I had decided to try Susan Garrett's new '2x2' weaving method to try and teach Secret her weaving entries. In my opinion this method doesn't teach the footwork I want her to have (single tracking), however it seems to be really good for teaching entries.
Karen very kindly lent me the DVD as I could not understand the method just reading about it in Clean Run. Secret quickly picked up the idea of running between the 2 poles and was rapidly up to having the poles fairly close together and was racing through them wherever I stood.
Today I straightened the poles and had 4 in a straight line and she was nailing most of her entries however I noticed her footwork had gone from single striding through to bouncing through them (still very quickly). I don't want her doing this so might go back to V setting the weavers to encourage nicer footwork.
I also have to watch the rest of the DVD to see what she suggests and will continue working them with her.
On another note we had a bit of an 'episode' with Secret reacting to 2 people that were in the front garden with her and my partner. She is seeming to be quite anxious about people being in 'her' front garden and ran in, barked anxiously at them and bolted again. I will have to address this anxiety and at this stage will manage the situation by having her on a lead and rewarding her for being relaxed and paying attention to me. Haven't had to deal with this issue before, as my other 2 border collies haven't been reactive. Secret and her whole litter appear to be VERY reactive, so I guess it will be another learning experience for me!
...ready for action !
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Back down again
This week, after the success I had at training last week, I was feeling quite hopeful as I prepared to take her to training. I had done a little work with her in the garden, and was pleased with her weavers as she was driving through with good speed and single striding the whole way.
I took her back to Northern Suburbs on Wednesday night feeling slightly cautious- this is a much busier club and people are also less accepting for dogs running off and arriving in other dogs faces! I had her out as soon as the beginners had finished and ran a short sequence with her before the other senior dogs had started. She was pretty good, attentive, taking the tire which she hadn't seen before without any fuss and enthusiastically shooting through the collapsed tunnel that she had seen only once before. I praised her to high heaven, gave her the tuckertime roll I had borrowed from work and put her back into the car so she wouldn't scream and annoy everyone while I worked Terra. When I went back to get her she was quiet in the car, a good sign I thought. I took her back down and choose the outermost sequence. Unfortunately there was a fast dog working in the adjacent sequence and she took off as soon as I let her off lead. It took several minutes to catch her again as she kept shooting through the tunnel as she obsessively circled the other dog who was waiting on top of the dog walk. After finally catching her (and apologising- again), I put her back on the halti and asked for many attention behaviours such as circle work, drops, touches etc. When that fast dog had finished and a slower dog was preparing to run I decided to try her again. Unfortunately she did the same thing, doing the first jump this time and then running off to the other dog. At that point I called it quits, recaught her and put her back in the car. I took her out at the end of the night again and worked her on the contacts on lead, which she did beautifully. Feeling slightly despondent, I finished on that note.
On the friday of that same week I took her back to Perth training, where only Tom and myself were present. I asked Tom if she could work first and he kindly agreed. Leashing his dogs and standing well back I warmed her up and prepared to try some weavers with her. I wasnt happy when, after taking the leash off, she bolted straight over to his dogs, who were doing absolutely nothing. This was even worse than running off after dogs that were doing agility- Tom's dogs were standing still! I grabbed her put her back on the halti and had another try. This time she did her weavers but very badly- whereas at home she was driving and single striding at training she was bouncing and going about half speed. I couldn't get her to improve her performance so I tried her on some jumps instead and to my disappointment she had gone back to 'floating' over the jumps instead of driving, with several run offs to Terra who was tied up and watching quietly.
I finished the training session feeling very disappointed- was last weeks good session just a fluke? And would this dog ever get in the ring?
I took her back to Northern Suburbs on Wednesday night feeling slightly cautious- this is a much busier club and people are also less accepting for dogs running off and arriving in other dogs faces! I had her out as soon as the beginners had finished and ran a short sequence with her before the other senior dogs had started. She was pretty good, attentive, taking the tire which she hadn't seen before without any fuss and enthusiastically shooting through the collapsed tunnel that she had seen only once before. I praised her to high heaven, gave her the tuckertime roll I had borrowed from work and put her back into the car so she wouldn't scream and annoy everyone while I worked Terra. When I went back to get her she was quiet in the car, a good sign I thought. I took her back down and choose the outermost sequence. Unfortunately there was a fast dog working in the adjacent sequence and she took off as soon as I let her off lead. It took several minutes to catch her again as she kept shooting through the tunnel as she obsessively circled the other dog who was waiting on top of the dog walk. After finally catching her (and apologising- again), I put her back on the halti and asked for many attention behaviours such as circle work, drops, touches etc. When that fast dog had finished and a slower dog was preparing to run I decided to try her again. Unfortunately she did the same thing, doing the first jump this time and then running off to the other dog. At that point I called it quits, recaught her and put her back in the car. I took her out at the end of the night again and worked her on the contacts on lead, which she did beautifully. Feeling slightly despondent, I finished on that note.
On the friday of that same week I took her back to Perth training, where only Tom and myself were present. I asked Tom if she could work first and he kindly agreed. Leashing his dogs and standing well back I warmed her up and prepared to try some weavers with her. I wasnt happy when, after taking the leash off, she bolted straight over to his dogs, who were doing absolutely nothing. This was even worse than running off after dogs that were doing agility- Tom's dogs were standing still! I grabbed her put her back on the halti and had another try. This time she did her weavers but very badly- whereas at home she was driving and single striding at training she was bouncing and going about half speed. I couldn't get her to improve her performance so I tried her on some jumps instead and to my disappointment she had gone back to 'floating' over the jumps instead of driving, with several run offs to Terra who was tied up and watching quietly.
I finished the training session feeling very disappointed- was last weeks good session just a fluke? And would this dog ever get in the ring?
Back to training and introducting the halti!
While I was working with Secret at home I was thinking about different methods to try and 'set her up for success'. My biggest problem with her was when she 'locked' onto something (mainly other dogs), I could not get her off them and back onto me. I could pull her away from whatever it was, but that wouldn't stop her staring at it obsessively. So I decided to try her on a halti, not without reservations because in general I don't like them, and neither Jess or Terra had ever worn one. I have seen dogs with damaged necks from people using them inappropriately and had visions of Secret getting a damaged neck from lunging while wearing it. I also had no illusions that she would like it! I put it on her at home and did the usual treat with it on etc etc. Then I took her out in public and have to say noticed an immediate improvement with her pulling on the lead..she would still walk out in front but she was no longer pulling as when she did try to pull her head was turned sideways. I decided I would try her in the halti at training for the foreseeable future to hopefully allow me to have slightly more control and set her up for success rather than failure all the time.
After a couple of weeks of not taking her to training and working with her at home I decided to take her back to training. I took her to Perth training, since this is the quietest club I train at, last week. She started screaming as soon as we arrived in the car park but I put the halti on and walked her out to watch some of the dogs. When we got there we started playing the 'look at that' game, which was only successful if we were below her threshold level. This depended on which dog was running! If it was a fast exciting dog like Brynn or Diva the distance we had to stand away from the action was quite large, for a less exciting dog we could stand closer. Because it was Auslink time at Perth dogs were running one at a time and that meant Secret got to have her go without having to contend with other dogs running at the same time. She ran off once when all the dogs tied up started barking hysterically at her running, but after that was able to stay focused and do a couple of little sequences! Hooray! I was very pleased with her progress that night as it was by far the best she had performed at training. She was driving over her jumps and on the contacts and was nice and attentive. I drove home in a very positive mood, thinking this dog may one day even end up trialling..
After a couple of weeks of not taking her to training and working with her at home I decided to take her back to training. I took her to Perth training, since this is the quietest club I train at, last week. She started screaming as soon as we arrived in the car park but I put the halti on and walked her out to watch some of the dogs. When we got there we started playing the 'look at that' game, which was only successful if we were below her threshold level. This depended on which dog was running! If it was a fast exciting dog like Brynn or Diva the distance we had to stand away from the action was quite large, for a less exciting dog we could stand closer. Because it was Auslink time at Perth dogs were running one at a time and that meant Secret got to have her go without having to contend with other dogs running at the same time. She ran off once when all the dogs tied up started barking hysterically at her running, but after that was able to stay focused and do a couple of little sequences! Hooray! I was very pleased with her progress that night as it was by far the best she had performed at training. She was driving over her jumps and on the contacts and was nice and attentive. I drove home in a very positive mood, thinking this dog may one day even end up trialling..
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Behaviour
At this time Secret was old enough to start to take to training. I had introduced a lot of obstacles and behaviour at home and was ready to start to take it out to training classes, a critical place if the dog is ever to be able to trial. Training classes are noisy, exciting and often chaotic. There are dogs barking and tugging, handlers calling and rewarding and motion everywhere. And Secret did not cope. When I took her down she took one look at everything happening and promptly lost her head. Screaming and lunging at other dogs, screaming her head off when she was in a crate, not even vaguely able to concentrate on me when I was trying to work her. And this was at a very quiet club! I was rather appalled- how was I going to work this dog? I tried all the normal techniques- fasting her for 24 hours so she was really hungry (and she is definitely a food motivated dog!), trying to get her to tug (no way!)..nothing worked. I couldn't train any of my other dogs when I had her either because she went absolutely ballistic- she rolled her crate out of the back of the car and onto the ground she was so worked up. When I brought her out she was exhausted and panting, but wouldn't drink and couldn't focus on me. In short she had NO SELF CONTROL.
I stopped taking her to training- more than a little upset that this dog which was showing potential in the back yard was seemingly 'untrainable'.
We put her into boot camp at home- all her food she had to work for, including treats she was given. Sitting with eye contact was asked for with everything she did from going into the house to every road we came to out on a walk. Instead of sleeping outside and pacing all night she was crated at night. Instead of pacing inside during the day after the cat she was tied up to the sofa. I reread bits of 'control unleashed' and we started playing some of the games in that, especially the 'look at that' game. This game involves rewarding the animal for looking at something and then having them turn back to you for the treat (i.e make eye contact). If this is done when the animal is at a sub threshold level it is then supposed to turn what was once a desirable behaviour for the animal into a trick she does to get the food. I understood the theory and was curious to see if it would work. I decided to try it at home with the cat as I didn't want to take her back to agility until I had a lot more control over her. Initially she wouldn't look up at me to get the treat, and when she ate it she did so very s-l-o-w-i-l-y, similar to the way she stalked the cat. If I moved right back, till she was below her threshold she would look at the cat, then back at me to get the treat. I did this every morning, but didn't see any difference in her attitude to the cat. She still wanted to stalk her every second of every day. Not sure that this method works with something that is so inherently stimulating to the dog..similar to the people that say it doesn't work very well to try and clicker train a sheep dog. These dogs are wired to do this and it seems like you are fighting against genetics to stop some behaviours. I decided to persevere though, with the hope that I would be able to transfer it to the agility field, an area that wasn't genetically wired.
Other games I played with her were the 'go to your mat' game..which she did with lots of enthusiasm and massaging/body work..which she hated! She is quite a cuddly dog and doesn't mind physical contact so I thought she would enjoy it..but she moved away and generally didn't accept it, so I didn't push the issue. I also tried to tug with her more at home as she has never been a particularly toy motivated dog (unfortunately this was not addressed with her when she was a pup and wasn't living with me). She seemed to be happy to tug when she was at home and nothing else was happening, whether this would transfer to when there were other dogs around we would just have to wait and see.
I stopped taking her to training- more than a little upset that this dog which was showing potential in the back yard was seemingly 'untrainable'.
We put her into boot camp at home- all her food she had to work for, including treats she was given. Sitting with eye contact was asked for with everything she did from going into the house to every road we came to out on a walk. Instead of sleeping outside and pacing all night she was crated at night. Instead of pacing inside during the day after the cat she was tied up to the sofa. I reread bits of 'control unleashed' and we started playing some of the games in that, especially the 'look at that' game. This game involves rewarding the animal for looking at something and then having them turn back to you for the treat (i.e make eye contact). If this is done when the animal is at a sub threshold level it is then supposed to turn what was once a desirable behaviour for the animal into a trick she does to get the food. I understood the theory and was curious to see if it would work. I decided to try it at home with the cat as I didn't want to take her back to agility until I had a lot more control over her. Initially she wouldn't look up at me to get the treat, and when she ate it she did so very s-l-o-w-i-l-y, similar to the way she stalked the cat. If I moved right back, till she was below her threshold she would look at the cat, then back at me to get the treat. I did this every morning, but didn't see any difference in her attitude to the cat. She still wanted to stalk her every second of every day. Not sure that this method works with something that is so inherently stimulating to the dog..similar to the people that say it doesn't work very well to try and clicker train a sheep dog. These dogs are wired to do this and it seems like you are fighting against genetics to stop some behaviours. I decided to persevere though, with the hope that I would be able to transfer it to the agility field, an area that wasn't genetically wired.
Other games I played with her were the 'go to your mat' game..which she did with lots of enthusiasm and massaging/body work..which she hated! She is quite a cuddly dog and doesn't mind physical contact so I thought she would enjoy it..but she moved away and generally didn't accept it, so I didn't push the issue. I also tried to tug with her more at home as she has never been a particularly toy motivated dog (unfortunately this was not addressed with her when she was a pup and wasn't living with me). She seemed to be happy to tug when she was at home and nothing else was happening, whether this would transfer to when there were other dogs around we would just have to wait and see.
Starting Jumping
At the time I was starting to teach Secret to jump the 'in' way to do so was using the Susan Salo method, similar to the way horses are started off in jumping. This involves using multiple small 'jump bumps' (aka big PVC poles cut in half) and encourages the dog to develop their striding as well as a nice even basculing jumping style. I did some of this with Secret, but didn't do the whole program as such and combined it with other methods. I started doing these 'jump bumps' when she was fairly young, and when she got to around 10-12 months I started her on a single bar, rewarding her for jumping over it and teaching her she could jump from any angle. I wanted to get the bars up to 500 fairly quickly as I didn't want to develop too much muscle memory for jumping lower heights, so as soon as she was confident on the lower heights I increased it up, only doing one jump at a time though.
Once she was doing that happily I added another jump and started to teach her all the turns that she already knew on the flat (front cross, back cross, post turn), on the jump. She coped well and proved that she could turn tightly, however I was getting slightly concerned at her lack of driving on the jumps. She could do it alright, however was tending to 'float' over the jump rather than running and driving over the jump. Obviously this is not ideal, and although she was a young dog, it was not a habit I wanted her to get into. So I stopped training the turns with her and started setting up long lines of jumps (initially at lower heights but fairly rapidly up to 500 height) and had my partner hold her at the other end doing restrained recalls over the jumps to try and encourage some more speed/drive. She improved a little but still not as much as I would have hoped, especially comparing her to Terra who I was running in the same session..
Once she was doing that happily I added another jump and started to teach her all the turns that she already knew on the flat (front cross, back cross, post turn), on the jump. She coped well and proved that she could turn tightly, however I was getting slightly concerned at her lack of driving on the jumps. She could do it alright, however was tending to 'float' over the jump rather than running and driving over the jump. Obviously this is not ideal, and although she was a young dog, it was not a habit I wanted her to get into. So I stopped training the turns with her and started setting up long lines of jumps (initially at lower heights but fairly rapidly up to 500 height) and had my partner hold her at the other end doing restrained recalls over the jumps to try and encourage some more speed/drive. She improved a little but still not as much as I would have hoped, especially comparing her to Terra who I was running in the same session..
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