Today, we started working on the sit up trick. I did 8 very short session, starting with 4 refreshers of the 2-paws-on-a-plate behavior and then experimenting with how to best position myself and the plate to provide a sit-up target for Chai. Since I’m too tired to edit all 8 videos, I’ll show you one of our recap videos and a small sit-up compilation. The last one is the one I’m submitting to Silvia Trkman1 for feedback – this is one of the tricks on their list!
Recap: 2 front paws on a plate
Sit up compilation
I like how Chai is did and I believe I’ve found a good angle for her to put up her paws by the end of this compilation. In the last rep, she was great. I, on the other side, forgot to mark. It happens! It doesn’t matter. We are having fun!
August 23, 2023
It’s our second day working on the sit-up behavior! We had five short sessions over the course of the morning. Below a compilation of the last ones with my thoughts in the subtitles!
August 28, 2023
Sessions 1 & 2
I waited for Sylvia’s feedback about what position in my video was the best before progressing to session 3. It’s at 01:55 in the video below! A 90° angle to the floor. I need to feed a little back and up to prevent Chai from leaning.
Sessions 3-5
It’s hard for me to see whether Chai’s back is straight (that elusive 90° angle I can only make out when reviewing videos). The mirror doesn’t help (I need to find a better position for it). Maybe a back rest will make a difference?
Silvia’s feedback on my couch session:
“Last try was really good, but seems that this was harder because of the soft surface under her, so I would go back to what you did in the previous video. You should be able to feel how much weight she is putting on a plate to know how good her position is.“
I’m curious about Silvia’s feedback regarding Chai’s wandering butt!
August 30, 2023
Silvia’s feedback:
“You can set her so there is a wall behind her to prevent shuffling. […] It’s also about strength […], so maybe she is leaning so much because she has to – and shuffling because it’s too hard. So do let her lean a lot if she needs to, avoid too many repetitions […] and just give her the time she needs to build the strength needed.”
So today, we had a single session in the morning with the wall behind Chai’s back. I might have one more – equally short – tonight. In any case, going forwards, I’ll do two short 1-rep sessions/day at the most with this trick.
August 31, 2023
Another sit-up with a wall behind Chai’s back!
This time, Chai was so close to the wall that she was leaning against it. I paid attention to my mechanics and stuck to the session profile I decided on. I’m happy with this session!
Silvia’s feedback:
“I would do a couple of sessions more like this and then fade the wall when you feel it’s getting really easy for her.“
So that’s the plan! I did another session the next day – September 1 – but won’t add the video since it doesn’t show much new.
September 4, 2023
I videoed again and asked Silvia whether what I’m seeing in the clip below is what they are referring to as an “ugly sit”:
Silvia explained in their response that a good sit up requires the lower back legs of the dog to face straight forward. Chai usually doesn’t do that but has them angled to both sides (that is indeed what Silvia calls an “ugly sit.” Here is Silvia’s latest feedback on my last video (which I didn’t share on the blog because I didn’t have time):
“Yes, this was definitely ugly sit all along. I think she has learned she can use the wall [we’ve used the wall as a back support] best if sitting that way, so I would rather move away from the wall – it’s better if she leans forward as sitting like this. You can get a straight sit by having her sit on a narrow block. You can also use very low front feet support at first – that will of course put lots of weight on front feet, but as I said, that’s still better as an ugly sit. To see it in real time, look at her feet and make sure her feet are parallel and directly under her.”
September 6, 2023
I’m not a fan of the word ugly, but I like the idea of using a sit platform the narrowness of which requires Chai to keep her lower legs parallel and facing straight ahead. I just have to find something I can use as a platform. I haven’t yet, so today’s video is simply one that doesn’t use the wall for support. In this video, I am paying attention to Chai’s back leg position when sitting and before the sit up. And I notice that she seems to generally sit with her legs angled sideways (which then just stay that way when she sits up). I’m curious what Silvia has to say!
Silvia’s feedback on my September 6 video:
“You were seeing it correctly and on those two tries the sit was definitely good enough to ask for the sit up. Her form was much better here as in the last two videos, so I would continue like this until you get a narrow block for her to sit on. Her sit could indeed still be better, but somewhat east-west like here is still acceptable. When her weight is on her butt and her paws are not weighted at all, then it gets bad though – but you didn’t get any of these here, so that’s good!“
Silvia also confirmed that the reason we want straight back legs is fitness-related: certain muscles will only be trained if the dog sits in this way (sitting up that way is harder than sitting with the legs to the side or on their butt. I appreciate the little gems of physiotherapy and fitness I’ve been picking up in Silvia’s class!)
September 8, 2023
My comment to go along with this video: “I can’t tell if Chai is sitting on her butt or not! Is she, and if so/if not: how can you tell?”
Silvia’s response:
“Looks good! To see the difference, compare this to the videos where I said she is sitting on her butt and try to see the difference.“
I need to make time to train my eyes!
I also realized that I can use one of my little crates as a sit platform for this exercise and shaped a sit on the crate in a separate session today:
Silvia’s feedback:
September 11, 2023: another sit-up on the floor session, no wall
My sit-on-the-crate behavior isn’t yet ready to be integrated into the sit up trick … too much hiking and fun with dog friends has been getting in the way! Instead, I took another stab at sitting up on the floor, no wall. I feel like Chai’s legs are less sideways than they used to be – but I’m not sure whether this is actually happening or just wishful thinking on my part! Question for Silvia along with the video below that I just submitted: Do you see us making progress with this trick or are we plateauing?
Notes for the next session:
+ Wait for Silvia’s feedback. + Independently of that, shape the sit on the crate even when I’m kneeling right in front of the crate! She can do it when I stand but hasn’t generalized it to me being on the floor.
September 12, 2023: more sit-ups on the floor
Silvia’s feedback on yesterday’s video:
“Looks good! Definitely making progress yes, so you can continue like this with the sit up. I would still do sit on a box as well and soon also some sit up to stand up, but with support under her front feet (like a box at first and a chair later on) of course.”
I’ll have to re-read Silvia’s lessons and/or re-watch the Silvia’s puppy diary video to see how they go from sit up to stand up. I thought the next step would be sitting up freely – without the plate as support. I’ll investigate!
In any case, as for today, I’m having a session like yesterday (on the floor) and will allow myself the luxury of not videoing (I am SO tired of editing more than I train!)
I have trained free duration stand ups, but I haven’t trained a sit pretty before (I just always thought standing on the back legs was cooler). It’s wild to realize that sit pretty is in fact more difficult – at least for Chai as a learner and for me as a trainer!
This class just started again and you can still sign up for it. If you’re into tricks and/or have a puppy – check it out! I want to give a shout-out to Silvia for being such a kind human being and a generous trainer. The world needs more people like them! ↩︎
Today was perfect for a calm day: while Chai would have been happy to have another active day, I feel fried. I am clearly not used to hours of uphill hiking anymore!
This morning, we just looped around the block. Chai struggled quite a bit not to pull – either because she had been locked into her luxury kennel earlier last night and let out later than usual this morning OR because yesterday, she got to pull on her front-attachment harness. We’re back to the back-clip harness today, but I can’t tell whether yesterday’s pulling experience carried over to today’s first walk or if she had simply fully recharged and missed her morning off-leash park time.
In the afternoon, Chai, Game and I walked to the Toy Play Plaza and I let the two run around, chase squirrels, drink from the fountains and just be dogs for 15 or 20 minutes and then did one rep of our current barrier recall challenge (kibble container #3 – the live mouse trap). Chai was a superstar and recalled right away! Her back-clip harness leash walking looked a lot better on the way home than it had on the way out, too – getting to run around must have helped!
Husbandry
+ “Brush!” Chai looks very fancy after yesterday’s shower and today’s brushing! + “Claws” (all claws on her left back paw; it was easy for her today).
Mini solo adventure
Chai got to come to the bakery with me and practice “lie down when my foot is on your leash” while I paid. She did well and her back-clip harness leash walking was almost perfect again. I suspect her harness-mode success is multifactorial: not having an off-leash Game around AND having had time to run at the park already, even if it wasn’t for a long time.
“Home alone”
Both dogs stayed free in the living room while I went up to the roof to put my freshly washed towels on the clothesline. No apartments were destroyed in the course of hanging laundry!
Frog!
After a late-afternoon pee loop, I lured a frog … on the mattress and NOT off a cliff!
Thoughts on the calm day
Chai is very active! She is NOT in the mood for as calm a day as we had today (calmer than we usually would because I’m exhausted from yesterday).
House training
The streak continues!
My next brownie is only one more (successful) day away …!
August 7, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
Chai and Game got 35 minutes of running around at the park to start the day. Chai played with Maya, the fun little Corgi, Border Collies Eva and Maki and a mixy-mix friend, but was mostly interested in finding ALL the food scraps.
During a work break, I took both dogs on their short leashes on an errand. Chai did really well not pulling even though Game was around: morning runs really are a must for her!
Home alone
Both dogs stayed free in the living room when I went to get the brownie I earned when Chai pooped outside this morning. (Outside poops immediately spawn a check mark in my streak game.)
Then they stayed home alone again when I ran a slightly longer bike errand.
A new person doing unusual things …
I had asked a plumber/painter/electrician to help me with a shower piping issue. Chai gave the briefest snarl-bark when they first came in, I scattered kibble and then she proceeded to observe from a comfy spot on the couch and eventually join us in the bathroom to sniff all the tools. Brave girl!
Solo adventure
After some more work and two shaping sessions – 4 in, one with only bowl #5, one with bowl #6 in bowl #5 – Chai and I headed out on a solo adventure. She waited in line with my foot on the leash for quesadillas. I used one of my randomization strategies: reward every time a red car drives by. Since the quesadilla stand is located on a medium-busy street and Mexico City’s rate of red cars is just right, this makes for a perfect rate of reinforcement.Have you found creative ways to randomize reinforcement? Let me know in the comments!
We then went to a nearby park where I had my quesadillas while Chai got to run around. She is developing juvenile independence, so she kept me on my toes when wandering to the other edge of the park! (She found dry fish treats on the ground and feasted on them.) We did two recalls with kibble container #3 – in real time, I got the impression that the first one was a double take at the distraction, so I added another one in a different part of the park after a break. Then we headed home and Chai waited outside a corner store and joined me at a pet supply store to pick up – you guessed it! – fish treats.
On my evening pee loop pre-class with Khaleesi, the new Husky client, I used magic hands on a large bag a person was getting plants out of in front of our building.
More home alone time
While I worked with Nancy and the wonderful Khaleesi (¡Le gusta hacer travesuras!), Game and Chai stayed home alone again. Meet Khalessi with the most beautiful eyes:
Young and full of energy! We made an exercise and enrichment plan for her that should take care of most issues.
And more shaping!
We had two more shaping sessions of one object in another: first the baseball toy in a small crate, and then switching from the baseball toy to a paper cup mid-session. Chai did great!
As for the liver treats, small amounts for training seem to be fine. I’m a little suspicious because she teetered on the verge of diarrhea several times since I’ve been using them (relatively sparingly) in recall training. I’ll make sure to keep the amount low. Chicken, so far, is our best bet for high-value treats she can have a lot of. I also prefer it because it isn’t as crunchy. Liver makes a good back up to just have at home though!
Diarrhea
Chai has – once again – diarrhea. I suspect it’s the fish treats and other stuff she found to eat in the park today while I was busy with my quesadillas de flor de calabaza y queso myself and just let her wander. We’ll test out the fish treats soon enough. Other treats I want to test are bread and tortillas – first plain tortillas and then friend ones (two things she finds in the street a lot). If her stomach tolerates them, they’ll be all hers.
House training
If it weren’t for the magic outside poop rule (outside poops immediately earn me a check mark for the day, whatever happens pee-wise), I wouldn’t have been able to finish the week’s streak but would havehad to start over on the last day of the week. Yay for setting myself up for success!
August 8, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
Both dogs enjoyed their 35 be-a-dog minutes in the morning. Chai went straight from the car to the fish treats she had found yesterday and had some more, sharing with Game this time. Then, both of them played with Eva (chocolate BC) and Maki (red merle BC puppy), two of their park friends.
Park friends.
Lots of running and even Game played and let the others chase her!
Chai gave me a diarrhea-y outdoors poop. Diarrhea’s gotta be good for something, and if it’s teaching Chai to poop outside because she simply has to go – I’ll take it.
Home alone
Both dogs were loose in the living room while I ran a 5-minute errand. When I got back, one of them had stolen a kibble container from my desk, opened it and eaten everything in it. We learn: no untethered home-alone time for Game and no unsupervised living room time for Chai!
They stayed home alone again when my friend Kayla, who is visiting for a few days, and I went out for dinner – this time, Chai safely tucked away in the bathroom!
Shaping
I was going to start out with a session of 4 in with bowl #6 in bowl #5 – but Chai let me know it was too difficult today by lying down. So we ditched bowl #6 and just had a few reps with #5.
Our second shaping session was one object in another. We started with the baseball, then did the paper cup, then a shoe and finally a roll of tape. Chai is acing this trick!
Husbandry
+ “Claws”: all nails on her right back paw. She didn’t even flinch! I’m curious if her front paws will continue to be more difficult – we’ll find out soon!
Solo adventure
We walked to the Dead Paultry Park, got pambasos (and treats for being in a down position with my foot on the leash anytime a red car drove past) and park-officed briefly. Since the pup-pup-pup informal recall seems to have lost its power, Chai is dragging her 5m line today. Selective deafness is a common symptom of being a juvenile dog! Sadly, being a selectively deaf juvenile dog today means having to be tied to a tree in my park office. Sorry, Chai. Can’t have it all!
Chai was suspicious of the warm, loud sound/air coming from a vent we passed. We walked past several times, each time marking with my cookie toss marker and tossing the cookie away from the entry once we had passed the vent. Chai did well with that, and I’ll keep coming back to practice more. I’m calling this the treat toss/R- game (until I think of a sexier name). It is R- because being past the entrance was, given Chai’s body language, a relief. Of course I made sure the leash stayed loose the entire time and let Chai decide with how much distance she wanted to move past the vent. The sidewalk next to the building with the vent is very wide and Chai’s comfort curves allowed her to stay on it. If things go as planned, she’ll curve less and less out into the sidewalk with every time we practice.
Friends and frenemies
The mightyNorbert.
I put Game in her car crate for our first evening with Kayla, Barley, Niffler and Norbert in the apartment. (Game isn’t Barley’s biggest fan, and while Game and I worked on the Norbert project during our time in Cuernavaca, neither Kayla nor I were in the mood for a training session tonight. We wanted to work on our respective work things and then just hang out and enjoy nerdy dog trainer talk and friends-catching-up time.)
Chai was fascinated by Norbert and respected the boundaries he set. She played with Niffler (keeping an eye on Norbert at all times, just in case) and enjoyed Kayla’s snuggles.
House training
Week 2 starts today!
August 9, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM and noon
We started the morning with 20 park minutes. Chai’s Corgi friend Maya was around and they played a little, but she was clearly more tired than usual and didn’t feel like running as much.
On our noon loop, Chai was pullier than usual. All rested up and ready for some shaping, little Border Collie?
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone WITHOUT Game (finally! It has been too long!) while Game accompanied me to get a haircut. Game enjoyed her solo outing greatly – and the rawhide she got to chew while hanging out!
Shaping
I did a quick “four” session: 2 “get it” treats with only bowl #5 and then 2 “get it” treats with bowl #6 in #5. Chai rocked it! We’re building back up! (No video of this session.)
The second session after (starting with bowl #6 in bowl #5), Chai considered too hard.
The dogs got a 30 minute outing at the toy play plaza. Chai was pully and peppy! After some work and a quick “Frog” session for Chai (on the couch but not feeding off the “cliff,” my two girls and Niffler stayed home while Kyla, Barley and I went out for dinner.
Lucky Barley got his own taco with extra meat!
Later that night, Chai had a blast playing with Niffler and spying on Norbert while Kayla and I recorded a podcast … and then, she slept VERY well!
The podcast episode we recorded:
The only downside of today:
House training
We broke our streak. The excitement of having guests and me wanting to focus on our conversation rather than constantly interrupting to take out Chai are likely culprits. But that’s okay and totally worth it. Tomorrow, we’ll be back on track. In any case, the good news: no accidents in the living room!
August 10, 2023
Activity level: calm
The AM
We went to the park and the dogs had 30 minutes of fun with Eva and Maki.
I went back home to work and take a nap. It’s probably time to slow down on both the socializing and the inventing-new-projects-for-myself fronts!
Home alone
Because I had taken a nap rather than shaped Chai, the dogs just got a quick outing before I handed them over to Kayla who worked from my place while I headed out to see another friend. Kayla worked for about 2 hours before heading out herself and I got back home 2 more hours later, so Game and Chai had both good company and then two more hours alone.
House training
… and we are back on track!
August 11, 2023
The AM
We went to the park for a full hour this morning to make up for the very quiet Thursday. Chai played with Eva and Maki, found lots of tortilla scraps meant for birds and shared them with Game (tortillas should be next on my food testing spree!) and we trained a bit, using the bench as a start button and working downs and stands until I ran out of treats. No video, no pictures – but we are up and running!
The PM
After working, I did our usual 4 daily shaping sessions1: 3 to work on the “one object in another” behavior and one “4 in” one. Chai did well!
Solo adventure
Chai and I walked to the Toy Play Plaza in one of my work breaks. I had meant to walk there in Chai’s back attachment harness and back in collar mode, but forgot the collar. So instead, we practiced “With me” for crossing streets IN her harness (high rate of reinforcement for the win!), I named squirrel chasing (“Birds!”) at the park and did a single fun obstacle-run-away-recall game with Chai’s formal recall cue at the empty playground.
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone while Game and I went for a walk.
House training
A close call, but we did it again! Go puppy (and go me!)
August 12, 2023
Activity level: average
We spent 25 minutes at Fresa Parque and left earlier than planned because there wasn’t a lot going on except for ALL the food scraps Chai kept being drawn to.
In the afternoon, we had two 4-in sessions and one object-in-another session, went to a different park for about an hour and explored, worked positions (stand and down) and did one distraction recall (container #1 with liver in location #1); liver from my hand and opening the box as reward – Chai did phenomenal! – as well as an easy “Schnee” recall when she was already running in my direction.
Both dogs waited in front of a store and then I walked Chai home in collar mode from there. She had a hard time (Game was off leash and I’ve not worked on Chai’s collar mode with Game off leash much!) We did 3, 5 and 10 steps between treats with most of the reps being 5 steps between treats. If things are hard for my dog, I’ll up the rate of reinforcement accordingly!
While Chai didn’t get a solo adventure today, she got to stay home alone all by herself while Game and I ran an errand.
Finally, after a semi-successful one-object-in-another session where I tried to get Chai to pick up a coin, we played the “2 balls” game with two 10-peso coins to teach Chai to pick them up. She did great and had fun once it turned into a game and she realized picking up coins was possible!
House training
I’ve noticed that if there is a tie before noon (like today), I usually can’t turn things around and the best case scenario is to keep the tie a tie (like today) rather than breaking my streak. It’s as interesting to collect data as it is to watch my own game-fueled behavior!
I’m not saying that every single day for the rest of her life, Chai will get 4 shaping sessions – that’s just how things have worked out over the last couple weeks. There will be many days in her life that have zero training sessions in them. ↩︎
I’m calling this post iteration 5.2 because it is (still) the fifth stab at distraction recalls and we keep playing at level 2 (barriers).
The plan
After consultandolo con la almohada for a few days, I decided that my next step was going to be a high-value distraction in a container rather than a lower value one without a barrier. I came to the concusion that repeating 3 different parks with 3 different containers, each holding a high-value distraction Chai would gain access to with my help, would best prepare her for taking another stab at off-leash distractions. Below are the next steps: 3 locations per container (not always the same 3), resulting in a total of 9 challenges at level 2 (off leash dog, distraction C – difficult – behind a barrier):
The reinforcer would be the same value as distraction (liver) from my hand, followed a release to the distraction itself which I would then open for Chai who values distractions more than treats from my hand. The reason I treat from my hand rather than using just the distraction as a reward in this scenario is that treating from my hand teaches the dog to come all the way back rather than predicting an immediate release – and in an emergency situation, that’s what I need.
Container 1, location 1: liver
August 12, 2023
As always, I use a tongue click when Chai turns towards me – and as almost always, in the video below, my microphone isn’t picking it up. The treat from my hand is a piece of liver – same as the distraction in the container she then gets to eat. I love how she doesn’t treat the container as a food toy anymore but waits for me to open it for her! She knows the drill!
Kiba’s Park:
Container 1, location 2: liver
August 13, 2023
Toy PlayPlaza
Today, Chai started towards the container while still chewing on the treat from my hand. She already knows she’ll get the distraction, and she is waiting for me to open her containers! I love it! I’ve been hiding my camera behind trees or bushes so it doesn’t become too much of a set-up cue. However, I suspect Chai still knows when things are set-ups. She’s just too damn smart to trick.
I didn’t film this one and am happy about this session for two reasons: one, Chai didn’t come across my stealthily set-up liver container right away. We had to stroll past it several times until I called her, almost nose on container, and got a beautiful response. This tells me that the tripod is a cue to look for a distraction and recall. Going forwards, every container will have at least one session I don’t record. The other thing I’m excited about is that I finally made it to an environment I haven’t done any distraction recalls in so far. I love mixing things up to help generalization!
Container 2, location 1: liver
August 15, 2023: Kiba’s Park
We mastered container 2 in its first location! I handled things the same way I did yesterday with container 1 at the Dead-Poultry Park: rather than filming, I set up the distraction stealthily and casually came across it. No tripods, no big production that may have given away that we were training. Chai nailed it and got both liver from my hand and from container 2! I’ll try and record the next recall again.
Container 2, location 2: liver
August 16, 2023: Toy Play Plaza
I tried setting up as casually as possible: first the tripod, then walk away, then walk past it, then place container #2 while Chai wasn’t watching. Of course she turned and saw it, moved towards it … and did a beautiful “Schnee” recall. I had planned to loop another loop before encountering it, but this worked too. It was lovely to see the recall work just as well in Game’s presence.
Container 2, location 3: liver
August 17, 2023: Dead-Poultry Park
After running around and working on other things for half an hour, we did …
Container 3, location 1: liver
… on the other side of the Dead-Poultry Park:
Container 3, location 2: liver
August 20, 2023: Chapultepec
The video below shows two sessions. In the first one, you’ll see Chai coming from a different direction than I do: left of screen. This is the first time in a while she didn’t give me a single-rep success on the first try! You’ll also notice that in both sessions (the second one was half an hour later and successful), Chai noses the container more than she has in the past. This is new as well. Part of it may be that we’re out here with a dog friend and Chai may be a little overstimulated and therefore more impulsive. OR yesterday’s “Schnee” recall failure at Fancy Park I (a recall that wasn’t part of my training set-ups) may play a role! I already know this puppy learns FAST and exactly what you teach her – which isn’t always what you want her to learn!
Generally, according to my recall protocoI, I would have a second go right after the first one and only take a break after getting a success. I didn’t do that in this case because Chai was very excited and my friend was waiting and keeping their dog from joining the fun. Taking a break felt like it was more likely to set Chai up for success – and my patient friend as well.
I can’t wait to find out how our NEXT mouse trap session will go: when Chai isn’t over-stimulated, will she succeed right away in our third location? Will she be as nosy as she was at Chapultepec? Stay tuned!
Container 3, location 3: liver
August 24, 2023: Kiba’s Park
Achievement unlocked at the first try! Party for the puppy!
… which brings us to the last check mark! We’ve made it through all 9 container challenges:
What’s next for Chai?
I do not want to go right to unprotected distractions. I’ve been there, done that and failed at it before. I’m thinking I’ll do liver (or maybe chicken to mix it up) behind a real-world barrier (fence) in three locations. Reward with something even higher value (cream cheese)? And then do unprotected low value distractions (dried fish?) in the real world and, once again, reward with something REALLY high value (cream cheese)? Maybe even go back to the long line stage before trying off leash? I’ll have to think about that one some more before taking the next step, becaus there is one thing I know for sure:
We will have to approach Chai’s off-leash distraction recall beast carefully. This dog is lightening fast when it comes to learning what is accessible to her and when! Stay tuned (well, if you’re into this kind of stuff. If you’ve read this far, I suspect you are!) The paragraph above is just my first thoughts; i.e. it’s musings, not a training plan and subject to radical change.
Named in honor of the impressive number of dead roosters or chickens in various states of decay – but always rotten enough that I couldn’t tell whether they were roosters or chickens and giving off a deliciously disgusting smell – that Chai has found and rolled in in this particular park. ↩︎
I’m keeping the container the same but varying the objects that go in when I get 2 successful reps with each previous object. In this session, we make it through a paper cup, a roll of tape, a flip flop and a plastic bottle!
I’m also figuring out how to best mechanic my mechanics to make switching objects as smooth as possible. Going forwards, I will toss a “Get it” treat anytime I need to reach over my suitcase (aka kitchen door) to grab another object.
Session 2:
In the session below, I keep the crate the same and stick to our last two objects (flip flop, plastic bottle) and then add two new and smaller objects: a highlighter and a clicker. Chai is being a superstar!
August 11, 2023
Today, I’ll keep the last two (smaller) objects the same but change the container back to something smaller: the water bowl.
Session 1:
Session 2:
Session 2 showed me that the highlighter is more difficult than the clicker. In the next session, we’ll stick to the highlighter and focus on getting it into the bowl consistently!
Session 3:
Woohoo! She’s got it with the marker!! You can really see her understanding in this session: when the unwieldy highlighter doesn’t end up IN the bowl, she picks it up right away and tries again. Go Chai!
My plan for the next session
Move this container around a bit and lift it up higher. Then potentially shape a “deliver to hand” behavior from there … or go down in container size. Or try with the water bowl and a difficult small object like a coin! I haven’t yet decided; all options are exciting!
August 12, 2023
I decided to go with a clicker and a new object – a coin – with the water bowl in its familiar position. Chai did great with the clicker but didn’t see my 10-peso-coin as a pick-up-able object. Even going back and forth between offering the clicker and the coin didn’t do the trick.
After this session, I thought about how to teach Chai to pick up coins. I tried playing the 2-ball game with two coins – and it worked! Soon she cheerfully chased thrown coins through the living room. Notes for the two next sessions: start with another round of the 2-coin game. Take a break; then repeat clicker and coin with the water bowl!
Note to self: put the camera closer to the bowl so the coin is visible!
August 14, 2023
We started out with a 2-toy fetch session, using two 10-peso coins instead of toys! It was informal, playful, joyious fun for both of us. Take-home message for Chai: coins are easy to pick up and fun to play with!
I LOVE how Chai’s toy skills (above) come together with a trick I’ve been shaping to enable her to put the coin into the water bowl in our next session below. It’s a beautiful example of how different tricks and behaviors are connected!
For our next session, I am thinking of using a smaller container for the same exercise. I’ll start out with the clicker and the coin in the water bowl and then switch to clicker and coin in a ceramic bowl (a bowl I haven’t used for the 4-in trick to avoid confusing Chai).
August 31, 2023: our first session in a new location
Returning to this trick after a little break! Since I’m working on the 4 paws in a bowl trick simultaneously, I am creating a contextual difference for the two: one object in another has been moved to the roof while 4-in stays an apartment trick. This is to keep the probability for confusion to a minimum.
In our first session, we needed to shape back up to our last two objects (clicker and coin) in the water bowl: the break and the new environment were too hard to bridge without a little help. But after only a few clicks, Chai was back on track!
For our second session, I did what I had written down the last time we worked on this: I kept the pick-up objects the same but changed the water bowl for a smaller ceramic bowl mid session. I’m happy with how well Chai did!
Notes for the next session:
+ Go down one more bowl size and use my small tupperware treat container.
I was going to start out with a session of 4 in with bowl #6 in bowl #5 and then remove bowl #5 – but Chai let me know it was too difficult today by lying down. So we ditched bowl #6 and just had a few reps with #5. Look at the lovely conversation we’re having in the video below! Chai is teaching me which bowl needs to be used here.
Next session: start with just bowl #5, then add bowl #6. Slow and steady!
August 9, 2023
Session 1
I started our first session with 2 “Get it” treats and just bowl #5 (and the familiar “Four” cue). I wore bowl #6 like a hat to have it ready to put into #5 right as Chai was chasing her second treat. Then, we did two more “Get it”s with bowl #6 in bowl #5 and ended. She did great! Building back up slowly! No video of this session but will record the next one: I’m planning on starting out with two “Get it” treats with both bowls and then removing bowl #5 and only leaving the smallest bowl. We’ll see how it goes! I am not going to use a cue in the next session.
Session 2
Chai says, “This is too hard!”
I’ll have to think of an in-between step before we try this again … or just repeat today’s session-1-set-up a few more times … I’ll think about this some more to set Chai up for success next time!
August 11, 2023
I repeated the last successful session – and Chai did brilliantly again. Next time we work on this, I’ll do two sessions the same day. The first one will be just like this and the second one start with bowl #6 in bowl #5. We’ll see how it goes!
(The cuts in this video are when I tossed the “Get it” treat under the couch.)
August 12, 2023
Session 1:
For today’s first session, I repeated yesterday’s last session. Chai did great again. (No video.) After a break, we did …
Session 2:
I started out with bowl #6 in bowl #5 from the beginning of the session. Chai quickly realized that this was too hard, so I changed approaches on the fly and shaped things back up this time (rather than removing bowl #6 like I did yesterday). She did great! The cut in the video is when I tossed a treat under the mattress. Furniture! It’s always in the way!
August 15, 2023
Session 1:
I didn’t realize Chai would be thinking of the 1-object-in-another trick! When I realized, I eased up criteria (and briefly messed up my marker cue) and shaped back up to 4 in. Superpuppy!
Reviewing the video, I noticed: I need to focus on my transition behavior so my marker cue and hand movement don’t bleed into each other. When we want to train with clean mechanics, we’ve got many balls in the air!
Session 2:
The plan: start with 4 in – no shaping if she’s able to offer 4 in right away – and then start to shape with only bowl #6 in the same session. Keep it short and sweet – say 8 treats total, max! Remember my transition behavior (blinking). Let’s see how this goes and then take it from there!
This looked good! I forgot my transition behavior half the time, but otherwise, we’re golden! I’ll bring my clicker back out for the next round and repeat the shaping session, starting with bowl #6 (blue) right away. I haven’t been using a clicker when I had one bowl in another, but now that I’m only holding on to one, I can easily keep it steady AND click. So that’s what we’ll do next:
+ Bowl #6 (blue) only. + Clicker in bowl hand (practice holding it stable before adding a dog – check). + Set up mirror to watch back paws. + Remember transition behavior (blink). + Shape up from the beginning but do not go for more than 4 reps of all 4 paws in (if we get that far).
The video below is my practice session without a dog. I highly recommend doing this on a regular basis/anytime you switch something up in terms of reinforcement! It will only take you a few minutes (and that includes videoing yourself and quickly reviewing the clip on your phone) – but you’ll be a better trainer for it!
Below is the session WITH Chai I did right after my practice session! I love that very last rep where she tries for ALL FOUR PAWS!
Notes for next session
Repeat today’s last session; see if we get more confidence and then take it from there!
August 16, 2023
Session 1:
I love how this session went!
I’ll give Chai a break and then try starting with all 4 paws in right away for session 2. If she does it, 4 reps is all I’ll ask for in this session.
Session 2:
Chai rocked today’s second session! For the next one, I’ll ditch the clicker and go back to our “Good” and “Get it” routine to build a tiny bit of duration in position. I’ll use 6 to 8 treats total, depending on how things go, and then end.
Session 3:
This was the most difficult session of the day for Chai! I’ll rewatch the video and then repeat the same session tomorrow with home position on my right thigh (like I did here in the last rep) rather than behind my back. This will allow me to deliver the “Get it” treat faster after “Good.” This means I will still be asking for duration – but a little bit less of it!
We started out with half an hour of park time for Game and Chai. There was some playing with old and new friends for Chai, but mostly it was a quiet morning of walking.
Back home, Chai wasn’t tired but wanted to interact. That is excellent: training wasn’t available, but snuggles were and I made sure she got to enjoy them!
Both dogs slept while I worked, and then Chai did her first frog in a different location – Silvia had suggested we try somewhere other than the couch. Below is my video and the text I submitted with it:
“I chose another place where I had a “cliff” to prevent crawling off (the mattress). I’m not sure she’d be able to do this without crawling if there was no precipice … What do you think?“
Noon and beyond
I got a nerdy single-paw shaping session in (see this older post I just updated with more detailed geekery if interested), and then we went for an …
Afternoon walk and a little more shaping
After the shaping session, Chai had some inner pressure to get rid of! She wrestled with Game and then we went for a walk – just Chai and me to check off her daily solo adventure.
We visited two parks and did some collar walking in between. The first time we went back and forth between 5 and 15 steps between treats, the second time between 5 and 25. Good puppy!
We ended the day with a final single-paw target shaping session.
House training
The streak continues!
July 31, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We went to one of the parks in our area and Chai had fun with Border Collie Eva and her new 5-months old sister Maki. Their folks Esteban and Viri will take classes with me if Maki gets to stay – I’m excited; she is very cute! (Still on a trial period though.) Today, we also saw a leaf blower at the park (Chai’s first or second one ever) and she didn’t care. Yay!
I’m aiming to mostly use our AM park time for “just being dogs” stuff for both dogs (and of course cueing/paying pees, paying voluntary check-ins as well as recalls and leave it-s).
Chai’s second adventure of the day is a solo one whenever possible and I’ll train in addition to having her run and play and do her own thing.
A frog
After getting home and working a bit, I tried another frog with Chai after reading Silvia’s feedback:
“I think you can try no cliff as well – should be fine at this stage.”
In this video, I kept the “cliff” (fed off the mattress) but tried for more extension. This led to more leg movement. Going forwards, I’ll try to get more extension without (or with less) leg movement on the mattress and, once I have that, without a “cliff.”
Husbandry
+ Brush
Solo adventure
At noon, Chai and I went on her solo adventure. We took a decently long back-attachment-harness walk – hardly any pulling, i.e. this morning’s run and play time must have been just right – and went to the indoors market. This was Chai’s second time there without Kiba. There was more going on today and she was a little weirded out by people playing the trumpet and the drums. That said, she was a trooper and stuck with me through all my purchasing and laid down anytime I stopped at a stand and stood on her leash!
Waiting in all the places!
AND! On our way out, Chai PEED without Game nearby – actually peed, not just marking! – in the spot Game usually pees! Party for the puppy!!!
AND and! Almost home, we ran into two people with 3 dogs and Chai walked up to them on a loose leash! AND to the water bowl in front of the café she likes to drink out of, again on a loose leash!
Shaping!
We started shaping picking up a spoon, but I got lots of paw touches (no surprise there; we’ve been working on so much paw stuff lately!)
After a pee and corner store walk for both dogs, I tried holding the spoon and then switched to a toy. NOW I’m getting mouth action!
Evening fun
Since I’m planning to make tomorrow this week’s calm day, Chai went out for another 45 off-leash park minutes. None of her friends were there but I found a new client with a 2-year old Husky and Chai played with her as well as a 4-months old little Doodle. (I haven’t seen a single Doodle in any of the other parts of Mexico City I’ve stayed/lived for a month or more. This place is clearly more fresa: there are Doodles everywhere.)
I’ve decided that the Mexico City Doodle index goes from -5 to 10. 10 Doodles means a place is very fresa, and I currently live in a 5-Doodle neighborhood. The neighborhoods I like best are 0-3-Doodle places.
House training
Sadly, tonight’s a tie.
The tie between indoors and outdoors pees means we reset week 1 of challenge #2 tomorrow, starting our counter over with day 1 of week 1. (While frustrating, it works out well: tomorrow is the first day of my gamification class. Just like my students and colleagues, I’ll be starting from zero.)
“Do not judge me by my successes – judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again” (as Nelson Mandela supposedly said.)
August 1, 2023
Activity level: low
The AM
35 minutes of play and park loops. Chai met her friend Dina and I got a spontaneous hug from her human – a good way to start the day!
Home alone
Chai and Game stayed home alone for a little over 3 hours.
Cape ONNN!
Since it’s our quiet day, I had and appointment AND it’s the first day of both FDSA classes and my gamification group, we just did a little bit of fun stuff: a rep of “Cape (the service dog vest) ONNN,” chasing treats and hand touches while wearing it and then “Cape OFFF!” Chai is doing great – no body sensitivity with wearing capes or harnesses at all! I wanted to do the Pride sweater I had bought her as well – but turns out she has outgrown it already. That was fast! I’ll have to find someone with a slightly smaller dog to gift it to!
Husbandry
+ “Claws”: I clipped the nails on Chai’s right front paw. She was not happy about it this time so we called it a day after the one paw. I’ll do the next one tomorrow.
She’s a young dog – feelings change. She may just be having a paw-touchy day or she may be growing up to be a dog who doesn’t like her nails clipped after all. We’ll just have to see and find out. In the former case, things should be getting easy again soon. In the latter case, it’s a good thing we started working on nail clipping early!
Frog
Another calm day behavior is the frog. We did two rounds on the mattress without videoing. The first one went well but Chai didn’t fully extend and was a bit wiggly in the second one. Note to self: this stretch may become physically harder the older Chai gets. Make sure to take a longer break between frog sessions in the future!
Park fun
I used a rain break to let the dogs run around the park for 20 minutes (I set an alarm to make sure my planned “low activity” day really stayed low activity. This, together with this morning’s outing, is the max amount of off leash fun I want Chai at 7.5 months to have on a calm day. It was 20 minutes well spent: Game got to go naked (I usually have a bandana or a collar with an ID on her and so I have something to grab if necessary.) But Game sometimes feels itchy when wearing any kind of equipment. Her favorite style is naked, and since it was drizzling and muddy and we had the park to ourselves, she got to be naked today. She zoomed around the puddles and slid through the mud and had the best time. Game and Chai also found a baseball toy they managed to play tug with (even though it was really small!) and did well with a few Leave it-s from various food items. Chai got paid for check-ins and leave-its.
House training
Like yesterday, we ended up with a tie: Chai peed in the shower as often as she peed outside. I promised myself that if I couldn’t get more outside pees two days in a row, I’d lower criteria from more pees outside than inside toat least as many outside as inside pees. So while we’re starting again from 1 today, I’m giving myself that check mark!
The reason it is so hard to get the outside pees isn’t that I don’t know when to take Chai. I almost always know exactly when she needs to go. The reason is that at this point, most of the time – say 90% of the time – Chai needs two things to be in place in order to pee outside:
She needs Game or her friend Kiba to pee or poop first; this inspires marking.
She cannot be distracted. This part is difficult: for every inside pee I got today and yesterday, I had just taken Chai outside – and she was distracted when Game peed. This just happens to be a distracting city and I don’t have a yard, so luck (distraction-free moments) is a big factor in our success.
Anyways, a tie seems to be doable even on distracting days – so I’ll play with these modified rules! When success feels out of reach, games stop being fun. I want the challenge but I don’t want to keep failing more than one day in between successes due to factors out of my control. So check mark #1 – here we go!
No more resets for ties. Let’s set ourselves up for success!
August 2, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
I set up a park office to work from and also did recalls away from closed container #2, implementing the latest version of my Chai-specific distraction recall strategy! Chai aced it!
We spent about 2.5 hours outside. Park offices are the best!
Husbandry
+ “Claws!” – left front paw. Chai wasn’t exactly happy about it, but significantly calmer than yesterday!
Shaping!
We had three sessions of “4 in” with the cue attached in the last two sessions! Chai is getting better at balancing in our current bowl! Go superpuppy!
We did two shaping sessions of our latest trick with the toy we found at the park yesterday! I love how much she loves to work!
House training
The streak continues and we are on a roll today!
August 3, 2023
Activity level: average
+ Off leash container 2 at location 2: formal recall success!
+ Solo adventure: indoors market, including waiting outside the bathrooms by herself.
+ I park-officed and the dogs were outside for about 3 hours. We also met Kiba and Alan and I got a perfect “Schnee” recall off leash away from Kiba! (Pictures only.)
Shaping
+ 2 “one object in another” sessions. In the first session, the baseball ended up in the bowl in the last rep!
+ 2 “Four” sessions. Today went well! Next time, I’ll be moving my home position back behind my back!
Home alone
Chai and Game stayed home alone for about 3 hours when I went to see friends in the evening.
House training
5 pees outside, 3 pees inside. Go Chai!
August 4, 2023
Activity level: average
The dogs got 30 minutes of off-leash time at the park in the morning. There weren’t any friends to play with but a lot of running around for Chai who also happened to find A LOT of random food, including a fried tortilla-something. (Fingers crossed tomorrow won’t be a diarrhea day!)
Morning shaping
I got home and worked, then did two rounds of shaping one object in another with box #2 I had used for the 4-in game. It’s bigger than the water bowl and the results showed! Good puppy!
Solo adventure
Chai and I walked to and through the indoors market for a while. We came across 2 scary balloons on the floor and conquered them with magic hands, both inside the market and later outside (they had clearly been thrown out so I took them with me). I purchased container #3 at the market: a live mouse trap (I wanted a wire-cagey thing and this was perfect.)
Foot-on-leash cue at the market.
We went into the dog park near the market because Chai let me know she would like to greet the only dog inside – an older Vizsla. They played briefly and then Chai, unprompted, peed in the dog park! Lots of treats for the best girl!
We then set up and did a long-line recall away from kibble in the mouse trap – Chai didn’t even get close before she checked in and I took it as a cue to call her. We looped around the park a bit and then did a second recall set-up in a different corner off leash. She aced it again! Even though the mouse trap looks nothing like containers #1 and #2, Chai patiently waited for me to get out the food for her. Good girl!
As of today, we are working with dried liver as the high value reward – we ran out of chicken. However, if tomorrow is a diarrhea day, I can’t necessarily blame the liver … the lucky girl found even more street food on her outing.
We walked part of the way home in collar mode with 5-20 steps between treats. It was hard for Chai today though and we switched back to back-clip harness mode after a short stretch.1 I stopped at a corner store to pick up toilet paper and Chai waited outside, and then we made it home where the little one is now passed out on the floor while I’m working and Game is relaxing on the couch.
Afternoon shaping
Two rounds of four in – one with home position on my thigh, one with home position behind my back. She worked hard and did well with bowl #5!
Home alone
Both dogs stayed home alone for a little over 3 hours.
House training
Today was another tie of inside and outside pees. I’m glad I’ve changed the rules for ties to count! Otherwise, this would be my third streak break in a week, which would be highly demotivating. Maybe after getting my 4-week streak, I’ll do another round of 4 weeks where ties don’t count? A ver.
Have you ever gamified your dog training (or something else in life)? What game did you play and did you find it helpful? Let me know in the comments!
August 5, 2023
Activity level: high (VERY high physical, low mental)
Rachel, Miriam, Ari and I spent all day at Los Dinamos with the dogs, including 4 hours of relatively strenuous (for a young dog) climby hiking. With the exciting drives (being held on laps), four hours of off-leash, steep climby hiking, playing in elbow-deep mud and getting cleaned off twice (once with a hose at a restaurant and once in the shower at home), both dogs are the good kind of tired today.
Some of the highlights:
+ Meeting a new person (Ari). Chai warmed up to them much faster even though Ari pet her entire body right away. Very little avoidance behavior! She rocked it and then chose to take turns sitting in Miriam’s and Ari’s lap in the back seat on the way to Los Dinamos.
People – as important as dogs!
+ Meeting random hikers – one or two at a time – in the woods. As a Mexico City puppy, Chai hasn’t really had this experience before, except for the one time I took her and Game out to a different section of that same nature preserve. She did phenomenal: I scattered to the side of the road anytime strangers passed us and Chai only gave a single bark of insecurity the very first time someone showed up out of nowhere. Then, the counterconditioning effect kicked in full force and she was no longer worried at all. Game modeling indifference probably helped as well.
+ Getting to run and climb and jump over obstacles. All puppies I’ve previously raised have grown up with natural obstacles – only Chai hasn’t really because the city center doesn’t have these kinds of obstacles. And yet, she was fantastically coordinated and made it across fallen trees, climbed rocks and ran and jumped with Game over rocky, root-y steep trails as well as walking them more slowly on leash. The only obstacle she needed help with was a deep artificial canal she was afraid to jump across (I picked her up and jumped with her).
This is very interesting, especially when I compare Chai to Mick. I got Mick as an adult. He probably had a lot of time running off leash as a puppy, but no obstacle practice – and when I got him at age 2, he was VERY clumsy. So was Fanta who I also got as an adult, and who most definitely did a lot of running as a young dog – but likely never met an obstacle in his life before me.
I wonder how much of a difference body awareness tricks like 4 in, paw targets and the frog are making for Chai and how much is just getting to run and play with other dogs in general. Or maybe it’s mostly genetic – who knows! In any case, it was really fun to observe how well she dealt with her new environment.
+ She settled with Game on a mat (my hoodie) when we took a hiking break at La Boca del Cielo.
+ Game and her settled outside the car while we had lunch: waiting and relaxing outside for quite a while in a new place – check!
+ We did one fun and easy “Schnee” recall when Chai was trotting away from me but not towards anything in particular. (Gotta make sure I balance our formal recalls out with fun and easy ones!)
+ She wore her pulling-allowed (front clip) harness for the second time because I didn’t want to slow the others down with my dog training.
+ No throwing up on the way there and back when she rode in people’s laps!
Here’s a compilation:
And the best news:
House training
As far as I can tell, ALL pees and two poops happened outside today! (Except for a third poop in the crate on the car ride home. The crate may happen to be a place Chai has learned to go anytime she has to in her previous home (she may not have had the opportunity to leave). In any case – happy to report that as of now (9:30pm), we had zero pees inside and two poops in addition to her pees outside!
Proud of a check mark that’s not a tie but a crystal clear win!
Inching closer to the next brownie!
Husbandry
+ An unwelcome shower! Game got one as well, and I got two. We were all covered in delicious mud! Not anymore though!
Speaking of loose leash walking: I’ll be running an intense 4-week group for anyone who wants to work on this. You get to pick one of 6.5 R+ based approaches for your dog, are welcome to work together with housemates or partners, your dogsitter or other co-dog-caregivers and will get time-stamped video feedback. E-mail me for details or to sign up! ↩︎
If I’m not mistaken, my reinforcer for the kibble recalls is liver in all the videos below (same value as chicken).
Container 3, location 1
I started on a long line. She reoriented as soon as she spotted the container – so I took a break to loop around the park and then set up in a different part of the park off leash!
Well done, puppy!
Container 3, location 2
Two days later at our toy play plaza. You go girl!
Container 3, location 3
Yet another park for our third location!
Session 1
In real time, I had the impression that Chai’s response was below baseline speed (even though it looks good on the video). To be on the safe side, I took a break and then did another session in a different part of the same park. (Note that my new Chai-tailored recall strategy is not like my distraction protocol: I get to take a break right away and then try in a different location.)
Session 2
After a 10 or 15 minute break; different location in the same park.
In the video above, Chai definitely turned on a dime! Achievement unlocked!
I’m calling this post iteration 5.2 because I made the new plan (5) after completing my work with the first container. It’s .2 because we are at level 2 (barrier).
If I’m not mistaken, the reinforcer from my hand in all the videos below is liver (same value as chicken).
After working through the first container challenge, I decided to try something new with Chai. Chai’s distraction recalls need to be handled with care: she is a worthy opponent with her own agenda, after all: the kind of dog I most love working with!
The new strategy:
+ 3 kibble containers in 3 outdoors locations – maybe the last one will be a metal cage thingy to mix it up. + Always reward with what’s IN the container. + If I don’t get an immediate recall response and a turn on a dime – take a 10-15 minute break and repeat in a different spot of the same park (my current plan diverges from the distraction tracker). + Once I’ve gone through 3 kibble containers in 3 locations – up the value of the distraction in the container and repeat. + Then, depending on how things are going, decide whether to up the value a second time OR lower the value and increase accessability.
August 2, 2023
Kibble container #2, location #1
To be on the safe side and since this is a new container, I started on a long line. LOVE this video! The subtitles will tell you why!
After park-officing some more, we repeated the challenge off leash:
August 3, 2023
Kibble container #2, location #2
I was going to office from another park today, but it didn’t have any good tables. So we just did a quick recall session and then moved on to a third park I could actually work from! Here’s our session from location #2 – the one that, unfortunately, isn’t officeable. Since yesterday went so well, I didn’t start with a long line today.
Kibble container #2, location #3
After officing outdoors for a bit, I set up for our third location – and again, Chai aced it! I love how she is starting to expect me to help her get to the food. What a difference from the very first container (the one I secured with tape) that she treated like a food toy!
In the video above, Chai spins on a dime when I call but then basically freezes in place until I tongue click. It’s a little hard to see what’s going on because my tongue click is almost inaudible over the background noise. In any case, I am counting this as a success but will slowly move the click further and further from the moment of reorientation towards her moving in my direction if I see this happening in the future. It didn’t in location #2, so I’m not concerned. You never know with this clever puppy though!
We had 5 pick-up-an-object sessions throughout the day. That’s no problem at all for a workey dog, but not what I would advise for a dog who isn’t crazy about training. Train the dog in front of you and don’t overdo it! Stop training while they still want to keep going!
In Chai’s case, this is easy: if I train as much as I have time to, I still won’t hit her limit. That makes her perfect for me. How do I know? As soon as I put out the puzzle mats (they are usually up against the wall, not on the floor), she races there. As soon as I grab my tripod, she starts jumping up at me. As soon as I ask Game to station on her mat, she gets all excited because it’s a predictor of a session for her!
August 2, 2023
The second day we’re working on this!
Session 1: how about picking up this football-shaped toy we found at the park last night?
Session 2: adding a second object since the goal for this is to put one object into another.
I’m using a water bowl here because it looks different from the bowls we have been using for the 4 in trick.
August 3, 2023
2 sessions with the basketball toy and the water bowl!
August 4, 2023
Today, I tried using a larger container the toy wouldn’t bounce out of – and one that we haven’t worked with in a while: box #2 from our 4-in trick. We’ve been using bowls for weeks now, so I hope to get less paws in a box! I’m happy with the results so far!
August 7, 2023
Session #1:
Same object, slightly smaller box I have never used for 4 in:
Session #2:
Same box, switch to a new object mid-session: a paper cup!
I am REALLY happy with how well Chai did today! Go puppy! Is there anything more fun than an operant dog?!
August 8, 2023
Put the baseball toy, a paper cup, a shoe and a roll of tape into the crate! Superstar puppy! doG, I love operant dogs!
Below is an example of Chai saying, “I know I can’t do this so I won’t try. Basic physics, human!” I respect what she tells me. Her communication below is as clear as the one above: she considers one of the two behaviors a solvable riddle and the other one not. Listen to your dog – they know themselves best! Good listening skills on your part will lead to trust and trust leads to excellence.
The dogs got to run around the park for a little more than half an hour. I was going to practice distraction recalls with the taped plastic container in two other locations – but turns out I misplaced the container. No distraction recalls for Chai! Since I had already prepared the chicken, I did our last fun-and-easy recall from Silvia Trkman‘s modified list: a handful of chicken for a park recall that’s easy for her! A reinforcer she’d usually only get for distraction recalls! Go Chai!
Game, of course, came running as well. I only pay the dog I call (“Schnee!” – Chai), but Game got lucky today: Chai dropped some chicken pieces (she got a handful) so Game got to snatch some up too.
We also worked on positions at the park since there wasn’t a lot going on this Sunday morning: down, stand and good (room service).
Finally, Chai waited in front of the bakery while I picked up breakfast.
We did two rounds of “Frog” at home. In the second one, I realized I had put the pillow too far towards the edge of the couch to get the leg extension I’m looking for. I marked the place it needs to be with a post it on the wall above so I can put it in the same exact spot every time going forwards. Dog trainers, always have a stack of post-its ready!
Noon
The three of us went on a noon loop, resulting in two empty pups who get to share the living room!
A slice of life
Chai is getting more interested and confident in pulling on toys Game has. She also likes eating colored pencils. The first time, she heeds my “Leave it” … the second time, I’m late and she already has the pencil. (“Leave it” means “off limits right now” for my dogs. A “leave it” thing can become available later.) You’ll see me deal with the pencil by trading it: I announce, “Let’s trade!” and then first take the object before feeding a treat. It’s not a trade if you do it the other way round, but a food distraction your dog may interpret as you trying to steal what they have. No need to set yourself up for this kind of conflict!
The PM
Single-paw target
Today was a particularly nerdy single-paw target day. I just added session details to this older post – check out the entry for July 23 in my front paw target post if you’re into marker cue geekery.
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone while Game and I ran a couple bike errands in the rain. It’s interesting how much Game prefers running with the bike in this weather! The pavement must feel better under her paws when it’s cool and wet; it adds an extra bounce to her run!
More shaping!
We did some more “Four” (4 in) shaping and I learned a lot – more on that in the 4-in post!
Evening loop
We ended with a lazy evening loop, emptying both dogs and, therefore, more evening time in the living room for Chai!
House training
Past the halfway mark of week 4 of 4! Yay!
July 24, 2023
Activity level:average
The AM
After a quick morning pee and my very important coffee break, we met Alan and Kiba. They helped me with another recall shaping attempt before letting the dogs play. Then we worked on positions and went on a 2-dogs harness-mode walk.
On the walk, Chai wolfed down half a bolillo. We’ll see how she does tomorrow morning! Fingers crossed for no diarrhea. I’m going to add bolillos to the ever-growing list of food to try and feed her to see if her stomach can handle them. (She gets to scavenge for anything that agrees with her.)
After another run to reward Chai and Kiba, Alan and I headed in different directions. I walked Chai in harness mode for a block to stairstep down her arousal, had her wait outside a store and completed the walk in collar mode with 5-35 steps between treats. Good puppy!
The PM
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone for Game’s afternoon loop.
Frog luring
We just had three frog sessions! The pillow case still has the same filling: a hoodie, my blue shorts and a t-shirt.
Post frog-luring, Game and Chai are wrestling now and having a great time.
More shaping!
We had 3 fun 4-in shaping sessions with my new non-slip surfaces in the bowls. Also, a trick I thought of yesterday but didn’t implement: if working on this trick, put tape down in the position(s) you want to place the treat – in this case low and close to the bowl – as a reminder for yourself to keep your feeding position consistent! With a trick like this, where I eventually want Chai to always stand, consistently feeding close and low will automatically get us there.
Evening
We went on a later-than-usual evening loop when Chai woke up from her post-shaping nap.
Chai saw a person she found suspicious from a distance and growled for a second. Coincidentally, like the other day, this person also wore yellow: a long yellow coat. We played LAT and were then able to walk past without issues. I am going to make it a habit to take Chai on Game’s evening loops so people at dawn/night don’t stop being normal! It’s best to normalize an experience as soon as you see it turn slightly suspicious. (If I had a dog who panicked, I would proceed differently.)
Both dogs are empty and get to enjoy the evening in the living room. Chai, now awake again, is chewing on a toy she just figured out how to make consistently squeak. She’s also periodically dropping it off the couch and learning about gravity. Smart girl!
House training
Damn good is what we are!
July 25, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
The dogs started their day with a brief morning loop. Chai didn’t pee and tried playing with Game while both were on short leashes and when I took Game off leash. I’ll have to change something about their routine for a while. ¡A ver!
After my morning coffee, we went to the park for 45 minutes of walking and playing.
Chai didn’t pee this time either, so she got to stay in her luxury kennel until 10:30. She chewed a rawhide bone and rested. When I just went to the bathroom, she peed and I reinforced with the functional reinforcer of letting her outside! Now she and Game are going crazy wrestling. Game is done playing now – I say it’s about time to start today’s shaping adventures! Chai’s low activity day this week is either going to be Thursday or Saturday when I’m leaving her home and to meet friends, so no need to worry about low activity days right now!
Shaping time!
I’ll work on the single-paw target in 3 sessions and just updated my older targeting post with more nerdy details – see here if interested.
Home alone
Chai stayed home twice while Game and I walked errands.
Very cue dog we saw waiting outside a store!
Both dogs went on a pre-rain walk and then Chai came on a grocery run while Game stayed home. Even on days without extraordinary training adventures, I try and make sure both dogs get a little 1-on-1 time.
More shaping!
We worked on 4 in (“Four!”) in two sessions with only bowl #4. Bowl #4 is hard, so I didn’t add the cue in either session.
… and luring!
I went back to the normal-sized pillow for two frog luring sessions. Silvia suggested I do so until Chai can easily relax into the frog and then remove the pillow in the next session after. They suspect this way will be easier for Chai than slowly fading it.
Liver or chicken?
Chai had no diarrhea from yesterday’s bolillo (woohoo!), so I pitted dried beef liver against cooked chicken today. Which one would she like better? I can’t see a clear preference so far. That’s good! I can always have some dried beef liver as a backup treat (assuming her stomach tolerates it) and mainly use cooked chicken for high value treats (chicken is substantially cheaper, but takes time to cook and I prefer having something with less preparation time).
I still have a little chicken left. Once we’ve worked through it, we’ll train up the 500g of dried beef liver I bought and see if her stomach can tolerate moderate amounts of this as well. I have high hopes because like chicken, it’s a single-protein thing. Commercial treats contain so much stuff that I’ll probably not go down that route (except for the kibble I’m doing most training with anyways).
Evening walk
The three of us went on an evening walk together. Chai was wired – I suspect it’s about time I up her average physical exercise amount by about half an hour a day!
House training
Right out of playing with Game pre-evening-walk – I watched her like a hawk already, knowing she would soon have to go, but didn’t want to interrupt their play – Chai stopped and then ran into the shower to pee! You GO girl! That was amazing! I praised and followed her into the bathroom to feed a treat.
Only one more day to go! If we succeed with this, I get a brownie AND a massage! (And then the next-level challenge awaits! I already have something in mind …)
July 26, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
Since today, Chai is going to go on a solo adventure with Alan and Kiba, I took Game on her morning loop by herself – a management solution, not a training one, but it was fun to see how much Game enjoyed having me to herself first thing in the morning! She was racing up and down the sidewalk and, once back home, tried turning every imaginable thing into a toy – from shoes (the usual) to a dust pan (this is new), making the trademark shepherd growly sounds of feeling one’s best self.
Chai got to stay in her luxury kennel longer than usual because I hadn’t seen her pee and sure as hell won’t botch my final streak day. She’s got rawhide and a toy and a toilet paper roll to shred in there, so no time to get bored.
Home alone
… during Game’s morning walk by herself, and later together with Game when I ran a quick errand. And then again after Chai’s and Kiba’s adventure: Game and I went on a lovely afternoon walk!
Now I’m off to pack the survival kit for our field trip! We’ll need toys, treats and two kinds of harnesses, my phone and tripod to take video …)
Here’s a list of what goes into our kit in case you’re curious:
Regular leash and harness (not in bag, but on dog) Treat bag with kibble (not in bag, but on me) ✔️ Front clip harness (pulling allowed – I’ll switch if the regular harness is too difficult) ✔️ Toys (Kong ball and tennis ball) ✔️ Kibble refill ✔️ Chicken ✔️ Long line ✔️ Poop bags ✔️ Drinking water (for me too – we share) ✔️ Cubrebocas ✔️ Phone ✔️ Tripod ✔️ Money ($200 MX is good for non-car trips on the shorter end. No wallet because I’ll regularly leave my bag lying round somewhere)
OPTIONAL ITEMS
On potentially rainy days:
✔️ Umbrella
If I plan on workin on manners mode:
Collar
If Game comes or coffee shop stops are planned:
Mat Chew
If I want to work: Laptop
… whee! Chai peed! I let her out of the luxury kennel at 09:22 and she got some wrangling with Game in. She did exceptionally well staying in there without issues for longer than usual – and I’ll be making up for it with a good adventure, mostly consisting of “just be a dog and have fun with your best buddy”!)
Also, reviewing my plan for Chai’s first Kiba recall before I leave the house: set up tripod, use “Schnee” when she reorients, chicken, release. By now I know she will be able to respond to her formal cue upon reorienting – so why not just use it! Run up to Kiba together with Chai post-chicken.
We spent 1.5 hours with Alan and Kiba, and this time, I followed my before-greeting-Kiba recall plan … but I didn’t get it on camera. Chai did great, but I’ll repeat the same step again because I want to have it on video to analyze before I decide on the next step!
We walked and had them run and play at a big park. Chai was being a superstar – we didn’t need to switch to the front clip harness on the way there and back! She also peed once over Kiba’s peeing spot.
The PM
+ After the dogs’ nap time, we were ready for more shaping! We’re repeating yesterday’s last two single paw target sessions! If interested, check out Chai’s front paw target post for nerdy details I just added to the July 26 video.
+ We also had two 4-in sessions with bowl #4 that went well.
Evening walk
Game, Chai and I went for a lovely both-dogs-on-short-leashes (back-attachment harness for Chai) walk. Hardly any pulling and few circles required! Today, Chai got her new physical needs met (about half an hour more exercise than in the past) and walking nicely on a leash was much easier. She was not tired or exhausted – she was just being a well-rounded Border Collie on a walk. She could even walk past the house with the small barky dogs without issues – yesterday, she pulled like crazy around there. So it is clear: 1.5 hours of daily (mostly off-leash) exercise is her new average. I don’t count leash walks, so in the past, the average was an hour and our “high” activity level was around 3 hours. While that’s still comparatively high, I’ll call it average going forwards and only distinguish between average and low.
House training
Sadly (but also yay for the correct spot!), Chai went to poop in the shower as soon as we got home: welcome back, diarrhea! She may either have found something to eat at the park that I didn’t see, have a reaction to all the dirty rain water she had or to the fried egg Alan fed her … or she can’t tolerate yesterday’s dried beef liver. I really don’t want it to be the latter but suspect that it is. While she didn’t have a lot of it, her stomach usually responds the next day rather than right away.
In any case, this means that tomorrow will make an excellent low activity (fasting) day for this week. I’ve been planning on taking only Game on a long adventure with a friend anyways, so the timing is right for Chai to practice staying home alone and not eating a lot. Sigh.
In better news: I’ll get a brownie tomorrow AND I’ll book a massage! I can’t believe I had a 4-week streak with ZERO resets!!
We DID it! Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
I’ll start the new (and levelled-up!) challenge the day after.
July 27, 2023
Activity level: low
The AM
The three of us went on a 30-minute park outing. It was market day and I was going to stay 45, but we got bored: most of Chai’s dog friends skip Thursday mornings because of the market. I’ll have to remember this for next week. In any case, she got to play a bit while Game practiced chilling next to me when everyone was running. She also got rushed by a ferocious Jack Russel Terrier, came back to me for help when I called Pup-pup-pup (tail tucked, JRT in pursuit) and I stopped the GRT with a hand gesture and Game from going after the JRT (“I’m a Mal and I’ve gotta protect my puppy!”) with a verbal “Leave it.” Chai bounced back quickly from the scare, played with two other dogs right after (I have no evidence-based study on this – if you do, comment on this post please!), but I’ve found that play right after a scary event is extremely helpful in just putting it behind them. In Chai’s case, she even approached the same off-leash JRT with curiosity 15 minutes later (this time, both I and the JRT’s owner stopped our respective dogs at the first JRT grumble).
Post-scare play at the park!
If things work out well, a clash between two dogs can, in fact, be a good thing for a young dog: Chai learned that I and Game will protoect her and that the place to run towards is not away, but to me. AND she got a chance to practice her bounce-back response, which she did a stellar job at by playing! (There are very much dogs who would shut down or shiver for the rest of the day after an event like this – I am not recommending setting up scary encounters for your dog on purpose! I am just pointing out that IF your puppy or juvenile dog has the personality for it – no need to get upset at other dogs or owners! There may in fact be benefits to reap!)
Home alone
Chai stayed home alone for about 3 hours while Game and I were out (getting drenched in the rain while helping a friend with their German!)
The day continued quietly because I took a nap – and after playing a bit on top of me, Chai went back in her luxury crate while Game and I slept for a while.
Chai stayed home again for Game’s brief night loop at 9:30 pm.
Frog!
Today’s clip with a normal pillow in the pillow case:
Unstructured play!
We used the rainy hours for some unstructured fun – just a few minutes, both dogs, tugging and chasing like Silvia does in her puppy video. A little interaction can’t hurt, even on a quiet day!
Up and down the street …
Game and I walked an errand during an evening rain break, and since Chai had only had half an hour’s off-leash time in the morning, she got to come too. It was a very brief 2-short-leashes walk with Chai on the back-clip harness and a wait in front of a corner store. She did SO well! I am impressed; the other day Chai struggled on the back-attachment harness when her “average” exercise needs had not been met. This just goes to show that when sharing your life with a young dog, you’ve got a different pup every day.
Waiting outside the convenience store next to each other, I saw just how big Chai had gotten. She is almost as tall as Game. Not quite and she’s slimmer, but WOW! She’s starting to look like a grown Border Collie and she’s beautiful.
House training
I had a delicious brownie today! No accidents in the living room either! New game starting tomorrow – we’re on a roll!
July 28, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We started with half an hour at the park. I could have stayed longer … but I got bored after half an hour and had finished my coffee. In any case, Chai had a great time playing with Dina (the Chai-sized, lightening fast wire-haired friend who loves running with her) and got 2 pees. Plus we got to chase and look for squirrels and lots of treats for checking in and pup-pup-pup recalls. I got up half an hour earlier today. Ill try and keep up this rhythm: it means the dogs get to be off leash right away (no on-leash attempts to play for Chai in the morning) and I don’t pay for parking. I’ll keep things that way and add another half hour or hour of off leash time later in the day.
The new game
Having finished the first house training game, we will now play game #2 I invented – a more advanced version. We’ll be playing for 4 weeks again.
I’ll count inside pees and outside pees every day, starting today (2 outside and 0 inside so far). Any day I have more outside than inside pees by the time I go to bed, I’ll turn one of my check-marks green. Like before, I’ll get a brownie after a streak of 7 days and a massage (I may change this one if the first one isn’t good) after 4 weeks. Setbacks (days with more inside than outside pees) only reset to day 1 of the current week. Weeks that have already turned green will stay this way.
All inside pees count as 1 – in the living room or in the bathroom. That said, I sure hope for more bathroom pees – it would be great if I could keep the no-living-room streak alive in the background!
Since pooping outside is more difficult for Chai than peeing, any day I get an outside poop rather than a shower one, that respective day’s check mark turns green immediately – independent of the pee count. This will motivate me to spend more time outside and do belly massages, both of which seem to increase the likelyhood for outside pooping.
I won’t count Chai going to the bathroom during the night for now.
Here we are, starting anew: 4 weeks of a blank slate!
Yay! At 9:30, after Chai and Game had rested post park time, Chai got active again, wrestled a bit with Game and then started wandering around. This was my cue: it was bathroom time. In the past, I’d have her taken to her luxury kennel until she peed. Today, I took both dogs on an ultra-short pee loop: there is a spot around the corner Game almost always pees – and when Game pees, so does Chai. Now we’re back home with an empty puppy and another strike on the “pee outside” side of my list! Indoors is still at zero.
In other news …
Chai has stopped vocalizing when there are weird noises outside – like just now. Folks are moving furniture and stuff up and down the staircase. She occasionally lifts her head from the couch, then puts it back down and keeps snoozing. My negative punishment (putting her in the bathroom i.e. her luxury kennel when she barked) has worked its magic FAST! The trick here is to be aware if and when a behavior turns operant. The moment it does (IF it does), stop counterconditioning (you’d be rewarding an operant behavior) and either teach an incompatible behavior that will be cued by whatever your dog used to bark at to OR apply negative punishment (such as Chai getting a time-out in the bathroom). Which route I’ll personally choose depends on the dog (and human) in front of me. As with all things dog training, there is no one size fits all solution.
Chai and I walked to the toy play plaza on the back-attachment harness and I let her run around off leash while walking a few loops. There wasn’t a lot going on because it had started drizzling. I magic-handed a creepy plastic bottle and then tossed it for Chai to play with.
On the way home, we tried collar mode. However, clearly, Chai hasn’t had enough physical exercise today; I had to keep the rate of reinforcement to around 5 and 10 steps between treats.
She then got another short pee walk together with Game and, after dropping Game off again, joined me on an errand.
More shaping
Back home, the dogs wrestled and then Chai got another 4-in session with only bowl #5. It is clearly physically taxing to squeeze herself into the bowl, but she was working so hard! Good puppy!
Proof of the fun that was being had before our PM shaping session.
And more fun at the park!
Suddenly craving a cinnamon trenzado (or two), I went to a park that sells them nearby. Chai finally got to run! Her Border friend Juana was there and so were a few other dogs with similar play styles. She got out her daily need to move after all, and then we walked home in manners mode (5-15 steps between treats). We need to work on this more often – but she did a lot better than on the way home from the plaza, so I’ll take it as a win. She was also great on her back attachment harness when going on an empty-out-the-puppy loop with Game after.
I don’t know how I would get all my outside pees without Game’s help – but as it is, things are working. I know when Chai is likely to pee and the new game motivates me to take her outside with her peeing idol. The count so far: outside 6, bathroom 2. (The reason that she pees that often is that outsoide, her peeing is marking (just a few drops over Game’s or Kiba’s pee or poop) rather than fully emptying out her bladder).
Husbandry
+ “Brush!” for Chai.
I then also brushed Game and Chai wanted to play with Game’s Furminator, so I put her in the bathroom to finish grooming in peace. For the first time in this kind of situation, Chai started (low-volume) whining behind the closed bathroom door right away. Either she thought she was missing out on a session with The Best Toy Ever or we have entered a new juvenile stage! I’m sure I’ll find the answer in the next few days.
House training
Going with turquois for game #2!
Week 1/4, day 1: 2 pees in the shower, 7 pees outside! Day one – check!
July 29, 2023
Activity level: average
The AM
We spent 35 minutes at the park. Chai got to run with her friends (Eva the chocolate BC, Sam the young Doberman and Corgi Maya) and peed twice after Game did (the second time just 2 or 3 drops, but we’ll count it).
Chai and her friends in the morning!
Home alone
Game and Chai stayed home for 3 hours while I went to a no-dogs social thing.
The PM
We started with a short walk to get kibble and pee. Chai got to go into the packed pet supply store, see various dogs and lie down while I stepped on her leash to pay. Game waited outside.
Then we did a 4-in session with bowl #5, followed by the dogs playing, another brief pee walk and 4-in session #2. Now, both dogs are resting on the couch. I’m planning on shaping something else a little later and then taking Chai on a solo adventure to the park later in the afternoon … I’m thinking I’ll work on positions, play and walk home in manners mode.
Park adventures
Chai had fun at her solo park adventure: lots of play with Dina and Doberman Samantha interrupted by quick opt-in position sessions (the protocol for which I’m developing as I go along) – see below!
Oh, this session was fun!
Daniel left when it started raining and I waited out the rain at the stage where Chai got to move around, meet people with umbrellas and walking sticks, a Chihuahua and a big dog guarding their even bigger stick tree. I felt human-connection-y today and dog people are lovely!
After getting home, I took both Game and Chai for a pee loop. Chai had had SO much water and her voluntary middle-of-play pee was already a while ago … I didn’t want to screw with my streak and made sure she peed again (this time over Game’s poop) before heading inside.
Chai is now fast asleep – but the moment she wakes up, we’ll head out for another pee. If she stays asleep on the couch, she’ll just come on Game’s late-evening loop. I’m taking her right before going to bed myself these days to see if that way, I can move her late night pee walks closer to the morning.
… well, we won’t be going on another pee round before tonight’s last one: I just went to the bathroom and Chai followed me and peed as well. (She’s being SO good, only ever going in her designated spot!) The numbers are still looking good: 7 pees outside and 4 in the shower. No accidents in the living room.
House training
Chai didn’t pee on Game’s 10pm pee loop, but right when we got home and I went to the bathroom together with her. This brings us to today’s total of 7 pees (all marking just a drop or two) outside and 5 in the shower. No living room accidents. This is harder than expected! In any case, we’ve earned ourselves another check mark!
