Tag: dog training

Week 18 digest: July 30-August 5, 2023

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July 30, 2023

Activity level: average

The AM

We started out with half an hour of park time for Game and Chai. There was some playing with old and new friends for Chai, but mostly it was a quiet morning of walking.

Back home, Chai wasn’t tired but wanted to interact. That is excellent: training wasn’t available, but snuggles were and I made sure she got to enjoy them!

Both dogs slept while I worked, and then Chai did her first frog in a different location – Silvia had suggested we try somewhere other than the couch. Below is my video and the text I submitted with it:

“I chose another place where I had a “cliff” to prevent crawling off (the mattress). I’m not sure she’d be able to do this without crawling if there was no precipice … What do you think?“

Noon and beyond

I got a nerdy single-paw shaping session in (see this older post I just updated with more detailed geekery if interested), and then we went for an …

Afternoon walk and a little more shaping

After the shaping session, Chai had some inner pressure to get rid of! She wrestled with Game and then we went for a walk – just Chai and me to check off her daily solo adventure.

We visited two parks and did some collar walking in between. The first time we went back and forth between 5 and 15 steps between treats, the second time between 5 and 25. Good puppy!

We ended the day with a final single-paw target shaping session.

House training

The streak continues!

July 31, 2023

Activity level: average

The AM

We went to one of the parks in our area and Chai had fun with Border Collie Eva and her new 5-months old sister Maki. Their folks Esteban and Viri will take classes with me if Maki gets to stay – I’m excited; she is very cute! (Still on a trial period though.) Today, we also saw a leaf blower at the park (Chai’s first or second one ever) and she didn’t care. Yay!

I’m aiming to mostly use our AM park time for “just being dogs” stuff for both dogs (and of course cueing/paying pees, paying voluntary check-ins as well as recalls and leave it-s).

Chai’s second adventure of the day is a solo one whenever possible and I’ll train in addition to having her run and play and do her own thing.

A frog

After getting home and working a bit, I tried another frog with Chai after reading Silvia’s feedback:

“I think you can try no cliff as well – should be fine at this stage.”

In this video, I kept the “cliff” (fed off the mattress) but tried for more extension. This led to more leg movement. Going forwards, I’ll try to get more extension without (or with less) leg movement on the mattress and, once I have that, without a “cliff.”

Husbandry

+ Brush

Solo adventure

At noon, Chai and I went on her solo adventure. We took a decently long back-attachment-harness walk – hardly any pulling, i.e. this morning’s run and play time must have been just right – and went to the indoors market. This was Chai’s second time there without Kiba. There was more going on today and she was a little weirded out by people playing the trumpet and the drums. That said, she was a trooper and stuck with me through all my purchasing and laid down anytime I stopped at a stand and stood on her leash!

Waiting in all the places!

AND! On our way out, Chai PEED without Game nearby – actually peed, not just marking! – in the spot Game usually pees! Party for the puppy!!!

AND and! Almost home, we ran into two people with 3 dogs and Chai walked up to them on a loose leash! AND to the water bowl in front of the café she likes to drink out of, again on a loose leash!

Shaping!

We started shaping picking up a spoon, but I got lots of paw touches (no surprise there; we’ve been working on so much paw stuff lately!)

After a pee and corner store walk for both dogs, I tried holding the spoon and then switched to a toy. NOW I’m getting mouth action!

Evening fun

Since I’m planning to make tomorrow this week’s calm day, Chai went out for another 45 off-leash park minutes. None of her friends were there but I found a new client with a 2-year old Husky and Chai played with her as well as a 4-months old little Doodle. (I haven’t seen a single Doodle in any of the other parts of Mexico City I’ve stayed/lived for a month or more. This place is clearly more fresa: there are Doodles everywhere.)

I’ve decided that the Mexico City Doodle index goes from -5 to 10. 10 Doodles means a place is very fresa, and I currently live in a 5-Doodle neighborhood. The neighborhoods I like best are 0-3-Doodle places.

House training

Sadly, tonight’s a tie.

The tie between indoors and outdoors pees means we reset week 1 of challenge #2 tomorrow, starting our counter over with day 1 of week 1. (While frustrating, it works out well: tomorrow is the first day of my gamification class. Just like my students and colleagues, I’ll be starting from zero.)

“Do not judge me by my successes – judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again” (as Nelson Mandela supposedly said.)

August 1, 2023

Activity level: low

The AM

35 minutes of play and park loops. Chai met her friend Dina and I got a spontaneous hug from her human – a good way to start the day!

Home alone

Chai and Game stayed home alone for a little over 3 hours.

Cape ONNN!

Since it’s our quiet day, I had and appointment AND it’s the first day of both FDSA classes and my gamification group, we just did a little bit of fun stuff: a rep of “Cape (the service dog vest) ONNN,” chasing treats and hand touches while wearing it and then “Cape OFFF!” Chai is doing great – no body sensitivity with wearing capes or harnesses at all! I wanted to do the Pride sweater I had bought her as well – but turns out she has outgrown it already. That was fast! I’ll have to find someone with a slightly smaller dog to gift it to!

Husbandry

+ “Claws”: I clipped the nails on Chai’s right front paw. She was not happy about it this time so we called it a day after the one paw. I’ll do the next one tomorrow.

She’s a young dog – feelings change. She may just be having a paw-touchy day or she may be growing up to be a dog who doesn’t like her nails clipped after all. We’ll just have to see and find out. In the former case, things should be getting easy again soon. In the latter case, it’s a good thing we started working on nail clipping early!

Frog

Another calm day behavior is the frog. We did two rounds on the mattress without videoing. The first one went well but Chai didn’t fully extend and was a bit wiggly in the second one. Note to self: this stretch may become physically harder the older Chai gets. Make sure to take a longer break between frog sessions in the future!

Park fun

I used a rain break to let the dogs run around the park for 20 minutes (I set an alarm to make sure my planned “low activity” day really stayed low activity. This, together with this morning’s outing, is the max amount of off leash fun I want Chai at 7.5 months to have on a calm day. It was 20 minutes well spent: Game got to go naked (I usually have a bandana or a collar with an ID on her and so I have something to grab if necessary.) But Game sometimes feels itchy when wearing any kind of equipment. Her favorite style is naked, and since it was drizzling and muddy and we had the park to ourselves, she got to be naked today. She zoomed around the puddles and slid through the mud and had the best time. Game and Chai also found a baseball toy they managed to play tug with (even though it was really small!) and did well with a few Leave it-s from various food items. Chai got paid for check-ins and leave-its.

House training

Like yesterday, we ended up with a tie: Chai peed in the shower as often as she peed outside. I promised myself that if I couldn’t get more outside pees two days in a row, I’d lower criteria from more pees outside than inside to at least as many outside as inside pees. So while we’re starting again from 1 today, I’m giving myself that check mark! 


The reason it is so hard to get the outside pees isn’t that I don’t know when to take Chai. I almost always know exactly when she needs to go. The reason is that at this point, most of the time – say 90% of the time – Chai needs two things to be in place in order to pee outside:

  • She needs Game or her friend Kiba to pee or poop first; this inspires marking.
  • She cannot be distracted. This part is difficult: for every inside pee I got today and yesterday, I had just taken Chai outside – and she was distracted when Game peed. This just happens to be a distracting city and I don’t have a yard, so luck (distraction-free moments) is a big factor in our success. 

Anyways, a tie seems to be doable even on distracting days – so I’ll play with these modified rules! When success feels out of reach, games stop being fun. I want the challenge but I don’t want to keep failing more than one day in between successes due to factors out of my control. So check mark #1 – here we go!

No more resets for ties. Let’s set ourselves up for success!

August 2, 2023

Activity level: average

The AM

I set up a park office to work from and also did recalls away from closed container #2, implementing the latest version of my Chai-specific distraction recall strategy! Chai aced it!

We spent about 2.5 hours outside. Park offices are the best!

Husbandry

+ “Claws!” – left front paw. Chai wasn’t exactly happy about it, but significantly calmer than yesterday!

Shaping!

We had three sessions of “4 in” with the cue attached in the last two sessions! Chai is getting better at balancing in our current bowl! Go superpuppy!

We did two shaping sessions of our latest trick with the toy we found at the park yesterday! I love how much she loves to work!

House training

The streak continues and we are on a roll today!

August 3, 2023

Activity level: average

+ Off leash container 2 at location 2: formal recall success!

+ Solo adventure: indoors market, including waiting outside the bathrooms by herself.

+ I park-officed and the dogs were outside for about 3 hours. We also met Kiba and Alan and I got a perfect “Schnee” recall off leash away from Kiba! (Pictures only.)

Shaping

+ 2 “one object in another” sessions. In the first session, the baseball ended up in the bowl in the last rep!

+ 2 “Four” sessions. Today went well! Next time, I’ll be moving my home position back behind my back!

Home alone

Chai and Game stayed home alone for about 3 hours when I went to see friends in the evening.

House training

5 pees outside, 3 pees inside. Go Chai!

August 4, 2023

Activity level: average

The dogs got 30 minutes of off-leash time at the park in the morning. There weren’t any friends to play with but a lot of running around for Chai who also happened to find A LOT of random food, including a fried tortilla-something. (Fingers crossed tomorrow won’t be a diarrhea day!)

Morning shaping

I got home and worked, then did two rounds of shaping one object in another with box #2 I had used for the 4-in game. It’s bigger than the water bowl and the results showed! Good puppy!

Solo adventure

Chai and I walked to and through the indoors market for a while. We came across 2 scary balloons on the floor and conquered them with magic hands, both inside the market and later outside (they had clearly been thrown out so I took them with me). I purchased container #3 at the market: a live mouse trap (I wanted a wire-cagey thing and this was perfect.)

Foot-on-leash cue at the market.

We went into the dog park near the market because Chai let me know she would like to greet the only dog inside – an older Vizsla. They played briefly and then Chai, unprompted, peed in the dog park! Lots of treats for the best girl!

We then set up and did a long-line recall away from kibble in the mouse trap – Chai didn’t even get close before she checked in and I took it as a cue to call her. We looped around the park a bit and then did a second recall set-up in a different corner off leash. She aced it again! Even though the mouse trap looks nothing like containers #1 and #2, Chai patiently waited for me to get out the food for her. Good girl!

As of today, we are working with dried liver as the high value reward – we ran out of chicken. However, if tomorrow is a diarrhea day, I can’t necessarily blame the liver … the lucky girl found even more street food on her outing.

We walked part of the way home in collar mode with 5-20 steps between treats. It was hard for Chai today though and we switched back to back-clip harness mode after a short stretch.1 I stopped at a corner store to pick up toilet paper and Chai waited outside, and then we made it home where the little one is now passed out on the floor while I’m working and Game is relaxing on the couch.

Afternoon shaping

Two rounds of four in – one with home position on my thigh, one with home position behind my back. She worked hard and did well with bowl #5!

Home alone

Both dogs stayed home alone for a little over 3 hours.

House training

Today was another tie of inside and outside pees. I’m glad I’ve changed the rules for ties to count! Otherwise, this would be my third streak break in a week, which would be highly demotivating. Maybe after getting my 4-week streak, I’ll do another round of 4 weeks where ties don’t count? A ver.

Have you ever gamified your dog training (or something else in life)? What game did you play and did you find it helpful? Let me know in the comments!

August 5, 2023

Activity level: high (VERY high physical, low mental)

Rachel, Miriam, Ari and I spent all day at Los Dinamos with the dogs, including 4 hours of relatively strenuous (for a young dog) climby hiking. With the exciting drives (being held on laps), four hours of off-leash, steep climby hiking, playing in elbow-deep mud and getting cleaned off twice (once with a hose at a restaurant and once in the shower at home), both dogs are the good kind of tired today.

Some of the highlights:

+ Meeting a new person (Ari). Chai warmed up to them much faster even though Ari pet her entire body right away. Very little avoidance behavior! She rocked it and then chose to take turns sitting in Miriam’s and Ari’s lap in the back seat on the way to Los Dinamos.

People – as important as dogs!

+ Meeting random hikers – one or two at a time – in the woods. As a Mexico City puppy, Chai hasn’t really had this experience before, except for the one time I took her and Game out to a different section of that same nature preserve. She did phenomenal: I scattered to the side of the road anytime strangers passed us and Chai only gave a single bark of insecurity the very first time someone showed up out of nowhere. Then, the counterconditioning effect kicked in full force and she was no longer worried at all. Game modeling indifference probably helped as well.

+ Getting to run and climb and jump over obstacles. All puppies I’ve previously raised have grown up with natural obstacles – only Chai hasn’t really because the city center doesn’t have these kinds of obstacles. And yet, she was fantastically coordinated and made it across fallen trees, climbed rocks and ran and jumped with Game over rocky, root-y steep trails as well as walking them more slowly on leash. The only obstacle she needed help with was a deep artificial canal she was afraid to jump across (I picked her up and jumped with her).

This is very interesting, especially when I compare Chai to Mick. I got Mick as an adult. He probably had a lot of time running off leash as a puppy, but no obstacle practice – and when I got him at age 2, he was VERY clumsy. So was Fanta who I also got as an adult, and who most definitely did a lot of running as a young dog – but likely never met an obstacle in his life before me.

I wonder how much of a difference body awareness tricks like 4 in, paw targets and the frog are making for Chai and how much is just getting to run and play with other dogs in general. Or maybe it’s mostly genetic – who knows! In any case, it was really fun to observe how well she dealt with her new environment.

+ She settled with Game on a mat (my hoodie) when we took a hiking break at La Boca del Cielo.

+ Game and her settled outside the car while we had lunch: waiting and relaxing outside for quite a while in a new place – check!

+ We did one fun and easy “Schnee” recall when Chai was trotting away from me but not towards anything in particular. (Gotta make sure I balance our formal recalls out with fun and easy ones!)

+ She wore her pulling-allowed (front clip) harness for the second time because I didn’t want to slow the others down with my dog training.

+ No throwing up on the way there and back when she rode in people’s laps!

Here’s a compilation:

And the best news:

House training

As far as I can tell, ALL pees and two poops happened outside today! (Except for a third poop in the crate on the car ride home. The crate may happen to be a place Chai has learned to go anytime she has to in her previous home (she may not have had the opportunity to leave). In any case – happy to report that as of now (9:30pm), we had zero pees inside and two poops in addition to her pees outside!

Proud of a check mark that’s not a tie but a crystal clear win!

Inching closer to the next brownie!

Husbandry

+ An unwelcome shower! Game got one as well, and I got two. We were all covered in delicious mud! Not anymore though!

  1. Speaking of loose leash walking: I’ll be running an intense 4-week group for anyone who wants to work on this. You get to pick one of 6.5 R+ based approaches for your dog, are welcome to work together with housemates or partners, your dogsitter or other co-dog-caregivers and will get time-stamped video feedback. E-mail me for details or to sign up! ↩︎

Chai’s formal recall, iteration 5.2: the barrier level(s) – kibble container #3 (wire mouse trap)

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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!

Chai’s formal recall, iteration 5.2: distractions at the barrier levelS! A new plan! (Enter kibble container #2!)

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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!

CHAIARY – TRICKS: PICK UP OBJECT/PUT ONE OBJECT IN ANOTHER ONE (part 1)

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July 31, 2023

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.

Week 17 digest: July 23-29, 2023

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July 23, 2023

Activity level: average

The AM

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.

Shaping

We worked on bowl #4 and then bowl #5 inside of bowl #4. Superpuppy rocked it!

The PM

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!

CHAIARY – TRICKS: 4 PAWS IN A BOWL (part 2)!

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July 26, 2023

Session #1:

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!

CHAIARY – TRICKS: 4 PAWS IN A BOWL (part 1 revisited)!

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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.

Chaiary – week 16 digest: July 17-22, 2023

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July 17, 2023

Activity level: average

Mostly bullet points today!

Activities

+ 45 minutes at the park: running and playing with other dogs and a single-rep success recall off distraction #3 (kibble) behind the closed plastic container barrier. Woohooo!

+ 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.

+ Chai and I walked back to Fresa Parque and repeated the next formal recall step I had come up with … with fascinating results. This girl is challenging me and I love it!

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 just had 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!

4 in (“Four!”)

We went from bowl #2 down to bowl #3! This is HARD and Chai is being a superstar!

Frog

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!

+ We worked on single-paw precision targeting.

Husbandry

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!

July 22, 2023

Activity level: average

The AM

We started out with a round of paw-target shaping, just like yesterday.

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!)

House training

Woohooo! Almost halfway through the week!

Distraction recall round 4 – chuting back to a closed container, or: Chai’s formal recall: the barrier levelS (plastic kibble container #1)!

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Enter: a new reinforcement strategy

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 …!

CHAI’S DISTRACTION RECALL TRAINING, ROUND 3.3.1: breaking down the transition from barrier to off-leash recalls

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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:

  1. She only recalled the first time because the people were confusing and Chai didn’t realize what she was even recalling from.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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 …