Yoshi & Trek Training Diary

Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - November 2011

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

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Wed Nov 30
Trek morning walk
Walked toward the crossing guard, heard the whistle and froze. With some convincing got her to go forward and run past the corner. Then after a long block of dragging me away she started to calm down and would eat. Then we turned around and did it again. She was not a happy camper and I need to find a way to make it easier. Maybe just getting within a certain distance and turning around.

Yoshi noon walk
Saw one dog but it was almost irrelevant he saw it and didn't care. Lots of construction chaos on Central (they're replacing the sewer lines there). He did very well around it and later said hellow to the crossing guard

Discovered that Trek is now ok with bells ringing whe will listen to them and eat treats. Even will nose touch them.

But she so NOT ok with whistles. If I breathe on a whistle she storms out of the room. Later when she was back out of her crate, I took Yoshi into the living room and closed the door, gave Terri some cheese to give to Trek when she heard the whilstle. Blew the whistle softly. Trek tried to leave, but would eat the cheese when Terri offered it. This was a soft whistle through a closed door. Sigh.

Even later, out in the yard. Cornered her and blew the whistle very very softly. She wanted to run, but would eat.

Tue Nov 29
Trek morning walk. The crossing guard blew his whistle when we were within 2 houses. We got past the corner ok but she them dragged me for more than 2 blocks to get away. We then ran into a noisy trash truck which we waiting till it was done and moving on before we continued. She was actually ok with this. Walked her all the way to High St and the we walked past another crossing guard but no whistle. I'm thinking I should just work with her in the yard with a quiet whistle - maybe even the herding whistle.

Yoshi noon walk. Went over to Lincoln Park for some Rally heeling training. He did very well and was able to focus better. Worked on heeling straight lines, circles, about turns, left, right. Introduced the right hand Finish. While walking out we saw a GSD so we started doing some more heeling while the dog walked by and Yoshi did great. Much better than yesterday.
On the way home I showed him the 1-2-3 exercise where you take one step and doggy sits, then 2 steps, then 3. I don't think I've shown it to him before but he did it fine once he understood the exercise.

Having a job agrees with him.

Trek Agility Class. Cold so I had her wear a shirt. I'm wondering if the shirt would help her on her walks. Probably not since the Thundershirt doesn't seem to make too much difference - worth trying though.

Did an amazing weave pole entrance where I was half way down the poles and she still got the entrance.
She had trouble completing them if I didn't run all the way with her and I telegraph throwing the toy so Sharon wants me to place the toy in advance for a bit and then work into doing a short throw. Her stays were good today.

Mon Nov 28
Trek morning walk. Fine except that the crossing guard blew his whistle when we were within two houses of the intersection. She actually did ok but after rounding the corner dragged me home and I let her.

Yoshi noon walk. Took him over to Lincoln Park to look at the path with a mind to running him up and down it with me on a bike or a scooter. It could work
Also saw three dogs there which was perfect as I have him on the grass and could practice rally heeling with the dogs around. It was a new idea for him (well older idea but new place) so he had half an eye on the dogs but was mostly able to focus. He did bark at a Husky walking by and I corrected him for that with a collar pop and he refocused. Seems like something well worth repeating since he's good about seeing dogs across the street, so it's time to up the difficulty with an idea to see if he can handle competing in Rally.

I ordered a very inexpensive Citizen Tokyo folding bike with 16" wheels. Yes it's terribly cute and will be quite a sight with a wee Corgi.

Sat Nov 26
All of us (dogs too) are up at my mother in law's house in Redding. No real dog training getting done, but took the dogs to Mt. Shasta for some fabulous dog play. Unfortunately Yoshi has to be on a long line so he doesn't get to run around nearly as much as Trek. Trek actually had a wonderful time once she figured out it wasn't some bizarre torture. Both dogs grew up in snow so it shouldn't be that unfamiliar.

I keep thinking I should get good enough at skiing so I could take them sojourning so that he could get some real exercise and get some real running in. I did take him into deeper snow to get a work out which he got. It's a shame as he was very much Get that Dog when he would see one - even when he was tired.

Maybe I should get more serious about dog scootering but I like the snow because if I crash I probably won't get hurt.
After some thought I decided that a small folding bike might be a better choice.

Wed Nov 23
Yoshi morning walk. We were out a few minutes later and saw dogs.
We were doing some rally heeling work and I'm realizing that he could so ace Novice Rally if he wouldn't freak out about the dogs around. Once he's in the ring he should be fine as long as a dog didn't walk too near the ring, but I can't guarantee that. Certainly in classes when he would be out on the floor away from the other dogs he was a star. I could even carry him to the ring (and away). He loves the structure in obedience (he likes order and rules). I will put him in the next match that comes up. It's tempting to just enter him on the Sunday of the Jan Mission Bell trial, but that's probably pushing it.

If I do that I need to work more on a right hand finish.

Three dog encounters. Given that he's getting better at sitting and watching dogs I'm trying heeling. First dog we say (medium sized golden color but not a golden - short fur, kinda generic dog look) was on Central and we turned around and parallel walked with them for a long block. I had him heeling the whole time stopping and sitting if we got too far ahead. He aced this.

Then we saw the golden and the chihuahua on Santa Clara. They were approaching us and this time we kept heeling toward them (across the street). He did bark and I gave a quick pop and he refocused on heeling.

Lastly on Court we saw a neighbor with a small dog. This time i had Yoshi sit and watch. At first he did great, but we repositioned to watch some more as they went past and he started to growl and stiffen. This time I gave him a light collar rattle and again he refocused on me.

Each correction his reaction was "Oh sorry, on task." which means that he is not horribly stressed about the dogs. When he's really stressed corrections have no effect and I need to increase the distance from the dog(s).

Tue Nov 22
Trek has class tonight so I got the morning off from dog walking and went to work instead.

Yoshi noon walk. Went back over to the school. No off-leash dog this time but just some kids playing basketball. Also went past some noisy garden equipment. No dogs. Not so much sniffing this time. It was a very relaxing walk which is a nice change.

Trek agility class.
Chilly tonight so I had her run in her West Coast Chompers doggy T-shirt. On the weave poles if I'm lateral and she's on my right she'll sometimes skip the last pole, though it's better if keep my left arm extended. Sharon is noticing that I start my front crosses too early and is having me choose marker spots on the side of the ring (or other) to help me choose the right spot to turn my body. She is running well but not getting out to the backside of jumps unless I'm there in position though if I'm there it works

Mon Nov 21
Trek morning walk
Since the dogs are being switched up both walks today were mainly about sniffing and checking everything out.

Yoshi noon walk
Walked over to the school. Unfortunately school is out this week but there was still activity in the play area. There was also a dog there but since it was with the kids it wasn't being watched very well so we stayed across the street. There is a fence but there are openings and I didn't want any incidents. Yoshi and other other dog looked at each other but that was about it.

Sun Nov 20
Working with teaching Trek Susan Garrett's version of Stand using a hand target. She's starting to get it.

This is what I have come up with so far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQgBRVsY_ts

Yoshi walk
Barked at a running kid which concerns me as I worry about him mistaking a kid for a dog though once he figures out it's human he doesn't care.
Just to work on the issue I think I'll walk him at noon for a bit and Trek will get the morning walk.
He volunteers heel which is nice. The only dog I remember is one at Gibbons that we watched walk away from us. There was another one across Central that we briefly walked with. No reaction.

Trek walk
Near dinner time so she dragged me home, though I succeeded in getting her momentarily lost until she crossed our trail and knew the way back. She is such a pain to walk when she's thinking about dinner. It must have taken us 20 minutes to "walk" our block as I kept stopping and making her come back to me.

Just to see if they could tolerate it I gave each dog 1/2 an Ativan. The pill was 0.5 mg so the total was 0.25 mg. Not only did it not have an adverse effect it had no effect at all or made them more reactive. Sigh.

Sat Nov 19
Yoshi walk
Saw Ruby on Central and while we were watching her and her Mom go by in front of us. 3 dogs (One small Shepherd X, and two small dogs) appeared on the other side of the street. Yoshi started to bark excitedly. I got his attention - had to give him a knock it off pop and suddenly I had him back sitting for cheese. He was pretty amped so we turned around and parallel walked with them for two blocks. The we turned around and found ourselves parallel walking with a Shar Pei. The dog wasn't reactive but was that hard to read Shar Pei Stiff and staring at us so we moved on and did not play much Look At That with them. All in all he did well and we worked on some basic heeling stuff too.

Trek walk
We also went down Central as the cars were going over metal covers that were making booming sounds but that didn't bother Trek. When we got back to Lincoln she wanted to drag me home and the last block we basically heeled home. She's such a pain around 5pm dinner time, even though she's getting cheese treats.

Did some more work on the SG Stand and Trek is getting it (Yoshi doesn't seem to have any trouble with it.)
I took Bonnie's suggestion and when Trek starts to hop up to touch my hand I move my hand forward and down (flat hand closer to her). I added a treat to that hand for a little bit. I can now say Stand and I have a sloppy version of a Stand now, though I need to say Stay or reward her right away to keep her from sitting back down.

Living room
Worked with Trek on Stand - she loves it but it's pretty scattered right now.
Worked with Yoshi on Out - he's getting it.

Fri Nov 18
Trek morning walk. Watched a noisy metal tracked backhoe drive a short way down Central. We were on a house's lawn but still fairly close. She got a lot of cheese for that. Got past the crossing guard without him blowing his whistle - phew. I was a little disappointed that he didn't blow it when we were a distance away just so I could reward her for not freaking out about it. I guess I could have Terri blow a whistle (or play a wind instrument) quietly across the yard.

Yoshi herding. It started raining (mud city), so we just did the slower moving goats.
Worked on moving them around slowly and going through a couple of gates which we did ok though sometimes he gets too close to the gate instead of out in the pasture.. He won't shut up when they're staring at him but quiets down when moving. His stop is ok but he refuses to get further out unless I come right at him. I need to work more on teaching him out off stock.

Yoshi also didn't react to Bodie walking by though i was feeding him cheese. Which Yoshi was working goats he did break off to run up to the fence where Bodie was but Yoshi came back even before he reached the fence.

Later: Worked with Trek more on Susan Garrett's Stand using a hand touch. I can now catch her before she sits back down again. Garrett does this by instantly rewarding the popup. I'm not quite sure how you get the cue word in there - she does it by saying Stand and presenting her hand which is consistent with the New Cue - Old Cue methodology. So that would be Stand (show hand) Touch and then manage to reward all this, but I think I have to get the stand better before moving to the cue.

Worked with Yoshi in the kitchen on Out. Of course, in the kitchen he does it fine.

Thu Nov 17
Yoshi walk
I know something happened, but I can't remember (this is the problem with morning walks). I remember he was a good boy.
that's right there weren't any dogs except until the end when he was socializing with Dorothy and the slow moving GSD went by and he was fine.
He did great with all the construction traffic on Central (it was just getting started and wasn't that bad yet.)
I'm thinking the yogurt might be making a difference.

Trek noon walk
We went around the school as the crossing guard with the whistle wasn't there. Nothing terribly challenging but made her work on fronts and heeling around the school which took some effort. Did some basic work in the driveway too when we got back.

I made the Occupy the Kitchen photo and posted it publicly on Facebook to let it make the rounds so I thought I'd post it here too.

Wed Nov 16
Yoshi walk
2 medium size dogs on the other side of Central. He saw them first and barked some (initially they looked like they were crossing but they weren't), but wasn't pulling or actually stressing that much. I told him to stop and he did and we parallel walked with them with no further drama for 2 blocks.

Then on Gibbons saw a white bullyX breed moving slowly and Yoshi watched them carefully but had no reaction. I had him sit and look at them 3 times in 3 different places. I was very pleased.

Trek noon walk. Still avoiding construction and crossing guards with whistles 9we'll work on that eventually. We went down High St and the day care was really noisy (metal crashing sounds) and she wanted to bolt into the street. She was rewarded heavily for tolerating it.

We also went down a block of Central which had a steam roller running down a heavy metal cover. Also very noisy but she actually tolerated that better since it was a block away.

Trek Agility Class
I had a schedule conflict yesterday so Sharon let us drop in on the Wed 7:30 class which we typically do once a month. I really like that class even though it's really late and I get home after 9pm. challenges today where about leading out away from the table and calling your dog through a tunnel what made it hard was that Trek couldn't see me through the A-Frame so I had to adjust some so she could see me. It then worked fine. On a dog walk I was able to go lateral enough to get into a sepentine position which was really cool. Another dogwalk she did was so fast that she beat me off of it but was able to continue drive with me calling Go Over for the next two jumps. We did something similar on a different course finish where she was ahead of me and I was able to call out Right Over and Left Over and it worked.

Sending to the back of a jump, I do need to keep my arm extended as I say Out which makes what I want more clear.

Tue Nov 15
Yoshi walk
No dogs saye for one across Lincoln which he managed flawlessly.

Trek walk. Again we're escaping construction. Went over the Lincoln Park and did some recalls. She did ok but was worried about the street traffic.

Mon Nov 14
Yoshi. Straightforward morning walk. I forgot treats so wasn't looking for dogs in particular this morning.

Trek and I went over to where the GSP lives and said hello. I told him (Tom) about Janice telling me about him saying that Shelby jumped his dog and that it was actually my other dog trying to contrl his dog's motion, and that there were 7 Corgis in the area and 4 of them were red and white. He's a nice guy and seemed appreciative that I stopped by and his two kids got to say hello to Trek. Tom said that little dogs where always going after his dog mainly biting at his legs.

The construction on Central has moved to Fountain and at noon was blocking our way and I didn't want to traumatize Trek so we walked around a few blocks closer by.

Sun Nov 13
Yoshi walk. Went through the park and only say one Bernese Mountain Dog who appeared to be sitting with their owner waiting for someone. Absolutely no reaction at all from Yoshi.

Trek walk. It was near her dinner time and I didn't want to be dragged around so I went in a completely different way and in a long loop around the house. Went down Moreland all the way down to Fernside and the down to High St and up. Caught up to Shelby and Janice and Mark and walked with them chatting. Janice asked me if Yoshi ever had an altercation with a dog and she points out the house of a German Shorthair Pointer. While I've walked past that house a lot I never put it together that it's the dog that Yoshi jumped over a year ago when the wind blew open the kitchen door and the dogs got out. Yoshi charged up to the dog and bit at his neck collar. Probably to get him to stop moving. Anyway the owner had confused Shelby and Yoshi and thought Shelby was Yoshi and the owner was worried about Shelby and it completely confused Janice. I said that yes it was Yoshi and filled her in on the story.

I then told them that Corgi Puppy Max lived on Santa Clara too and we dropped by and visited Max and Mary Ellen. Max is now in puppy class at Oakland DTC and it's going well she says.

Sat Nov 12
Took Yoshi to the Alameda Naval Base for some training. The sightlines and lateral distances are terrific and there aren't many dogs. In fact we only saw one.
Here is what the area looks like in Google Maps (click for a larger photo):
http://maps.google.com/?ll=37.788861%2C-122.302669&spn=0.006936%2C0.010933&t=h&z=17&vpsrc=6

The fields on the left were full of soccer games, but the one with the trees on it was perfect. Too perfect as there were no dogs. So I got the camera and just started taking photos of the incredible trees (mostly Cypresses).

He was actually stressed by the wide open spaces. Seems like being able to see everywhere made him feel obligated to look everywhere. So we took a walk around that part of the base and had a lovely time. The one expection is that I heard a voice calling something like "Help" and a dog charge at us fortunately on the other side of a chain link fence. "Help" may have been what I heard, but she was clearly calling to the dog. I was just really grateful for the fence. Yoshi barked appropriately here and we walked away as best we could with me offering thanks to the gods and spirits and fates.

We then wandered back over to the soccer games but didn't watch too closely as both he and I were looking around for dogs.

Will have to do some CU work with other dogs on this field.

Trek walk. It was close to her dinner time and all she wanted to do was go home. Never mind I'm feeding her cheese and dinner is kibble. Creature of habit. I tried again to get her lost by taking her a direction she hadn't been before and then looping around but she wasn't fooled and found her way back home without any problem. I did make her heel on the way back to keep her from dragging me. Also worked on Front, By Me, Come, Finish Left.

Fri Nov 11
Yoshi walk. Another sighting of a morning dog walk regular. Saw the "I hate Corgis" JRT/Fox Terrier at a distance twice, but they always keep clear of us and we just watch them from a far (once I realized who it was).

Trek noon walk. Grey and drizzly so she was a happy camper. On High St a woman named Claire got out of her car to say hello to Trek. Her and her wife Toni have two local Corgi's Evan and Lilly. Trek was happy to eat cheese that i gave her. We then continued down Central and while the construction wasn't happening they had covered up the enormous hole in the road with wood that made a booming sound as the cars drove over it. Trek got a lot of treats for putting up with it. Then we worked on some basic heeling and fronts and finishes.

She's ready to compete really and there are no trials in this area in December (sigh). Next one is Jan 14-15 in Santa Clara. And all of the agility trials are under cover which she hates because of the noise. I would take her to the Bay Team Santa Rosa trial to do some training walking in and out from under the cover, but I'm out of town that weekend. I guess this means we keep training. Guess i can keep teaching her the Open and Utility skills. I need to get her retrieve more solid.

Also was asked by a woman who was running for Trek's breeder. (She had just lost her Dachshund and is looking for a Corgi to run her life). Since Trek is from out of town (Idaho) I just gave her the site of the local Corgi breeders site http://goldengatecorgis.org.

Thu Nov 10
Dog walks exactly like yesterday, but with no drama.

Wed Nov 9
Yoshi morning walk
I finally have started cutting the string cheese up into small chunks which is much easier to handle and makes it last a lot longer.
I've been expecting to see familiar morning dogs. Saw the Golden and the Chihuahua. They must always walk in the morning.
Yoshi did great at watching them go by and eating bits of cheese.
Also saw the slow moving GSD again though there are two of them, so it might have been the other one. We were behind them so we just went a different way.

Trek noon walk. They're doing noisy construction on Central so I decided to carry her 1/2 of a block and silently hoped I wasn't going to have neck issues right them as I would then have to put her on the ground in a particularly noisy part, but I didn't and she appreciated being carried through that part. Since the crossing guard on Gibbons likes to blow his whistle when it's busy I decided not to torture Trek and went down High St and then back on Court and skipped Gibbons entirely.

Tue Nov 8
Yoshi noon walk. Saw one dog but a good experience. We were almost all the way back from our walk and one of the Fountain St. GSDs was approaching slowly. They crossed the street and we stopped to watch them approach and pass. Yoshi was successful. He was able to look at the dog and each a Potato and Fish treat and look at the dog again and not react. I did say Leave It but it was more conversational than anything. He didn't look terribly stressed about the dog either. It helped that the dog was moving slowly and he'd familiar with German Shepherds these days.

Trek agility class. She kept popping at pole 11 on the weaves but we figured out it was because I was crowding her and when I stopped she was able to do them fine. Her weaves are still just rockin' and I can even cross behind even when she's at the 3rd pole. It was cold today and she just loved that (while I hunkered in two jackets.) A Frame and dog walk were fine. Even did a teeter with no issue. She is able to send to the backside of jumps (I tell her Out), and cleared a triple no problem. In fact no knocked bars at all (she's not a bar knocker unless I get the timing wrong.)

Mon Nov 7
Hello Standard Time. Yick. So I shift dog walks to the morning and noontime since it now gets dark when I'm done with work. Up at 6 to walk Yoshi. Saw one small dog on Gibbons and decided not to avoid them but crossed Gibbons which is nice and wide in that place. Yoshi was able to look at the dog, look back at me, eat a treat, look again and look back at me which only a small guttural sound and no barking or lunging. Good dog. So at least we haven't lost any ground during my healing from my neck injury.

Sun Nov 6
Took Trek on a short hike in Chabot. Trek got elected since I'm not quite up to having Yoshi have a meltdown on a fireroad trail.
Photos are here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2390676078976.2127125.1013097814&type=1&l=b1c01be153
It was all one hill climb and she managed to get 1.3 miles before we turned around. She might have been willing to do more, but I didn't want to argue with her and I wanted to get back.
Besides 2.6 miles is about as far as she's been. We now do out and back hikes as she quit on my on one loop hike in Redwood and I had to carry her for part of it until she sensed we were on our way back and sped up even though she'd never been on that part of the trail before. Her sense of direction is uncanny.

Yoshi walk uneventful.

Fri Nov 4
Took Yoshi herding and I only had one neck nerve issue when reaching for a gate latch - this is very good news as taking the dogs out of the car can be a real issue. 1st session was with goats and he did well save for too much barking and crowding, we tried sheep 2nd session but I wasn’t able to move fast enough so we went back to goats and he was very polite and did great - did some gate work too. He was tired and wasn’t barking like a fool. the only odd thing about the gate is that he wanted to be near the gate but I needed him further away and he didn't want to move that far away from me. I think he was concerned about being out around the goats by himself. This may also be a reason he doesn't like to stop until he comes closer to me but I'm not sure. I've trained the recall so much that it's pretty natural for him to want to come to me. Linda thinks it's pretty essential that he learn to stop away from me and he can away from stock but adding stock seems to change things. It's funny, I don't like all the on the fence work that AKC has, but then he can be on the same side of the stock as me, and when we're moving stock he's ok with being in the back and me in front. Maybe we're not as bad off as I think we are.

I need to get healthy so we can work sheep and then I can practice more like an AKC course would run.

Thu Nov 3
Noon Trek walk. I'm able to start training more. Worked on heel position since she naturally forges. Also did a little work on front and I've noticed that she's still sort of targeting my hand. I need to get her to target my face during the front even though she's looking at the hand that's the heel position hand which makes sense.

Yoshi evening walk. Went through the quieter Fernside area which was nice but since it was new and it had just rained and he hadn't been out in a could of days, all he wanted to do was sniff. Finally got him moving some. It was mostly a chore but no dogs appeared out of nowhere. The sightlines in that area are often very good but the price is that sometimes they are not (if once curve is easy to see around then elsewhere there is a sharp one. At the end I did let him look at a small dog across a wide section of Gibbons. He was able to look at the dog and look back after I said Leave It. Phew.

Wed Nov 2
Trek walk noon. Ok. My neck didn't twang which is the big news. Yoshi didn't get a walk.

Tue Nov 1
Did dog nails at noon.
Trek Dog Agility. This was my first time back since my bike accident and neck injury. Getting there was fine, but just getting stuff out of the car set off symptoms which was frustrating (twisting and reaching forward set it off), but got through it. My handling was cautious, but the more I told her what to do the better she did. The only real issue was if I gave an unclear signal because I didn't want to raise my left arm too much. Best run was up top where we could run more. She nailed two weave pole entrances one where I was way behind and then caught up. I clearly have to trust her more on the weaves as she's really good at them.

Down below it was doing work with odd squences such as a series of 270s.