Scootering on Thanksgiving Morning

A beautiful morning to be out and about with my dog and the scooter.

Before we even began, though, in the alley behind the house while gathering everything together, we were greeted by our first off leash dog.  His owners were in close pursuit and leashed him up.

We met three more off leash dogs while on our jaunt.  Who would have thought?

Lily's reward for maintaining her composure?  String cheese.

We did a mile and a half.  Not far by Frank's standards, but better than nothing!

Shaping to Combine Physical and Mental Exercise

Lily is shaping savvy.  And she has great shaping stamina.  We have shaped for fun ever since she was a puppy.  She loves this "game" and seemingly never tires of a shaping session.

At 5AM there are few things better to exercise Lily both physically and mentally than shaping.

A seemingly simple shaping exercise.....I thought.  But, not so!

I want to teach Lily to "go" and continue "going" until I tell her to halt.  I began in the tile "hallway" between the front door and the living room.  Just shaping.  But Lily kept moving backwards.  I want her to move forwards.

I was slow on the uptake.  And getting frustrated.  Until I thought of giving her a target to go to.  I guess I was lumping.  Of course I was lumping.  I wanted her to walk from my chair the entire distance to the living room.  Once I put a carpet piece just a few feet away, she turned and walked to the carpet. I am clicking the movement and not the arrival.

Back and forth.  Back and forth.  Trotting back and forth.

Farther and farther moving the square.

Eventually the square was IN the living room.  Back and forth.

THEN.....I moved my chair back a few feet and Lily lost the behavior.  She sat.  She lay down.  She nose targeted the exercise ball.  And when I moved my chair back to its original place I had to also bring the carpet square closer.

Then she added heading for the carpet, detouring around a dining room pole before continuing forward.

What began as a seemingly simple shaping exercise turned into an interesting training exercise.

However.......she received both the physical and mental exercise that I desired.

Some Level Zen

"It's not my job to control my dog.  It's my job to teach my dog to control herself."     ~Sue Ailsby


So proud of my Lily today!  Put 5 high value treats (bison and potato) in a row across the entry to the kitchen.

Then went to the garage to put in a load of laundry and to remove a load from the dryer.  Took the quilt upstairs to the bedroom and made the bed.

Came downstairs to the kitchen.  There was Miss Pink standing in the middle of the family room.  The 5 HV treats were still right where I had placed them.

We had a string cheese party to celebrate!

Teaching Lily to Sit to the Whistle

Lily recalls to a long blast of the whistle.  Beautifully.  Reliably. Dependably.

Now I want to teach her to stop and Sit to two short blasts of the whistle.  And from a distance.

So we began adding the whistle cue to the existing verbal cue.  In the family room.  With minimal distractions.

First, the classic formula for changing a cue:  NEW CUE + OLD CUE + BEHAVIOR + REWARD

Then, from time to time I give Lily the chance to tell me if she is understanding.  Lily has a roll-back sit.  Sometimes that does not work to our advantage (when doing Fronts, for example) but for this behavior it will be beneficial - and discourage forward movement!

Lily was ready to complete this entire session using the whistle cue only......but today is "garbage day" and the sound of the truck stopping in front of the house was enough of a distraction for Lily to turn her head, and so I helped her out by inserting the verbal cue.

.......to be continued

ECB

This morning we were practicing Lily's Emergency Call Box behavior.

I never get to see Lily activating the ECB when we review the behavior because I am laying on the floor somewhere in my house or in my yard.

So this is a snapshot of what the behavior looks like.