I’m naming this post iteration 5.3.A because we are still on our 5th attempt at distraction recalls and will be working onlevel 3 (unprotected distraction, off leash dog) with the easiest new food distraction (A).
August 28, 2023 – location 1: Kiba’s Park
I set up the fish distraction while both dogs were back in the car and hid the camera in some bushes. No scaffolding! Got Chai back out for a surprise recall that wouldn’t feel like a set-up … Well. Turns out I had hidden my tripod so well that I didn’t find my distraction anymore. So we meandered around the area looking for it (me) and enjoying her run or potentially also following the smell (Chai). She ended up approaching it from a different side than I did. I only realized she had found the distraction once she had started eating. I called (off camera) and she responded IMMEDIATELY! YAY! While I had planned to call her before reaching the distraction, this works as well. For most dogs, it will actually be harder to recall once they have started eating something – so we’ll call it a win! Chai enjoyed her cream cheese and then finished off the entire pile of fish. Unlike yesterday, I hadn’t touched it but poured it out of the bag – that alone (not smelling of me but of found food) may have upped its value. Or maybe she was just hungry. In any case – off-leash recall away from unprotected fish in location #1 is a win!
August 29, 2023
Chai didn’t know it was a set-up in either of today’s sessions. In the first one, I set up, tripod hidden in the bushes, and then let her out of the car. She runs back and forth on the path before going in the direction of the fish that I indicate because (I suspect) she is used to be let out of the car together with Game. Game stayed in the car and Chai is likely looking for her.
Location 2: Fresa Parque
Location 3: Toy Play Plaza
Chai didn’t know it was a set-up in this session either. She and Game were chasing squirrels as I poured a pile of fish on the ground. Then we approach and I recalled when they were close to it. Game also came running. I wouldn’t usually feed her, but can’t have only one dog eating cream cheese, so she got lucky today! I released both of them to the distraction and it is really interesting to see how much Chai’s enthusiasm about the fish treats is upped by the fact that Game is eating them as well:
The distraction recall plan going forwards
I’ve succeeded in 3 off-leash unprotected low-value food recall sessions. Now, it’s time to make things harder and go for the distraction I originally didn’t master: kibble (henceforth distraction B)!
Chai has taught me that food distractions are MUCH harder than anything else for her (by now, I have successfully recalled her away from dogs, people, squirrels and birds, pet cats and farm animals. Street food is paws down the hardest for Chai.) Because of this and because a strong recall is my favorite behavior, I am upping my own challenge: I will work up to unprotected kibble (intermediate food value) in 3 different locations with Chai off leash, and then unprotected LIVER (high value) in 3 different locations with Chai off leash.
I am sure some of the items on the list of found food I’ve made are even higher value than liver. However, for anything other than my 3 food distractions, rather than systematically working up to it, I will bank on the force of habit, lots of high-value reinforcement for easy formal recalls in our recall “account” and the trust that Chai will be sent back to eat the distraction that we’ll build in the next steps of her recall distraction plan, which will always include access to the distraction within training sessions – but only after coming back to me. She will be sent back to eat whatever she has found in real life as well – except for the very rare occasion where I can’t let her go back. In general, I want her to learn that coming back unthinkingly when called pays off BIG time. Once we’ve mastered the difficult food distraction recall, I will make her formal recall a rare and coveted word she can’t wait to hear – precisely because it is special and is followed by a-ma-zing experiences.
Activity level: average (high physical, low cognitive)
The AM
We went to Fresa Parque for 20 minutes and then headed back home – lots of work before today’s afternoon adventure!
Solo adventure: dog/dog play, swim fetch and barrier recalls
In the afternoon, we picked up friends and went to Chapultepec for fun at the lake and dog training and play time.
Kala got to ride in style … no, joking. Her paws get to be on the dashboard and I (the driver) am taking a picture because at this point, we’ve spent 15 minutes in standstill traffic waiting for parking and we’re all getting bored.
We were out for three hours. We humans had hung out before and became fast friends, but our dogs have not met. This was the first but probably not the last time for them – they too were fast friends! Kala and Chai played A LOT, and I did not one, but two recall set-ups … because Chai surprised me and botched the first one!
I wonder if this is a coincidence or a direct result of yesterday’s overconfidence: I used her formal recall to get her away from a brimful food container at Fancy Park I. I also started naming zooming (“Zoom, zoom, zoom,” inspired by one of my wonderful students who uses this cue with their Russel Terriers!)
Chai also had two water fetch sessions and did GREAT! I ended both when she still wanted to keep going. Kristen bought Kala a squeaky donut at the pet supply stand at the lake, so Chai – who really wanted it – got one too. Lucky girl! Kala’s is pink and Chai’s is blue (unless we mixed them up … let me see. Nope, took the blue one home! And accidentally stole Kala’s tennis ball as well … oops!)
The donut is popular! I’m turning into one of these people who buy dog toys only to have them destroyed. Dog toys aren’t cheap and as far as I was aware, I’ve stopped spending money on anything that isn’t a training toy or indistructable YEARS ago. Most non-training toys we’ve had over the last 5ish years have been gifts. Not anymore, apparently: I am now getting joy out of buying toys. I asked Chai, “Do you want one too?” when Kala got her donut and it felt good to spontaneously get my dog something overpericed that would make her happy. This is something I only used to do for people. You know, the little things? Apparently, I am now doing them for my dogs.
Wrestling with Kala! The two of them are a good play match!
Water fetch!
A snippet of water fetch! I built back up from only throwing the ball in a little ways so Chai had to get her feet wet until I had her swimming again. She seamlessly completed every rep! We played both 2-toy and 1-toy fetch, with and without treats in the 1-toy version:
Leash walking
Chai got to practice walking on her back-clip harness behind Kala right after getting out of the car. It was only about 50 meters or so and then she got to be off leash, but I am very proud of how well she did after the car ride: hardly any pulling!
After 2.5 hours, the dogs’ brains were fried, we entered sleep-deprived-toddler territory and I put Chai in her front clip harness and a long line. We walked back to the car that way too: pulling or no pulling – no need to think anymore, puppy. It was a long day in the sun!
Home alone
When we got back, Game and I went on an hour-long walk while Chai stayed home. Good girl! Game very much enjoyed HER solo adventure and Chai finally got another decently long home-alone practice session in.
House training
Cruising along our streak.
August 21, 2023
The AM
Activity level: somewhere between low and average
We started out with 30 minutes at Fresa Parque. Chai got to play with two morning park friends and gave me a fake pee on cue (squatting without peeing when I said the potty cue). She makes me laugh so much!
Solo adventure
Chai and I went on a brief solo adventure to the Toy Play Plaza. There was, of course, squirrel chasing! On the way back home, we stopped for groceries and she patiently waited for me outside the store for a few minutes. I was planning to do some collar walking later but the rain and work kept us cooped up inside for most of the rest of the day.
A little training
+ We did two frogs on the mattress! Still using the pillow under Chai’s belly, but not forgetting our stretches!
+ I also did one rep of “shoulders” (lifting her up and carrying her wrapped around my shoulders).
+ I finished with luring a sit-up behavior on the couch a few times, using the back rest of the couch as support for her back. In the next session, I’ll try it with her 2-paw target (plate).
House training
We did it again despite the fact that today was on the lazier side! Woohoo! It ended up being a tie, but the amended rule states that ties count too.
That said, today’s tie reminds me of the bigger picture. I haven’t graphed my graph yet, but I don’t think I’ll get the downwards trend I’ve been hoping for: I suspect I am not going to see progress over these 4 gamified house training weeks. That said, I’ll only make a graph on the last day of the game. I don’t want to discourage myself while the game is still ongoing. It’s not just my game, but I play together with a group of amazing students and colleagues (everyone is gamifying something relevant to them and/or their dogs).
August 22, 2023
Activity level: low average
The AM: marker cue experiments and Chai’s new favorite
I got up 15 minutes earlier to add to our morning park time: SO many appointments and things to do today, and I don’t want the dogs to get too bored! Chai kept being drawn back to a pile of swept-up stuff. There were for sure yummy pieces of something or other mixed up in the leaves and twigs! I could scatter her away from the pile but she’d race back twoards it after every scatter. I experimented with different marker cues and couldn’t “Get it!” her away from it, which means her favorite marker has changed from chasing treats to eating a scatter! Game’s favorite is still chasing a single treat. What’s your dog’s?
Solo adventure
We went on a mini solo adventure to the Toy Play Plaza and played fetch and a little tug with two balls on strings. I tried implementing “Bump” (the cue I changed Chai’s touch cue to to make it different from Game’s touch cue), but it was hard for her, so I only asked for it once (I needed to remove and re-present my hand 3 times before I got an open-mouthed semi-touch). I took that one and we continued playing.
Then, Chai stayed …
Home alone …
… with Game for about 3 hours.
Shaping
Chai had 8 short sessions refreshing her 2-paw target on a plate and then working on the first steps of a sit-up (from Silvia Trkman‘s class). Now she’s conked out on the couch – and so is Game who did some great mat work around flying cookies!
House training
Celebrating that today wasn’t a tie – and, if all goes as planned, only one more check mark to the next brownie!
August 23, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We started the day with half an hour at Fresa Parque – then Chai went from play-with-her-friends mode into ball-stealing mode and we made our way home. Chai is turning into a most excellent toy thief! (Anytime she brings me another dog’s toy, I’ll trade for treats and then return the toy to its human or canine owner. Chai loves fetching and she loves treats, so I’ve been ending up with LOTS of toys lately. Unlike most other toy-thief owners at the park, I don’t have to chase my dog around to get back someone else’s toy – it will be delivered right to me. My ladrona gets praise rather than reprimands for stealing.)
Chai also got to join me on a solo collar mode walk (5-20 steps between treats) to a corner store and wait for me outside.
We worked on the sit up trick in 5 short sessions, and during one of our pee outings, Chai and Game saw the neighbor’s cat in the corridor. I love that Chai didn’t care much at all (while Game, of course, had tacos al gato spinning where her pupils used to be).
Home alone
Both dogs stayed home alone while I went to drop off laundry and ask the sastrero next door if they’d fix the holes Barley had put in the octopus toy (I’d do it myself but I have no sewing kit).
PM adventures
I walked to the Toy Play Plaza with both dogs and we looped around for a while, chasing squirrels (they) and eating tacos (me). Chai found lentils and something resembling grist and had a great time eating both snacks. I tried marker-cueing her out of it but could not while Game definitely found kibble better and only briefly tried the other two options. I am starting to suspect that for Chai, food found on the ground is inherently higher value than food coming from me. Game, on the other hand, assesses the options more objectively.
We were out for about an hour and now both dogs are sleeping peacefully on the couch as I am working again.
House training
We did it! Another brownie for me tomorrow!
August 23, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
Game, Chai and I spent 30 minutes at Fresa Parque in the morning. Chai found some delicious popcorn (palomitas – little doves in Spanish!) I could “Get it”-marker her away – popcorn seems to be lower value than yesterday’s the snuffle leaf pile! However, unlike Game, who said, “Yes please, kibble is much better than popcorn,” Chai went back to the popcorn after each treat chas, strengthening my suspicion that found food is VERY high value in her book. Can’t blame her. I love street food as well.
I’ve been observing Chai’s interest in playing with other dogs go down. She satiates faster now than she used to even when her friends are around. She’s growing up and probably won’t be the kind of dog who’ll play with any dog for hours as an adult. Today, she’d observe, do her own thing sniffing and exploring holes while the play frenzy went on around her and did frequent drive-bys and check-ins. She participated in play, but only a bit here and there. The difference between a worky dog and a companion-y dog is starting to show!
Home alone
Chai and Game briefly stayed home alone twice today – once when I went to pick up my brownie!
Human motivation
It’s interesting for me to observe that I am less vigilant about running outside today than I would be closer to the end of a weekly streak: if I don’t earn a check mark today, we’ll just lose a single streak day rather than 4, 5 or 6 days. The opportunity cost is smaller, so I give myself a break. It is fun to observe my own motivation fluctuate along with the game and what streak day we’re on! Human behavior is just as interesting as the behavior of other animals.
Rocko and his person joined us a little later. I played with Rocko and his frisbee and Chai got to play with Kiba’s ball (doing beautiful single-ball fetches; voluntarily dropping the ball at my feet every time) for several minutes while Rocko’s human worked with both Rocko and Kiba on paw shakes for food. A perfect park outing!
Alan watering the Border Collie gang: Kiba (chocolate), Rocko (merle) and Chai (b/w).
Apart from Kiba, Chai also briefly played with a new dog we hand’t met before and who was bouncing all over the place – a joy to watch!
On the way home, we walked in collar mode between 5 and 35 steps. Chai, all played out, was brilliant.
Husbandry
+ “Brush!”
House training
Last week of the game, here we come!
August 25, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We started with 45 minutes at Fresa Parque and Chai enjoyed playing with Dina more than usual: we haven’t seen her in a few days and she has been missed!
Solo adventure
Chai and I walked to the Dead Poultry Park and started the next step of our distraction recall journey: low-value food (fish treats) on the ground, cream cheese as the reward! We did long line, line dragging and off leash in the same location and Chai did very well. Fish treats are booooring and cream cheese is the best thing since sliced bread! She also got to hunt squirrels (and an informal recall reinforced by “Birds” which she is starting to understand!).
We then kept walking to a new park we hadn’t yet explored, and Chai waited outside three stores. On the way back home, she got to run in both parks again, found something delicious to eat and walked part of the way in collar mode (5-20 steps between treats).
When we got back home, I did some …
Husbandry:
+ cutting fur around both back paws.
… and then Chai fell asleep:
Almost made it up on the couch!
House training
Another check mark! Yay!
August 26, 2023
Activity level: low
I woke up feeling sick and exhausted today. So rather than adventuring with dog friends as planned, I kept it a low activity day.
All the dogs got to do was run around Fresa Parque for 30 or 45 minutes, including 2 distraction recall set-ups for Chai.
House training
The streak continues despite the low-activity day!
I’m naming this post iteration 5.1/3 because we are still on our 5th attempt at distraction recalls and will now be working on levels 1 (long line, no barrier) and 3 (unprotected distraction, off leash dog) with the easiest new food distraction (A).
The plan …
… is vague for now. The first time I work without a container again – with something lower value than kibble this time – I will go back to a long line. When I get a long line success, I will try off leash right away in the same location. Whatever happens, I will then head back to headquarters and decide how to continue.
August 25, 2023
Dead Poultry Park
Since Chai has outsmarted me at the unprotected-distraction stage several times, I’m going to take it r e a l l y slowly this time! I started with her lowest value food (that I have found so far): dried fish treats. I went back to Chai on a long line and scattered the treats under her favorite scavenging draws: trash cans.
Session profile: Distraction: dried fish Reinforcer: cream cheese followed by eating the distraction Distraction safe-keeping: long line Immediate response on a loose long line: NO
Round 1
Round 2
I did this one right after the previous session, but approached from the other side this time. Immediate recall success because Chai knows I have Philadelphia (if I had to guess why!)
Round 2 profile: Distraction: dried fish Reinforcer: cream cheese followed by eating the distraction Distraction safe-keeping: long line Immediate response on a loose long line: YES
Round 3
Same location; right after session 2; approaching from the original direction again.
Round 3 profile:
Distraction: dried fish Reinforcer: cream cheese followed by eating the distraction Distraction safe-keeping: – Immediate off leash response: YES
It is fascinating to me that in the third session – the video above – Chai doesn’t even want the fish anymore. In only three recall rounds, I have turned fish from something she’d try and blow off my recall for even though she was on a long line into the most boring treat in the world that she has very little interest in.
I don’t want to jinx it, but if I were cautiously optimistic, I would say: found food (including fish) trumps anything except for cream cheese. I would love to be right about this one – it would solve all my recall “problems”! But I know I need to be careful. Chai’s recall is a flighty animal and needs to be approached with great caution! I know that today’s success is, at least in part, because – as Tracy (Tracy, in case you’re reading this: I love this metaphor you’ve used for Huck!) would say – I have used the earlier two sessions as scaffolding for the third (successful) one. And as I would say (to Tracy or any other student): a successful off-leash recall only bumps you up to the next level once you’ve succeed after a break, un-scuffolded!
I’ll think about this some more but I believe what I’ll do is try this same set-up in a different location and see if I get a recall on a loose long line on the first try. I won’t make the mistake of going directly to off leash in a new location!
August 26, 2023
Fresa Parque
Chai knew this was a set up. That said, she did GREAT in both sessions. Already doing better than yesterday by keeping the leash loose in the very first rep. I did the second one pretty much right after – using it as scaffolding as Tracy would say.
In both sessions (because Chai knows it’s a set-up), she offers eye contact while we’re still far from the distraction. I keep heading that way anyways to make it a little harder. If I wasn’t filming and trying to be clearly visible on screen, I might have marked the check-ins with a recall cue right away.
Round 1 profile:
Distraction: dried fish Reinforcer: cream cheese followed by eating the distraction Distraction safe-keeping: long line Immediate response on loose line: YES
No break – round 2, off leash, same location:
Round 2 profile:
Distraction: dried fish Reinforcer: cream cheese followed by eating the distraction Distraction safe-keeping: – Immediate response: YES
Notes for the next session:
For my next session, I’d like to have a helper set up the fish distraction, come across it as a true surprise for Chai on a long line and see if I still get the success I’m after. If this works, I’ll take a break and try the next session after – again with a helper – off leash.
August 27, 2023
Location 3: Kiba’s Park
My friend had to take his mom to the hospital right before we got a chance to do a set-up (no worries – all is well with his mom). I managed to sneakily set up anyways. This time, there is no way Chai knows there is a distraction set-up …
Session profile:
Distraction: dried fish Reinforcer: cream cheese and eating the distraction Distraction safe-keeping: long line (accidentally) dragging Immediate success: YES!
The first rep in the video above shows that Chai didn’t realize this was a distraction recall: I called pretty early, Chai responded and then headed off in some other direction rather than going towards the fish or sticking with me.
I wanted a distraction recall that wouldn’t feel like a set up and where she actually knew there was a distraction! So I didn’t point the fish out to Chai, but looped back around and let her get really close this time. This time, she clearly knew there was a distraction (but hopefully not that it was a set-up)! She responded beautifully and then went back to eating the fish with much more gusto than in the previous sessions – maybe precisely because she thought she had found street food rather than a distraction I had placed? Who knows.
While this session went really well (as in: Chai did really well), I did not stick to my training plan: I was going to hold on to the long line, but in both these reps, I let go of it and just let her drag it. Which really doesn’t help anyone because Chai is too far ahead by the time I call. The long line isn’t long enough for me to step on it if I needed to. Its weight may still have helped create an on-leash feeling, but the session I ended up having today was not the one I planned on having. Note to self: ALWAYS read your session notes right before you train!
Notes for the next sessions:
I feel ready to give this a try off leash and without scaffolding. I will do the next session at Kiba’s park again, where Chai has already succeeded with the long line dragging, but probably in a different spot of the park. f Chai gives me the response I’m hoping for – a single-rep off-leash success – I will then go for a single-rep off-leash fish recall success in two more locations before making the distractions more difficult:
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Today, we started working on the sit up trick. I did 8 very short session, starting with 4 refreshers of the 2-paws-on-a-plate behavior and then experimenting with how to best position myself and the plate to provide a sit-up target for Chai. Since I’m too tired to edit all 8 videos, I’ll show you one of our recap videos and a small sit-up compilation. The last one is the one I’m submitting to Silvia Trkman1 for feedback – this is one of the tricks on their list!
Recap: 2 front paws on a plate
Sit up compilation
I like how Chai is did and I believe I’ve found a good angle for her to put up her paws by the end of this compilation. In the last rep, she was great. I, on the other side, forgot to mark. It happens! It doesn’t matter. We are having fun!
August 23, 2023
It’s our second day working on the sit-up behavior! We had five short sessions over the course of the morning. Below a compilation of the last ones with my thoughts in the subtitles!
August 28, 2023
Sessions 1 & 2
I waited for Sylvia’s feedback about what position in my video was the best before progressing to session 3. It’s at 01:55 in the video below! A 90° angle to the floor. I need to feed a little back and up to prevent Chai from leaning.
Sessions 3-5
It’s hard for me to see whether Chai’s back is straight (that elusive 90° angle I can only make out when reviewing videos). The mirror doesn’t help (I need to find a better position for it). Maybe a back rest will make a difference?
Silvia’s feedback on my couch session:
“Last try was really good, but seems that this was harder because of the soft surface under her, so I would go back to what you did in the previous video. You should be able to feel how much weight she is putting on a plate to know how good her position is.“
I’m curious about Silvia’s feedback regarding Chai’s wandering butt!
August 30, 2023
Silvia’s feedback:
“You can set her so there is a wall behind her to prevent shuffling. […] It’s also about strength […], so maybe she is leaning so much because she has to – and shuffling because it’s too hard. So do let her lean a lot if she needs to, avoid too many repetitions […] and just give her the time she needs to build the strength needed.”
So today, we had a single session in the morning with the wall behind Chai’s back. I might have one more – equally short – tonight. In any case, going forwards, I’ll do two short 1-rep sessions/day at the most with this trick.
August 31, 2023
Another sit-up with a wall behind Chai’s back!
This time, Chai was so close to the wall that she was leaning against it. I paid attention to my mechanics and stuck to the session profile I decided on. I’m happy with this session!
Silvia’s feedback:
“I would do a couple of sessions more like this and then fade the wall when you feel it’s getting really easy for her.“
So that’s the plan! I did another session the next day – September 1 – but won’t add the video since it doesn’t show much new.
September 4, 2023
I videoed again and asked Silvia whether what I’m seeing in the clip below is what they are referring to as an “ugly sit”:
Silvia explained in their response that a good sit up requires the lower back legs of the dog to face straight forward. Chai usually doesn’t do that but has them angled to both sides (that is indeed what Silvia calls an “ugly sit.” Here is Silvia’s latest feedback on my last video (which I didn’t share on the blog because I didn’t have time):
“Yes, this was definitely ugly sit all along. I think she has learned she can use the wall [we’ve used the wall as a back support] best if sitting that way, so I would rather move away from the wall – it’s better if she leans forward as sitting like this. You can get a straight sit by having her sit on a narrow block. You can also use very low front feet support at first – that will of course put lots of weight on front feet, but as I said, that’s still better as an ugly sit. To see it in real time, look at her feet and make sure her feet are parallel and directly under her.”
September 6, 2023
I’m not a fan of the word ugly, but I like the idea of using a sit platform the narrowness of which requires Chai to keep her lower legs parallel and facing straight ahead. I just have to find something I can use as a platform. I haven’t yet, so today’s video is simply one that doesn’t use the wall for support. In this video, I am paying attention to Chai’s back leg position when sitting and before the sit up. And I notice that she seems to generally sit with her legs angled sideways (which then just stay that way when she sits up). I’m curious what Silvia has to say!
Silvia’s feedback on my September 6 video:
“You were seeing it correctly and on those two tries the sit was definitely good enough to ask for the sit up. Her form was much better here as in the last two videos, so I would continue like this until you get a narrow block for her to sit on. Her sit could indeed still be better, but somewhat east-west like here is still acceptable. When her weight is on her butt and her paws are not weighted at all, then it gets bad though – but you didn’t get any of these here, so that’s good!“
Silvia also confirmed that the reason we want straight back legs is fitness-related: certain muscles will only be trained if the dog sits in this way (sitting up that way is harder than sitting with the legs to the side or on their butt. I appreciate the little gems of physiotherapy and fitness I’ve been picking up in Silvia’s class!)
September 8, 2023
My comment to go along with this video: “I can’t tell if Chai is sitting on her butt or not! Is she, and if so/if not: how can you tell?”
Silvia’s response:
“Looks good! To see the difference, compare this to the videos where I said she is sitting on her butt and try to see the difference.“
I need to make time to train my eyes!
I also realized that I can use one of my little crates as a sit platform for this exercise and shaped a sit on the crate in a separate session today:
Silvia’s feedback:
September 11, 2023: another sit-up on the floor session, no wall
My sit-on-the-crate behavior isn’t yet ready to be integrated into the sit up trick … too much hiking and fun with dog friends has been getting in the way! Instead, I took another stab at sitting up on the floor, no wall. I feel like Chai’s legs are less sideways than they used to be – but I’m not sure whether this is actually happening or just wishful thinking on my part! Question for Silvia along with the video below that I just submitted: Do you see us making progress with this trick or are we plateauing?
Notes for the next session:
+ Wait for Silvia’s feedback. + Independently of that, shape the sit on the crate even when I’m kneeling right in front of the crate! She can do it when I stand but hasn’t generalized it to me being on the floor.
September 12, 2023: more sit-ups on the floor
Silvia’s feedback on yesterday’s video:
“Looks good! Definitely making progress yes, so you can continue like this with the sit up. I would still do sit on a box as well and soon also some sit up to stand up, but with support under her front feet (like a box at first and a chair later on) of course.”
I’ll have to re-read Silvia’s lessons and/or re-watch the Silvia’s puppy diary video to see how they go from sit up to stand up. I thought the next step would be sitting up freely – without the plate as support. I’ll investigate!
In any case, as for today, I’m having a session like yesterday (on the floor) and will allow myself the luxury of not videoing (I am SO tired of editing more than I train!)
I have trained free duration stand ups, but I haven’t trained a sit pretty before (I just always thought standing on the back legs was cooler). It’s wild to realize that sit pretty is in fact more difficult – at least for Chai as a learner and for me as a trainer!
This class just started again and you can still sign up for it. If you’re into tricks and/or have a puppy – check it out! I want to give a shout-out to Silvia for being such a kind human being and a generous trainer. The world needs more people like them! ↩︎
We started our day off with 45 minutes at Fresa Parque. It’s nice how quiet it is at 7:30 on Sunday! Then our friend Dina joined the party and Chai and her got to run lots together.
Chai is now contently sleeping on the couch. This was a perfect start for the day! Game and her also found a bunch of stuff to scavenge on, including a bag of mysterious salsa.
Home alone
Game and I went trigger hunting, ran errands and park-officed for two hours while Chai stayed home. Really glad I made time for leaving her home alone – I need to make sure I keep up with Chai staying back and Game heading out with me as Chai is pretty much able to do as much as any adult dog, but still at an age where repetition is crucial for her to not develop FOMO.
Park-officing at Parque Morelos!
Now that we’re back, Chai is chewing on the Nylabonbe I got her yesterday. Based on her chew choices, I suspected she would like the hard rubber. And I was right! She is the first dog I’ve ever had who is into Nylabones! She looks blissed out chewing on it on the couch while Game couldn’t care less.
Solo adventure
In the late afternoon, Chai and I went out for about 20 minutes. We walked to the Toy Play Plaza on her back clip harness. I let her run around for a few minutes and, since there seemed to be a Squirrel Party going on, used her formal recall cue “Schnee,” marked with “Birds!” and ran with Chai to point out a squirrel. She had a blast! It was an easy recall with a big “IT’S A SQUIRREL!” reinforcer.
I then quickly set up for distraction recalls at the barrier stage with liver in container #1, location #2, reinforcing both with liver from my hand and the liver from the container. Today, Chai started towards the container while still chewing on the treat from my hand. She already knows she’ll get the distraction, and she is waiting for me to open her containers! I love it! I’ve been hiding my camera behind trees or bushes so it doesn’t become too much of a set-up cue. However, I suspect Chai still knows when things are set-ups. She’s just too damn smart to trick.
We walked back home in collar mode, making it between 5 and 20 steps between treats (20 only once: calm days are hard! That’s why we’ll make sure to keep at them!) Collar mode walking treats is how the Border Collie earns her keep on calm days that don’t have a lot of shaping in them!
House training …
August 14, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We spent 30 minutes at Fresa Parque. Chai played with the black whippety dog and a few others. When she plays with this dog, it becomes really clear that she isn’t the fastest Border Collie on the block! That little black one runs circles around her! She’s not slow and her movement pattern looks great, but she isn’t the fastest Border Collie I’ve seen. 4-months old Maki is already as fast as Chai. (You won’t see little Maki in pics and videos anymore because she moved back to the farm she was born on yesterday. She had made it clear that she NEEDED to have herding in her life. Viri and Esteban listened to her needs. It was a good and brave decision – a hard one, but the best decision for all of them. I am sorry, Esteban and Viri. It takes strength to do what’s best for our dogs, and you did!)
After today’s stint at the park, neither one of my dogs was “played out.” So they continued wrestling on the couch while I worked. Now, after playing and shaping, they are both soundly asleep!
Shaping!
We played two-toy fetch with two 10-peso coins and then shaped one object in another with both a clicker and a coin in the water bowl. Chai ROCKED it! You go girl! I love how toy skills and shaping are coming together to make this trick happen!
Solo adventure
We walked to the Dead Poultry Park. While Chai ran around chasing ardillas, I stealthily set up container #1 in its third location, with liver in it, for our barrier recall. I didn’t record this time because I didn’t have my phone with me. Unlike most previous reps, Chai and I had to stroll past the distraction area multiple times before she noticed it. As I suspected, the tripod is a cue to look for and then recall from a distraction! Going forwards, each container will have at least one rep I don’t film – just to be sure Chai generalizes the behavior when there isn’t a tripod. In any case: she was being a superstar!
She also found puke in the tall grass and ate a lot of it. We’ll see what her stomach thinks of that. She then played for quite a quite a while with a 10-months old German Shepherd, an adult mix and a Boxer. She mistook a Chihuahua for a squirrel – but only for a moment. Clearly, we need more Chihuahuas in our life! If you’re in Mexico City and have one who’d like to befriend a Border Collie, reach out to me!
On the way home, we walked in collar mode between 5 and 30 steps (we managed 30 several times – Chai was tired and a superstar about walking next to me)!
Back home …
I decided against shaping today: it means I won’t video, which means I’ll save myself video editing time. I am slowly but certainly getting sick of editing, but am still committed to this project of documenting every day in Chai’s training life. And there are SO many videos I still need to catch up on editing from the last couple months! Every new one adds to the pile. I am now at a point where most days, I edit more than I add or manage to break even. Slowly but certainly, the backlog is shrinking!
Instead of shaping, Chai rested back home, wrestled with Game and then ate the last remaining pieces of the Nylabone I had gotten her yesterday. (No, it is – supposedly – not edible, but according to Chai most delicious.)
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone when Game and I walked to a pet supply store to pick up a few things – among them a Nylabone-replacement for Chai. It’s an off-brand chew, but Chai approves – and so far, it seems a lot sturdier than the original Nylabone!
Hours later, that toy has been played with and chewed on and is still intact!
Another reinforcer test
I also did a reinforcer test today. A few days ago, Chai found a pile of irresistible fish treats at the park – so I got fish treats (at a RIDICULOUS prize). I thought they might make another single-protein option if Chai’s stomach agreed with them. After all, she seemed CRA-ZY about the ones she scavenged. Well, pitted against dried beef liver (which we already established is the same value as cooked chicken), the fish clearly lost!
I wonder what the fish treats at the park had that the ones I got don’t have. They looked the same and I got them at a store close to the park to maximize our chances that they actually were the same brand. Maybe the ones she found just sat in a puddle of lukewarm rainwater for a while and went deliciously bad while the ones I got were still boringly safe for consumption?
House training
Just gotta keep it up two more days and I’ll get the next brownie!
August 15, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We started the day with 45 minutes of being dogs at Fresa Parque where Chai got to play with a park friend.
Game did NOT beat up a Whippet who didn’t see her and accidentally crashed into her at full speed. She was going to and I immediately interrupted her. I don’t think she would have stopped before having told the Whippet that this behavior was inacceptable in the past. I have Pat Stuart to thank for this! Thank you!
Left: Chaiand two of her park friends. Right: Game being a good girl who stays out of the commotion.
Home alone
Both dogs stayed home for a little under two hours while I worked with Scarlett and Panucho, a Golden who is taking his first steps towards being a social butterfly (rather than a grumbly grouch). He did fantastic and so did our helper Pau!
Panucho: breaking hearts with extreme cuteness since 2021!
Solo adventure
Chai and I walked to Kiba’s Park. I let her run and sniff and did a barrier recall with container #2 in location #1, reinforcing with liver from my hand and from the container. Like yesterday, I casually placed my distraction and then came across it; no tripods giving its presence away. Chai was being a superstar!
We saw Nicole, a kid who is crazy about dogs, knows all the dogs at the park and LOVES Border Collies. Chai has learned to stay just out of their reach since Nicole likes calling and picking up “their dog friends.” Chai has figured out how to dodge that bullet by now, doing casual drive-by-s but staying just out of Nicole’s reach. It soon started raining … time to head home after a shorter-than-expected adventure. Chai wasn’t done running yet and needed a high rate of leash-walking reinforcement.
Shaping
Over the course of the day, we had 3 four-in sessions and I did one session practicing my timing and mechanics without a dog. We’re down to (struggling with) my smallest bowl already! I’m proud of my girl.
House training
One more check mark tomorrow!
August 16, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We spent half an hour at Fresa Parque. Chai had lots of fun playing with Doodle puppy Pipa and her friend Dina. Game got brushed and had fun greeting Dina and two of her human friends. We’re now at a point where Chai gets really excited to see Dina while Game gets really excited to see Dina’s human Daniel, who may already be regretting that he told me Game was welcome to Malinois-hug him anytime.
Chai also found a most delicious dead squirrel (nice and smelly after probably having been dead for a few days) and had some of it before I threw it out. We’ll see what her stomach thinks of that input tomorrow!
Home alone
Both dogs stayed home alone while I ran errands.
Noon and beyond
Around noon, the three of us walked to the Toy Play Plaza. Game and Chai had a blast trying to run up vertical palm trees after squirrels while I worked. We then did barrier recall with liver in container #2 in its second location. I tried setting up as casually as possible: first the tripod, then walk away, then walk past it, then place container #2 while Chai wasn’t watching. Of course she turned and saw it, moved towards it … and did a beautiful formal recall. I had planned to walk some more before encountering it, but this worked too. It was lovely to see the recall work just as well in Game’s presence! (Usually, I only take Chai for her recall set-ups.)
After 1.5 hours of chasing squirrels, getting treats for checking in while I was working and (Chai) practicing a recall and playing briefly with a mix, the girls are back home and sleeping peacefully on the couch. The highlight of this outing, I am sure, was finding and sharing a pile of what looked like gooey tortilla chips with some sort of salsa.
We ended the day with another reinforcer test. Since Chai had so clearly preferred the liver over the fish treats, I wanted to know whether fish was even better than kibble. I used a blanket this time to give the fish better visibility in case camouflage had been their disadvantage in the last session. If the other day was any indication, these fish need every bit of help they can get!
Believe it or not – kibble is better than fancy fish treats!
House training
We DID it! Anther week – another brownie!!
August 17, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We started with 30 minutes at Fresa Parque – we had half an hour before it started raining. Since it was already drizzling, not a lot was going on this morning but we walked for 30 minutes and greeted a few dogs.
TW: dead animals. If you don’t want to read about them, skip to the next heading (Home alone).
Chai and I walked around for two hours and she got off-leash time at the Dead Poultry Park where we practiced barrier recalls, did easy “Schnee” (her formal recall) recall games and a “Schnee” recall reinforced by “Birds” (squirrel chase marker). She very much knows what the marker cue “Birds” means by now and gets just as excited as Game does!
Chai also found another dead critter (not a chicken this time) – she’s getting annoyingly good at finding smelly carcasses. Of course, she enjoyed some of it before we agreed on leaving it behind. (I’d let her eat the entire thing if it wasn’t for her stomach issues.) Whatever this carcass was, it wasn’t a squirrel like the other day because it was BIG, but already decomposed to an unrecognizable degree. What is the deal with this park anyways? Is this where everyone goes to die?
On the way back home, we walked in collar mode with 5-30 steps between treats. (30 only once but she did well today in general!)
Home alone
Chai and Game stayed home alone in the morning when I ran errands and got my hard-earned brownie for yesterday’s weekly streak (it was delicious!).
House training
The brownie I earned for the weekly streak I completed last night!
New week – new streak!
August 18, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
The three of us spent 40 minutes at Fresa Parque – then we left because Chai had found some delicious spot to insist on licking for-e-ver, which meant she was done playing with her park friends. Other people get fancy licky mats – I just take my dogs to the park. Game is a pretty foodie dog, but Chai is another level of food motivated – probably my dog foodiest one so far. I’m not complaining! Not only does she not tire of working for kibble, she also gets super excited about low-budget frozen Kongs (filled with soaked and squished kibble).
Home alone
Chai and Game stayed home alone for 3.5 hours while I went to a no-dogs social thing.
… and then Game and Chai spent 40 minutes walking to and running around Fresa Parque in the light rain and waited for me outside a store. Walking on her back-clip harness on the way out was hard for Chai today! (Game was off leash and ahead of us.)
A little more training
I didn’t record it to avoid “having to” edit the video, but I LOVE how well Chai did! Fold-back downs on a verbal cue – no lure! I’ll record the next session.
House training
Two days into the next weekly streak, and it wasn’t a tie! Yay!
August 19, 2023
Activity level:average
The AM
The dogs and I spent 45 minutes at Fancy Park I for our morning outing. It was a fun change for them, included play in the fountain and hide and seek.
Playing in one of the fountains! Chai was intrigued by the moving pillar of water!
Note to self: if going to Fancy Park I on the weekend, go early and parking will be easy!
Being in an area with bars and restaurants on a Saturday morning meant there was A LOT of food everywhere. I was daring greatly and recalled Chai away from two tiny yogurt containers with her formal recall cue (after pup-pup-pup failed). She came running and I sent her right back. Go puppy!
Photo proof of the first time I used “Schnee” in the real world away from food Chai had found, fed a handful of kibble and sent her back to finish her prize!So proud of you, puppy!
This, unfortunately, made me overly confident. I tried a second time with a food container while she was already eating. Chai did not respond. Ooops. Error on my side. I “helped” her let go of it, repeated my formal recall and then sent her back to eat more of it twice. She also found a mount of cream cheese with a tiny bit of bagel around it and thought it was the best thing ever. I did not try any recalls or leave its there but leashed her and walked her away after letting her lick a third of it. It was A LOT of cream cheese and I don’t think her stomach would have supported all of it. That said, I am going to get cream cheese and try using it as my highest value reward!
Scavenging and life quality (an opinion)
By now, I am less stressed about letting Chai go back to small amounts of food after a recall (or just letting her have small amounts of found food in the first place.) Small amounts seem to have become okay with her stomach. Judging by my observations over the last couple weeks, Chai’s highly sensitive puppy stomach has slowly, but steadily grown stronger and does now tolerate of a much wider range of food! A huge relief because I see scavenging as SUCH a species-typical dog behavior and want my dogs to have it in their lives.
After reflecting on this some more, I’ve decided that I’ll even take the occasional diarrhea day. I don’t want to create a dog who lives in fear that I’ll take away a treasure they find. I want a strong recall that works away from any kind of food source anyways and am working up to it in our distraction sessions – but I’ll only ever use it when absolutely necessary. When Chai finds the next delicious food container like she did this morning, I won’t call her away from it (for now – we’ll get there after more distraction recall practice) but celebrate the find with her. And I’ll send Game (if available) to help finish the job so Chai only gets to inhale 50% of whatever she finds.
Life quality (being able to show species-typical behaviors such as scavenging) matters more to me than diarrhea-free dogs. I put scavenging in the life quality category because I suspect that’s what the dogs would tell me if they could weigh in. My readers may see this differently and that’s totally okay. Like in most things life, there is no one right way of being out in the world with our dogs. You do you and I do me!
Allowing scavenging is of course not a recall cop-out: the way I see it, strong recalls also go into the life quality category. The stronger their recall, the more freedom I can safely give my dogs. I absolutely want a recall I can rely on even under the most challenging food circumstances, and because of who Chai is, I’m positive we’ll get there – probably not in a straight line, but we will. From what I’ve seen so far, I suspect that food will stay her biggest recall challenge, but food is a controllable distraction and she’s a trainable Border Collie who doesn’t guard resources. With that kind of dog, food is the best biggest recall challenge you could possibly have! (This is not true for all dogs. Add resource guarding or low biddability to the mix and things look different for sure.) Chai isn’t the most biddable Border Collie I have worked with by far, but that’s part of what makes her so much fun for me. It’s not only her Border-Collie-ness, but also her quirks and the ways in which she challenges me that make her a great fit for me.
Shaping
I was going to continue with 4 in and the smallest container, but Chai said she wanted a break from this exercise. So we stopped. I’ll give it a week and then continue where we left off.
We worked on positions instead!
Afternoon adventure
I took both dogs to Fresa Parque when the rain died down. Chai got to play with Pipa (the Golden Doodle puppy) and Lola (Pipa’s older Old English Sheepdog sister). I usually chat with Pipa’s human, so this was fun. Their friend was here too and they invited Chai to play monkey in the middle together with Lola and her baseball.
Monkey in the middle with Lola and her human!
Chai didn’t have a solo adventure today, but she’ll have a big one tomorrow! And then I’ll have to take Game on a longer solo adventure of her own – probably a bike trip – next week to make sure Chai gets some longer home-alone time without Game. It’s an important skill to maintain! It’s also important to me that Game gets her fair share of solo adventures herself. I’m too busy to do it every single day these days, but two or three times a week are usually possible.
Home alone
Both dogs stayed home alone when I quickly went to the grocery store.
House training
Today’s pee outing was unsuccessful – but fascinating! Game didn’t pee because, I suspect, she didn’t have to and it was thundering. I cued Chai to “potty” in a spot Game often goes, and she immediately squatted but didn’t pee. I have captured squatting, but not peeing! Her cue to squat is, “Potty,” her prompt to mark is Game’s fresh pee on the ground and her cue to empty her bladder is having to go when not distracted from the bodily sensation by the environment. FASCINATING! I have exclusively rewarded after the potty cue when I saw at least a few drops (marking). And YET, squatting is what Chai has learned as the meaning of the cue! Dogs are SO fascinating!
Today was perfect for a calm day: while Chai would have been happy to have another active day, I feel fried. I am clearly not used to hours of uphill hiking anymore!
This morning, we just looped around the block. Chai struggled quite a bit not to pull – either because she had been locked into her luxury kennel earlier last night and let out later than usual this morning OR because yesterday, she got to pull on her front-attachment harness. We’re back to the back-clip harness today, but I can’t tell whether yesterday’s pulling experience carried over to today’s first walk or if she had simply fully recharged and missed her morning off-leash park time.
In the afternoon, Chai, Game and I walked to the Toy Play Plaza and I let the two run around, chase squirrels, drink from the fountains and just be dogs for 15 or 20 minutes and then did one rep of our current barrier recall challenge (kibble container #3 – the live mouse trap). Chai was a superstar and recalled right away! Her back-clip harness leash walking looked a lot better on the way home than it had on the way out, too – getting to run around must have helped!
Husbandry
+ “Brush!” Chai looks very fancy after yesterday’s shower and today’s brushing! + “Claws” (all claws on her left back paw; it was easy for her today).
Mini solo adventure
Chai got to come to the bakery with me and practice “lie down when my foot is on your leash” while I paid. She did well and her back-clip harness leash walking was almost perfect again. I suspect her harness-mode success is multifactorial: not having an off-leash Game around AND having had time to run at the park already, even if it wasn’t for a long time.
“Home alone”
Both dogs stayed free in the living room while I went up to the roof to put my freshly washed towels on the clothesline. No apartments were destroyed in the course of hanging laundry!
Frog!
After a late-afternoon pee loop, I lured a frog … on the mattress and NOT off a cliff!
Thoughts on the calm day
Chai is very active! She is NOT in the mood for as calm a day as we had today (calmer than we usually would because I’m exhausted from yesterday).
House training
The streak continues!
My next brownie is only one more (successful) day away …!
August 7, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
Chai and Game got 35 minutes of running around at the park to start the day. Chai played with Maya, the fun little Corgi, Border Collies Eva and Maki and a mixy-mix friend, but was mostly interested in finding ALL the food scraps.
During a work break, I took both dogs on their short leashes on an errand. Chai did really well not pulling even though Game was around: morning runs really are a must for her!
Home alone
Both dogs stayed free in the living room when I went to get the brownie I earned when Chai pooped outside this morning. (Outside poops immediately spawn a check mark in my streak game.)
Then they stayed home alone again when I ran a slightly longer bike errand.
A new person doing unusual things …
I had asked a plumber/painter/electrician to help me with a shower piping issue. Chai gave the briefest snarl-bark when they first came in, I scattered kibble and then she proceeded to observe from a comfy spot on the couch and eventually join us in the bathroom to sniff all the tools. Brave girl!
Solo adventure
After some more work and two shaping sessions – 4 in, one with only bowl #5, one with bowl #6 in bowl #5 – Chai and I headed out on a solo adventure. She waited in line with my foot on the leash for quesadillas. I used one of my randomization strategies: reward every time a red car drives by. Since the quesadilla stand is located on a medium-busy street and Mexico City’s rate of red cars is just right, this makes for a perfect rate of reinforcement.Have you found creative ways to randomize reinforcement? Let me know in the comments!
We then went to a nearby park where I had my quesadillas while Chai got to run around. She is developing juvenile independence, so she kept me on my toes when wandering to the other edge of the park! (She found dry fish treats on the ground and feasted on them.) We did two recalls with kibble container #3 – in real time, I got the impression that the first one was a double take at the distraction, so I added another one in a different part of the park after a break. Then we headed home and Chai waited outside a corner store and joined me at a pet supply store to pick up – you guessed it! – fish treats.
On my evening pee loop pre-class with Khaleesi, the new Husky client, I used magic hands on a large bag a person was getting plants out of in front of our building.
More home alone time
While I worked with Nancy and the wonderful Khaleesi (¡Le gusta hacer travesuras!), Game and Chai stayed home alone again. Meet Khalessi with the most beautiful eyes:
Young and full of energy! We made an exercise and enrichment plan for her that should take care of most issues.
And more shaping!
We had two more shaping sessions of one object in another: first the baseball toy in a small crate, and then switching from the baseball toy to a paper cup mid-session. Chai did great!
As for the liver treats, small amounts for training seem to be fine. I’m a little suspicious because she teetered on the verge of diarrhea several times since I’ve been using them (relatively sparingly) in recall training. I’ll make sure to keep the amount low. Chicken, so far, is our best bet for high-value treats she can have a lot of. I also prefer it because it isn’t as crunchy. Liver makes a good back up to just have at home though!
Diarrhea
Chai has – once again – diarrhea. I suspect it’s the fish treats and other stuff she found to eat in the park today while I was busy with my quesadillas de flor de calabaza y queso myself and just let her wander. We’ll test out the fish treats soon enough. Other treats I want to test are bread and tortillas – first plain tortillas and then friend ones (two things she finds in the street a lot). If her stomach tolerates them, they’ll be all hers.
House training
If it weren’t for the magic outside poop rule (outside poops immediately earn me a check mark for the day, whatever happens pee-wise), I wouldn’t have been able to finish the week’s streak but would havehad to start over on the last day of the week. Yay for setting myself up for success!
August 8, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
Both dogs enjoyed their 35 be-a-dog minutes in the morning. Chai went straight from the car to the fish treats she had found yesterday and had some more, sharing with Game this time. Then, both of them played with Eva (chocolate BC) and Maki (red merle BC puppy), two of their park friends.
Park friends.
Lots of running and even Game played and let the others chase her!
Chai gave me a diarrhea-y outdoors poop. Diarrhea’s gotta be good for something, and if it’s teaching Chai to poop outside because she simply has to go – I’ll take it.
Home alone
Both dogs were loose in the living room while I ran a 5-minute errand. When I got back, one of them had stolen a kibble container from my desk, opened it and eaten everything in it. We learn: no untethered home-alone time for Game and no unsupervised living room time for Chai!
They stayed home alone again when my friend Kayla, who is visiting for a few days, and I went out for dinner – this time, Chai safely tucked away in the bathroom!
Shaping
I was going to start out with a session of 4 in with bowl #6 in bowl #5 – but Chai let me know it was too difficult today by lying down. So we ditched bowl #6 and just had a few reps with #5.
Our second shaping session was one object in another. We started with the baseball, then did the paper cup, then a shoe and finally a roll of tape. Chai is acing this trick!
Husbandry
+ “Claws”: all nails on her right back paw. She didn’t even flinch! I’m curious if her front paws will continue to be more difficult – we’ll find out soon!
Solo adventure
We walked to the Dead Paultry Park, got pambasos (and treats for being in a down position with my foot on the leash anytime a red car drove past) and park-officed briefly. Since the pup-pup-pup informal recall seems to have lost its power, Chai is dragging her 5m line today. Selective deafness is a common symptom of being a juvenile dog! Sadly, being a selectively deaf juvenile dog today means having to be tied to a tree in my park office. Sorry, Chai. Can’t have it all!
Chai was suspicious of the warm, loud sound/air coming from a vent we passed. We walked past several times, each time marking with my cookie toss marker and tossing the cookie away from the entry once we had passed the vent. Chai did well with that, and I’ll keep coming back to practice more. I’m calling this the treat toss/R- game (until I think of a sexier name). It is R- because being past the entrance was, given Chai’s body language, a relief. Of course I made sure the leash stayed loose the entire time and let Chai decide with how much distance she wanted to move past the vent. The sidewalk next to the building with the vent is very wide and Chai’s comfort curves allowed her to stay on it. If things go as planned, she’ll curve less and less out into the sidewalk with every time we practice.
Friends and frenemies
The mightyNorbert.
I put Game in her car crate for our first evening with Kayla, Barley, Niffler and Norbert in the apartment. (Game isn’t Barley’s biggest fan, and while Game and I worked on the Norbert project during our time in Cuernavaca, neither Kayla nor I were in the mood for a training session tonight. We wanted to work on our respective work things and then just hang out and enjoy nerdy dog trainer talk and friends-catching-up time.)
Chai was fascinated by Norbert and respected the boundaries he set. She played with Niffler (keeping an eye on Norbert at all times, just in case) and enjoyed Kayla’s snuggles.
House training
Week 2 starts today!
August 9, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM and noon
We started the morning with 20 park minutes. Chai’s Corgi friend Maya was around and they played a little, but she was clearly more tired than usual and didn’t feel like running as much.
On our noon loop, Chai was pullier than usual. All rested up and ready for some shaping, little Border Collie?
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone WITHOUT Game (finally! It has been too long!) while Game accompanied me to get a haircut. Game enjoyed her solo outing greatly – and the rawhide she got to chew while hanging out!
Shaping
I did a quick “four” session: 2 “get it” treats with only bowl #5 and then 2 “get it” treats with bowl #6 in #5. Chai rocked it! We’re building back up! (No video of this session.)
The second session after (starting with bowl #6 in bowl #5), Chai considered too hard.
The dogs got a 30 minute outing at the toy play plaza. Chai was pully and peppy! After some work and a quick “Frog” session for Chai (on the couch but not feeding off the “cliff,” my two girls and Niffler stayed home while Kyla, Barley and I went out for dinner.
Lucky Barley got his own taco with extra meat!
Later that night, Chai had a blast playing with Niffler and spying on Norbert while Kayla and I recorded a podcast … and then, she slept VERY well!
The podcast episode we recorded:
The only downside of today:
House training
We broke our streak. The excitement of having guests and me wanting to focus on our conversation rather than constantly interrupting to take out Chai are likely culprits. But that’s okay and totally worth it. Tomorrow, we’ll be back on track. In any case, the good news: no accidents in the living room!
August 10, 2023
Activity level: calm
The AM
We went to the park and the dogs had 30 minutes of fun with Eva and Maki.
I went back home to work and take a nap. It’s probably time to slow down on both the socializing and the inventing-new-projects-for-myself fronts!
Home alone
Because I had taken a nap rather than shaped Chai, the dogs just got a quick outing before I handed them over to Kayla who worked from my place while I headed out to see another friend. Kayla worked for about 2 hours before heading out herself and I got back home 2 more hours later, so Game and Chai had both good company and then two more hours alone.
House training
… and we are back on track!
August 11, 2023
The AM
We went to the park for a full hour this morning to make up for the very quiet Thursday. Chai played with Eva and Maki, found lots of tortilla scraps meant for birds and shared them with Game (tortillas should be next on my food testing spree!) and we trained a bit, using the bench as a start button and working downs and stands until I ran out of treats. No video, no pictures – but we are up and running!
The PM
After working, I did our usual 4 daily shaping sessions1: 3 to work on the “one object in another” behavior and one “4 in” one. Chai did well!
Solo adventure
Chai and I walked to the Toy Play Plaza in one of my work breaks. I had meant to walk there in Chai’s back attachment harness and back in collar mode, but forgot the collar. So instead, we practiced “With me” for crossing streets IN her harness (high rate of reinforcement for the win!), I named squirrel chasing (“Birds!”) at the park and did a single fun obstacle-run-away-recall game with Chai’s formal recall cue at the empty playground.
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone while Game and I went for a walk.
House training
A close call, but we did it again! Go puppy (and go me!)
August 12, 2023
Activity level: average
We spent 25 minutes at Fresa Parque and left earlier than planned because there wasn’t a lot going on except for ALL the food scraps Chai kept being drawn to.
In the afternoon, we had two 4-in sessions and one object-in-another session, went to a different park for about an hour and explored, worked positions (stand and down) and did one distraction recall (container #1 with liver in location #1); liver from my hand and opening the box as reward – Chai did phenomenal! – as well as an easy “Schnee” recall when she was already running in my direction.
Both dogs waited in front of a store and then I walked Chai home in collar mode from there. She had a hard time (Game was off leash and I’ve not worked on Chai’s collar mode with Game off leash much!) We did 3, 5 and 10 steps between treats with most of the reps being 5 steps between treats. If things are hard for my dog, I’ll up the rate of reinforcement accordingly!
While Chai didn’t get a solo adventure today, she got to stay home alone all by herself while Game and I ran an errand.
Finally, after a semi-successful one-object-in-another session where I tried to get Chai to pick up a coin, we played the “2 balls” game with two 10-peso coins to teach Chai to pick them up. She did great and had fun once it turned into a game and she realized picking up coins was possible!
House training
I’ve noticed that if there is a tie before noon (like today), I usually can’t turn things around and the best case scenario is to keep the tie a tie (like today) rather than breaking my streak. It’s as interesting to collect data as it is to watch my own game-fueled behavior!
I’m not saying that every single day for the rest of her life, Chai will get 4 shaping sessions – that’s just how things have worked out over the last couple weeks. There will be many days in her life that have zero training sessions in them. ↩︎
I’m keeping the container the same but varying the objects that go in when I get 2 successful reps with each previous object. In this session, we make it through a paper cup, a roll of tape, a flip flop and a plastic bottle!
I’m also figuring out how to best mechanic my mechanics to make switching objects as smooth as possible. Going forwards, I will toss a “Get it” treat anytime I need to reach over my suitcase (aka kitchen door) to grab another object.
Session 2:
In the session below, I keep the crate the same and stick to our last two objects (flip flop, plastic bottle) and then add two new and smaller objects: a highlighter and a clicker. Chai is being a superstar!
August 11, 2023
Today, I’ll keep the last two (smaller) objects the same but change the container back to something smaller: the water bowl.
Session 1:
Session 2:
Session 2 showed me that the highlighter is more difficult than the clicker. In the next session, we’ll stick to the highlighter and focus on getting it into the bowl consistently!
Session 3:
Woohoo! She’s got it with the marker!! You can really see her understanding in this session: when the unwieldy highlighter doesn’t end up IN the bowl, she picks it up right away and tries again. Go Chai!
My plan for the next session
Move this container around a bit and lift it up higher. Then potentially shape a “deliver to hand” behavior from there … or go down in container size. Or try with the water bowl and a difficult small object like a coin! I haven’t yet decided; all options are exciting!
August 12, 2023
I decided to go with a clicker and a new object – a coin – with the water bowl in its familiar position. Chai did great with the clicker but didn’t see my 10-peso-coin as a pick-up-able object. Even going back and forth between offering the clicker and the coin didn’t do the trick.
After this session, I thought about how to teach Chai to pick up coins. I tried playing the 2-ball game with two coins – and it worked! Soon she cheerfully chased thrown coins through the living room. Notes for the two next sessions: start with another round of the 2-coin game. Take a break; then repeat clicker and coin with the water bowl!
Note to self: put the camera closer to the bowl so the coin is visible!
August 14, 2023
We started out with a 2-toy fetch session, using two 10-peso coins instead of toys! It was informal, playful, joyious fun for both of us. Take-home message for Chai: coins are easy to pick up and fun to play with!
I LOVE how Chai’s toy skills (above) come together with a trick I’ve been shaping to enable her to put the coin into the water bowl in our next session below. It’s a beautiful example of how different tricks and behaviors are connected!
For our next session, I am thinking of using a smaller container for the same exercise. I’ll start out with the clicker and the coin in the water bowl and then switch to clicker and coin in a ceramic bowl (a bowl I haven’t used for the 4-in trick to avoid confusing Chai).
August 31, 2023: our first session in a new location
Returning to this trick after a little break! Since I’m working on the 4 paws in a bowl trick simultaneously, I am creating a contextual difference for the two: one object in another has been moved to the roof while 4-in stays an apartment trick. This is to keep the probability for confusion to a minimum.
In our first session, we needed to shape back up to our last two objects (clicker and coin) in the water bowl: the break and the new environment were too hard to bridge without a little help. But after only a few clicks, Chai was back on track!
For our second session, I did what I had written down the last time we worked on this: I kept the pick-up objects the same but changed the water bowl for a smaller ceramic bowl mid session. I’m happy with how well Chai did!
Notes for the next session:
+ Go down one more bowl size and use my small tupperware treat container.
I was going to start out with a session of 4 in with bowl #6 in bowl #5 and then remove bowl #5 – but Chai let me know it was too difficult today by lying down. So we ditched bowl #6 and just had a few reps with #5. Look at the lovely conversation we’re having in the video below! Chai is teaching me which bowl needs to be used here.
Next session: start with just bowl #5, then add bowl #6. Slow and steady!
August 9, 2023
Session 1
I started our first session with 2 “Get it” treats and just bowl #5 (and the familiar “Four” cue). I wore bowl #6 like a hat to have it ready to put into #5 right as Chai was chasing her second treat. Then, we did two more “Get it”s with bowl #6 in bowl #5 and ended. She did great! Building back up slowly! No video of this session but will record the next one: I’m planning on starting out with two “Get it” treats with both bowls and then removing bowl #5 and only leaving the smallest bowl. We’ll see how it goes! I am not going to use a cue in the next session.
Session 2
Chai says, “This is too hard!”
I’ll have to think of an in-between step before we try this again … or just repeat today’s session-1-set-up a few more times … I’ll think about this some more to set Chai up for success next time!
August 11, 2023
I repeated the last successful session – and Chai did brilliantly again. Next time we work on this, I’ll do two sessions the same day. The first one will be just like this and the second one start with bowl #6 in bowl #5. We’ll see how it goes!
(The cuts in this video are when I tossed the “Get it” treat under the couch.)
August 12, 2023
Session 1:
For today’s first session, I repeated yesterday’s last session. Chai did great again. (No video.) After a break, we did …
Session 2:
I started out with bowl #6 in bowl #5 from the beginning of the session. Chai quickly realized that this was too hard, so I changed approaches on the fly and shaped things back up this time (rather than removing bowl #6 like I did yesterday). She did great! The cut in the video is when I tossed a treat under the mattress. Furniture! It’s always in the way!
August 15, 2023
Session 1:
I didn’t realize Chai would be thinking of the 1-object-in-another trick! When I realized, I eased up criteria (and briefly messed up my marker cue) and shaped back up to 4 in. Superpuppy!
Reviewing the video, I noticed: I need to focus on my transition behavior so my marker cue and hand movement don’t bleed into each other. When we want to train with clean mechanics, we’ve got many balls in the air!
Session 2:
The plan: start with 4 in – no shaping if she’s able to offer 4 in right away – and then start to shape with only bowl #6 in the same session. Keep it short and sweet – say 8 treats total, max! Remember my transition behavior (blinking). Let’s see how this goes and then take it from there!
This looked good! I forgot my transition behavior half the time, but otherwise, we’re golden! I’ll bring my clicker back out for the next round and repeat the shaping session, starting with bowl #6 (blue) right away. I haven’t been using a clicker when I had one bowl in another, but now that I’m only holding on to one, I can easily keep it steady AND click. So that’s what we’ll do next:
+ Bowl #6 (blue) only. + Clicker in bowl hand (practice holding it stable before adding a dog – check). + Set up mirror to watch back paws. + Remember transition behavior (blink). + Shape up from the beginning but do not go for more than 4 reps of all 4 paws in (if we get that far).
The video below is my practice session without a dog. I highly recommend doing this on a regular basis/anytime you switch something up in terms of reinforcement! It will only take you a few minutes (and that includes videoing yourself and quickly reviewing the clip on your phone) – but you’ll be a better trainer for it!
Below is the session WITH Chai I did right after my practice session! I love that very last rep where she tries for ALL FOUR PAWS!
Notes for next session
Repeat today’s last session; see if we get more confidence and then take it from there!
August 16, 2023
Session 1:
I love how this session went!
I’ll give Chai a break and then try starting with all 4 paws in right away for session 2. If she does it, 4 reps is all I’ll ask for in this session.
Session 2:
Chai rocked today’s second session! For the next one, I’ll ditch the clicker and go back to our “Good” and “Get it” routine to build a tiny bit of duration in position. I’ll use 6 to 8 treats total, depending on how things go, and then end.
Session 3:
This was the most difficult session of the day for Chai! I’ll rewatch the video and then repeat the same session tomorrow with home position on my right thigh (like I did here in the last rep) rather than behind my back. This will allow me to deliver the “Get it” treat faster after “Good.” This means I will still be asking for duration – but a little bit less of it!
We started out with half an hour of park time for Game and Chai. There was some playing with old and new friends for Chai, but mostly it was a quiet morning of walking.
Back home, Chai wasn’t tired but wanted to interact. That is excellent: training wasn’t available, but snuggles were and I made sure she got to enjoy them!
Both dogs slept while I worked, and then Chai did her first frog in a different location – Silvia had suggested we try somewhere other than the couch. Below is my video and the text I submitted with it:
“I chose another place where I had a “cliff” to prevent crawling off (the mattress). I’m not sure she’d be able to do this without crawling if there was no precipice … What do you think?“
Noon and beyond
I got a nerdy single-paw shaping session in (see this older post I just updated with more detailed geekery if interested), and then we went for an …
Afternoon walk and a little more shaping
After the shaping session, Chai had some inner pressure to get rid of! She wrestled with Game and then we went for a walk – just Chai and me to check off her daily solo adventure.
We visited two parks and did some collar walking in between. The first time we went back and forth between 5 and 15 steps between treats, the second time between 5 and 25. Good puppy!
We ended the day with a final single-paw target shaping session.
House training
The streak continues!
July 31, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We went to one of the parks in our area and Chai had fun with Border Collie Eva and her new 5-months old sister Maki. Their folks Esteban and Viri will take classes with me if Maki gets to stay – I’m excited; she is very cute! (Still on a trial period though.) Today, we also saw a leaf blower at the park (Chai’s first or second one ever) and she didn’t care. Yay!
I’m aiming to mostly use our AM park time for “just being dogs” stuff for both dogs (and of course cueing/paying pees, paying voluntary check-ins as well as recalls and leave it-s).
Chai’s second adventure of the day is a solo one whenever possible and I’ll train in addition to having her run and play and do her own thing.
A frog
After getting home and working a bit, I tried another frog with Chai after reading Silvia’s feedback:
“I think you can try no cliff as well – should be fine at this stage.”
In this video, I kept the “cliff” (fed off the mattress) but tried for more extension. This led to more leg movement. Going forwards, I’ll try to get more extension without (or with less) leg movement on the mattress and, once I have that, without a “cliff.”
Husbandry
+ Brush
Solo adventure
At noon, Chai and I went on her solo adventure. We took a decently long back-attachment-harness walk – hardly any pulling, i.e. this morning’s run and play time must have been just right – and went to the indoors market. This was Chai’s second time there without Kiba. There was more going on today and she was a little weirded out by people playing the trumpet and the drums. That said, she was a trooper and stuck with me through all my purchasing and laid down anytime I stopped at a stand and stood on her leash!
Waiting in all the places!
AND! On our way out, Chai PEED without Game nearby – actually peed, not just marking! – in the spot Game usually pees! Party for the puppy!!!
AND and! Almost home, we ran into two people with 3 dogs and Chai walked up to them on a loose leash! AND to the water bowl in front of the café she likes to drink out of, again on a loose leash!
Shaping!
We started shaping picking up a spoon, but I got lots of paw touches (no surprise there; we’ve been working on so much paw stuff lately!)
After a pee and corner store walk for both dogs, I tried holding the spoon and then switched to a toy. NOW I’m getting mouth action!
Evening fun
Since I’m planning to make tomorrow this week’s calm day, Chai went out for another 45 off-leash park minutes. None of her friends were there but I found a new client with a 2-year old Husky and Chai played with her as well as a 4-months old little Doodle. (I haven’t seen a single Doodle in any of the other parts of Mexico City I’ve stayed/lived for a month or more. This place is clearly more fresa: there are Doodles everywhere.)
I’ve decided that the Mexico City Doodle index goes from -5 to 10. 10 Doodles means a place is very fresa, and I currently live in a 5-Doodle neighborhood. The neighborhoods I like best are 0-3-Doodle places.
House training
Sadly, tonight’s a tie.
The tie between indoors and outdoors pees means we reset week 1 of challenge #2 tomorrow, starting our counter over with day 1 of week 1. (While frustrating, it works out well: tomorrow is the first day of my gamification class. Just like my students and colleagues, I’ll be starting from zero.)
“Do not judge me by my successes – judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again” (as Nelson Mandela supposedly said.)
August 1, 2023
Activity level: low
The AM
35 minutes of play and park loops. Chai met her friend Dina and I got a spontaneous hug from her human – a good way to start the day!
Home alone
Chai and Game stayed home alone for a little over 3 hours.
Cape ONNN!
Since it’s our quiet day, I had and appointment AND it’s the first day of both FDSA classes and my gamification group, we just did a little bit of fun stuff: a rep of “Cape (the service dog vest) ONNN,” chasing treats and hand touches while wearing it and then “Cape OFFF!” Chai is doing great – no body sensitivity with wearing capes or harnesses at all! I wanted to do the Pride sweater I had bought her as well – but turns out she has outgrown it already. That was fast! I’ll have to find someone with a slightly smaller dog to gift it to!
Husbandry
+ “Claws”: I clipped the nails on Chai’s right front paw. She was not happy about it this time so we called it a day after the one paw. I’ll do the next one tomorrow.
She’s a young dog – feelings change. She may just be having a paw-touchy day or she may be growing up to be a dog who doesn’t like her nails clipped after all. We’ll just have to see and find out. In the former case, things should be getting easy again soon. In the latter case, it’s a good thing we started working on nail clipping early!
Frog
Another calm day behavior is the frog. We did two rounds on the mattress without videoing. The first one went well but Chai didn’t fully extend and was a bit wiggly in the second one. Note to self: this stretch may become physically harder the older Chai gets. Make sure to take a longer break between frog sessions in the future!
Park fun
I used a rain break to let the dogs run around the park for 20 minutes (I set an alarm to make sure my planned “low activity” day really stayed low activity. This, together with this morning’s outing, is the max amount of off leash fun I want Chai at 7.5 months to have on a calm day. It was 20 minutes well spent: Game got to go naked (I usually have a bandana or a collar with an ID on her and so I have something to grab if necessary.) But Game sometimes feels itchy when wearing any kind of equipment. Her favorite style is naked, and since it was drizzling and muddy and we had the park to ourselves, she got to be naked today. She zoomed around the puddles and slid through the mud and had the best time. Game and Chai also found a baseball toy they managed to play tug with (even though it was really small!) and did well with a few Leave it-s from various food items. Chai got paid for check-ins and leave-its.
House training
Like yesterday, we ended up with a tie: Chai peed in the shower as often as she peed outside. I promised myself that if I couldn’t get more outside pees two days in a row, I’d lower criteria from more pees outside than inside toat least as many outside as inside pees. So while we’re starting again from 1 today, I’m giving myself that check mark!
The reason it is so hard to get the outside pees isn’t that I don’t know when to take Chai. I almost always know exactly when she needs to go. The reason is that at this point, most of the time – say 90% of the time – Chai needs two things to be in place in order to pee outside:
She needs Game or her friend Kiba to pee or poop first; this inspires marking.
She cannot be distracted. This part is difficult: for every inside pee I got today and yesterday, I had just taken Chai outside – and she was distracted when Game peed. This just happens to be a distracting city and I don’t have a yard, so luck (distraction-free moments) is a big factor in our success.
Anyways, a tie seems to be doable even on distracting days – so I’ll play with these modified rules! When success feels out of reach, games stop being fun. I want the challenge but I don’t want to keep failing more than one day in between successes due to factors out of my control. So check mark #1 – here we go!
No more resets for ties. Let’s set ourselves up for success!
August 2, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
I set up a park office to work from and also did recalls away from closed container #2, implementing the latest version of my Chai-specific distraction recall strategy! Chai aced it!
We spent about 2.5 hours outside. Park offices are the best!
Husbandry
+ “Claws!” – left front paw. Chai wasn’t exactly happy about it, but significantly calmer than yesterday!
Shaping!
We had three sessions of “4 in” with the cue attached in the last two sessions! Chai is getting better at balancing in our current bowl! Go superpuppy!
We did two shaping sessions of our latest trick with the toy we found at the park yesterday! I love how much she loves to work!
House training
The streak continues and we are on a roll today!
August 3, 2023
Activity level: average
+ Off leash container 2 at location 2: formal recall success!
+ Solo adventure: indoors market, including waiting outside the bathrooms by herself.
+ I park-officed and the dogs were outside for about 3 hours. We also met Kiba and Alan and I got a perfect “Schnee” recall off leash away from Kiba! (Pictures only.)
Shaping
+ 2 “one object in another” sessions. In the first session, the baseball ended up in the bowl in the last rep!
+ 2 “Four” sessions. Today went well! Next time, I’ll be moving my home position back behind my back!
Home alone
Chai and Game stayed home alone for about 3 hours when I went to see friends in the evening.
House training
5 pees outside, 3 pees inside. Go Chai!
August 4, 2023
Activity level: average
The dogs got 30 minutes of off-leash time at the park in the morning. There weren’t any friends to play with but a lot of running around for Chai who also happened to find A LOT of random food, including a fried tortilla-something. (Fingers crossed tomorrow won’t be a diarrhea day!)
Morning shaping
I got home and worked, then did two rounds of shaping one object in another with box #2 I had used for the 4-in game. It’s bigger than the water bowl and the results showed! Good puppy!
Solo adventure
Chai and I walked to and through the indoors market for a while. We came across 2 scary balloons on the floor and conquered them with magic hands, both inside the market and later outside (they had clearly been thrown out so I took them with me). I purchased container #3 at the market: a live mouse trap (I wanted a wire-cagey thing and this was perfect.)
Foot-on-leash cue at the market.
We went into the dog park near the market because Chai let me know she would like to greet the only dog inside – an older Vizsla. They played briefly and then Chai, unprompted, peed in the dog park! Lots of treats for the best girl!
We then set up and did a long-line recall away from kibble in the mouse trap – Chai didn’t even get close before she checked in and I took it as a cue to call her. We looped around the park a bit and then did a second recall set-up in a different corner off leash. She aced it again! Even though the mouse trap looks nothing like containers #1 and #2, Chai patiently waited for me to get out the food for her. Good girl!
As of today, we are working with dried liver as the high value reward – we ran out of chicken. However, if tomorrow is a diarrhea day, I can’t necessarily blame the liver … the lucky girl found even more street food on her outing.
We walked part of the way home in collar mode with 5-20 steps between treats. It was hard for Chai today though and we switched back to back-clip harness mode after a short stretch.1 I stopped at a corner store to pick up toilet paper and Chai waited outside, and then we made it home where the little one is now passed out on the floor while I’m working and Game is relaxing on the couch.
Afternoon shaping
Two rounds of four in – one with home position on my thigh, one with home position behind my back. She worked hard and did well with bowl #5!
Home alone
Both dogs stayed home alone for a little over 3 hours.
House training
Today was another tie of inside and outside pees. I’m glad I’ve changed the rules for ties to count! Otherwise, this would be my third streak break in a week, which would be highly demotivating. Maybe after getting my 4-week streak, I’ll do another round of 4 weeks where ties don’t count? A ver.
Have you ever gamified your dog training (or something else in life)? What game did you play and did you find it helpful? Let me know in the comments!
August 5, 2023
Activity level: high (VERY high physical, low mental)
Rachel, Miriam, Ari and I spent all day at Los Dinamos with the dogs, including 4 hours of relatively strenuous (for a young dog) climby hiking. With the exciting drives (being held on laps), four hours of off-leash, steep climby hiking, playing in elbow-deep mud and getting cleaned off twice (once with a hose at a restaurant and once in the shower at home), both dogs are the good kind of tired today.
Some of the highlights:
+ Meeting a new person (Ari). Chai warmed up to them much faster even though Ari pet her entire body right away. Very little avoidance behavior! She rocked it and then chose to take turns sitting in Miriam’s and Ari’s lap in the back seat on the way to Los Dinamos.
People – as important as dogs!
+ Meeting random hikers – one or two at a time – in the woods. As a Mexico City puppy, Chai hasn’t really had this experience before, except for the one time I took her and Game out to a different section of that same nature preserve. She did phenomenal: I scattered to the side of the road anytime strangers passed us and Chai only gave a single bark of insecurity the very first time someone showed up out of nowhere. Then, the counterconditioning effect kicked in full force and she was no longer worried at all. Game modeling indifference probably helped as well.
+ Getting to run and climb and jump over obstacles. All puppies I’ve previously raised have grown up with natural obstacles – only Chai hasn’t really because the city center doesn’t have these kinds of obstacles. And yet, she was fantastically coordinated and made it across fallen trees, climbed rocks and ran and jumped with Game over rocky, root-y steep trails as well as walking them more slowly on leash. The only obstacle she needed help with was a deep artificial canal she was afraid to jump across (I picked her up and jumped with her).
This is very interesting, especially when I compare Chai to Mick. I got Mick as an adult. He probably had a lot of time running off leash as a puppy, but no obstacle practice – and when I got him at age 2, he was VERY clumsy. So was Fanta who I also got as an adult, and who most definitely did a lot of running as a young dog – but likely never met an obstacle in his life before me.
I wonder how much of a difference body awareness tricks like 4 in, paw targets and the frog are making for Chai and how much is just getting to run and play with other dogs in general. Or maybe it’s mostly genetic – who knows! In any case, it was really fun to observe how well she dealt with her new environment.
+ She settled with Game on a mat (my hoodie) when we took a hiking break at La Boca del Cielo.
+ Game and her settled outside the car while we had lunch: waiting and relaxing outside for quite a while in a new place – check!
+ We did one fun and easy “Schnee” recall when Chai was trotting away from me but not towards anything in particular. (Gotta make sure I balance our formal recalls out with fun and easy ones!)
+ She wore her pulling-allowed (front clip) harness for the second time because I didn’t want to slow the others down with my dog training.
+ No throwing up on the way there and back when she rode in people’s laps!
Here’s a compilation:
And the best news:
House training
As far as I can tell, ALL pees and two poops happened outside today! (Except for a third poop in the crate on the car ride home. The crate may happen to be a place Chai has learned to go anytime she has to in her previous home (she may not have had the opportunity to leave). In any case – happy to report that as of now (9:30pm), we had zero pees inside and two poops in addition to her pees outside!
Proud of a check mark that’s not a tie but a crystal clear win!
Inching closer to the next brownie!
Husbandry
+ An unwelcome shower! Game got one as well, and I got two. We were all covered in delicious mud! Not anymore though!
Speaking of loose leash walking: I’ll be running an intense 4-week group for anyone who wants to work on this. You get to pick one of 6.5 R+ based approaches for your dog, are welcome to work together with housemates or partners, your dogsitter or other co-dog-caregivers and will get time-stamped video feedback. E-mail me for details or to sign up! ↩︎
If I’m not mistaken, my reinforcer for the kibble recalls is liver in all the videos below (same value as chicken).
Container 3, location 1
I started on a long line. She reoriented as soon as she spotted the container – so I took a break to loop around the park and then set up in a different part of the park off leash!
Well done, puppy!
Container 3, location 2
Two days later at our toy play plaza. You go girl!
Container 3, location 3
Yet another park for our third location!
Session 1
In real time, I had the impression that Chai’s response was below baseline speed (even though it looks good on the video). To be on the safe side, I took a break and then did another session in a different part of the same park. (Note that my new Chai-tailored recall strategy is not like my distraction protocol: I get to take a break right away and then try in a different location.)
Session 2
After a 10 or 15 minute break; different location in the same park.
In the video above, Chai definitely turned on a dime! Achievement unlocked!
