Tag: puppy training

Chaiary – week 15 digest: July 10-16, 2023

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July 10, 2023 (Day 95)

Activity level: low average

I could tell the fact that we didn’t do much yesterday afternoon affected Chai: for the first time, she gave a single bark before I let her out of her luxury kennel (aka the bathroom). She was SO ready to move (and eat)!

The AM …

We had our usual morning walk. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot going on at the park – only a Golden to repeatedly steal a ball from. We ended up leaving earlier than planned and came across an empty small dog park under the highway. It was empty, so instead of one of the usual parks, the girls got to check out this space and all the dog smells in there. Then we headed home, and after Game had breakfast, there was a bit of morning wrestling. Now they’re both snoozing on the couch – perfect for me to start working before heading out again to play with toys or shape Chai!

Toy play

We headed to our toy play plaza for a session – the first one we were going to add a cued behavior to! The only behavior that isn’t a recall and might be on a strong enough verbal cue to hold up under higher-arousal conditions is “touch,” so that’s what I went with. I’m getting positions (sit, down, stand) on verbals, but we are still working on these inside and I don’t trust them to hold out under toy play arousal.

Before we played, Chai got to loop through the park that had A LOT of dogs today. She met and greeted almost every one of them and then was able to fully focus on our toy game.

Walking there and back, we went with harness mode.

The PM …

Chai stayed home alone for Game’s noon walk and got to come on her pre-rain afternoon walk to empty out the puppy and ensure that it was safe to give her living room privileges.

Paw targets!

We worked on ALL the single-paw targets for Silvia Trkman‘s class. I named the behavior, took the name off again some of the time … our sessions were a little messy and a lot of fun! Here’s a compilation of our best reps!

Informal toy play

I’d love to shape, shape, shape more stuff, but because I already used up a day’s worth of food, I am going to take it slow. I will train some more with food – I want to get started on Silvia’s “frog” behavior1 – but for now, we’ll do informal toy play fun as by Silvia’s second To Do List: other dogs around and using always-out toys! When it started thundering outside, Game stopped playing and Chai and I went from tugging three ways on the octopus Chris got us (thank you! It’s being well loved!) to taking turns fetching the dolphin, Game’s shark (again thank you, Chris!) and the octopus. We played for a while until Chai was tired, and then I snuggled her all over to desensitize her some more to being handled. When a puppy is riled up from playing is a perfect desensitization time.

“All the toys are mine!”

Getting started on luring the “Frog” behavior!

After playing and resting a little, Chai was in the right state of mind – a little tired and floppy and lazy – to be lured into the beginning of Silvia’s “Frog” behavior! I’ll be sending them a video to get their feedback since this is the first time teaching this behavior and I suspect there is a way of luring that eliminates some of the crawling I’m getting … maybe it’s as simple as not luring over the crack in the couch she uses to push with her paws … We’ll see!

Now – post frog and post play – Chai is passed out on the floor and Game (now that the thunder has stopped) is asleep on the couch. A peaceful afternoon!

Staying home

Chai stayed home alone for Game’s evening walk. Good puppy!

Housetraining

Getting closer to that brownie!

July 11, 2023 (Day 96)

Activity level: low average

The AM …

We had a short morning walk pre-work – I am planning on taking both dogs out for a good long run before they have to stay home alone for a few hours this afternoon; so I kept our morning outing short. It is clearly harder for Chai to not pull on her harness on a short leash when Game is off leash and Chai hasn’t had a chance to run around freely yet!

Boxes, boxes and more boxes! “Four” shaping

I made sure I got the box behavior from all angles and then named it “Four!” Then, I added a slightly smaller box to the bigger box and named it again after Chai could do “4 in” the smaller box. I took box #2 out of box #3, and she could still do it. Go Chai! I put an even smaller box – box #3, a puzzle box – into box #2. Once Chai could give me 4 paws in box #3, I removed box #2 and we’re now working on getting 4 into just box #2. The reason this is harder for Chai is that the rim of box #3 is only about half as tall as the rim of boxes #1 and #2. Once we’ve mastered box #3 by itself and put the cue back on, I’ll switch to a large plastic bowl (which will, over time, get smaller and smaller in the same way the boxes did). No video today, but next time again!

Fun at the park!

Chai, Game and I went to Fresa Parque and got quite a bit done in 1.5 hours:

Recall fun: one of the items on Silvia’s first To-Do List is to do 10 fun and easy recalls a day. There are lots of fun recalls in Chai’s life anyways. Since I’m following my own recall protocol, I changed this task for Chai: over the next few weeks, I want to consciously do 10 fun and easy, well-rewarded formal (“Schnee!”) recalls that I wouldn’t do otherwise. Today, I crossed off the first two: one for coming back to have the leash taken off and park freedom, and one I snuck in when Chai was happy-zooming in my direction already, reinforced by a treat toss that kept her going along her projectory.

Dog time

Chai and Game got to sniff and explore to their heart’s content. Chai also enjoyed socializing and playing with a few other dogs.

Dog park obstacles just for us and positions

The dog park was muddy and empty, so I used the opportunity to play with both dogs on the “agility” obstacles that Mexican dog parks often come with. Then I sat them both on a “throne” each and worked on sit-stand-sit-stand-sit-stands. This was harder for Chai, but I believe both seeing Game’s example and my hand signals or treat lures helped. She’ll be a pro at this in new environments soon!

Quesadilla stand and foot-on-leash training

I got quesadillas before I headed home, and as we were waiting, Chai got to practice her foot-on-leash-means-down cue. She immediately lied down this time! Superstar! Game got to practice holding a cued down next to Chai.

Foot-on-leash down (Chai) and obedience down (Game) at the quesadilla stand!

Harness fun

We’ve been walking in harness mode. I notice that this has recently gotten harder for Chai. One explanation is something Chris Cernac pointed out to me (thank you; this makes so much sense and I had not thought of it before): as puppies grow, their strides get longer. So they may be practicing the same movement that used to keep the leash loose – but all of a sudden, they are faster than you!

Home alone and the evening

Both dogs stayed home without me for 4 hours. Then I took them out in the pouring rain and thunderstorm to make sure the puppy would be “empty” before having her in the living room. It was an excellent experience: I’ve never been out with her during SUCH a downpour, and not only did she experience getting soaked through from above but also saw all kinds of people wearing different rain coats and holding umbrellas. She took it all in a stride AND did really well lying down on foot-on-leash cue as I waited for ice cream.

Unfortunately, Game was too worried about the thunder sounds to pee. So Chai (who was too stimulated by the new wet environment), having no one to imitate, didn’t either and had to go back into her luxury crate (aka the bathroom) when we got home.

When it had almost stopped raining, I took both dogs out again, and this time, Game peed and Chai followed suit, earning her the right to spend the rest of the evening free in the living room.

Because of these two unforeseen walks, I’ll bump Chai’s activity level up to “average” even though she stayed home alone (well, with Game) for almost 6 hours.

Housetraining

If Chai makes it one more day without accidents in the living space, I get a brownie!

July 12, 2023 (Day 97)

Activity level: average

The AM …

We started our walk with the usual stroll through a park in the area – Chai got to run around a bit and briefly play with another juvenile dog – and then walking home, Game off leash and Chai on the retractable leash (it is growing on me!)

Adding a leg tap to getting dressed

I have started adding a leg tap on the respective leg I am about to lift for Chai’s harness to go on before I lift it.2 She’s already weight-sifting away from the right leg when I tap it! I suspect that she’ll soon lift it for me (like a horse who has been trained to lift the leg you tap for cleaning the hoof)! The order of events is now: “Harness OOONNNN!” – leg tap – lift leg, put leg through respective opening in harness – tap other leg, put through respective opening in harness – clip the harness buckle on Chai’s back.

Just like “Harness OOONNN” and “Harness OOOFFF,” the leg tap is an announcement of what is going to happen – not a cue. However, it may turn into a cue over time: if and when she starts lifting her leg(s) herself when I tap them, it will have become a cue (by my definition of cues and announcements).

A box and a frog

In my first work break, it was time for more shaping! I set up the shaping environment, opened the bathroom door and used Chai’s formal recall to call her out. Her reinforcer: a get-it treat and shaping – her favorite game! 3/10 of Silvia’s adapted “fun recalls!”

We then continued working on shaping 4 in with the puzzle box – sans bigger boxes. This is hard for Chai! We kept the session a bit shorter than usual and will probably stay at this stage for a while.

When Chai was tired from trying to fit into the box, I gave her a break and then tried luring her into frog position again, keeping in mind Silvia’s advice to feed in position (and not keep moving my hand) as soon as she stretched her legs. I tried on the bed with two pillows, on the floor (slippery surface for sliding hind legs) and on the couch with a single pillow folded over. She did the best on the couch! This, I believe, is going to stay our frog training space.

Home alone

Both dogs stayed home alone when I went to get streetfood. Chai stayed home alone for Game’s later walk as well!

Chai’s afternoon walk and the park

Chai and I walked a new route in harness mode. She did great and I used a 4-check-ins-treat approach with resets (starting the counter with 1) after circles. She mostly kept the leash perfectly and beautifully loose – this is clearly a lot easier for her when Game isn’t around! She did some lovely leave-it-s and a beautiful wait at the curb and even offered eye contact (for constant treats) when passing 2 dogs. She approached a third one on a loose leash and got to say hi. Go puppy!

She did great lying down on my foot-on-leash cue in a store.

On the way …

We were then going to walk to Fresa Parque in collar mode. We haven’t practiced in a while and it shows – we had to start over with 3 steps between treats (to be fair, the environment was busy and new to Chai) and had made it all the way up to 8 steps between treats by the time we reached the park. We did a few loops, found a pile of kibble (I hope Chai didn’t eat too much of it – tomorrow’s diarrhea or lack thereof will tell!) and greeted (but were too warm and tired to play with) a very cute 7-months-old ACD. Otherwise, there wasn’t a lot going on in terms of dogs. We stopped at the water bowl outside a nearby café for a drink and then walked with 8 steps between treats in collar mode to another little store. Chai did great waiting outside for me.

After the store break, we volleyed between 5 and 15 steps between treats in a familiar street in collar mode.

Note to self: keep working on collar mode!

People socializing …

A friend stopped by and Chai got some social time in the late afternoon.

Evening shaping: more puzzle box fun!

We did two puzzle box shaping sessions. Chai’s got it! She still tends to sit down rather than stand when first making it into the box, but she’s going right to 4 in from all angles! I’ll get rid of the sit and re-attach the cue (“Four!”) tomorrow – and then we’ll move from boxes to ever-shrinking bowls!

I have again fed more than Chai’s daily meal in training. This is why I LOVE dogs who will work for kibble! Otherwise, all my dogs would eat is hotdogs! With Chai, I’m not concerned about her eating “too much”: she inevitably has stomach issues after finding food in the street that will give her two days of diarrhea, so eating more than her share on most good stomach days is just fine for her – it probably balances out nicely.

Evening walk

Chai went on Game’s evening walk to make sure I’d have an empty puppy who could spend the evening with us in the living room. Game was off leash and Chai in harness mode. Yep, definitely still harder for her to keep the leash loose when Game is way ahead of her! Hopefully she’ll soon get to join the off-leash fun herself.

House training

Woohooo! Tomorrow I’ll get my brownie!

July 13, 2023 (Day 98)

Activity level: average (low cognitive, high physical)

Early this morning, we had a very brief loop including a few minutes at the empty dog park under the highway because Game felt zoomy and I didn’t want her to zoom into the street.

Later in the morning, Chai went on a brief empty-out-the-puppy walk around the block with Game, waited outside a bakery and briefly stayed home alone while Game and I ran another errand.

In the afternoon, the lucky dogs spent 3 hours running around and swimming at Chapultepec with a friend and me, ate lots of treats and practiced informal recalls.

I also saw/heard her growl for the first time ever when she saw someone rope-jumping while we were taking a break from walking and sat on a park bench. We played LAT with the rope jumper for a while. In an ideal world, there would have been no need for LAT – but it is nice to pick up training opportunities when they present themselves!

We talked and had fun and I forgot that cellphones existed, so today’s only picture is the aftermath:

I feel as sleepy as they look!

A new harness (creating a third leash-walking context)

Today was the first time I used the second harness I’ve been keeping ready for whenever I cannot train: a front attachment harness. I will use it if I board Chai or if for whatever reason I walk her and am not able to train-train either harness mode (circles) or collar mode. The goal is to make the front-attachment harness the one I will actually not care about pulling. This happens rarely, but it does when I walk with someone who requires my full attention or when I’m in a hurry or need someone else to walk her for me … It’ll be good to have it. I am not planning on using it in everyday life, but today, I wanted to be able to focus on the conversation with Scarlett even in the short parts of the walk where we needed leashes – so Chai wore her front-attachment harness for the first time.

I may at some point introduce a third harness if I decide to do any pulling sports with Chai. For now, I will focus on circles with the back-attachment (everyday) harness and casual heeling (“With me”) on the collar. The front attachment harness is for special occasions only.

House training

I had my brownie this morning! Time to start week 3/4 of the streak challenge!

July 14, 2022 (Day 99)

Activity level: low

I’m planning on a low-activity day today. As hard as it is for me to not train and train and train, I know there will be a time when I won’t be able to – and now is the developmental period that sets Chai’s needs and expectations for the future. One calm day a week – I can do this. I’ll allow myself just a liiiiiitle bit of shaping and not much else. No two days worth of food. No hours and hours of hiking and play. Calm days for Chai. Calm days for me! If I want to do more than that, Game will be ready!

Our usual morning walk included a brief stop to sniff-explore off leash at the highway dog park because our usual morning park had bread and other food for pigeons and squirrels all over the place, and I hadn’t brought anything that could trump that kind of distraction. Chai is a foody with a sensitive stomach. I don’t mind her scavenging a bit either way (it is a very dog thing to do and I don’t want to deny my dogs this pleasure), but the amounts of easily available food out today were just too to unclip Chai’s leash. So she and Game got to go into the highway park instead. While ugly to my human eyes, the dogs tend to enjoy sniffing that space. Some very interesting peers must be visiting it at other times of the day, leaving fascinating olfactory messages.

All other outings today will be only to empty out the puppy! I wrote it down – it’s going to happen!

What I learned from today’s shaping sessions

Today was a didactic session for me! I love what fantastic teachers my dogs are! Today, I learned two things:

  1. For the “4 in” behavior, I was raising criteria too fast: I was adding the cue before the behavior was ready.

In the first session, you’ll see me add the “Four” cue back into the box game but Chai sometimes sits and sometimes only has 3 paws in (I only notice after clicking or feeding because of my angle of view). Good training decision: I took the cue off again!

  1. The way I use the clicker is ambiguous. This is becoming even more obvious to me now that I’ve been using multiple marker systems for years. I practically only use a clicker in shaping sessions anymore. And unlike any other marker cue, its meaning changes: sometimes, it means “stay in position.” (Outside of a shaping session, this would be “Good.”) Sometimes, it means “chase the treat.” Outside of a shaping session, this would be “Get it.” Sometimes, it means come to my hand for a treat (outside a shaping session, this would be a tongue click). Sometimes, it is a terminal marker (it ends the behavior) and sometimes, it is not (I want the dog to keep performing the behavior after the click because I’m shaping duration). None of this ambiguity exists in my marker cue system. You’ll see me adapt the way I feed in the second 4-in session today to avoid this ambiguity and not have to withhold treats or lure after the click.

Session #1:


Session #2:

This brings up an interesting philosophical question for me: do I want to start shaping with multiple marker cues? It would certainly add clarity to the process AND increase understanding of the marker cues WHILE teaching a new behavior. On the other hand, it is really fun to use a clicker in shaping. I like seeing the dog figure out what I want in any given session. Maybe I even like a little ambiguity and that they have to always discover what the click means from scratch when we work on a new behavior. I like the flexibility it requires of my dog and the adaptability it requires of me.

The two shaping sessions above are all the Chai-training I’ll do today. Note to self: remember calm days! I wanted to get to the bowl AND to the naming phase, but it will have to wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow, I’ll allow myself ALL the shaping fun again! I may also see Alan and Kiba – I’ll have to try and keep the pups’ playtime to an hour or so to avoid a “high” activity day which would require yet another “low activity” day this week! I don’t think I have another low activity day in me!

I also need to make sure not to stop working on life skills these days! I’m having so much fun with our tricks that our life skills are in danger of being put on the back burner.

Chilling in frog position

Some more of Chai’s meal was spent on luring her into and chilling in frong position. This feels like a very low-key behavior for a calm day, especially after Silvia pointed out to me that they eventually want the dog to be perfectly relaxed in this position (it’s a stretching exercise for active dogs). I added “good” as a (room service) marker this time.

I am proud to report that I haven’t yet used up all of Chai’s food AND am not planning on doing any more “formal” training today. The rest will just be eaten on empty-out-the-dog around-the-block walks or as a simple scatter.

Home alone

Both dogs stayed home while I dropped off laundary, and Chai stayed home when Game and I went to the supermarket, the bakery and to brush her outside. And then again for Game’s longer-than-usual evening walk. Home alone training is something else that goes perfectly well with calm days! So is …

… husbandry!

+ “Claws,” all four paws. Unfortunately, I cut into the quick on one of Chai’s back right nails on the second paw I worked on. She didn’t seem particularly fazed at the time, but was unhappy with me doing her front right paw two paws later. We got through it: claws announcement – procedure happens. She has been doing very well with this so far, so I expect her to bounce back next week. I may back up to one paw/day again though since the paw she struggled with today was the last one I worked on (two paws after the quick, so more likely related to duration of handling than fear of pain).

Game got her nails done as well (I did too). Chai was fascinated by Game’s Dremel and repeatedly tried to dremel her own nose by shoving it into my Dremel hand. Maybe the Dremel is Chai’s hot stove equivalent. (You know how some kids just HAVE TO touch the hot stove or iron to believe the adults? I was one of those kids.)

Calm days

We had afternoon snuggles on the couch, chewed up an empty bottle, shredded cardboard rolls and the dogs slept (are sleeping now) while I worked (am working). Good puppy; good big girl Game!

Fun-and-easy recall #4/10

Chai got her fourth Silvia-inspired recall that combined a (potential) negative reinforcer with two positive ones: I recalled Chai out of the bathroom into the living room (potentially a negative reinforcer: the door between her and Game and me gets removed), clicked and gave her a piece of chicken (very special and usually reserved for difficult recalls or distraction recalls!) and then cued a scatter and fed the rest of her daily kibble. Yay for calm days – I’ve got a BIG reward left in the end of the day!

House training

I don’t think Chai’d be doing this well if I hadn’t gamified this challenge for myself! Wanting my weekly brownie keeps me vigilant and on top of (otherwise boring) house training things!

July 15, 2023 (Day 100)

Activity level: average

Home alone

3 times without Game, less than an hour each.

LLW (loose leash walking) in collar mode

5-35 steps between treats in the second half of our morning loop. You go Chai!

Easy fun recalls (“Schnee!”)

Twice, I did negative reinforcement (out of bathroom) combined with two kinds of positive reinforcement (“get it” kibble to the shaping station + shaping). We’re at 6/10 recalls!

Other social and training fun

+ 1 hour play at the park with Alan and Kiba (we still don’t have that informal recall pre-greeting, but we’ll keep at it!)

+ Shaping 4 in, several sessions.

+ Barrier recalls in the house with distractions #2 and #3.

Sidewalk freedom training

2 days ago, I stopped taking Chai on midnight walks. She’s got a lot of practice under her collar and I now want her to focus on sleeping through the night without peeing instead.

House training

July 16, 2023 (Day 101)

Now that we’ve made it past Chai’s 100th day with me, I may scale back on my diary entries. I’ll keep them up at least a little longer though because blogging motivates my streak game … but we’ll probably take a break from documenting every single day in a few weeks. We’ll see!

Activity level: average

Noises

There were firecrackers at an intermediate distance this morning and Chai didn’t care! Yay! My tip: if you have a puppy who doesn’t seem to care – play when there are fireworks, or follow each loud noise up with a cookie. Preventative counterconditioning can go a long way since I’ve seen puppies be fine with firecrackers and develop fears as adults (example: Game). With Game, I didn’t do prophylactic counterconditioning because she didn’t seem to care as a puppy – but now she does. I’m hoping to set Chai up for more success by connecting loud noises with fun (play/food) rather than just keeping things neutral as I did with Game in puppyhood.

Chai also doesn’t mind the horribly loud (to me and Game) whistling sound of the camote vendor who was in our neighborhood tonight, clearly audible through the open windows! You go girl!

Home alone …

… with Game for 2:45 hrs, and by herself for Game’s brief evening walk.

Activities

+ Shaping 4 in with only bowl #2, and putting the “Four!” cue back on! I also finished the video compilation of our 4 in work and submitted it to Silvia.

+ Barrier recalls on the roof (distractions #2 and #3).

+ A short noon walk with both dogs on short leashes (harness mode for Chai).

+ “Earn it” (Zen bowl; don’t take the food) – 4 sessions.

+ Late afternoon with Game and Chai at Fresa Parque.

+ Barrier (plastic container) recalls in the real world: single-rep success in the second session. (First session had 2 reps; then we took a break looping around the busy park for a while.) In our next session – not today though – I’ll up the reinforcement value by quantity: instead of a single piece of chicken, I’ll use a handful to make sure it’s worth Chai’s while!

House training

This evening, when I was in the bathroom, Chai came in to pee in the shower! Her designated spot! All by herself! Go Chai! I didn’t have food on me but a toy on the bathroom shelf, so that’s what we celebrated with!

I didn’t realize it was about time for her to go – otherwise, I would have put her in the bathroom – but she went herself, keeping my streak alive! Thank you, Chai!

A little later, she went back into the bathroom by herself to poop in her designated spot. This time, I was nowhere near the bathroom myself! Go Chai!!

We’re more than half way to this week’s brownie accomplishment! Just gotta keep it up!

  1. The “frog” is a stretching exercise for canine athletes rather than a trick as such. The idea is that the dog, lying on their belly, stretches their hind legs out completely and holds this position. Puppies have an easier time doing this than adult dogs. If you start with a young dog and do it regularly, they will maintain the skill which, according to Silvia, helps with mobility, agility and injury-prevention. ↩︎
  2. Future me popping in here to say: at the point I was writing this post, Chai was still wearing her puppy harness – a back-attachment one that could only be put on by lifting both front legs. She has since eaten that harness, which is why in the “announcements” video I link to above, you’ll see her current larger harnesses, non of which require legs to be lifted. Leg-taps were short-lived because harnesses are tasty. ↩︎

Chaiary – week 14 digest: July 3-9, 2023

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July 3, 2023 (day 88 with me)

Activity level: average (low physical, high cognitive)

The AM …

We started the morning with our usual walk. Today we took our time, looped the park twice and greeted and dismissed several dogs – good puppy!

2-toy tug reinforced by fetch at Fresa Parque

We dropped Game off at home and Chai and I walked to Fresa Parque in harness mode. There, we had a lovely session of 2-toy fetch and then enjoyed the park some more before heading back home in collar mode. Chai did really well!

Later, we started shaping two tricks from Silvia Trkman‘s first to-do list: “Earn it!” in the apartment and a 2-front-paw target on the roof. Chai is a dog who is happy to keep working and shaping for a long time. She reminds me of the first time I took Sue Ailsby‘s shaping class with Phoebe: we could work and work and work and she wouldn’t tire; I could have spent all day shaping. Chai, at her current age, is like that too – SO much fun!

Staying home alone

She then stayed home alone for Game’s early-afternoon walks and while Game accompanied me for a hair cut.

During Game’s evening walk, Chai got to practice staying home alone a second time.

More shaping!

After coming home, I continued Chai’s 2-paw target shaping. We ended with a relatively consistent 1-paw on the target and will progress to 2 paws tomorrow … I’ve already fed her almost twice her meal in today’s shaping sessions so it’s probably time to stop.

Prepositions for announcements

Today, I started adding prepositions to the announcements I’ve been using for Chai. Is she going to learn and understand them? I don’t know but I assume that with time and context, she will. And even if she doesn’t – striving for the greatest possible clarity when communicating with our dogs (or anyone else) is a worthwhile pursuit in any case.

House training adventures

I am proud to report that our streak continues! Week one of the game couldn’t be going any better! If I make it two more days, I’ll treat myself to a fancy browny – and then we start week 2! Sadly, Chai’s diarrhea is back as well. Here’s to making the shower her default pooping spot! She went there by herself, too.

July 4, 2023 (Day 89)

Activity level: low

The AM …

Chai greeted a few dogs on our 2-dog morning loop and then did well on the retractable leash while Game was off leash – hardly any circles or food reinforcers needed!

Almost home, we found a creepy bouquet of artificial flowers on the ground. Magic hands and Game walking right up to investigate it for the win! If I had already had coffee, I would have turned the bouquet into a toy – but sans caffeine, I really wanted to get home and fuel up.

2 trips and one toy play session at the plaza

After a bit of work, I took Chai to our neighborhood plaza for a quick 2-toy game according to Shade‘s instructions. I’m planning to make today our “calm” day – it’s a good one because I’m meeting a friend and can leave her home. Plus I want to resist the temptation to keep shaping until the diarrhea is gone: my home remedy for diarrhea is 12-24 hours of fasting.

Chai did great walking to the plaza and back with the leash attached to her harness. I replaced most food reinforcers with brief spouts of personal play or running together and needed hardly any circles. At the park, Chai saw someone move a giant water-spouting hose – a new and interesting experience, but not a scary one! Brave puppy!

Play went well even though Chai answered the question whether she could tug without misses first with a “not really – I like my misses.” It may also have been that she expected the first play move to be a chase and was taken aback when I cued a tug.

First time off leash on the sidewalk during the day

Chai will be an off-leash Mexico City dog. When I first got her, I worked on this by means of exclusively walking her on a long line to simulate an off-leash experience (while keeping her safely on the sidewalk next to a busy car street). We’ve also been working on being an off leash city dog for about a month by taking off-leash urban walks between 2AM and 4AM when there are almost no cars in the street. (Furture me chiming in here: the nightly walks are a tradition I stopped a few days after writing this Chiary entry. It led to very tired days for me and after a month, I needed a break!) Other off-leash city dog elements:

  • Working towards a solid formal recall.
  • Practicing “Leave it” (and its generalization to stepping off the sidewalk) and …
  • “Wait” at the curb.
  • Being off leash when there is a barrier of shrubbery or parked cars between a park and the street.

My plan is to have her drag a long line – no Game present, just Chai – during the day as soon as we make it all the way through our distraction tracker for the formal recall (formal recalls are emergency breaks).

Yesterday, I made an exception to the rule of not having Chai off leash in the street during the day just yet: a neighbor’s dog came bounding down the sidewalk as we were on our way back from the plaza. Since the playful dog was running directly towards us, I unhooked Chai’s leash so she could play. They did for about a minute on the sidewalk and then I walked the last 30 meters home off leash as well. Chai didn’t leave the sidewalk. Good girl! Back to the original plan though as long as there are no playful pups around!

Staying home alone

Game and I are about to head out and meet a friend – time for Chai to be a good stay-home-alone puppy and for Game to get a bike run in!

Game, being a hipster dog for a day. We are street food people, but sometimes – usually when friends want to go OR when I want to dog-train – we head to a place like this one. And yes, of course: “somos lo que somos.

Chai did great staying home alone for 3.5 hours, and Game enjoyed a 20 minute bike ride, 2.5 hours of hanging out at a café and chewing her rawhide bone and 30 minutes of biking home on a different route.

Chai got to stay home again a second time during Game’s evening walk. We’ll count today as the calm day of the week! Our second calm day (the one to make up for last Sunday’s high activity day) might be Friday.

Housetraining

The streak continues! Wheee, it is fun to see my arrows turn green! We’ve almost made it through a week!

July 5, 2023 (Day 90)

Activity level: average (low physical, high cognitive)

The AM …

We had an uneventful morning walk.

Home alone

After work, both dogs stayed home while I bought supplies for trick training, and then Chai stayed home alone again while Game and I headed out for a bit.

Shaping, shaping, shaping!

I shaped away one day’s worth of Chai’s kibble for paw target experiments (we both love this game).

2-toy tug and fetch and waiting at the ice cream store

… then we walked in harness mode to Fresa Parque and played a short 2-toy game before being rudly interrupted by a tall barky stranger Mal mix. As by Shade’s suggestion, I tried cueing “chase” while Chai was tugging rather then after she dropped and offered eye contact to reinforce the tugging rather than the drop.

Chai then waited patiently for me as I got ice cream:

Her right ear has been in a floppy mood!

… and more shaping!

Back home, I shaped a second day’s worth of kibble away in 6 short sessions and then took Game on her evening walk while Chai stayed home alone a third time.

(And yes, there was work too in between all of this, cooking and a post-icecream nap for me.)

House training: the streek continues!

As of today, we’ve made it through an entire week without peeing in the living room! I’ve earned myself a browny! The week 1 streak in all its glory:

July 6, 2023 (Day 91)

Activity level: high average

The AM …

Our morning walk was shorter than usual because I wanted to get home and finish work before meeting Alan and Kiba for our train-and-play date. Work went fast and I had time to clicker up Chai’s daily food ration again. Shaping this dog is FUN! My way of not going overboard is only having the daily food ratio available and stopping once I’m through it (if I can help it). It’s also not one continuous session, of course – one session is either what fits in my hand or what fits in my hand plus another handful of food from my pocket. Then there’s a short break; then we might do another session.

Knowing how much and how fast juvenile dogs change, it is difficult for me not to get carried away with shaping and tricks while I have such an avid learner: there is no way of knowing whether Chai’s stamina and enthusiasm for training will be the same a week from now or once she’s an adult. (My own training stamina and enthusiasm is off the charts these days but will probably wear off a bit in the future.)

Home alone

While Chai is on pee-standby in the bathroom, Game and I are about to head out. After practicing impulse control on her mat, it’s time to give her a little outdoors freedom before Chai gets all the action again!

I used the opportunity to get my week-long streak reinforcer:

Yumm! Game (nose at top left corner) thinks so too!

2-toy tug/fetch and dog/dog play time!

Alan had to cancel our training meeting because he got sick. Instead, I recorded Chai’s toys homework for Shade sans interruptions and then Chai got to play a little bit in the dog park. I decided to go in because there were only two dogs who looked calm. Chai got them to play, and we practiced two recalls out of play for chicken. I had planned on doing this with Kiba today, but since there was no Kiba, these two playmates would do! Chai was a star – however, I’m sure this was easier than Kiba would have been. Kiba is her best buddy and hard to disengage from while Chai has never met these two dogs before and generally recalls well from strange dogs. (Still: this is the very first time I recalled her in the middle of playing – and she came back right away! Go Chai! This may actually have been an excellent step before practicing with Kiba.)

The video below shows Chai’s dog park socializing and the two formal recalls we did – the second one out of full-on play.

More paw target shaping

Back home, we took a break and then shaped for (almost) an entire second day’s meal. We now have two mostly steady paws on 3 different targets: a plastic tupperware lid, a plant saucer and a porcellain plate!

Husbandry

+ “Brush” announcement and brushing!

Toy play Silvia Trkman style

It was thundering and rain-storming and Game was scared (of the thunder). I don’t want Chai to adopt Game’s fears, so we casually played with always-out toys on the couch. There’s also a TV show running in the background … distraction training AND play! I want her to chase and tug on any toy I offer and also learn more about her favorites and preferred play style in a casual context.

(The reason Chai and I can play in this video without Game joining in is that Game is too worried about the thunder to play.)

House training

… week 2 of 4! The streak continues! If Chai makes it another 7 days without accidents in the living room (only in the shower cabin or outdoors), I’ll get another browny. After a 4-week streak – which we may or may not get to on our first attempt – I’m going to treat myself to something bigger. In any case – if all I ever win in my streak game are brownies, that’ll work for me too!

July 7, 2023 (Day 92)

Activity level: low

The AM …

I let Game and Chai run around the park a little more than usual because I’m planning on a calm day today. Chai got to greet several dogs she knows and then we walked back home – Game off leash, Chai on the retractable leash.

Shaping!

After work, we started another project for Silvia’s class: 4 in a box!

A brief 2-short-leashes pee walk

later, I headed off to co-work with a friend at a favorite queer meet-up café while Game and Chai stayed home for about 4 hours.

More shaping!

We did one more 4-in session (Chai was a superstar!) and then called it a day.

I have succeeded in keeping today a light, calm day! AND I made up for all the kibble I fed over the last two days by feeding (i.e. training) less today! (Remember my rule: one day a week has to be calmer than average. If I do a high (rather than average) activity day, I will try to balance it out with a second calm day in that same week. Tomorrow will likely be high activity again – we’re planning on a trail hike. More keep-it-calm challenges for me to come! (Calm days are the hardest for me! Seeing friends helps because it takes up time I would otherwise spend training.)

Housetraining

Streak game week 2, day 2 – we earned another green check mark! Woohooo!

Empty puppies – and empty puppies only! – get to chill on the bed.

July 8, 2023 (Day 93)

Activity level: average

Los Dinamos – finalmente!

After the briefest of morning pee walks (the dogs) and coffee (me), we made our third attempt to head to Los Dinamos, a nature park in the south of Mexico City. And we did it! Finally, nothing got in the way of our plans.

This was Chai’s first “real” nature walk – not in a city park but jumping across fallen trees, scrambling up and down hills and rocks and exploring the slippery rocks and muddy ground of a shallow river. She had a blast – and so did Game. Game loves running in spaces like this and I can tell how much she’s missed it when we go again after a longer break.

I found out that Chai doesn’t yet know she has to keep an eye on me in this kind of environment in order not to accidentally lose me. So I played a lot of hide and seek (hiding behind a tree or rock when she wasn’t looking, letting her worry just a little bit and then waiting for her to find me and celebrating with social feedback:”Yay! Did you lose me? You found me! What a good puppy!”)

Here’s an excerpt of Game and Chai adventuring at Los Dinamos:

Chai also discovered she likes to eat horse poop and found several bone parts of deceased animals to nibble on. I could “Schnee” recall her away from horse poop and successfully traded all bones for chicken. Superpuppy!

In terms of structured sessions, after first getting there and peeing (Chai), I had a 2-toy session for Shade’s class. This space felt different to her than city parks – I could see it in her slightly lower-than-usual focus. Apart from that, she did really well!

We had fun in the shallow river and both dogs got to play with a (non-training) ball in the water.

Otherwise, I just let them be dogs and run around for an hour. We met a couple suddenly appearing people and dogs – very different from the constant buzz of the city! – but Chai, after looking at me questioningly the first time it happened, did well. Game knows the drill and just curves around strangers.

Before we left, we saw a horse – someone was cantering down the trail at full speed. Game barked and wanted to give chase (a “leave it” brought her right back to me – chicken for the big girl!) Chai, who has never met a horse, barked after Game did and scrambled back to me as if she had just seen the devil. I’m looking forward to an opportunity for her to meet more horses – quiet, steady ones who are not crashing down trails! – in the future to ensure she feels neutral about them.

We headed home after only about an hour. So there is still lots of kibble left for shaping in the afternoon, and since we weren’t out very long, I don’t have to worry about overdoing it!

Shaping 4 in!

I used up the remainder of Chai’s daily food ration in two medium-length shaping sessions in the afternoon. We ended with 4 in from all the angles! Good puppy!

Pee walk and bakery

In the late afternoon, Chai and Game got to join me on a mini pee walk to the bakery around the corner, wait outside and then help explain some dog training things to the good folks at the bakery who collected my phone number for a neighbor with two barky adolescent Xolos.

Game imitated Chai’s peeing, I got my “Potty” cue in and reinforced, and we went back upstairs: the empty puppy earned living room privileges again!

Thunder

It is thundering again tonight. Not only is Chai not concerned – Game is feeling way better than last time as well!

Housetraining

Happy to report that my second brownie is getting closer …!

July 9, 2023 (Day 94)

Activity level: low average

The AM …

Given that the AM starts at midnight, I am sad to report that our AM started in a less than relaxing way: someone right around the corner must have been celebrating something (it was Saturday night), and as we came back from our night walk at around 1:45 AM, there were LOUD cohetes.

Fireworks are new for Chai: she looks at me and Game to figure out the appropriate response. So I spent the next hour counterconditioning: big boom – scatter. Big boom – scatter. Chai was happy about her scatters, ate a lot of kibble and then, before I could assess whether she was already happy about hearing big booms, the booms stopped … and we could all go back to sleep. The only one who didn’t get a lot of sleep, I’m afraid, is Game. She looks very tired this morning.

Toy skills!

We did two sessions of tugging reinforced by chase today. Chai now needs less misses in order to enjoy her tug! Good girl!

In the first session, she needed the visual of my outstretched arm with the second toy after my “Chase” cue to let go in the first chase-past-tug rep. In the second rep, she let go of her toy on a verbal “Chase” alone.

In the second session, Chai responded differently to the verbal “Tug” than to the verbal “Chase,” and she let go on the verbal “Chase” alone both times and showed prediction behaviors for chasing, with the other ball still out of sight! Woohooo! Go puppy!!!

Dog socializing

Chai also got to run around a bit and play with a bunch of dogs before we went to a café to work (me) and practice chilling on her mat (Chai). I wanted to make sure she got her need to move and greet dogs out of the way first to set her up for success.

I made sure not to tire her out during our break – I don’t want a dog who lies calmly on her mat because she is exhausted, but a dog who lies calmly on her mat because her social needs and needs to move have been met and she’s ready to watch the world go by for a bit.

Café training

We stayed for about 40 minutes, and there was a lot going on! Chai did VERY well!

Left: waiting outside while I order at the coffee shop – next to another unfamiliar dog who is also waiting for their person! Right: chilling on her mat at the café. This is a fancier place than I like going, but it’s at an wonderfully busy corner – it’s great for training.

Then we left for another round of park play and socializing before Chai got too wound up. 40 minutes of sitting relatively still at a busy corner restaurant is a lot for a young dog! We then returned to the café and I finished up my workload for the morning with Chai being a superstar again.

Here’s a post about the art of doing nothing with a video of our practice session at the café.

Home alone

Chai stayed home alone during Game’s noon and afternoon (pre-rain) walks and during her evening walk.

Housetraining

Chai peed at the park without needing inspiration or a role model to follow! You go girl!

We’re past the halfway mark for the week! Yay! And no accidents of any kind in the living room! I can smell you already, yummy brownie!

CLARITY: cues, announcements … and prepositions!

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An addendum to Chai’s July 3 diary entry

Announcements versus cues

Announcements is a term I use to distinguish certain verbal expressions directed at dogs from the term cue: a cue is the opportunity for the dog to do a certain behavior in order to earn a reinforcer (or, if you are of a different philosophy, you could say a cue is telling the dog what they “have to” do – that is, it’s a “command”). Whatever philosphy you subscribe to, a cue is all about the dog’s actions. Sit, for example, is a cue for the dog to move their butt floorwards. Come is a cue for the dog to run towards you.

An announcement is information about what is going to happen “to” the dog. It is not telling the dog what to do. For example in radius training, I use an opportunity cost announcement if the dog oversteps their radius. It means “We are going the other way now!”

When I brush Chai, I’ll announce that I’m going to do so by saying “Brush.” I’m not asking. This is not cooperative care. (She doesn’t need it to be.) When I dremel Game’s nails or clip Chai’s nails, I’ll announce “Claws.” Again, I am not asking the dog to do anything – I am letting them know what is about to happen before I do it. An announcement is me informing my dog about what I am going to do next. It is not a question but information. Anytime I announce something, it is going to happen right after independently of the dog’s thoughts or feelings about it – just like the sun will rise every day whether I want it to or not.

Today (that is on July 3, 2023, when I drafted this post), after having used “collar,” “harness” and “leash” every time before taking one of the three objects off or putting them on Chai, I’ve started adding prepositions. “Collar onnnn!” means I’m about to put a collar on Chai. “Collar offff!” means I’ll take it off. I stress the preposition in my announcement because it is the part that is new for her. “Leash onnnn!” means the leash will be clipped to the harness and is, like a click, always followed by a treat (to avoid creating aversion to being leashed). “Leash offff!” means I will unclip the leash. It will either be followed by off-leash freedom or by “With me!” (leash clipped to collar; informal heeling). No treats when equipment comes off.

The fourth object I’m using our new prepositions for is Chai’s sweater. Remember how I was planning on taking her to Pride but then didn’t? I got her a Pride sweater anyways (yes, it has happened and there’s no denying it: I’m one of these people who dress up dogs now). It was 50% off and cute, and I want her to get used to wearing things such as service dog vests or “clothing” she might need to wear after surgery one day. So we also work on normalizing “Sweater onnnn!” and “Sweater offff!” Chai is doing perfectly fine with wearing it for short periods of time – the startle of the store person trying to stuff her into a sweater without asking permission had no repercussions. (I did not buy the sweater there, by the way.)

Here’s a brief compilation of onnn-s and offff-s I (that is future me on October 30, 2023) just recorded to illustrate this concept before I release this post I drafted in July:

In the video above, note how certain announcements – in this example only “harness onnn” – have the potential to turn into a cue (Chai can learn to push her head through the harness loop voluntarily). Others, like leash onnn or offf, can always only be announcements since Chai can’t put her leash on or take it off herself.

Below is another brief clip from today, showing an example of something that (A) will always be an announcement (“Brush” in the example: Chai can’t brush herself) and (B) won’t ever have a preposition because it wouldn’t make sense:

What is the point of announcing things? Why don’t you just DO them?

I want to maximize agency (where it matters for the dog in front of me) and clarity (where there can’t be agency or where agency is less important for the dog in front of me). When it comes to training, I want the dog to opt in. When it comes to grooming, I want opting in (cooperative care) if the dog doesn’t like being groomed – otherwise, I’ll just do an announcement. Why? Because teaching cooperative care is time consuming and it not a personal passion of mine. Therefore, as long as the dog in front of me doesn’t mind, I’ll announce rather than ask.

While announcements aren’t questions, they still give me valuable information

While the announcement isn’t a question (I’m not asking, “Would you like me to brush you?” but telling Chai, “I am going to brush you now!” in the video above), it still comes with valuable information: I tell Chai that I will brush her before I sit down next to her on the couch. (I always and only brush her on the couch.) This gives her time to leave. If she left, I would gain important information about how she feels about being brushed. As I am brushing her, I am not cutting off her exit route/cornering her. Unlike with “leash on” and “harness on,” there is NO treat after grooming behaviors. So Chai gains nothing by allowing me to groom her. She could walk away – but she doesn’t.

Here’s a COMPLETELY taken-out-of-context quote by M.E. O’Brien that, to my great amusement, fits very well: “If one cannot easily leave, one cannot choose to stay.” Dog training really is a metaphor for life. And that’s why I use announcements rather than “just do the thing.”

Chaiary: the art of doing nothing

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The way I conceptualize it, the art of doing nothing comes in handy in 3 different contexts:

1. Doing nothing at home (low activity days)

This requires the skill of switching off one’s brain and body without being mentally/physically exhausted. It includes staying home alone as well as relaxing while humans are doing things that don’t involve dogs. Here’s an example of Chai staying home alone on her second day with me … and the link to a post going into home-alone training details.

2. Doing nothing while running errands or in between training sessions (brief spurts of relaxation in between more active behaviors)

This requires the skill of switching between arousal levels quickly. I have two main ways of training this: (A) crate1 or mat training2 for seminars, trials, waiting in the car and (B) teaching my dog that when my foot is on their leash, it means I’d like them to lie down and relax.

I’ll talk about the third method here – the first two already have their own posts/series linked to above.

When it comes to teaching a lie down cue with a foot on a mat, I’ just’ll start as early as my dog’s first leash walk in a public place. As I’m taking them places and briefly stopping in between (a puppy class, an errand etc.), I’ll stand on the leash when I’m talking to someone, getting money from an ATM, ordering something … I’ll keep the length of the leash between my foot and the harness as short as possible and not give any particular attention to the dog. If and when they lie down, I feed without using a marker cue.

Initially, I’ll feed quite a bit to help them understand. Later on, I’ll only feed when the puppy is looking away from me (I don’t want an obedience down). Even further down the line, once behavior and cue are understood, I’ll randomize reinforcement. For example when I’m out in the street, waiting at a taco stand, I’ll drop a single treat between my dog’s front paws anytime a red car goes by.

Phoebe was the hardest dog to teach the leash cue to. Lynn Ungar (thank you for being wonderful, Lynn! Good CA memories!) suggested I cue the down and then keep my foot very close to Phoebe’s collar as I stand on her leash, not giving her attention. That way, when I was taking obedience classes from Lynn, Phoebe wasn’t physically able to get up and start bouncing and teeth-clapping at me in anticipation or frustration. Once she had understood this, she was able to relax – something that she used to only be able to do in a training context when crated or sent to a mat.

3. Doing nothing for longer periods of time in public (while your people are having a picnic, on public transport, under the table at a restaurant or café, at a trial or seminar …)

This requires the skill of patience in the face of distractions. Mat stationing skills don’t hurt either.

With little puppies, a great way of introducing them to this concept is to just start bringing them places. Small puppies sleep a lot. This fact alone will help them get used to the fact that sometimes, humans do human things in public and dogs are just there.

Any puppy I have, I’ll bring pretty much anywhere – the younger, the better. I’ll bring their mat and a chew and keep the leash too short for them to wander. Simply being in a new and exciting environment tends to tire puppies out and makes it very likely that they’ll fall asleep, practicing exactly what I want them to practice: chilling in a busy environment made by and for humans.

With an adult dog, I will put more work into mat skills (see the crate protocol1 or the CU mat protocol2 – both work for mat training).

  1. Full crate training tutorial (can be used for mat work as well):
    Part 1: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/crate-expectations-part-1-shaping-interactions-with-a-new-crate/
    Part 2: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/crate-expectations-part-2-lying-down-in-the-crate-and-starting-to-build-duration/
    Part 3: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/crate-expectations-part-3-adding-a-cue-and-extending-duration/
    Part 4: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/crate-expectations-part-4-building-relaxation/ ↩︎
  2. Full CU mat work walk-through with a puppy:
    1st post: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/the-puzzle-week-part-2-starting-matwork/
    2nd post: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/the-puzzle-week-part-3-more-matwork-cu-style/
    3rd post: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/the-puzzle-week-part-4-cu-mat-work-and-counting/
    4th post: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/the-puzzle-week-part-5-adding-a-cue-for-going-to-the-mat/
    5th post: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/the-puzzle-week-part-6-mat-work-outdoors/
    6th post: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/the-puzzle-week-part-7-hang-out-on-your-mat-in-everyday-life/
    7th post: https://adventuredogsanarchy.com/the-puzzle-week-part-8-teaching-the-look-at-that-game-on-a-mat/ ↩︎

CHAIARY – TRICKS: front paw targets for 1 and 2 paws

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July 6, 2023: targeting 3 objects with 2 front paws

July 10, 2023: single-paw target on “Paw” cue!

A compilation:

July 21, 2023: working towards a precise single-paw target

We worked on single-paw targeting. I’ve found a good tall object. Chai still tried getting 2 paws on, but I got 1 more and more reliably towards the end of the session. I’m going to get confidence and duration on this target, then remove the glass from under the lid and then play with different targets – including flat ones and smaller ones. I want Chai to become really precise with her paw targeting. I was originally going to get an object I could shave down – but this will work too and I already have it!

I am not sure whether to put this behavior into the foundations or the tricks category. It is, after all, a foundation for SO many other things! I ended up going with tricks – but know it is a foundation as well! Paw targets are the foundation of pushing easy buttons, door bells, light switches, operating door handles, closing cabinets with a paw … and the list goes on and on!

July 22, 2023: … and the journey continues!

July 23, 2023: paw target nerdery!

Single-paw target

I started with a brief session just like yesteday: feeding continuously as long as the paw was on the lid.

Then I started using “Good,” retreating my treat hand to home position and blinking as a transition behavior between marker and food delivery. This was clearly harder for Chai (and me!): she started getting dancing feet (well, less of a stable right paw) and I had to really pay attention in order to not blink and feed simultaneously.

For our next session(s?), I’ll volley back and forth between continuously feeding in position without a marker and then go back to trying good again, placing the camera next to the wall (closet) this time so I have better view of my treat hand as well as Chai’s right paw.

See what I’m doing here? I’m writing my training plan for the next session right after reviewing the video, which I did right after taking it (training). When I do another session later today or tomorrow, I just have to read my notes here and remember exactly what I want to do.

July 25, 2023: 3 “Paw!” sessions

I’ll work on the single-paw target and always keep it on the ground for now – for all 3 sessions I’m thinking of. If any of them don’t go as planned, I’ll go back to the drawing board.

Session 1

Plan: I’ll use the paw target glass and add the cue from different angles.

Session 2

Plan: if session #1 goes well, I’ll use just the lid – no glass, no cue – in session #2.

Session 3

Plan: if session #2 goes well, I’ll re-attache the cue to the flat (lid only) target.

Debrief

Chai made two mistakes in this session (only 3 of 4 toes on target). I shouldn’t have missed the first one because reviewing the video, I can see her paw is on my finger – and if I can feel it on my finger, it can’t be on the lid. The second one was an understandable miss on my part. I want to reduce the error rate – will go back to session #2 (no cue) next time and make sure I don’t click when I can feel part of Chai’s paw on my hand! This should reduce the error rate. I’m loving these nerdy details, Chai!

July 26, 2023: paw target with cut-out in puzzle mat

We’re repeating yesterday’s last two single paw target sessions!

Session 1

Plan: no cue – make sure not to click when I can feel toes on my hand.

Chai struggled with the first session – my hand was in the way a lot andwhen I took it away, she’d topple the lid. So I cut the session short, cut a lid-shaped opening into the puzzle mat and tried again:

Final count on the video above, after reviewing it:
Perfect: 7
Less than perfect: 9
Can’t tell from the video angle whether it’s perfect or less than: 1

This looks better but not quite as close to perfect as I’d like it to be. I’m not re-attaching the cue in the next session (which I’m “dying” to do) – I’m going to do a session with the lid on the glass tomorrow (easier target), followed by another lid-only session without my hand in the way … And depending on how that one looks, we’ll take it from there. If it looks great – I’ll attach the cue in the session after. If it doesn’t – we may toggle back and forth between lid only and lid on glass a few more times before attaching the cue to the lid. I may also find a way to make the surface of the lid more prominent so it’s easier for Chai to feel when she’s fully on it.

July 30, 2023: our final 2 single-paw sessions (for the moment – we’ll build on this trick later when I teach Chai to cross her paws!)

Session 1

I did our session as planned: glass under the lid, no cue. Chai is doing much better about not letting her toes hang off on the side of the glass, but it’s hard for her to keep her toenails from sticking out in front. And I am now going for killer precision and making her work hard! (I know this dog and that I can wait her out. I would NOT do this with a dog I didn’t know well or who was less gritty about getting it right in order to earn that click in order to get that single piece of kibble!)

Session 2

Because this is DIFFICULT, I repeated the same set-up (glass under the lid) for session 2. I taped some of my non-slip surface to the lid – it seems to help! In this session, I focus on finding rather than staying on target and I ease up on the toenail criterion.

The non-slip surface lid really seemed to help! Go puppy!

For the time being, I’m happy with Chai’s single-paw target behavior. We’ll pick back up further down the line when I’ll use it to teach her to cross her paws (a trick I think I’ll name “Cool!”)

In case I want to get nerdier with precision again after all – here are my notes for the next session:

+ Repeat what I did today.
+ No toenail criterion but keep all the others.
+ Only loose the glass once it looks perfect with the glass.

CHAIARY: TRICKS: 4 PAWS IN A BOX/BOWL (part 1)

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I’m taking Silvia Trkman’s excellent puppy/tricks class for shaping accountability and fun.1

One of the first tricks we teach: 4 in! I am starting with a big box and will be working all the way down to a small bowl over the course of the next weeks.

My thoughts about these sessions will mostly be in the subtitles.

July 7, 2023: our very first session with a large-ish cardboard box

I’ll show you my real sessions – wins, mistakes, good decisions and not so good ones, good mechanics and not so good ones … this is what real training looks like. It doesn’t need to be perfect but it sure should be fun!

July 8: 4 in a box from different angles!

The pride flag? Yep, it’s big. It’s the one I bought at CDMX Pride to wear as a cape. My philosophy is to either use things or give them away/throw them out. That way, I don’t accumulate stuff I don’t need. So I turned the flag into wall art, i.e. it’s being used now. Shrug.

July 14, 2023: going down in box size!

Our second puzzle-box session of the day

July 16, 2023: my first compilation of going down in box/bowl size

I videoed all these steps but didn’t edit all of them – today, I turned them into compilation #1:

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 being a superstar!

July 22, 2023: starting with bowl #3 right away

July 23, 2023: first 4 in bowl #3 session of the day

Second 4 in bowl #3 session of the day: 4 in with room service marker (“Good”) for building duration

July 24, 2023: the training journey continues

Part 2 of our 4-in journey coming soon! As with my other series, I’ll try to not put more than 10 videos in a single post in order to not break the Internet.

  1. 10/10 would recommend this class for advanced trainers. It is denser and requires more self-discipline and previous knowledge on the student’s part than many FDSA classes, which is why it may not make the best choice for absolute beginners. You can’t be too advanced for the class though: Silvia has extra material for dogs who already know some of the tricks and there is little chance you will run out of things to train and creative variations on behaviors your dog already knows.

    Silvia is lovely and supportive in their feedback, flexible about students’ idiosyncratic training approaches (such as the fact that I use multiple marker cues) and generous with their time. Their student community is the most international I have come across in any online dog training organization so far. I very much appreciate all of the above in online learning.

    I am a student who tells my mentors and teachers how I would like to learn/how I learn best, and Silvia has done an excellent job adapting to me. This is a skill I value in the people I learn from and the second part of the reason I’d very much recommend this class. It’s a fantastic primer for future sports puppies as well as a great choice for non-competitive training geeks in search of fun and inspiration. You can take it with an older dog as well – anything goes! ↩︎

Chaiary – week 13 digest (June 26 – July 2, 2023)

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Monday, June 26 2023 (day 81)

Activity level: low

Not a lot going on today. We started off with an attempt at playing tug reinforced by fetch with two balls on a rope at Fresa Parque. Shade had suggested we move to a place where Chai can really run and I can throw the ball further than on the roof. While our last session went well, today we had some pretty intense dog interruptions – but Chai was able to fetch despite being body-blocked by a Whippety dog! Go puppy!

After toy play, Chai got to run around a bit with the other dogs at the park and then had her morning walk with Game. The rest of the day was lazy.

Chai stayed home alone while Game and I walked errands for about an hour – good puppy! And then a not-so-great puppy when I took a shower: I closed the door to the bathroom and Chai had an accident on my bed. Note to self: always lock Chai into the bathroom with me when the door isn’t open!

It has finally started raining this week, so Game and I walked around the block during a rain break and Chai got to practice staying home alone again. When I got back, I found that she had even worse diarrhea than she had this morning. Pobrecita! I hope it passes soon and we’ll be able to go back to eating and training!

Tuesday, June 27 2023 (day 82)

Activity level: average

Good news of the day: no more diarrhea! Chai gets to train and eat again!

Morning walk

Chai started her day with the usual 2-dog morning walk.

Staying home alone x3

She stayed home alone 3 times during the course of the day: when Game and I went to drop off laundry, when we went to pick up our laundry again and for Game’s evening walk.

Toy play

We played two rounds – the first one rudely interrupted by an entire manada of dogs – at a park Chai hadn’t been to before. I like it for training: it tends to have less food on the ground than some of my other favorite parks. Chai did well tugging and getting reinforced with fetch!

We used my Magic Hands1 strategy on a circle of stones. Magic Hands worked fast AND I got video of it:

Magic Hands

Loose leash walking – Manners Context

Heading home from the park, we practiced loose leash walking in collar mode. Chai was a superstar! 5, 15 and then 20, 20, 20 … steps for the win! Two of her 20-step treats were replaced by a “good” treat for waiting at the curb and one by a”get it” to reinforce a “leave it.”

Fun at the park with Alan and Kiba

Chai spent two hours playing with Kiba, Loki and a new pup. We then walked to the market, went inside and practiced lying down and chilling at the pet supply stand and the chicken stand.

A different kind of doing nothing: waiting patiently in a down in the presence of delicious chicken smells!

At the market with Alan and Kiba.

After another round of running and playing at the park, we walked Alan home and then worked on our LLW on a collar some more! Played-out puppies are successful loose-leash walkers!

Manners-context loose-leash walking back home

Chai’s collar walking is really starting to look good! More and more, I am able to swap the twenty-step treat for naturally occurring reinforcers: a cued wait at a curb followed by “good” and a room service treat, or a “leave it” followed by a treat toss behind me. These treats (wich I would be giving Chai anyways; Game also still gets them for stopping/waiting and “leaving” things) are starting to replace LLW treats. I have faded most hand touch treats and soon, I’ll add environmental rewards to the game! The biggest success of the day: we curved out into a quiet street past two leashed dogs while keeping up the 20-step treat rate! Go Chai!

“Floor” protocol

You’ll notice the dark blue arrow in my image above. “Floor” is a marker cue that means I will place a treat at the heel of my foot on the dog’s side. Placing it on the ground is arousal-lowering because the dog can’t sniff for it/eat it and bounce up and down at the same time. It is similar to what I’m doing when passing the Pitbull in this post (May 31; first video in the post), with the only difference being that the marker cue is “Floor” and the treat is being placed at my heel. When I use one “Floor” treat after the other – every step or every other step – I call it the “floor protocol.” When walking past new dogs for the first or second time, I will often use this approach with Chai and then change to feeding from my hand once she knows the dogs are there.

Wednesday, June 28 2023 (day 83)

Activity level: high average

Adventures in house training

After Chai’s and Game’s usual morning walk, Chai sadly had a pee accident on the bed when taking a moment’s break from wrestling with Game. I had everything washed after the accident yesterday, but it is possible that something got into the mattress and it still smells like pee … I also wonder if Chai is like one of these puppy mill puppies who have spent a sensitive period of their puppyhood in a crate and need to poop and pee where they sleep, and if therefore, she will never be fully house trained. Puppies don’t usually pee where they sleep (and start showing this behavior at 3 weeks old already, according to a student’s breeder!). Chai sleeps on the bed during the day, so if she had read the manual, she should technically not pee on it. Good thing I love Chai too much to particularly care about the occasional accident.

At night, she had another pee accident – next to rather than on the mattress, woohoo! We are making progress here! (This is me being sarcastic in case you couldn’t tell.)

Eye contact

Chai got treats for making eye contact and I added a cue to the behavior for the first time: “Watch me!” We played while Zane was having breakfast and learned to offer me eye contact rather than beg for his danish.

Relax while people are eating

When I stopped the eye contact game, Chai offered lying down. I fed a treat between her front paws any time she was not looking at me. Zane was still eating and she stayed relaxed – that is precisely the behavior I want around people having food. I don’t want Chai to focus on me either, so I am waiting for looking away to feed.

Dog fun and recalls at Fresa Parque

After my morning work, we went to Fresa Parque. On the walk there, we passed someone working with an angle grinder. Chai was neither impressed by the noise nor by the flying sparks!

My plan was to work on distraction recalls at the park. Before we got started, Chai got to play with two dogs her size who enjoyed running games and confidently met her first Irish Wolfhound.

Then I set up my camera and the first distraction (see this post) and casually skipped 10 entire steps of my distraction tracking protocol without even noticing. The protocol I have taught others for years! THIS, my dear students, is why I want you to print out your distraction tracker and look at it before every session.

I completely forgot that I hadn’t done the barrier stage “in real life” yet and jumped from barrier recalls in locations 1 and 2 straight to off-leash recalls at the park. Chai passed distractions 1 and 2 in flying colors but failed distraction #3 (kibble). Only then did I realize how many steps I had skipped! Note to self: practice what you preach! Print out Chai’s distraction tracker (I tend to only look at stuff I print).

I was going to get us quesadillas for lunch and passed the dog park on the way there. Since the dogs in in it seemed calm and there was a Great Dane, I decided to let Chai inside briefly so she could meet another large dog. She did phenomenal just like she had with the Irish Wolf.

Adventures at Fresa Parque and a Great Dane in the dog park. Yep, she’s a dog park puppy!

We got water, looped the park again, did some personal play and then headed to the quesadilla stand. Chai did a fantastic job lying down when I stepped on her leash! It is becoming a pretty solid cue, and like in the morning, I am treating – without marking, thanks to Matthias‘ post in the Canine Paradigm discussion group the other day – when she looks away: shaping relaxation in the face of distractions.

Standing on the leash as a cue to lie down and shaping relaxation at the quesadilla stand.

We got back home after about an hour and 20 minutes, having trained up almost all of Chai’s daily kibble meal. Chai was a fantastic (aka sleepy) coworking pup for the next several hours.

Being a good coworking puppy.

Positions

We worked on positions in the kitchen when I took a work break. Messy but fun!

Squirrels, toys, magic hands and sits!

I took Chai and Game to the plaza around the corner that we discovered for toy play yesterday – I want to get our daily toy practice session in there!

The two girls got to run around and chase squirrels for a bit and Game got brushed, and then I put her on her mat and played – interruption-free! – a brief game of 2 balls on a rope tug reinforced by fetch with Chai. She did awesome! I’m keeping things short and fun to build her stamina and joy for both games. (No video.)

Game, meanwhile, also did amazing and held her stay on the mat even though Chai and I were tugging and tossing balls right next to her.

Chai has started imitating Game’s tree jumps after squirrels. She’s going to like critter-chasing quite a bit with this role model!

Example of a trademark Game tree jump/climb.

We ended the field trip by playing in the fountain. Next to it, there is a suspicious metal lid with holes covering the loudly whirring water pump. We did Magic Hands and I added Game’s Magic Sit on the metal cover, and after a few reps with “Get it” treats tossed away from the fountain, Chai put two paws on the concrete rim around the metal cover! Brave puppy!

Chai also found a piece of chocolate today. Here’s to hoping it won’t mess up her stomach for the second time in a week!

Husbandry

+ Brushing

Thursday, June 29, 2023 (day 84)

Activity level: average

The AM

We started the day with our usual morning walk. Chai confidently met three new dogs of different ages and morphologies. On the way back home, I got lots of check-ins on the retractable leash while Game was off leash. Chai needed and hardly any circles! She realized when she was nearing the 5-meter mark and stopped on her own! Good girl!

Plaza work and another stab at real-world distraction recalls

Chai and I walked to a nearby plaza on her harness. After looping the park and greeting a few dogs (and eating grain someone had put out for the birds), we started over with barrier recalls in the real world: time to take another stab at those distractions! Chai struggled with distraction #2 (paper bag that used to have food in it) the first time, but tested out of all 3 barrier distractions over the course of the AM. After each session, we took a break and another loop and occasionally met another dog. I am proud to report: barrier recalls in the real world: achievement unlocked! Our next step will – or should anyways! – be off leash in the house.

Real world informal “pup-pup-pup” recalls have also been working well: I had two or three opportunities to use them when Chai was trotting towards a leashed unfamiliar dog and she nailed it every time. It’s only her friend Kiba who is difficult to recall away from!

We then had a toy play session: 2 balls on ropes; tug reinforced by fetch. I added the “Tug” cue and Chai did great – even when a young husky showed up! She kept tugging!

After another off-leash park loop, we played magic hands with the pump at the fountain again:

We walked the entire way back home in mostly 20-step collar mode. Real-world reinforcers have started becoming “a thing”: stopping behind me to sniff something? Absolutely! I will wait for you to be done! “Leave it”? Bring it on; another non-leash-related reinforcer! This route is also convenient in that it has several crosswalks to practice “Wait” at the curb reinforced by “Good” (room service), replacing another LLW click. We even dismissed and then walked behind a group of 5 dogs for about 30 seconds before they veered off in another direction.

Once home, we went up on the leash and took a video for a new Out and About (FDSA) bonus lecture: walking towards a distraction on a loose leash! Now, Chai is passed out on the couch next to Zane, being a most excellent coworking puppy again.

Chai then stayed home (in the bathroom – her “crate”) – with Zane while Game and I went to the market at Fresa Parque to get lunch. Thrusday is market day here – and the market doesn’t feel fresa at all. It was great! My favorite day at that park so far!

More loose leash walking challenges!

In the afternoon, we were going to film invisible-line challenge #2 on the roof … but right as I was starting to set up, it started raining. We worked on it in the house instead. This is significantly harder in small spaces but Chai was being a superstar and soon understood! This time, we did not walk towards, but past the distraction (2 pieces of kibble on a plate). Not only did we practice the manners context – we also practiced our “Leave it!” cue in the same session. In the end, Chai got to eat the distraction, of course!

Housetraining gamified!

We have not had any accidents in the living room so far! Go Chai! And go me: I have successfully kept full puppies in the bathroom and only let empty puppies into the living space. And I’ve turned my mattress into a Murphy bed to give the puppy less inconvenient (for me) surfaces to pee on. But – let’s not count our ostriches before they hedge. It’s only 16:45 and there is still plenty of time for accidents.

Final accidents-in-the-living-room count for today, right before going to sleep: 0! Woohoo!

I’m starting a streak game and aiming for 4 weeks with zero living room accidents! After 7 days without a living room accident, I get a fancy brownie. After 4 weeks, I get a deep tissue massage. If there is an accident, it only resets the current week. Once a 7-day streak is completed, it is locked in and cannot be lost (i.e. at the very must, I will loose 6 days.)

Wrestling and intelligence

I have been interrupting Chai and Game wrestling on the bed when Game starts barking. I announce to Chai that I will pick her up – and inadvertantly, I’ve been saying, “Let’s take a break!” before doing so. Chai has now picked up on this and stops playing and lies down when I say a sentence with “break.” As a result, Game stops barking and I won’t pick up Chai to put her away for a few minutes. I love observing this puppy learn!

Evening fun with the rest of Chai’s daily meal

We used up the remaining kibble of the day with positions in two sessions: one was sit and stand and one was down and stand. I need to get clear about when I want to room-service mark (good) and when I want to click. Chai, for her part, did great and she is FAST!

Friday, June 30, 2023 (day 85)

Activity level: average

After our usual morning walk, we walked in manners context from my house to the Plaza and back. Chai practiced 20 steps between treats, sniff reinforcers, waiting at curbs, dismissing dogs and “leave it”s and was a very good puppy. It was a little harder today than yesterday because she hadn’t had much of a chance to get rid of all her puppy energy beforehand!2

After a work break (work: me, break: Chai), we walked to Fresa Parque on Chai’s back clip harness and Chai got to run around there off leash and meet and greet several dogs. We also repeated the teeter and stairs exercises in the dog park we had done last week. It was only a 30 minute outing because I didn’t want to be late for a lunch date with friends.

Home alone

Chai then stayed home with Zane for 2.5 while Game and I biked to Condesa to meet friends and give Game her much-deserved only-dog time.

Two 20-minute Ecobici rides and a coffee outing later, Chai was ready to attack-play with Game!

Positions

I cut the crazy short by doing a single longer session of sits, stands and downs. Stand and down are going really well! We’ll focus our next session on sit versus down.

2 dogs on short leashes

After resting, wrestling with Game, drinking A LOT and more resting while I worked, I took both dogs on a short loop around two blocks to get milk. This is the second time I’ve walked them both together on short (2 m) leashes; Chai on her back attachment harness.

Usually, Game is either off leash or one dog is on a long line or the retractable leash while the other one is on a short leash. Like the first time, they did well! Chai’s initial excitement wore off soon and after some circling, she was able to sniff the world and not rush to the end of her leash. The reason I brought both of them out was that I wanted Chai to pee … and I knew she’d follow Game’s example. She did, and now the empty puppy and the empty Game are passed out in the living room without the danger of furniture being peed on. Plus they got to practice waiting outside the mini market together while I went in for milk!

Recalls!

We practiced off-leash recalls away from unprotected distractions #1 (empty plate) and #2 (plastic bag that used to have food in it because I couldn’t find a paper bag) in the house and got a single rep success on each of them. Go Chai!

For distraction #3 – the kibble – I wanted to go back a step due to my faux pas the other day where I skipped a few steps and she got the kibble. My helper was still working and I don’t have a barrier in my house, so I went back to a long line. And indeed: she hit the end two (or was it three?) times before we could end on a success: recall on a loose long line, chicken from my hand and release to eat the kibble. (No video.)

Toy play a la Silvia Trkman

Since I’m currently watching Silvia’s Puppy Diary (10/10 would recommend to sports and especially agility folks), I decided to play with their approach to toy play: create some sibling rivalry by playing with more than one dog – and more than one toy – at once. Game and Chai and I had fun with three always-out toys on the bed (decent grip for playing partly on the slippery floor!)

Husbandry and a lazy evening

Chai stayed home with Zane while Game and I ran errands and Game got some well-deserved only-dog time again. Chai was still sleepy when I got home, so after dinner, she got Zane snuggles, got brushed and then fell asleep on the couch until I transfrred her over to her luxury crate aka the bathroom for the night.

I said her potty cue right before she peed on her pee pad in the shower cabin – this is the second or third time I’ve named the behavior.

Housetraining

0 accidents in the living space! Streak counter:

Saturday, July 1, 2023 (day 86)

Activity level: average

The AM …

We were going to go on a hike today, but my friends couldn’t make it and I woke up REALLY tired this morning … So I decided to take it easy instead. We started with a longer morning walk with Game. Chai got to play with lots of different dogs at Fresa Parque and I recalled her running towards different new playmates two or three times successfully, rewarding with chicken and sending her right back. She was being a superstar and had lots of fun, again meeting dogs of new sizes, ages and morphologies.

Meanwhile, Game practiced being calm and getting fed for holding sits and just watching the craziness around her unfold. (Game is neutral with others but can tip over into bullying mode if dogs she doesn’t know very well are running like crazy, so I won’t let her participate.)

Chai continues being much better (hitting the end less often) on a 5 meter leash even when Game is off leash ahead of her. I let them play when one of them is wearing a long line or retractable leash but enforce a no-play policy when both are on short (2 meter) leashes. So far so good! At the park, Chai is off leash and Game, depending on how much dog traffic there is, on leash or off leash. In the streets, Game is off leash and Chai on a long line/retractable leash or they are both on short leashes.

After getting home and some morning wrestling, they are both contently sleeping on the living room floor.

Formal recalls revisited!

Since I fucked up my distraction plan and Chai got to the kibble in the park (what with me skipping a few steps), we worked back up slowly. After yesterday’s long-line stage, Zane agreed to be my helper next to kibble in the house with Chai off leash. She nailed it on her first attempt! Single-rep success: check!

We headed up to the roof after a little break. Here, Chai kept going after “Schnee” (my formal recall cue) the first time and then recalled in the second break of this session.

Since my criterion for moving on is a single-rep success session, we took a little “just be a dog” and ping pong recalls break on the roof and then tried again. This time, she succeeded right away, got her chicken and a release to the kibble … good girl! Achievement unlocked! (No video.)

Now Chai is in the bathroom with a chew to relax and unload. I’ve learned my lesson: only empty puppies get to be in the living room. The strategy has given us two days sans accidents. We’ll see how things continue …

Skipping recall steps again – and Chai knows how to exploit my absent-mindedness!

For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to go from kibble protected by my helper to unprotected kibble at the park we already failed at. Click here to find out what happened …

Human barriers out and about

Chai, Zane and I returned to Fresa Parque in the afternoon – the park where Chai has failed distraction #3 in the past. I didn’t want to repeat the barrier stage for the easier distractions, but thought it would be a good idea to give them another try with kibble and my friend’s help. I was right: Chai went for the kibble on the first approach, and my helper picked up the plate. Keep reading here to see the plot thicken!

2-ball tug

Zane went to get pastries while Chai and I switched gears: our homework for Shade’s class is to get a good strike.

“When you are about to let her strike, make sure the ball is still.
So, good “misses” look like:
ball is still, dog locks on to target, ball is whisked away, repeat.
Try that in your misses, so we can start teaching her to have a good strike. When she gets a good successful strike, she’ll like it more!”

(Shade Whitesel)

Post-recall dog socializing

We then headed home, needing almost no circles at all: I believe I have never seen Chai this tired before! Part of it must have been the sheer amount of food she got at the park and part of it the warm day.

Another short outing with Game

Since Chai hadn’t peed at the park, I took her out on Game’s pee walk. At this point, we entered the sleep-deprived toddler stage, needed lots of circles and threw ourselves at Game on the way down the stairs. Game peed right around the corner and Chai – good girl! – followed suit. We headed right back home and Chai fell asleep right away. No accidents so far today – the third day in a row!

Husbandry

+ “Claws!” (This is how I announce nail clipping and then just do it.) I try to do all paws once a week. Chai was great today – 3ish hours after our outing, she was still zonked and didn’t mind me clipping nails.

+ The last thing we did today – after a break after “claws” – I spent some time cutting the fur between Chai’s toes. She likes this less than nail clipping. Today, I introduced the announcement “clippers.”

+ Brush.

Home alone

Chai stayed home alone for Game’s evening walk. That’s the first time in 3 days she has truly been alone: for the last three days, Zane and I co-worked from my house and there was always someone there when I left with Game. After visiting for a month, Zane went back to Chiapas in the afternoon today. It’s going to feel lonely here without his company! I’ve been in this apartment for only two more nights than he has!

Sunday, July 2 2023 (day 87)

Activity level: high

We started the da with a short morning walk, a wrestling session on the couch (the dogs) and coffee (me).

I’m planning on working partly from Chapultepec today, so after coffee #2 and two FDSA forum responses, I’ll change locations before the parking at Chapultepec fills up.

Chapultepec and Chai’s first real swim!

Chai recalled away from strange dogs she was moving towards … and then swam (retrieved balls from Lago Mayor) for the first time! Go Chai!

And then – unprompted! – she pooped outside! Praise and treats! We take house training success wherever we can get it!

Chai met a younger puppy who had a blast playing with her, and then discovered she is a Border Collie: here she is bordercollying and then forgets what she’s doing, which I use as a recall opportunity.

2 toy fetch and tug

We played tugging reinforced with fetch – and I had the idea to hold the ball as if it was a tug toy! This may be our ticket to good strikes!

I settled down under a tree to continue working after about half an hour of water-and-dogs fun. Chai, wet and zoomy, is playing with Game around me and about to start inviting a younger puppy to play. Can’t imagine where I’d rather work from!

Water fetch as a recall reinforcer!

We had another swim, and for the first time, I used “chase” as a recall reward for “Schnee” two or three times. Turns out this Border Collie loves the water – it makes a perfect reinforcer! There was a lot going on the second time we were there. It reminded me of Silvia Trkman’s “all the toys and all the dogs are out” philosophy that teaches their puppies to not let anyone steal their toy – better bring it all the way back to your person! I created a similar scenario even though I hadn’t planned on it.

The video below shows Chai meeting a bunch of new dogs, Sunday chaos at the swimming spot, water fetch fun and formal recalls for Chai (recalling away from dogs other than Kiba is easy):

We then walked around the lake, followed by another brief water fetch session (I want to keep them short for the puppy to be sure they stay special and fun! I bet swimming uses muscles she isn’t used to using yet.)

Below our walk around the lake. There’s lots of people, animals and things for a puppy to see: bikes, people of all ages, rollerblades, kid cars, strollers, all the dogs, fish, birds, runners, music, street vendors, toys, giant soap bubbles, boats …

We ended with another walk the other direction, through the sculpture gardens where I took a few recall videos away from dogs Chai was approaching because I want to show them to a student:

After 3 hours at the park, we all piled back into the hot, hot car and headed home. Both dogs are passed out and content, and so am I. Content, that is, not passed out … yet.

Loose leash walking on the collar

After Game’s solo evening walk, I remembered I wanted to go to the bank. It’s just around the corner, so this time, I took Chai while Game stayed home. We walked on her collar there and back, practiced waiting at several curbs and passed a leashed barking, lunging dog up close (with one click-and-treat right after the other). In the ATM cabin, Chai got to work on her foot-on-leash-means-lie-down cue. She did amazing on this evening outing!

An interesting observation: Chai’s hand touches are already getting sloppier now that I don’t feed them anymore. (I only feed the first one that gets her in position before I attach the leash to the collar.) Of course, in other contexts, I still feed all hand touches – but they get used most often during LLW. I’ve started feeding some of them again. Today, I fed two and enforced some other slow responses with Chai’s leash pressure cue. It’s a balancing act between creating a behavior chain of pull – touch – feed (I don’t want that) and pull – don’t touch, or take your time responding – no food (I don’t want that either). See my June 30 leash walking video in this post to get a glimpse at hand touches not being reinforced.

As always, every dog is different and not every dog will create a behavior chain at all. I know Chai will, so in her case, it is important to keep an eye on her hand touches and their reinforcement history. If I get more pulling and beautiful hand touches, I am clearly reinforcing too many. If I get slow responses to “touch” and lackadaisical touches, I haven’t been reinforcing enough. We’re still looking for that perfect balance – and it will likely keep shifting since Chai is a juvenile dog who grows and changes every day!

Take-away of the day: observe and train the puppy you have today and stay aware of the fact that tomorrow, things may look different! Whatever the training project – never stop observing your puppy!

Husbandry

+ Brushing

Housetraining

0 accidents in the house and an unprompted poop at Chapultepec! Peed twice on cue in the shower cabin and got rewarded with a treat and the opportunity to join Game and me in the living room! Go Chai!

  1. There’s a brief explanation of how Magic Hands works in this post, under the Magic Hands heading (June 13). ↩︎
  2. Wanna learn how to do what I do in the video below? I’ll teach a class on this in December; mail me to learn more or sign up! ↩︎

CHAI’S DISTRACTION RECALL TRAINING – going rouge again! ROUND 2.3: level 3 (off leash), unprotected kibble at the park … followed by a (genius, I know) helper-fading training plan!

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(Still) July 1, 2023

Well, well, well. No, I have still not printed my distraction tracker. No, I do not practice what I preach and keep my 3 environments the same at all 3 levels (level 1: long line; level 2: barrier/helper; level 3: off leash). I was aware of the latter but thought Chai could do it anyways. I was NOT aware of skipping yet another 6 steps, which is both wild and wildly amusing.

Future me chiming in from bird eye’s view:

Check marks are for the achievements Chai has unlocked, strike-through text for the steps I am skipping and the green arrow for what I’m trying on July 1st’s first park session below:

I’m about to skip 6 steps!

July 1, 2023 – off leash unprotected kibble distraction at the first park we already failed at.

Our most difficult distraction, and I just go for it! Watch me crash and burn entertain you and Chai, smart and pragmatic as always, enjoy her pre-recall kibble snack! Who knows where my brain cells are off to. Well, I know where they are off to but seriously – I’d expect to be able to keep all things recall straight anyways! Instead, I’m being hilarious these days. (Nobody’s perfect, dog trainers are just as human as everyone else etc. – I’m sharing this because some students are intimidated by professional trainers when really, there’s no reason to. If your trainer only shows you perfect sessions, that’s not because they only have perfect sessions but because they only show you those. I promise! Our humanness never goes away, no matter how long we’ve been in the field. We all have days where other things are at the forefront of our minds – no matter how much we love our dogs and their training! Personally, I think that’s a good thing. It keeps us humble and it makes for good laughs! So here you go!)

What do you think my rogue self did next? Nope, I didn’t go back to practice unprotected distractions in the house and on the roof. Instead, I got my helper to help and stuck with this very same distraction in this very same location:

Off leash kibble recalls at the park with a human helper (level 2 – barrier/helper)

Here are the next few sessions/reps Zane and I did. In the video below, Chai does exactly what I expected her to do: because she got the kibble in the previous session, she tries again:

We repeat the same set-up. I thought Chai would try again – but no: this puppy learns FAST and has already made the connection that Zane’s presence means there is no point in trying to get the kibble right away! Smart and pragmatic is a dangerous (and dangerously fun) combination!

Chai does well when Zane squats near the kibble plate

This gives me an idea about how to proceed: what if I gradually faded my helper rather than going from recalls with a helper right to recalls without one?

Fading my distraction recall helper at the off-leash kibble stage at the park: 1st step

NICE! Next, I’ll ask Zane to squat just a little further from the kibble …

Fading my helper: 2nd step

Superpuppy! Now I’ll ask Zane to stay at the same distance, but stand up rather than squatting. Gradually changing the picture for Chai …

Fading my helper: Zane stands up

Go Chai! Upwards and onwards: let’s ask Zane to move further back still …

Fading my helper: Zane moves further away from the kibble

Most excellent puppy! (See what Chai is doing here? She is building my trust back up at the same rate that I’m fading my helper. “Patience, grasshopper,” she tells herself. “You’ve got this. You’ll be eating out of your human’s hand again in no time!” This puppy has a master plan!)1

Fading the helper: Zane moves back EVEN further!

Unfortunately, Chai running towards the distraction is out of frame … but you can see her response! Go puppy!

Zane moves further back still – and we need to end the session due to an incessantly barking Dachshund

It’s a shame we had to end here – I would have loved to fade Zane all the way off the stage space and then try again without a helper in this location. Alas – not today! Zane was relieved from his helper duties and I, riding the wave of success, kept going in a bark-free spot of the same park against better knowledge.

No helper – empty plate. Same park, different spot.

Zane headed back to the apartment and I went to a different spot in the park, far from the barky Dachshund. My goal was still to work up to unprotected kibble recalls. I rounded up enough brain cells to start over with an empty plate in the new location: I didn’t want to make both criteria harder at once (new location AND no helper who might pick up the plate). Even though Chai had worked hard to re-build my trust, I wasn’t quite there yet … and as it turns out, that was wise:

Have I mentioned this puppy is whip smart? She knew Zane was gone, saw a plate and would have gone for it. A moment after my recall she realized the plate was empty and turned around to come back to me. I repeated the empty-plate recall in this second location one more time:

After this rep, I made the smart decision to end for the day. Back to the drawing board! I need to think about how to outsmart my puppy … And it’s finally dawning on me that I skipped steps! (It’s humbling to be a student of your own recall protocol and realize that you, too, very much need to print it out or become a person who checks things off digitally.)

Chai had shown me that she was not going to recall away from unprotected kibble in the park at this point! Her motto: “If you see something you might be able to eat – eat it!”

Back to the drawing board I go … let’s see what I’ll cook up next!

  1. I know, of course, that dogs don’t have master plans. If you know me, you’ll know that. But in case you just stumbled across my blog and started reading here, I’m pointing out that this is a joke. ↩︎

CHAI’S DISTRACTION RECALL TRAINING – ROUND 2.3: level 3 (off leash) in the house and level 2 (barrier/helper) revisited

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June 30, 2023: I follow the plan! Woohooo!

After having succeeded outdoors, I stuck to the plan this time – hence the title: round 2 (the 2nd stab at distraction recalls) .3 (level 3: off leash) in our first location with our first distraction.

FUTURE ME CHIMING IN HERE FROM A BIRD’S EYE VIEW:

Steps we have already tested out of are indicated by a check mark, past steps I skipped are crossed out and the steps I am tackling in this post have a green arrow in front of them. Future steps have a square:

Off leash recall away from an empty plate in the house

Reinforcer: a piece of cooked chicken from my hand and “okay” release to check out the distraction.

Extracalifragilisticexpialidocious! Upwards and onwards: distraction #2 – the bag. I didn’t have the paper bag anymore and used a plastic bag that used to have pastries in it instead:

Off leash recall away from empty plastic bag in the house

Chai nailed this distraction as well! Go puppy!

According to my notes, I did not trust that Chai would recall away from kibble off leash. I did not take video, but this is what my notes say:

Long line recall away from kibble in the house

I wanted to go back a step due to my faux pas the other day where I skipped a few steps and she got the kibble. My helper was still working and I don’t have a barrier other than him, so I went back to a long line. And indeed: she hit the end two (or was it three?) times before we could end on a success: recall on a loose long line, chicken from my hand and release to eat the kibble.

So we did end on a success … but not at the off leash (level 3) stage.

July 1, 2023: revisiting the barrier/helper level (level 2)

I had my helper back and revisited the barrier stage with Chai off leash and Zane protecting the most difficult distraction – kibble – in the house. She nailed it on her first attempt! (No video.)

Next, we went up to the roof for an off-leash kibble recall with Zane ready to pick up the kibble plate: by now, I had realized I hadn’t done the barrier level for kibble on the roof the last time.

It took two sessions with a break in between: Zane had to lift the kibble plate in the first rep of the first session. In rep #2, Chai nailed it. We took a recall games break and then had another helper session, getting a single-rep success on the roof (no video).

At this point, future me with his bird eye’s view can proudly show you the following table:

Yay – no more skipped steps! But will I remember that I haven’t yet worked on off-leash kibble in the living room? Stay tuned to find out …

Chaiary – week 12 digest (June 19-25, 2023)

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I’ll be doing weekly digests and specialty topics (toy play, recalls, tricks …) going forwards – this will give me a chance to catch up to the present day eventually! As you may have noticed, I video almost everything. I’m only putting an occasional video directly into the weekly digests. To see the others, click the links in my digest text and then scroll down to the respective day you’ve been reading about in the digest. (For example, when a digest post says we played with toys, there will be a link to my toy play post if there’s a video for the respective day.)

Monday, June 19, 2023 (day 74 with me)

Activity level: low (less than I do with a Border Collie on a typical day)

Today is Chai’s (fake) half-birthday! I added a date of birth to her carnet de vacunas which came without one. Based on what her previous human told me about her age, she must have been born around December 19, 2022.

What do puppies get when they are 6 months old? A rabies shot! Whee! After a brief walk at Fresa Parque, we went to a pet store/vet around the corner. Chai was mostly being very brave. Here she is waiting her turn in the pet supply part of the store and then after, waiting at the counter to pay:

Brave vet girl pre and post vaccine!

Chai was surprisingly wiped out after the vaccine, so we didn’t do a whole lot except for play a little for Shade’s class, hang out with our friend and take an evening walk with Game to Fresa Parque.

Hanging out with Zane.

Tuesday, June 20, 2023 (day 75): just a good old average day.

Activity level: average

Toy play

Today, Chai is back to normal! We started the day with a 2-ball game on the roof.

Adventuring and park-officing

Then I headed to my park office to work from there for two hours. Chai ran around, met a bunch of dogs and came back regularly to check in at my work station and collect a treat. Meanwhile, Game was dozing next to me at my feet. She really has grown up!

Right as I was done with work, Alan, who I’d been meaning to write, showed up with Kiba and our girls got to play for a while.

Staying home alone

We then headed back home – Chai stayed in the bathroom and Game in the sala while I went off for 6 hours of tatooing with Kuks. Chai has been really good about staying home alone – I’m proud of her!

Evening walk

As soon as I got back home, I took Game and Chai for a brief evening walk around the block.

Eye contact for food game

We rounded out the evening by practicing eye contact for food.

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Activity level: low average

Morning walk

We kicked off the day with our usual short morning walk with Game.

Eye contact!

Next, Chai got to play with 2 balls on the roof and I added eye contact as a criterion for tossing the second ball. Chai said, no problem!

We then experimented with eye contact for food in my closed fist, which would open to present the treat to Chai after a click when she made eye contact. We haven’t played this game since April and needed to re-learn it! Some angles turned out to be more difficult than others.

Loose leash walking in Manners Context

We worked on our LLW skills on a collar in a new, relatively quiet street. After our acclimation walk on a harness, we walked the same 2 blocks up and down several times in 20-step treat mode. Go Chai! She was being a superstar!

A not-so-great experience

On the way back home, we passed a small grooming and pet supply shop I hadn’t noticed before. It had pride sweaters for dogs on display so I couldn’t help but go inside. I’ve been thinking about bringing Chai to Pride on Saturday, and if I do, a rainbowy outfit would be fun.1

Anyways, so I walked in, pointed at the largest one of the small sweaters and asked if it might fit Chai. The person working the store said, “Let’s measure,” I nodded (assuming they meant they were going to measure the sweater) – but before I knew it, they were stuffing the sweater over Chai’s head! The poor girl, of course, was not amused and tried backing away. I stopped the sweater-stuffer (which took a significant amount of verbal force!) as Chai bolted out the door, pulling into her leash, tail tucked under her belly. I fled together with her and walked down the road until she seemed relatively calm again.

Then I went back, stopped at the sidewalk in front of the store and asked the store person friendly-ly if they’d allow me to help Chai get over her fear. I explained that she was scared of people touching her and used to be scared of going indoors. Would they be so kind and allow me to walk into and out of the store a few times while just standing where they were? They said yes and from that moment on were a perfect helper. No more sweater-attacks on unsuspecting Border Collies!

I did what I also do in the magic hands context: I walked into the store one step, and Chai followed me up to the threshold and stopped. I cued “Get it,” tossed a treat away from the door out on the sidewalk and retreated together with Chai, who chased her treat.

After she had eaten, I approached the door a second time, again walking until Chai stopped. This time, she went just over the threshold and inside. I marked “Get it” when she stopped and tossed a treat outside. Little by little, we made our way into the small rectangular store and past our helper to the back wall (the store part that wasn’t grooming related was just about 3 by 6 meters). The further in we got, the more fun I made our exits and we ran together after each “Get it.” Once we had bravely made it all the way to the back wall, Chai could even do a hand touch. One last celebratory “Get it!”, thank you to our helper and we left – without a sweater and feeling much better.

Vet/pet store

Our next stop was the vet/pet store where Chai got her rabies vaccine the other day. I wanted to get a second black Kong ball. The store was crowded with dogs and customers and Chai did fantastic. And most importantly: we got our ball!

Chilling at the vet/pet supply store

Waiting outside a store

Chai then briefly waited outside a corner convenience store and then we headed home from our afternoon adventure.

More treats for eye contact!

We played another round of eye contact for treats in my fist: the mechanism to open my fist is to not touch it and make eye contact. Some angles, especially my left arm stretched to the side, were still harder than others.

Test-driving our new Kong ball

Once it had (finally!) cooled down a bit, we played with two Kong balls on the roof. I had used tennis balls and topmatic balls before, but they were too fun to chew on on the roof. At the park where I can throw further, bouncier and fun-er (without the danger of the balls bouncing off the roof), Chai doesn’t tend to lie down and chew … but there are a lot of dog distractions. Eye contact brought ball #2 to life on the roof.

Home alone

Chai stayed home alone during Game’s evening walk, and then …

Even more treats for eye contact

… we rounded off the day with two more rounds of eye contact for food:

Thursday, June 22, 2023 (day 77)

Morning walk

On today’s morning walk, we saw two Saint Bernards in a dog park. I couldn’t help but let Chai go in – I don’t think she has met dogs this big before!

Who is scared of big dogs? Not I, says Chai.

Home alone

Game and Chai stayed home alone, free in the apartment while I went to the bakery and again a little later when I ran another quick errand. I kept her in her luxury kennel (aka the bathroom) when Game and I ran a longer errand later.

Solo adventure at the park

Chai had a solo adventure (i.e. an adventure without Game): we went to one of the parks we like and worked on the 2-ball game with eye contact, obstacle recalls and positions (down and stand).

Below: an obstacle recall game!

Then we met up with Alan and Kiba and walked to the market and back together.

Beauty everywhere on a walk.

Kiba and Chai found a stick to share.

On our walk home, I switched Chai to manners context (leash on collar) and we toggled between 5 and 20 steps between treats. She was being a great leash walker!

More treats for eye contact

We repeated our eye-contact-for-treats game with what was left of Chai’s meal. Today, I asked for her to hold eye contact a little longer before the click.

Distraction recalls – round #1 (of many – foreshadowing by future C!)

After having played recall games for quite a bit (hide and seek recalls, ALL the obstacle recalls, running-away recalls, flying cookie recalls, ping-pong recalls, double-dog recalls, ditch-the-dog recalls …), we started our journey into distraction recall training today! Go Chai!

Friday, June 23, 2023 (day 78)

Activity level: high (I don’t have the time to do this much with my dogs every day)

Morning walk

We started the day out with our usual morning walk with Game. Chai practiced walking off-leash on a sidewalk without a barrier of shrubbery – just a barrier of parked cars in a quiet street along the park! Chai was a superstar and stayed on the sidewalk!

It’s a little like a CU set-up with ring gates: you start with covered (non-see through) ring gates. Our equivalent: shrubbery AND a row of parked cars along a park. Second, just a line of parked cars (see-through/uncovered ring gates). Third (and that’s what you see in the image below): empty spaces between the parked cars (openings in the ring gates)!

Chai and Game also got to run around the park for a few minutes and then we walked home where Zane was waiting for us with coffee!

The most exciting event of the morning: we waited to cross a street with 3 other dogs – a leashed Beagle and a small leashed dog with one person and an off-leash mix with another person. Just like Game, Chai did a fantastic job waiting at the curb, getting her occasional “good” room service treat and then crossing with all the other dogs when released. Only the Beagle got a brief greeting before the wait started. I’m not only proud of Chai’s ability to chill for brief times with other dogs around without engaging, but also with her increasing understanding of the “wait” cue I use at curbs. Just like with Game, I have not actively trained this behavior but simply named it by saying the cue and then stopping the dog with the leash. More and more often, Chai stops on the verbal alone! It’s not solid yet – but I can see her improving!

Toy play at Fresa Parque

After reading Shade’s response to our last toy class video, Chai and I headed out to Fresa Parque while it wasn’t unbearably hot yet. Shade encouraged us to play fetch in spaces other than the roof so I can make toys fly further and bounce without worrying about losing them (and potentially having my dog jump off a building). That’s a fair point, of course. The only disadvantage: the roof is the only low-distraction space available to me. At the park, there are always other off-leash dogs. But Chai did really well – until we got interrupted by one of them and I ended the game. I can’t yet expect a 6 months old puppy to keep playing with me when approached by a strange dog! I am, however, VERY happy with her ability to play in this environment!

Afghan Hounds and obstacles

We then went into the dog park since the only dog in there was a very fluffy and oldish looking Afghan Hound. They were calm, with a friendly wag, when Chai sniffed them through the fence, and I wanted to see if Chai had gotten over her Afghan Houndscares for good. And yes, she had! No sign of fear, just curiosity and confidence around the mellow fellow.

We then used the agility-ish obstacles in the dog park to work on two new ones: one a kind of staircase leading up to a metal platform and down the other side, and the very beginnings of the teeter. The teeter is made of metal and very slippery, but we had an excellent start with Chai getting 4 feet on the lowest part of the ramp. We’ve been here before and worked on two of the other obstacles: another longer, but less steep staircase with a longer platform in the middle and a short tunnel. We repeated the tunnel today and what had taken her a moment the last time (“Do I really want to go in there?”) was easy today!

Wait outside by herself

I picked up breakfast while Chai waited patiently leashed up outside on a busy street corner, and then again in front of a busy pet store where I got another leash and a bottle of Nature’s Miracle.

Left: fancy neighborhoods sell fancy chapulines (grasshoppers) for fancy prices! Right: Chai waiting outside the store.

Loose leash walking (manners context)

Now that Chai had gotten in her morning fun, I used the walk home for LLW practice. We were walking familiar streets, but without acclimating. Street 1 was easier than street 3 aka the third arrow from the top (street 3 has barky dogs Chai gets excited by). In the image below, you can see that Chai does really well when we first start the manners context (switch from harness aka sleddog context to collar; green arrow): several reps of 20 steps in a familar street without acclimation (we’ve never LLWed in this street before). The second green (collar) street is more difficult because Chai knows we are getting closer to the barking dogs she finds exciting! We then start the third green street with high-rate-of-reinforcement collar walking just to practice staying behind the invisible line while excited and, after about 30 meters, switch back to sleddog context for the most difficult stretch of the walk (harness; final blue arrow).

More fun at yet another park … including a dog park

We did 2-ball fetch reps and recall games at and played with a small dog and a Chai-sized dog in the dog park in the afternoon.

In the video below, you’ll see a few things:

+ Dog parks. Yes, professional dog trainers like to call them the source of all evils. Are they though? Not necessarily. It depends on your dog, your observation skills and the local dog culture. I only go into dog parks when they are eather empty or there is a small number of appropriate play partners for my dog inside. How can I tell? I observe from the outside. With Chai, I’ll mostly only go in if she asks to and the dogs inside seem appropriate.

+ I use the opportunity for a recall test: Chai is moving away from me and I call her. Will she come? She does! Yay! Treat and send off to play more! When you can – always send your dog back to the distraction you called them away from! I use my informal recall here because my formal one isn’t yet ready for use in the wild. With the informal one, I don’t mind if my success rate drops. This one is not the actual recall I will eventually use anyways.

+ I praise (the first one) and mark/treat all other voluntary check-ins in the clip below. While I do not want to call more than once in a single play session (I don’t want to nag my dog – recalls only get used when I need them), I make sure my dog knows I appreciate their decisions to check in with me! That’s how you shape a dog to keep an eye on you and not lose you.

More distraction recalls!

We took our level 1 (long line) distraction recalls to location #2!

Pizza!

Zane and I met for Pizza and apartmental strategizing at the corner of my favorite park in the next neighborhood over, and Chai stayed on her mat at my feet for about 20 minutes. Then she got to greet another dog who, unlike her, was off leash and went to sit down at their people’s table next to us. Chai gave a single frustration bark because she couldn’t go over and I aborted the session and put her in the car for the rest of dinner.

Being a good puppy under the pizza table … for 20 minutes anyways!

Further notes

In other good news: the looking out the window/thinking about barking behavior seems to have disappeared as fast as it appeared!

Saturday, June 24, 2023 (day 79)

Activity level: low (less than I do with a Border Collie on a typical day)

It would have been fun to take Chai to Pride … but I wouldn’t have been able to stay as long as I did, and in the end, a calm day will have served her better than the Pride experience would have. She can always dress up some other day!

All we did today, training and outing-wise, was take our level 1 distraction recall (Chai on a long line) to our third (most difficult) location: the park!

The rest of the day was a quiet one for the dogs while I met my friends. Here’s two of the many pride dogs I saw and our little crew taking a pizza break:

Sunday, June 25, 2023 (day 80)

Activity level: average

Chai started the day with our usual weekend morning walk around the block with Game.

Barrier recalls inside

Before I started work, Zane helped me with recall level 2 indoors: he was my human barrier (the helper who’d pick up the distraction if Chai did not respond). She nailed all 3 distractions on her first attempt!

Husbandry

  • Brushing

Stay home alone

… for about 45 minutes while Game and I went on a bike ride.

Busy-street walk, mercado and indoors mall

Once a week, I head to a pet friendly indoors mall to practice being in large, busy indoors spaces. On the way there, I used magic hands on a broken wild bird egg with a partially developed chick inside. When I picked up the egg and held it on my flat hand, Chai was ready to curiously sniff it. Magic hands for the win! The construction site we had encountered (and felt unsure about) last week was already gone. The bucket spilling over with poop bags still sat in its old spot. Chai sniffed it briefly while walking past unimpressed – a very different response from last week:

Overall, today I realized that the Week Of Insecurities seems to be over: no more window barking and less fear-inspiring objects for little Border Collies! Woohooo!

We haven’t walked to the mall on a Sunday before – so I hadn’t known that Sunday was also street market day in the area! Chai got to walk through a brief stretch of a new-to-both-of-us market. She did, of course, love the food section! On the way back from the mall, she experimented with lying down for treats while I waited for my pambazo (wheat bread sandwich fried in guajillo pepper sauce with a filling of your choice). When I wait for something or stand still somewhere for a while, I step on a relatively short leash. Dogs who stand, sit, pull or use their leash radius for walking are being ignored. Dogs who lie down receive a slow drip of low-value, low-rate of reinforcement. Chai is great at this at ATMs already. Surrounded by meat smells, it was more difficult – but she worked hard on figuring it out!

It was hard, but Chai managed to lie down while I waited for my pambazo!

For the first part of our walk towards the mall on Chai’s harness2, I reinforced check-ins in addition to circling when Chai pulled. It was the kind of day and environment where I reinforced every third check-in and reset (started counting check-ins with one) anytime I did a circle. Pretty good! The last stretch of the walk there, I only did the occasional (rare) circle. Inside the mall, we only circled 2 or 3 times!

Anytime we are at this mall, we ride the glass elevator up and down. Chai now confidently walks into the elevator as soon as it arrives and does not try and get out when the doors close. On the ride up, she even remained standing rather than lying down (ducking) like she has done in the past! On the ride down, she laid down but seemed otherwise confident.

Left: “Bring it on, elevator!” Right: being a good girl lying down at the ATM (cue: my foot on her leash).

Last week, this mall inspired me to carry Chai up and down an escalator – so I did it again this time, only that today, we went first down and then up again. This is subjective and may not be factual, but Chai felt more relaxed in my arms than last week (her first escalator ride).

Once outside, we walked parts of the busy street in manners context (green) and Chai took a break waiting outside a store (the X on the map):

Human-barrier recalls on the roof

After a nice sleepy break, we practiced our level-2 recalls with Zane’s help up on the roof. The two easier distractions were an immediate success. As for the third one … click the link above to find out!

Fresa Parque for 2-balls with eye contact and loose leash walking

After a lazy afternoon the dogs partially spent home alone, Chai and I went to Fresa Parque for our late-afternoon/evening outing to work on adding duration eye contact (for a count of 3) to our 2-ball game. I had Chai on her harness walking there. She was being a superstar; we only needed the occasional circle and no food reinforcers. She even stopped at a curb on my “wait” cue on a loose leash and then very clearly understood “okay” as my release to carry on! At the next curb, she offered stopping herself and looked back at me.

Once at the park, we saw that it was Canfest: lots of little booths with dog stuff for sale, a small adoption booth, music and a few random booths selling things unrelated to dogs. Chai did a great job walking through the corridor of dog-related booths off leash and playing a short round of 2-balls. I made sure to keep it to 5 or 6 throws in order for Chai to stay focused despite all the distractions. She then met Jakob, a Border Collie, and promptly stole his ball to proudly deliver to me and exchange for a scatter – twice. She has become a crafty ladrona!

We also ran into several little electrical cars kids can drive around Fresa Parque and Chai didn’t even give them a second look: “Whaaatever. Seen these, dismissed these, got the t-shirt collar!”

On the way back, I stopped at one booth to ask for a business card and take a picture of a skull bandana I was interested in getting for Chai3 – but I hadn’t brought money so wanted to know where they were located. As I was doing so, my crafty sidekick discovered a bowl full of kibble at the next stand over and managed to wolf down most of it before I realized what she was up to. Here’s to hoping it agrees with her stomach! She has been doing fine with my chicken reinforcers so far – but that bowl was a BIG dinner of unknown ingredients!

The skull bandana I was thinking of getting for Chai.

We manners-context walked back home from the park4, only needing to increase the rate of reinforcement when passing bread that had been put out for birds and two dogs. She was being a superstar! With a high rate of reinforcement (every 1 to 2 steps), she is already able to recognize, dismiss and casually pass strange dogs and tempting food on the ground!

Chai’s evening was spent taking turns sleeping on the bed, wrestling with Game and getting pets from Zane.

  1. Yes, I know. Would I have thought of rainbowy dog outfits if I didn’t consider Chai to be my dog already? Probably not. ↩︎
  2. See this post for a brief explanation about my leash walking contexts (harness and collar). ↩︎
  3. Who am I kidding! Let’s make it official already. This is my dog! I wouldn’t have bought a new leash the other day, tried getting Chai a pride outfit and want to spend money on fancy bandanas if she wasn’t. She is mine alright (and I seem to have turned into someone who likes dressing up their Border Collie). I can tell Chai is a dog I’ll have an extraordinary relationship with because she feels like an extraordinarily good fit for the human I am. She’s quite different from the other two Border Collies, Hadley and Mick, I’ve had in my life. And while she is nothing like Grit, I suspect we may end up having a relationship of similar depth. How lucky am I to potentially get not one, but two “once in a lifetime” dogs! ↩︎
  4. For more leash walking context and to teach your own dog, check out the leash walking lectures from Out and About in your FDSA library or look here for my December class and a micro e-book on LLW. The December class is probably going to entirely focus on loose leash walking and different R+ ways of getting there. ↩︎