I'm working on shaping a "wave." In his first couple sessions, I concentrated on moving his front paws, since we've never done any front paw work. Then I focused on moving just his right paw. Then I worked on lifting that paw. Last night he was offering me a right paw lift to chest height, so we're halfway there! Fun!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Teach around the skill
We spent last weekend at a disc dog training camp with Pawsitive Vybe. Learned a few things and had a great time!
Jun
Jun did her very first flip this weekend. In two years of disc dogging she has never done a real flip, and suddenly she's decided to do it! (Kinda like what happened with her vaults--she wouldn't do them, then one day she just decided to.) I also asked Ron Watson to help me with Jun's backing up. I've been working on it lately and have not been able to get her to back up more than five or six feet. She stops and lays down and won't go any further. Ron had me work on backing up to a rear-foot target. Jun is loving this "new" game so far. I don't know why I never thought of that. Ron said something that really stuck in my mind : "When a skill is hard, don't teach the skill, teach around the skill." That's exactly what's going on with the back up. Rather than continuing to try to get a back up, I'm teaching around it. Jun's not backing up anymore--she's rear-foot targeting and the back up is just incidental. Very interesting stuff.
Elo
Elo had a big break-through this weekend! We've been working on the windshield wiper reactivity kind of sporadically, just here and there when I get a chance. On the way home from the seminar it started raining REALLY hard. I didn't have any treats. I didn't really have a way to restrain Elo. I held out as long as I could, but eventually HAD to use the wipers. I worked single-wipes for a little while, marking with a "yes" and rewarding with praise, which was all I had. Elo barely batted an eye. Then I finally had to turn them on high in order to see at all. I knew Elo wasn't ready for this. I grabbed his collar and just held him back. He was fine for a couple seconds, then started reacting, as I figured he would. He wasn't nearly as bad as he used to be though, and didn't redirect on me at all, and then . . . he stopped!! He chilled, laid back down, and was FINE!! Totally fine. So I guess my work there has paid off! One trigger down, six gazillion to go. We worked some reactive dog stuff at the seminar that I am going to continue to try to implement.
Lok
What am I going to do with Lok? His newest thing: turning and walking in the other direction when I call him. (His recall used to be PERFECT.) Refusing to lie down. Basically, just generally tuning me out anytime I'm not throwing a toy for him. I get frustrated and correct him, even though I know it's not helping any. No idea what to do with this one.
Jun
Jun did her very first flip this weekend. In two years of disc dogging she has never done a real flip, and suddenly she's decided to do it! (Kinda like what happened with her vaults--she wouldn't do them, then one day she just decided to.) I also asked Ron Watson to help me with Jun's backing up. I've been working on it lately and have not been able to get her to back up more than five or six feet. She stops and lays down and won't go any further. Ron had me work on backing up to a rear-foot target. Jun is loving this "new" game so far. I don't know why I never thought of that. Ron said something that really stuck in my mind : "When a skill is hard, don't teach the skill, teach around the skill." That's exactly what's going on with the back up. Rather than continuing to try to get a back up, I'm teaching around it. Jun's not backing up anymore--she's rear-foot targeting and the back up is just incidental. Very interesting stuff.
Elo
Elo had a big break-through this weekend! We've been working on the windshield wiper reactivity kind of sporadically, just here and there when I get a chance. On the way home from the seminar it started raining REALLY hard. I didn't have any treats. I didn't really have a way to restrain Elo. I held out as long as I could, but eventually HAD to use the wipers. I worked single-wipes for a little while, marking with a "yes" and rewarding with praise, which was all I had. Elo barely batted an eye. Then I finally had to turn them on high in order to see at all. I knew Elo wasn't ready for this. I grabbed his collar and just held him back. He was fine for a couple seconds, then started reacting, as I figured he would. He wasn't nearly as bad as he used to be though, and didn't redirect on me at all, and then . . . he stopped!! He chilled, laid back down, and was FINE!! Totally fine. So I guess my work there has paid off! One trigger down, six gazillion to go. We worked some reactive dog stuff at the seminar that I am going to continue to try to implement.
Lok
What am I going to do with Lok? His newest thing: turning and walking in the other direction when I call him. (His recall used to be PERFECT.) Refusing to lie down. Basically, just generally tuning me out anytime I'm not throwing a toy for him. I get frustrated and correct him, even though I know it's not helping any. No idea what to do with this one.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Stay is Boring . . .
. . . for me and for the dogs, I suspect. But at least they get treats periodically while I just kind of wander aimlessly or stand and do nothing while they're staying. So last night I did a long group down-stay while I made and ate a root beer float. It was much more enjoyable for all of us. Well, ok, for me at least, except for all the times naughty Jun got up and I had to put down my root beer float and put her back in position. But Lok and Elo didn't move. I was walking around, I ducked out of sight for periods. It was cool!
I think a dog that will stay in place when told is the coolest thing ever, even if it is boring to teach! I'm trying to work on it more often, in more places, with more distractions.
I think a dog that will stay in place when told is the coolest thing ever, even if it is boring to teach! I'm trying to work on it more often, in more places, with more distractions.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
What we've been working on?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Well, that's not totally true. Most of my focus has been on Jun's disc work lately. We had our first comp of the season last weekend and sucked it up big time. Jun was off. Really off. But, this is life with Jun as I know it. When she's good, she's very, very good and when she's bad . . . well, you know the rest.
But the next day we went to play at the park and she redeemed herself. Looking forward to the next comp a week from Saturday, then our first big comp of the year in Kokomo, IN, which is a UFO local and a Quad! I've been throwing pretty well this year, but was really off myself last weekend at the the park, so hopefully I can reel that back in.
Oh! I DID work the other day on some impulse control. I first had Lok and Elo down-stay on mats while Jun and I played the "find-it" game. Then I put Elo in a crate and had Jun down-stay on a mat while Lok played find-it. Then I alternated Jun and Lok with mat work for one while the other played tug. This was quite a challenge for them, but they did well for our first time! Elo is not quite there yet. He sat in a crate and watched and worked on being calm in the crate while watching other dogs play.
I have learned that I can't work my two hearing dogs at one time, especially when I'm also trying to work my deaf dog! Lok and Elo both assume the verbal commands are for them and get really confused, so I try to help them out with gestures, which Jun thinks are for her and it's a whole big mess.
Elo is doing well with windshield wipers still. I can run them on high for several seconds and am increasing the time between treats, sometimes running them briefly without treating at all. He will react if they are on for a long time--it seems to take a lot of effort for him to control himself if they've been running for awhile. I am hoping that with more work on this, the wipers will eventually be completely irrelevant to him.
And finally, the other day I decided to try loose-leash walking with Lok again. Why I continue to torture myself with this I have no idea, but I had borrowed an easy-walk harness to try and so, I wanted to try it (FAIL). I need to give up on this idea of Lok walking nicely next to me. It will never happen and I just get frustrated and upset with him. I also worked it a little with Jun and Elo and they both did a decent job. Now if only I could find more time to train . . .
Well, that's not totally true. Most of my focus has been on Jun's disc work lately. We had our first comp of the season last weekend and sucked it up big time. Jun was off. Really off. But, this is life with Jun as I know it. When she's good, she's very, very good and when she's bad . . . well, you know the rest.
But the next day we went to play at the park and she redeemed herself. Looking forward to the next comp a week from Saturday, then our first big comp of the year in Kokomo, IN, which is a UFO local and a Quad! I've been throwing pretty well this year, but was really off myself last weekend at the the park, so hopefully I can reel that back in.
Oh! I DID work the other day on some impulse control. I first had Lok and Elo down-stay on mats while Jun and I played the "find-it" game. Then I put Elo in a crate and had Jun down-stay on a mat while Lok played find-it. Then I alternated Jun and Lok with mat work for one while the other played tug. This was quite a challenge for them, but they did well for our first time! Elo is not quite there yet. He sat in a crate and watched and worked on being calm in the crate while watching other dogs play.
I have learned that I can't work my two hearing dogs at one time, especially when I'm also trying to work my deaf dog! Lok and Elo both assume the verbal commands are for them and get really confused, so I try to help them out with gestures, which Jun thinks are for her and it's a whole big mess.
Elo is doing well with windshield wipers still. I can run them on high for several seconds and am increasing the time between treats, sometimes running them briefly without treating at all. He will react if they are on for a long time--it seems to take a lot of effort for him to control himself if they've been running for awhile. I am hoping that with more work on this, the wipers will eventually be completely irrelevant to him.
And finally, the other day I decided to try loose-leash walking with Lok again. Why I continue to torture myself with this I have no idea, but I had borrowed an easy-walk harness to try and so, I wanted to try it (FAIL). I need to give up on this idea of Lok walking nicely next to me. It will never happen and I just get frustrated and upset with him. I also worked it a little with Jun and Elo and they both did a decent job. Now if only I could find more time to train . . .
Monday, March 29, 2010
My first real counter-conditioning success
Elo freaks out at windshield wipers. Actually, let me put that in the past tense--Elo USED TO freak out at windshield wipers. As soon as you would turn them on, he would bark, growl, lunge, be all over the dashboard biting at the windshield and would take awhile to calm down and stop growling after they were turned off. Ok, a little funny, but not so funny when you forget your wiper-reactive dog is sitting next to you in the car, go to clean your windshield out of habit, and nearly have a heart attack when he explodes next to you. Not so funny when you have the choice of not bringing that dog along when it's raining, or bringing him along and hoping you don't crash for lack of ability to see out your windshield.
So, I set out to fix it. My first issue was how to get Elo under threshhold. In the car there was no way to keep him from reacting, and I didn't think he would react outside of the car. I was wrong about that, I found out--he reacted from like 10 away from the car (he was in the backyard, the car was in the driveway), but got over it much faster.
I grabbed a bucket of yummy treats, a clicker, and sat in the driver's seat with Elo outside the car on the ground next to me. He could hear the wipers, but couldn't see them very well from where he was. I swished them once and immediately clicked and treated before he even had a chance to think about reacting. That was most of our first session. Towards the end, I sped up the tempo a little. It actually went really well! After the first ten reps or so, he started to view the wipers almost as if they WERE the clicker and looked for his treat each time. We ended there.
In the next session, we started where we ended the first session for a little review. Then I had him get in the car. He was a little concerned, but we backed up a bit and he quickly realized we were playing the same game. Within a few minutes, I had him sitting calmly with the wipers on full speed!! We took a short break and then went for a drive, during which I ran the wipers intermittently, still clicking and treating for calm. It was a complete success! I know we will need to practice more to solidify the change in behavior, but I'm calling it a win!
So, I set out to fix it. My first issue was how to get Elo under threshhold. In the car there was no way to keep him from reacting, and I didn't think he would react outside of the car. I was wrong about that, I found out--he reacted from like 10 away from the car (he was in the backyard, the car was in the driveway), but got over it much faster.
I grabbed a bucket of yummy treats, a clicker, and sat in the driver's seat with Elo outside the car on the ground next to me. He could hear the wipers, but couldn't see them very well from where he was. I swished them once and immediately clicked and treated before he even had a chance to think about reacting. That was most of our first session. Towards the end, I sped up the tempo a little. It actually went really well! After the first ten reps or so, he started to view the wipers almost as if they WERE the clicker and looked for his treat each time. We ended there.
In the next session, we started where we ended the first session for a little review. Then I had him get in the car. He was a little concerned, but we backed up a bit and he quickly realized we were playing the same game. Within a few minutes, I had him sitting calmly with the wipers on full speed!! We took a short break and then went for a drive, during which I ran the wipers intermittently, still clicking and treating for calm. It was a complete success! I know we will need to practice more to solidify the change in behavior, but I'm calling it a win!
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