Sadie has recently become a bit of a b____ about food. She acts like she's starving to death all the time and gets positively hyper at the first hint of treats or kibble. The first symptom was when she began jumping on me to get at her dinner bowl at mealtimes. Then she started shouldering Maxwell away from his meals, since he eats much slower. That very recently became a sudden lunge-and-snarl down the hall to steal his food. I now stand guard to interrupt the lunge. You've never seen a dog look so "Darn, I got caught! Sorry?" than at the moment she halts her lunge.
What changed? And how to reverse the behavior change?
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
PfR: Day 3
Improvement!
Maxwell was noticeably more relaxed as we went through the first set of exercises again. He started in a sit, not popping up even once. About a third of the way through the sequence he slid into a half-floppy down. While his face was still very alert, he let his rear legs slide out to one side with loose muscles.
He was no longer hyper-alert and scanning the room, either, though he was still more in tune with his surroundings than I'd prefer. For example, Sadie shifting in her crate made him whip his head around to look. Overall, his handler focus was more consistent, with long periods of eye contact.
He clearly still thinks that, when I count aloud, there must be something he's supposed to be doing. His weight shifts forward (without breaking the down), his mouth closes part way, his ears come forward, and the quality of the eye contact changes. It's hard to explain that last bit... His relaxed eye contact is nose pointed at my face, eyes soft and meeting mine. When I count aloud, his nose drops slightly, his eyes widen a tiny bit, and he ends up almost looking up at me... Like a schoolmarm looking over her glasses.
For now I'm letting him maintain position between exercises. I start each with "wait" and end with "yes!" and kibble. I am not using a no-reward-marker.
I did try to work with Sadie again. She is just far too excited by food, though. Every muscle in her body becomes ready to LEAP forward at the first hint of offered kibble. She even tried to snatch it from me! So instead of the protocol, we did some remedial control work. We played It's Yer Choice, and my hand got thoroughly slobbered while she tried to get at the kibble. She quickly progressed to food in my open palm right next to her head, with barely a twitch towards it. Not sure what I can use to get her to relax around food, since there isn't much that's lower value than kibble while still being edible!
Maxwell was noticeably more relaxed as we went through the first set of exercises again. He started in a sit, not popping up even once. About a third of the way through the sequence he slid into a half-floppy down. While his face was still very alert, he let his rear legs slide out to one side with loose muscles.
He was no longer hyper-alert and scanning the room, either, though he was still more in tune with his surroundings than I'd prefer. For example, Sadie shifting in her crate made him whip his head around to look. Overall, his handler focus was more consistent, with long periods of eye contact.
He clearly still thinks that, when I count aloud, there must be something he's supposed to be doing. His weight shifts forward (without breaking the down), his mouth closes part way, his ears come forward, and the quality of the eye contact changes. It's hard to explain that last bit... His relaxed eye contact is nose pointed at my face, eyes soft and meeting mine. When I count aloud, his nose drops slightly, his eyes widen a tiny bit, and he ends up almost looking up at me... Like a schoolmarm looking over her glasses.
For now I'm letting him maintain position between exercises. I start each with "wait" and end with "yes!" and kibble. I am not using a no-reward-marker.
I did try to work with Sadie again. She is just far too excited by food, though. Every muscle in her body becomes ready to LEAP forward at the first hint of offered kibble. She even tried to snatch it from me! So instead of the protocol, we did some remedial control work. We played It's Yer Choice, and my hand got thoroughly slobbered while she tried to get at the kibble. She quickly progressed to food in my open palm right next to her head, with barely a twitch towards it. Not sure what I can use to get her to relax around food, since there isn't much that's lower value than kibble while still being edible!
PfR: Day 2
We went to the new Transformers movie tonight, so training was late and brief.
I didn't formally work on the protocol tonight. Instead, I took the activities we did yesterday, and threw some of them together into a short session. I got a somewhat more relaxed down from the little man... probably due to the heat more than anything. Maxwell was over-vigilant even in the quiet living room, but stayed down for my counting out loud, in my head, and taking quiet steps in random directions. He only popped up once.
Sadie was game for training and DINNER!!! I got her in a down and massaged her ears and neck. At least, I tried to. For the first several minutes, she'd snap up into a sit as soon as I touched her. Definitely not relaxed. Even once I convinced her that allowing my touch in a down meant kibble, she did the most tense version of 'relaxing' that I've ever seen. Mouth shut, ears pinned to the sides of her head, on her back with her legs in the air tensed, tail stiff. I tried to treat only when I could feel her muscles relax, or if she softened her face.
Question: In the protocol, it says to ask the dog to sit or down for each exercise in the sequence. Should I be encouraging the pups to move around between exercises? Or can they maintain the down if they prefer to, and just begin the next item in the list?
I didn't formally work on the protocol tonight. Instead, I took the activities we did yesterday, and threw some of them together into a short session. I got a somewhat more relaxed down from the little man... probably due to the heat more than anything. Maxwell was over-vigilant even in the quiet living room, but stayed down for my counting out loud, in my head, and taking quiet steps in random directions. He only popped up once.
Sadie was game for training and DINNER!!! I got her in a down and massaged her ears and neck. At least, I tried to. For the first several minutes, she'd snap up into a sit as soon as I touched her. Definitely not relaxed. Even once I convinced her that allowing my touch in a down meant kibble, she did the most tense version of 'relaxing' that I've ever seen. Mouth shut, ears pinned to the sides of her head, on her back with her legs in the air tensed, tail stiff. I tried to treat only when I could feel her muscles relax, or if she softened her face.
Question: In the protocol, it says to ask the dog to sit or down for each exercise in the sequence. Should I be encouraging the pups to move around between exercises? Or can they maintain the down if they prefer to, and just begin the next item in the list?
Monday, June 27, 2011
Training Ambitions and the Protocol for Relaxation: Day 1
After thinking more about how I need to change the way I handle when I switch dogs, I realized that agility isn't the only place I'm inflexible. Of all the dog training and behavior books I've now read (not a few, considering I'm so new to dog sports) I read them each with Sadie in mind. Control Unleashed - How could I use it to reduce her reactivity to other dogs? On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals - How could I help her understand canine body language better, and help me read her emotional state? The Other End of the Leash - How can I understand what makes Sadie, Sadie?
All this wonderful knowledge that I've accumulated, and I only have an inkling how to apply it to Maxwell. I'm starting by re-reading Control Unleashed. Hopefully incorporating some of the CU games into agility class will help him focus better. Having not even gotten through the first chapter, the author mentions the Protocol for Relaxation. Look, a way to teach a dog to relax! Sounds perfect, right?
So my new goal is to work through the PfR with Maxwell. No matter how long it takes, and this could be many months, I want him to eventually learn to relax in the presence of livestock. That is his ultimate trigger. Achievable, as long as I set realistic steps along the way. The plan is to do this at least 6 nights a week until success. And if Sadie gets to do it, too... so much the better!
Day 1
Right off the bat, I'm not sure if I'm applying the protocol correctly. I know it says the dog can change positions (sit/down/stand) at will... but what if the dog is throwing himself into the new posture? My dogs are so incredibly operand that they both sat nicely on cue, then started offering behaviors when I didn't ask for something new immediately. Nose bop the clothes hamper? No? How about pawing it? Lie down hard? Flop on my side? Stand up and do a circle? Maxwell offered an impressive string of tricks. And even once I convinced him to stay in one spot, I still didn't know what to do with the very physical and enthusiastic downs and sits. Definitely not relaxed.
He also had trouble with the long sits. Note to self - work on duration. I ended up using a down instead, since he would hold it longer. But I still had to reinforce much more frequently than the PfR called for. And even in a down... maybe CRAWLING will get him the treat?!?! *Sigh*
We'll be doing the first set of exercises again tomorrow. As a related tidbit, we worked on focus tonight. I get a direct look in the eyes, he gets the tennis ball. Hopefully these two efforts will be complementary.
So here are my questions for the day:
All this wonderful knowledge that I've accumulated, and I only have an inkling how to apply it to Maxwell. I'm starting by re-reading Control Unleashed. Hopefully incorporating some of the CU games into agility class will help him focus better. Having not even gotten through the first chapter, the author mentions the Protocol for Relaxation. Look, a way to teach a dog to relax! Sounds perfect, right?
So my new goal is to work through the PfR with Maxwell. No matter how long it takes, and this could be many months, I want him to eventually learn to relax in the presence of livestock. That is his ultimate trigger. Achievable, as long as I set realistic steps along the way. The plan is to do this at least 6 nights a week until success. And if Sadie gets to do it, too... so much the better!
* * * * *
Day 1
Right off the bat, I'm not sure if I'm applying the protocol correctly. I know it says the dog can change positions (sit/down/stand) at will... but what if the dog is throwing himself into the new posture? My dogs are so incredibly operand that they both sat nicely on cue, then started offering behaviors when I didn't ask for something new immediately. Nose bop the clothes hamper? No? How about pawing it? Lie down hard? Flop on my side? Stand up and do a circle? Maxwell offered an impressive string of tricks. And even once I convinced him to stay in one spot, I still didn't know what to do with the very physical and enthusiastic downs and sits. Definitely not relaxed.
He also had trouble with the long sits. Note to self - work on duration. I ended up using a down instead, since he would hold it longer. But I still had to reinforce much more frequently than the PfR called for. And even in a down... maybe CRAWLING will get him the treat?!?! *Sigh*
We'll be doing the first set of exercises again tomorrow. As a related tidbit, we worked on focus tonight. I get a direct look in the eyes, he gets the tennis ball. Hopefully these two efforts will be complementary.
So here are my questions for the day:
- What do I do about the completely not relaxed exercises?
- How about stifling the offered behaviors?
- Should I use a no-reward-marker, like the protocol calls for?
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