BRITMOR HIGH FLYER
Ace's Training Journal
Ace's Training Journal
After several years of not seriously *training* a dog, I started one Sept. 3, 2005.... reason being that our schnauzer club needed a program for our October meeting and I thought I might show, hopefully, how a dog could progress in one month with (my version* of) clicker training. (I also miss having my *OWN* dog since Katie stole Peter away from me for agility*G*.)
*My version: Clicker purists feel that the click ends the behavior; I feel that it just marks the behavior that I want and tells the dog he is correct at that time and that food is coming. Purists do not correct; they just reward the behavior that they want. I feel that a dog benefits from negative reinforcement just as much as positive reinforcement if it is done correctly, although initially I tried to train Ace with no corrections. Our "clicker" here consists of clicking our tongue on the roof of our mouth.
I started out sitting on the edge of Kate's bed, with the dog sitting between my feet. His reward throughout his training was his daily ration of kibble.
Sept. 3, 2005 Sept. 4, 2005 Sept. 5,2005 Sept. 6, 2005 Sept. 7, 2005 Guess it is time to get this dog on a leash pretty soon and start the heeling.... I should make up a chart and decide what I want to work with each day so that we actually do get some progression with this. Thus far I haven't had to think too hard. LOL! This will actually be the first time I have trained a dog in obedience with clicker training. (With Witch, I defaulted to pet tricks since Kate and I were clashing with our obedience training methods.)
I am breaking Ace's training/conditioning/shaping into several sessions each day now instead of one longer one in the morning. We have done two today, and he is a *wild man* around me. Not sure I like that.... cannot even sit on the "throne" without him planting his front feet on me and staring into my eyes*G*. If I sit down in front of the TV, he jumps into my lap for attention.... at the computer in Kate's room, he is trying to get in there with me.... what a pushy jerk!.... guess I am creating a monster. (Well, I did choose him out of the herd because of his exuberance*G*.)
I did try a bit of off-leash heeling with him earlier today, trying to click when he was in heel position, but it was very difficult for me, and inevitably I would click just as he would shoot off ahead of me.... guess I need to try to anticipate a bit. (Actually I think I need a leash and a walk down our very long driveway, instead of a hallway where he can race from one end to the other.) I didn't do a lot of this because of his wildness, but a couple times he did anticipate me and tried to sit at my side (even though I haven't tried official "halts" yet). This shows promise! Sits and drops must still be done with me on my knees; he hadn't a clue when I tried to stand. Guess I will stick with those in the bedroom on the carpeting for a few days.... the cement floor downstairs was a killer for me. One more session left today, which will be more of the same (and probably for a few more days to firm them up).
Sept. 8, 2005 If he sits too far behind me, I simply bend my knees a bit or wiggle my fingers to get him to move up. A couple times he backed up when I turned my left shoulder into him. I got him to stay with me on a few about-turns, and we worked a bit on heel position with turns in place and taking one step forward and one step back. We finished with more drops and sits.
I didn't have much time to work Ace this morning as I spent the day working at a garage sale (and will do the same tomorrow and maybe Saturday). I did an abbreviated version of our last session yesterday for about half a bowl of kibble, and then I let him finish it off. The only thing I tried differently was dropping him as I stood upright, and then bending over and helping him drop motivationally with my hand/food.
Sept. 12, 2005 I have been trying to figure out how to work on the stays/waits (with no leash), and today when I dropped him alongside me, for the first time he didn't pop right back up into a sit after the treat. I immediately clicked/treated again, and I then had a dog who remained down for a time as I rewarded him for staying in place (with me next to him). A slight milestone (or maybe a big one...LOL)!
One thing I have been doing is dropping the kibble in his direction, and he can often catch it in his mouth... which has been very helpful with this as I can keep moving at a fairly rapid pace. If he misses and it goes flying off (with him right after it), I immediately change my position, often at an angle or with my back to him, so that he has to think about where heel position is... or where he needs to go for the click/treat.
Sept. 14, 2005 I also have introduced "side" (going to heel position on my right side rather than the left... he will ultimately be learning to heel on my right side as well as my left) and "around" (returning to left heel position by passing around behind me from the right side [as opposed to the swing finish which he now does]).
Yesterday Kate and I discussed finding a training class (and instructor) which would be suitable for what Ace and I are doing, and I am not sure there is one! I am familiar with one of the instructors who teaches a Beginner 2 class at one of the local clubs as I used to be her Assistant Instructor, and she definitely is not for us.... too easy-going with little class control. I have someone else in mind at a different training center (we have similar ideas as to goals and attitudes), and I know she DETESTS clicker and loves prong collars. Now HER I could have some fun with! LOL!!!!
Kate thought I should start doing some Open training with Ace with dumbbell and jumps..... hmmm....
Sept. 15, 2005 "Leash? What's this?".... chomp, chomp. "LEAVE THE LEASH ALONE!"
Of course, my timing was perfect, as usual.... and as soon as Ace stopped trying to eat the leash, here came the cat Flag down the driveway back from a hunting excursion. "OH! A person and a DOG!!!! How EXCITING!!!" as she quickly ran up to us. Now Ace has never experienced one of the cats up close and personal.... and this is the cat that hubby "taught" (allowed) to walk between one's legs as she rubs from one leg to the other while one is walking. MAN, I HATE THAT!!!!!
So after Ace's initial shock of "WHAT THE....?" as Flag proceeded to rub around my legs and then Ace, we went back to Square One and worked on eye contact. This went extremely well and Ace quickly ignored the cat. ::PHEW!::
After a couple of boots of "get AWAY from my LEGS, cat!", Ace and I proceeded down the driveway in our first attempt at heeling on leash. "Heel?" Everything deteriorated as Ace tried to run from one new thing to another. "What's this? What's that?" as he ran from a rock in the driveway, to anthills, to weeds/grasses at the edge of the driveway, to deer tracks (deer are starting to rut, I think, and tracks are everywhere).... his nose was everywhere as he tried to read the news. We went back to baby steps and eventually I was able to get a bit of work done with him, but it was tough going as his mind/nose was racing a million miles an hour with the newness of it all. I think we just need to walk up and down the driveway a couple times to get it all out of his system.
Fairly disasterous over all, I would say, except for the cat. Oh, ya... and with the (buckle) collar and leash on, in my frustration I found myself trying to physically correct him. Oops! (Well, we are both learning...)
Sept. 19, 2005 Thursday night we went to the training center with Kate where she is teaching some agility foundation classes, and while she did agility in their annex, Ace and I sat around for a bit by the front desk and conversed with an old friend that I haven't seen in years. We eventually did a bit of work back and forth, and as usual, he was less than attentive initially and diving for anything and everything on the floor. Eventually, he calmed down a bit and started working for me. I may try to get him into some classes down there as he definitely needs to get out in different places to work.
After Ace's diving for stuff on the floor there and on the ground outside here (acorns are falling everywhere), I have decided that throwing the kibble in his direction was totally the wrong thing to do with him, so now I am trying to drop it into his mouth. I think I am going to evolve into some sort of cross between clicker and correction, even though Karen Pryor, the originator of clicker training, says that one should never do both as they are counter-productive to each other. She was wrong about tossing the treat, and I think she might be wrong about this, too.... at least in regard to dogs. We shall see....
Oh, ya.... one day I had to go out for some reason and came home to discover that daughter Kate had put her grubby little hands on MY dog! She just couldn't resist trying to see how he would work for her. I can see it now.... as soon as I get this dog trained, she will want to do agility with him. Is nothing sacred? I never monkey with HER dogs!!!!!! S.N.O.T.
Sept. 27, 2005 They worked on retrieving, which I had not tried yet with him, (tried him on a tennis ball as their dumbbells were huge, but he had no interest in that) but now my old dumbbells are dusted off and washed up, and we will be starting to work with them today. I don't know where my old utility box (from Sunny) is stored, although Kate and I both know we have seen it somewhere around here. Kate gave me one of her utility gloves as class will be starting directed retrieves next week. Since I started targeting (with a plastic lid) a couple days ago, we should be able to make some progress with this during the week. This is exactly what I needed.... new stuff to work on! My idea box seems to be broken lately....
Sept. 29, 2005 Ace was running out and touching both the glove and the dumbbell right away. Getting him to pick them up, however, has been something else. Yesterday I had him licking the dumbbell in my hand, and today I figured out how to hold a piece of kibble against the dowel so that he had to work to get at it and in the process was starting to open up his mouth, at which point he got rewarded. Several times I got the dumbbell into his mouth and then he got a "jackpot" of food for that. I expect he will catch on to this quickly over the next couple of days. I am now stressing the dumbbell and laying off of the glove until I have him taking the dumbbell into his mouth.
Oct.2,2005 Oct. 5,2005 BUT yesterday Ace was tugging briefly on the dumbbell as I held it and then later he was putting his mouth around the dowel as the dumbbell sat on the floor. TODAY! he was running out a short distance to the thrown dumbbell and picking it up off of the floor. Now he just needs to learn to hold it longer and then return to me with it.
Our club meeting and program (Ace and what he has learned this past month with clicker) is tomorrow night. What a time for his heeling to fall apart Oct. 13, 2005 Ace did go out and pick up the dumbbell on the retrieve, but he thinks the exercise is to lie down with the dumbbell and spit it out (and then keep picking it up). Everyone's consensus at the meeting was that we need to work on "hold" with a command. My instructor disagreed Monday night and tried to get me to do something else (as she was throwing "expert so-and-so says" at me.... she loves to name drop), but I know she is wrong about this. We are working on hold, and Ace is no longer fighting it tooth ::spit, spit:: and PAWS, so I know I am on the right track. I am also the last couple days working on him holding it as he moves toward me a couple steps and sits in front (I have one hand under his chin and also a finger through his collar). Ace LOVES the food jackpots he gets with the dumbbell and is trying his best to grab that dumbbell away from me. LOL! Just a matter of time and a bit of patience....
Yesterday it was warm enough to train outside for a bit, and his heeling went much better because of it. Only bad thing out there were the mosquitoes that had hatched out from all our recent rain. His stays can still be frustrating, yet I am seeing improvements. He drops like a stone when I down him with a hand signal and verbal command, and we do some of that while heeling and then with me leaving him and calling him to me (as we work toward a drop on recall). We have been training for five weeks now, and overall, I am pleased with his work.
Nov. 11,2005 Today, November 11, 2005, Ace is RETRIEVING the dumbbell, about nine weeks since I started training him.... and something like five weeks or so since the dumbbell was first introduced to this non-retrieving schnauzer.
We have been working on hold, working on hold, and for quite some time I had to keep my hand on the end of the dumbbell. My theory was to physically try to show him what he was to do, like the way I introduce sit and down (by placing the dog in position and then later motivating with treats). He would willingly take the dumbbell from my hand as he sat in front of me (and then try to spit it out), so I kept repeating "hold, hold", as I held on to the end myself. Next step was to run backward with him coming in toward me as we both held onto the dumbbell. A few days ago I was able to get him to hold onto it when I removed my hand, and then we progressed into me taking a step or two or three backwards, telling him to GIVE (hopefully before he spit it out) and then rewarding him with a handful of food.
Yesterday I was throwing the dumbbell out a bit and running up to it with him as I picked it up and had him take it from my hand and I would then run backwards as he followed and then sat in front of me,..... "hold, hold, HOLD".... and then I would take it and jackpot him with food. I knew we were getting OH so close! And today was the day.
Now we need to work on him doing the same thing elsewhere. I hope to surprise our instructor next Monday night who is so convinced that my training methods are WRONG. LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!! YEEE-HAWWWWWWW!
Nov. 13, 2005 I felt I was on the right track.... Ace would go out and target (touch) the dumbbell on the ground, and he would take it quite willingly from my hand (even to the point of WANTING it) and would hold it and move with me and sit in front before giving it to me.... BUT he just couldn't seem to put the two ideas TOGETHER. I was beginning to question this dog's intelligence We have now retrieved successfully outside (with Witch getting in the way a bit), and yesterday we were back inside with one of his brothers being quite the distraction as I tried to add more distance to the retrieves. It is really starting to click in now. Ace couldn't see the dumbbell with one of my bad throws (doing it left-handed with food in my right hand), and he obviously was searching for it for a short time before I aborted that one. If he dropped the dumbbell when coming in to me, all I had to say was "AHHHH-AHHHHHHH", and he would go back and pick it up again.
I might try reintroducing the glove again today and see if Ace can mentally transfer the idea of retrieving to a different object.
Nov. 13, 2005 Nov. 15, 2005 Nov. 22, 2005 The instructor wanted us to do right and left turns in place and asked the Utility person to demonstrate how to improve eye contact for this as the instructor had apparently showed her a technique that BigShot So-and-So (name dropped again) had talked about. Basically, the handler just spins/rotates in place in a circle to the right several times while dog remains in heel position while maintaining eye contact, and then does the same to the left. Apparently, it is easier for the dog to do this to the right than to the left as it must get up off its butt to turn to the left (news to me....).
After the demo, the instructor came up to me and asked where Ace was in his training.... was he able to do this? I responded that Ace had learned to do that his first week of training. She thought I had misunderstood her, and repeated her question. Yes, his very FIRST week, I said, as I was stressing eye contact and heel position at that time. *G*
I did volunteer that he apparently has forgotten "Back", so after doing that a couple times, he remembered it again. (With dog in heel position, walk backwards as dog remains in heel position. When Ace does it well, he scoots along on his rear while still sitting. Train this with the dog sitting next to a wall or some other barrier.) Ace's right and left turns in place were perfect.
Ace retrieved over a 10" jump last night, as I am slowly raising the jumps to his required 14". He is SO funny! As he starts to learn something new, that is all he wants to do. He was trying to retrieve ALL the dumbbells, and was jumping over all the jumps every chance he got. Control? What's THAT???? He was having a good time. LOL!
We have one more class this session (9 weeks). The instructor wants us to write down our goals for the next nine weeks. Keep it simple she said.... you don't have to try to get all the way through Open. "Why NOT?" I responded. LOL!
Last night Ace was introduced to the leather scent article, and now he has learned that he has a new thing to retrieve. I need to go hunting for my old Utility scent articles.... they are buried somewhere in the house, the garage, or in the barn.
Nov. 23, 2005 Maybe keeping a journal of one's training progress should be a requirement for everyone training a dog; it might help us all learn more.
One Year Later.... October 2006
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Day one I demanded eye contact as I conditioned with click/treat. Ace caught on to this quickly.
Day two I repeated what I had done in day one, but quickly realized that I needed to vary my timing of clicking, as Ace had learned to break eye contact after a set time period and look toward my hands for the reward (such a *SMART* ass! LOL! [who is training whom here???]). I started adding food distractions by slowly waving the food dish in my left hand and the handful of kibble that was in my right hand... as I continued to demand eye contact.
Day three I found the eye contact *VERY* solid, so I lowered the food distractions until they were being waved down closer to his face.... not a problem after the first couple times. Halfway through our session, I stood up and started "asking for" (non-verbally) 'sits in front' with eye contact. This progressed well with great eye contact as I started moving about the room, and making turns in place (although Ace does like to jump up and stand on my legs, so we are working our way through that). A wave of one finger usually got him to move closer or straighten up a bit.... lots of tail wagging. At the end of our session, I asked for a couple finishes (moving from my front to sitting at my side) as I waved my left arm behind me and stepped back with my left foot.
Day four we continued to work on those fronts and finishes. I started adding verbal commands.
Day five I continued with more of the same, but instead of feeding him by hand, I tossed the kibbles in his general direction as per Karen Prior. Toward the end of our session I kneeled on the floor with Ace in front of me as I lured him into drops and sits. This progressed very quickly. While I don't think Ace understands the concept of what we are doing yet (he hasn't had to do any thinking for himself), he is progessing VERY WELL, and I am pleased.
This has been so interesting to do! On my last training session yesterday, I tried heeling again, but I sort of wiggled my fingers at him to hold his attention a bit more, and I only took 2-3 steps at a time before stopping. For the most part he pretty much stayed with me... and, YES, he *is* sitting when I halt! (Sitting on halts usually takes weeks to train reliably with conventional methods!) Needless to say, I have totally impressed myself with this. (Yes, that does read strangely, but I cannot think of a better way to describe how I feel... I feel like a child opening a Christmas present*G*.... sooo excited to see where Ace and I will be in one month!)
Day nine: Ace is doing automatic sits, and not doing too badly about staying in heel position when heeling for short distances. I have been putting a lot more emphasis on heel position by heeling in place (right and left turns in place, about-turns in place, and taking steps to the side), and now I am being more insistent about his maintaining eye contact and giving me straight sits (he often sits crooked or too far back... out of eye contact). I have gotten him to back up in heel position if we are next to a wall, etc. He will stay in position if I spin in a circle in place (right and left, but not as good left) .... good training for tight about-turns! I am stepping backwards and calling him to "come" and he sits in front. He goes to heel position easily with a hand signal. No surprise there since so much of what I am doing is based on my body language, and he is obviously watching me for cues.... but most of which (and the food) will have to be weaned away from down the line.
Last night we went into the dog yard for our first outdoor session, and I think Ace got a better idea of heeling along with me as we moved with more room. He stayed with me and only shot ahead of me once.
Speaking of tons of fun... last night Ace and I went out into the front to work.... on leash.
As usual, Ace continues to be better the second time we are doing something new. His next time outdoors in the front went much better. I stuck a bit closer to the house and our "parking" area next to Kate's agility course and he did very well. Flag continues to find us every time we are outdoors.... guess she thinks we are far more interesting than her hunting expeditions. We have been working on our stays, which have been difficult for Ace, but yesterday he stayed on a "down" as Flag not only rubbed around his face, but ultimately stepped over his body. BAAAAAAD CAT!!!!! I am trying to move around a bit as he stays; this is very hard for him. Ace is now heeling for short distances on my right side.
Last night Ace started his first official obedience class as it was obvious that he needed more serious distractions than I could get here. I wasn't sure where he belonged, but he is now enrolled in an advanced novice class, and at this point, this seems to be the perfect class for him. In some respects he is ahead of some of the others, and in others he is lacking. I never taught him "stand" and his stays have been atrocious for me. (He did the BEST stays there for me! Someone even walked behind him and past him on the side as she went to get something in the corner of the ring.) Ace's heeling got a bit sloppy as he is not used to heeling for such long stretches, but it is something to work on.
This is going well. Targeting, by the way, is touching a target (with his nose), usually a plastic lid or the end of a touch stick, either in one's hand or at a distance. The purpose of this is to either teach the dog to drop his head, such as on an obstacle contact in agility, or to reward the dog at a distance for going out and doing something away from the handler.
Boy, did he EVER! A major breakthrough yesterday! He is reaching out and putting his mouth around the dumbbell as I hold it.... Now I just have to get him to pick it up off of the floor. WOO-HOO!
I have been concentrating too much on the dumbbell as Ace's heeling has totally gone to hell (or is it 5th week regression a couple days early? UGH.)
I never did write about our club's program a week ago. Ace did very well, but he does tend to lose interest if I don't keep him moving. This was noticeable during the program if I stopped to talk too much, and it happens at training class, too, when the instructor yaps too much or sends everyone on those endless circular heeling patterns with nothing in-between but basic straight lines. Someone should tell her how UN-motivational her heeling patterns are.
COULD TODAY *BE* A BETTER DAY?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You cannot even begin to imagine how frustrated I was getting!
Well, Ace didn't have a CLUE what to do with the glove, so I will have to start that again from scratch and work up to it in stages just as I did with the dumbbell.... ::sigh:: I was hoping this was going to get easier...
We may be starting over with that darn glove, but tonight at training Ace pretty much knocked our instructor on her fanny
When class started last night, there were only two of us, so the instructor asked us what we wanted to work on. I wanted to do more Open stuff, the guy wanted to work on Advanced Rally. Then a third person showed up who wanted to do beginning Utility stuff. Pretty soon most of the rest of the class straggled in, and so we were working on mostly anything over Novice level.
I am so glad that I started this "journal". Yesterday I went through it all and read everything again, and I see now that initially Ace *did* have more trouble when I spun to the left. Interesting! I had forgotten that.
I thought I would bring everyone up-to-date on Ace and his training. I have continued to work with him off and on since I last wrote in this journal of mine, but I quit that training center last January due to the weather then and the fact that I just didn't like the instructor that we had (the weather was a good excuse). I really should find a new place to go in the next few months so that I can continue with Ace over the winter; it is so hard to work at home indoors, particularly with what he is doing now.
I never did look for my old scent articles, and I really *should*. I priced new ones, and **I REALLY NEED TO GO AND LOOK FOR MY OLD ONES.** Prices for new ones are totally outrageous.... 'nuff said.
Katie and I took a rally class last spring, and shortly thereafter we started showing in rally. Ace and Peter both got their Rally Novice titles, and then their Rally Advanced titles, and will start showing in Rally Excellent shortly. Terra finished her Rally Novice title, and then was retired from anything resembling obedience. She HATED it; agility is her true love, and that is what she will continue doing. Actually the same can be said of Katie, but she is continuing in rally with Peter because he loves it so much.
As for Ace, he knows all the exercises in rally; the only thing that will hold him back will be his handler, *ME*, and my nerves. He continues to be such a gung-ho dog, and catches on to things quickly.
Ace is doing his Open exercises for the most part, retrieves on the flat and over the high jump, and is getting the hang of the broad jump and is working on his drop on recall. In Utility, his directed jumping is progressing well, with something like 50 ft. go-backs to a target and the jumps still fairly close together. He does a walking stand and is working on his hand signals. I *really* need to find those scent articles!
October 25, 2006: Last night Ace and I started training at a different training center. As the weather continues to get colder, it is getting harder and harder to work with him outside, and while I can do some little things inside, retrieving and jumping is much more difficult... PLUS he really needs to learn to work away from home in a competent manner.
So last night we joined an Open class, which is primarily retrieving (on flat and over a high jump), jumping a broad jump (think leaping over a puddle), doing a drop on recall, and heeling off leash (Ace's worse thing right now).
The first thing the instructor started out with was the long sit and down stays (normally out of sight in Open), and BOY was Ace worried, thinking I was totally leaving him, as he sat there between a German Shepherd and a Golden Retriever (the other five dogs in the class were ALL huge)! I was hoping to go to the other side of the ring, but he wouldn't even let me get anywhere near that far away, so we settled for about a third of the way across the ring. Poor dog was so stressed that he got up about three times before he realized that I wasn't leaving him forever and that he was seriously starting to tick mom off! LOL! His down stay was beautiful.
As we got further along in the class, Ace was really starting to enjoy himself as his tail came up and he was smiling a bit. Open work is very motivating for a dog as the jumping and retrieving is pretty fun for them (as opposed to fairly boring Novice work which is mostly heeling).
So I think we will train there for a few weeks until winter gets really serious here, as driving in the dark in nasty weather late at night is something that I no longer care to do. I know another training center that has morning Open classes on the same day, so I may switch to that place in a few weeks. In the meantime, something new for us to do!
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