Skater Girl!

Seeker is learning to ride a skateboard! I bought the skateboard (a cheap starter skateboard from Amazon.com for $25). It arrived last Thursday and since that time we have progressed from her putting one paw up to two and sometimes three. She's also learned to tip it by putting her paws on the end (perfect for the pre-teeter work) and now she runs toward it, puts her front paws on it, and rides it along on the carpet. It will be interesting to see how she transitions to other surfaces on the board, but I'll keep her on the carpet for now.

I am going to teach her a ton of other tricks all of which are designed to help build focus and motivation. We are having fun and I am learning how she learns. It's all good stuff and will be so handy when warming her up for the agility, obedience, or conformation rings.

On May 20th, Seeker and I will be going to the junior high where I taught. She will demonstrate her tricks to the kids for their annual "Hobby Day". It's my guess that she will be a hit with the kids.

It's good to have a goal that we can work toward in our pre-showing days.

Clicker Convert

OMG, I have become a clicker convert! I have always been critical of people who used clickers, but after attending the Sylvia Trkman seminar and watching people with a clicker teach tricks to shape behavior in a very short period of time, I decided to give it a go. The owner of the facility explained to me in a way that made sense. He said that if every time he rang a bell and threw money at me, I would soon be offering all kinds of behaviors to figure out how to get more money. It's the same with the dog with the clicker and treats.

I am on a quest to make the teeter a more pleasant experience for Seeker. Although I appreciate Debbie's help in lifting Seeker up on it and guiding her across, I know that you can get much better results by making the dog think it is their own idea.

Sylvia teaches her dogs tricks to build a bond with them and to teach them skills and build up their muscles and coordination for agility. She teaches her pups to close a drawer, to move things around with their paws. to push down on the end of the teeter, and finally to make the teeter slam down with their front paws while they are standing on the ground. This way the dog learns to control the movement and know that the sound is coming from something that they are controlling.

So yesterday I bought a clicker. You know how fussy I am about my household furnishings, so at first I dismissed the idea of the drawer since there is no drawer in my house that I wanted Seeker pawing at. Then as I sat there auditing the class for hours, I realized that when John was moving back from law school, he decided that he didn't need a plastic file cabinet with drawers. I inherited it and that's what I am using.

I pulled it out to the middle of the room, knelt next to it and opened the drawer. Seeker looked at the drawer and I clicked and treated. It then went very quickly. She touched it with her nose, got rewarded, she didn't get rewarded for that anymore, so she tried her paw, got rewarded. It took only minutes for her to learn to pull open the drawer with both left and right paws.

Today, I wanted to see what she would remember. She knew immediately and it went very quickly. Since she had already learned to open the drawer, I then pushed the drawer almost shut to see if she would learn to tap it closed. Sure enough! By the end of today's short session, she had learned to close the drawer with both left and right paws. All that is left is to have her do it with both paws at once. Before I attempt that, I am going to teach her to sit up on her hind legs and wiggle her paws at me. If I can get her to do that, I'll move her in front of the drawer and see if it translates. I think it will. Sitting up on the hind legs is an annoying little dog trick that I don't want her doing, but I will teach it because it builds hind end strength for jumping. I will never reward her for doing it unless I give her the command once she knows it. I think it is very annoying when dogs try to get their owner's attention like that. There was a border collie there that kept raising its paw at its owner all weekend. By the end of 5 days, I wanted to put the dog in a straight jacket!

Amazing that I have become a clicker convert, but if it will result in fast learning and fast times in agility, I'm all for it.

Going to Work

I took Dreamer to work with me on Monday in anticipation of an ice storm on Tuesday that would coop us up for most of the week. Though my workplace has become "known territory" for Dreamer, there are so many people -- and so many things going on -- that it's always a little different and is good socialization for her.

We spent part of the day in meetings and part of the day at my desk. Dreamer was so quiet all day! She was sleeping when she wasn't greeting people, and she just looked stoned for most of the day. Either she knows that work is a place to behave, or she's exhausted from all the new places I've taken her lately. Maybe it's a little bit of both.

Whenever I had the chance to walk her around at work, I did. I walked her through the busy kitchen areas and other high-activity parts of the office. What I love about being in meetings with her is that most of our meeting rooms have walls of glass. When people walk by, Dreamer tends to trot next to them or just watch them pass by. It's so freakin' cute! It's also so good for her. She learns that she can't go everywhere and do everything she wants to do, and that she has to be patient when I'm busy.

I haven't been good about training Dreamer in the house since the ice storm, but I hope to do a little dumbbell work with her in the house today and maybe some finishes. We'll be back to good weather by Saturday and will hit the streets again. Until then, have an Ice day.

Blizzard of Commands

While it's blizzarding outside, Seeker and I are working on a blizzard of commands in the basement. Here's a synopsis:

• Seeker is very intense when we work, so she can only work for about 15 minutes at a time at peak capacity and that is with a lot of play interspersed into the exercises.
• Today I taught the fold back down from a stand with a hand signal and verbal command. It's looking good.
• Heeling work is short up and backs, about turns, circles, side-passes to the left and right, and tucked sits. All are going well except side-passes to the right. She just has so much trouble getting her butt tucked in!
• Fronts are coming nicely and I am either dropping treats from my mouth now or putting treats in both hands while at my sides and alternating which hand gives the treat so she doesn't lean one way or the other. I find with my students that they wait way too long to wean their dogs off of their hands.
• The flip finish is coming nicely.
• Sit and down stays are awesome and I can return around her, straddle her, run past her, etc. I'm even starting to throw her favorite toys around for distraction work. This is very hard, but she's getting it.
• I started the "wait" command while I threw her frisbee today. This was very hard for her (every muscle was straining to go), but she did it and then flew off the sit when I told her to "take it". Retrieving is one of her favorite things to do.

All in all, I'm pleased with her progress. She's a very happy worker and that is my number one goal.

Smart Training in PetSmart

My friend Kathy and I met up with Seeker and Touie to train at PetSmart. I was armed with string cheese and Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Duck treats. Little Miss Seeker walked in with a loose leash and behaved beautifully for the most part. I really must remember that she is a baby and needs the treats for now. I sometimes think I expect too much of her.

Kathy and I worked on walking our dogs past each other on a loose leash. Seeker practiced her sit and down stay while I helped Kathy with Meet and Greets. Touie is a typical Golden. He is very friendly and antsy.

Seeker held her sits and downs like a trooper! She is very good at them. Now, if only I could keep her in heel position around distractions and on a run..........

I know, I know. Rome wasn't built in a day:-)

We are meeting again in 2 weeks and our goal is to be able to walk up to each other with our dogs ignoring each other and shake hands. It's a lofty goal, but a smart one.