I actually fit in a session Monday evening after work...lol yes I got off work at my regular time which seems to rarely happen lately.

Rocky worked on the why would you leave me game. He did pretty well this session, he remembered quite a bit from the last session.  He's starting to walk off soon, and not lag so much.  A few times he tried to cut through the circle of cones and walk up to me on my left side, he quickly realized this was not reinforced and got back on the correct side. He's learning the rules of the game! I started adding the rein cue into the whole mix. By the end of it he was walking on by the rein cure & staying up with me with his head in the 'invisible box' which is at my side (hip/shoulder). Once he's proficient at staying with me I'll start moving his 'box'.

Daisy got to do some ground driving, she did really well the last time we did it, so I wanted to get it on film.  She did pretty well, still learning to pay attention to rein cues, but she's walking on nicely. I think the only thing I need to work on is actually putting the 'walk on' on stimulus control.  I.e. she needs to actually wait to walk on until I give the cue.  But overall I'm pretty happy with her session.

What I should do is incorporate the WWYLM game into her ground driving and see how that goes.

I had recently started teaching Bug to allow me to trim with the dremel. I prefer the dremel because it takes off so little at a time & leave a nice rounded profile on the nail, although Bug thought otherwise! when I had initially (probably 6-8 months of age) introduced it to her she definitely said NO! I could touch her paw & all over her body with the dremel running (don't worry it has the cool guard thing, so no worries of any opportunity for the spinning part to touch her), but as soon as it touched a toe nail she was like 'no way!'.  

I kept trimming her with the regular trimmers, then a few months back I decided to reintroduce the dremel to her. Surprisingly she actually let it touch her toenail with pulling her foot away. so awesome, she got reinforced HEAVILY for letting the scary thing touch her nails.  I worked like that for probably two sessions, then the 3rd I raised criteria, she had to let me touch it on her nail for  a bit longer.  

Today I brought it back out, she was in dire need of a trim, I was so blown away of how accepting she was of it this time! I could actually TRIM her nails, not just touch them! She is so much more focused & 'gets down to business'. She knows this game now & actually puts her paw in my hand, if she doesn't, I touch the foot I want then hold out my hand & wait. She eventually says 'ok' and plops her paw in my hand to be trimmed.

Going at your animal's pace is so worth it!  It really did take awhile to get to this point, but I have  happy & relaxed dog! LOVE IT!!


Another point - I do believe in lots of exercise for dogs, but I also believe in reinforcing calm behavior & relaxation.  I think it was kikopup  that said something about doing exercise only to 'wear' a dog out to be calm.  She said something along the lines of 'you're not making a calm dog, you're making an Olympic athlete!'. I find this to be so true! I've reinforced Bug for calm behavior, therefore she is more likely to repeat it, and I do believe they have to LEARN how to be calm, it doesn't necessarily come naturally. 

Yesterday I did a session with the donks & decided to start teaching the 'why would you leave me' game.

I started with Rocky - he always is the first one to the 'training' pen, I set up cones and lead him around c/t at each cone.  After a few times around I raised my criteria - gave him a bit more slack in the lead, to see if he'd catch on to what I wanted him to do. If he lagged behind or ended up on the wrong side of me, we just passed the cone up.  If he was in the right position he got clicked. He actually caught on faster that I thought he would. There were a few times where he'd try to go on the other side of me, I then would help him out by directing him tothe correct side (not every time though).  It wasn't long before he was staying with me & doing 'loose lead' walking.  I also added the lead cue, sliding my hand down the rope to indicate we were going to walk on.

By the end of Rocky's sesh he was following me around the cones (without me holding on the to the lead) and getting c/t every time he had his head in my 'box' (which at that point was at my shoulder). We changed directions a bunch too - right now I have to exaggerate that because he tends not to see my hand with the treat.

Overall I was impressed with how quickly he got it & his enthusiasm of staying with me.
Plus there were a few times where he had his head in my box at the correct level - head not too high, not too low etc.

Daisy of course caught on quite a bit faster, she had no problem staying with me - other than drifting out on two sections of the circle, she was always reinforced when she had her head in my 'box'. I threw on her reins and kept one hand on them, when she'd start to drift out I'd slowly slide down the rein and bump her nose a bit to bring her back into me. She really got the whole idea of the game, eager to walk on after her click. Which made the cue for 'we're gonna start again' so much easier. Daisy did great about changing directions - she's much more 'hawk eyed' when it comes to the goodie hand!!  

Overall it was a pretty cool session! so fun to work on something new. I think the next session we'll do a quick review of what they know, maybe ask more of each thing ( I still need to start teaching rocky moving away from pressure on his shoulders & hips - mostly shoulders since he has a tendency to lean into me or get too close). Rocky's goal right now is for walk on and then start yeilding at the shoulder. My personal goal is to remember to actually give verbal cues!! haha I get so focused on whats going on physically I forget sometimes to actually tell them what I want.

Both got their feets cleaned, I love that right now there's minimal 'crap' in them.  They both did this untied which I love. Will be adding it to the sessions - I've been slacking on that! BAD owner LOL.

Kim (Jazzy's owner) might come out this weekend to see the donks in a clicker sesh, she's curious about clicker training & wants to basically see how it's done. So we might teach something new for that - to show her how something can be shaped. Hopefully the donks are on their game and make me look good!! haha!!  Still thinking up a behavior to teach - probably a trick, I don't spend much time teaching them tricks. 

Got an email from my britchen tester, she's got a chance to take the britchen out for a couple rides. So far so good!!  Looks like it fits her donk fantastic! She really loves that it's much lighter weight than her other britchen.  

She purchased a vinyl covered pad for the butt strap (not included in my britchen to keep costs down), she said she was happy she picked that particular pad because of it's 'poo repellent' properties. If it gets dirty she can just wipe it down.

BTW, what a fantastic looking donk!

Ah it's been awhile. Been entirely too busy with work & have come home totally beat.  Got out & did  a quick sesh with the donks Sunday. Kinda just a review :)

Today I met up with Kim & Jazzy. Kim's been working on loping Jazzy & I was super excited to see their progress!

This is a collar I just finished up. It's charcoal grey paracord with powder coated hardware in 'gun metal' grey. Not a perfect match, but I love it!

Customer has a lab/vizsla mix pup, this collar should accomodate the growing pup perfectly!

just love it!!

for more info:   http://safehorse.info/

Today I noticed a huge improvement with the donks. Daisy overall was more fluid, she knew what the game was and even offered the behavior a few times on her own.  I'm getting a whole lot more out of her, we're starting to progress to an actual behavior rather than bits & pieces.

 Rocky did really well also. I had started video taping his sesh with the gopro, and just my luck the battery died.  UGH.  DURR moment #2 haha! Anyways I'm noticing he's getting lighter & lighter, with less hesitation & thinking going on. He's a whole lot more confident about it, hence the whole body awareness thing. Now he knows where his butt is in relation to the stall walls. Pardon the awful stall, it's the only one I've got, I'd love to get more mats in there to cover the entire floor (which is not flat btw, although I'm sure that's pretty evident in the video). But it works for now, it might even make them better at this behavior since I've thrown 'uneven terrain' in from the beginning - gotta be positive right!?!

Tonight's uber creative awesomeness: braiding that custom dog collar, finally got the paracord shrunk & ready to braid. WAHOO.....

oh ya...and this...

so awesome, Bug in a spidey costume!!! Doesn't she look thrilled!?!