Yoshi & Trek Training Diary

Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - May 2011

By Ellen Clary (Copyright 2004-2011)
(reverse date order)

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Tue Mar 31
Noon - raining and I wuss out.

Trek evening class
Just Trek this time as when it's we there aren't as many places I can go with Yoshi to watch the next class.
I knew this was coming dept. I have been tasked with talking in a higher, happy voice to Trek. I've been observing that she responds better when I use a higher excited voice and Sharon demonstrated this by calling Trek away from my side while we were running by excitedly saying "Trek Trek Trek." Years of yelling at Yoshi has given me an I'm going to kill you voice at times and it tends to freeze Trek up. When I instead say "PuppyPuppyPuppy" she's suddenly happy again. That's what's cool about saying "Hey Bad Dog" as I am incapable of saying it harshly.

She did fine, but I really, really have to work on her stays in front of obstacles. Which I have been, but it's not working at class yet. And it has to be in front of an obstacle as she's great when one isn't there.

Mon Mar 30
Day off for the dogs while I go hiking at Mt Diablo.

Sun Mar 29
The morning was cool and she did very well in her Open Fast class, but popped the 10th pole during the send.

Unfortunately then it turned into a nice day, and doggy decided it was too hot, so Open Standard didn't really happen, which totally puzzled the judge who saw her do well that morning. Later after she got some rest I nagged her through a completely haphazard Ex JWW course, and managed to only get one refusal but it wasn't fun.

Gail says it's the Welsh ancestry and that when the weather is wet is when she's done well with a Corgi. I see Oregon and Eureka trips in our future.

Yoshi came along too and he found it challenging yet I could walk him amongst dogs and if a dog passed by if I fed him right then he was able to cope. The couple of times I didn't see the approaching dog he snarked at them and I corrected or at least lifted him off the ground. Again if I'm carrying him his dog tolerance is much much better and he can watch dogs mill around though even in that position certain dogs will make him growl. I think I need to bring him to around these environments a lot just to see if I see a change in his behavior over time.

I think this tells me that we can move beyond dog seeking walks though those always help. I think possibly more challenging situation are called for, but some scenarios like walking downtown are very difficult because of traffic and no room to maneuver, Dog events/trial are by far the best as the dogs are there with a purpose and are often not interested in interacting with him.

I had got a mat out and we spent a little while on it, but it seemed like walking around was bringing us the biggest benefit. Being on the periphery and watching was the best but we could walk down the isle too if I had treats.

Sat Mar 28
TRACS AKC Agility trial
Cooler weather that eventually lead to rain. This turned out to be a terrific boon and Trek Q'ed in all of her classes and got three titles in one day.
Only one of them was completely clean but I figured we should just move up anyway as she is able to deal with the classes now (no longer zooming around, some run bys but nothing like they were.

Fast 57 points Q and 1st and would have beaten all of the dogs 16" and under. One other 16" had her score in double the amount of time.
Open JWW One Refusal 95/100 considered a Q
Novice Std. in the rain. She did the teeter had 3 run bys (refusals), but remarkably 85/100 still qualifies in novice (and in open and in Ex A)

So we've moved up in all of the classes. New challenges, harder standards.

The biggest one is moving into Excellent JWW. Though it's not the big jump I thought it was. I just checked the rules. To Q in Excellent A you still only need 85/100 - it's only Excellent B that requires 100/100. However I've since learned that it's only time faults that are allowed, not refusals or wrong courses.

Fri Mar 27
Lori Obedience Class - both dogs.
Not bad. Yoshi did the heeling parts and Trek did the rest. Yoshi did really well though was uncomfortable about the young Bouv in the room, but it was the Manchester Terrier who started to stroll right up to him that he snarked at right when I was trying to write a check. Later on during the figure 8's the same dog was heeling right near him and stopped within 2' of him. He got treated big time for that one. His heeling was good, but Lori notice that when we stop while heeling my left foot swings a bit into his space and he sits wide, so we went over L-R-L (stop) footwork where the last step is just the left foot coming up even with the Right foot. She's threatened to cut that foot of before.

Trek had a harder time as right when I brought her in Lori brought her adorable Sheltie puppy who looks like a squirrel. Her and Trek were having a nice greeting and together we walked into the middle of the floor and the Bouv Poppy just started to charge. I saw her eyes and it was instant prey drive directed right at the puppy. The owner got the dog stopped though I tossed down Trek's leash and went over to see if she needed help but it was semi under control. The owner is a little freaked as it's not the first time it's happened. We all agreed it's that she (puppy) looks like a squirrel and I explained that Yoshi reacts worse to dogs that don't look like dogs in his mind. Lori emphasized that the dog's owner should focus on here and now and not everything all at once. By now it was clear to the Bouv that she was looking at a dog so the rest of the class was ok but Trek was pretty shook (puppy of course was fine). When I looked back at Trek she was right between Lori's legs.

We were working on straight fronts where you use either cones or some sort of plastic channel and of course she thought that was just weird and there was still this monster nearby and she wasn't happy about that.

For sits and downs I put her far away from the Bouv and right near a very reliable BC named Mozart. One of Ann's Basenjis was on the other side, but Ann had him on a long line so his figeting didn't bother her. Lori read us the riot act that sits and downs were getting worse over the years and if you don't have 6 months of reliable stays you shouldn't be leaving your dog. While I know we weren't the object of the lecture, I have been experimenting with briefly leaving the room and chatting with the hiding Open people and I was out of sight just a touch too long and Trek got up clearly wondering where I'd gone. I came back "Hey baddog whatcha doing?" (conversationally - not yelling which she hates.) Fortunately if I'm in sight her stays are great though if the sit is too long she will lie down so I'll have to work on that when we get to Open.

Herding Yoshi, Trek as a tourist
Yoshi did really well this time. I took my little Y chute into the small pen and worked on it from there. Suddenly we have something to work on and it seemed to engage his brain more. We were doing a lot more "Walk" Stop" "Flank" "Stop" Then I did the same thing in the larger arena.
I also put the sheep in a corner and we worked on Out [change direction] Out [change direction]. The further out he got the calmer the sheep got and we were actually able to go somewhere with calm sheep which was really cool.

Trek actually quite by accident herded some sheep as I had her with me while I was taking down a temporary barrier that we use to make the small pen even smaller. she walked towards them and they moved. I'm not sure who was more surprised me or her. I could actually tell her to walk up and she did twice though as soon as I gave her a directional command (which she knows) she wandered off.

Thu Mar 26
Trek noon walk. Fine. She worried about the corner that usually has a whistle bearing crossing guard but the guard wasn't there then.

Yoshi evening walk. Did a longer on that included Broadway but the biggest coolest thing to happen was parallel walking along Central for 4 or so blocks with a medium sized dog who groused and growled at us most of the time and Yoshi would glance over and look up for a treat. I expected the embarrassed owner to turn off sometime, but he didn't. (We had caught up to them and then very slowly passed them. If it were my dog I would have stopped the dog's forward motion or just gone a different direction.

Before that there was one awkward moment with an idling car that was partially blocking the driveway. There was room but there was also a cat right there. The woman in the car must have been amused when after waving me through I pointed at the cat. I just carried Yoshi through and was glad that he only weighs 22 pounds.

Wed Mar 25
Yoshi evening walk. Saw a golden across the street. He would growl, but didn't react or bark or charge, then he would look at me for a treat. We repeated this three times.
Then went down to Broadway and on the way had two different dogs scream at him from behind a fence. both times he would bark once and then get a hold of himself and connect with me with the other dog still screaming. Good boy. He is so good about telling if a dog can get to him or not. But it's funny, the other dog has to be confined. He still reacts to dogs passing by when he is the one in the fence.

Back on Gibbons we say a woman with a GSD and an Aussie. We've seen each other before and we just went into the street on the other side of a car while they passed by. She mentioned hers are mellow and "we all know" not nearly as terrifying as mine, she was being funny though I don't know if she was confusing him with the other Corgis in the neighborhood. I said he's a whole lot better but it's taken years. Yoshi kept and eye on them but he could tell they were no threat.

Trek and I worked in the backyard on lateral leadouts to a jump. She's iffy about it and we'll have to continue it. Stays iffy too. She's better when she's on my left - don't know why. When I have my right arm extended more than a foot lateral she runs to me. Throwing the toy helped but she still needs work in understanding the outstretched arm means stay out. While doing gambles she gets it so I don't know why this looks different. Maybe I need to look at her more, as I have my back to her in that position.

Tue Mar 24
Trek's Agility Class, Yoshi as a tourist
Trek did well in class and has now forgiven me and agility is fun again (it's also the cool of the evening which makes a difference. She did well in some difficult handling sequences, her being able to do a "left" came in handy and she rocks at threadles. No contact issues at all. She was moving well. I still need to work on lateral pressure and leadouts.

Yoshi watched part of the next class. He does fine if he is on the other side of the fence from the class but when I brought him in with him on my lap he was stressed and uncomfortable and did bark at a couple of dogs that came near him. I did take him back outside the fence, but when they went up to the upper field we went up and sat watching up on the embankment. He was still stressed, but coped better with the separation and he seemed to like the attention from Jim (different Jim) who was at class watching. He doesn't know it, but he's coming every time now as the exposure is good for him, and he does like the cheese.

I'm also thinking I want him to do a drop in with Rachelle's Friday class on June 3rd when Linda is out of town.

Mon Mar 23
Trek noon walk
She seems to have forgiven me for dragging her to agility on Sunday, and we had a nice walk. Saw a guy raking on his driveway which was making some noise and she got a nice reward for it.

Yoshi evening walk
Saw a couple of dogs from behind But then saw a BC and a Cocker across Gibbons. The Cocker barked at us and it was perfect as Yoshi looked at the dog barking at him and then looked back at me. I did say "leave it" and he responded. He still needs the leash to remind him to pay attention but not this time.

I still can't decide how much to seriously consider resuming Yoshi's agility training. I guess he should do some drop ins and see how comfortable he is.

Sun Mar 22
AKC Agility David DTC Dixon

Princes dog who is on the verge of a title in every class went 0 for 3 today, but did a teeter. She's pouting that it's too hot and she's tired. If I can just get her into Excellent it will get better as they compete when it's cooler. I noticed something yesterday and asked further. It could mean everything for Yoshi in agility. I know it's risking his agility career but I haven't given up all this time so I have to try. Between being able to carry him to the ring. Warning the dog behind us not to come in too soon or moving him to the end of the class and fully fenced rings could make it possible.

I'll have to try bringing him again next Saturday, but that's not Lori's trial and it will be larger. Maybe I can put him back in agility class. Maybe Friday night though he usually is herding then. Maybe June 3rd when Linda won't be here.

CU Dogs SF post

I noticed this weekend the David DTC AKC agility trial in Dixon had 
fully fenced rings.  I asked trial secretary Lorie Abbott about it and 
she says that her trials are now always going to be fully fenced.  I 
checked with one of the judges and it's not an AKC requirement as was 
the rumor, but more a business decision of Lorie's.

This is not baby/ring gates that have the large holes that dogs like 
Yoshi can get (and have gotten) through  but orange temporary fencing.

I told her this makes it so a lot of dogs can compete and she says it's 
very popular with exhibitors (unless the judge makes the last obstacle a 
triple which caused some dropped bar consternation :).

I can't decide if I should try it since I don't want to do anything to 
risk Yoshi's herding career, but he was there as a tourist on  Saturday 
and mostly seemed to be able to cope.  Herding is teaching him that he 
can learn to ignore some chaos that's not immediately around him.

The ring openings are layered:

-----------
           ----------------

But I do worry about my agility dreams for Yoshi clouding my judgement. He still is very talented at agility and adding fences would make a huge difference but there still is a lot of risk at the entry gate. It's common for them to send in the next dog before you're done and even if I made that clear to the following dog and the gate steward that they really should wait till I have a hold of him, it's just very risky. I'd have to have two helpers. One at the beginning and at the end to essentially block both of the holes and not let anyone else in. Terri could do one of those roles and a friend who knows Yoshi could do the other. The other bad dream scernario is that he charges out past his guard and goes after a dog. We could even fashion self standing PVC gates

The tricky part is how to train him. In agility class they typically put the other dogs away when reactive dogs run, so there's no training for ignoring hubbub around. Leslie does mat work with her dogs at agility trials that helps them ignore stimuli. I've done some of this at class.

Sat Mar 21
AKC Agility Davis DTC Dixon

Yoshi went along as well and he did surprisingly well. If a dog approached we turned in the other direction, or I covered his eyes, or I picked him up. He really settles down if I pick him up which is remarkable. With him in my arms I could walk up and check the running order. The rings were fully fenced which has me completely intrigued and I'm going to ask if that's going to be more common.

Trek did a teeter but knocked the triple and got a Open JWW Q (did the triple fine here) and another Novice Fast Q.

I was warm today so I think Yoshi is going to stay home and just Trek will go in case I need to crate her under a tree.

Fri May 20
Yoshi herding Trek as tourist.
Linda made him do goats for a little while which he of course hated, but she correctly points out that while he's moving slower he's learning. Worked on Flank, Away and Walk [up], and of course Stop which with goats he was happy to do.

On to sheep and stayed in the small pen for the first run doing the same work. He really is improving.

2nd session larger arena. He didn't lose his mind (he was also tired. We were able to work his sheep ok in it and didn't get too carried away. His stops are only pauses though.

Then I set up a Y chute of sorts for the first time. What a humbling experience. I'm having trouble getting us all placed correctly. I can see I'm going to spend a lot of time on this and it's going to require a lot of stopping and moving a little at a time. For the most part the sheep miss the obstacle. I think I got one through once.

Trek was being strange. I think she was concerned that I was going to make her work ducks again. I don't really have the funds to do both and Linda says it's better to work with one at a time, even though it's nice to work with a softer dog as they do what you ask.

Thu May 19
Trek noon dog walk
Wow - we went over to the elementary school and the big kids were on recess. Four 5th or 6th grade girls gave her a screaming Beatles welcome and when they had time to take a breath we approached and I picked her up so the girls could pet her. Trek was well rewarded for this and seemed to cope ok. She wasn't shaking and seemed interested in greeting them. She seemed to like the attention and the treats.

We then continued around the basketball court with Bouncing Balls along with screaming children and she did not drag me to get away but instead asked for treats. Wow what a brave doggie. This is so vastly different than when she first came her.

Yoshi evening walk. Some across the street sightings and then we had a resident dog appear to use the front restroom on leash. We stopped and watched the dog and Yoshi was fine until we got within a house distance and the dog moved. Then Yoshi barked at the dog and I pulled him further away and the owner moved the dog further down in the other direction. I had Yoshi sit and watch the dog for a short while and then we moved on.

Wed May 18
Yoshi dog walk - some dog sightings.

Trek make up agility class since I had a conflict on the 17th
She did well. Needs work on harder 90 degree and more sending to weave pole entrances (this is Sharon's most advanced class so of course there were challenges). she rocks on the dog walk and did well charging into a teeter and stopping on it (with me yelling STOP! while she was on it) - it was very impressive.

Start line stay needs work but it's improving.

Tue May 17
dog walks - some dog sightings

Mon May 16
dog walks - rainy and brief

Sun May 15
Played in the yard with both dogs the touch stick on the stand. Trek came up with this behavior chain of touching the base and then the ball on the stick. She only got a yes and a treat for touching the ball though.

Yoshi walk. Longer as we were looking for dogs. Right out the door there was one right in front so I wisely this time U-turned in the driveway and saved ourselves an explosion. We then followed the dog for a couple blocks then turned off on Fountain. Then didn't see any dogs till Gibbons and they were ahead of us but we got within 2 houses of them. Then went over to the school and didn't see any except for the screaming wee dog on the second story of his house which was perfect for eating lots of treats (One thing I've done right is that confined screaming dogs means he gets a reward. If a dog behind a fence yells at him he looks to me.)

I wish his default behavior was stronger. It's sit and look at me or walk in heel position beside me. On our walk I did a lot of "Come" as I really want that stronger. In theory I should make that "Yoshi Come" but Come is the first thing that comes out of my mouth in a stressful time so I'm working on that. Also did a lot of Sit, Down, By Me.

For Trek I think I'm taking her over to Mark and Jan's to pick up some more of last night's dinner. She's going to play the victim but I'm not going to react to it (I hope). Maybe we'll do a walk in their area.

Sat May 14
Made a video of Trek and the ducks. She's mostly not having a good time. Right around 11:35 I put the ducks in an expen and she can do directionals around that but I can tell it's going to be a lot of work and her future is agility and obedience/rally so I'm thinking that we should stop here for now. Linda explains in the video to Robin how Trek does fine if we just let her run around but she pouts when told there are rules to this game and that you can't pounce on the ducks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_R5TzbTX7I&feature=player_embedded

One cool thing is that I've learned how to herd ducks myself and am no longer in immediate danger of stepping on one.

Trek Dog Bone Alley walk
This is the equivalent of let's walk downtown and get an ice cream. Let's walk to the dog store and buy a treat.
Walked down Santa Clara and everything was great until a car semi peeled out near us. That rattled her some so I carried her to help her settle down (she did). Then we walked down Park St to Dog Bone Alley and she got to check the store out and got attention and then got a designer treat. We then walked back up Park St and down Central and then home. At the stressful/busy areas she got more of her treat as she negotiated them. She is improving at this.

Yoshi walk - via the park
Cut through the park and the path goes along the back of a baseball field which can make things a little exciting. Just before we went through a ball was hit in that area, so we were hustling through when a family walking the other direction appeared on the path. It wasn't till we got closer that I see they have a dog with them which I typically would have gone way around but not with a base ball game going on. I picked him up and we walked by them all with out incident.

Also had a couple more dog passersby on the other side of central which he was able to sit and watch go by.

Trek and I went over the Mark and Jan's for dinner. Trek hung out near the sofa with us and then started to sulk ("I want to go home") and went over to the front door.

Fri May 13

Facebook status update
I don't think Trek really wants to be a herding dog (even just ducks). She has some of the skills, could learn a lot more with effort but I don't think she likes the stress and chaos of real herding. This is a very common scenario. A lot of dogs start to dislike herding once you start informing them that there are rules around handling live animals.

Comments

Ellen: I can get her to be able to herd if I stop using a stick (no problem - already started to do that) and don't yell at her (I can manage that), but the second a dog-wise duck runs past or over her she's going to pout. Herding dogs have an amazing resiliency that she doesn't really have and I'm not sure I can teach her that.
Patricia Maybe she just isn't going to be a 2 sport kid. But i really think the exposure is still good for them, even if they don't take it higher.
Ellen: Yes Patricia, just from an obedience perspective it's fabulous training. I want you to run around the out side of this herd and stop when I ask you even though you're far away from me.
Patricia: good training for go-outs ;>)\
Ellen: It is. Agility training is too some.

This would be her 3rd sport (and that's if you consider obedience/rally the same thing.)

It's probably not worth the money and I should just focus on making her an amazing obedience dog even it that isn't nearly as much fun. God forbid there be a dog sport that both my dogs could do. Yeesh. And the other side of the spectrum has been so refreshing. When I ask for a stop from Trek I get it unlike Mr. Y. my over-the-top sheep-obsessed dunderhead where it's a constant argument.

She was allowed to enter a small upcoming trial but I wrote and graciously passed since she's not ready and may choose to never be ready.

Yoshi did all right. We started out with the usual you will stop dammit sort of thing which got him put on leash. Then he got better. I fear because he got tired or his feet hurt (though no stickers this time.) He's been more subdued lately and I don't know if he's ill or just getting older.

Thu May 12
Trek noon walk
Dared to go by the crossing guard but it wasn't the whistle happy one this time so it went smoothly.

Yoshi evening walk. We were on our way over to the park but saw Corgi Shelby and her parents Janice and Mark. They were all chatting with Lab/RottX Buster and his parents Scott and Holly. We started out 2 houses away and when Yoshi go used to the idea of two dogs staring at him we worked out way closer and then went in an arc around the parked cars to show up on the other side of them closer. Shelby and Yoshi barked at each other but it was play, though Yoshi still wasn't sure about Buster though he was obviously completely friendly. I did let Yoshi get close enough for a sniff but didn't let things go on for very long since there were two of them and there was no real room to manoeuvrings on the sidewalk. Then I asked if Yoshi and Shelby could go on a walk together since Yoshi does well when walking with other dogs (it's that "we're a gang" effect). They did great but Yoshi dragged me a lot and wasn't listening as well. Shelby certainly enjoyed herself.

Wed May 11
Yoshi noon walk. He still gets distracts but simply walking in a different direction seems to get his attention. Also practiced having him sit for approaching people as he was odd about one person carrying a kid walking by. Taking a step off the side walk seemed to help.

Trek park training
Started incorporating herding commands. "Walk" then "Stop" sort of thing.
I was hoping to put her in a trial with Call Ducks but the woman who runs the trial is very strict about "not chasing" and Trek's enthusiasm would be interpreted that way.
With not a duck in sight I get "walk" boing bounce bound "Stop" bounce bound plunk with extra steps thrown in. It's very endearing, but so not what the person running the t rial wants to see. Linda and I are going to do a lesson on Friday but I'm not that hopeful as things will get worse with live ducks around. Maybe she's going to become the obedience dog that she wants to be. She's going to hate the delayed reward though and may not like the stress level of an obedience trial.

Set up an expen for both dogs to practice Flank (my Come bye command) and Away herding commands. They both did pretty well.

Tue May 10
Yoshi noon walk. Went fine but he's not that responsive if I start to hide or go a different direction. It was more unfamiliarity as he got better the more I did it and he realized that it was a game.

Trek Agility Class. After missing a week it was good to be back. She really rocked on the contacts. Sharon has a new rubberized dog walk that is very nice and has excellent footing and I have to run full out to keep up with Trek on it. How cool is that. I can now leave her on it and run to the next obstacle, I don't have to baby her on the DW. We worked on some more difficult weave entrances and we'll need to work on the kind where I'm not at the beginning but more at the end and she needs to find the entrance herself. All in all it was really nice to be back. I took photos of the course but am not sure how helpful they would be. It might be more useful to diagram some of in Clean Run Course Designer.

Trek is entered in two trials at the end of this month - wasn't sure she would get into both of them, but she did. Entered in Davis DTC on May 20-21 ("Judgment day"! - Yahoo), and then TRACS Sat-Sun of Memorial Day weekend.

Mon May 9
I'm coming home tonight hurray!
Got to go along with my brother and his Berner's to the Marymoor Dog Park which was really nice and fun to interact with all the doggies.

Fri May 6
I'm in Seattle and Terri has the dogs for the weekend. Terri and Yoshi went on a brisk walk at noon. Given that he's still a pound overweight this is very good news.

The online Recallers class is completed and I want to go back through and categorize all the games.

Some of them were chase games. The beginning ones were about limiting a dog's choices so they would want to come to you and get a reward, other ones were placing obstacles for the dog to over come to get to you (and a reward), others where about teaching and rewarding self control. And then we started combining them.

Thu May 5
Yoshi Park Work
Did better this time.
We moved over to the side of the park where Santa Clara Ave hits High St.
Mostly did heeling and short recalls. Also spent time watching other dogs and eating treats.
Did some other stuff that I'm not remembering

Trek Park work
Same spot as Yoshi. she can work off leash so we were able to work on sit and stay I walk away and either release her and I run away, or I recall her. Also worked on down on recall and just played fetch as a break.

Wed May 4
Yoshi Park Work
First time working in the park. Predictably he had trouble concentrating. We were still in the front of the park, but over on the other side closer to the fancy shack. We worked on heeling and touch and he could do that but he kept looking over at the street.

Trek walk
working on the class exercises since it's the last week.

Tue May 3
Yoshi Redwood Park walk. I took the day off and decided that Yoshi needed some dedicated training time and today is not a weekend day so I took him to Redwood Park. I had him on a harness and a long line, and we went down the Stream Trail which is a leashed trail. 2 or the 4 were leashed but he was better behaved with one of the leashed dogs who even approached while her owner called to her because I had asked "Could you call your dog?" The others were ok but iffy. The last one was on a leash and he lunged at the dog probably because it was a little closer. Since he was on a harness, this got him airborne twice. He seemed to get it through I very much want to make him do some CAT training now as he's only this way because it helps make the dog go away in his mind.

Sun May 1
So I dragged myself to the site. Told folks what happened and people were so supportive. Since we were entered right at the start of the day, I actually was able to concentrate on the courses and managed to run Steeplechase round 3 clean though Trek tried to leave and had to be called back so we finished out of the money but we'll take the Q yesterday.

Gamblers was a disaster but it was interesting that we actually got further in the opening that I'd planned to which is nice.