I’m calling this post iteration 5.2 because I made the new plan (5) after completing my work with the first container. It’s .2 because we are at level 2 (barrier).
If I’m not mistaken, the reinforcer from my hand in all the videos below is liver (same value as chicken).
After working through the first container challenge, I decided to try something new with Chai. Chai’s distraction recalls need to be handled with care: she is a worthy opponent with her own agenda, after all: the kind of dog I most love working with!
The new strategy:
+ 3 kibble containers in 3 outdoors locations – maybe the last one will be a metal cage thingy to mix it up. + Always reward with what’s IN the container. + If I don’t get an immediate recall response and a turn on a dime – take a 10-15 minute break and repeat in a different spot of the same park (my current plan diverges from the distraction tracker). + Once I’ve gone through 3 kibble containers in 3 locations – up the value of the distraction in the container and repeat. + Then, depending on how things are going, decide whether to up the value a second time OR lower the value and increase accessability.
August 2, 2023
Kibble container #2, location #1
To be on the safe side and since this is a new container, I started on a long line. LOVE this video! The subtitles will tell you why!
After park-officing some more, we repeated the challenge off leash:
August 3, 2023
Kibble container #2, location #2
I was going to office from another park today, but it didn’t have any good tables. So we just did a quick recall session and then moved on to a third park I could actually work from! Here’s our session from location #2 – the one that, unfortunately, isn’t officeable. Since yesterday went so well, I didn’t start with a long line today.
Kibble container #2, location #3
After officing outdoors for a bit, I set up for our third location – and again, Chai aced it! I love how she is starting to expect me to help her get to the food. What a difference from the very first container (the one I secured with tape) that she treated like a food toy!
In the video above, Chai spins on a dime when I call but then basically freezes in place until I tongue click. It’s a little hard to see what’s going on because my tongue click is almost inaudible over the background noise. In any case, I am counting this as a success but will slowly move the click further and further from the moment of reorientation towards her moving in my direction if I see this happening in the future. It didn’t in location #2, so I’m not concerned. You never know with this clever puppy though!
We had 5 pick-up-an-object sessions throughout the day. That’s no problem at all for a workey dog, but not what I would advise for a dog who isn’t crazy about training. Train the dog in front of you and don’t overdo it! Stop training while they still want to keep going!
In Chai’s case, this is easy: if I train as much as I have time to, I still won’t hit her limit. That makes her perfect for me. How do I know? As soon as I put out the puzzle mats (they are usually up against the wall, not on the floor), she races there. As soon as I grab my tripod, she starts jumping up at me. As soon as I ask Game to station on her mat, she gets all excited because it’s a predictor of a session for her!
August 2, 2023
The second day we’re working on this!
Session 1: how about picking up this football-shaped toy we found at the park last night?
Session 2: adding a second object since the goal for this is to put one object into another.
I’m using a water bowl here because it looks different from the bowls we have been using for the 4 in trick.
August 3, 2023
2 sessions with the basketball toy and the water bowl!
August 4, 2023
Today, I tried using a larger container the toy wouldn’t bounce out of – and one that we haven’t worked with in a while: box #2 from our 4-in trick. We’ve been using bowls for weeks now, so I hope to get less paws in a box! I’m happy with the results so far!
August 7, 2023
Session #1:
Same object, slightly smaller box I have never used for 4 in:
Session #2:
Same box, switch to a new object mid-session: a paper cup!
I am REALLY happy with how well Chai did today! Go puppy! Is there anything more fun than an operant dog?!
August 8, 2023
Put the baseball toy, a paper cup, a shoe and a roll of tape into the crate! Superstar puppy! doG, I love operant dogs!
Below is an example of Chai saying, “I know I can’t do this so I won’t try. Basic physics, human!” I respect what she tells me. Her communication below is as clear as the one above: she considers one of the two behaviors a solvable riddle and the other one not. Listen to your dog – they know themselves best! Good listening skills on your part will lead to trust and trust leads to excellence.
The dogs got to run around the park for a little more than half an hour. I was going to practice distraction recalls with the taped plastic container in two other locations – but turns out I misplaced the container. No distraction recalls for Chai! Since I had already prepared the chicken, I did our last fun-and-easy recall from Silvia Trkman‘s modified list: a handful of chicken for a park recall that’s easy for her! A reinforcer she’d usually only get for distraction recalls! Go Chai!
Game, of course, came running as well. I only pay the dog I call (“Schnee!” – Chai), but Game got lucky today: Chai dropped some chicken pieces (she got a handful) so Game got to snatch some up too.
We also worked on positions at the park since there wasn’t a lot going on this Sunday morning: down, stand and good (room service).
Finally, Chai waited in front of the bakery while I picked up breakfast.
We did two rounds of “Frog” at home. In the second one, I realized I had put the pillow too far towards the edge of the couch to get the leg extension I’m looking for. I marked the place it needs to be with a post it on the wall above so I can put it in the same exact spot every time going forwards. Dog trainers, always have a stack of post-its ready!
Noon
The three of us went on a noon loop, resulting in two empty pups who get to share the living room!
A slice of life
Chai is getting more interested and confident in pulling on toys Game has. She also likes eating colored pencils. The first time, she heeds my “Leave it” … the second time, I’m late and she already has the pencil. (“Leave it” means “off limits right now” for my dogs. A “leave it” thing can become available later.) You’ll see me deal with the pencil by trading it: I announce, “Let’s trade!” and then first take the object before feeding a treat. It’s not a trade if you do it the other way round, but a food distraction your dog may interpret as you trying to steal what they have. No need to set yourself up for this kind of conflict!
The PM
Single-paw target
Today was a particularly nerdy single-paw target day. I just added session details to this older post – check out the entry for July 23 in my front paw target post if you’re into marker cue geekery.
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone while Game and I ran a couple bike errands in the rain. It’s interesting how much Game prefers running with the bike in this weather! The pavement must feel better under her paws when it’s cool and wet; it adds an extra bounce to her run!
More shaping!
We did some more “Four” (4 in) shaping and I learned a lot – more on that in the 4-in post!
Evening loop
We ended with a lazy evening loop, emptying both dogs and, therefore, more evening time in the living room for Chai!
House training
Past the halfway mark of week 4 of 4! Yay!
July 24, 2023
Activity level:average
The AM
After a quick morning pee and my very important coffee break, we met Alan and Kiba. They helped me with another recall shaping attempt before letting the dogs play. Then we worked on positions and went on a 2-dogs harness-mode walk.
On the walk, Chai wolfed down half a bolillo. We’ll see how she does tomorrow morning! Fingers crossed for no diarrhea. I’m going to add bolillos to the ever-growing list of food to try and feed her to see if her stomach can handle them. (She gets to scavenge for anything that agrees with her.)
After another run to reward Chai and Kiba, Alan and I headed in different directions. I walked Chai in harness mode for a block to stairstep down her arousal, had her wait outside a store and completed the walk in collar mode with 5-35 steps between treats. Good puppy!
The PM
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone for Game’s afternoon loop.
Frog luring
We just had three frog sessions! The pillow case still has the same filling: a hoodie, my blue shorts and a t-shirt.
Post frog-luring, Game and Chai are wrestling now and having a great time.
More shaping!
We had 3 fun 4-in shaping sessions with my new non-slip surfaces in the bowls. Also, a trick I thought of yesterday but didn’t implement: if working on this trick, put tape down in the position(s) you want to place the treat – in this case low and close to the bowl – as a reminder for yourself to keep your feeding position consistent! With a trick like this, where I eventually want Chai to always stand, consistently feeding close and low will automatically get us there.
Evening
We went on a later-than-usual evening loop when Chai woke up from her post-shaping nap.
Chai saw a person she found suspicious from a distance and growled for a second. Coincidentally, like the other day, this person also wore yellow: a long yellow coat. We played LAT and were then able to walk past without issues. I am going to make it a habit to take Chai on Game’s evening loops so people at dawn/night don’t stop being normal! It’s best to normalize an experience as soon as you see it turn slightly suspicious. (If I had a dog who panicked, I would proceed differently.)
Both dogs are empty and get to enjoy the evening in the living room. Chai, now awake again, is chewing on a toy she just figured out how to make consistently squeak. She’s also periodically dropping it off the couch and learning about gravity. Smart girl!
House training
Damn good is what we are!
July 25, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
The dogs started their day with a brief morning loop. Chai didn’t pee and tried playing with Game while both were on short leashes and when I took Game off leash. I’ll have to change something about their routine for a while. ¡A ver!
After my morning coffee, we went to the park for 45 minutes of walking and playing.
Chai didn’t pee this time either, so she got to stay in her luxury kennel until 10:30. She chewed a rawhide bone and rested. When I just went to the bathroom, she peed and I reinforced with the functional reinforcer of letting her outside! Now she and Game are going crazy wrestling. Game is done playing now – I say it’s about time to start today’s shaping adventures! Chai’s low activity day this week is either going to be Thursday or Saturday when I’m leaving her home and to meet friends, so no need to worry about low activity days right now!
Shaping time!
I’ll work on the single-paw target in 3 sessions and just updated my older targeting post with more nerdy details – see here if interested.
Home alone
Chai stayed home twice while Game and I walked errands.
Very cue dog we saw waiting outside a store!
Both dogs went on a pre-rain walk and then Chai came on a grocery run while Game stayed home. Even on days without extraordinary training adventures, I try and make sure both dogs get a little 1-on-1 time.
More shaping!
We worked on 4 in (“Four!”) in two sessions with only bowl #4. Bowl #4 is hard, so I didn’t add the cue in either session.
… and luring!
I went back to the normal-sized pillow for two frog luring sessions. Silvia suggested I do so until Chai can easily relax into the frog and then remove the pillow in the next session after. They suspect this way will be easier for Chai than slowly fading it.
Liver or chicken?
Chai had no diarrhea from yesterday’s bolillo (woohoo!), so I pitted dried beef liver against cooked chicken today. Which one would she like better? I can’t see a clear preference so far. That’s good! I can always have some dried beef liver as a backup treat (assuming her stomach tolerates it) and mainly use cooked chicken for high value treats (chicken is substantially cheaper, but takes time to cook and I prefer having something with less preparation time).
I still have a little chicken left. Once we’ve worked through it, we’ll train up the 500g of dried beef liver I bought and see if her stomach can tolerate moderate amounts of this as well. I have high hopes because like chicken, it’s a single-protein thing. Commercial treats contain so much stuff that I’ll probably not go down that route (except for the kibble I’m doing most training with anyways).
Evening walk
The three of us went on an evening walk together. Chai was wired – I suspect it’s about time I up her average physical exercise amount by about half an hour a day!
House training
Right out of playing with Game pre-evening-walk – I watched her like a hawk already, knowing she would soon have to go, but didn’t want to interrupt their play – Chai stopped and then ran into the shower to pee! You GO girl! That was amazing! I praised and followed her into the bathroom to feed a treat.
Only one more day to go! If we succeed with this, I get a brownie AND a massage! (And then the next-level challenge awaits! I already have something in mind …)
July 26, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
Since today, Chai is going to go on a solo adventure with Alan and Kiba, I took Game on her morning loop by herself – a management solution, not a training one, but it was fun to see how much Game enjoyed having me to herself first thing in the morning! She was racing up and down the sidewalk and, once back home, tried turning every imaginable thing into a toy – from shoes (the usual) to a dust pan (this is new), making the trademark shepherd growly sounds of feeling one’s best self.
Chai got to stay in her luxury kennel longer than usual because I hadn’t seen her pee and sure as hell won’t botch my final streak day. She’s got rawhide and a toy and a toilet paper roll to shred in there, so no time to get bored.
Home alone
… during Game’s morning walk by herself, and later together with Game when I ran a quick errand. And then again after Chai’s and Kiba’s adventure: Game and I went on a lovely afternoon walk!
Now I’m off to pack the survival kit for our field trip! We’ll need toys, treats and two kinds of harnesses, my phone and tripod to take video …)
Here’s a list of what goes into our kit in case you’re curious:
Regular leash and harness (not in bag, but on dog) Treat bag with kibble (not in bag, but on me) ✔️ Front clip harness (pulling allowed – I’ll switch if the regular harness is too difficult) ✔️ Toys (Kong ball and tennis ball) ✔️ Kibble refill ✔️ Chicken ✔️ Long line ✔️ Poop bags ✔️ Drinking water (for me too – we share) ✔️ Cubrebocas ✔️ Phone ✔️ Tripod ✔️ Money ($200 MX is good for non-car trips on the shorter end. No wallet because I’ll regularly leave my bag lying round somewhere)
OPTIONAL ITEMS
On potentially rainy days:
✔️ Umbrella
If I plan on workin on manners mode:
Collar
If Game comes or coffee shop stops are planned:
Mat Chew
If I want to work: Laptop
… whee! Chai peed! I let her out of the luxury kennel at 09:22 and she got some wrangling with Game in. She did exceptionally well staying in there without issues for longer than usual – and I’ll be making up for it with a good adventure, mostly consisting of “just be a dog and have fun with your best buddy”!)
Also, reviewing my plan for Chai’s first Kiba recall before I leave the house: set up tripod, use “Schnee” when she reorients, chicken, release. By now I know she will be able to respond to her formal cue upon reorienting – so why not just use it! Run up to Kiba together with Chai post-chicken.
We spent 1.5 hours with Alan and Kiba, and this time, I followed my before-greeting-Kiba recall plan … but I didn’t get it on camera. Chai did great, but I’ll repeat the same step again because I want to have it on video to analyze before I decide on the next step!
We walked and had them run and play at a big park. Chai was being a superstar – we didn’t need to switch to the front clip harness on the way there and back! She also peed once over Kiba’s peeing spot.
The PM
+ After the dogs’ nap time, we were ready for more shaping! We’re repeating yesterday’s last two single paw target sessions! If interested, check out Chai’s front paw target post for nerdy details I just added to the July 26 video.
+ We also had two 4-in sessions with bowl #4 that went well.
Evening walk
Game, Chai and I went for a lovely both-dogs-on-short-leashes (back-attachment harness for Chai) walk. Hardly any pulling and few circles required! Today, Chai got her new physical needs met (about half an hour more exercise than in the past) and walking nicely on a leash was much easier. She was not tired or exhausted – she was just being a well-rounded Border Collie on a walk. She could even walk past the house with the small barky dogs without issues – yesterday, she pulled like crazy around there. So it is clear: 1.5 hours of daily (mostly off-leash) exercise is her new average. I don’t count leash walks, so in the past, the average was an hour and our “high” activity level was around 3 hours. While that’s still comparatively high, I’ll call it average going forwards and only distinguish between average and low.
House training
Sadly (but also yay for the correct spot!), Chai went to poop in the shower as soon as we got home: welcome back, diarrhea! She may either have found something to eat at the park that I didn’t see, have a reaction to all the dirty rain water she had or to the fried egg Alan fed her … or she can’t tolerate yesterday’s dried beef liver. I really don’t want it to be the latter but suspect that it is. While she didn’t have a lot of it, her stomach usually responds the next day rather than right away.
In any case, this means that tomorrow will make an excellent low activity (fasting) day for this week. I’ve been planning on taking only Game on a long adventure with a friend anyways, so the timing is right for Chai to practice staying home alone and not eating a lot. Sigh.
In better news: I’ll get a brownie tomorrow AND I’ll book a massage! I can’t believe I had a 4-week streak with ZERO resets!!
We DID it! Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
I’ll start the new (and levelled-up!) challenge the day after.
July 27, 2023
Activity level: low
The AM
The three of us went on a 30-minute park outing. It was market day and I was going to stay 45, but we got bored: most of Chai’s dog friends skip Thursday mornings because of the market. I’ll have to remember this for next week. In any case, she got to play a bit while Game practiced chilling next to me when everyone was running. She also got rushed by a ferocious Jack Russel Terrier, came back to me for help when I called Pup-pup-pup (tail tucked, JRT in pursuit) and I stopped the GRT with a hand gesture and Game from going after the JRT (“I’m a Mal and I’ve gotta protect my puppy!”) with a verbal “Leave it.” Chai bounced back quickly from the scare, played with two other dogs right after (I have no evidence-based study on this – if you do, comment on this post please!), but I’ve found that play right after a scary event is extremely helpful in just putting it behind them. In Chai’s case, she even approached the same off-leash JRT with curiosity 15 minutes later (this time, both I and the JRT’s owner stopped our respective dogs at the first JRT grumble).
Post-scare play at the park!
If things work out well, a clash between two dogs can, in fact, be a good thing for a young dog: Chai learned that I and Game will protoect her and that the place to run towards is not away, but to me. AND she got a chance to practice her bounce-back response, which she did a stellar job at by playing! (There are very much dogs who would shut down or shiver for the rest of the day after an event like this – I am not recommending setting up scary encounters for your dog on purpose! I am just pointing out that IF your puppy or juvenile dog has the personality for it – no need to get upset at other dogs or owners! There may in fact be benefits to reap!)
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone for about 3 hours while Game and I were out (getting drenched in the rain while helping a friend with their German!)
The day continued quietly because I took a nap – and after playing a bit on top of me, Chai went back in her luxury crate while Game and I slept for a while.
Chai stayed home again for Game’s brief night loop at 9:30 pm.
Frog!
Today’s clip with a normal pillow in the pillow case:
Unstructured play!
We used the rainy hours for some unstructured fun – just a few minutes, both dogs, tugging and chasing like Silvia does in her puppy video. A little interaction can’t hurt, even on a quiet day!
Up and down the street …
Game and I walked an errand during an evening rain break, and since Chai had only had half an hour’s off-leash time in the morning, she got to come too. It was a very brief 2-short-leashes walk with Chai on the back-clip harness and a wait in front of a corner store. She did SO well! I am impressed; the other day Chai struggled on the back-attachment harness when her “average” exercise needs had not been met. This just goes to show that when sharing your life with a young dog, you’ve got a different pup every day.
Waiting outside the convenience store next to each other, I saw just how big Chai had gotten. She is almost as tall as Game. Not quite and she’s slimmer, but WOW! She’s starting to look like a grown Border Collie and she’s beautiful.
House training
I had a delicious brownie today! No accidents in the living room either! New game starting tomorrow – we’re on a roll!
July 28, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We started with half an hour at the park. I could have stayed longer … but I got bored after half an hour and had finished my coffee. In any case, Chai had a great time playing with Dina (the Chai-sized, lightening fast wire-haired friend who loves running with her) and got 2 pees. Plus we got to chase and look for squirrels and lots of treats for checking in and pup-pup-pup recalls. I got up half an hour earlier today. Ill try and keep up this rhythm: it means the dogs get to be off leash right away (no on-leash attempts to play for Chai in the morning) and I don’t pay for parking. I’ll keep things that way and add another half hour or hour of off leash time later in the day.
The new game
Having finished the first house training game, we will now play game #2 I invented – a more advanced version. We’ll be playing for 4 weeks again.
I’ll count inside pees and outside pees every day, starting today (2 outside and 0 inside so far). Any day I have more outside than inside pees by the time I go to bed, I’ll turn one of my check-marks green. Like before, I’ll get a brownie after a streak of 7 days and a massage (I may change this one if the first one isn’t good) after 4 weeks. Setbacks (days with more inside than outside pees) only reset to day 1 of the current week. Weeks that have already turned green will stay this way.
All inside pees count as 1 – in the living room or in the bathroom. That said, I sure hope for more bathroom pees – it would be great if I could keep the no-living-room streak alive in the background!
Since pooping outside is more difficult for Chai than peeing, any day I get an outside poop rather than a shower one, that respective day’s check mark turns green immediately – independent of the pee count. This will motivate me to spend more time outside and do belly massages, both of which seem to increase the likelyhood for outside pooping.
I won’t count Chai going to the bathroom during the night for now.
Here we are, starting anew: 4 weeks of a blank slate!
Yay! At 9:30, after Chai and Game had rested post park time, Chai got active again, wrestled a bit with Game and then started wandering around. This was my cue: it was bathroom time. In the past, I’d have her taken to her luxury kennel until she peed. Today, I took both dogs on an ultra-short pee loop: there is a spot around the corner Game almost always pees – and when Game pees, so does Chai. Now we’re back home with an empty puppy and another strike on the “pee outside” side of my list! Indoors is still at zero.
In other news …
Chai has stopped vocalizing when there are weird noises outside – like just now. Folks are moving furniture and stuff up and down the staircase. She occasionally lifts her head from the couch, then puts it back down and keeps snoozing. My negative punishment (putting her in the bathroom i.e. her luxury kennel when she barked) has worked its magic FAST! The trick here is to be aware if and when a behavior turns operant. The moment it does (IF it does), stop counterconditioning (you’d be rewarding an operant behavior) and either teach an incompatible behavior that will be cued by whatever your dog used to bark at to OR apply negative punishment (such as Chai getting a time-out in the bathroom). Which route I’ll personally choose depends on the dog (and human) in front of me. As with all things dog training, there is no one size fits all solution.
Chai and I walked to the toy play plaza on the back-attachment harness and I let her run around off leash while walking a few loops. There wasn’t a lot going on because it had started drizzling. I magic-handed a creepy plastic bottle and then tossed it for Chai to play with.
On the way home, we tried collar mode. However, clearly, Chai hasn’t had enough physical exercise today; I had to keep the rate of reinforcement to around 5 and 10 steps between treats.
She then got another short pee walk together with Game and, after dropping Game off again, joined me on an errand.
More shaping
Back home, the dogs wrestled and then Chai got another 4-in session with only bowl #5. It is clearly physically taxing to squeeze herself into the bowl, but she was working so hard! Good puppy!
Proof of the fun that was being had before our PM shaping session.
And more fun at the park!
Suddenly craving a cinnamon trenzado (or two), I went to a park that sells them nearby. Chai finally got to run! Her Border friend Juana was there and so were a few other dogs with similar play styles. She got out her daily need to move after all, and then we walked home in manners mode (5-15 steps between treats). We need to work on this more often – but she did a lot better than on the way home from the plaza, so I’ll take it as a win. She was also great on her back attachment harness when going on an empty-out-the-puppy loop with Game after.
I don’t know how I would get all my outside pees without Game’s help – but as it is, things are working. I know when Chai is likely to pee and the new game motivates me to take her outside with her peeing idol. The count so far: outside 6, bathroom 2. (The reason that she pees that often is that outsoide, her peeing is marking (just a few drops over Game’s or Kiba’s pee or poop) rather than fully emptying out her bladder).
Husbandry
+ “Brush!” for Chai.
I then also brushed Game and Chai wanted to play with Game’s Furminator, so I put her in the bathroom to finish grooming in peace. For the first time in this kind of situation, Chai started (low-volume) whining behind the closed bathroom door right away. Either she thought she was missing out on a session with The Best Toy Ever or we have entered a new juvenile stage! I’m sure I’ll find the answer in the next few days.
House training
Going with turquois for game #2!
Week 1/4, day 1: 2 pees in the shower, 7 pees outside! Day one – check!
July 29, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We spent 35 minutes at the park. Chai got to run with her friends (Eva the chocolate BC, Sam the young Doberman and Corgi Maya) and peed twice after Game did (the second time just 2 or 3 drops, but we’ll count it).
Chai and her friends in the morning!
Home alone
Game and Chai stayed home for 3 hours while I went to a no-dogs social thing.
The PM
We started with a short walk to get kibble and pee. Chai got to go into the packed pet supply store, see various dogs and lie down while I stepped on her leash to pay. Game waited outside.
Then we did a 4-in session with bowl #5, followed by the dogs playing, another brief pee walk and 4-in session #2. Now, both dogs are resting on the couch. I’m planning on shaping something else a little later and then taking Chai on a solo adventure to the park later in the afternoon … I’m thinking I’ll work on positions, play and walk home in manners mode.
Park adventures
Chai had fun at her solo park adventure: lots of play with Dina and Doberman Samantha interrupted by quick opt-in position sessions (the protocol for which I’m developing as I go along) – see below!
Oh, this session was fun!
Daniel left when it started raining and I waited out the rain at the stage where Chai got to move around, meet people with umbrellas and walking sticks, a Chihuahua and a big dog guarding their even bigger stick tree. I felt human-connection-y today and dog people are lovely!
After getting home, I took both Game and Chai for a pee loop. Chai had had SO much water and her voluntary middle-of-play pee was already a while ago … I didn’t want to screw with my streak and made sure she peed again (this time over Game’s poop) before heading inside.
Chai is now fast asleep – but the moment she wakes up, we’ll head out for another pee. If she stays asleep on the couch, she’ll just come on Game’s late-evening loop. I’m taking her right before going to bed myself these days to see if that way, I can move her late night pee walks closer to the morning.
… well, we won’t be going on another pee round before tonight’s last one: I just went to the bathroom and Chai followed me and peed as well. (She’s being SO good, only ever going in her designated spot!) The numbers are still looking good: 7 pees outside and 4 in the shower. No accidents in the living room.
House training
Chai didn’t pee on Game’s 10pm pee loop, but right when we got home and I went to the bathroom together with her. This brings us to today’s total of 7 pees (all marking just a drop or two) outside and 5 in the shower. No living room accidents. This is harder than expected! In any case, we’ve earned ourselves another check mark!
Only bowl #4, different angles, no cue. Chai is being a superpuppy!
Session #2:
Only bowl #4, different angles, re-attach “Four!” cue.
I couldn’t be happier with this session! What a good puppy! Short and sweet for the win! (Plus a mirror, tape and a non-slip surface! Chai hasn’t been tempted to sit anymore either!)
Plan for the next two sessions:
+ Start with only bowl #4, no cue. + Add bowl #5 into bowl #4, no cue.
July 28, 2023
Since this looked so good, my plan for the next two sessions is:
+ Session 1: only bowl #5; different angles; no cue. + Session 2: if I’m happy with the previous session, re-attach the “Four!” cue.
We did the first session I had planned – but it was physically challenging for Chai! I won’t do another one today but repeat the plan for both tomorrow! Below the first session:
Notes for next time:
+ Repeat the last two sessions I planned. + Reposition the mirror for this bowl. + Make sure I know how to hold the bowl perfectly stable.
July 29, 2023
Bowl #5 was still physically difficult. We did 2 sessions with different treat-toss angles and no “Four” cue. I’ll stay at this stage until Chai has as easy a time with this bowl as she did with the previous one.
For now and the day(s) to come: two short sessions, one treat in position and one tossed at a different angle each time (to build a little duration for holding the position). I’ll always give her a break between the two sessions. Today, the break was playing with Game and a pee loop.
Next time, I might try switching the clicker for verbal markers so I get a better grip on the bowl.
August 2, 2023
Bowl #5. First session – holding the bowl with what is usually my clicker hand; having a better grip on it because I’m experimenting with holding the clicker between my lips! Session two (same video): re-attaching the “Four!” cue and using verbal markers.
This was difficult for Chai! I’ll make it easier by means of changing my home position for the next round: instead of behind my back, I’ll rest my treat fist on my right thigh. That way, I’ll be faster with the second treat (“Get it!”) after the room service marker (“Good”) and Chai will have to spend a little less time balancing in the bowl.
If this looks good, I will move my home position back behind my back in the next session after.
I also did the third session today (no video because I accidentally deleted it after reviewing). Chai did well but I want to work on my mechanics some more. I’ll repeat this and make sure I keep my home position consistent on my thigh and don’t mark “Good” too early. Then, I’ll move my home position back behind my back. However, this will have to wait for another day! Three sessions of “Four” in one day is more than enough!
August 3, 2023
3 sessions with home position on my right thigh! Here’s the third one:
(The cross-blur cut in the video is when I had to refill my treat hand, ended up pulling out a string of poop bags and making a mess.)
August 4, 2023
I was going to do one session with home position behind my back, good and get it, transition behavior blink and then take it from there. However, this turned out to be difficult for Chai today:
Because she struggled quite a bit after the first few reps (struggled with balance, that is – the behavior is clear to her but it is difficult to put four paws in the bowl), I’ll stay at this bowl size for another round. Next time, I will repeat what I just did but keep the session shorter (10 treats total, making for 5 reps). I will also pay special attention to my “Four” timing and make sure I cue when she is about to or has finished eating the previous “Get it” treat rather than earlier than that (as I accidentally did in the session above). For now though – Chai gets a well deserved break! No two physically difficult sessions in a row!
For our next session after a long break, I stuck to 5 reps. Chai did GREAT!
August 7, 2023
Except for the very last rep – cut off because it was preceded by a search for a piece of kibble under the mattress I needed to help with. It took a while and threw us off our game – this session went beautifully! Either 4 (rather than 5) reps are all I should ask at this bowl size OR the escaping treat threw her for a loop. In any case – I’m happy! We’re ready to go down one size!
Bowl #6 – the smallest one!
In the video below, I am working on bowl #6 – my very smallest bowl! – in bowl #5 for the first time. I’m not working on a perfect position and not asking for any duration – I just want Chai to be confident about this new set-up and her ability to squeeze in.
Notes for next time: since this went so well, our next session will be 50% bowl #6 in bowl #5, then ditch bowl #5 and try with #6 only! #6 is my smallest bowl! We’re almost there!
I already posted about the beginnings of the 4-paws-in-a-container trick here, but just discovered that I actually followed my progress in real time in THIS draft. It has more nerdy details that go with videos you may already have seen. If you’re the nerdy-details kind of trainer, it may be worth reading and watching again. If not, just skip this post and come back for the next one!
July 14, 2023 (day 99)
Session #1:
Session #2:
July 15, 2023 (day 100)
Experimenting with a marker cue system for shaping!
The philosophical conclusion I came to after watching my video back is to withhold food if the dog moves between a room service marker (“good” in my case). This is NOT what I do in the video above. That video is messy and experimental. What I would like to do, in retrospect, is wait Chai out when she takes her paw out of the box after I’ve said “Good.” What I actually do in this video (e.g. 01:16-01:29) is repeat the marker cue. This is not good practice – but hey, it’s a messy session. An experiment. No need to be perfect. To quote Silvia Trkman again: “confusion is just a step on the way to true understanding.”
Video compilation for Silvia
Here’s the edited 4-in (“Four!”) compilation I submitted to Silvia’s class on July 16. We’ll keep working on smaller and smaller bowls, of course!
In this video, you’ll see how I attach the cue anytime I am sure Chai will be going into the container with 4 feet, then take it off again when I change the angle or container, then put it on again once I’m sure she can do it again.
When should you name behaviors?
It’s okay to name behaviors that are still under construction. The trick is to only use that cue when you are absolutely sure the dog is about to do the behavior! When you go out in a new environment or change something about the equipment or your position relative to your dog – simply take off the cue again, then put it back one once your dog has shown that they can still do it! With a behavior like this, you’ll see me volley back and forth between using and not using verbal cues. (Not every trainer agrees with this approach and that’s totally fine! You do you – this is just the way I do it! Some folks only put verbal cues on a behavior once the dog has mastered it in all environments and from all angles and with all relevant objects. Neither approach here is better or worse – you just need to find the one that works for you and your dog. (One important thing excellent trainers of any approach of philosophy genderally do have in common is that they will only use the a verbal cue when they are sure the dog will perform the behavior.)
July 20, 2023
From bowl #2 to bowl #3 (there will be 6 bowls altogether)
We went from bowl #2 down to bowl #3! This is difficult and Chai is doing really well!
July 21, 2023
Today, I went in with a clear plan: I would not use the “Four” cue throughout the session and repeat yesterday’s se-up.
Next time, I’ll start with bowl #3 right away (and again: no cue in the next session. Maybe in the one after, depending on how the next one goes!)
July 22, 2023
Starting with bowl #3 right away! As planned, I am not using a cue in this session either. Turns out that not using a clicker is a good idea too, just like I’ve been doing with the single-paw target behavior: not using a clicker, I can withdraw my food hand when Chai steps out of the bowl with one paw without breaking the promise of food.
For the next two sessions, I am not planning on adding the “Four” cue either: one of these sessions will be me standing up and tossing treats after each click. The other one will be building a tiny bit of duration by means of using the marker cue “Good” and feeding one treat after each marker rather than feeding continuously. We’ll see how this goes tomorrow!
July 23, 2023
I changed my training plan mid session and added “Four” in after going once around all angles of the click-toss session. Chai was ready and I could see it!
In the “Good” session, I could see her work really hard … but the slippery surface of the bowl made it almost impossible for her to keep standing upright. Her back paws were just slipping forwards, placing her into a sit. She did really well though and showed lovely understanding of my “Good” cue!
I decided to try and experiment with bowl #4. Bowl #4 is, unfortunately, quite a bit smaller than bowl #3. There should be a size in between them but I couldn’t find it at the market. Going from #3 to #4 was clearly too hard. I ended the session with a cheerful scatter right after I started it. I need to find a bowl size in between before continuing!
July 24, 2023
I cut circles out of a roll of non-slip material that (I suspect) is meant to be put into kitchen drawers. In any case, it works great as a non-slip surface for my smaller and smaller bowls!
Speaking of smaller bowls: I’ve found bowls #4 and #5 that fit between what I originally had as bowl #3 and bowl #4. Bowl #4 is now bowl #6. #4 and #5 were sitting in my kitchen all along – I didn’t even have to go out and buy new ones!
Bowls #3 and #4 with their new non-slip surfaces!
With their new non-slip surfaces in place, I repeated yesterday’s sessions. Really happy with what a difference better traction makes and how Chai’s confidence has increased between yesterday’s and today’s sessions! Reviewing the video, I noticed that I missed a back paw coming out of bowl #4 a few times. I’ll set up a mirror tomorrow to have better vision of all paws at all times! Here’s a video of my favorite reps and a mistake (missed one paw) that I need a mirror to avoid: sometimes Chai’s body blocks my view of her back legs and I miss one of them coming out of the bowl.
Tomorrow, I’ll start with bowl #4 in bowl #3 and then ditch bowl #3. I’ll feed one treat in position and toss the next one out.
Magic tape
I’ll put a tape marker where I want to place my in-position treats to remember to feed low and close to the bowl (encouraging Chai to stand rather than sit because the treat placement will cause a weight shift forwards). Tape markers are simple and make it A LOT easier to be consistent – no matter what you’re working on! I usually use masking tape (easy to get on and off without pulling paint off if placed on a wall).
I’ll also lean a mirror against the wall on the other side of the bowl: that way, I’ll be able to see Chai’s back paws at all times even when her body is blocking my direct view. This should lower my rate of clicking 3 instead of 4 paws further. (I sometimes can’t help it because I make prediction errors – you need to start your clicker thumb motion as you predict what will happen next if you want to be on time. The mirror won’t eliminate prediction errors, but it’ll make sure I won’t make errors because I can’t see!)
July 25, 2023
Sessions #1 and #2:
Sessions #3 and #4:
The cue will have to wait for tomorrow! I’ll repeat today’s plan: first work all angles, no cue. If Chai does well with that, re-attach the “Four!” cue in the subsequent session.
+ Shaping “Earn it!” with 3/4 of Chai’s daily food ration.
+ After our impulse control shaping session, Chai needed some Game-wrangling time to let out all of that pent up need to move and DO rather than hold back. I totally get it!
+ Then Game and I went out for three hours to bike around and meet a friend for coffee …
Enjoying a chew at the café and guarding “my” Ecobici (Mexico City bikesharing bike) outside a store on the way home.
… Chai got another round of “earn it” – and we made it to food on the floor! This was followed by the necessary roughhousing with Game. Impulse control means all that pent-up DO-DO-DO needs to come out! I have never seen as clear an example of this as I’m seeing in Chai.
In terms of good news, she left a green paleta when asked to “Leave it!” and the same splash of dog poop she was tempted to eat twice. Then, however, she found something else that smelled like a mixture of human poop and rotten animal and managed to eat quite a bit of it before I got her away. Tomorrow will tell if whatever disgustingly smelly something she had the pleasure of enjoying today agreed with her stomach.
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone for 3 hours while Game and I went on bike rides and a coffee outing, and again for Game’s evening walk.
House training
How can this be right? I justhad a brownie! Where does the time go?
July 18, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
Chai spent 20 minutes running around Fresa Parque with dog friends and Game practiced staying calm and eating treats surrounded by the morning craze. I had been planning on repeating the barrier step at the park (kibble in closed container) and, after a break, kibble in the open container just to see where we were at. But since I hadn’t had my coffee yet … I forgot both my tripod AND the container. No recall training this morning. We’ll go back and try again later!
Next, we did some paw target shaping with new objects. I want to improve Chai’s precision targeting!
Noon
Around noon, we headed back to Fresa Parque in harness mode. My plan was to walk home in collar mode and spend the time there practicing the recalls we didn’t get to this morning. And that’s precisely what we did after be-a-dog-time.
After rep #5, I gave Chai time to run and be social with the noon crowd. Her intensity was ratcheted all the way up: these recall games take a lot out of her puppy brain! And all that concentration leads to pent-up “Whaaaaa!” that is best released in playing with other dogs! I took a video from beginning to end of the play session. You can see HOW intensely she plays at first – this is a way for her to release the pressure that concentration and impulse control build up! – and how her social needs saturate within a few minutes and she’s then able to move on to sniffing and exploring. Meeting your young dog’s social needs on a regular basis is a big deal!
I’d usually feed check-ins, but I was out of treats. While running out of treats can be annoying, it is also convenient: anytime I run out of treats, I will substitute personal play as a reward. Running out of treats about once a week ensures that we keep personal play as an outdoorsy reinforcer as well and don’t become solely dependent on tangible reinforcers.
On the way home, Chai got to wait outside the bakery and at a corner store while I went inside. Good girl!
Afternoon
After a fun-and-easy recall from the bathroom into the shaping space (checking recall 8/101 off Silvia‘s modified list!), we worked some more on single-paw targets with easy objects (balance pod, lid of a pot, turned over metal bowl), putting the cue back on and switching both the position of the objects and my position in relation to Chai (turning my back, standing on one foot, feet and hands on the floor and looking at Chai through my straddled legs etc).
The upside-down metal bowl works great – I want to find something stable that is equally tall but less wide (to ensure she only gets one paw on) and then start reducing hight and size from there! Maybe styrofoam will do the trick … I could slowly shave it down and tape it to the floor for stability …
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone for Game’s two short rain-break walks.
Husbandry
+ “Brush!”
House training
(1) New recall rule: I’ve done quite a few into the shaping space and it’s time to mix it up again! I’ll make sure the last two fun-and-easy ones are outdoors! Maybe one for toys and one for food?
July 19, 2023
Activity level: low
Woohooo! Getting this week’s low-activity day out of the way!
Recalls and collar mode in the AM
After a brief morning walk work, Chai and I went to the park to repeat our same distraction recall in the same space, aiming for a single-rep success. Unfortunately – this being Mexico where public spaces are shared and used and alive! – there was a dance class happening in our usual spot with the piano mural.
I decided to go for it anyways, having Chai wait in her usual spot and simply setting the distraction up in the other direction. Would I suggest this to a student? No. I would tell them to go home and try again later But with my own dogs, I experiment more – and that’s what I did here. I was curious if Chai would recall away from the tapedd plastic container if it was in a different spot.
Pre and post distraction recall, we did a short loop through the quiet (except for the dance class) park. There were no dogs to play with and I’m thinking of keeping today low key. I threw in one fun and easy “Schnee” recall when Chai was already about to turn my way, reinforcing it with “chase” and 3 ball tosses. Her ball game was a bit lacksadaiysical today in terms of returning the balls, but it was a lovely recall and a fun “chase” reinforcer! Recall 9/10 for Silvia – check!
We then walked home on a collar (5-35 steps between treats). I upped the rate of reinforcement to every 5th step when passing a single dog and a group of dogs. Chai did SO well today! I used to feed a lot more when passing dogs, and now she’s just rocking it!
Home alone
Chai stayed home with Game for 5 hours while I co-worked with a friend, and then again alone by herself during Game’s brief pre-rain walk.
“Cape ONNNNN!”
For the first time, I announced the service dog vest (cape) and put it on, fed the unimpressed Chai a few treats that required her to move around and then “Cape OFFFF”ed her again. Tomorrow, we’ll go to the airport for the first time. She will probably not wear the cape – it’s still new to her – but if someone asks, I want to be able to put it on without her freaking out!
“Frog” progress
I used the remainders of Chai’s meal for the day for two frog sessions. For the second one, I did not fold the pillow! This is a great calm day activity, and my (randomly discovered) trick of feeding with Chai’s head off the couch is helping her to not try and crawl towards me: there is nowhere to crawl when your front end is at the edge of A couch!
House training
Woohooo! I’ve got a 3-week/21 day-streak!
July 20, 2023
Activity level: average
Morning fun and formal recall success
Chai nailed her single-rep success recall with our latest barrier strategy – a closed container I will open for her after recalling for chicken. Go Chai!!! Then she got to run around with several dogs she knows at that park, found a mud puddle to lie down in and is now – after half an hour of training and off leash fun – peacefully asleep on the couch.
Rough-housing – and a break at the exact right moment
After resting up, Chai and Game enjoyed some fun roughhousing around the apartment. Timing was perfect – the people in the apartment below us were also being loud, so I didn’t worry about them being bothered by the dog nails screeching on my floor (their ceiling). After roughousing, I scooped up Chai to put her in the bathroom for a break … and when I came in just minutes later for my own bathroom break, she had already peed in the shower. Yay for great timing! May the housetraining streak continue!
Even juvenile dogs who are already learning where to do their business may forget when they are all wrapped up in playing – until they can’t hold it anymore and pee on the spot. Supervision still matters (even more so with Chai who hasn’t learned to pee outside as a young puppy, but really with any young dog.)
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone while Game and I went for a brief late morning/C-gets-a-brownie walk. The person working the place that sells the brownies already knows me and invited me to come in WITH my dog(s) the next time: they had seen that I asked them to wait outside every time and let me know they are welcome. People are lovely!
Chai had another brief home-alone stay on Game’s evening loop.
Husbandry
Chai got brushed – she’ll look good at her first day at the airport!
“Cape onnnn!”
We practiced putting on, walking with and taking off the service dog vest one more time, just in case. (I didn’t end up using it at the airport.)
Airport adventures
Getting ready: when going to a place that your dog may consider indoors as well as outdoors – be sure to bring cleaning supplies just in case! (We didn’t need them. Tip: if you get Nature’s Miracle, do NOT get the “melon burst” scented version I accidentally bought. It smells disgusting.)
Left: be prepared – don’t forget your cleaning supplies! Right: airport parking garage. Ready to adventure!
We went for a socialization trip to the airport, saw LOTS of people, heard suitcases roll on different surfaces, rode the airport elevator and I carried Chai up and down an escalator. She also got smacked in the head with a “Caution-wet floor” sign by a cleaning person in the bathroom who didn’t see Chai and just bounced back. She took it all in stride. Go Chai!!
The only thing that didn’t go as well as it could have: Chai threw up in the car on the way to the airport. She happily got in again after our adventure though. No fallout from car sickness so far. Fingers crossed it stays this way!
After getting home, Chai joined Game’s sniff loop to empty out the puppy so she could hang out in the living room without accidents. Just now, a bit after 6PM, both dogs got to go on a short pre-rain loop – and we got an empty puppy again!
I tried two frog sessions with the tired evening puppy: one with the (unfolded) pillow and then one without a pillow. She couldn’t do it without the pillow so we went back to the pillow for session #2. Short and sweet, praising gently and releasing with “okay.” Me putting the pillow on the couch is becoming a cue – Chai goes right into frog position! Feeding off the edge of the couch keeps her from crawling forwards!
House training
New week – time to start a new streak!
It looks like I might really get that massage …! Only 6 more days!
July 21, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We spent half an hour at the park. Game got to sniff and chill and Chai played with her dog friends and worked on positions in between. She did great!
Home alone
+ Chai stayed home alone for Game’s noon loop.
+ Both dogs stayed home for a little over 3 hours while I ran errands at a no-dogs-allowed place, and again briefly when I picked up dinner.
Shaping
+ We repeated yesterday’s session from bowl #2 to #3 (no video). Next time, we’ll start with #3 right away!
I trimmed Chai’s ear fur back a little: another no-big-deal (for Chai anyways) grooming procedure preceded by an announcement.
Frog
We worked on the frog behavior again. Silvia agreed with my plan of taking out the pillow and filling the pillow case with smaller and smaller things. First, I tried just a hoodie but that was too hard. A hoodie, a t-shirt and shorts did the trick though! We’re already downsizing from the pillow in the pillow case and it’s looking good!
The evening
The dogs did some gentle roughhousing, the three of us had snuggles on the couch, went on an evening pee loop together (yay for empty puppies) and had fun with informal toy play in the apartment (with both dogs at the same time and the always-out toys). We’ve been building gentle fun with tugging between the dogs and me, and Game has been a great teacher for Chai. (No video.)
House training
Wheee! I keep winning at my game! House training, including the version of it I am doing, is mostly a matter of consistency and vigilance: I know when it’s safe to let the puppy into the living room and when it isn’t, and she does already pick up some slack for me, like the other day when she herself went to the bathroom (the door is always open) to pee and poop while I was distracted and let her in the living room too long.
After week #4 (which may or may not be in only 5 days), I’ll up the ante on myself and try to get more and more outdoors pees. I still have to make up the rules of the new game, but I think I might do something along the lines of “green check mark any day she pees outside more often than in the bathroom” to start with.
We’ll also have to take a closer look at pooping again once I’ve streaked through week 4: Chai hasn’t pooped outdoors in a while, just in the shower. I’ll have to go back to massaging her belly and spending more hours working from a park office rather than from home: after the pee games, I’ll come up with a poop game! (These games are for me, of course, not for Chai: they motivate me to set her up for house training success every day. I hope to get her as house trained as she is capable of becoming, which, due to her unknown past, may or may not be fully housetrained.)
One of Chai’s favorite spots because she can reach the toilet paper from there if I forget to put it out of reach – and toilet paper is FUN!
Chai and I then walked to another neighborhood in harness mode to meet Alan and Kiba. We started off with my new recall plan for Border Collie stares/recalls: shaping. I’d wait her out at the end of her leash and then release her as soon as she gave me a weight shift or any sign of reorientation. This was easier said than done, as you’ll see if you follow the link in this paragraph.
I’ll be helping Alan with Kiba next week so I may be able to repeat the set-up. What I want to change next time: call her the moment she gives me a check in rather than immediately releasing. Feed and release! This may be clearer to Chai – and it brings us closer to the actual goal, which is a recall anyways!
We then just hung out and Chai and Kiba got to socialize with Ivan’s Border Collies and their dog sitters. Nicole had fun throwing Kiba’s squeaky ball for Chai, and Chai found a non-intimidating way of interacting with Nicole, a kid who is at the park a lot and wants to hug all the dogs!
On the way back – harness mode again because I was out of treats – Chai waited for me outside a store. Good girl! Waiting is no problem, even when Game is not with her! She trusts I will be back for her.
More shaping
After coming home, I worked on the frog twice for a handful of treats each. Silvia’s feedback on my last video (see above):
“Left leg looks great here – but right seems a bit harder (going out 2nd, leaning to the left when she does so), so I would stay on this height for a bit to get her totally relaxed with the right leg as well before fading the support further.”
Silvia Trkman
For now, we are staying with the hoodie, t-shirt and shorts in the pillow case!
After a little break, we went back to single-paw target shaping in 4 brief sessions. It is coming along nicely!
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone during Game’s potty walk at noon and Game and Chai stayed home alone when I met folks for a picnic at a no-dogs allowed (sniff) section of Chapultepec.
… and MORE shaping!
After getting back home, we did a 4-in session, starting right away with bowl #3! Chai did well!
An evening loop …
The three of us went on an evening loop during a rain break. Unfortunately, it didn’t result in empty puppies … so Chai went to bed (aka to into the bathroom) a little earlier than usual. No living room time for puppies who still need to pee! I want my weekly brownie!
This evening walk came with a startle for Chai: right in front of us, someone at the wall to our left tossed a rolled-up sweater to someone standing at a car to our right. The person catching the sweater was wearing an (according to Chai) creepy and unusual yellow dress. Chai growled for a second before I interrupted her with a scatter cue, tossing the treats ahead and away from the people, and then we quickly moved on. (I know, Chai! You never know what articles of clothing the big city will throw at you next!)
After returning to our headquarters to strategize, I decided to start over with the last successful step: a closed plastic container taped shut. I also changed my reinforcement strategy: not only would Chai get a handful of chicken – I’d also open the kibble container for her after the “okay” release. She has taught me that she needs both reinforcers for me to be successful: knowing that she can reach a distraction, even if it is lower value than what I have, trumps coming back to me unless she also gets that distraction. So we’ll try for a compromise: what, little Border Collie, if I reinforce you from my hand AND give you access to the distraction after?
A closed plastic container!
July 18, 2023
Another barrier attempt at distraction #3 at the park! The reinforcer: a handful of chicken (rather than a single piece), “okay” release, and I am opening the plastic box for Chai to eat the kibble distraction as well: look how powerful your person is! That opposable thumb thing is quite amazing!
5-rep session:
In the session above, I set Chai (or rather myself) up for success in all the ways I could: we haven’t done any impulse control work today and she has already had some time running around to get out the cabin fever. I also made sure she acclimated to the space I was going to train in before setting up.
When acclimating, Chai met two toddlers (human kids her age who were fascinated watching her). Nice experience! They just watched each other; no direct contact, which is perfect.
Then our first session with the closed see-through container taped shut took, as you just saw, FIVE reps until we got a success! Good timing: after rep #5, I was both out of kibble and chicken.
This is fascinating to me! Chai clearly learned yesterday that in this situation, she can blow through her recall because she’ll get the kibble – and this set us me back in the sense that she now also tries going for a closed container that she used to succeesfully recall away from in the past!
With the adjusted reinforcement ritual, I hope Chai will learn that she’ll get everything (chicken AND kibble) if she comes back, but will not get chicken if she doesn’t. With the closed container, she still got the chicken after trying to open the closed container in vain. Once I use freely accessible kibble, if she doesn’t come back before reaching the kibble, she won’t get the chicken (but still get the kibble if she blows through my recall). We’ll have to see how good the pragmatic little Border Collie’s mental accounting skills are!
Tomorrow morning, we’ll try for a single-rep success at this same location, repeating today’s set-up and reinforcement ritual!
July 19, 2023: will we get a single-rep success after a night’s break?
We changed the direction of the recall … away from the piano mural rather than towards it … because the piano mural stage had a dance class going on. Now if you were a student of mine, I’d tell you to just wait and try for your single-rep success some other time. But I am me and with my own dogs, I LOVE to experiment. Since I knew Chai wouldn’t be able to help herself to the distraction without my help, I decided to give things a try with this slightly different location. I had no idea if she’d succeed the first time – but I wanted to find out! It took her two reps:
Would she have been able to do it in a single rep if we had kept the environment exactly the same (not changed recall directions because of the dance class)? Maybe! Maybe not. There’s no way of knowing! One thing, however, I know for sure: tomorrow we’ll go for that single-rep success again!
July 20, 2023: single rep success with the closed container!
Woohoo! Now just to decide how to proceed from here … I don’t expect the previous strategy of the open container to work – at least not yet. We need another, more different dragon plan! Time to take a break and strategize, little Border Collie …!
After succeeding at the barrier level, I came up with a plan of how to – potentially – set myself up for off-leash recall success. By now, I know that Chai is either a pragmatic dog or is going through a pragmatic phase (she’s a juvenile pup – a different dog every day!)
Either way, I don’t want to wait for her to be older to continue training my formal recall. I’m very much enjoying our strategy game here: Chai’s goal is to get to the distraction as fast as possible, and mine is to convince her that it’s worth her while to come back to me as soon as I call. We are playing a game in which the two of us have different goals. My way of getting closer to my goal is to set up the game board in such a way that it maximizes the probability that I’ll get a recall. Chai’s way of getting closer to her goal is to try and see through my game board set-ups (OR train me to up my reinforcers!)
I’m having fun with this, so I’ll continue. If you were a student of mine, I might ask you to take a training break and revisit the challenge when your dog is a little older. That would be to make things easier for you in case it was a phase rather than your dog’s personality.
In any case, I decided, since Chai has “won” when I presented her with unprotected food distractions in the past, to break down the big step from protected to unprotected distractions by using an in-between step: opening the barrier she has already succeeded at, but leaving that same barrier there in order to remind her of how well things used to go for her when she recalled away from said barrier. After recalling her away from an open barrier (in my case the open plastic box), I’d then recall her from the same distraction without a barrier present.
Note that at this point, I am not following my recall protocol anymore, and quite consciously so: I’m just experimenting with my own dog and I am also curious what I can get away with and how Chai will respond to different set-ups. Having eliminated the empty plate at our last stage, I’ll also eliminate distraction B (the bag that used to have food in it) at this new stage I’m inventing for Chai:
While I’m breaking down the step from closed to open container, I’m no longer splitting down environments. I want to find out if we can take this additional step (open kibble container) as a short-cut to off-leash food success (kibble without barrier in the real world).Note that experiments like this, where I don’t know what the outcome will be, are something I LOVE doing with my own dogs but wouldn’t ask a student to do. My students get tried and true protocols – it wouldn’t feel fair otherwise.
(Still) July 17, 2023: our first park experiment with the open box!
We play at our usual spot, but it’s unusually busy – and a number of the people out here are eating. So we have people weirdness and distracting food smells, which leads to a slower recall response and to a hesitant approach of the kibble box once I release Chai. Since I want to see a response at baseline speed (as fast as if there was no distraction) and the usual joyful approach of the distraction itself after my “okay” release, I’ll repeat this same set-up before checking the box off the list above. She did very well though and recalled despite all the distractions!
We hung out and explored the park for 15 minutes, and then tried again:
Oh puppy! You are making me laugh! This session was really interesting!
Sometimes, the best way is to end and go back to the drawing board, which is my plan here. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but wonder on our walk back from the park: WHY did Chai blow through this recall after nailing it the first time? Here’s a few possible explanations I can imagine:
She only recalled the first time because the people were confusing and Chai didn’t realize what she was even recalling from.
She didn’t recall the second time because the first time, she learned that the kibble container was open. in the second session, she KNEW that we were working with an open rather than closed container and went for it. In the first session, she may only have learned that the kibble had been accessible all along after my “okay” release.
She didn’t recall the second time because right before, during our break, I had removed her from eating something that looked and smelled like a mixture of poop and unidentifyable dead animal (Chai has a sensitive stomach; if not, I would let her eat whatever she finds, like Game) – about 3 or 4 times. (I kept releasing her once we were at a distance from the disgusting food source because she wanted to play with her adolescent Doberman friend Sam. However, inevitably, after a little play, she ended up back at the food source and I ended up walking up and removing her again – it was too good for our “Leave it,” which is still under construction, to work.) Maybe this frustrating experience did not set her up for success in the recall session right after.
We’ve worked on impulse control (“Earn it”/Zen bowl/a marker cue for taking food from a bowl) quite a bit today. Maybe after all this impulse control – impulse control is hard for puppies! – she couldn’t help it and HAD to go for the distraction right away.
Or one of countless other possible reasons!
In any case, I’ll need to come up with a game plan! This distraction recall step is tricky – it keeps coming back to bite us in the butt! I might need to gamify this for myself some more …
I could tell the fact that we didn’t do much yesterday afternoon affected Chai: for the first time, she gave a single bark before I let her out of her luxury kennel (aka the bathroom). She was SO ready to move (and eat)!
The AM …
We had our usual morning walk. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot going on at the park – only a Golden to repeatedly steal a ball from. We ended up leaving earlier than planned and came across an empty small dog park under the highway. It was empty, so instead of one of the usual parks, the girls got to check out this space and all the dog smells in there. Then we headed home, and after Game had breakfast, there was a bit of morning wrestling. Now they’re both snoozing on the couch – perfect for me to start working before heading out again to play with toys or shape Chai!
Toy play
We headed to our toy play plaza for a session – the first one we were going to add a cued behavior to! The only behavior that isn’t a recall and might be on a strong enough verbal cue to hold up under higher-arousal conditions is “touch,” so that’s what I went with. I’m getting positions (sit, down, stand) on verbals, but we are still working on these inside and I don’t trust them to hold out under toy play arousal.
Before we played, Chai got to loop through the park that had A LOT of dogs today. She met and greeted almost every one of them and then was able to fully focus on our toy game.
Walking there and back, we went with harness mode.
The PM …
Chai stayed home alone for Game’s noon walk and got to come on her pre-rain afternoon walk to empty out the puppy and ensure that it was safe to give her living room privileges.
Paw targets!
We worked on ALL the single-paw targets for Silvia Trkman‘s class. I named the behavior, took the name off again some of the time … our sessions were a little messy and a lot of fun! Here’s a compilation of our best reps!
Informal toy play
I’d love to shape, shape, shape more stuff, but because I already used up a day’s worth of food, I am going to take it slow. I will train some more with food – I want to get started on Silvia’s “frog” behavior1 – but for now, we’ll do informal toy play fun as by Silvia’s second To Do List: other dogs around and using always-out toys! When it started thundering outside, Game stopped playing and Chai and I went from tugging three ways on the octopus Chris got us (thank you! It’s being well loved!) to taking turns fetching the dolphin, Game’s shark (again thank you, Chris!) and the octopus. We played for a while until Chai was tired, and then I snuggled her all over to desensitize her some more to being handled. When a puppy is riled up from playing is a perfect desensitization time.
“All the toys are mine!”
Getting started on luring the “Frog” behavior!
After playing and resting a little, Chai was in the right state of mind – a little tired and floppy and lazy – to be lured into the beginning of Silvia’s “Frog” behavior! I’ll be sending them a video to get their feedback since this is the first time teaching this behavior and I suspect there is a way of luring that eliminates some of the crawling I’m getting … maybe it’s as simple as not luring over the crack in the couch she uses to push with her paws … We’ll see!
Now – post frog and post play – Chai is passed out on the floor and Game (now that the thunder has stopped) is asleep on the couch. A peaceful afternoon!
Staying home
Chai stayed home alone for Game’s evening walk. Good puppy!
Housetraining
Getting closer to that brownie!
July 11, 2023 (Day 96)
Activity level: low average
The AM …
We had a short morning walk pre-work – I am planning on taking both dogs out for a good long run before they have to stay home alone for a few hours this afternoon; so I kept our morning outing short. It is clearly harder for Chai to not pull on her harness on a short leash when Game is off leash and Chai hasn’t had a chance to run around freely yet!
Boxes, boxes and more boxes! “Four” shaping
I made sure I got the box behavior from all angles and then named it “Four!” Then, I added a slightly smaller box to the bigger box and named it again after Chai could do “4 in” the smaller box. I took box #2 out of box #3, and she could still do it. Go Chai! I put an even smaller box – box #3, a puzzle box – into box #2. Once Chai could give me 4 paws in box #3, I removed box #2 and we’re now working on getting 4 into just box #2. The reason this is harder for Chai is that the rim of box #3 is only about half as tall as the rim of boxes #1 and #2. Once we’ve mastered box #3 by itself and put the cue back on, I’ll switch to a large plastic bowl (which will, over time, get smaller and smaller in the same way the boxes did). No video today, but next time again!
Fun at the park!
Chai, Game and I went to Fresa Parque and got quite a bit done in 1.5 hours:
Recall fun: one of the items on Silvia’s first To-Do List is to do 10 fun and easy recalls a day. There are lots of fun recalls in Chai’s life anyways. Since I’m following my own recall protocol, I changed this task for Chai: over the next few weeks, I want to consciously do 10 fun and easy, well-rewarded formal (“Schnee!”) recalls that I wouldn’t do otherwise. Today, I crossed off the first two: one for coming back to have the leash taken off and park freedom, and one I snuck in when Chai was happy-zooming in my direction already, reinforced by a treat toss that kept her going along her projectory.
Dog time
Chai and Game got to sniff and explore to their heart’s content. Chai also enjoyed socializing and playing with a few other dogs.
Dog park obstacles just for us and positions
The dog park was muddy and empty, so I used the opportunity to play with both dogs on the “agility” obstacles that Mexican dog parks often come with. Then I sat them both on a “throne” each and worked on sit-stand-sit-stand-sit-stands. This was harder for Chai, but I believe both seeing Game’s example and my hand signals or treat lures helped. She’ll be a pro at this in new environments soon!
Quesadilla stand and foot-on-leash training
I got quesadillas before I headed home, and as we were waiting, Chai got to practice her foot-on-leash-means-down cue. She immediately lied down this time! Superstar! Game got to practice holding a cued down next to Chai.
Foot-on-leash down (Chai) and obedience down (Game) at the quesadilla stand!
Harness fun
We’ve been walking in harness mode. I notice that this has recently gotten harder for Chai. One explanation is something Chris Cernac pointed out to me (thank you; this makes so much sense and I had not thought of it before): as puppies grow, their strides get longer. So they may be practicing the same movement that used to keep the leash loose – but all of a sudden, they are faster than you!
Home alone and the evening
Both dogs stayed home without me for 4 hours. Then I took them out in the pouring rain and thunderstorm to make sure the puppy would be “empty” before having her in the living room. It was an excellent experience: I’ve never been out with her during SUCH a downpour, and not only did she experience getting soaked through from above but also saw all kinds of people wearing different rain coats and holding umbrellas. She took it all in a stride AND did really well lying down on foot-on-leash cue as I waited for ice cream.
Unfortunately, Game was too worried about the thunder sounds to pee. So Chai (who was too stimulated by the new wet environment), having no one to imitate, didn’t either and had to go back into her luxury crate (aka the bathroom) when we got home.
When it had almost stopped raining, I took both dogs out again, and this time, Game peed and Chai followed suit, earning her the right to spend the rest of the evening free in the living room.
Because of these two unforeseen walks, I’ll bump Chai’s activity level up to “average” even though she stayed home alone (well, with Game) for almost 6 hours.
Housetraining
If Chai makes it one more day without accidents in the living space, I get a brownie!
July 12, 2023 (Day 97)
Activity level: average
The AM …
We started our walk with the usual stroll through a park in the area – Chai got to run around a bit and briefly play with another juvenile dog – and then walking home, Game off leash and Chai on the retractable leash (it is growing on me!)
Adding a leg tap to getting dressed
I have started adding a leg tap on the respective leg I am about to lift for Chai’s harness to go on before I lift it.2 She’s already weight-sifting away from the right leg when I tap it! I suspect that she’ll soon lift it for me (like a horse who has been trained to lift the leg you tap for cleaning the hoof)! The order of events is now: “Harness OOONNNN!” – leg tap – lift leg, put leg through respective opening in harness – tap other leg, put through respective opening in harness – clip the harness buckle on Chai’s back.
Just like “Harness OOONNN” and “Harness OOOFFF,” the leg tap is an announcement of what is going to happen – not a cue. However, it may turn into a cue over time: if and when she starts lifting her leg(s) herself when I tap them, it will have become a cue (by my definition of cues and announcements).
A box and a frog
In my first work break, it was time for more shaping! I set up the shaping environment, opened the bathroom door and used Chai’s formal recall to call her out. Her reinforcer: a get-it treat and shaping – her favorite game! 3/10 of Silvia’s adapted “fun recalls!”
We then continued working on shaping 4 in with the puzzle box – sans bigger boxes. This is hard for Chai! We kept the session a bit shorter than usual and will probably stay at this stage for a while.
When Chai was tired from trying to fit into the box, I gave her a break and then tried luring her into frog position again, keeping in mind Silvia’s advice to feed in position (and not keep moving my hand) as soon as she stretched her legs. I tried on the bed with two pillows, on the floor (slippery surface for sliding hind legs) and on the couch with a single pillow folded over. She did the best on the couch! This, I believe, is going to stay our frog training space.
Home alone
Both dogs stayed home alone when I went to get streetfood. Chai stayed home alone for Game’s later walk as well!
Chai’s afternoon walk and the park
Chai and I walked a new route in harness mode. She did great and I used a 4-check-ins-treat approach with resets (starting the counter with 1) after circles. She mostly kept the leash perfectly and beautifully loose – this is clearly a lot easier for her when Game isn’t around! She did some lovely leave-it-s and a beautiful wait at the curb and even offered eye contact (for constant treats) when passing 2 dogs. She approached a third one on a loose leash and got to say hi. Go puppy!
She did great lying down on my foot-on-leash cue in a store.
On the way …
We were then going to walk to Fresa Parque in collar mode. We haven’t practiced in a while and it shows – we had to start over with 3 steps between treats (to be fair, the environment was busy and new to Chai) and had made it all the way up to 8 steps between treats by the time we reached the park. We did a few loops, found a pile of kibble (I hope Chai didn’t eat too much of it – tomorrow’s diarrhea or lack thereof will tell!) and greeted (but were too warm and tired to play with) a very cute 7-months-old ACD. Otherwise, there wasn’t a lot going on in terms of dogs. We stopped at the water bowl outside a nearby café for a drink and then walked with 8 steps between treats in collar mode to another little store. Chai did great waiting outside for me.
After the store break, we volleyed between 5 and 15 steps between treats in a familiar street in collar mode.
Note to self: keep working on collar mode!
People socializing …
A friend stopped by and Chai got some social time in the late afternoon.
Evening shaping: more puzzle box fun!
We did two puzzle box shaping sessions. Chai’s got it! She still tends to sit down rather than stand when first making it into the box, but she’s going right to 4 in from all angles! I’ll get rid of the sit and re-attach the cue (“Four!”) tomorrow – and then we’ll move from boxes to ever-shrinking bowls!
I have again fed more than Chai’s daily meal in training. This is why I LOVE dogs who will work for kibble! Otherwise, all my dogs would eat is hotdogs! With Chai, I’m not concerned about her eating “too much”: she inevitably has stomach issues after finding food in the street that will give her two days of diarrhea, so eating more than her share on most good stomach days is just fine for her – it probably balances out nicely.
Evening walk
Chai went on Game’s evening walk to make sure I’d have an empty puppy who could spend the evening with us in the living room. Game was off leash and Chai in harness mode. Yep, definitely still harder for her to keep the leash loose when Game is way ahead of her! Hopefully she’ll soon get to join the off-leash fun herself.
House training
Woohooo! Tomorrow I’ll get my brownie!
July 13, 2023 (Day 98)
Activity level: average (low cognitive, high physical)
Early this morning, we had a very brief loop including a few minutes at the empty dog park under the highway because Game felt zoomy and I didn’t want her to zoom into the street.
Later in the morning, Chai went on a brief empty-out-the-puppy walk around the block with Game, waited outside a bakery and briefly stayed home alone while Game and I ran another errand.
In the afternoon, the lucky dogs spent 3 hours running around and swimming at Chapultepec with a friend and me, ate lots of treats and practiced informal recalls.
I also saw/heard her growl for the first time ever when she saw someone rope-jumping while we were taking a break from walking and sat on a park bench. We played LAT with the rope jumper for a while. In an ideal world, there would have been no need for LAT – but it is nice to pick up training opportunities when they present themselves!
We talked and had fun and I forgot that cellphones existed, so today’s only picture is the aftermath:
I feel as sleepy as they look!
A new harness (creating a third leash-walking context)
Today was the first time I used the second harness I’ve been keeping ready for whenever I cannot train: a front attachment harness. I will use it if I board Chai or if for whatever reason I walk her and am not able to train-train either harness mode (circles) or collar mode. The goal is to make the front-attachment harness the one I will actually not care about pulling. This happens rarely, but it does when I walk with someone who requires my full attention or when I’m in a hurry or need someone else to walk her for me … It’ll be good to have it. I am not planning on using it in everyday life, but today, I wanted to be able to focus on the conversation with Scarlett even in the short parts of the walk where we needed leashes – so Chai wore her front-attachment harness for the first time.
I may at some point introduce a third harness if I decide to do any pulling sports with Chai. For now, I will focus on circles with the back-attachment (everyday) harness and casual heeling (“With me”) on the collar. The front attachment harness is for special occasions only.
House training
I had my brownie this morning! Time to start week 3/4 of the streak challenge!
July 14, 2022 (Day 99)
Activity level: low
I’m planning on a low-activity day today. As hard as it is for me to not train and train and train, I know there will be a time when I won’t be able to – and now is the developmental period that sets Chai’s needs and expectations for the future. One calm day a week – I can do this. I’ll allow myself just a liiiiiitle bit of shaping and not much else. No two days worth of food. No hours and hours of hiking and play. Calm days for Chai. Calm days for me! If I want to do more than that, Game will be ready!
Our usual morning walk included a brief stop to sniff-explore off leash at the highway dog park because our usual morning park had bread and other food for pigeons and squirrels all over the place, and I hadn’t brought anything that could trump that kind of distraction. Chai is a foody with a sensitive stomach. I don’t mind her scavenging a bit either way (it is a very dog thing to do and I don’t want to deny my dogs this pleasure), but the amounts of easily available food out today were just too to unclip Chai’s leash. So she and Game got to go into the highway park instead. While ugly to my human eyes, the dogs tend to enjoy sniffing that space. Some very interesting peers must be visiting it at other times of the day, leaving fascinating olfactory messages.
All other outings today will be only to empty out the puppy! I wrote it down – it’s going to happen!
What I learned from today’s shaping sessions
Today was a didactic session for me! I love what fantastic teachers my dogs are! Today, I learned two things:
For the “4 in” behavior, I was raising criteria too fast: I was adding the cue before the behavior was ready.
In the first session, you’ll see me add the “Four” cue back into the box game but Chai sometimes sits and sometimes only has 3 paws in (I only notice after clicking or feeding because of my angle of view). Good training decision: I took the cue off again!
The way I use the clicker is ambiguous. This is becoming even more obvious to me now that I’ve been using multiple marker systems for years. I practically only use a clicker in shaping sessions anymore. And unlike any other marker cue, its meaning changes: sometimes, it means “stay in position.” (Outside of a shaping session, this would be “Good.”) Sometimes, it means “chase the treat.” Outside of a shaping session, this would be “Get it.” Sometimes, it means come to my hand for a treat (outside a shaping session, this would be a tongue click). Sometimes, it is a terminal marker (it ends the behavior) and sometimes, it is not (I want the dog to keep performing the behavior after the click because I’m shaping duration). None of this ambiguity exists in my marker cue system. You’ll see me adapt the way I feed in the second 4-in session today to avoid this ambiguity and not have to withhold treats or lure after the click.
Session #1:
Session #2:
This brings up an interesting philosophical question for me: do I want to start shaping with multiple marker cues? It would certainly add clarity to the process AND increase understanding of the marker cues WHILE teaching a new behavior. On the other hand, it is really fun to use a clicker in shaping. I like seeing the dog figure out what I want in any given session. Maybe I even like a little ambiguity and that they have to always discover what the click means from scratch when we work on a new behavior. I like the flexibility it requires of my dog and the adaptability it requires of me.
The two shaping sessions above are all the Chai-training I’ll do today. Note to self: remember calm days! I wanted to get to the bowl AND to the naming phase, but it will have to wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow, I’ll allow myself ALL the shaping fun again! I may also see Alan and Kiba – I’ll have to try and keep the pups’ playtime to an hour or so to avoid a “high” activity day which would require yet another “low activity” day this week! I don’t think I have another low activity day in me!
I also need to make sure not to stop working on life skills these days! I’m having so much fun with our tricks that our life skills are in danger of being put on the back burner.
Chilling in frog position
Some more of Chai’s meal was spent on luring her into and chilling in frong position. This feels like a very low-key behavior for a calm day, especially after Silvia pointed out to me that they eventually want the dog to be perfectly relaxed in this position (it’s a stretching exercise for active dogs). I added “good” as a (room service) marker this time.
I am proud to report that I haven’t yet used up all of Chai’s food AND am not planning on doing any more “formal” training today. The rest will just be eaten on empty-out-the-dog around-the-block walks or as a simple scatter.
Home alone
Both dogs stayed home while I dropped off laundary, and Chai stayed home when Game and I went to the supermarket, the bakery and to brush her outside. And then again for Game’s longer-than-usual evening walk. Home alone training is something else that goes perfectly well with calm days! So is …
… husbandry!
+ “Claws,” all four paws. Unfortunately, I cut into the quick on one of Chai’s back right nails on the second paw I worked on. She didn’t seem particularly fazed at the time, but was unhappy with me doing her front right paw two paws later. We got through it: claws announcement – procedure happens. She has been doing very well with this so far, so I expect her to bounce back next week. I may back up to one paw/day again though since the paw she struggled with today was the last one I worked on (two paws after the quick, so more likely related to duration of handling than fear of pain).
Game got her nails done as well (I did too). Chai was fascinated by Game’s Dremel and repeatedly tried to dremel her own nose by shoving it into my Dremel hand. Maybe the Dremel is Chai’s hot stove equivalent. (You know how some kids just HAVE TO touch the hot stove or iron to believe the adults? I was one of those kids.)
Calm days
We had afternoon snuggles on the couch, chewed up an empty bottle, shredded cardboard rolls and the dogs slept (are sleeping now) while I worked (am working). Good puppy; good big girl Game!
Fun-and-easy recall #4/10
Chai got her fourth Silvia-inspired recall that combined a (potential) negative reinforcer with two positive ones: I recalled Chai out of the bathroom into the living room (potentially a negative reinforcer: the door between her and Game and me gets removed), clicked and gave her a piece of chicken (very special and usually reserved for difficult recalls or distraction recalls!) and then cued a scatter and fed the rest of her daily kibble. Yay for calm days – I’ve got a BIG reward left in the end of the day!
House training
I don’t think Chai’d be doing this well if I hadn’t gamified this challenge for myself! Wanting my weekly brownie keeps me vigilant and on top of (otherwise boring) house training things!
July 15, 2023 (Day 100)
Activity level: average
Home alone
3 times without Game, less than an hour each.
LLW (loose leash walking) in collar mode
5-35 steps between treats in the second half of our morning loop. You go Chai!
Easy fun recalls (“Schnee!”)
Twice, I did negative reinforcement (out of bathroom) combined with two kinds of positive reinforcement (“get it” kibble to the shaping station + shaping). We’re at 6/10 recalls!
2 days ago, I stopped taking Chai on midnight walks. She’s got a lot of practice under her collar and I now want her to focus on sleeping through the night without peeing instead.
House training
July 16, 2023 (Day 101)
Now that we’ve made it past Chai’s 100th day with me, I may scale back on my diary entries. I’ll keep them up at least a little longer though because blogging motivates my streak game … but we’ll probably take a break from documenting every single day in a few weeks. We’ll see!
Activity level: average
Noises
There were firecrackers at an intermediate distance this morning and Chai didn’t care! Yay! My tip: if you have a puppy who doesn’t seem to care – play when there are fireworks, or follow each loud noise up with a cookie. Preventative counterconditioning can go a long way since I’ve seen puppies be fine with firecrackers and develop fears as adults (example: Game). With Game, I didn’t do prophylactic counterconditioning because she didn’t seem to care as a puppy – but now she does. I’m hoping to set Chai up for more success by connecting loud noises with fun (play/food) rather than just keeping things neutral as I did with Game in puppyhood.
Chai also doesn’t mind the horribly loud (to me and Game) whistling sound of the camote vendor who was in our neighborhood tonight, clearly audible through the open windows! You go girl!
Home alone …
… with Game for 2:45 hrs, and by herself for Game’s brief evening walk.
Activities
+ Shaping 4 in with only bowl #2, and putting the “Four!” cue back on! I also finished the video compilation of our 4 in work and submitted it to Silvia.
+ A short noon walk with both dogs on short leashes (harness mode for Chai).
+ “Earn it” (Zen bowl; don’t take the food) – 4 sessions.
+ Late afternoon with Game and Chai at Fresa Parque.
+ Barrier (plastic container) recalls in the real world: single-rep success in the second session. (First session had 2 reps; then we took a break looping around the busy park for a while.) In our next session – not today though – I’ll up the reinforcement value by quantity: instead of a single piece of chicken, I’ll use a handful to make sure it’s worth Chai’s while!
House training
This evening, when I was in the bathroom, Chai came in to pee in the shower! Her designated spot! All by herself! Go Chai! I didn’t have food on me but a toy on the bathroom shelf, so that’s what we celebrated with!
I didn’t realize it was about time for her to go – otherwise, I would have put her in the bathroom – but she went herself, keeping my streak alive! Thank you, Chai!
A little later, she went back into the bathroom by herself to poop in her designated spot. This time, I was nowhere near the bathroom myself! Go Chai!!
We’re more than half way to this week’s brownie accomplishment! Just gotta keep it up!
The “frog” is a stretching exercise for canine athletes rather than a trick as such. The idea is that the dog, lying on their belly, stretches their hind legs out completely and holds this position. Puppies have an easier time doing this than adult dogs. If you start with a young dog and do it regularly, they will maintain the skill which, according to Silvia, helps with mobility, agility and injury-prevention. ↩︎
Future me popping in here to say: at the point I was writing this post, Chai was still wearing her puppy harness – a back-attachment one that could only be put on by lifting both front legs. She has since eaten that harness, which is why in the “announcements” video I link to above, you’ll see her current larger harnesses, non of which require legs to be lifted. Leg-taps were short-lived because harnesses are tasty. ↩︎
I’ve decided to chute back down to distraction B (a bag that used to have food in it) at the barrier level (level 2) in the house and build back up from there. I’ll skip distraction A (empty plate) and work with only B (bag that used to have food in it) and C (kibble) instead. I’m calling this recall round 3.2 because it’s the 3rd “new attempt” and I’m starting at level 2 (the barrier/helper stage). The drawing board I went back to after this session says:
I’d worry about all things off leash and barrier free after working through this new barrier plan. I excluded the empty plate – wasn’t it beneath Chai already? Let’s find out!
July 15, 2023: single rep success at the barrier level (level 2) in the house!
Paper bag (intermediate distracton) in plastic container
Kibble (difficult distraction) in plastic container
For now, at round 3 of our distraction adventures, I’ve decided to let Chai check out the barrier, but not provide her with access. For now.
July 16, 2023: the roof, the roof, the roof has distractions …
In the two videos below you’ll see me move towards the distraction to celebrate with Chai rather than away from it (as I recommend you do when working on recalls with your own dog). The reason I move towards the distractions is that I want our reward celebrations to be on camera, and that’s the only way to make that happen since we’re coming around a corner.
Chai does a lovely job with distraction B, the paper bag in the plastic container (barrier):
The next session, we’ll move on to distraction C: kibble in the plastic container! Being good students of my recall protocol, we took a break of personal play and relaxation on the roof before setting up the next challenge:
Chai was being a superstar again! Go puppy! (Once more, my smart student is setting me up for an extinction burst in the future. She knows how reinforcing recall success is for me …!)1
Level 2 (barrier) at the park!
Riding my wave of success, headed back outside in the late afternoon for real-world recalls at the barrier level:
This wasn’t a single-rep success session: I quickly tethered Chai after getting distance with my treat tosses, returned to the camera to reposition the kibble box and then returned to Chai to release her for the second rep of what would end up being the 2-rep session from the video above. We then took a break for some park fun … and had a new session about 15 minutes later:
Single-rep success! And on that note, we called it a successful day! Only distraction C at the park is left, and we’ll test out of the barrier stage again (third time’s a charm?)
July 17, 2023: third time IS a charm this time! Single-rep success on kibble in the plastic box at the park!
I’ve taped the container to make sure Chai can’t get to it, and upped my first reinforcer to an entire handful of chicken.
Single-rep success! We tested out of the barrier level! Go puppieeee!
I’ve completed the barrier plan I made. Now it’s time to go back to our headquarters and figure out how to proceed … our goal, after all, is still off-leash recalls away from unprotected distractions. And I know that Chai is a powerful strategist – as am I! (Insert suspensful music!)
Just joking, of course. She is a dog, not a cunning human! ↩︎
