The title of this iteration is 6L3: 1/2.0/3.B: 6th training plan adaptation, 3rd location (L3), levels 1 (holding on to long line), 2.0 (back tie) and 3 (off leash) with distraction B (kibble). Slow and steady wins the race!
The day before yesterday, Chai had an easy taco recall at the Urban Enrichment Jungle. Today, we are back to the first distraction session in our third location: Kiba’s Park!
October 5, 2023: first session in location 3
We’ll start out with holding the long line in my hands. I’ve got a taco de canasta con chicharrón ready and will release Chai to the intermediate distraction (kibble) by dropping the long line after a successful recall. Let’s see how things go today!
Success!
Our next recall will be an easy taco one, followed by one with the distraction in the exact same location at Kiba’s Park … and a backtie! Slowly and steadily, we are getting closer to our highest value distraction!
October 7, 2023: back-tie success!
After yesterday’s easy taco recall at Toy Play Plaza (no video), today, it was time for the back-tie distraction recall! Chai knew this was a set-up but she didn’t know exactly where it was:
You can’t see the back tie – but it stayed loose! Go puppy!
I should do the easy taco recall tomorrow in the same space since there will be no empty target session this time! And then … off leash!
October 9, 2023: intermediate distraction off leash in location 3/3 – success!!!
Chai got an easy taco recall at the Dead Poultry Park yesterday, and today, I picked up 3 freshly made tacos de canasta de chicharrón and we tackled our last stop in the intermediate distraction recall stage: off leash, unprotected intermediate distraction (kibble), location 3 with the first taco. She did it!!! Another easy taco recall next, and then we’ll be ready to start with – drumroll – DIFFICULT distractions!
Chai’s distraction recall plan – all the way across the finish line!
Next recall: easy taco recall (whenever possible, get tacos from the stand across the street from the community center).
Repeat long line/kibble, back tie/kibble, off leash with empty visual target (if the location calls for a target), off leash/kibble in 2 more locations.
Intersperse all distraction recalls with an easy taco recall and always release Chai to the distraction after the recall.
Then, go through 3 locations, using all the same splitting steps, with a high-value distraction (chicken or liver). If it turns out to be necessary, test out what Chai prefers and, if it’s not a taco, switch to a different and even higher value street food reinforcer.
September 27, 2023: getting back into the groove – supercharging “Schnee” with an easy recall followed by a taco reinforcer
Location: Urban Enrichment Jungle
Tacos de birria from Octavio for our first 3 recall rounds!
I’m going to make this park the second location for kibble-distraction recalls. Since we go there most mornings, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to train!
We’ll have our next session tomorrow morning:
+ Approach kibble on a long line, call when the leash is still loose. + Aim for an immediate response on a loose leash. + Make sure Chai can’t reach the kibble in case she does not respond.
September 28, 2023: Long line/kibble success!!
Location: Urban Enrichment Jungle (a different spot than yesterday)
We started our morning outing with a recall on a long line. Chai was a superstar – but unfortunately the video doesn’t show things well because the angle isn’t quite right and I didn’t bring a tripod. In any case – here’s the superstar rocking her recall!
Our next recall will be an easy taco one again – and the time after we’ll move on to the backtie stage I am doing as a fail-safe instead of stepping on Chai’s leash!
September 30, 2023 – back tie loose leash recall success and tacos de canasta!
Yesterday, Chai got an easy taco recall (no video).
Today, it was time for the back tie! I believe Chai knows this is a set-up. In any case, we got a beautiful recall on a loose back tie! Only hickup: the jogger bumping into her. But she doesn’t seem to mind! Her reinforcer today was a taco de canasta – the first one she has had, I believe – with chicharrón. I’ve got two more for the next recalls, and I had two for lunch myself: one with frijoles and one with papas. Yumm! It’s safe to say we are fans!
October 2, 2023: empty target success!
Chai successfully recalled away from an empty kitchen towel (visual target) at the Urban Enrichment Jungle off leash! Go puppy! I took video but most of the action happened off screen, so I won’t bore you with it.
October 3, 2023: off-leash taco recall away from intermediate distraction – check!
… we mastered the off-leash taco recall!!
The video above concludes our intermediate distraction sessions in location 2/3. For our next sessions, the plan is:
+ Easy taco recall. + Recall away from intermediate distraction (kibble) on loose hand-held long line in location 3/3. + Easy taco recall. + Recall away from intermediate distraction (kibble) on back tie in location 3/3. + Easy taco recall. + Off-leash recall away from intermediate distraction (kibble) in location 3/3!
Deciphering this post’s iteration code: 6L2: 1/2.0/3.B: 6th plan, location 2, levels 1 (hand-held long line), 2.0 (back tie) and 3 (off leash), distraction B (kibbel).
If I’m not mistaken, my reinforcer for the kibble recalls is liver in all the videos below (same value as chicken).
Container 3, location 1
I started on a long line. She reoriented as soon as she spotted the container – so I took a break to loop around the park and then set up in a different part of the park off leash!
Well done, puppy!
Container 3, location 2
Two days later at our toy play plaza. You go girl!
Container 3, location 3
Yet another park for our third location!
Session 1
In real time, I had the impression that Chai’s response was below baseline speed (even though it looks good on the video). To be on the safe side, I took a break and then did another session in a different part of the same park. (Note that my new Chai-tailored recall strategy is not like my distraction protocol: I get to take a break right away and then try in a different location.)
Session 2
After a 10 or 15 minute break; different location in the same park.
In the video above, Chai definitely turned on a dime! Achievement unlocked!
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!
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 …!
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! ↩︎
